Ardenne's king is dead, and the country has been foundering ever since. The rightful heir to the throne, Prince Yuel, has gone missing - and, in his wake, a usurper has taken the throne.
The new king, Salim, is of lowly birth, and he is paranoid alongside it. Cold, ruthless, and hungry for power, Salim has been combing Ardenne for the missing prince, who he means to have put to a swift death. The country only needs one king, after all, and it could very well cost Salim his hard-earned throne should the prince resurface.
Six years have passed, however, since Yuel's disappearance, and nobody has seen hide nor hair of him. Tavi, Yuel's older cousin, and a deposed royal now in Salim's service, believes his younger cousin to have died, and he has since put the young man from his mind.
Tavi's day-to-day is concerned with his ailing mother, who has been unwell ever since her husband's betrayal over a decade prior, and with his job as Salim's spy and assassin. In exchange for his mother's care, Tavi has been forced into the unenviable position of scouring the country searching for dissenters, whom he swiftly silences: the young, old, rich, and poor alike.
Tavi's hands are awash with blood: so much so, he doubts Yuel would recognise him even if their paths did converge once more...
But fate is a fickle, and Tavi soon learns that his feelings for Ardenne's missing prince are more complicated than he ever could have imagined.