It didn't take too long for Stella to stir. When she began rubbing over her eyes and murmuring to herself, it became clear that she would wake up soon. She sat up surprisingly quickly and only opened her eyes then but was wide awake already. “Good morning, My Lady. You're already-” She cut herself off when she noticed the basket. She stared at the gift for a moment before looking up. “Is this for me?”

Blanche nodded and gave her a bright smile. “Happy birthday, Stella. I used our trip to Ibela to get you something. I'll make you pancakes later too.”

Stella seemed dazed for a few seconds before this slowly turned to joy. “Thank you! I didn't think you would remember.” She pulled the basket to her and stared at the glittery glass sphere in awe before grinning at the sewing materials.

“Of course, I do remember. Just like I still remember that your favorite food is scrambled eggs. That's why I will ask the chef to make that for us today. So, we should probably hurry a bit. Otherwise, the staff will be hectic because they can't finish their work in time.”

The maid nodded with a radiant beam before climbing out of the bed and getting ready. This little effort had been enough to make her hum while she did her mistress' hair, which showed Blanche that she had done something right.

When they left the room, Owen was already waiting in front of the door and greeted them before following them as silently as always.

The concubine did her best to ignore how the servants were whispering while she passed by. Their reaction made sense now that she knew that Theodore had told them to treat her like the master of this house. She could only hope that Seraphina hadn't noticed that, but this was questionable since her attendants were chatting with other servants too. She really didn't need issues because of this.

The group went to the kitchen so that Blanche could voice her wish for breakfast and state that she would like them to prepare food for two people from now on before going to the dining room. She plopped onto the chair and looked around the otherwise empty room before gesturing to the seat next to her. “You can sit here, Stella.”

Her maid was a bit hesitant even though they were alone. “Today, it might be alright to make an exception, but we can't do this regularly. After all, I'm still your maid and not a person that could just sit with you. In your room, it was fine, but in the dining room, others will see.”

Blanche gave her a smirk. “No. I don't want to eat alone, so you will have to suffer from the consequences of having tasty meals every day. Besides, it's too late. I already told the chef that two people would eat for the rest of the vacation. I could increase that number by one if Owen changes his mind though.” She glanced at the knight, who was shaking his head.

It seemed like Owen was still focused on his work even now. “I'm honored by that offer, however, I can definitely not accept. I will wait inside the room while you eat instead of standing in front of the door since you asked for that, but I cannot go further.”

The concubine nodded and glanced at the clock. They still had ten minutes before it was time for breakfast, but she was already hungry. Seemingly, crying took away more of her energy than she had believed. But it was good like this. After all, she felt like she was too drained to cry again at this moment. Still, she didn't wish to summon her tears by thinking about that. She turned to her maid and spoke up. “Anyway. I will make you pancakes later. That sounds nice, doesn't it?”

Before Stella could reply, a knock sounded from the door. The three turned around, and the door was opened to reveal the empress and her entourage. Blanche bit her tongue at that. It was logical that Seraphina wouldn't stay away from the dining room anymore since the emperor wasn't here to annoy her. So, they could either share the room from now on, which would be very stressful due to the heroine's oppressive aura and her icy glare. Or the concubine could make way by eating upstairs.

The answer was rather simple. Even though Blanche liked the dining room a lot, she wanted to have her meals in peace, so she would have to retreat. For today, it seemed like she was forced to deal with Seraphina's presence though, as leaving now would make it obvious that she evaded the other woman.

Blanche rose to her feet and did a small curtsy while waiting for the other woman to address her.

Luckily, the empress didn't let her wait for long. “Good morning, Lady Blanche. You are here quite early.” Normally, Theodore and Blanche had arrived at the moment that food had been served, so it was true that she was here a few minutes earlier. However, this might also be a hint to the morning that they had made Seraphina wait for over twenty minutes.

The concubine couldn't be sure of that, but she just put on a smile. “Good morning, Your Majesty. Indeed, I did not sleep as long as normal, so I came here a bit earlier. Did you have a pleasant night?”

The empress strode over to her chair and sat down, which allowed Blanche to take a seat too. Seraphina show her a perfectly stoic expression as she replied. “I did not have any troubles. I hope that it was the same for you.”

“Yes, I slept quite well.” In reality, the concubine had barely gotten any rest, even though she had been able to fall asleep with Stella's help. For that reason, she was still tired and would like to climb into her bed immediately after breakfast, but that would be unproductive. She was trying to distract herself, not to allow herself to wallow in self-pity. So, maybe it was good that the empress was here to pressure her a bit. After all, that would keep her from thinking about her lover.

