‼️Previously completed. All 68 chapters currently being remastered.‼️ At eighteen, Baldwin IV, the Leper King of Jerusalem, entrusts his life to a physician unlike any other - a brilliant woman from the East who bears a face he thought lost to tragedy several years ago. As political threats mount and his body falters, Baldwin must confront an impossible truth: the cure for his dying soul may be the very woman fate once stole - and now gives back. ⚠️Disclaimer: This novel is a work of historical fiction inspired by the life of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem. While the character may be familiar from the film Kingdom of Heaven, this story draws instead from historical chronicles, medieval sources, and scholarly interpretation - seeking to explore Baldwin's legacy as it might have truly been lived.

When the arrogant stranger Bess is forced to marry unexpectedly becomes a duke, she'll find herself at odds with her growing feelings as he hunts for a killer. ***** Sharp-tongued Elizabeth 'Bess' Jones is perfectly content living on her lonesome in a tiny village south of Derbyshire. She works as a nurse, owns a small home, and finds the label of 'spinster' an agreeable trade for her independence. But when her entire life is uprooted in an instant, she only has one person to blame: her new husband, Emmett Wilde, who was caught in a compromising situation with her. And now, despite his promise to fake a death certificate after their wedding--to free her of any duty to him or their marriage bed--he sends for her in the dead of night with startling news: his father has been murdered, and he is now the Duke of Ascot with a wife he can no longer deny... [[Word Count: 60,000-70,000 words]] [[Cover designed by Ren Tachibana]]