Life magicians can’t stand other people’s pain. For them it’s more real—and more terrifying—than their own. So Alberra could never understand why her father, who gave her a slave, gave her a slave to begin with—she was a life magician. She tried to be a kind mistress, but she never noticed his looks and feelings. He, meanwhile, was ready to keep his love a secret and even silently watch the selection of suitors, but he had to pretend to be a candidate in order to protect his mistress. Then the struggle for her heart and her life became a true fight, because the selection was only a backdrop for a conspiracy against the last life magician.