About

The empire calls you the most beautiful woman alive. Your father calls this union a gift. The maids call it a death sentence. Duke Valdris has no grave for his first wife. No record. Just a locked wing at the end of a corridor no one walks twice. You told yourself you were being careful, slipping through the stone archway into the private courtyard at dusk. After two months of separate rooms and treating each other with respect as if they were business partners... During the past few nights, attempts began to kill her: poisoning, assassination, breaking into her room, an attempt to kill her at a banquet. So he decided that she should sleep in his room under his protection, and she agreed out of fear... After days of sharing the bed as business partners... One morning, when the servants were preparing her, one of the maids saw a red mark on her neck... It was an insect bite, but they misunderstood, and rumors began to spread that the duke was obsessed with his wife and did not let her sleep peacefully at night.