With the Autumn Hunting Festival behind them, Elianna must now begin preparing for her upcoming marriage to Christopher—but marrying a prince isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. If she hopes to learn the ropes and prepare for her eventual position as crown princess, she’s going to have to put her beloved books away and start taking notes. And as if that isn’t harrowing enough for a bibliophile, Elianna also finds herself confronted with an issue all women who marry into the royal family must face: the possibility of Christopher one day having a harem. Will Elianna be able to accept such a development if it’s for the benefit of the crown’s stability? How much will she have to compromise to be with the man she loves?

The spectacle with Irene and her father concludes with the people in support of Elianna as the prince’s betrothed. Wanting to spend some private time with his fiancée, Prince Chris plans a special date at a traveling book market. Eli cannot contain her excitement, surrounded by books and with the man she loves. But soon their romantic outing is interrupted by an accusation and a child—a child claiming that Prince Chris is his father!

Tensions run high at the palace with the arrival of Maldura’s delegation. Chris is more aware of their delicate situation than he’d led Eli to believe, but even Sauslind’s handsome prince can’t anticipate the betrayal of a close ally. Now he doesn’t know who he can trust, and the political world is in an upheaval. Allegiances shift as various factions make their move. People Eli and Chris once thought of as friends may now be enemies. Can they sniff out the traitors before it’s too late? Or will this nightmare tear them and the entire country apart?

When book-loving Lady Elianna spots Prince Christopher—her betrothed in name only—consorting with another noble lady, she realizes the recent rumors must be true. The prince has someone he truly loves, which means the annulment of their engagement is both inevitable and fast-approaching. What she doesn’t realize is that this is merely a surface ripple—one of many where the truth runs deep, in a conspiracy surpassing her imagination!

When book-loving Lady Elianna spots Prince Christopher—her betrothed in name only—consorting with another noble lady, she realizes the recent rumors must be true. The prince has someone he truly loves, which means the annulment of their engagement is both inevitable and fast-approaching. What she doesn’t realize is that this is merely a surface ripple—one of many where the truth runs deep, in a conspiracy surpassing her imagination!

Our Bibliophile Princess spent her days thinking her relationship with Crown Prince Christopher was merely a facade, but now Elianna knows their feelings are mutual. She was serving as his proxy at the Autumn Hunting Festival, but then another noble lady locked her inside an old castle where she was then assailed by foreign rabble-rousers. Fortunately, the prince swooped in with a timely rescue, but just who coordinated this attack to begin with?! There are ulterior motives at play here—ones that seem to involve the entire country.

After so long apart, Elianna and Chris are finally reunited at last, but the repercussions of the epidemic known as the Ashen Nightmare still linger. When Elianna works herself to exhaustion trying to sort out the aftermath, her father whisks her away from the royal palace and sentences her to strict bedrest at the Bernstein estate. How will Chris cope with being cut off from his beloved yet again? In the meantime, a visit to the port city of Kelk to gather evidence of the Odin faction’s crimes takes a few of our heroes on a trip down memory lane. Will they manage to track down the crooks who hurt their loved ones and bring them to justice, or will the culprits give them the slip?