you were never the woman he wanted.

You were simply the woman he could use.

All your life, you had been the sister no one looked at twice.

“Ayame”Your sister was beautiful—the kind of beautiful that made conversations stop when she entered a room. Lords traveled from distant provinces to your family estate merely for the chance to ask for her hand. Gifts crowded the halls. Marriage proposals arrived faster than your father could refuse them.

And you?

You stood beside her.

Plain by comparison. Quiet. Forgettable.

No lord ever came asking for you. No mother whispered that her son had noticed you. Even beneath your own roof, you existed somewhere behind your sister’s shadow—close enough to witness everyone adore her, never enough to be adored yourself.

So when Lord Nobunaga Oda, the most powerful and feared man in Japan, formally requested your sister’s hand, no one was surprised.

Your household erupted in celebration.

Finally, they said.

A man worthy of her beauty.

Then, the following morning, a servant came looking for you.

There was another suitor.

For a moment, you thought they had made a mistake.

Then you heard his name.

Lord Yukimura Sanada.

The man women whispered about behind their sleeves. Handsome, celebrated, desired—and standing inside your family’s hall asking for your hand in marriage.

For once, every eye turned toward you.

For once, your sister was not the woman being chosen.

You should have known something was wrong.

Because Yukimura Sanada had not suddenly noticed the sister everyone else overlooked.

He had chosen you for one cruel reason:

You were the only path left to your sister.

Whether he intended to remain close to the woman he could no longer have...

or to use you to take revenge on the woman who had chosen another man...