Cedar had to admit that this day couldn't have gotten more annoying. At first, he had been in a good mood, and now he was fuming, which he rarely did. And what was even worse was the fact that his mother's letter was only one of the reasons. To be honest, he was discontent with Leonard suddenly rushing into the room, and the other man's provoking smirk didn't make it any better.

The secretary did his best to bother the prince. “Say... Since when are you two that close? Theodore said that he worried about you having a child too early, but I almost didn't want to believe that you would fall in love.”

Normally, Cedar should have denied that, but he just glanced to the side with annoyance. “Why do you care? Lucille and I aren't a couple, and thus, there won't be anyone who challenges Theodore's child for the throne either. He doesn't have to worry about a more complicated family situation, so he can stop spreading stupid rumors.”

Leonard seemed to be able to pick up the other's emotions despite Cedar's radiant beam. “You sound oddly frustrated. Did something happen? Let me think.” He paused for a moment before continuing. “No way. Is the indifferent prince who likes to play with others' minds upset because his kiss was interrupted? How particular.”

Cedar almost stopped at that but forced himself to stay calm and keep walking. “You seem oddly interested in that topic. Is your life that boring now, Mister Former-assassin? I hope not. Because it's too unfitting for you to believe in some random things servants told you. Lucille and I wouldn't have kissed.” They definitely would have.

Cedar had been in the middle of moving close to Lucille. He wasn't sure whether she would have allowed it, but he would probably have tried to kiss her just a few seconds later. Lucille had just been so beautiful while looking at him with round eyes that he hadn't been able to help himself. Maybe it was good that Leon had stopped him from possibly ruining his relationship with Lucille.

But at the same time, Cedar was still rather annoyed, and he hated himself for it.

Leonard seemed to love making fun of that, so the prince was glad when they finally reached the emperor's office. But of course, it wasn't over at that point. As soon as the door was shut behind them, Leon made it his task to continue annoying the other man. “Theodore, you should have seen what happened just now. Right when I came in-”

Cedar didn't let him finish that. “I thought you were in a bad mood. Stop distracting us. The topic we came here to discuss is much more important.”

Theodore was already sitting at his desk. His expression had been serious when the others entered, but now a little smile appeared on his lips. “Let me guess. Cedar was with Lady Valerian. I do hope that you knocked before entering, or this might end up being very embarrassing for some of us.”

The prince wasn't sure whether he should ignore that comment or tell them to stop making fun of him. It was odd to see that the other two men now joked in his presence. Normally, he might not have minded, but the topic was a bit problematic. After all, he could feel how his ears got a bit hot. While he could hide his facial expressions well, even he wouldn't be able to conceal it when his blood began rushing to his face. So, he just sat down on the sofa without asking for permission. “Did a letter really come, or did you just call me to make fun of me? I presume that it's the first case since I doubt that you would leave your wife's side otherwise.”

Theodore glanced at Leonard as if they both knew what this was about before he took a seat on the sofa across from his brother. The letter in his hand already answered the question, and his expression, which had become serious again, did too. He held the piece of paper toward Cedar. “This is it. It's rather harsh, as expected. Be careful not to drop anything. There are four pages.”

Cedar reluctantly accepted them and began reading. As he had guessed, his mother was in a horrible mood.

The whole first page only consisted of mad rambling and insults directed at Althea, who had been dead for seven years already, and Theodore. Then the second and third pages were full of accusations. Camille seemed to be convinced that the emperor was forcing her second son to stay in the palace and that he had manipulated Cedar. The fourth page was the shortest one but the most horrifying one nonetheless.

The dowager empress hadn't seen the need to be extensive when she promised that she would drag Cedar back. She hadn't explained how she would make the woman who had allegedly seduced her son suffer either. But it was enough to paint a clear picture.

Cedar put the letter back onto the table and let out a little chuckle. Nothing special was written in this letter, but he recognized that word choice. His mother had definitely written that during a hysteric fit.

Theodore scanned his brother for a moment before he spoke up. “What do you think?”

