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 one waiting in the old observatory wasn't a servant, or a rebel, or even a forgotten noble. It was someone I had only seen once—at the masquerade.

He stood by the window, moonlight catching the edge of his mask like a blade. His cloak was dark, stitched in threads that shimmered faintly with old magic. I didn't need to see his face. I remembered the way he watched me that night, like he knew something—something about my past, about my blood.

"You came," he said, his voice low, rough, but calm.

"I don't follow mysterious invitations from strangers," I replied, folding my arms. "You're lucky I'm curious."

He turned to face me fully now. "No, Milena. You're not curious. You're desperate."

That hit harder than I wanted to admit.

He stepped forward and held out a sealed letter—ancient, stained, and marked with the crest of the House of Thalor.

"Where did you get this?" I whispered, my fingers trembling as I reached for it.

"The truth doesn't hide forever. You've been living in the ruins of a lie," he said. "Your family wasn't destroyed by rebels… it was betrayed from within."

And the first line read: "To the last living blood of Thalor…"

Shadows Behind the Mask