When they finished undressing, Theodore took the hat from his lover's head and put it onto the stack of their clothes, which left both of them completely bare. Blanche had to hold herself back from running into the water when they walked towards it with interlocked hands. When her feet dipped into the liquid, it didn't feel too cold this time so that she immediately took another step. She only had to pause a bit to get used to the temperature of the sea when the water reached her thighs. The tide made her sway slightly, but it wasn't strong enough to affect her more than that, so she managed to stand at the same spot while waiting for her body to stop shivering.

By now, the water reached to her waist, and the ground was uneven. So, she and her lover slowed down to make sure that they didn't go into an area that was deeper than the rest.

Theodore glanced over at her while he led her around a stone that was lying on the ground. “And? Do you like it?”

Blanche nodded happily and drew swirls into the water with her fingers. “It's even better than I imagined it. We should have done this earlier.”

“It's good that you're not scared. You don't have to be since I'm right here with you.” Her lover gave her a soft smile before coming to a halt when he noticed that the water was going up to her armpits. “But I think that this as far as we will go for now. We don't want to overwhelm your senses, so we should take it slow and allow you to get used to it at first.”

Blanche couldn't hold back the small giggle that left her mouth at that.

Theodore stepped in front of her and grabbed her second hand too. “Why are you laughing?”

She grinned up at him and allowed herself to fall forward so that she was leaning against his chest. “That conversation reminded me of another one that we had a while ago. You're always so keen on giving me time even when I'm eager to try new things. I'm not adventurous in many cases, but when I am, you worry about me getting hurt and tell me to go slow. Do you remember when you said that to me too?”

Her lover was taken aback by that question at first, but slowly, it dawned upon him. The corners of his lips lifted, and he let go of her hands to wrap his arms around her. “I might have an idea what you could be referring to. I'm shocked that my innocent little angel would be thinking about that first.”

She tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “Oh, I'm far from innocent. You should know that by now.” She licked over her lip and lifted herself up on her tiptoes. She didn't reach Theodore's mouth on her own, which made him grin down at her.

“Is that so? Then it can't be helped.” He let her wait for a moment, but he leaned down and connected their lips.

Blanche grinned into their kiss and pulled him down to her a little more. They separated after a short moment, but she didn't have the intention to step back. The realization that she was the one in her lover's arms filled her with ecstasy. She was going to continue the vacation like this and keep him away from Seraphina. Then everything could be fine. She couldn't contain the happiness that was filling her heart and began pressing kisses onto his neck. She wanted to tell him that she loved him more than anything else, but she couldn't stop plastering his skin with her affection. Blanche only stopped when her lips met a rough spot, and she paused to take a look at it. Upon seeing the scar on his shoulder, she froze and brushed her fingertips across the red line. “It's still so big.”

Theodore glanced down to scan the wound but wasn't surprised by the size. “It will probably get a little smaller, but it won't disappear completely. This will have to adorn my body now. It's not painful though. I don't feel it anymore, so I barely pay any attention to it.”

Blanche pressed her lips together and inspected the scar for a moment before responding in a dejected voice. “It's still horrible.”

“Does it look that bad?”

She hurriedly shook her head. “What are you talking about? I didn't mean that. It's just awful that you had to go through this. Remembering the people that wanted to kill you every time you see the wound has to be terrible. That incident was horrifying enough in itself, so it's unfair that you have to remember it again and again.” She lowered her head and tried to hold back the memories of that day that were beginning to well up. Even though she hadn't been the one in danger, she despised the feelings of pure dread that she had felt upon hearing that the emperor had been attacked.

Theodore put his fingers under her chin and tilted her head back to make her look at him. “It reminds me that I survived. That I didn't forfeit my chance to live a happy life by your side. That I was given another chance to stay with you and to show you that I love you with every fiber of my being. This attack didn't just force me to fight back. It was a wake-up call that reminded me that I have to treasure and protect the people that I love. It reminded me that I can't go along with what others want me to do. I will live every single day of my life to the fullest to ensure that we can be happy together. This obvious goal wasn't clear to me from the very beginning. I was too weak many times and believed in some people that actually harbored ill intentions. That won't happen again.”

As if that wasn't enough, Theodore didn't even stop here.

