married without love haley and nathan novel

[Mature Content!] In a world where power and wealth dictated one's fate, Eliana was born into a life of poverty, the daughter of a humble villager. Tragedy struck early when her mother passed away at just six years old, leaving a void that was quickly filled by her father's new wife-a ruthless duchess from the village. The duchess brought with her four children of her own: one son and three daughters, all spoiled and cruel. They despised Eliana for her destitute roots, treating her as little more than a burden. Her father, once a loving man, turned a blind eye to her suffering at the hands of her stepfamily, becoming a mere shadow of the protector she once knew. The years passed unforgivingly, and by eighteen, Eliana had been reduced to a servant in her own home, subject to the whims and cruelties of her stepmother and step-siblings. Seeing no further use for the girl, the duchess arranged a marriage to a reclusive duke from a neighboring town. The duke, an eccentric man needing a wife merely to uphold appearances, accepted the arrangement without a second thought. Little did the scheming duchess know the dark truth behind the man she so eagerly married off her stepdaughter to. The so-called duke was no mere nobleman; he was the Demon God himself, a being of unimaginable power who ruled over all creation. Feared by mortals and deities alike, his true nature was hidden behind the guise of a simple lord, using his estate as a place of respite from the burdens of his eternal dominion.