Why Does Undine Spragg Marry Ralph In The Custom Of The Country?

She’s a princess. She’s a weapon. She’s the illegitimate daughter no one was supposed to need. For millenia, peace between supernatural kingdoms has been maintained by a brutal tradition: the Bride Swap. An elven princess for a foreign king. Ten years of marriage to buy one hundred and ninety years of fragile silence. This year, the elves must give a bride to the werewolves. Princess Alicia Sunblade was never meant to be the chosen one. Wild, sharp-tongued, and dangerously gifted by both the goddess of war and the goddess of love, she lives in quiet exile from a father who rules with manipulation and fear. But when her king threatens the one person she loves most, Alicia is forced into an arranged marriage with Alpha Rocco Silvermane — the powerful, feared King of Wolfsreach. Elves and werewolves are natural enemies. Their borders bleed tension. Their histories drip with blood. Rocco is everything Alicia was raised to despise: dominant, ruthless, physically overwhelming — and politically untouchable. Yet he has his own kingdom to protect, his own factions to appease, and his own reasons for accepting the swap. Two rulers. Two unwilling sacrifices. One treaty balanced on a knife’s edge. But Alicia isn’t a lamb being led to slaughter. She is a strategist. A seductress blessed by divine persuasion. A warrior hiding behind silk and ceremony. If her father thinks he’s sending her away to be controlled, he may have just delivered his greatest weapon straight into enemy hands. Because if Alicia is going to be traded… She won’t just survive the wolves. She might just make their king kneel.

What exactly does it mean to be his bride? *** Every year, in each of the seven villages that made up the great Kingdom of Ignas, a Choosing Ritual was conducted. During this Chosing Ritual, one of the ladies in the village would be chosen to be the dreaded Dragon King's Bride. No one knew exactly why the ritual was being performed every year or what happened to the brides that had been chosen in the past. Was he turning them into slaves? Feeding them to his dragon? Or was he... feeding on them? That couldn't be ruled out. After all, there were rumours that the king wasn't like them, that he wasn't human. Yet the question relentlessly troubled the people's heart. What was he using them for?! But they dared not question the King, afraid of what fate daring to go against him would be. Anyways, none of these was Belladonna's business. Although it was her village's turn to produce a bride this year, she was certain she wouldn't get chosen. Why? Well, because she had a plan and she was absolutely certain it wouldn't fail her... or would it?

Twenty-eight-year-old playboy Ralph Van Halen has always lived life on his own terms. As a founder and Production Head of one of the country's leading Fashion Houses, JC group Inc., he's loaded. His stunning good looks make him one of the most eligible bachelors on the Forbes list. He doesn't believe in true love and relationships, for him a no-strings-attached fling is the way of life. What happens when Ralph hosts a campus interview at one of London's leading Technical Colleges and meets the stunning twenty-year-old innocent Raven Porterfield? His world turns upside down as he gets very attracted to her. He recruits her as a trainee in his company.  However, he soon learns that Raven has a boyfriend and is a very dedicated and good girl. She doesn't trust the likes of Ralph at all and is determined to remain true to her boyfriend.  Will Ralph forget Raven? Or will this new feeling turn into an obsession for him? What will Ralph do to get Raven? Read on to find out in this twelfth book of the Forbidden Love Series.

For eight years, I stayed by John Harlem's side, even without a title. I was there when he recovered and rose from his wheelchair, and I was there when he clawed his way out of depression. I thought that one day, if I endured long enough, he would see my sincerity and affection for him. And we might end up together. But when his first love returned to the country, all my hopes turned into delusions. He told me to put away feelings I should never have had and remain by his side as nothing more than his "sister". For her, he deceived me, humiliated me, and pushed me away. What he never knew was that in helping him heal, I had absorbed far too much of his darkness. The very day he stopped taking his medication, I was diagnosed with severe depression. In order to save myself, I chose to let him go… and married his uncle instead. But at my wedding, he set aside his pride and dignity, dropped to his knees before everyone, and begged me for nothing more than a single glance.

　Just two weeks after their wedding, Raphael left for the other side of the world on business. Two years later, when he returned, Grace barely recognized her own husband. 　　 　　Everyone knew their marriage was nothing more than a business deal between two powerful families. To Grace, it was simply the last hurdle on her way to freedom. She barely knew her husband. All she really knew was that he was rigid, dull, and emotionally detached—like a financial machine. She figured he must find her just as insufferable—dramatic, and high-maintenance. When Grace placed the divorce papers in front of Raphael, stating that she wanted to end this loveless marriage, he merely looked at her, his gaze warm yet unreadable. He gently took her hand and murmured in a husky voice, half-smiling, 「Hmm? Did I not please you enough last night?」

Once childhood friends, now reluctant strangers—Lady Clara Valdemont and General Darrell Storm are bound by an arranged marriage meant to unite two feuding houses. Once allies, the Storms and Valdemonts were torn apart by betrayal and bloodshed. Now, the kingdom’s fragile peace rests on the shoulders of a bride and groom who barely speak. As Clara walks down the aisle, memories of the boy who used to tease her and teach her how to fish clash with the man waiting at the altar—stoic, cold, and unreadable. Darrell has not forgotten the past, nor has he forgiven it. Their vows are spoken through clenched teeth, their first kiss a mere brush on the cheek. This is not a love story born of fate—it is one that must fight to be written. In a kingdom of politics, pride, and pain, can two broken hearts learn to beat as one again?