He paused for a moment and stared into her eyes before continuing. “I know exactly who my allies are. And I also made sure to burn the awareness of whom the most important person is into my brain so that I'll never commit an error by choosing my priorities falsely ever again. No amount of work and no other people could ever weigh up to your presence in my life. I love you. I love you so much that it's the only thing keeping me sane.”

Blanche bit her lip while trying to keep herself from getting too overjoyed and quickly hugged him. “I love you too.” A flood of emotions threatened to crash over her as she processed those words.

She would really be able to go against the novel, wouldn't she? There was no way that Theodore would leave her behind after saying something like this, right?

She hadn't acted like the villainess in the original storyline and hadn't pushed him away with her selfishness. She hadn't caused any problems that could make the heroine hate her and had avoided Sefare and the Vasquez family. The concubine had been her lover's anchor at all times so that he wouldn't need Seraphina to share his burden. She loved him with all her heart, and that would be enough to make him truly happy. So, he didn't have to be with his wife just to have his happy end.

That had to be enough to allow the villainess to evade her doom.

Right?

Hadn't Blanche done so much to prove her love for Theodore by now that she deserved to stay by his side? She loved him, and he loved her. Wasn't that the most important thing? For some reason, thinking that gave her some confidence. If they were together, they could defeat all threats, she was sure of that.

Just when that thought crossed Blanche's mind, a movement from the beach attracted her attention. She glanced over at the area where their blanket was lying and saw two figures standing there. Upon recognizing them, an icy shiver ran through her whole body, and she forced herself to loosen her rigid muscles not to alert her lover. Why did the empress have to appear every time that she began believing in a beautiful future?

Seraphina stood on the beach in her gorgeous blue attire and stared at the couple with an undefinable emotion in her eyes. The concubine had no idea what the other woman was thinking, she only knew that it wasn't something kind.

At the moment that their eyes met, it felt like the temperature of the water had dropped, and Blanche's hairs stood on ends. She didn't want to look away now that she had decided to go against the intended storyline. But she also felt like meeting the empress' gaze was equal to challenging her, which she couldn't do without risking being branded as a villain. But her dilemma was solved before she could make a decision when Seraphina averted her eyes and turned to the man next to her that seemed to be Noah. Still, the empress didn't leave immediately, like Blanche had hoped, but stayed at the same spot while talking to the knight.

“Is someone at the beach?” Theodore's voice pulled her back into the present.

The concubine immediately tightened her hold on him. “Don't look.” Those words came out of her mouth before she could restrain herself.

The empress looked beautiful right now with her blue dress flowing in the wind as her golden hair glittered in the sun. There was no way that Blanche could let her lover turn around. It was selfish, but she didn't want him to even glance at the empress for one second. She tried to come up with some excuse that would justify him not being interested in the people that were watching them.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Yet, Blanche doubted that anything would be able to veil the despair in her voice when she had spoken up first. “There are some servants taking a walk on the beach. They will leave in a few seconds. So, you don't have to look at them. They aren't really special.”

Her lover took a step backward, which made her heart sink. Her insistence had to have increased his curiosity even more, and now he would turn around.

But Theodore didn't make any attempt to move further away. He cupped her cheeks with his hands and brought his face directly in front of hers. “I won't look there. I only have eyes for you. I don't care about anyone else. You don't have to worry about me ever turning to another person, especially not her.”

That was a bit too specific.

Blanche tensed. “What?” Did he know who had been at the beach? Had he noticed Seraphina before she had? Or was her jealousy so obvious that he didn't need to think twice?

Her lover began rubbing small circles into her skin with his thumbs without breaking eye contact for even a single second. “You only react like this when there is one other person involved. But you don't need to fear her. There is nothing that she can do to harm you in any way, so you don't need to hold back when she is there. She's nothing but...someone whose presence we have to accept as long as it helps us. I couldn't care less about that woman, and I don't mind showing that in every way imaginable. The only person that I love is you, and that won't ever change. You have my unrivaled attention, and I'll prove that to you. I won't look away from what's truly important.” He underlined his words by continuing to stare into her eyes.

Blanche's knees weakened at that sight despite his harsh words regarding his wife. The blue in Theodore's irises consisted out of different shades that faded into one another and made it look like a deep body of water with some shallow parts. Even though she had just seen the ocean a few times until now, she was already sure that her lover's eyes could only be compared to the beautiful sea. Nothing else had such a hypnotizing and soothing effect just because one looked at it. Her grip on him slowly loosened, and she realized how she began relaxing when being sure that he wouldn't turn.

