Lucille had known that the dowager empress was sick before. But after losing her title, that woman had suddenly seemed even more unstable.

Lucille had only been able to watch while holding her lover's hand. She hated that she couldn't do more than support Cedar, but at least she could help a little. She had planned on just staying quiet until the end so that she could leave with Cedar, but then the conversation became much more grim.

In the beginning, Camille had just said odd things, but now she had accused Cedar of trying to commit treason. She looked so confident while announcing that her son wanted to kill Theodore and his family.

Lucille could just furrow her brows as she waited for an outcry.

A few seconds passed in silence as Camille waited for the reaction. When no one said anything, she continued in that mocking tone again. “What? Didn't you know? Obviously, Cedar would only get along with his brother because he was acting. This was all because we planned on murdering Theodore. We pretended to fight and yelled at each other for no reason before Cedar ran away. Then we forged letters to make it seem like we were going separate paths. I wrote exactly what my dear Cedar had told me to write to convince everyone. Then we staged an attack so that he would be able to enter the royal palace after being hurt. As planned, he spent a few months here, and now no one would suspect him anymore. And at this point, I was supposed to eliminate the threats so that he could become the emperor. That's interesting to hear after you played family for so long now. Isn't it, Theodore?” She glanced at the emperor as if she expected fury or fear. But she wasn't met with that, and that made her freeze.

Theodore didn't look angry but annoyed. He stared at Camille without saying anything.

Cedar didn't seem too upset either. His smile wasn't much more forced than before. He merely watched his mother and smiled at Lucille for a moment when she scanned him. He held her hand without much pressure, so he seemed to be fine.

Lucille looked around the room and quickly noticed that no one here was truly shocked or upset. Maybe because they had seen that the concerned people were rather calm.

For a few seconds, it was quiet again.

Camille didn't like that missing reaction at all. She narrowed her eyes and raised her voice. “Are you deaf? Didn't you hear me?” She whipped her head around to the side to face the emperor. “Theodore, didn't I speak clearly? You should have understood that. Cedar wants to betray you. He will stab you in the back and prove to you that you were foolish to ever believe in him. He will kill you and your family.”

Theodore still didn't get angry. Instead, he just groaned and buried his face in his hands. He remained like that for a short while before he lifted his head again. “You are so stupid that it hurts to listen to you.”

Camille was too prideful to accept that. She yelled immediately. “How dare you? You arrogant-” She was cut off after a second.

Theodore rested his chin on his hand and watched Camille with irritation but little fury on his face. “But you are stupid. Otherwise, you wouldn't voice such things in front of us. Didn't you look at our faces while you told us that? Did you see shock or fury? Not really. You should have understood that we don't care about your lies. You could have stopped at that, but you just have to keep talking, even though no one here wants to hear your voice. But in any case, I can calm you. You won't need to worry about the safety of my family, which includes my brother. I will protect all of the people I care about. Got it? Now sit down.”

Camille still didn't listen. She just gestured around with her unhurt arm and raised her voice again. “What do you mean? Cedar wanted to kill you and the people you claim to love so much! Don't you want to punish him for that? You will throw him out now, right?” She didn't receive a response immediately, and that only upset her even more so that she yelled in a shrill voice. “Why are you so calm?”

Theodore looked like he was rather bored while he replied. “Because I know everything about your plots. That's why I can also tell you that you twisted some facts. But let's just allow Cedar to tell you that. After all, he is the one who knows most about this.” He gestured to his brother without taking his eyes off Camille, who turned to her second son.

Lucille immediately faced Cedar as well. She believed in him, so this wasn't necessary at all. Still, she wanted to see his reaction and remind him that she was on her side.

It was quiet for just a moment, but Camille complained again before her son spoke. “There is no way that Theodore knew. That would have ruined the whole plan. Cedar, what did you do? Did you manage to talk him into trusting you for real? If so, that would be really embarrassing for him.” She glanced at Theodore. “Because Cedar would never be on your side. He hates you, and he will do everything in his power to kill you. He will never-”

Cedar showed his mother a little smile while he cut her off in a gentle voice. “Mother, when I came to the palace, I was still known as someone who had committed treason. Do you seriously believe that Theodore would simply trust me after everything that happened? No. Of course not. He acted like he trusted me, but he always had people keep an eye on me. At all times, some annoying person ran after me to see what I was planning. They saw everything I was doing. Does that help you understand?”

