A powerful duke needs to marry before the succession council meets in six months, but his real love is a commoner he's hidden for years. He contracts a minor noble's daughter to play his duchess publicly — she gets her family's debts erased and a title. She agrees knowing it's fake. What she doesn't know: someone is assassinating the duke's inner circle, and being his "wife" just put a target on her back. Now the only person keeping her alive is a husband who wasn't supposed to care.