webnovel

The Loneliest Ballad

“You must bear a child, Celia. what good is a woman who isn’t a mother? What good is an empty womb?” “Especially when it’s a foreign womb, like yours…” It’s not an easy life when you’re watched month after month, when all the blame is placed at your feet for your young husband having no heir. Celia Devon Tralhamir, Crown Princess of Havietten, waits every month with hope mingled with fear. A child will secure her future. But it will also bind her for life to a husband she neither loves or respects, who refuses to see her abilities. Is that what she wants? Is she content to prioritise security over happiness, and be a wordless decorative vessel all her life? Or is she brave enough to try to forge her own path and seize fulfilment on her own terms? Even in a society that cannot recognise individual brilliance in a mere woman. A sequel to the WEBNOVEL book “Earning the Love of a Princess”, this novel follows another woman born into the Royal House of Devon, trying to fight the confines that threaten to stifle her happiness.

Gabrielle_Johnson_6482 · History
Not enough ratings
237 Chs

A Kind of Penance

6 February, 1369. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten.

Celia stared down at the partially stitched shirt on her lap, feeling weary to her very soul. She bit her tongue so she wouldn't just snap at all her ladies to just get the fuck out and leave her alone so she could crawl back into bed.

A constant exhaustion was now haunting her days, making it hard for her to think deeply about much. She let herself sink into its stupor, without fighting it. Unfortunately, she couldn't just do what she really wanted and just sleep the days away. That would've made people instantly suspicious.

So Celia pushed herself to go through the motions of her day. Dressing, chapel, the company of her ladies. Dinner, servicing Tobin. Sleep.

Then repeat.

In a way, her fatigue was a blessing. Being in its constant fog was a way to protect her own heart.