Theodore was a man that kept his promises. In most cases, that was a good thing, but on rare occasions, it was unfavorable.

Blanche had been sure that he had just told her that he would shower her in gifts to make her look forward to the bigger present, which he was currently preparing. In reality, he acted like he had sworn that he would pamper her on his life. He cuddled her for hours at a time, and their love professions had to have started to annoy the staff members. Of course, she wouldn't complain about that, but something else was a problem.

Whenever she entered her room, mostly to get her clothes so that she could sleep in her lover's chambers, something was lying on her table or her bed. Every imaginable item had been there after some time. There were lighter accessories but also big hair ornaments and valuable necklaces. Some dresses were brought to her room as well, even though the tailor was only supposed to come in a few days. She didn't want to admit it, but she adored all of those gifts.

Naturally, Blanche voiced that anyway whenever she found a new present, just to see Theodore's face lighting up with a radiant beam. Still, she felt bad about getting so many gifts. Her lover calling her materialistic in her nightmare was her main reason to try to get him to limit the amount of the things that he gave to her.

But she remained unsuccessful.

No matter how often she told Theodore that, while she was happy about his gifts, she didn't need that many, he always came up with an excuse. He either explained why this item was missing in her wardrobe or how he had accidentally stumbled across it. In the end, she made the mistake of bringing up her full dressers again to reason with him like this. At first, she didn't notice that that had been an error.

The visit of the tailor was stressful enough, with Theodore insisting that Blanche needed at least a dozen new dresses to be sure that she had one for every occasion. He wanted her to try on every piece and told her how beautiful she was until her cheeks were completely red, which was awful since it only made her crave these wonderful attires more. He didn't even allow her to skip the gowns that were rather risky since they were navy. Some were blue with golden ornaments and definitely made for the empress, but he still teased her until she would wear them for him. Then Theodore had suddenly brought up that he could simply choose for her if she didn't want to decide. Unfortunately, Madame Charture was as excited about that idea as the emperor was and gushed about how adorable the two were together.

In the end, Blanche left with even more dresses than her lover had previously insisted on since Theodore had argued that they looked too good on her to give them to other noble ladies. When she replied that she didn't have enough space for all of them, he just laughed and asked whether she was sure about that.

That had given Blanche a bad premonition, which was proven to be true when her lover presented her the new dressing room next to her chambers.

Originally, Blanche had wished to avoid being greedy, so she should have been angry at Theodore for ignoring that. But in the end, she couldn't help being delighted upon seeing that she would be able to sort her clothes and accessories now. She spent the rest of the day instructing the servants so that her things were positioned where she wanted them.

Blanche had assumed that this had been the surprise that still needed time to be prepared, so she was irritated when Theodore approached her a few days later to announce that her gift was ready.

Her lover's beam was even more radiant than it was usually as he intertwined their fingers. “I had already feared that you would accidentally find it too early, but I was lucky. You don't go into the garden much, do you?”

“I didn't have time for that since the assassination attempt. Of course, I'm not complaining about you being with me this much, but because of that, I didn't go on many walks. I wasn't in the garden without you during the last month. Now that I'm mentioning it, it feels odd that the assassination attempt has already happened so long ago.”

Blanche could still remember the terror that she had sensed upon hearing that Theodore was in the carriage to drive to Duke Lamont's banquet as if it had happened yesterday.

Theodore led her through the corridors of the first floor and glanced over at her while pressing a kiss onto her hand. “It's really strange how fast time can pass sometimes. Even though everything changed on that day, it passed just like every other one.”

The concubine chuckled at that. “You're awfully dramatic. Though, I agree. It's not exaggerated to say that our life is different now. You work less, which means that we spend much more time together. You pay more attention to your health too, and that calms me.”

They reached the ballroom, and Theodore led her to the balcony. They climbed down another set of stairs and walked to the entrance of the labyrinth. He let go of her hand there and stood behind her. “You will have to walk blindly for the rest of the way.” One could tell that he was grinning just by the tone of his voice. He gently put his arms around her from behind and covered her eyes with his hands. “We'll go slow so that you won't trip.”

Blanche began beaming at that too. “If you lead me, I will gladly stride through the darkness without fear.” What had supposed to be an overly sweet joke earned her a kiss on the top of her head.