The answer was easy. “It's kind of her to remind me why I made the right decision. It looks like she might be having a breakdown. Unfortunately, her words aren't convincing me to visit her to calm her either. She should have been a bit kinder if she wanted to make me reconsider. But I assume she didn't want me to read this letter anyway. She wouldn't be stupid enough to threaten Lucille otherwise. Not after I made it clear that I killed the men she sent because I wanted to protect Lucille. So, she must expect you to distrust me enough to hide this from me, which is good. She won't expect me to give you information then either.”

Theodore was quiet for a moment before he replied. “She probably won't do anything that you can predict either, so your information might not help us much. She knows that you know everything. I assume that she is aware that she will need to come up with something clever. She will probably let her down pass and then approach us again. The only question is how she will progress.”

That was easy too. Cedar responded immediately. “She'll find a way to leave confinement. Either she will ask for another trial, or she will come up with something else. I have no idea what she can do, but she won't be calm enough to allow others to take care of the whole matter for her. She will want to appear on the stage herself at some point. We have to wait and see how she moves forward, but we could use this to find out who might help her from now on.”

The emperor nodded. “It seems like that is the case. I don't want any traitors dancing in our ballroom. What can you tell me about her state of mind right now?” That question was oddly direct.

Cedar considered using more flowery words but was very honest instead. “She's just blaming everyone around her. She is certainly cursing Althea again, and that might go so far that she acts like she did after Father's death. She is most likely in the middle of pushing servants down the stairs again. I would almost assume that some complaints about her already came. And I would guess that she actually wrote an even longer letter and you just sorted out what I didn't need to read. Mother tends to ramble when she gets angry, so I expect at least the doubled amount of pages. She probably tried to make me come back with those. After telling me how horrible Althea and you are, of course.”

Theodore drank a bit of his tea, more to calm down than to soothe his throat, before he responded. “You're right. She wrote ten pages. I just filtered out what you shouldn't have to read. She dedicated quite a few lines to telling you that she loves you and an equal amount to using your triggers to purposefully anger you.”

Cedar let out a low sigh. Of course, Camille had done that. He was surprised that there were more pages for him than for Theodore, but in the end, it was logical. “So, she did expect me to read it. That's unfortunate.” Because it meant that Camille considered that the brothers were working together. The prince leaned against the backrest of the sofa and scanned the emperor for a moment. “I presume you didn't want to give me the letters because you're scared that I will change sides again? Believe me, I made my decision already. I won't go back to her. That she keeps threatening Lucille and me won't make me want to go back either. In fact, I would argue that it only strengthens my decision. Isn't making me angry on purpose a bad move on her part? Mother taught me to be cruel, so she provokes me while knowing what could happen. If she wanted me to get mad, why would she want to be the target? She doesn't even seem to know that it's been over seven years since my triggers gave me an actual breakdown either. How odd.”

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Theodore was quick to respond. “I didn't withhold them for that reason. You can read the letter if you want to. I just thought that you don't need to read how your mother insults you before telling you that she needs you for six pages straight. I can answer your question though. She is twisted enough that she wrote that you belong to her. I assume that she can't imagine that you would ever turn on her.”

Seemingly, Camille still wasn't sure what she should believe. On the one hand, she acted as if she knew that her son would come back. And then she did something so desperate and begged Cedar to return. She repeated how much she cared and how important he was, and in the next second, she insulted him. It wasn't like using both strategies at the same time was logical, but what could one expect of a person like her?

Cedar wasn't even sure what to say about this, and he normally always had something to say. He shook his head to himself before replying. “I truly don't need to read that.” He refused to reconsider, so it would be stupid to concern himself with this. “But I would like to ask what you plan on doing now. You obviously can't ignore her if she begins moving, which she will do in a while.” He didn't add anything and just made eye contact with his brother.

Theodore's lips formed a faint smile. “I'm unsure. There is no need to do anything special, is there? She is in confinement, and we are here. If she moves, I will hear about it.” He felt too safe. Despite knowing that Camille even managed to roam around freely to some extent.