“That is good to hear.” Seraphina let her eyes roam across the table before resuming. “Say, Lady Blanche, do you intend to eat with another person?” It should have been logical that the table decoration would give that away.

The concubine thought about coming up with an excuse for a moment, but she wasn't creative or a good actress, so she would definitely not be able to sound convincing. The truth wasn't problematic either way, was it? “Yes, Your Majesty. Today is my maid's birthday. For that reason, I wanted to invite her to eat with me.”

The empress' expression only indicated a small amount of surprise that quickly faded. “I see. It appears that you get along with her.” She turned to Stella. “May you have a wonderful birthday.”

The maid quickly thanked her and bowed deeply despite not seeming too happy.

Seraphina paused for a couple of seconds as she faced the concubine again. “In that case, it would not bother you if my attendants joined us, correct?”

Blanche was rendered speechless by that question. Did she want to eat with the maids, of which two always glared at her and one would poison her mistress? No. Did she have a choice here? Not really. After all, the empress had asked politely, and if Stella was allowed to sit at the table, the rest of the servants had the same right. So, the concubine sighed inwardly and forced herself to keep smiling. “I don't mind, Your Majesty.”

Seraphina's maids looked as pleased with this arrangement as Blanche was, but they wouldn't talk back to their mistress. They sat down quietly after bowing once, and two of them immediately began piercing the concubine with their gazes. They didn't seem to be as hostile as usual but rather cautious.

Still, Blanche was frustrated by that and looked away to signal Stella to take a seat next to her. When she faced the women that were sitting on the other side of the table again, she realized that the heroine was observing her. This couldn't mean anything good. She focused on keeping on her fake smile not to show how nervous she actually became just because of this.

Fortunately, Seraphina didn't stay silent for more than a few seconds. “It surprises me that you simply accepted this. Normally, it would be very strange for an empress to sit at the table with her maids. Still, you did not appear to be taken aback by this.” Of course not.

After all, Blanche knew that the other woman often ate with her attendants when she was alone in her room, which wasn't a miracle since they were close friends. Usually, Seraphina was careful about not letting anyone see this to not undermine her position, but today, she had probably wished to see the other woman's reaction. The concubine couldn't have refused without being offending, and maybe the empress had wished to find out how arrogant Blanche might act after being Theodore's priority for the whole vacation.

Blanche didn't care whether she was being tested. She would just be polite and then leave. “I am rather close to my maid, so I assumed that there might be many similar cases. Since Your Majesty is always accompanied by your attendants, I indirectly interacted with them a few times, and that was enough to convince me that they care deeply for their mistress. So, I guessed that you had a good relationship. If that is the case, eating together does not pose a problem.”

The empress took in the other's expression before replying with an “I see.”

After that, all of them were quiet. The situation wasn't intimidating, it was just uncomfortable since it was rather obvious that the two parties at this table were opposing each other. They might not attack each other openly, but the heroine was still Blanche's fated enemy, not only because of their roles in the novel. Their positions as the emperor's wife and mistress were conflicting too, so it was logical that the atmosphere would be tense. The concubine had done too many things that had infuriated Seraphina, so this was to be expected.

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It was torture to wait until the kitchen staff came with the breakfast and they could finally eat. While chewing, it wasn't strange not to speak, so it was a bit better. Still, it wasn't perfect. Blanche would have liked a more relaxed breakfast for her maid's birthday, but it couldn't be helped. She should make up for that with tasty pancakes later.

Breakfast went by painfully slowly. All the women finished roughly at the same time, so Blanche was relieved that she wasn't forcing the empress to wait again. They stood up from the table and moved to the exit of the room.

After leaving the dining room, Seraphina turned around to face the concubine. “Then I will be taking my leave now. May you have a pleasant day.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty. Naturally, I wish that the same holds true for you.”

The empress nodded towards her before walking a few steps away to greet Gloria, who seemed to have been waiting there. The empress' attendants gave Blanche one last skeptical look before joining their mistress.

This left Blanche in a less tense situation. She could finally stretch without feeling like she was being judged for that at all times. Just when she turned to address her maid though, a person stopped in front of her. She tilted her head back to meet Noah's gaze. “Sir Aldis, good morning. How have you been?”

The knight showed her a bright smile that only seemed to emphasize his protective aura. “Good morning, Lady Blanche. There hasn't been anything special during the past few days. I am in good health, and the food here is wonderful, so I can't complain.”

