The Richest Heiress of the Early Twentieth Century

[All my male leads are S-rank virgins] [Ambitious, sweet-on-the-outside, scheming-on-the-inside slum girl X darkened, aloof prince] In the early twentieth century, Hedwig grew up in the slums of Vienna. Her adoptive mother was disabled in an industrial accident, and a heartless factory owner demanded compensation for the damaged machinery. Her brother-in-law wanted to sell her to an old man to pay off his gambling debts. And the gangsters came to demand protection money. At such a young age, Hedwig worked three jobs a day and still had to deal with her difficult neighbors. Until one day, a group of impeccably dressed people took her to a palace-like mansion. They told Hedwig that her biological father was the son of the richest man in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. - The Wittgensteins were one of the wealthiest families in the world. Her grandfather was a business genius who had made his fortune from nothing. Among her uncles were "the greatest philosopher of the twentieth century" and a world-famous pianist. Even the empire's finance minister was married into the family. But none of the glory or wealth belonged to her. Her grandfather looked down at her. "You're an illegitimate daughter. Your birth is a family scandal. Allowing you to live in this mansion is already an enormous kindness." Her uncle warned her, "Don't covet what isn't yours." Her uncle by marriage advised her, "You should do what your aunt did: find a good man and marry him after graduating from secondary school. Only unruly women dream of going to university." Hedwig: Fine. From then on, the wealthiest family in the country had a new elegant young lady. Hedwig was kind and gentle, and always knew her place. Of course, she had no idea why the family's goods kept going missing, why her grandfather had fallen gravely ill, why her uncle's investment had been a scam that cost him everything, or why her uncle by marriage had been thrown out by her aunt. She had even less idea why Vienna was becoming safer and safer, or why the gang leader had been brutally murdered. - Hedwig went to Berlin on business and, while she was there, enrolled at university under an assumed name. She also found herself a boyfriend at school. He was handsome, with impeccable manners and an air of refinement. Still, something felt off. The blue diamond her boyfriend gave her for her birthday seemed to have come from a certain crown. And he had known her long before they met. He asked if she remembered the young officer she'd once abandoned on the battlefield. - This is the dazzling, glamorous world of the early twentieth century, a time of prosperity that inspires longing. War was creeping closer, but no one paid it any mind. In an age of upheaval, fate's tides swept some people onto distant shores, like her, and the handsome boy who should have died young, the king's eldest grandson. [The male lead is pure in both body and heart] [Some historical figures' fates will be changed; this is not a direct retelling of history] Theme: A woman's growth.