It was new that her lover spoke about a person named Althea, who seemed to have been his father's concubine and had raised him. Of course, Blanche listened from the very beginning to make sure that no word remained unheard.
Theodore bit his lip and looked down for a moment before continuing with a voice that was dripping with resentment. “I was born to the dowager empress, who only saw me as a tool to stabilize her husband's power. Althea, who truly wished for a child, appeared to be infertile, and that crushed her.” His expression softened, and a warm smile adorned his lips. “Then my father did the one thing I will forever be thankful for. To him, it didn't matter who raised me. He just wanted to make the person that he cared about happy. So, he gave me to Althea.”
That was an awfully strange way of handling children, but Blanche wouldn't complain. She knew that the dowager empress was horrible, so she was glad that Theodore had stayed safe from her.
Theodore squeezed his lover's hand and made eye contact with her. “I was close to my father, but not in the way that a parent and their child should be close to each other. We did see each other as family, but I think we focused too much on our status to ignore our roles. I saw him as my mentor, and he saw me as the future emperor, whom he had to educate so that the country would flourish during my reign. I spent a lot of time with him, but that was mainly to learn about my duties later. That doesn't mean that I didn't love my father. I am merely a bit disappointed since I disagree with his constant attempts to push all emotions away, which resulted in him making many mistakes regarding his lover as well as me and my brother.”
It was hard to imagine how the former emperor had been, but upon seeing his portrait when she had first arrived here, Blanche had deemed him to be stern. She could believe that this had quite the negative impact on someone's children if their parents were as cold to them as the emperor might seem to others. Certainly, neither of the princes had had an easy time with that. Yet, it felt strange to hear Theodore mentioning his brother, possibly because Blanche had never heard much about the second prince, at least not from her lover. She only listened more closely and tried to ignore how her stomach churned with uncertainty,
Theodore left a small pause and resumed after taking a deep breath. “Father supported me a lot, but the person that showed me real affection was Althea. She took me in as her own child and gave me the love my father had never thought to be necessary to raise an heir. She didn't mind showing affection. Like I mentioned during our conversation about my childhood, she always protected me from all kinds of dangers to the best of her ability. She even fought with my father a few times because he didn't do anything about the staff being full of corrupt people. I was happy with her and my father's lessons despite all the kidnapping and assassination attempts. But unfortunately, it wasn't this easy.”
Blanche already thought that what she had heard wasn't easy, but she forced herself to stay quiet not to interrupt her lover.
Theodore's expression darkened. He paused and directed his gaze onto the table. Blanche began to stroke her thumb over the back of his hands when he continued in a bitter voice. “The dowager empress was furious about me growing up with Althea as my mother. It didn't matter much since my father didn't care about her complaints, but she caused problems over and over again. Rumors say that she had violent fits in which she hurt servants and pushed some down the stairs, and I fully believe that. All memories I have of that woman are horrible, even the ones from when I was barely four. At that time, she demanded to see me regularly, and Althea was too kind and felt guilty about taking away another woman's child, so she allowed it. The dowager empress always pretended to be close to me during those meetings and wanted me to act as if I had been raised by her. I was extremely young back then, so naturally, I was disturbed by that unknown person suddenly hugging me and telling me to call her Mother. So, I cried and hid behind Althea, whom I addressed as Mother. That made the dowager empress angry.”
Blanche's expression had to have given away how upset she was to hear that, even though she hadn't even witnessed that scene.
This made her lover stroke over her hands for a moment. A grim chuckle escaped his throat before he resumed. “Very angry. I still remember how she yelled at me and told me that I deserved the worst in the world for betraying her. I think she hated me ever since the day that I chose Althea over her. She had already been resentful about her husband making that choice, so her biological son doing the same must have infuriated her.”
It made sense for the dowager empress to lose her temper. Most people would be furious upon losing their child to someone else. Hating the concerned child for that instead of the person that had made the decision, the former emperor, was absolutely nonsensical though. Blanche wanted to tell Theodore that his behavior as a toddler had been to be expected, but she held back once again. This time, it was much harder to keep her mouth shut, especially since it pained her to see her lover so vulnerable.
The corners of Theodore's lips formed an uncertain smile that showed that he was only half-amused. “Unfortunately, the dowager didn't keep quiet about that. She troubled Althea again and again and blamed her whenever something had happened to me despite never making any attempts to protect me herself. She began doing everything in her power to hurt my mother with the pettiest schemes you could come up with, but it got even more dangerous. It even ended with her ordering someone to put broken glass into Mother's food, which eventually just underlined why Father had deemed her to be unable to raise me. However, he was too weak to stand by his decision. My father, as cowardly as that was, had enough one day and believed that his wife would keep quiet if she had a child herself.”
