“Do you still need an opponent for the next game?” The empress couldn't be serious.

Blanche's blood froze in her veins as she unwillingly smiled at the uncomfortable situation. Why was Seraphina doing this? Spending time together wasn't satisfying for either of them. Did the other woman just want to show Blanche that she was superior to her in any field?

It wasn't a miracle for an empress who often had to deal with tactics and strategies in all imaginable scenarios to be able to win a game that was based on guessing your enemy's move. So, the concubine would definitely lose after sitting with Seraphina for an unnecessarily long amount of time.

If Blanche had the chance to voice her own opinion, she would have declined already. But rejecting the empress' invitation for a game without any crucial reason would be impolite. “In fact, I don't. If you wish to play chess with me, it would be a great honor. Though, I cannot guarantee that I will be good in the slightest.” She almost hoped that the other woman would explain that she hadn't been referring to herself as the second player, but her guess had been right.

The empress took a seat on the other side of the table and picked up one of the figures that Owen hadn't put away yet. “I do not mind. Say, where did you buy this board? It looks like it might be rather old. It could be quite valuable.”

Blanche thought about using an excuse, but she was as uncreative as always. Besides, she hadn't done anything bad, so it should be fine. “I was visiting the library, and it almost fell onto me when I pulled out a book. I do not know where it came from, but I assume that it belongs to a person that owned this house in the past. Since it was dusty and thus seemed like it hadn't been used in years, I took it with me. I will bring it back when I have no desire to play anymore.” Her own words reminded her of giving something else back. She let out a quiet “Ah” before speaking up again. “I just remembered that the handkerchief Your Majesty lend me is still in possession. I asked the servants to clean it a few days ago, so I would like to return it. At the same time, I have to thank you for letting me use it again.”

Seraphina began setting up the playing pieces properly and continued to do so while she spoke. “There is no need to thank me. I did not have any disadvantages because of this, and showing this much courtesy should be viewed as normal in our society. You can give it to one of my attendants.”

Blanche nodded and turned to her maid. “Stella, do you have the handkerchief with you?”

Stella carefully pulled out the piece of cloth and handed it over to the empress' maid, who took it with a slight frown. Seemingly, the heroine's attendants weren't pleased by their mistress' decision to play chess with her greatest nemesis. It was nice to see that they shared the concubine's opinion for once.

Blanche helped prepare the board for a new round while trying to calm the nervousness that was rising in her stomach. There was no reason to be scared, but Seraphina's behavior was strange, so this could indicate that something else was coming. Still, she couldn't just leave and hide in her room.

The empress placed the last figure on the board before letting her hand sink onto the table. “Black or white?”

The concubine chose white like she had last time, but she had the suspicion that this might be the last chance that she got to influence the game.

That premonition proved to be true. Within five moves, Seraphina had put her enemy in check, so Blanche was focused on moving her king out of harm's way the whole time. She didn't have any chance to attack, and it appeared like her opponent knew about her moves before she had decided on them herself.

After what felt like three minutes, she was in checkmate. She blinked at the result a few times before looking up at the empress, who was sitting there as if nothing had happened. Wasn't Seraphina even a little bit impressed with her own performance? She had just eliminated the concubine's king in under thirty moves. Blanche wasn't especially good at this game, but she would argue that she was average after all the practice with Owen. But here, she hadn't controlled the development in the game for one second.

The one pulling the strings had been Seraphina from the very beginning.

“Your Majesty is truly amazing. I never thought that I'd be this helpless in a chess game.” Even during the games with her father, Blanche had at least been able to steal one of his best figures, but the heroine's troops were almost unharmed.

Still, the empress' expression hadn't changed into a satisfied smile once. “Then you never played chess with His Grace, the Duke of Duremont. He tends to be ruthless even with his children. I do not remember ever winning against him. His best strategy ended the game after two moves. I intended to use this too, but it seems that you avoided that trap.”

Blanche's eyes wandered to the board again as she tried to remember whether she had ever done anything but try to survive, with her king being in constant danger. “I did? If so, I did not notice.”

Seraphina leaned back and straightened her posture, which almost made her seem like she was sitting on a throne instead of a little chair on the terrace. “In fact, it appeared that you saved your most important pieces a couple of times before I could put them in danger. You sometimes make moves that do not have an apparent goal at first, but then they prove to have been very useful later.”

