Highborn noblewoman Cecilia conceals her aristocratic pedigree for four years, living as an ordinary merchant's daughter to support her beloved knight, Edmund. Her world collapses at a victory celebration when she overhears Edmund confessing that he merely used her to provoke his aristocratic first love. Devastated by the callous betrayal, Cecilia drops all plans of asking for his hand and secretly accepts an ancient betrothal to Alvin Varenne, the empire's formidable grand duke.
As Edmund openly courts his returning mistress and abandons Cecilia during dangerous royal hunts, Cecilia quietly prepares her grand wedding using the very hall Edmund neglected. The clueless knight presumes she is desperate to win him back, ignoring the wedding invitations until it is too late. When Edmund finally crashes the banquet hall to assert his ownership, Duke Alvin steps forward to claim Cecilia, leaving the frantic knight kneeling in utter ruin.