Blanche could already tell what would happen. “So, he...decided that she should raise your brother? Even though she had already shown that she was willing to hurt Althea so badly?” Somehow, the thought stung.
Theodore's expression as he said the rest just made it worse. “Yes. That is one of the most cowardly things my father did. Back then, I was just five, so I barely noticed, but it soon went downhill. My brother was born, and since I was hated by the dowager empress, she gave her best to raise him into an heir that would surpass me. If he wasn't such a despicable person, I would have felt pity upon seeing how she forced him to study night and day. Though, I shouldn't have expected the dowager empress to be able to raise a good person in the first place.” Something in his gaze made it seem like he might actually have some pity, but he didn't dare to say it. He was quiet for a moment and met his lover's gaze before resuming in a softer voice. “I'm glad that I didn't end up with her. I would have become someone that was unable to love in that case, and then I wouldn't be with you.” He lifted his lover's hand to his mouth and pressed a kiss onto her fingertips.
After waiting for a few seconds, Blanche could be sure that he was finished and spoke up quietly as she gave her best to ignore how much her chest hurt. “This is the first time that I ever heard about that. I'm glad that you got away from that horrible woman as well. To think that she would dislike you for acting like a child when you were one and that she would even go as far as to wish for your death just so that the other son can rule Artias... How twisted can a person be? It's obvious that toddlers wouldn't recognize an unknown woman as their mother when the one that raised them is standing right behind them.” She made a small pause.
She knew where the dowager empress and the second prince were. Currently, they were being confined in a small palace at the other end of the capital for their connection to the assassination attempt on Theodore after his coronation.
The former emperor was already dead, which explained where he was too. But another person had been mentioned in this story, and there was no trace of her in the palace.
Blanche had heard about the past a few times, but Althea's name didn't seem familiar to her. If that woman had basically been Theodore's mother, why wasn't she here now? The concubine had a bad premonition about that, so she didn't want to ask, but she was curious. She glanced at her lover, who was observing her carefully. She opened her mouth, only to close it immediately. There was no way that she could address something that could possibly make him remember some terrible things.
But Theodore had already noticed that she was holding herself back. He put his hand onto her cheek and brought his face directly in front of hers. “Please don't keep quiet about whatever is on your mind. I want to hear what you are thinking.”
Blanche bit the inside of her cheek. “It's just... I'm unsure whether that wouldn't only hurt you to think about.”
His expression didn't change while she said that. “Ask about what you want to know.”
She took a deep breath and posed her question so quietly that it was barely audible. “Althea... Where is she now? Is she...”
Her lover gave her a sad smile. “Yes, she isn't with us anymore. I wanted her to stay in the palace with me after my father's death, but we didn't have much time left together. It's been over a...” He paused for a moment. “No, it happened exactly seven years ago. At the hunting festival.” He took a few seconds to breathe in and out, seemingly to keep his rage from overflowing. “Did you know that we were attacked twice that day?”
She felt how the blood drained from her face at that. “Twice? You mean in the forest and one more time?”
Theodore nodded. “During the hunt, we were attacked by a group of mercenaries that had jumped out of the trees without a warning, and that was the assassination attempt that started everything. After coming back from the forest with me and the guards being covered in wounds, I asked my mother to get into a carriage and told the coachman to bring us to a manor that belongs to the royal family. I did that because I knew that the dowager empress was responsible for the attack, so I didn't want to spend the night in the same building as her.”
He let out a humorless laugh. “I thought I was being so clever, but the dowager empress had anticipated that. The carriage was ambushed only a few minutes after we had entered it. The door was opened, and a masked man with a sword stormed towards me.” Theodore pressed his lips into a thin line and tightened his hold on his lover's hand. “That was the last time that my mother saved me. She just jumped up and stood in front of me. Of course, she had no armor or weapons, so she only managed to slow him down for a few seconds. That was enough for me to run away. It was...too late for Mother though.”
Blanche saw how tears were glittering in her lover's eyes and felt like her heart broke even though she had never met the woman that had raised him. She barely managed to press out the following words. “What happened after that?”
“I was grieving and too wrathful to think clearly. And that made me ruthless.” Theodore's eyes became colder, and he stared into the distance while speaking. “It was obvious that they wouldn't leave behind any evidence, but I still wanted to give them the worst punishment that I could legally sentence them to. After the first investigation, which had only brought up vague clues that supported my assumption of whom was responsible, the second one ended with Count Besseta being framed and executed. I barely managed to pardon his family due to the pressure from the other nobles, but that situation gave me an idea. I began to lay out traps with Leon's help, and we created the evidence that had been missing before. That took some time, and during those weeks, I won the dowager empress' trust.”
