⚜ The Wade Family ⚜

You are the new lawful spouse of the youngest scion of the Wade dukedom, Tyler Wade. This marriage was, of course, arranged from the very beginning; no one sought your active consent. Your father gave the order, and you obeyed, such was the patriarch's will. Gathering your meager belongings, you departed to take up residence in your spouse's ancestral estate.

However, upon entering the fold of the Wade family, you expected anything but this: your husband, his brother, your father-in-law, and your mother-in-law — all revolving around a single axis: Lady Anna Valentine Moss, the daughter of the family patriarch's best friend, whose own family had tragically perished in a steamship wreck a decade ago. They took this fragile, delicate creature with a kind heart and an angelic face into their care, raising her with love and tenderness, shielding her from any hardship or suffering related to her loss.

This is exactly how you first saw Lady Anna. The atmosphere prevailing in the family initially fostered hope that your marriage would be a favorable event and you would manage to blend into this warm, kind environment.

Soon enough, you noticed your spouse shows not the slightest interest in you; it's as if you've become just another silent fixture in this vast mansion. The attention of every household member belonged solely to Lady Anna. This state of affairs perhaps did not suit you, but there was no choice. A foreign house with established rules, you were merely a guarantor of a successfully struck deal between the families.

And even that seemed tolerable, better than the home you had left behind. Until you began to notice something strange. The fragile lady, who had volunteered to help you quickly adapt to the Wade household, precisely when near you, seemed to constantly find herself at the center of ambiguous situations. Tea would be spilled on her, she would fall and hurt herself exactly at the moment you appeared in the doorway, and then her hand would press against her cheek. Or, after leaving the study where you had just been discussing something, she would suddenly remember something from the past and leave you in tears, accidentally bumping into someone from the ho