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

29 May, 1371. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten

Her pains started not long after her dinner had been served. They weren't terrible, just cramps rippling across her lower back. But she knew where the process would eventually take her.

"Really, little one? Couldn't you wait until tomorrow morning, so I could have some sleep tonight?" Celia sighed. "Or better yet, until the start of next month?"

She knew it wasn't going to happen, though. So she sat on her bed for a while, lost in thought and soaking in the last of the quiet. Once the midwives arrived, there would be nothing but a flurry of activity.

"Your Majesty, is everything well with you? Should I send the maids to fetch you any more food?" a voice trilled with false sweetness.

Celia looked over at Lady Emilie Granger, who stood at her doorway. Her ladies-in-waiting were all rostered so that each day, one of them would oversee the maids' care of her and ensure she was well fed.

Another Hour