Ashbourne: Gardener's Dog

The "gardener's dog" (or more commonly in English, "dog in the manger") idiom describes a person who selfishly prevents others from using or enjoying something they have no use for themselves.

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Jade has been an ordinary citizen for as long as she can remember, born into a commoner's household consisting of two infuriating older brothers and a nagging yet caring mother. She believes her life to be as ordinary as it can get, though her mind and fantasies are often ahead of normalcy.

A few days after her nineteenth birthday, Jade is visited by an unassuming guest - Viscountess Ashbourne, who claims to be her biological mother. Jade is entreated by the Viscountess, yet largely threatened, to step into an unfamiliar world of aristocrats, sorcery, politics, and knighthood.

Jade is forced to don the disguise of a man, but not just any man - her supposed twin brother, now deceased. She must take his place and bear his duty: a life she never dreamed of, even in her wildest imagination.

Thrust into a world of pharaohs and schemers, Jade is left with two options: to fail, or to live.