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 looked over at him, stunned.

Had the wine already gone to his head and made him decide to just announce her pregnancy to everyone? Why would he be so brash otherwise?

She then looked out across the hall, at all her subjects now toasting her. There was a mix of expressions on their faces. She could see envy, particularly from many of the women, presumably over her impressive fertility. She saw surprise on others' faces, such as those who couldn't believe the queen was publicly with child again when her previous baby in the cradle was barely four months old.

Don't worry, my dear subjects, she thought moodily. You're not the only once's who are shocked by the timing of this pregnancy.

Celia managed to smile widely and accept the duke's congratulations, letting him clink the edge of her cup against hers. But she remained uneasy.

Dammit, Lucas. Where the hell are you? Why aren't you here where I can see you?

The Weakest of Protests