In reality, the concubine had to admit that she relied on her instinct in some cases, but if that helped her, it wasn't bad, right? “Well, some of that was luck. But I never truly had a chance to win here in the first place. You seem to be very experienced with this game.” The comment about Duke Duremont would explain why that was the case too.

The empress kept quiet and just watched the concubine, which gave Blanche the signal to clean up the board. If she put the pieces away, they probably wouldn't play another round unless Seraphina was keen on defeating her without any resistance again. The situation was already strange enough though, and the heroine's silence made everything worse, so Blanche hoped to avoid interacting with the other woman more. It was time for tea soon, and she might be able to use that as an excuse to leave. Just when she attempted to politely propose that, the empress moved.

Seraphina put her hands onto her laps and lifted her head slightly, which sufficed to make her appear even more sophisticated than normal. “Lady Blanche, I would ask you to sacrifice some time to drink tea with me. I would like to talk about subjects that have busied the both of us for quite some time now.”

Somehow, the concubine had expected something like this, but she wasn't any less unwilling when she heard those words. It was obvious that the topic of that discussion wouldn't be pleasant. Maybe running away would be the better option, but it wasn't like she could avoid and disrespect Seraphina forever. “I understand. I do not have any complaints.” Hopefully, her voice hadn't trembled too much so that it hadn't given away her uncertainty.

“Very well. Then I shall inform the kitchen staff. We could stay here, but I would suggest going to the dining room so that we have our privacy and can drink tea together.”

Great. Being completely alone with the empress was the only thing that could make this even worse. But at least the heroine's maids wouldn't be there to stare at Blanche either. Not that this made the option of drinking tea, of all things, with Seraphina any better.

“Of course, Your Majesty. Should we go there then?”

“Yes. We do not need to waste any time.” Seraphina stood up with the same grace that she had shown while sitting down and strode to the door leading to the building.

The concubine followed her and gave her best to ignore her churning stomach. She would truly be all alone without anyone's help if the other woman got angry. After all, Theodore, the one person that could oppose the empress, wasn't here but far away in the capital. So, he couldn't interfere no matter how unwell his lover was. Once again, Blanche wished for nothing more than to be with him again and not two days by carriage away from him.

Was Seraphina confronting her now that the emperor wasn't here because she was aware that he might stop it otherwise? In that case, she had to be really upset about something. Was it the fact that the concubine was named the master of the mansion? Or had Blanche done something during the past weeks that infuriated the heroine?

This uncertainty only served to make the concubine feel like she was about to throw up, but this didn't help her. She would receive the answers soon, and worrying now wouldn't make time go by faster. So, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind and focused on trailing behind Seraphina, whose posture was enough to show how confident she was. Blanche would have liked to seem like that too, no matter how she was feeling in reality. That might stop dangerous people like Sefare, Claude and Luciano as well as unpleasant ones like Henry, Evelyn and Fiona from approaching or bothering her. But instead of looking like she was brave, she always showed her true emotions, and a single glare was enough to make her cower in fear.

This was another unfair advantage that the heroine had over the villainess even if the empress couldn't be blamed for that. Seraphina had been raised in an influential family in the middle of noble society with the knowledge that she would become the emperor's wife. So, she had been prepared for that from the very beginning. She obviously was a very strong person that knew that she was the most powerful woman in the nation and that she would do anything to keep that position.

Blanche, on the other hand, was a commoner that was dependent on Theodore's protection and would break down if he ever turned away from her. It was easy to see whom the novel favored.

The concubine forced herself to stop wallowing in self-pity and managed to clear her mind for a moment when they reached the dining room. When she stepped inside, the table had already been set, which made it seem like the empress had planned this before while knowing that the other woman would agree.

Seraphina sat down on her usual chair and gestured to the one across from the table. “Please take a seat.”

Blanche immediately complied and concentrated on not accidentally spilling over the cup of tea that was standing in front of her. The door was closed behind them, and they were alone within the room that suddenly felt much smaller than before. She tried to distract herself a bit and took a spoon and stirred her tea a couple of times while waiting for the heroine to speak up.

Stolen novel; please report.

Seraphina watched her for a while that began to seem like an eternity before finally opening her mouth. “Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but you seem nervous.”

