You're poison, running through my veins
You're poison
I don't want to break these chains

(Alice Cooper - Poison)

Giselle is the head of a charity organization. She appears to be a very sweet and caring person, but sometimes even innocent or naive.
Only few know about her actually being quite short-tempered...

Valerian was once a gambling addict who ended up running away from all his problems and almost dying due to being homeless. He was saved by Giselle, who eventually even took him in.
Little did he expect his past to crawl up to him...

After some time together, they even fell in love with each other. They were a sweet couple and it seemed like nothing could ever pull them apart...
Yet when the mafia-like group, that Valerian was indebted to due to gambling, found him and threatened to kill him if he doesn't pay it all back, he was too desperate to ask for help. Instead, he went searching through the charity organization's files in hopes of finding some unused or not donated amounts of money...

However, this lead to him finding out that most parts of the donations directly went to their own wallets instead of whatever place they officially wanted to support. Betrayed and hurt (as he hated such people due to having been scammed and used enough in his life), he confronted Giselle with his findings and didn't believe her a single word when she said she had no idea. And due to his given situation, Valerian decided to blackmail her to published all of this, unless she'd pay him certain high amounts of money each month.

Irritated and hurt, she had no other choice than giving in to his demands. But it just didn't feel like something the Valerian she knew would do. And so she decided to spy on him... And discovered his secret with that mafia-like group. She was disappointed that he hadn't had enough trust in her to tell her about it... It really, really angered her that he was such a coward and... didn't even listen when she told him that she wasn't involved in the whole scam scenario. Eventually Giselle confronted him and threatened to just kick him out and not giving him a single cent..... Unless he'd agree to her deal of basically becoming her punching bag.

And so, the once so sweet romance turnt into a rather abusive relationship, held together through blackmail. While they officially still appeared as a loving couple, they hated each other in private.
This mess didn't seem to change for a long time....

Until a mysterious man suddenly appeared in Valerian's life. A white-haired man who first introduced himself as 'Myrkky' and later as Mikael, who seemed eager to give him the affection he was basically starved off by now. Well, not that it mattered to enjoy it for some time, considering this fake relationship that he had to keep up for his public appearance, right?
...
If only he had known what kind of chaos he and later even Giselle would get into by getting close to Mikael...

I'm falling deep into a pit of vipers
Over me, over me and I can't break free
Secrets run deep when you're in a pit of vipers
Slithering, whispering, feel the venom poisoning me

(Simon Curtis - Pit of Vipers)