Cedar had literally met her a week ago, so this argument was a bit stupid. The prince almost considered saying that and had to remind himself why he wouldn't. He stayed quiet for a moment before speaking up. “I don't think it's clever to just let her move. We should prepare to take her down. You can do that in an illegal way, which I wouldn't mind. I'm surprised that you didn't try it already. But we could also choose a legal way. We could have another trial regarding the assassination attempts after your coronation. I can testify and Leon could too. That would give up his secret identity, so I understand the hesitation. But I can definitely incriminate Mother.”

Theodore seemed to wonder how much his brother knew for a moment before he replied. “I mean, we could do that. That would be good to get rid of her title. If I want to demote her to being a commoner, I will need a few testimonies. You could naturally help, even though many people would question why you suddenly want her gone.”

Cedar gave his best to ignore how his heart clenched at those words. He wouldn't admit that this was the truth. He didn't just want his mother gone. Cedar wasn't judging this emotionally. He was just choosing the most logical approach. “Of course, stripping her of her title is good. But is that really all you want to do? While she is such a great threat? This time, you might find enough evidence to execute her. Isn't that what you always wanted to do?”

Theodore still smiled, which was a bit infuriating. He remained calm and once again looked like he thought that he knew so much more than those around him. “I think you misunderstood my goal, Cedar. If I wanted her executed without anything else, I would have ordered it already. She would be six feet underground ever since I became conscious. But I won't kill her. Because that would be too kind for her. My mother died because of her, and that woman also targeted my wife. I want her to suffer for her actions. So, she will live until I deem her a serious threat to our lives.”

Cedar narrowed his eyes. His brother made it easy for himself. There was no way to keep Camille under control. That woman was willing to destroy everything if it meant taking down her enemies as well. “Is that really it?”

The emperor calmly met his gaze. “What do you mean?”

The prince became as serious as he could while trying not to sound provoking at the same time. He wanted the real response without upsetting his brother, but he couldn't help smiling still. “I'm not sure whether you are telling the truth or whether you just might not want to kill the woman who gave birth to you. Maybe you don't want to admit it but feel revolted upon knowing that you would give the order to have her beheaded.” He had been curious about the reaction he would receive. He had either expected resigned acceptance or angry denial.

Instead, he was met with a low chuckle.

Theodore was grinning now and looked even more confident than before. When he spoke up, his voice was dripping with amusement. “In the past, that might have been the case. But a few things happened. I am very much capable of killing whomever I set my sights on. And I won't regret killing the woman who caused all of the suffering we went through. You knew me seven years ago. I used to be weak. I would yield to pressure and allow others to hurt what I hold dear. But I'm not that weak anymore. I will gladly do whatever it takes to protect Blanche and our child. If my past experiences will help me to do that, so be it. So, I can assure you this. My will to get rid of the dowager empress isn't lacking. And if she becomes too powerful for my liking, she will be dead within a minute. There are enough of my people stationed around her. Believe me. One word, and her head would come flying off.”

Cedar took in his brother's expression. Theodore was too confident. Seven years could make you change, but they couldn't turn you into a completely different person, right? Was the emperor really so unscrupulous now? That was questionable. Cedar stayed quiet for a while, but in the end, he couldn't hold back. “Allow me to voice my criticism.”

Theodore was still completely calm. “Go ahead. I can explain my judgment whenever you want to hear it.”

Cedar had thought that he would never mention that day, but he couldn't find a better example. So, he tried to push back all the memories that he connected with that event and just focused on the emotionless narration. “When I was fourteen, I tried to run away once. That was shortly after Father's death and before your coronation. I only planned on visiting the city and returning later. So, I took some money and tried to sneak out of the palace. I managed to do it and looked around for a while. The city was beautiful. I was so glad that I had used that chance to go out. I hoped that I could do it more often, but I was too scared. Still, I was happy with my decision and returned home without any occurrences. When I came back, everything was calm. So, I assumed that no one had seen me. I was certain that no guard and none of my teachers had found out since I had been so clever about rearranging my schedule.”

Memories of that day flooded his mind. He hated it.