Blanche almost let out an unamused laugh and a sarcastic comment about how she hadn't thought that anyone would notice. Luckily, her distress made her keep quiet about that. “Your Majesty is right about that. I have to admit I am a bit uncertain about what I can expect.” Sitting at the table with the other woman made her hairs stand on end.

The empress sighed at that and took a sip of her tea before replying. “The difference in your behavior in comparison to the past is truly astonishing. You used to be extremely brazen, and now you are unable to even meet my gaze.”

Blanche hurried to lift her head and make eye contact to avoid offending the other woman. “I am aware of that, Your Majesty. I-”

“You never used to address me politely either. Such a great change has to have a reason. To me, it seemed like you turned into a different person overnight, but I doubt that that was the case.”

The concubine fiddled her hands in her lap as she tried to come up with an explanation for that. She had always justified her actions by using the nightmares as an excuse, but it was questionable whether Seraphina would be convinced by that. Keeping quiet would also seem odd though. “Well, I-”

The empress didn't let her finish this time either. “I was certain that you were merely attempting to prepare another way to attack me for the first two months. Then during the tea party, I began having doubts about that. Some situations that day had given you the perfect opportunity to ridicule me in front of everyone present, and the Lady Blanche I knew would not have missed out on that. But you stayed silent. You even listened to me when I dealt out punishments without running to His Majesty to get him to intervene, which was a first too.”

The concubine waited a bit longer this time to make sure that the empress had said everything she planned on voicing before responding, only to be cut off again. “About that-”

“After that, I was torn regarding whether I should truly believe that you weren't intending on causing any further trouble or whether this was a phase that would end as soon as His Majesty paid a bit more attention to you. I guessed that it was the second option, but it doesn't seem that way. He spent every single minute of the vacation with you. Even before that, he was so busy being by your side that he wouldn't even meet me to let me thank him for saving my life. But still, you never approached me to make fun of me because of that.” The concubine had basically never approached the empress because of her own free will, but that wasn't the point.

Blanche stayed silent for a whole minute before replying in hopes of being able to finish this time. “Does Your Majesty wish to hear a response, or am I just supposed to listen? I am a little confused.” She frowned at the heroine while using the silence that followed after that to comb her brain for an excuse for her sudden change.

Seraphina took her time drinking some of her tea for at least another minute before setting the cup down and speaking up. “That would be another aspect of you that changed. You were never able to control your temper, so letting me interrupt you three times in a row before making you wait for a reply would have been unthinkable. By now, you would have yelled at me for wasting your time already. Or you would have started crying for no reason so that it would seem like I was troubling you when His Majesty comes in.”

Blanche felt the need to give her version of the story on that specific subject. “To be honest, Your Majesty, I never cried purposefully with any ill intentions. It might sound odd, but I cry at everything. A person could just look at me strangely, and I would not be able to hold myself back. I apologize for that, but it was never my goal to make people misunderstand.” That might have been a practical side effect since Theodore never scolded her when she was crying, but she didn't have the self-control to force herself to show fake sadness or fear. She wasn't the one that could act here.

Seraphina eyed her after she had spoken and seemed rather skeptical though, so the concubine continued to underline her words.

“I am a terrible actress, so I would not be able to fool my own emotions even if I wanted to. That is why Your Majesty could immediately see that I was nervous too. If I was able to, I would have covered this up.”

The empress stared at her for another moment before drinking some tea and then replying. “I see. That makes sense since your face is like an open book in many cases. That can cause...unfortunate situations. If you wish to avoid trouble, you should work on improving your abilities in that regard. Merely hiding your own emotions and faking a smile can eliminate more issues than you think.”

Was the heroine just giving her enemy tips? That seemed unusual. Especially since Seraphina should not wish for Blanche to stay close to noble society for much longer.

The empress resumed without giving the other woman time to speak up though. “In any case, I do not expect you to explain your reasoning regarding your change. I am content with this as long as you do not cause any problems for me or the people affiliated with me. Your nervousness is the main thing I wished to talk about. Even though I told you that you do not need to fear me unless you attempt to harm me, you still appear to be as scared as before. That is quite the irritating sight considering how you acted before, which is why I brought that up.”