Theodore slowly began moving forward and guided her along the path that went around the labyrinth. With every step, Blanche's stomach tingled a bit more. If her lover was this keen on showing something in the garden to her, he had to have created something bigger. While she should be reluctant to accept more expensive gifts, she couldn't help but be excited about it. To her surprise, her lover didn't make any strange turns to disorient her but directly brought her to a spot that seemed to be his destination.

Theodore stopped and whispered into her ear. “I've been working on this for a little over a month now. It took some time to logically explain an unreasonable concept, but the result was definitely worth it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you remember the time when we often ate on the terrace but were bothered because everyone was watching us? We had a conversation that I couldn't forget. You made a joke, but I actually found a way to be outside while being inside.”

Those words sounded familiar to Blanche, and she knew that she had complained about being observed by servants the whole time. But she had no idea how Theodore would have been able to create something like what she had described. She didn't even try to imagine it before responding. “I'm uncertain how that would look, but I'm intrigued.”

Her lover carefully walked around her so that he was standing next to her, without lowering his hands. “That's good. I want to witness your reaction when you see it for the first time, and the more excited you are, the more adorable it will be. Even I would call this gift beautiful, and I assume that you have a better eye for that than I do.” He purposefully kept talking to make her wait, right?

If that was supposed to make her more nervous, it was working. Blanche's heart was beating faster, and she felt the desire to just push his hands away to finally take a look. “Theo, you're making me tingly. I want to know what it is.”

Her whining made Theodore chuckle. “Of course. If my angel wants to see it, I'll gladly show it to you.” He slowly lifted his hands off her eyes, and she took a few seconds to get used to the light.

As soon as Blanche was able to see normally again, she froze and stared at the gift in front of her. “This is...” She didn't have the right words to describe what she was seeing. “It's beautiful.” That word wasn't enough to convey how incredibly wonderful the image in front of her was. She scanned the building with widened eyes and took in all the details of the gorgeous facade.

A new house was next to the labyrinth in one of the more remote areas of the royal estate. Not many people came here except for the guards on their patrols. This had probably been the reason why Theodore had chosen this spot.

The building was rather small in comparison to the scale of the palace, but it was still big enough to offer a lot of space inside. In front of it was a small terrace with a table and two chairs. The tiled square was framed by colorful flowers and adorned with a parasol. It looked wonderful, but that wasn't the special part.

The house itself was completely made out of glass so that Blanche could see the inside. The building was filled with plants that were being illuminated by the sunlight that fell in through the roof and made the glass shine, which only allowed the house to seem even more heavenly. A sea of green mixed with blossoms of all imaginable colors and appeared to welcome any visitor inside with such beauty that it almost felt like it was from a dream. It was so stunning that she didn't know what else to say.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

She just turned to her lover and looked at him in awe.

Theodore stroked over her hair while smiling at her. “It seems like I chose a good gift, didn't I?”

The concubine was still speechless, so she nodded energetically before looking back at the glasshouse.

Her lover interlocked their hands and gazed at the present too. “I have to admit that I didn't come up with that idea. There have been buildings like this in some wealthy countries. It's called a winter garden since it's supposed to protect the plants during the coldest season in the nations with a cooler climate. I thought that this was close enough to what you might have been imagining and asked Leon to research it. He was a bit annoyed at first, but after seeing a few paintings, he was in love with this concept. He'll want to use it later too, and I'm still unsure whether I'm kind or whether I'm too selfish to let anyone else into the building that is your gift.”

Blanche squeezed his hand. Slowly, her shock up seeing something this beautiful decreased, and she regained her composure. She began beaming as she looked at her lover again. “This belongs to me? Can we go inside?”

Theodore let out a laugh but nodded. “Someone here seems to be impatient.”

“How could I not be? Come on!” The concubine began dragging him toward the house. Her lover refused to follow her for a few seconds until she glanced over her shoulder and began using all of her strength to pull him forward. Apparently, she was awfully weak since he only moved when he decided to walk by himself, but she was just happy that he didn't tease her any longer.

Blanche rushed towards the winter garden and abruptly slowed down when she reached the doors. She was overly careful not to damage the glass when she opened them and took a step inside. Then she stood still and looked around with an open mouth.

It was even more wonderful from the inside. Hundreds of plants were growing in the flower beds that were arranged around a tiled square with a small table. Vines were twining around the pillars that were supporting the roof, and potted flowers were placed at some spots on the square. Some plants looked like they weren't fully grown yet, which only promised that the winter garden would be even more beautiful in the future.

