Eleanora von Aethelgard, a daughter of a modest viscount near the treacherous Azure Valley border, now wore the weight of a crown she never desired. Born and raised in a land where the threat of monsters was as constant as the sunrise, she had grown used to unpredictability and danger.
Every few years, without fail, monsters from the Azure Valley would breach the edges of her territory, leaving devastation in their wake, shattered homes, ruined harvests, and grieving families. Survival required resilience, and so Eleanora had learned to carry herself with quiet composure and grace beyond her years.
When her name was chosen to be offered in marriage to a royal prince—a son born not of the queen but of a royal consort—she hadn't held grand illusions of love or destiny.