The concubine didn't know how to respond to that. She couldn't explain that a novel had made her realize that Seraphina could ruin her life by taking everything away from her, nor that this had given her an insight into how others viewed her. So, the stark contrast of her behavior would have to remain a mystery. She just decided to stick to the subject but led the conversation in another direction. “I am aware of that, Your Majesty. I know that I will not be able to undo any of the things I did back then, but I still would like to apologize for that. I should not have acted like that in the past.”

The empress leaned her arm onto the table and scanned her for a moment before replying. “That should be obvious. This is not what I wished to hear from you either. I have not asked my question yet either, so that is not surprising. My question will be rather personal, and I do not want to startle you with it.” That didn't sound promising.

The last time that someone had told Blanche this, she had been asked whether she was pregnant. Hopefully, that didn't come up again. “It's alright, Your Majesty. Please speak your mind.”

Seraphina set down her cup onto the table with a clink. “Very well then. I am pretty sure that I already know the answer, but I would like to hear it from your mouth. Do you truly love His Majesty?”

Even though the concubine was taken aback by that question, her response came without hesitation. “Yes, with my whole heart.”

The empress' expression remained unchanged at that. “I expected that.”

This almost surprised Blanche more than the question itself. “If I may ask, why is that? From what I heard, most people believe that I am using him for my own selfish interests. And Your Majesty witnessed some of my most awful moments. So, why do you trust my words anyway?”

The heroine replied without batting an eye. “I don't trust your words at all.”

A deep frown appeared on the concubine's forehead. “What? Then why-”

“I only believe you because, as you said, you always show your emotions on your face. I can see how you look at His Majesty and that your devotion to him is genuine. I wasn't convinced at first, but your reaction upon finding out that he was injured during the assassination attempt on Duke Lamont's birthday proved it.” The empress' grasp around her cup tightened. “I was barely able to keep myself together after going through that, but I remember one thing. Your expression and your voice while you begged Sir Aldis to let you see His Majesty. No matter how skillful an actor might be, they wouldn't be able to fake such despair. That wasn't just fear of losing your status either. You looked like you were witnessing how your world collapsed around you as you were facing certain death.”

Even though Seraphina tried to keep her expression neutral, traces of anger appeared on her face. It was obvious that the empress didn't like talking about the assassination attempt and hated remembering her own helplessness even more. She shook her head as if she scolded herself before covering her emotions with her aloof mask again. “That reminded me of His Majesty's expression upon seeing you fainting at my birthday ball. He was as petrified at that moment as you were on the day of the attack. This made it very clear to me that your feelings for each other are genuine. I knew that this was the case for him from the very beginning, but now I can be sure that you aren't only clinging to him because you wish to benefit from his status.”

Blanche nodded but didn't say anything. How would this change the situation? Would Seraphina accept her presence more now that they were both aware of the fact that the concubine truly loved Theodore? To her, this wasn't new, and she wouldn't lie about it either. If the conventions of nobility didn't exist, she would have yelled this so loudly that the whole world could hear it already. Though, if this kept Seraphina from telling Theodore that the relationship between him and his concubine was too unbalanced, Blanche would gladly accept it.

The empress didn't seem to have anticipated a response either way since she resumed after drinking a sip of tea. “I would like to add something else about this matter, but first, I have to address two other things.”

Blanche reluctantly picked up her own cup for the first time and slowly sipped a bit of the apple tea as she listened to the other woman. There probably wouldn't be anything strange in this cup, right? She just hoped so but ended up drinking far less than she had originally planned on consuming. She slowly set the cup down to avoid spilling the contents on herself before giving Seraphina her full attention again. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

The empress waited for a short moment before speaking. “There are two things that I need to apologize for.”

The concubine was sure that her shock about that had clearly been visible on her face. The empress wanted to apologize to her? Then it had to be about something important. After all, the most powerful woman in the nation couldn't just apologize without a specific reason.

