Content Warning: This section of the guide includes descriptions of child abuse.

Diem Bellator kneels in the grass near her home with the glowing Crown over her head. She is convinced that being chosen as Queen of Lumnos is a mistake. Her brother, Teller, encourages her to either find Prince Luther Corbois or to tell their father, Andrei, what has happened. Diem doesn’t want to see Andrei because they have just argued. Suddenly, Luther’s sister Princess Lily Corbois arrives and bows to Diem, who insists that she cannot be the queen because she is a mortal. (It has been decreed that only a Descended can rule Lumnos.) Noticing Diem’s gray eyes, Lily insists that Diem must have Descended blood. She urges Diem to ask Luther for help and states that Diem must soon undergo the Period of Challenging—a point in time when any of the royal houses can challenge her right to the Crown. If Diem retains the Crown after the Period of Challenging, she must then undergo the Rite of Coronation.

Hearing this, Diem panics, remembering her best friend and lover, Henri Albanon. He hates the Descended, and she is worried about his reaction when he discovers her connection to the Crown.