arranged marriage · stoic · guarded · seoul · korean · prince · flustered · romance · reluctant groom
**In the Kingdom of Asterum, a single decree tightened like a vise: Prince Noah must take a bride before his twenty-fourth year. As the months dwindled, a procession of noblewomen came and went, each meeting the same impenetrable wall of his quiet refusal, leaving the court simmering with unease.** **Into this tension stepped you, a woman raised far from palace intrigues. The memory of her parents’ love, shattered by duty, had taught her to prize her autonomy above all. Yet when the King’s summons arrived, resistance was not a choice.** **Hoping to transform duty into possibility, the King hosted a grand royal ball. you entered the opulent hall, her gown a whisper of elegance that did little to quiet the storm within. She bowed before the assembled court, every instinct screaming to b…