I Wed the Wolf Lord in My Sister's Place

Alpha Ironfist arrives for his chosen bride Lila, but she has vanished. Raymond orders a search while Ironfist grants only three moonbells before the pact is broken. Amid the chaos, Nia steps forward and offers to marry him in her sister's place.

After the blood-moon rite, Ironfist departs with only a word about war at the border. Nia returns to the physicians hall, where colleagues gossip about the Alpha's marriage without realizing she is the bride. That evening Ironfist appears to take her to visit her family.

In the carriage, Nia admits to Ironfist that she married him to protect her mother from punishment. When they arrive at House Valon, Raymond panics over the substitution, but Ironfist presents bride gifts and declares he will not let the house be slighted.

Alpha Ironfist arrives at House Valen in person, surprising Raymond, who insists he need not have troubled himself. Ironfist declares that Nia is his bride and that coming himself is the respect she deserves, promising she will have whatever she wants.

Raymond strikes his wife over spilled soup, and Alpha Ironfist stops him, sending Nia for burn ointment. He transfers the deed to Ironfreath Manor into her name and tells her she need never return to House Valen. Back at the manor, Nia asks whether they will share a room.

Alpha Ironfist returns to camp overnight because the Duskwood border is unsettled, leaving Nia alone at the manor. She tells her maid that as long as the marriage holds and her mother stays safe, nothing else matters. Later she finds her underwear missing and catches Alpha Ironfist holding it.

Alpha Ironfist returns the undergarment to Nia and restrains himself. After she dresses, he asks her directly whether there is someone else in her heart.

Alpha Ironfist says he understands if Nia has someone else, as long as appearances are kept for the alliance. Nia wrestles with her feelings, realizing she is complicating a political marriage. Ironfist then calmly instructs her to hire a private investigator and take half his assets if he ever betrays her.

Alpha Ironfist dismisses rumors about other women and vows to be faithful to Nia. Nia tells herself they are husband and wife now and decides to stop overthinking and accept the physical reality of their marriage.

Nia chats with a friend and admits her view of Alpha Ironfist has softened, maybe even a little. At the physicians hall, Roderick tries to give her roses, but she refuses, saying her husband wouldn't like it, leaving Roderick furious.

Nia finishes with a patient and gets a message that Alpha Ironfist is coming to pick her up. Roderick and Elena corner her in the hall, mocking her for inventing a husband and making crude remarks. Just then, Alpha Ironfist arrives with his men, stunning everyone present.

Alpha Ironfist ignores Roderick and Elena's mockery and leads Nia away. He declares he will pick her up after every night shift, reminding her that as husband and wife they should look after each other.

Nia refuses intimacy out of exhaustion and suggests waiting until moon rest day, but Alpha Ironfist calls it a marital duty. She retorts that they can discuss the next step only when it stops being a duty. The next day, Elena delivers a birthday banquet invitation and taunts Nia about being unable to afford her husband's presence, leaving Nia unsure whether to ask him to come.

Nia asks Alpha Ironfist to accompany her to a colleague's birthday banquet, but he has a prior council dinner. He gives her a treasury token as an allowance instead. At the banquet, Elena taunts Nia about her absent husband, suggesting he would rather handle official business than spend time with her.

Alpha Ironfist meets with Guildmaster Silverleaf and Lord Blackwood in a war tent to discuss postwar trade routes. Learning that Nia is at Elena's birthday banquet, he sends word to treat her well. At the banquet, Elena continues to mock Nia, but Nia points out that Elena's own father is bowing and smiling for the very man Elena ridicules.

Alpha Ironfist brings up the friction between Nia and Elena to Guildmaster Silverleaf. The guildmaster hastily promises to transfer his daughter out of the Physicians Hall the next day, assuring she will never bother Nia again. Later, Nia shows Sarah a crystal image, and the two laugh at the priceless faces from the banquet.

Nia heads back alone when Alpha Ironfist appears, claiming he is passing by and offers to take her home. As they walk, he mentions the crystal image drove the Silverleaf physician mad, and Nia says it did its job. He apologizes for missing the banquet, but Nia feels they remain distant despite living under the same roof.

Nia brings Alpha Ironfist chamomile tea, and he mentions tomorrow is moon rest day, hinting at marital duty. She suggests they start by getting to know each other, and he begins with a kiss. After the kiss, he excuses himself to handle military reports, leaving Nia alone with her thoughts.

