Orphaned at a young age, Layla Llewellyn feels like the luckiest girl in the world after she moves in with her uncle Bill, a gardener who lives on the scenic Arvis estate in the Berg Empire. To Layla, Arvis seems like paradise; she loves to explore the vast forest, always bringing her notebook to record the wildlife she encounters. She especially loves the birds, watching them with awe as they hatch and grow from fluffy chicks into beautiful birds. Duke Herhardt, the young, handsome lord of Arvis, is also interested in birds-and in Layla. But the difference is, he's interested in birds because he likes to hunt them... and he's interested in Layla because he likes to make her cry. If a lovely bird is trapped in a golden cage, which will she choose: a life of luxury, or freedom?

For Paula, not a single day passed by without a reminder of her ugliness. But it was her hideous face that spared her from being sold to a brothel or dying tragically like her sisters. So when Paula's father sells her off to work at an esteemed nobleman's mansion, she realizes that peasant girls are a disposable resource. However, she finds the young Count Belunita tucked away in an annex, shamefully hidden from the curious eyes of the public. And as Paula struggles to appeal to her tyrannical master's whims, she must also embrace her role as his secret maid.