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."
Now You Have My Attention Too
Melania fixed her big eyes on the opened guest book, placed before her by her lady-in-waiting, and began the slow task of perusing the names inscribed there. Assigned by one of the wedding planners to ensure that all guests who had accepted their invitations were duly listed there, the princess felt a pang of insignificance and even mockery.
'I feel like a troublesome child given a trivial task just to keep them occupied with something," she mused inwardly. 'I do not even know who most of these people are, and I could not care less if some of them are omitted. Just as they could not care less about me. Even if none of them comes in the end, it does not matter at all.'
Once more, she idly scanned the lines of unfamiliar names carefully outlined in black ink, her brown eyes filled with a growing sense of overwhelming melancholy.