Theodore's lips formed a small smile, but his eyes remained as filled with hatred as they had been before. “Until this day, it disgusts me to say that I called her Mother and pretended to want her affection and protection. I think that she believed me so much that she might have considered keeping me alive if I had signed a contract that would make my brother the next emperor. But then we had prepared enough proof to have another trial, and I tricked her by promising that I trusted her before it began. She was interrogated in front of the court, and I asked where she was during the second attack. A murmur went through the crowd, but she just calmly replied that she had been returning to the palace at that time.”
Theodore's smile widened a bit. “She only noticed that she couldn't have known about the fact that there was a second assassination attempt since we hadn't made it public when it was too late. Along with the subtle evidence that we had faked, that was enough to link her to the incidents and put her in confinement. My brother lied flawlessly, as always, and was far too young to be punished seriously, but he joined the dowager empress without even questioning it. It might have been better like this. I know that I told you about the summary of the trial already, and back then, I said that I felt guilty about falsifying proof. But now I'm actually frustrated that I didn't come up with enough to execute the dowager empress. Even though it's hard to sentence members of the royal family to death, it was the best opportunity to get rid of her, and I didn't use it. Now I have to wait while knowing that she and my brother won't sit there quietly. They are definitely already preparing something to harm me in this very moment.” He let out a sigh as his smile faded. “We can only hope that they will act as recklessly as the man that attacked me during this year's hunt. If so, I won't have any trouble fighting back.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Blanche just sat there and tried to process all the information that she had just been given. She had known about the issue with the Besseta family, and she was aware of the falsified evidence. But before this day, her lover had never spoken about Althea, the second attack or how he had tricked his biological mother. The clearer the whole picture got, the more gruesome the dowager empress' action appeared to be. How could that woman harbor ill feelings because a little child had refused to play along with her facade of being a loving mother despite rarely meeting him? Being sad about that would have been logical, but the dowager empress had become so bitter that she even tried to kill her own son because of this.
The concubine felt anger bubbling in her stomach and gave her best to suppress that. Theodore knew how horrible his birth mother was, so ranting about that would only make him feel even worse. Right now, she couldn't get emotional but had to be his anchor. She had to stay calm and allow him to cry, not the other way around. Gently, she put her hand on his cheek and kept silent for a few more seconds to regain her composure before speaking up. “I...don't know what to say. I support your decision from back then fully, and it's good if you don't regret it because it was right to send those that attempted to kill you away. I don't need to voice what I think about the dowager empress since it should be obvious by now. I'm glad that you managed to confine her and your brother. But of course, it's awful that it had to come so far first. And...I'm sorry for your loss.”
She felt unpleasantly upset after she finished. Even though she had only heard Althea's name a few times today and had never met her, she was dejected to know that this woman was dead. If Althea had raised Theodore, she had to have been a wonderful person, and that was enough to make Blanche want to grieve. She gave her best to hide that, but her lover read her expression too well.
Theodore leaned forward and caressed her cheeks with his thumbs while cupping her face. “Don't be sad. I miss her, but it's been a long time.”
Blanche let out a small chuckle while making eye contact with her lover. “I'm sorry. I'm not the one that should grieve. But just because it happened in the past, that doesn't make it insignificant. Even if a hundred years pass, you won't be able to get over losing someone you love. You think about it less, and other people play more important roles in your life, but you don't forget them. And when you remember them, it feels like heaven, and at the same time, it stings so much that you want to break down. I-” She cut herself off when she realized that she was summarizing her own feelings about her family. She didn't need to think about that now, or she wouldn't be able to hide her dismay. It wouldn't be fair for her to ponder about her own problems when Theodore had just opened up to her.
Her lover moved his chair even closer to her and extended his arms towards her. She climbed onto his lap without hesitating and cuddled up against him. For a while, they sat like that without saying anything and with the only noise being their quiet breathing until they, especially Theodore, had calmed down a bit.
Theodore was the one to speak again first. He slowly stroked over her hair before whispering. “I know how it feels to lose someone because I wasn't able to protect them. It was my biggest mistake, and I won't repeat it. That's why I can assure you that no one will ever harm you as long as I'm here.”
“You have to protect yourself too. I can't imagine a life without you.”
“Of course. I don't intend to ever spend a day more than absolutely necessary without you.”