Blanche let out a chuckle at that and gave him a smile back. “I have to agree that the chefs are truly outdoing themselves with these fresh ingredients. But while their food is godly, their salmon is nowhere near the level of the one I ate in Ibela. I have to recommend one specific restaurant there. Their fish is to die for. They use their own mixture of herbs that has been passed down within their family, and it's heavenly. If you have the chance to visit that city, you should definitely go there.”

Noah was silent for a moment and just stared at her before blinking a few times and then jolting like he had surprised himself. “I apologize, I was mentally absent momentarily.” He shook his head to himself before resuming. “I will remember that. But I might need more information to find that restaurant you were talking about.”

The concubine scolded herself for her unhelpful explanation. “Ah, that makes sense. I'm sorry. The name of that store was...” Her voice trailed off as she tried to remember how the restaurant had been called. Had there been a sign with the name? No image of that came to her mind, and the owner hadn't called his establishment by name either. This meant that she had no idea it was called nor did she have the address. So, she had just told Noah to go to a restaurant without being able to give him directions. That was a bit stupid. “That... I'm sorry. I don't remember anything aside from it being near the haven.” She scratched her neck while trying to keep her embarrassment from showing.

Not knowing where the store was located was one thing. But it had been unintelligent to ask the empress' personal guard to visit a city in the first place. Noah couldn't leave Seraphina's side, and the empress wouldn't leave the estate. So, Blanche had just advertised something that he wouldn't be able to experience.

However, Noah still showed her a bright smile. “That is alright. Thank you for your recommendation. Maybe I will go to Ibela on my vacation sometime. I doubt that I will be able to find your restaurant, but I might try the regional dishes anyway.”

The concubine inwardly sighed in relief when he didn't point out her illogical approach. She nodded at him as her grin slowly returned again. “You have to do that in the near future. I still can't-” She cut herself off as she realized that she was about to blabber about the restaurant again. “I apologize. You wished to speak to me, so you probably aren't interested in listening to me rambling about food. What did you want to say?”

Noah beamed at her, which almost made him look like he was glowing. “Oh, I don't mind that at all. It is wonderful to hear you being passionate about something...” He became quieter near the end and interrupted himself as if he had realized something. His smile died down, and he stared into the distance for a moment before letting out a small “Ah.” His attention turned to Blanche again, and he faced her with this serious expression. “I only wished to ask whether you were doing alright. I know that it isn't my place to interfere, but I couldn't help but worry after seeing you yesterday. If there is anything you need, please tell me.”

The concubine felt both a pang of grief upon being reminded of her lover's departure and a warm sensation upon hearing that the knight cared. “Thank you, Sir Aldis. I'm honored that you are worried about me. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about the situation though. If that was possible, I would have done so already.” She wouldn't be standing here but lying in Theodore's arms. That realization was enough to make her face scrunch up again. She quickly lowered her head and covered her face with her hair. She was in the middle of a corridor near the kitchen. There were too many people here, and she didn't want to break down in front of them again. “I'm sorry, Sir Aldis. I should leave.”

Noah was quick to respond. “I sincerely apologize for speaking out of turn. I should not have addressed that issue. Please-” He was cut off by someone that wasn't even close to them.

“Sir Aldis.” Seraphina was still standing next to Gloria and her maids but had turned to face her knight and the concubine. She was staring at them with the stoic mask that she put on when she was dealing with unpleasant people. For some reason, she had seemed less hostile than usual today, and now she had returned to the icy look that she had often given Blanche.

Had the concubine done something to upset her? Hopefully not. But nothing special had happened for the past minutes, right? Blanche had just talked to Noah, so it seemed odd that Seraphina was asking him to come back to her so coldly.

The knight clenched his jaw for a moment before giving the concubine a fake smile. “I have to leave now. I apologize, Lady Blanche. Please take care of yourself and ask for help. I will do my best to assist you no matter what you need. And do not forget that His Majesty made sure that you are safe under any circumstances.” With that, he turned around and rushed to the empress' side.

The empress was still glaring at the concubine, but her eyes quickly wandered to Noah, and she spoke up as soon as he reached her. Blanche couldn't hear anything but only saw that Seraphina's lips were moving. Whatever had left Seraphina's mouth made the knight's shoulder sink as he nodded.

That was enough to sour the concubine's mood even more. Noah was a very kind person and always gave his best to help anyone around him, so it wasn't fair to treat him harshly just because he was talking to someone the empress didn't like. He was completely loyal to the heroine. That had been his role in the novel, so why was Seraphina not thanking him by being at least a little friendlier? In fact, Noah should even fall in love with her if this followed the original story. If someone loved you and was willing to risk their life to protect you, you should give back a little kindness as well.

