After Being Publicly Cast Aside at the Ball, It Seems the Crown Clock Wants to Erase Me

Lady Elna Fairis sees her ruin before it happens.In a nightmare too vivid to dismiss, the crown prince denounces her before the entire Springtide Ball, breaks their royal betrothal, and leaves her family to be devoured by court scandal. Then dawn comes—and the royal invitation arrives with the same impossible seal from her dream.A clock hand hidden beneath the crown.Elna is no helpless noble daughter waiting to be sacrificed. As the disciplined heir of House Fairis and the registered betrothed of Crown Prince Leonhart, she knows the law, the court, and the deadly weight of public disgrace. If the prince means to cast her aside, she will find the legal seam first and cut herself free before the ballroom becomes her execution ground.But every escape route has already been prepared for her.At the Vow Office, a protective petition twists into a trap. Royal documents rewrite themselves. Seals pulse with forbidden magic. And just as Elna reaches for the one lawful path left to her, a stranger storms into the room and stops her hand.Julius Astein knows things no stranger should know. Her habits. Her fears. Her future. Marked by a black line like the hand of a clock, he claims he has come too late before—and that three years from now, Elna was his wife.She does not trust him.She cannot afford to.Yet the Crown Clock is moving. It bends records, steals choices, and pushes Elna toward a public rejection she may have to endure if she wants to survive. To save her name, her house, and the future someone is trying to erase, Elna must walk into the very ball where her humiliation begins.A betrayed noble lady. A prince bound by the crown. A forbidden future husband who may be her only ally. And a magical clock determined to decide which love, which name, and which life is allowed to remain.For readers who love slow-burn fantasy romance, royal court intrigue, time travel romance, rejected noble heroines, mysterious future husbands, and elegant romantasy filled with danger, longing, and high-stakes betrayal.