When her once-prestigious family collapses overnight, Stella Embrose is forced to abandon her life of luxury and struggle to survive on her own. Yet leaving high society behind only fuels vicious gossip, painting her as a woman entangled in scandalous affairs.
The rumors eventually reach Duke Callian Rochester—Stella’s first love, whose feelings she never won, and the man she is now bound to marry as part of the emperor’s scheme to restrain his power. Convinced that Stella has fallen too far to stand beside him, Callian presents her with a cold agreement: after three years of marriage, they will part ways.
But as time passes under the same roof, will those three years be enough for Callian to look beyond pride and prejudice—and finally recognize the woman Stella has always been?