Half Scheming for the Realm, Half for You

“Wait for me to come back!” He swung onto his horse. She nodded obediently. With no one to rely on, she finally had someone to hope for and wait for.

Before he could return, the legal wife who had once thrown her out took her back and made her replace her mute half-sister as the bride of a certain prince, whose face had been disfigured. In the end, she was poisoned until she was both mute and blind, then married into the prince’s household. He never saw her after she arrived, until one day he happened to spot her sunning herself. He was so shocked he nearly dropped his jaw. I’ve been looking for you all this time. So you were here!

But why had the woman he loved become like this?

Blurb One: Ever since being kicked out of the bedroom,

he’d tried every trick to move back in.

Then one day, joy finally came his way.

He fell ill. “Awooo, this illness came at the perfect time.”

While she was away, he hurriedly grabbed his bundle and slipped back into the bedroom.

When she returned, he winked at his attendant.

The attendant said, “His Highness is very ill.

He needs you to look after him.”

She hesitated for a moment.

“Then make sure he leaves as soon as he recovers.”

He grumbled, “If I weren’t sick, who’d want to come back?”

That was what he said, but in his heart he was wondering

how he could keep from getting better.

Blurb Two: “Oh no, Her Majesty has moved into the Cold Palace again!”

The man gritted his teeth.

“I knew she had ulterior motives when she had the Cold Palace renovated so thoroughly!”

“Please go coax her back!”

“I won’t. I’d rather climb the wall at night and break my neck than coax her!”

That night, in the Cold Palace...

“I was wrong!”

“About what?”

About what? Oh no,

he hadn’t thought that question through before coming here!

What kind of misery is this?