Irene, a bounty hunter, is the biological daughter of Queen Isabella of Olen—a child once lost to a pirate-infested island. Twenty-five years earlier, King Edmund had bribed pirates to abduct the Queen, swapped the royal heir, and kept Isabella drugged for years, driving her to the brink of madness. Upon returning to the Olen royal palace after completing a bounty contract, Irene witnesses her mother being humiliated in public. She immediately intervenes to protect her, severing all ties with the King, his mistress Vivian, and the imposter prince, Samuel.
Irene takes her mother into seclusion to recover; as Isabella’s memory gradually returns, the full extent of the royal family’s heinous crimes is brought to light. After several failed attempts to have them assassinated, a desperate Edmund mortgages the kingdom to the Viseran Empire, seeking to destroy the nation rather than lose his grip on power. While tracing the flow of these funds, Irene crosses paths with an old acquaintance—Leon, the fourth prince of Viseran and the leader of the Silver-Gray Guild. With the evidence of their crimes irrefutable, Edmund and Vivian are sent into exile. When Samuel conspires with foreign enemies to launch an invasion, Irene joins forces with Leon to quell the conflict and successfully locates the true prince, Cian. As Cian has no desire for the throne, Irene—with the overwhelming support of the people—is crowned Queen of Olen, and a permanent alliance is forged between the two nations.
