Gabrielle_Johnson_6482

“You must bear a child, Celia. what good is a woman who isn’t a mother? What good is an empty womb?”

“Especially when it’s a foreign womb, like yours…”

It’s not an easy life when you’re watched month after month, when all the blame is placed at your feet for your young husband having no heir. 

Celia Devon Tralhamir, Crown Princess of Havietten, waits every month with hope mingled with fear. 

A child will secure her future. But it will also bind her for life to a husband she neither loves or respects, who refuses to see her abilities. Is that what she wants?

Is she content to prioritise security over happiness, and be a wordless decorative vessel all her life?

Or is she brave enough to try to forge her own path and seize fulfilment on her own terms? Even in a society that cannot recognise individual brilliance in a mere woman.

A sequel to the WEBNOVEL book “Earning the Love of a Princess”, this novel follows another woman born into the Royal House of Devon, trying to fight the confines that threaten to stifle her happiness.

The Loneliest Ballad

Celia wasn't sure how long she'd spent talking with various peasants but she found herself enjoying it a great deal. The little earth walled cottage was crammed with bodies and laughter, people sitting on every surface possible. The air was scented with the smoke from the hearth mixed with vegetable stew.

Such a simple life these souls lead, she mused. They face struggles with things I have no experience with, they make sacrifices I'll never have to make. And yet, even with so few earthly goods, their lives seem so…full. Full of the little joys that really matter.

Mine is the empty one in comparison.

Celia soon found herself in lively conversation with a young woman that carried a babe in her arms. The mother let Celia cradle the little one and bounce him on her knee.

Mine Alone