Camille glared at him and gritted her teeth for a moment. When she regained her composure enough to speak, she immediately replied. “That doesn't change the fact that you want to betray him. You want to slaughter him and take his crown.”

Cedar just smiled despite that comment and responded as calmly as before. “We had a secret meeting shortly after I came into the palace, right? It was odd that you didn't seem bothered by the fact that no one guarded the mansion we entered and that everyone generously ignored you going outside for once. There was no way that Theodore wouldn't know about you leaving confinement. That is obvious, but you simply didn't care and came to meet me. That day, I told you that I didn't want to be emperor and that I would support Theodore. I informed you that I would give up on our act and not continue helping with your plots. You remember that, correct?”

Camille didn't reply. Maybe she didn't want to admit that her son had said that to her.

But Cedar didn't care. He just continued without waiting for her. “The day we met in the mansion, I used a secret passageway to get there. That one was connected to a grandfather clock in a hallway. You can imagine that suddenly disappearing into a clock looks rather suspicious, much like sending you a letter to ask for a meeting. Do you think the people watching me didn't notice that? So, someone had to notice and tell Theodore, who obviously kept an eye on that meeting. I would assume that a person followed me that day. Most likely, Theodore would send someone he truly trusts when he knows that I would meet you. So, it was probably Lord Astame who eavesdropped on our conversation that day and told Theodore all about it.”

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Camille's expression quickly morphed into one of shock. But she wasn't given any time to process that.

Leonard already chimed in. “I can confirm that I was the one listening to that conversation. I would be able to repeat everything you said now, but I believe that this isn't connected to the trial we originally wanted to deal with. This conversation is rather unnecessary. His Royal Highness is not plotting against His Majesty, so we can move on with the trial.”

Camille didn't care about those words at all. She already stared at Cedar with wide eyes before she faced Theodore. She looked like she was a bit paler when she asked him. “If you know that he wants to kill you, why are you allowing him to stay here? That makes no sense!”

In comparison to her almost hysteric outcry, Theodore seemed even more calm. He just explained it to her in a tone that indicated that he said nothing new. “He doesn't want to kill me. He merely went along with what you wanted for a while. He is on our side, and it will stay like this. You won't blame anything you were doing on him because I fully trust him. Cedar had enough chances to kill me by now. He didn't try that. Do you know why? Because he just doesn't have the desire to kill me.”

Camille balled her fist and loudly yelled back. “Of course, he does! He just hid it to get you to trust him!”

Theodore sighed and replied without giving her a chance to speak for much longer. “I was not just referring to the time he spent here in the palace since he broke out of confinement. You do know that Cedar has been blessed with much more intelligence and self-control than you, right? He would have been able to come up with a plan that could crush me. You would just send assassins that would fail for the fifth time in succession.”

Camille didn't seem to care about the fact that the emperor was speaking. She simply yelled again. “What are you saying? Of course, he-”

Theodore ignored her. “If Cedar had desired the crown, he would be emperor already. It would have been easy for him to get rid of me while I was a child. He was much stronger than I was. He could have just staged an accident, and his acting skills would have allowed him to hide all traces afterward. He could also have planned an elaborate plot with skillful attack patterns that used all of the palace's security gaps. Or he would simply have killed me after he found me while I was still hurt from the assassination attempt seven years ago. Like I said, he didn't do that. He also didn't kill me during the revolt. Instead, he failed on purpose to prevent any blood from being spilled. Maybe you don't want to accept it, but Cedar isn't like you. He doesn't want to hurt others. No matter how often you tell yourself that, it won't make it true.” After he said that, it was silent.

Camille just stared at the emperor before glancing at her other son. She didn't seem to understand what she had just been told.

To be honest, Lucille was pretty confused too. Not about Cedar not being dangerous but about the beginning. It had sounded like Cedar had come to the palace while still planning to harm Theodore. But now he had changed his mind, and Camille wouldn't accept that. This made sense in some way, but Lucille was still irritated. They had come to the palace because of her injury, right? She had been hit with an arrow, and this had caused Cedar to bring her to some royal guards. How would that fit together with him coming here on purpose? She didn't have enough time to come to a conclusion here.

Camille already spoke up after she had glared at the emperor for a while. “This is ridiculous. How are you so stupid, Theodore? You are trusting a person who will suffocate you in your sleep. This makes no sense. You shouldn't trust Cedar just because he acted for a few weeks. You know how good he is at hiding his real emotions.” She turned to Cedar and glared at him too. “And you! How long will you continue to play this game? It's over now. You lost. You can stop pretending to be close to those people.”