Cedar gave his best to hold those thoughts back, but he couldn't stop being bitter about his own stupidity. His smile became brighter as he stared into the distance. “The servants in the hallways were all calm, which proved that nothing could have happened. No one was panically searching for me, so no one could have noticed, right? Wrong. I opened the door to my room, and there she was sitting on my bed. Mother was waiting for me. She was furious. She thought that I was trying to leave her. I don't think she heard a single word of what I told her that day. It ended up being one of the most awful days of my life. It's easy to remember how Mother looked at me back then.”

And it was even easier to remember how the punishment had felt. Cedar hadn't even elaborated on that, but he had probably given some hints without knowing it.

After all, Theodore's smile died down, and his expression became grim. “That was before you stayed in your room for two weeks, wasn't it?” Those had been the only two weeks during which the prince had ever missed sword training, aside from when his arm had been broken. Obviously, people had noticed. The longer the emperor thought about that, the darker his expression got. “And after that, you refused to see the doctor completely so that he didn't even manage to check up on you before you went into confinement.”

Of course. Cedar had needed to hide those wounds after all. No amount of justification could have explained those injuries, so he had needed to keep the doctor at a distance no matter how much that man had complained.

Cedar's smile was as wide as ever as he responded. “Yes. And that proves one very important thing. She won't let me leave just like that. She would rather kill me herself than allow me to be happy somewhere else. You can probably extend that to everyone she has some sort of claim on. She won't leave you alone either. Not until the day her heart stops beating. This won't end with both parties being alive. You know that too. You will end up executing Mother at some point. Since you want to have a peaceful family, you will have to. Most likely, that date is much closer now that she is losing her mind completely. You already prepare for it. You just want to draw it out to see her suffer. I can't blame you. She is the root of all of your problems. But please be honest.”

Normally, one might see some sort of hesitation in the other's gaze when one claimed something like this. But Theodore didn't seem to mind admitting it. He was completely indifferent. “Of course, you'd know. Then I will be honest. A year. She won't have more than that left either way. I will use the time before that to weed out her supporters so that she can watch how everything around her collapses. That you want to be on our side was a pleasant surprise that made matters even easier. She will be less careful with you here.”

Cedar shook his head again and scanned his brother. “You lost some of your morals overnight. That's good. You will need that attitude as the emperor. But the question is whether you should be so ruthless. I saw that you kept reading about Northern Ocrea. You may or not be planning to get rid of the daughter of Northern Ocrea's king. The princess you keep calling dangerous. That's problematic.”

Theodore snorted. “I don't plan on doing that. I am keeping that option open in case she attempts to take over the country. I don't want war with them. I sent the most despicable person in this world there to take care of the issue, but if that doesn't work, I will have to get involved again and get rid of two disgusting beings. But for now, it seems to work.” That he just admitted that he could commit treason in an allied nation was really problematic. He seemed to trust his brother too much.

Cedar inwardly rolled his eyes but chose to stay calm. “I see. Then your decision in this matter is set. I won't interfere. But I will be honest. Mother is ruthless too, and she doesn't have someone she wants to protect, which puts her at an advantage. And she is willing to go through with it until the end. She might just solve this problem with fire again. She always had the tendency to let things burn when it doesn't go her way. She would gladly set herself on fire if it meant that she can hurt you or me. Or she might just set us on fire immediately too. As long as she is alive, you have to keep your guard up.”

“Don't worry. I have my ways. I will definitely not lose this time. Nothing will come close enough to seriously endanger us.” Wasn't that too naive?

Cedar had to admit that he had never seen his brother as reckless when they had been children, and now Theodore always surprised him. That was odd. But as long as Camille didn't win because of that, Cedar didn't care. At least he told himself that.

The prince already felt miserable enough thanks to the constant turmoil his mind was in. He didn't need to make himself even worse because he voiced the truth out loud. Cedar didn't like the fact that Camille was still free to do what she wanted. He knew that thinking like this was awful, even if she had never been a good person.

But he would be much more calm if he knew that his mother was dead.