The Sin of Being Beside You

Iru, called the monster of the imperial palace due to severe burn scars.

Despite people’s contempt and disgust, she was happy because of her comrades in the 9th Knight Order who were like family.

Until the holy sword appeared.

With the emergence of the holy sword, said to make its wielder the emperor according to legend, the imperial family was thrown into chaos, and the 9th Knight Order was also mobilized for the mission to retrieve the holy sword.

But they were ambushed by unidentified assailants,

and Iru, with her last strength before dying, grasped the holy sword.

And when she opened her eyes again, Iru had transformed into a completely different appearance.

A beautiful body without a single scar, free from pain.

‘I’ll have my revenge. I’ll find out who they are and behead them.’

But her newly acquired body is still weak, and she’s about to be sold at a slave auction.

Hearing that a royal has come as a customer, she thinks of somehow being sold to that person to return to the imperial palace….

“How much for this woman?”

Iru looked up in shock at the man who had come up.

The man asking for her price was the 5th Prince Nergal, who absolutely shouldn’t be in a place like this.

The person who was her brief childhood acquaintance and the one who avoided her the most in the imperial palace.

* * *

Nergal gazed at her sleeping form.

He recognized her as Ir the moment he saw her. He couldn’t help it. As a child, he had imagined countless times what she would look like as time passed.

How she would look with her hair grown out after it had been cut short for training, how much deeper her purple eyes would become that used to glare at him asking if he was bullying her again, how much more her arms and legs would grow that she used to boast were longer than her peers’. More often than she chattered about becoming a great knight when she grew up, he had thought about her future.

And he had forever lost the chance to see that future he had imagined.

Because of his mistake.

Nergal’s eyes flashed as he embraced Iru. Whether it was the power of the holy sword or some other wicked force, he didn’t care.

He had no intention of letting go of what he had regained, even if it killed him.

Romance Guide:
* Setting/Genre: Fantasy, Western-style
* Story Keywords: Fantasy, Western-style, Royalty/Nobility, Revenge, First Love, Contract Dating/Marriage, Possessiveness/Jealousy, Competent ML, Straightforward ML, Pure-hearted ML, Virgin ML, Competent FL, Straightforward FL
* Male Lead: Nergal - The 5th prince and chancellor of the Empire. Although he's a royal without a support base, all other royals want to draw him to their side due to his abilities. He appears to be a person without greed, but all his desires are focused on just one person.
* Female Lead: Iru (Ishtar) - A knight from the Kingdom of Levant, which was destroyed by the Empire. Ostracized and called a monster due to burns she suffered as a child. She considers the 9th Knight Order, which accepted her, as her emotional home. She escaped death through the power of the holy sword, but her appearance changed completely.
* Read this when:
You want to see a story of wounded children supporting each other and enduring.

You want to see a story where the male lead, who only watched the female lead from afar due to guilt, decides to hesitate no longer.
* Empathetic quote:
"This is a contract.

He helps with her revenge, and she offers her body to him."