Paradisus Valentinae

Valentina is shocked when her childhood fiancé Aethelred reappears, transformed from a timid boy into a formidable man. He insists their engagement was never broken, despite her claims it ended six years ago. In his possession is an assassination order—sent by Duke Edgar, the very man Valentina is now set to marry. Aethelred refuses to let her go, pressing her with a dangerous question about whether her new union was properly consummated. Enraged, she strikes him, but he remains unnervingly calm, his dark eyes blazing with obsession. He offers her a staggering proposal: choose him, and he will make her the supreme ruler of the entire continent.