STheWallflower

In the shadowed corridors of vengeance, Seraphine had meticulously woven the threads of her grand design. 

A scheme that would unfold over the span of several years, allowing her the cruel pleasure of witnessing her enemies descend into the abyss of their own making. 

Each calculated move had been devised to inflict the deepest wounds, to ensure their suffering equaled her own.

However, the tapestry of her well-laid plans began to unravel when an unforeseen twist of fate forced her into a union with the most seemingly inconsequential figure in the empire—the fifth prince, Elarian. 

The very mention of his name brought forth a bitter taste of disappointment, like the sour residue of dashed hopes.

Elarian, the fifth of the elven lineage, was infamous within the echelons of high society for his seemingly docile and coddled existence. To the privileged elite, he was but a jest, a perpetual punchline to their idle chatter. 

Despite possessing the latent potential of an S-class water mage, he had navigated his life without encountering the crucible of training or adversity. Surrounded by opulence and the warmth of unconditional love, his existence was cocooned in privilege.

For the royal family, marriage had become an act of desperate necessity—an ultimatum to compel Elarian's long-overdue maturation. They believed that the bonds of wedlock would serve as the crucible to forge a prince worthy of his lineage.

And so, Seraphine, the harbinger of her own vendetta, found herself shackled to a seemingly insufferable companion—Elarian, the reluctant prince. 

The convergence of their destinies ignited a volatile cocktail of emotions, birthing a tempestuous maelstrom that could only result in disdain.

From the moment their paths converged, Seraphine's enmity surged forth like a torrential tide, consuming her thoughts and sentiments. 

It was a sentiment equally reciprocated by Elarian, whose once tranquil existence was now marred by the storm of her disdain.

As Seraphine embarked on her treacherous journey to dethrone the oppressive Duke and dismantle the vile machinery of injustice that plagued those bereft of magical abilities, she found herself burdened with an unexpected responsibility—a cumbersome infant in the form of Elarian.

But therein lay the crux of their predicament—an irreconcilable paradox. 

How could Seraphine ever hope to form an alliance with a man who had never known the depths of suffering, who lived in blissful oblivion, unburdened by the torment that fueled her unrelenting fire? 

How could Elarian, shielded by the armor of privilege, endure the relentless lashings of Seraphine's acerbic tongue, understanding the true weight of her words only in the nocturnal solitude that shrouded him just before the embrace of sleep?

Their union was a discordant symphony, a cacophony of opposing forces, each vying for dominance in the tumultuous theater of their shared existence. 

As the wheels of destiny ground forward, their fates became inexorably entwined, bound by the chains of a marriage that held within its crucible both the promise of transformation and the perilous threat of destruction.

[cover made by AI]

Table of The Guide to Survival by the Trashy Duke's Daughter

Table of contents

Volume 1