Two countries, Lezan and Genare were at war, with Lezan at the losing end. Genare wanted a marriage between the two countries to promote harmony, of course, it was also a disguise as a mockery because their candidate was Ines, the illegitimate daughter of Genare's second princess. Marrying Ines to the Crown Prince could be seen as an insult because illegitimate children were not taken kindly during that era. Rayon Eleanor, the Grand Duke of Lezan and second in line for the throne took over the responsibility. He also hated illegitimate children because his parents were mu*dered by his illegitimate uncle, without knowing the uncle was ab*sed by said parents.

Ines had her secret. She made a pact with a demon, Kian, to escape her life and the pact stated that she would give up 10 years of her life to Kian. They both end up in the countryside where Ines becomes assistant to an old herbalist. Rayon managed to track down Ines and brought her to his mansion. They got married and their son, Caeser, a spitting image of Rayon, was born.

After six years, Ines knew her time was almost up. Apart from the pact with Kian, she was also poisoned by Rayon's aunt. Rayon's aunt wanted all the good things to go to her son but, was too afraid to do anything toward Rayon himself as he was Genare's War God. So, her targets were Ines and Caeser. Ines made Rayon promise to treat Caeser better before ending up vomiting blood in front of him.

Rayon, feeling guilty for not believing Ines and probably also realizing that he loved her, kept her body in a room. After days, he agreed to give her a proper burial. No one was grieving for Ines. Most of them attended the funeral mainly to discuss Rayon's second marriage. Rayon canceled the funeral and again, kept Ines's body. At the same time, he kept seeing her apparition. He also punished a maid and his aunt for the poisoning case. While doing the investigation and punishing the evildoers, Rayon sort of forgot he had a son. Kian took over as Caeser's caretaker.

Because of the pact, Ines's soul did not disintegrate. Kian managed to transfer her soul to the body of a sickly noble lady. This part was mostly lost in MTL translation. So bear with me. Anyway, Rayon somehow recognized Ines in a new body. His groveling did not work because Ines had had enough. Ines's soul managed to transfer to her own body, partly thanks to Rayon because he never buried her. Ines decided to move to the countryside. Kian and Caeser followed. And that was practically the end of the main plotline.

Fireworks for everyone who was rooting for Ines to not accept Rayon back in her life. But wait, the author decided to write a side story.

As Caeser grew up, Ines realized that he liked swordsmanship. So occasionally, Caeser will return to Rayon's mansion to learn swordmanship. Rayon took the chance to also visit Ines from time to time. They became tea drinking buddy. Ines was still weak and sickly. During the coldest day, while Caeser was at Rayon's place, Ines somehow transported herself to his mansion. Long story short, they reconciled. Why would you do that author?

The story opens with Ines's death and then proceeds to detail a flashback that leads to that moment. Kind of like the Remarried Empress. It got back on track around the 40-ish or 50-ish chapter where we visited Ines' death. So, start MTL-ing from around that chapter if you want to escape the angst. Also, avoid the side story if you cannot forgive Rayon. Lol. Oh, and Rayon took over the pact from Ines. He had a much longer lifespan than Ines. So, losing 10 years was nothing for him.