Cat princess Amelia was stood up on her bonding night, so she bonded with Valen—her fiancé's younger brother, who had secretly loved her ten years. When his mistress Marnie hired wolves to poison her, Valen took the curse and the Truth Crystal exposed the plot; at the ceremony, Jasper's frame-up crystal played his own decade-long devotion instead. Exiled to die in the mines, Jasper watched Valen and Amelia rule together.