Nia goes for her wedding gown fitting, but Nora refuses to meet her and mocks her as a stand-in. Chloe arrives unexpectedly, revealing she grew up at Ironfist Manor and shares a close history with Alpha Ironfist, catching Nia off guard.

Chloe shows Nia around the manor and shares a childhood memory about Alpha Ironfist hiding from crowds. She confides that she was heartbroken after the man she loved married someone else and reveals his wife is from the same town as Nia.

Nora makes a cutting remark to Nia during a meal, implying she should lose weight. Alpha Ironfist demands an apology, but Nora accuses Nia of ruining his life instead. Nia brushes it off yet wonders why Nora hates her so deeply.

Before intimacy, Nia asks Alpha Ironfist if he has a contraceptive draught. Sarah then tells Nia that Elena has been transferred to another wing to push paperwork, and her replacement is Kane, the man Nia once liked.

Nia runs into Kane, the man she once liked, at a restaurant. He apologizes for leaving and admits he could not give up his physician's path for feelings. Learning she is married, he still asks whether she would have said yes if he had proposed back then, but Nia replies only that the past is past and some answers will never be known.

Nora and Chloe spot Nia talking with a man at a restaurant and conclude she is being unfaithful. Ignoring Chloe's plea to keep it quiet, Nora storms into the war room, pushes past Orson, and declares to Alpha Ironfist that Nia has betrayed him.

Alpha Ironfist publicly rejects Nora's accusation, listing three reasons he trusts Nia and threatening to confine Nora in the capital if she shows further disrespect. Later he privately notices the injury on Nia's forehead and offers to have Orson take her to the physicians hall, though a distance remains between them.

Nia asks Orson about Alpha Ironfist, who has been silent for two days. Orson reports a great victory at the border and that the lord is unharmed, but loose ends at camp will keep him away a few more days. Nia is relieved, though her concern lingers.

After the border victory, Alpha Ironfist refuses the victory celebration and insists on going home to see Nia first, bringing her a small gift. Meanwhile, Nia tells Sarah she is content with her marriage, even though her husband is often away at war.

Alpha Ironfist returns early and finds Nia with Sarah, who quickly excuses herself. He gives Nia a gift, telling her it is their first full-moon anniversary. Before the moment settles, a messenger from Bluestone Physicians Hall calls her away for an urgent patient, and as she leaves, someone mocks her outside.

Nia works late at Bluestone Physicians Hall while onlookers question why she always returns home late and mock her husband as a hired stand-in. After she thanks Alpha Ironfist for donating herbs and silver, someone tells her to drop the act and demands to meet the old noble or the handsome man she hired.

At the Physicians Hall, someone confronts Nia with photos of her stepping out of a carriage at the back door for days, demanding to know what she is hiding and implying she is an old noble's mistress. Nia fires back that the accuser's eyes and brain are failing, and that the hall is the right place for that. The accuser threatens to snap her out of it, but ends up getting doused with water.

Kane crosses a line with Nia at the Physicians Hall, and Roderick orders the guards to drag him out. Alpha Ironfist arrives and publicly confronts Roderick for trying to strike his wife, rebuking House Blackwood for raising such a reckless son. Roderick's father erupts, cursing his son for offending the wrong man.

Onlookers recognize Nia's husband as Alpha Ironfist, the hall's biggest patron. He declares that he founded the hall to save lives, not for people to hide behind family names and humiliate his wife, and that anyone who disrespects her does not belong.

As Nia leaves the Physicians Hall, Kane catches up and offers to take her home. She declines, saying her husband has already arranged it. Kane presses her directly, asking if there is truly no chance left between them, but Nia only thanks him for his help today.

Kane asks Nia to review case files late at night, but Alpha Ironfist confronts her. He notes how intimately Kane addresses her and how well he knows her childhood. Nia asks if he is jealous and says she was not avoiding him, only thought he would not care where she went.

Alpha Ironfist reminds Nia they have not fulfilled their marital duty. During an intimate moment, he tells her to bite him instead of herself. When she says it hurts, he says he likes the mark. The next day, he refuses to return to camp and insists on taking his wife for their wedding portraits.

The photographer directs Alpha Ironfist and Nia to stand closer and forget everyone else, looking only at each other. Ironfist suggests a shot with a kiss and tells Nia not to be nervous. As they pose, Nia tries to push away distracting thoughts before the photographer tells them to hold still.

