Contract with the Tyrant: The Baby Who Keeps Secrets

Ariana is a healing witch. Five years ago, while studying at the Royal Capital’s Academy of Magic, she earned a coveted royal court internship with outstanding academic performance. However, she was framed by her classmate Lily, falsely accused of tampering with forbidden-magic experiments. Overnight, she was stripped of her credentials. Even her secretly-born daughter Isabella was taken away by Lily under the pretext that “an illegitimate child belongs to royal custody”. Four years later, Ariana returns to the royal capital under the alias Rose with her daughter, working part-time as a healer at an apothecary. By chance, she discovers that a young boy she once healed is none other than the illegitimate son of the tyrant Jasper — the very mentor she had secretly admired back in her academy days. Jasper takes her for an ordinary herbal healer, yet he is drawn to her potent healing magic. He offers her a one-year contract as a “court physician”, bringing her into the royal palace. Isabella flits through the palace like a little sprite. She stumbles upon Ariana’s unfinished experimental manuscripts from years past in Jasper’s study and overhears a private conversation between Lily and her confidant. She realizes her mother has been wrongfully accused. The clever little girl begins secretly playing matchmaker, deliberately creating opportunities for Ariana and Jasper to spend time alone. Seething with jealousy over Ariana’s rising favour with Jasper, Lily hatches another plot. She orchestrates a fatal “failed healing” during a court ceremony, pinning the tragedy on Ariana. Ariana is brought before the tribunal. Isabella dashes onto the platform clutching a magical recording stone and plays the full recording of Lily bribing lab assistants and forging forbidden-magic logs. Gasps ripple through the court. Jasper’s face darkens with fury. He immediately strips Lily of her noble title and sentences her to lifelong exile. With the truth laid bare,Jasper learns that his trusted subordinate was the true traitor, and that the intern Ariana he had once misjudged had suffered four years of injustice. He kneels before Ariana and holds out his family ring. Isabella claps her hands beside them and exclaims, “Mother, I told you this uncle isn’t a bad man!” Ariana looks down at the once-arrogant tyrant, who has cast aside all his pride for her. With tears in her eyes, she accepts the ring. Their contractual arrangement blooms into a genuine bond.