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."
Why Did You Come To The North?
"I don't understand..." Aideen shifted in her seat, the heavy weight of Ahspid's words refusing to settle in her mind. "What was the formula for if it asked for her life? What happened afterwards?"
The mage dropped his head on his broad chest and shook it slowly, displaying his own lack of understanding.
"The formula disappeared together with Lina. I was too shocked to remember what it consisted of. My only guess was the combination of witchcraft and alchemy, but I was never able to find either the witch or the alchemist responsible for it. And nobody was punished for her death."
"But how is that even possible?! They committed murder!"
The princess was shocked to hear these outrageous words. Even before she found out that she was a mage too, she knew for a fact that murder by magic was punished by hanging or decapitation because it was a crime just as much as all other types of murder. So how could nobody be punished for the death of Ahspid's assistant?