Gina Yale was born the eldest daughter of the prestigious Yale family, one of the three greatest noble powers controlling the entire Toronto Empire. Fate led her to marry Crown Prince Cecil Toronto. Despite his high rank and his power, this prince carried the haunting curse of the blood dragon.
Everything unfolded exactly as her father had calculated. Gina was pushed into the marriage like nothing more than a sacrificial pawn on her family's political chessboard. Since childhood she had been unable to use magic, and for that she was coldly neglected by her own family, living quietly in the shadow of her younger sister, Eleanor. Her father had once declared, without a trace of warmth, that if she did not obey, her existence would be entirely meaningless.
In truth, this marriage had originally been meant for Eleanor. But her spoiled younger sister flatly refused to marry a prince cursed like that, scorning him as unworthy of her. Because their father and their brother doted on Eleanor, they forced Gina to go in her place, into the tiger's den.
They warned her that even if she climbed to the position of crown princess, she would still be nothing but a shadow, and they forced her to spy for the family. They were so heartless that they cut off every possible retreat for her, declaring that no matter what happened, the family's wealth and power would never fall into her hands.
The dark mission her family assigned Gina was to support the second prince, the faction backed by the Yale family, in order to find a way to overthrow her own husband, Crown Prince Cecil.
Yet no one knew a shocking secret. After years of living like a puppet, her wedding day turned out to be the happiest day of Gina's life, because she had secretly loved Cecil for a very long time.
Cecil appeared in his stately ceremonial robes, his cold, handsome looks drawing every eye in the room. The moment he took her hand at the altar, Gina's heart pounded wildly, emotions surging up in her that she could not suppress. She was truly happy to become part of his family. Gina told herself she would not dwell on the curse. She was determined to hide her role as a spy so that she could love him wholeheartedly and fulfil her duty as his wife.
However, her dream shattered when Cecil coldly drew a clear line on their wedding night. He told her bluntly that this was merely a political marriage, and he forbade her from dreaming or expecting anything from him. Crueller still, he handed her a bottle of contraceptive medicine and flatly declared that they would divorce in three months, so the arrival of a child was completely unnecessary.
Heartbroken, Gina still wiped away her tears and accepted it. She told herself that even with only three short months at his side, she would give it her all, hoping this feeling of hers might somehow reach his frozen heart.
A month passed. Gina sat lost in thought in the garden, unaware that her gentleness was slowly changing the way everyone around her saw her.
The servants whispered that the crown princess was nothing like the rumours. They talked about how she had eased the prince's headache and given him a sachet, and they guessed that the prince had begun to want to keep her by his side. Cecil fingered the sachet his wife had given him, his face flashing with a hint of embarrassment, though he still sternly ordered the servants to stop their idle chatter.
Unexpectedly, after an examination, Ina announced that Gina was pregnant. Both of them were stunned, since Gina had clearly been taking the contraceptive medicine exactly as instructed. It forced her to find a way to negotiate with him before she spoke the truth. She began to imagine a small, happy family of her own, a place where she, Cecil and their child would live together.
But harsh reality soon shattered that illusion.
Cecil flew into a rage and hurled a stack of letters down in front of her — the letters Gina had been forced to write, reporting on him to her family. He was furious, believing she had been deceiving him the whole year. Gina panicked, tears welling up as she tried to explain that things were not what he thought, but her words carried no weight anymore.
Cecil coldly accused her of being a spy. He believed she had betrayed him and was now trying to use the baby in her womb to blackmail him without his consent. He leaned close to her face and cruelly declared that he would not let the Yale family get what they wanted, demanding that she get rid of the child. In despair, Gina cried out her husband's name as she collapsed, realising that he would never trust her again.
Her maternal instinct surged. She knew she could not let her child be harmed. To protect the only blood she had left, Gina decided to flee the palace that very night. She hoped that once she left this place behind, she would finally have a real family of her own.
She gave birth to a pair of adorable twins.
But before the joy could even settle, Cecil's pursuing soldiers had already picked up her trail and were closing in nearby. Guards searched every inn in the city, shouting loudly and demanding that doors be opened as they hunted the criminal on Crown Prince Cecil's orders.
In a moment of life-or-death urgency, Gina had no choice. She left one baby with an old woman at the inn, handing over all her precious belongings as collateral, then fled with the other child to draw the pursuers away.
But tragedy struck when she returned for her child. The old woman trembled and apologised, telling her that both the baby and the token she had left behind had been stolen by thieves.
Devastated beyond words, Gina still had to clutch her remaining child and run into the snow-white night. So began a long stretch of days both fleeing pursuit and desperately searching for her lost child, with no clue where to look.