Saved By The Mad Duke
Aideen Ruan, though a royal princess, was always unwanted due to the circumstances of her birth. Born blind to a hostage concubine, she possessed an intriguing beauty; however, her disability rendered her utterly useless to the royal family. Even when the struggling Count Crueder reluctantly agreed to take Aideen as his wife to secure the royal dowry, her life failed to improve. A year into their marriage, Aideen's inability to produce an heir sealed her fate. The princess was destined for exile to the Temple, consigned to spend the remainder of her days in isolation and abandonment. Contrary to her anticipations, instead of the Temple, Aideen found herself within the cold walls of Duke Tillian Valentine's castle. Duke Valentine, the last scion of the once-revered Valentine family that ruled the Kingdom before the "Fratricide Rebellion", now presided over the desolate Northern lands. Faced with fear and confusion, Aideen expected her life to perpetuate its cycle of misery, only to discover that Duke Valentine might hold the key to a new opportunity, a chance at a life she had never envisioned. "You bewitched my body and soul. Put an intoxicating spell on me, shackled my heart to yours with your magic. If I could exchange my eyesight with you, I would do it just to make you see what a man dying from love looks like."
Red Eyes
Tillian tugged the reins of his black stallion, forcing it to stop in front of the forest. He jumped off the horse and threw his large sword into the snow, adding more on top of it as he started kicking his foot around. Sir Stanis followed his example.
Tired, dirty, dripping with sweat, and covered with dried splatters of dark blood, the men had just finished cleaning up the territories, slaying the roaming beasts, and burning their dead bodies.
Stanis grabbed the lower part of his long dark-brown cape attached to the shoulder plates of his black armor and wiped his wet forehead with it, releasing a long, exhausted exhale as he said in a cold tone,
"Damn it... I don't remember the last time we had to kill so many beasts in one day. Was it really the fire that made them so anxious? They never used to fight like that before. They looked genuinely scared and angry."