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He was dirt-covered, a stablehand my father forced me to marry, and I made his life a living hell. I called him "Dusty," scoffed at his quiet dignity, and humiliated him at every turn. Then, in a flash of unexpected strength, he saved me from a pack of drunken nobles, and for one fleeting night, he was just Finn, a man I finally saw beyond the grime. I was even carrying his child-a secret I cherished. But that fragile hope shattered when royal guards bowed to him, revealing my stablehand husband was the long-lost Crown Prince. Suddenly, I was cast aside like yesterday' s trash, replaced by a perfect Lady Eleanor. Finn' s icy rejection cut deeper than any insult I had delivered. When my father was framed for treason and thrown into prison, facing death, I swallowed my pride and begged Finn for help, only to be met with contempt and a cruel proposition. How could the man who once whispered my name with tenderness now view me with such disdain? Why couldn't he see the impossible choice I was forced to make? Why did he believe the worst of me, even as I was desperate to save my family? Pushed to the brink, with no one else to turn to, I made a desperate, impossible choice to protect my father and my unborn children. I would fake my own death and vanish, choosing a future where I could build a life of purpose, far from the palace and the prince who had broken my heart.