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

10 July, 1371. St Ivan's Palace, Havietten

The rest of the confinement seemed to drag on for ages and yet also fly by in the blink of an eye.

There must be something about having a baby that destroys your ability to gauge the passing of time, Celia rationalised to herself as she walked out of the chapel. Otherwise how can something feel long and short all at once?

The mass that signalled her return to court life had just finished. She was officially ready to resume her role as queen and mother to her people.

And to find out what chaos had been created by the father of the people during her absence.

She nodded absently to acknowledge the bows and greetings she received on the walk back to her apartments. She couldn't help but notice the attention her appearance was drawing.

The Ends Justify the Means