Cedar responded with hesitation. “It's not a game, Mother. I am on Theodore's side. I told you that multiple times, did I not? Please get over it, and pull yourself together. Watching this is not pleasant.” He ignored his mother's indignation upon hearing those words and faced his brother. “I believe that we should end the trial now. Obviously, this does not lead anywhere. We can have this conversation in private without bothering any of the guests.”

Theodore didn't get to respond.

Camille already let out a little laugh. When Lucille turned to her, she expected a smile, but that wasn't what she found. Camille's face was so full of freezing fury that looking at her was terrifying. She didn't hold back her anger and spoke in a cold voice that was much more intimidating than her yelling. “So, you are still clinging to this plot. It seems like you truly are trying to make me mad. Fine. Then maybe we should address this. If we unveil what games you play, this one can't be forgotten.” She slowly turned her head, and her eyes landed on Lucille. “Lady Valerian.” Her voice was dripping with mockery. “I have bad news for you too.”

Lucille felt a shiver run down her spine. She almost wanted to look away or to hide, but she was frozen in place. It suddenly felt like the room had gotten much colder, and only Cedar's hand gave her some warmth. She didn't want to do it, but she unwillingly moved closer to her lover, who held her hand a bit tighter now.

Camille watched that, and something like amusement showed on her face. “How foolish and stupid you are. Cedar managed to play you too. Nothing he ever told you is the truth. He just had you wrapped around his little finger to imitate Theodore's romance so that he would trust him. You should know that. I warned you. I said that he was the perfect actor that would lull you into trusting him before crushing your heart.” Now she was smiling, but the emotion that was glittering in her eyes wasn't joy. It was pure insanity.

It seemed like Theodore had seen that glint in her eyes as well. They wouldn't like what Camille had to say, and he knew that. He opened his mouth to intervene immediately. “I believe that this trial is over then. This seems to be a personal matter, which we will take care of now. I sincerely apologize for the sudden goodbye, but I would ask you to leave to give us some privacy. If there are any questions regarding the trial, please visit me later.”

Unsurprisingly, the guests immediately stood up and moved to the entrance. Some seemed rather nervous and glanced at Camille a few times as if they expected her to snap. But no one actually stayed to find out. One after the other left before the door was closed behind them.

Camille hadn't noticed any of that. She was completely focused on Lucille and continued without waiting for an answer. “You poor little girl. You were so foolish. So stupid and trusting. Now this will come back to bite you. I will explain what Cedar's real reason for interacting with you was. Did you know that your fairy tale meeting was staged? Cedar didn't collapse in your home by accident. He went there on purpose. Surely, he wasn't supposed to be injured during that time, but that just delayed our act. We had planned to make him play the victim. We would have to hurt him to force Theodore to let him into the palace. For that, Cedar needed to be somewhere the royal guards could find him so that they could bring him to the palace quickly. So, he chose a location close to the Northern Market, where the servants of the palace buy their goods. Do you know what building is close to that?”

Of course, Lucille knew that. That was the Valerian mansion. Her home was just a few streets away from the Northern Market. Surely, Cedar coming there on purpose was an odd thought, but that didn't prove anything, right? Lucille felt something unpleasant tingle in her stomach. She held her lover's hand a bit tighter and looked up at him.

It wasn't calming that Cedar already stared at her and gave her a radiant smile. He just whispered something to her. “Let her talk. I will explain this to you later if you want to hear it.” So, that meant that Camille wasn't saying baseless things. There was something that Cedar needed to explain to his lover here.

Lucille disliked that. She could barely force herself to remain calm while the tingling in her stomach slowly became unbearable. She wasn't sure what to say, so she just nodded. Then she turned to Camille again and felt even smaller under the other's gaze than normal. She was really scared, wasn't she?

And that was exactly what her opponent wanted.

Camille smirked at the other woman and just continued in a tone that was dripping with arrogance. “When Cedar explained his plot to me, I was skeptical when it came to that part of the plan. Surely, using the Valerian mansion to get closer to the palace was fine. But we couldn't have been sure that he would be able to hide there for long enough for us to stage an attack on him. We didn't think that a guard would slit open his side either, so we needed to stall for time for an additional month too. I was very concerned about him not being able to hide in your estate for that long. But Cedar was calm and convinced that he would be able to stay. Do you know what he told me about his reason for that? Whom he mentioned?”