Chloe is visibly upset on set. Nora confronts Nia, accusing her of stealing Alpha Ironfist and ruining Chloe's life, insisting he was meant to marry Chloe. Nia asks if they were truly together, Ironfist states that whatever they had is long over, and Nora apologizes to Chloe, saying she was only trying to protect her.

Alpha Ironfist is unusually distracted from military affairs, and his attendant remarks how much he resembles his wife. Nia arrives to help and brings up seeing Chloe, pressing him about their past. Ironfist clarifies there is nothing between them, teases her for being jealous, and admits to himself that seeing her every night makes it harder to hold back.

Bluestone Physicians Hall assigns Nia and Kane to co-lead a public pharmacology lecture for the townspeople. Alpha Ironfist learns of the arrangement and tells Nia that while the lecture is a good thing, he does not like her presenting it with Kane.

Nia and Kane discuss the next lecture, but Kane brings up the moon rest day bath they have not taken and suggests they bathe together. Nia shifts the conversation to their wedding in two weeks, and they agree to go for a fitting on moon rest day. Later at the physicians hall, Elena delivers staunching herbs and pointedly praises Nia and Kane's harmony, hinting at private closeness.

Chloe approaches Nia under the pretext of returning an item Alpha Ironfist left behind, insisting she has no intention of coming between them. Nia sees through the ploy, declares her trust in her husband, and states the marriage is sealed. Alpha Ironfist learns of the encounter and orders it ended.

During a fitting, Nora accuses Nia of keeping Alpha Ironfist from Chloe. Nia warns her not to be used as a weapon. Alpha Ironfist confronts Chloe, exposing that she spread lies and used Nora against Nia, and issues a final warning. Nora realizes she was manipulated.

Nora apologizes to Nia and gives her a custom-made jewelry piece as a peace offering. Chloe storms in demanding to know why Alpha Ironfist revoked her wedding invitation and expelled House Ashworth. He reveals that Elena confessed and Chloe leaked the crystal images to smear Nia, then orders Chloe never to return to Iron Fang Manor.

Nia returns to House Valon and finds her mother in a difficult situation, with her father Raymond ordering them around. She pushes back using her status as Alpha Ironfist's wife, forcing her father to back down, then decides to stay and care for her mother.

Nia meets Alpha Ironfist during wedding preparations and they exchange a few words. A woman suddenly bursts in, identifying herself as Lila, and demands to know who gave Nia permission to marry the wolf lord, threatening to expose the stand-in bride secret.

Lila confronts Nia at the ceremony, accusing her of stealing the marriage pact, and orders her to disappear. She then demands Alpha Ironfist cancel the wedding, claiming Nia only agreed to protect her mother. Ironfist refuses and reveals that he and Nia sealed their marriage pact on the night of the Blood Moon.

Their father berates Lila for sabotaging the alliance, but Lila refuses to take Nia's place and insists Nia cannot marry Ironfist either. Nia asks why. Lila says she is not jealous — she has been reaching out to House Valen's former loyalists and creditors, and she needs Nia's help with something else.

Kane confronts Nia about the forced marriage and asks her to leave with him in the morning for the Northern Physicians Hall. Nia returns home, where Ironfist tends to her injured foot and gives her a wedding ring that commands every Ironfang bank, then asks her not to go.

Lila offers Ironfist a deal: she will keep Bluestone–Ironfang ties intact if he gets Nia's mother out of House Valen. She then confronts Raymond, exposing how he abused and used Nia's mother and her own mother until death. Lila reveals she and Nia have been working together for years, and Nia severs all ties with her father.

Nia's mother publicly dissolves her bond with Raymond, declaring she will no longer endure the marriage. When Raymond falls ill, Nia orders him taken to the physicians hall under watch and announces she now runs House Valen. Lila then reveals that Ironfist transferred every contract to her so Nia could care for her mother, and urges Nia to leave Bluestone before he changes his mind.

Nia tells her mother she never planned to leave and only came to ensure her mother's safe departure from House Valen. She declines the offer to go to the Southern Territory and tells Kane that marrying Ironfist has always been her choice. Kane accepts her decision and wishes her happiness.

Nia arrives at the wedding and apologizes to Ironfist, promising she never planned to leave. He proposes and they exchange vows. Later, Nia asks why he agreed to marry her back then. Ironfist admits he always wanted only her and deliberately provoked Lila into running away.