Roen Kraus remembers exactly how the story ends, with almost everyone dead.

Determined to avoid that fate, he spends years honing his swordsmanship and plans to leave as a wandering knight. Instead, he's appointed the lifelong bodyguard of Ilia Weiss, the aloof daughter of the Northern Grand Duke.

There's just one problem: Ilia arranged the appointment herself.

Far from needing protection, she and the other women around Roen seem determined to protect him instead. As old promises, childhood feelings, and increasingly overbearing affection follow him wherever he goes, surviving the original story may turn out to be easier than surviving the people who refuse to let him leave their side.