She hoped that they would be able to fulfill that desire despite the issues the novel and the emperor's enemies forced upon them. They loved each other more than anything, so they deserved that, right? Today had once again proven that they had become closer than the main characters ever had been in the original storyline. Neither Theodore's childhood nor Althea's role in it had been described in the novel. This meant that he hadn't felt such a strong bond to Seraphina that he would want to tell her.
But he had told Blanche. This made it obvious that she had been able to make him trust her more than in the past. She had to have influenced their relationship so that they were more likely to open up to each other. If that was the case, she had earned the right to have a happy end with him, hadn't she? Even though that knowledge made her cheerful, she was also a bit scared. Theodore trusted her, and if he ever found out about her connection to Sefare, who was backing that despicable dowager empress, he would be heartbroken. She couldn't risk him hearing about that.
As long as Sefare kept quiet to protect himself from possible consequences for him, Blanche was safe. But if that man decided to reveal everything, she couldn't do anything about it. In that case, her only chance would be explaining how she had believed Sefare since he had saved her life and that she had never intended to harm her lover. Maybe that would make Theodore refrain from throwing her out of the palace, but his trust in her would still disappear. So, she could only hope that Sefare was too cautious to publish any information that could make her seem like the emperor's enemy.
Otherwise, she might be led to the execution site again.
After a few minutes, Blanche forced herself to push those thoughts away to focus on her lover's breathing, which sounded normal again. Of course, he had been able to calm himself faster than she did, even though he had been the one sharing his painful past. After that, he made it his task to console her, no matter how often she repeated that she was fine.
The rest of the meal consisted out of Blanche and Theodore hugging each other while feeding one another some snacks. By the time that they finished, it was already time for dinner, so they ate a bit more of the pastries and skipped the savory meal before going to bed.
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The couple continued the routine that they had implemented during the past few days, with the only change being their new eating location. They woke up and ate in the dining room. Then they spent the time until noon together and ate in the winter garden or, if the weather was appropriate, in the pavilion. After that, Theodore left to work during the afternoon since he had increased his workload a little bit again. Blanche used that time to take walks, bake and interact with her friends. For dinner, they met in the winter garden again, and she brought a piece of whatever dessert she had created on that day. They spent the evening together and then went to bed, only to repeat the same thing the following days.
It was a simple but relaxing and pleasant schedule with few problems that could arise. With the only exception being Theodore's conviction to fill her new dressing room to the brim. Blanche wasn't even able to act like she didn't like the presents, since that would be a lie and would also hurt her lover, so her wardrobe slowly but surely grew against her wishes. But was the only little issue that would have to live with.
She was just happy to be with Theodore and her friends without having to meet any unpleasant people for the next time while anticipating the upcoming vacation. Though, it appeared to be a bit more stressful for the servants that needed to prepare the baggage for a two-month trip to the coast. The emperor would be accompanied by many servants and guards, and all of those would have to take something with them as well, so countless carriages and horses were needed.
Whenever Blanche saw people in the entrance hall, they were carrying boxes and brought them to the coaches, which would leave earlier with the staff members that would prepare everything in the summer mansion for the emperor's arrival. But other than that, she had to rely on her friend's complaints about how they had to transport things from the storage rooms to the carriages the whole time. That was enough to give her a rather clear picture.
“I swear to the gods. If that girl whines about how I stack my baggage one more time, I will get seriously mad.” Darlene plopped down onto the chair and leaned her head back to stare at the ceiling.
Clark looked up from the cake he was currently cutting for the concubine and raised an eyebrow at his colleague. “What are you going to do then? Threaten her? I think you're two heads smaller than her.”
Darlene glared at him without showing any intention of moving. “What did you say? I may not be as tall as you giant, but I'm still average.” She glanced at the other side of the room, where Angelica was sitting and peeling fruits along with Stella and George. “But I'm alright with that if it means that I'm at the perfect height to receive forehead kisses.”
Angelica met her gaze and gave her a wide grin. “We'll see what we can do about that.”
Blanche watched the exchange with a smile before going back to stirring the cream. This time, it seemed to be in perfect condition and wasn't filled with small buttery pieces, so she was content. She put the whisk away and grabbed a spoon to begin spreading the mass on the dough pieces that Clark had already prepared. “I think the fruit rolls might be even better than last time. Today everything works out like it's supposed to.”
George came over to her and inspected the cake for a bit. “I don't know how the result looked like last time, but this already seems tasty, even though it's not even finished.” He extended his hand to one of the pieces that only needed some fruits before it was done, but he was harshly reminded to be patient.