Blanche's hands wandered onto his, which were still resting on her cheeks, and kept them in place. She felt loved under his gaze, even though he was just holding her like this and looked at her. That was enough to make her heart flutter, and her inner turmoil began to die down. At first, her thoughts had been focused on the fear of ever seeing him staring at Seraphina with this much devotion in his eyes. But the longer Theodore remained in this position, the fewer worries were on her mind.

It was just a momentary distraction, but it was the best thing that could have happened. Blanche was sick of worrying about the heroine or the antagonists the whole time. She wanted to be with her lover and not see him falling for another woman, and that was everything she cared about. Currently, her wish was being fulfilled. Even now she couldn't quite believe it. But with every second that Theodore's gaze stayed on her and didn't wander to Seraphina, who was probably still glaring at them, she was becoming more confident.

This vacation was hers and her lover's. She wouldn't provoke the heroine, but she wouldn't give up on her happiness either. She would be the one sharing her love with Theodore here.

Blanche felt how the area around her heart slowly became warmer as the thoughts of the novel were pushed out of her mind. She wanted to pull Theodore closer and kiss him to show him how much she loved him, but she also wanted to maintain eye contact at the same time. All of that was so tempting that she didn't know what to do and just stared at him. Her lover was perfect. That realization was everything that filled her mind right now.

She wanted to make him as happy as he made her, so she wouldn't stay quiet. “Theo, I love you so much. I can't come up with the poetic words you always use. But I want you to know that there is no stronger emotion than my adoration for you. I will do everything to show that for as long as I'm by your side. Let me prove that I'm not lying. Allow me to stay with you.”

Theodore leaned forward slightly as one of his arms sneaked around her back to pull her closer to him. “You don't have to prove anything when I already know that you are speaking the truth. You will stay with me forever but not because I allowed it but because I need you. Without you, my world would fall apart, and there wouldn't be a grain of sand left. That's why I will spend every minute of my life treasuring you so that you understand that I'm serious about everything I'm saying to you right now.”

Blanche couldn't hold herself back from throwing her arms around him again. She pressed her face against his chest for a moment while trying to keep herself from replying in a just as cliché-like manner. Upon thinking about that, she couldn't help but joke a bit. “Wouldn't Leon hit us for being so overly romantic? He would probably imitate gagging noises to get us to stop being novelettish.”

Theodore put his lips against the top of her head so that she felt how his lips stretched into a smile. “He would. But does that matter when it makes us happy? It doesn't. There will always be people who criticize what we do in our relationship, but this doesn't concern them. As long as we are content holding hands at all times and professing our love to each other over and over again, it's fine. Other couples might hate it, but we would find their way of showing their affection odd. Leon is just joking, but there are people who will voice their serious complaints even though no one asked for it. In that case, you can tell them to mind their own business.” He rested his chin on her head when he finished and remained in that position for a while.

Blanche would have liked to stay like this even longer, but she began to shiver after another minute passed. She didn't say anything, but it became obvious.

Theodore looked down at her and gave her a little smile. “It's getting cold, isn't it? That means we'll have to start moving around. It would be nice to stay, but you won't learn to swim by cuddling with me. If it's too cold though, we can also take a break at the beach and go in later again.”

She shook her head. “No, it's not that bad. It would be good to start practicing swimming a bit. What are we going to do?”

“We'll stay here where you can stand, and I can show you the basic movements. Then you can try to imitate that, and whenever it feels like you will submerge, you can simply put your feet back on the ground. I'll be directly next to you too.”

As her lover had said, he showed her how she would have to move her arms and legs and held her up so that she could try it. Blanche managed to mirror his motions, but that didn't keep her at the surface at all. She sank a few times, and each time, Theodore pulled her up before she could even submerge completely or use her own feet. So, she wasn't scared of anything happening at all. Her lover might have been far more nervous than she was to the point at which she felt like he was exaggerating a bit.

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By the end of their first lesson, Blanche's hair was soaked and hung down from her head like a drenched cloth. The wind wasn't very strong, and it was warm, so she didn't mind being wet, but the smell of salt and the slight stickiness of the algae made her want to wash it off with normal water. At least that had been her plan until they climbed out of the sea, and she saw the edge of a cliff close to the estate. A huge tree stood on top of the hill, and she was sure that one would have a great view of the sea from there.

