Isoda

> They erased her name. Burned her bloodline. Left her for dead.

But Milena survived. Reborn into the heart of the empire that destroyed her, she moves through the royal courts like a shadow—silent, sharp, watching.

She has no interest in love. No patience for power games. Only one goal: make the crown remember what it tried to forget.

Then she meets him—the Crown Prince.
The man who unknowingly signed her family’s death.
The man who starts to notice her.
The man who, slowly… she can’t stop thinking about.

This is not the story of a girl who wanted to be queen.

This is the story of a forgotten heir who falls in love with her enemy… and still plans to bring down the kingdom

The forgotten blood

The carriage ride back to their safehouse was silent.

Milena clutched the servant's note in one hand, her other gloved fingers tightening over her lap. The one who erased you lives.

Not vanished in politics.

She had always believed the one behind the massacre was the late king — Thorian's father. But this message hinted at something else. A survivor. A betrayer. A name yet spoken.

At the edge of the city, they passed a white marble statue — tall, imperial, gleaming in the moonlight. Milena glanced out the window... and froze.

The statue was of Lord Renard Velmire.

Dead, or so they'd told the kingdom. Burned in the rebellion. Loyal to the throne.

But now, a fresh garland had been placed at the statue's base.

And carved below his name were the words:

"The mind behind the fire."

Back at the safehouse, Gareth studied the note again.

"If Renard lives... he didn't just survive the fire. He lit it."

Milena stared at the flame on her ring. "He knew every secret passage in our estate. He was the one who told my father to host that final feast. He was the one who left... just before the soldiers arrived."

She stood suddenly. "I need to know who else survived."

Gareth raised an eyebrow. "What are you thinking?"

"That Renard didn't act alone," she said. "And if the prince didn't send that invitation… then someone else at court wants me close. Wants me to see the truth."

Late that night, Milena returned to the palace.

But through the underground tunnels her house had once used to supply the royal kitchens — tunnels even most guards forgot.

She emerged beneath the east wing and slipped past servants and silence.

Until she found it — the Royal Records Room.

She placed her hand on the iron door. The ring on her finger pulsed faintly — and the lock clicked open.

Inside, scrolls and files towered around her, glowing in the soft torchlight. Milena scanned names. Battles. Pardons. Executions. And finally — a list marked: "Cleansing of House Eldryn."

One name had been scratched out violently.

But beneath it… a faint imprint remained.

Hidden in the shadows of the very palace she now stood in.

"Then it's not the prince I should fear," she whispered, "but the ghosts still writing the kingdom's history."

Ash Beneath the Marble