Clark smacked his hand away. “Hands off. We're not finished.” George pretended to sulk, but his colleague didn't pay any attention to that. Clark just eyed how Blanche put the cream onto the next dough piece and spoke up with a smirk when she met his gaze. “It might be better this time because someone that can actually use a knife is here to help. Even after baking for... How long has it been? Three months? Anyway, it's been a while, but your hands are still as unsteady as always.”
The concubine turned around and tossed back a strand of her hair in an exaggerated motion. “I don't know what you could be talking about. During the time I didn't come here, I made a handkerchief for Theo, and it looks oddly good for someone with unsteady hands. Stella had to teach me, and I took a few attempts, but in the end, the effort was worth it.” The others paused at the mention of the emperor, and for a moment, they exchanged a few looks with each other, which made her wonder. “What's wrong?”
Angelica was the one to reply after a few seconds of awkward silence. “It's nothing bad. It's just that we aren't sure whether we should mention that. It won't influence you in any way, so it might be better not to-”
Darlene cut her off. “I still think that we should tell her. It's related to her, and I would like to know something like that if I was in her situation too.”
The concubine looked at them in confusion until George spoke up. “I'm uncertain. It might come across wrong if you only tell half of it, so...”
Stella put her hands onto her hips at that. “Please be honest. Keeping secrets is completely unnecessary.”
Clark set down the knife with a sigh and turned around to lean his back against the counter. “I agree. We should just be direct, or this will take a few more days until you mentally prepared yourselves.” He made eye contact with the concubine. “It's actually not a big issue, so I don't know why they are acting like this. I'll just tell you for them. A few days ago, Gloria informed us that His Majesty wished to talk to us in private.”
Blanche frowned at that. “He went out of his way to send the head maid to get you? What did he want from you?”
Clark glanced at his colleagues, who seemed a bit nervous, before continuing. “When we entered His Majesty's office, he asked us whether we were the people that you were meeting in the kitchen regularly. At first, I feared that he had somehow found out about the cherry incident, but that wasn't it. He just spoke to all of us for a bit and posed a few harmless questions about us, our work and our free time before dismissing us.”
George let out a humorless chuckle when his friend finished. “Yes, and that was all His Majesty needed to do to make us shiver in fear. I thought I was going to lose my job in the palace or even my life. Of course, it's good for the emperor to have an intimidating presence, but that was a bit much for me.”
Blanche smeared some cream on another piece of cake while glancing up at her friends. “I understand that. In front of others, he's very authoritarian. Sometimes, I find it odd how different he can be when there aren't any spectators. But why did he call you to his office? I can't imagine that you committed any errors that were so severe that the emperor had to address you personally. Did he say why he wanted to see you?”
Angelica shook her head. “He just asked many questions and then sent us away again. We don't know why he would be interested in our private life, so we only have one explanation for that. He wanted to make sure that we were good people so that he doesn't have to worry about you spending time with us.”
That did seem like a logical reason. In any other case, it wouldn't make sense for Theodore to show interest in random servants and to coincidentally pick out the four Blanche was close to. Maybe that was why he had asked about her friends only a few days ago.
To bystanders, such care might seem exaggerated, but it made sense to Blanche. Her lover had told her that his father hadn't cleared the palace of traitors so that he had been forced to suffer from many disloyal people during his childhood. It was only natural that he would still be more careful than many others might be.
Naturally, Blanche couldn't say that without revealing secrets that Theodore had trusted her to keep, so she remained vague. “Well, that understandable. There could also be people among the staff that don't have the best intentions. This was the only way for him to feel as safe as he could about me meeting you. It must have been scary for you though. Being called to the emperor for no known reason can be stressful. Did you not tell me immediately because of that?”
Clark shook his head. “I wanted to be honest the next day, but those two were reluctant.” He gestured towards Angelica and George, who were still cutting some fruits.
Angelica stopped upon being called by name and gave the concubine an apologetic smile. “Please forgive us for not being certain about telling you. I feared that you might misinterpret His Majesty's caution as meddling in your decisions and get angry at him. Luckily, that isn't the case.”
“Of course not. I would never react like that without asking him about it. Communication is the key to-” Blanche was interrupted by the door opening. Her eyes narrowed when she turned around and saw Harris, who was entering the kitchen hesitantly.
All the people inside stared at him like he was an unknown object with expressions that ranged from mild annoyance to pure frustration. Especially Clark appeared to be quite irritated upon seeing his former best friend and crossed his arms in front of his chest while frowning at the other man.
Blanche felt like this could get unpleasant.
Harris didn't make eye contact with any of the other servants and bowed for a moment. “Lady Blanche, His Majesty requested your presence in his office.”
Theodore usually never sent people to pick his lover up. That was enough to make Blanche panic.