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."
The Most Handsome One
Black, ominously large horses galloped towards the Duke's castle, the loud clopping of their hooves resonated through the stillness of the frozen courtyard, cutting it like a blade.
Following the four great obsidian stallions, the tall gates of the castle welcomed a big and wide wooden carriage, painted all black, with no windows on its walls.
The men on the horses were just as mysterious and dark – dressed in all black, with their heads and faces covered, they all seemed to move in unison, and as they rode through the snow, with every sudden gust of the cold northern wind, their long black capes fluttered like the spurts of raging flame.
The Black Flame.
Stopping his horse in front of the back entrance to Tillian's castle, a tall, broad-shouldered man raised his hand in the air and gestured for the rest of his party to turn their horses and move in the direction of the knights' quarters.