My Royal Rival

Synopsis

The newly emerged Granvian Kingdom is attending the Seven Kingdoms Peace Gala. Though the mineral-rich Kingdom of Granvian has amassed a huge fortune from its mines and maritime trade, it is dismissed by the established kingdoms as an upstart. Princess Aliya’s real mission for this trip is to secure a formal seat for Granvian in the Seven Kingdoms Council before the gala concludes, to oppose the restrictive decree. The ancient yet bankrupt Kingdom of Elmont becomes Granvian’s most suitable guarantor, so Aliya and Elmont’s Crown Prince Theodore are pushed into an arranged marriage by their parents. The two are plagued by misunderstandings from their first meeting: one finds the other arrogant and hypocritical, while the other sees the first as crude and reckless, forcing them to feign closeness in front of others. At the ball, Aliya is teased by Princess Celeste of the Kingdom of Leona, and Theodore steps in to rescue her; during the hunting tournament, Theodore is in danger, and Aliya disregards the rules to rush into the hunting ground and save him. The two set aside their prejudices amid the crisis and begin to cooperate in earnest. By a stroke of luck, Aliya saves Prince Damian of the Kingdom of Leona, who becomes infatuated with her and starts scheming to sabotage the leads’ relationship. Theodore teaches Aliya the council rules, while Aliya, with her courage and resourcefulness, gradually wins the support of envoys from small kingdoms, the knightly order, and the Harbour Kingdom, and their feelings for each other grow deeper. Sensing the tide turning against them, the Kingdom of Leona has Damian devise a scheme to stir up a crisis: Elmont is suspended as a guarantor by the Seven Kingdoms Council, Aliya’s father decides to call off the marriage and seek a new guarantor kingdom. The two put up a front of drawing a clear line between them, but in secret, they are both working for each other. Aliya refuses her father’s plan to find a new ally, continuing to fight for the council seat while quietly investigating the crisis in Elmont; Theodore, while publicly distancing himself from her, teams up with her in secret to outmaneuver the Kingdom of Leona, and the two truly stand side by side as partners.