Blanche crossed her arms as she turned around not to let them see her frown. The only good thing about this situation was that it had distracted her in time before she could get emotional, but now she was annoyed instead. She turned to her maid as she shook her head in disbelief. “We should leave before I get too frustrated.”

Stella glanced over at the empress, who was still talking to Gloria. Her expression turned sour as well. “What was the point of calling him over when she was planning on staying there for another minute? You were in the middle of a conversation.”

Blanche's frown deepened at that. She would have liked to say some less kind things about how the empress had just used her status to keep Noah from talking to another person for no reason. But she forced herself to breathe in and out a few times as she led her maid away. “Just when I thought that she might be in a good mood, she does something like this. It's not like he did something bad because he had a conversation with me. I hope she isn't always this controlling.”

In the novel, it hadn't seemed like it. Hadn't Seraphina and her knight gotten along very well? That had been what had caused him to fall for her in the first place. After seeing that interaction, that didn't seem likely anymore though.

Blanche paused for a moment as another thought appeared in her mind. Hadn't her action influenced that too? The villainess originally hadn't spoken to Noah until the latter half of the book, and the conversations had always consisted out of him telling her not to bother the empress. Now that she had altered the storyline, they had met before and were on friendly terms. The knight had only come to talk to her because of that. So, this scene had just happened because of her meddling.

That definitely proved that her efforts could persistently change the characters' relationship even though she hadn't attempted to do that. That could be both good and bad. On the one hand, it allowed her to be more confident in her ability to make changes to the world around her. However, at the same time, it reminded her that her actions had consequences that she couldn't foresee. And that was a scary thought.

Blanche shivered slightly as she focused on her maid. “This is your birthday, so we shouldn't spend our time being annoyed but with something more pleasant. We should go to the library first. I need to find a recipe for pancakes before I can make them. There is a small library on the second floor, right?”

Stella gave her a smug grin. “Since when does My Lady like libraries? Don't you hate books?”

Blanche rolled her eyes. “I don't hate them. Until now, I've just always seen boring ones. The royal library barely has storybooks after all, and those might be interesting if I managed to motivate myself to try it. But no matter what, cooking books are always great. You know that I love those.”

“I know, I know. I was just joking. We should buy you some romance novels sometime. I'm sure you would enjoy those.”

The concubine cringed at the thought of possibly reading a book with a villainess that might be similar to her. She didn't need to learn about another story that ended with the perfect heroine's victory. “No, thank you. I think I'll stick to cooking guides. So, where is the library?”

Blanche still vaguely remembered seeing a room with countless books during her tour on the day of their arrival, so she knew which corridor the library had to be in. She just opened the first door and realized that she had guessed correctly with satisfaction.

The collection of the summer residence wasn't nearly as big as the palace's one, but it was impressive nonetheless. It wasn't much of a problem to find the shelf with the cooking guides, and there was a fair amount of them. After looking through the first few, she quickly noticed that the dishes that were traditionally served near the coast were rather different from the ones in the capital. Some sounded so tasty that she would have liked to try them immediately, but right now, she was searching for pancakes. Unfortunately, a recipe like this hadn't been mentioned in the fifth book either. With a sigh, the concubine set it to the side and began reading the titles of the cooking guides.

Stella was standing next to her and scanned the growing stack of unhelpful books. “My Lady, I really wouldn't be sad if we can't make pancakes. We could just do that in the palace when we go back. You already gave me gifts, and I'm very thankful for those.”

“I'm glad that you like them, but I won't give up that easily. If I don't find a recipe, I'll just try to make it based on the ingredients that I remember. You'll get your pancakes one way or another.” Blanche's mother had made that dish a couple of times, and if she was lucky, she would be able to create something remotely similar to that. She could also just ask the kitchen staff in the worst case. Blanche tapped her finger on her lips and tilted her head back to look at the books on the top shelf. Her gaze stopped on a title that included the words ‘Simple House Desserts’, which could possibly contain what she was searching for.

The concubine stood up on her tiptoes and reached over her head to grab the book. She had to stretch herself quite a bit until her fingers brushed the spine, and even then, she wasn't able to pull it out. She stepped even closer with a huff and tried to bridge the small distance that she still needed. She managed to get a hold of the book, and a grin grew on her face as she moved it towards her.

Immediately, the two others in the room began screaming. “Lady Blanche!”

“My Lady!”

Before the concubine could react, she had already pulled out the book and saw what had worried the others. Apparently, a small board had been lying on top of the books, and her careless motions had caused it to fall. It looked like this would hit her face with full force, but there was no time to do anything. She raised her arms to shield herself and squeezed her eyes shut while bracing herself for the impact.

But it never came.