Seraphina picked up her cup to move it in small circles and stared onto the twirling tea for a few seconds before resuming. “The first topic is the less urgent one since it actually was not caused due to my error but because of my maid's. During a time in which His Majesty and I were having fewer discussions and were attempting to work with each other more, something happened. I complained to my maid about a couple of occurrences in which he ended a conversation early despite us not having come to a conclusion. He did so because he was joining you for lunch and dinner. I have to admit that I was a bit irritated at him not being able to skip this for one day to take care of urgent government businesses. But I did not concern myself with that for long. However, one of my attendants reacted more...” A deep frown appeared on the empress' face. “Thoughtlessly. She was convinced that you were purposefully keeping His Majesty from reconciling with me, so she thought of a childish plan to keep him from going to you one day. I did not know about that either until I heard rumors about you picking a fight with him. My maids chatted about this, and one of them mentioned that him arriving an hour too late might have caused this in a rather happy tone.”

This was enough to tell Blanche what she was talking about.

Seraphina raised her hand to her forehead, and annoyance became visible on her face while she continued. “So, even if she did not tell me, I have to assume that my maid was the one tampering with the clock in His Majesty's office. He was searching for the responsible person later, and I thought about reminding her that she should face the consequences of her actions. But in the end, I did not wish to risk her losing her position because of such an unnecessary and immature thing. This is what I have to apologize for. While I readdressed the topic later and told her that I expected her not to ever do anything remotely similar to this, I did not discipline her for entering His Majesty's office without permission when I should have.” The empress was as subjective in her decisions as always.

It had been months since the described day, and Blanche hadn't thought about that incident in a while, but a few words were enough to remind her of what had happened. She remembered sitting at the dining table for an hour while nothing but fear rose inside her. She remembered how horrible she had felt upon hearing that her lover had forgotten the time while chatting with his wife. Then she had worried about some strange person entering Theodore's office secretly. Knowing that Seraphina's maid had caused that on purpose filled her with anger. She balled her fists under the table and gave her best to hold back the resentment that was boiling in her stomach. “I see.” That came out colder than planned, but the concubine was truly upset. “I do not blame Your Majesty for that, but I will not forgive the person who did such a thing without them apologizing. You aren't at fault, but if one of your maids was responsible, she should grow up.”

Blanche hadn't meant to say that with so much bitterness, but it was too late to stop her flow of thoughts. “Theo never neglected the matters of the nation to see me. I spent days without seeing him because he was drowning in work, and when we could meet, it was obvious that he should be resting in bed instead. So, while he might have interrupted a conversation to eat with me, he would not have done so if it was urgent. He would have sent a servant to tell me that he would have to work longer like he did in the past. The actions of your maid were completely unnecessary and only served to make the emperor lose trust in the staff since someone of a higher rank had to have tampered with the clock in his office.”

The empress accepted all of that without talking back. That was a bit unsettling since she would usually defend her people with all she had, but the concubine didn't realize in time.

Blanche narrowed her eyes as she let out the last things she needed to say too. “And back then, I got angry at Theo, even though he wasn't at fault at all. We didn't fight for long, but it was awful, and he felt bad for the next months. So, in the end, your maid caused much more damage to anyone around her than anything else. If she accepts that only to upset me, she is as immature as I was and doesn't deserve to be angry about my behavior.” When she managed to compose herself a bit, she had already finished saying all of that. Immediately, she shut her mouth and bit her tongue. Hopefully, the empress wouldn't be furious at her for saying that about her friend now.

Fortunately, it looked like Seraphina wasn't affected by her words at all. “I agree. I told her this in a similar tone, and I believe that she has reflected on her actions. This did not prevent that incident from happening, but I can assure you that nothing like this will occur again. I spoke to my attendants a couple of times now, so they will hold back and will refrain from doing anything unnecessary.”

Blanche nodded and kept quiet as she remembered how jealous she had been back when her lover had arrived too late. Her unwillingness to let the main characters anywhere near each other was as great as had been then, but in addition, she had been extremely uncertain about Theodore's feelings for her at that point. So, thinking that he was letting her wait to be with Seraphina had crushed her heart into a thousand pieces. She wouldn't forgive someone for causing this on purpose so quickly. She didn't have any desire to confront the maid about that though, even if she was pretty sure that it was the one that had fought with Stella. Right now, she just wished to erase that day from her memory and relish in the bliss that being with her lover gave her. That he wasn't here soured her mood enough, so she didn't need to think about her past envy to upset herself even more.

After some seconds of silence had gone by, Blanche forced herself to speak up to move the conversation along. “Good. What was the second topic you wished to talk about, Your Majesty?” She feared that it would only get worse from now on.