Blanche let out a breath of amazement before letting go of her lover. She stepped into the middle of the room and began to spin around while trying to inspect every little detail. “It's perfect! The gardeners have to have worked so hard. And the people who built this too. And Leon, of course.” She stopped and turned back to Theodore. For a moment, she just watched his warm smile, but then she rushed back to him and threw her arms around his neck. “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love it, it's wonderful.” She pressed countless small kisses onto his face before putting her lips upon his and pulling him as close as possible.

Within a second, her lover's arms were wrapped around her as well. They probably stood there like that for an eternity until Theodore spoke up. “I thought that we could eat here no matter how bad the weather is outside. We can open the windows to let in fresh air if we want to as well. The only people here will be your maid and Owen. They could sit outside so that we have our privacy. This means that this is the ideal place for us to have our meals together. I would like to spend a bit more time in the pavilion as well though. We rarely visit it these days, even though it's so special to us. Maybe we could alternate between eating at those two spots and the dining room so that all of them are used at some point.”

Those words filled Blanche with so much happiness that she forgot how to breathe for a moment. If this world had been following the original timeline, Theodore should have already started to eat with Seraphina. But the emperor had never intended to do that and was consuming all of his meals at his lover's side. On top of that, he cared about the little symbols of their relationship as much as she did. Whether it might be the butterfly ornament or the pavilion, she wasn't the only one that adored those things. She didn't say that though and just buried her head in his neck so that he would definitely feel her grinning.

After a few seconds, Blanche tilted her head to the side and replied. “That's a good idea. We shouldn't forget the dining room no matter how pretty the other locations are. After all, it would lose its purpose otherwise.” She slowly let go of him to inspect the area around them again. “I look forward to eating here. The flowers make everything seem so cozy and relaxing.”

Theodore nodded, and his smile faded a bit. “I agree. It's unfortunate that we only finished yesterday though. Our vacation will start in ten days, so we don't have too much time to use it for now. Well, the building won't run away, so we have plenty of time afterward.” His grin returned to its original state. “But the vacation will be great too. The house in Ibela is directly next to a beach, and there is a gorgeous old tree on the property as well. I promised that I would teach you how to swim, didn't I? I will make sure to use this opportunity for that. We'll have two months just for ourselves without any work. I can spend every single minute of the day with you, and we can do special things like riding a horse or maybe even visiting the city together. Ibela is far away from the capital and small enough that I might be able to go there without being recognized by anyone.”

Blanche's eyes widened at that. “That's dangerous. If you don't want people to notice, you can't take many guards with you, but that would give others the chance to attack you.”

“As long as no one knows who I am, they won't send anyone after me. If I don't have to fight against professionals, I am more than capable of defending you and myself. I'll protect the both of us until my last breath.” Theodore gave her a warm smile and kissed her forehead. “We'll have enough time to discuss that in the carriage. We will take two days to travel to our summer residence after all. For now, how about we have some tea in the winter garden so that we can use it at least a little?”

She agreed immediately, which proved to have been anticipated by her lover.

A few minutes later, servants came with pastries and pots of freshly brewed tea. They set the trays down before bowing and leaving the winter garden.

Blanche sat down on her chair and looked around in awe once more. No matter how long she stared at her surroundings, it didn't become less astonishing. Despite that, she had no problem focusing on Theodore when he took a seat across from her and started chatting about random topics. In the end, Blanche was still a bit overwhelmed because of the thought of the vacation beginning in less than two weeks though. She had always anticipated the summer but believed that it was far in the future and possibly even out of her reach. She had believed that Theodore would have already turned his back on her at this point.

But that wasn't the case.

Theodore still loved his concubine as much as he had always done and didn't have any interest in Seraphina. This meant that the main characters wouldn't have their first time during the vacation and that Blanche could be sure that the novel wouldn't follow its original course. She couldn't guarantee that the ending wasn't somehow enforced by this world, but she wouldn't be able to do anything against that anyway. Right now, Blanche was doing everything she could to stay away from any intrigues and to keep Theodore's love, and she would continue like this. Just him holding her hand and sitting with her made her so happy that she couldn't stop smiling, which felt like a reward for her hard work.

“Say...” In the middle of their conversation, Theodore suddenly became a bit more serious. “You befriended a group of servants, didn't you? What were their names?”

