Sword and Scepter

Olivia Smith, the legitimate daughter of the Smith family, had her engagement stolen by her half-sister Ivy Smith, who also took her dowry. Her former fiancé Edward Brown planned to marry Ivy as his wife and take Olivia as a concubine. To escape this fate, Olivia volunteered to marry the infamous eighty-year-old tyrant of Northreach. On her wedding night, she grabbed a knife to defend herself—only to discover that her groom was none other than Kael Voss, the young war god she had seen riding through the plains that very day. He smiled and asked, "Plotting to kill your husband?" From that moment on, Olivia rose as Princess Serenity. On her return visit home, she brought an imperial decree that crushed her family and reclaimed everything they had taken from her. Later, when Ivy and Edward arrived in Northreach as envoys, Olivia learned that Kael had known all along that she was the one who had saved his life years ago—and that he had specifically chosen her. Together, the couple broke conspiracies and opened trade routes, rising from household vendettas to matters of state.