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."
Too Excited To Sleep
"Spell? Have you been practicing magic here, Your Highness?"
Tillian carefully brushed the sparkling heap of snow from Aideen's head and covered it with the warm hood of his cloak. The princess turned her pale face towards the Duke and asked, her expression betraying genuine excitement,
"It's the spell that creates an illusion of snowfall, Your Grace! Can you see it? Can you see the snow?"
'Illusion? This doesn't look like an illusion to me.'
Duke Valentine took another brief look around the room, then fixed his glowing red eyes back on the woman before him and nodded,
"Yes, Your Highness, I can see the snow. There is quite a lot of it here, to be honest. I think it's time you took a little break."
He considered moving her closer to the fireplace, only to realize that the fire had been extinguished by the snow as well. Aideen, already turning blue and shaking uncontrollably, widened her eyes and shook her head, rejecting the Duke's suggestion,