Blanche was taken aback by his question but nodded anyway. “Yes. I met four of them in the kitchen, and you know Stella already. There are Angelica, George, Darlene and Clark. We often bake and eat the result together afterward. Why?” While speaking, she held the spoon with pudding to her lover's lips, and it quickly disappeared inside his mouth.

Theodore swallowed and gave her a smile again. “No reason. I just wanted to be sure that I got the names right. You still see them daily, right?”

She nodded again and ate the piece of cake that he had lifted to her face before replying. “Like I said. When I bake, one of them is usually there too.” She consumed another small portion of the tart that he had given her while already commenting on it. “It's delicious.”

“Of course. It always is. Though, I would argue that you love any sweets that are offered to you.” After that, both of them were quiet for a moment. It looked like her lover was lost in thoughts, so she let him ponder for a bit

At some point, Blanche came up with a question though and broke the silence. “Did you ever get closer to some servants? I know that you are friends with Leon and Owen, but I've never seen you with a personal attendant.”

Theodore rested his head on his palm and chewed on a croissant before replying. “I never had one. Most things I require help with are connected to the documents that Leon has to go through. Other tasks only come up occasionally. In contrast to you, I don't have to put on a corset and puffy dresses every day. I also don't have such long and wavy hair, so I manage to do most things on my own.”

She rolled her eyes at that but let him continue without commenting on the fact that she could put on her corset on her own, even if it would take an eternity.

Theodore already resumed. “Usually, I just instruct the first person I see or tell the steward to send me a group if they need to prepare something bigger like an event. So, I didn't speak much with many servants. It might be better like this though. As the emperor, I need to keep my authority and would lose some of that if I befriended too many of the people that work for me. I would also inevitably treat my friends differently from the others, which I can't do in my position.” Even though he didn't seem to apply that standard to his lover, whom he treated very favorably in comparison to what a guest should be offered.

The rest sounded logical, and Blanche was still interested to hear more. “I see. And in your childhood? Did you never play with servants then? You had a nursemaid, right? I think you mentioned that she protected you even more than your father.”

Theodore nodded and squeezed her hand. “She wasn't a real nursemaid, but she did raise me. She didn't work for the palace though. She was-” He cut himself off, and a frown appeared on his face. “I... I never actually told you about Althea, did I?”

Blanche shook her head. She would have remembered it if her lover had talked about the person that raised him and kept him from harm in his childhood. Now that he had addressed that topic, she was more than curious to learn more about that woman and looked at him while waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, she quickly added something though. “I understand if you don't want to talk about it. I'm perfectly fine with-”

“No, it's alright. I rarely speak about her since it's a bit upsetting to remember, but I want you to know.” Theodore guided Blanche's hand to his face and put it onto his cheek. He was quiet for a while and stared into the distance before beginning. “As you already heard a couple of times, my father, Alastair Estien, was married to the dowager empress, the woman that gave birth to me. But as it often happens in arranged marriages, they didn't love each other. Or rather, my father didn't love her. She claimed to love him, but I doubt that she even has the capability to feel that wonderful emotion. To be honest, I'm not sure whether my father ever truly felt that way about someone either. He was too immersed into his work to see anything but his duties.”

Theodore paused, and a little smile appeared on his lips. “Until he met Althea, the daughter of a count that had recently died at that time. Father fell in love. He never openly said it, but he cared about her more than about anyone else. He made her his concubine and moved her into the palace. The dowager empress wasn't pleased about that, but she couldn't do anything.”

The situation was a little similar to theirs right now, even though some things were different. But more than that, Blanche was interested in Theodore talking about his childhood, which apparently, hadn't been a very pleasant time for him. Until a few months ago, he had never mentioned more than small bits, so being able to hear the full story now made her feel special. She listened closely and waited for him to narrate at his own pace.

“As I already said, my father took his duties more seriously than anything else. He didn't care for his wife, but he needed an heir. So, he had no problem sleeping with both women in the palace in hopes of increasing the chances of one of them becoming pregnant. The dowager empress wanted an heir too. Althea wanted a child that she could love and raise to be a good person later. After a few years of no sign of pregnancy, everyone was beginning to worry about the future of our nation, even though all three of them were very young. But then suddenly, the gods granted the emperor's wish for an heir. They just gave the child to the wrong woman.”