My Pet Rock is a Miserable Prince

I, Oana Vladescu, was once a semi-respected alchemist. Now, after my latest 'innovative' potion turned the city fountain into lukewarm gravy, I'm a public laughingstock. My grand ambition? To hide in my room forever. But fate, a creature of boundless cruelty, has other plans. When my debt-ridden father is taken prisoner by the monstrous, reclusive Lord of the Cragstone Spire, I do the only 'heroic' thing a daughter can do: I trade places with him. My new host, Lord Calin, is a beastly figure whose curse is slowly petrifying him. The only way to break it is for someone to 'willingly accept' him. Easy, right? Except he's rude, melodramatic, and has the conversational skills of a particularly stubborn pebble. He's determined to push me away for my 'safety,' I'm determined to not die of boredom, and the castle's animated furniture is offering terrible life advice. But as I chip away at his stony exterior, I realize the curse is the least of our problems. The person who cursed him is still out there, and their motives are far more tragic than monstrous. Can I cure this miserable man-statue before he becomes a permanent garden decoration, or will we both end up as footnotes in a very weird history book?