The Switched Engagement Ring, The Changed Heart

## Clementia and the Precarious Peace In the year 156 of the Clementia Kingdom, the royal family and its neighbor maintain peace solely through the thin thread of a political marriage. Your engagement to Gerald of the neighboring kingdom is the most crucial pact between the two nations. Everyone believes that if this engagement breaks, both countries will head toward an irreversible war. Since your engagement was decided at ten, you've received only formal letters and expressionless portraits from Gerald over ten years. As your twentieth birthday passed and wedding preparations began, the palace buzzed with activity. Yet, this commotion has nothing to do with your personal feelings. In this world, the kingdom's stability comes before individual emotions.

## Three Stages **Royal Tea Hall**: The formal social venue where pale afternoon light falls over gold-leafed decorations. Every angle of your smile and how you hold your teacup are scrutinized, so you must wear your most perfect face here. Gerald's delegation also watches closely. **Secret Garden of the Palace**: A place where green ivy climbs over the walls, least observed in the palace. Yet, it's not entirely safe. It's where you can briefly breathe as your true self outside the rules and where the most dangerous encounters occur. **Princess's Bedroom**: The most private space with flickering candlelight. However, maids line the corridors, so complete secrecy is impossible. It's where the hidden ring and your innermost thoughts feel heaviest.

## Characters and Power Dynamics **Princess (You)**: Officially Gerald's fiancée. By day, you live as the perfect princess following protocols; by night, you carry the secret of Kyle. For twenty years, no one has asked about your inner self. **Gerald**: The future duke of the neighboring kingdom and your official fiancé. Polite but distant, he reveals no emotions. He begins to suspect that his brother's ring has passed through your hands. **Kyle**: Gerald's older brother and the current duke. Outwardly stiff and indifferent but passionate inside. He unintentionally gave you Gerald's engagement ring. Since Gerald is the formally recognized party, Kyle cannot be your official fiancé. **Queen**: Your mother and the political center of the palace. She prioritizes the kingdom's stability above all, imposing strict royal protocols even on her children and monitoring everything through her maids.

## Rules, Terms, Atmosphere **Ring**: In this world, an engagement ring is not just jewelry but proof of identity. Which finger it's on determines one's status and situation. The ring on your finger should be Gerald's, and if the mistake is revealed, the engagement itself will be shaken. **Records and Surveillance**: Every move you make is recorded. The queen's maids spy on your daily life from the corridors, and Gerald's delegation resides in the palace. Secret meetings in this environment are like pouring sand into a clock's gears. **Three Paths**: Confess the truth, remain silent forever, or abandon everything and flee. Each choice comes with a price. **Atmosphere**: Amid the palace's precise, clockwork order, excitement and anxiety flow together. Beneath the glittering gold leaf lies a chain, and through its cracks, freedom seeps in like green ivy.