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."
New Proposal
The Royal Meeting Room was not the place for someone of such a high status as a Duke.
Unlike the throne room, which was designated for holding an official audience with the Royal Family, the Meeting Room only welcomed rich commoners and aristocrats who were granted permission to see the King as the elected representatives of their kind or simply because they were able to make noticeable contributions to the continuous development of the Kingdom.
The silence in the room was overbearing. The King sat at the end of the long, rectangular wooden table, its corners ornamented with bizarre carvings filled with gold – the only thing that indicated that, despite the room's modest interior, the person sitting at the table was still in the presence of royalty.
'I did not expect any special treatment but this is simply preposterous. If word of this traveled beyond the border, the King would be reduced to nothing but a commoner himself.'