She turned to her lover with sparkling eyes and pointed at the cliff. “Can we go up there? It's part of the estate, right?”

Theodore's eyes followed her finger, and he nodded. “That belongs to the summer residence as well. I think I mentioned an old tree some time. That is the one. But before we go there, we should get dressed.” He crouched down next to the basket and pulled a towel out before spreading it open. “I won't allow anyone to see you like this after all.”

No one was here except for Owen and Stella, and it was doubtful whether they would even care to look, but Blanche was pleased by that. She didn't want anyone to see her lover's body either. Her eyes darted around as she checked whether the beach was truly empty one more time. There was nothing that remotely resembled a human silhouette anywhere. Seemingly, Seraphina had disappeared at some point, for which the concubine was extremely grateful. The empress was the last person that was allowed to catch a glimpse of more of Theodore's skin than absolutely necessary.

The emperor sat down on the blanket and patted the spot in front of him, which was a sign for Blanche to plop down with her back facing him. She already expected the embrace that followed. Her lover wrapped the towel around her torso and pulled her back so that she was leaning against him.

For a moment, Blanche tilted her head backward to look up at him but that quickly became exhausting. She focused her attention on the sea again. “It's a wonderful day, isn't it? It's the perfect weather to go bathing.”

Theodore hummed in approval. “See? Even the weather wants us to carry out our plans.”

It would be nice if this world truly wished for them to succeed, but Blanche doubted it. But as long as this universe wasn't trying to keep them apart, she didn't care though. “It doesn't matter what created this fate if we are together. I don't need this world to favor me or grant all my wishes. This one is enough.”

Her lover pressed a kiss on top of her head before pushing her forward slightly so that she was sitting upright again. “You're right. Because if you're with me, you don't need anyone else to grant your wishes. I will take care of that. We'll start by going to that tree. I think that we still need to wait a bit though. Your hair is wet, and I don't want you to get sick because the wind on top of the cliff is stronger. With the way it is now, you would drench your clothes within seconds.”

While he spoke, he carefully pulled her hair out from under the fabric and grabbed a second towel to begin drying her hair. He gently rubbed every strand from top to bottom before softly pressing the towel against her scalp. Naturally, her hair wasn't completely dry after that, but at least it wasn't soaking anymore. When he finished, she turned around and grabbed a towel to do the same for him.

Due to Theodore's short hair, it didn't nearly take as long, but Blanche still relished in the way that she could kneel in front of his sitting form, which made her taller than him for once. Like this, she managed to reach the top of his head without any problem and was at the perfect height to occasionally press kisses onto his nose with her cool lips.

After gently rubbing over his head for a while, Blanche put the towel down and ran her fingers through his hair to straighten it a bit. “Done. Now we just have to get dressed.” She glanced at the corset that was lying next to her dress and silently placed it in the basket before shoving the container away from her.

Theodore grinned at that and helped her put on the white dress that she had previously been wearing. He placed the straw hat on top of her head before changing into his own clothes. He put their shoes in the basket and then stood up to fold the blanket. After he picked up both of the items, he nodded towards the meadow that reached all the way to the cliff. “The grass should be so soft that we don't need our shoes for now.” He glanced over at the dune, where Owen and Stella should still be waiting, and added the rest. “Let's see how fast these two will appear here. I assume that they'll follow us, only for me to send them away again two minutes later. I feel a bit bad, but there is no need for them to watch while we cuddle.”

Blanche grinned back at him. “You feel bad now? They must have been forced to endure our kitschy talks for the last twenty months. They should be used to it by now, which means that they will probably block out everything we say or do anyway.”

The couple steered towards the cliff, and as Theodore had predicted, the head knight and the maid caught up to them, even though the couple hadn't made an attempt to wait for the others. Owen was fine, but Stella was completely out of breath and was sweating like she had been running for the last hour.

The emperor was kind enough not to tell them to return to the dune immediately. He allowed them to stay at the bottom of the hill while he and his lover climbed up. Blanche was panting when they reached the top, which only made it even more obvious that she never exercised. Theodore did that rarely too, but it was enough to let him be unaffected by walking up this hill. He just smirked at her and made a suggestive comment, which earned him a glare, but she quickly forgot that when they stopped in front of the tree.

It was so huge that the branches and leaves seemed to cover the whole sky if Blanche stared straight at it. This was certainly impressive.