Gilded Embers
By @john1208
I just wanted a quiet cup of cardamom tea. Instead, I woke up five years in the past, right as an assassin shattered my bedroom window. In my previous life, General Rustam took that blade for me, triggering the slow ruin of his military career while I coldly turned my back on his crippled body, refusing to even visit his deathbed before Kamran's arson claimed me, too. Never again. Now, I’m the capital’s most famously cheerful airhead, a bubbly nuisance who aggressively showers the stoic, blushing general with sweets, silk, and unyielding public affection. He thinks I'm just a fragile, eccentric noblewoman with a bizarre crush. He doesn't know that when the sun sets, I hunt the conspirators targeting him, carving a bloody path through Kamran's syndicate to keep him safe from the shadows. But Kamran’s treason hides a desperate, tragic motive involving the royal family that could upend the entire Zirid Hegemony. Can I protect the man I love without becoming a monster, or will my secret blades sever the very trust I'm trying to rebuild?
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