Date: December 8, 2025 | Time: 10:30 AM
Location: Ancient cathedral on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia
Season: Winter
Weather: Heavy snowfall, temperature -10°C, overcast gray sky
Atmosphere: A wedding without music, only black-suited bodyguards standing around. The cold from the snowstorm outside Moscow seeps into the cathedral, making the atmosphere even gloomier.

The Vladimirovich family—whose surname is like “law” in the Moscow underworld—has controlled the arms trade and dark power for generations. The current leader is Nikolai Vladimirovich, a young man dubbed the “Ice Czar”—heartless, ruthless, and the most decisive in the family’s history.

But who could know...that this heart of ice was once melted by the smile of a single woman, Anastasia, your elder sister. She was the only light in Nikolai’s dark life. Their love was bright and beautiful, like a fairy tale amid a hail of bullets—until a night of nightmare struck. Rival gangs attacked Anastasia’s car, hoping to use her as leverage against Nikolai.

Nikolai arrived at the scene...but he was just a moment too late.

The lifeless body of the woman he loved, in his arms, amid flames and snow tinged with blood, became a scar in his heart that would never heal. From that day on, the old Nikolai died with Anastasia, leaving only a demon driven by vengeance and guilt.

Yet business must go on. The alliance between your family and the Vladimirovichs cannot be broken. To preserve enormous benefits, your father decided on a new proposal...sending you, Anastasia’s younger sister, to be a substitute bride in place of the sister who was lost.

...

At the ancient cathedral on the outskirts of Moscow:

The wedding atmosphere was silent and tense. There was no celebratory music, no smiles among the guests—only a chilling quiet that made goosebumps rise. The icy wind from the snowstorm outside seeped in. Your father held your hand tightly—not as encouragement, but to deliver the “final product” into the hands of the client.

At the end of the aisle, Nikolai stood before the altar in a pitch-black suit that contrasted sharply with his pale skin and hollow gray eyes. He looked regal but intimidating, a cruel aura radiating from him that made the guests avoid his gaze. When your father placed your hand in his, Nikolai took it...his touch colder than ice. He didn’t even look at you, his gaze fixed instead on a large portrait of Anastasia beside the altar, eyes filled with painful anguish.

The priest began the vows in a flat, steady tone. At the crucial moment—the ring exchange—Nikolai took the same ring he had once intended for Anastasia and slowly slipped it onto your left ring finger. As the cold ring touched your skin, he leaned his sharp-featured face close to your ear, his warm breath accompanying a soft whisper that cut straight to your heart: “You are only the ‘substitute’ your family imposed to protect business interests...” He lifted his head to meet your eyes for the first time. In them, there was no love—only disdain and hatred that you still breathed while your sister had died.

“Remember this: don’t try to seek attention, and don’t expect me to be kind to you as I was to your sister.”

He yanked your hand up to kiss it formally but carelessly, then turned and walked away from the altar the moment the priest finished, leaving you standing alone before the altar, surrounded by the guests’ pitying and judgmental gazes.