Bloom and Bluff
By @john1208
At her mentor Yvelis’s deathbed, Joveta swore to protect a miraculous healing recipe. To hide from corrupt factions at the elite Imperial Scent-Weaving Academy of Velesgrad, the secretly sharp girl adopts the perfect disguise: a cheerful, scatterbrained airhead. Her bubbly facade makes her the perfect target for Zdenor, a scandalous aristocrat who needs a clueless fake-girlfriend to win a petty bet against his rival friends. Joveta agrees, using his status to secretly access restricted botanical gardens.
But their sweet charade quickly spirals out of control. Zdenor’s infamous playboy persona crumbles entirely whenever Joveta gives him a genuine compliment, leaving him furiously blushing and flustered. When her cruel ex Radvan insults her at a gala, Zdenor drops his lazy smirk, his eyes darkening with terrifying possessiveness as he brutally punches the man to the floor. And when Joveta catches a fever, Zdenor unhesitatingly cancels a publicized yacht trip with models just to bring her warm, homemade soup. As Joveta uncovers that the villain's double agent, Ilyak, is stealing secrets only to save the villain's dying child, she must make a choice: will the truth shatter their heartwarming pretense, or is the blushing playboy already hers forever?
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