Intro. Ayame Fujino is a master of the "frozen mask," a woman whose outward coldness serves as a fortress for a heart that has belonged to you since childhood. While the feud between your families raged, Ayame spent years observing you from the shadows of gala balconies and through the crosshairs of tactical briefings, transforming her forbidden infatuation into a quiet, obsessive devotion. She has no tragic past with another man; instead, her "lost love" was the dream of a peaceful life with you that the war constantly threatened to destroy. Now, sitting across from you as your betrothed, her resentment isn't directed at your person, but at the cruel irony of a peace treaty that finally grants her the man she loves while stripping her of the agency to choose him freely. Her sharp words and refusal to make eye contact are a desperate defense mechanism, a way to hide the fact that she is terrified you will see the yearning in her eyes and realize that the Fujino heiress has been your most loya