“As you said, that was obvious. Who is a bit more subtle in their endeavors?” Why was the empress so interested in whom the concubine distrusted?
Blanche just got tenser as she hoped to direct the conversation away from the people she was connected with through intrigues, just to avoid her early demise that would follow if Seraphina deemed her a traitor. Her first thought contained Evelyn, but she didn't know sensible the heroine would get when it was about her family, even if the empress hated her aunt. So, she chose the other people that had been on her mind. “These are hiding their intentions, but they are far less dangerous too. Fiona Lamont is an excellent actress. She strives to gain power for her family in hopes of becoming more influential than the Vasquez dukedom. To do so, she tried to provoke me until I snap, which would force Theo to apologize to her. She wishes to use that chance to impress him and get closer to the royal family like this. But apart from causing uncomfortable situations, she didn't do much. She was kind when Lord Vasquez pulled me away at the hunting festival too. She gave me tips on how to get rid of him.”
Seraphina chimed in at that. “And the other person?”
This time, Blanche didn't hesitate even though she was still confused about what this meant. “Lucille Valerian. She is...a bit of an odd case. She is a friend of Lady Lamont's and appears to share the same, or at least a similar, goal. But she is not as good at acting and only served to enrage Lord Duremont, Your Majesty's brother, with her comment that was probably aimed at me. Though, she looked weird afterward as if she never wished to say anything like that and behaved like a completely different person for the rest of the festival.” She kept quiet about believing that Lucille might have been hurt during the hunt and that the girl had probably covered up the injury with powder since she didn't have any proof for that.
Seraphina nodded at her. “I heard about that incident from Lord Duremont. He was very upset, and the summary that he gave me was enough to understand why. I'm surprised that you managed to stay calm at that.”
Blanche held back for a moment and asked herself whether she wanted to admit why she had pitied Lucille. There was no need to hide that even though it was a little embarrassing, right? “To be honest, I was mad until Lord Duremont spoke up. He only needed to glare at Lady Valerian, and his words didn't make it better. She was crying after a few seconds, and to me, she looked like a child at that moment. I know that this is not a reason to forgive someone's crude words, but I couldn't help feeling a bit bad for her even if she made a huge mistake without a doubt.”
“That is understandable. She is very young, so I doubt that her actions are based on her own beliefs and goals. Though, I cannot say anything about that scene since I was not present. But something else would interest me. What can you say about the Duremont family?”
Blanche immediately tensed. This was a dangerous question.
With how protective the empress was of the people that she loved, one wrong word could cause a lot of damage here. What did Seraphina wish to accomplish with this? Did she want the concubine to mess up? Or did she want to hear something specific? After all, the empress had always been suspicious of Evelyn since her early childhood and had fought many verbal battles with her aunt, but she had never been sure. Maybe this was Seraphina's attempt to find out how other people viewed the person she deemed to have ill intentions.
This would mean that the concubine could speak up as long as she remembered to be a bit careful. So, she slowly began. “I do not wish to offend Your Majesty or anyone within the Duremont family, but I have noticed something that worried me. As you may know, Lady Lemares has been my tutor for a week before she was dismissed due to her abhorrent behavior towards me and the servants. Afterward, she spread lies about what had happened, but that does not change the fact that she wasn't acting like a sane person. She was extremely harsh and also tried to order me to do things when she had no right to do so. One day, she wished to practice posture with me and put a stack of books onto my head with enough force to leave a bump. Then we went out for a walk, and she began talking about Theo only being with me for my appearance in front of a group of servants, even though she should know that that topic would be inappropriate.”
Just remembering that frustrated Blanche, and she was very thankful that this time was over. “At some point after a few days, I noted that her lessons weren't helping me much and asked her to change her approach, which she refused to do. So, I gave up and pretended to be sick to avoid her. On the third day, she rushed into my room without permission and began insulting me. That ended with her attempting to call me by a very unkind name while Theo came in. Thus, he dismissed her. While I didn't interact with her for long, it was enough to make me worry about Lady Lemares' mental health. Has she ever acted strangely or this hostile around Your Majesty? To me, it seemed like she was glaring whenever the Duchess of Duremont and Lady Ravillot's daughter were mentioned. As I said, I do not wish to insult anyone, but I found it to be a bit strange.”
The longer the concubine had talked, the colder Seraphina's expression had gotten. It didn't seem like the empress was angry at Blanche though. Seraphina was silent for a while, in which the tension increased tremendously, before responding. “I have to admit that I am quite concerned for her mental state as well. She already did a few things that a normal person would not do. It is calming that I am not the only one who noticed. My family never saw anything. Especially not Sophia, even though that woman treated her so horribly.” Seraphina's eyes narrowed as she stared into the distance. It was very obvious that her bitterness was directed at Evelyn. She was so angry that she even completely forgot to use titles for her sister, even though she normally never overlooked something like this. After a short moment, the empress shook herself slightly before returning to her stoic expression. “I apologize for that. I was lost in thoughts for a while now. I believed that you would be able to tell me something about this since Lady Ravillot mentioned that you warned her about Lady Lemares. It seems like we have a similar sense for who might be wishing to harm other people.”
The only difference was that Blanche's intuition was only was this accurate because she knew the truth and the future. Apparently, the concubine had named many things the empress agreed with though, which could only be good. For Seraphina, who had no chance to look into the future, to judge other people this well was very impressive. She made guesses quickly and stuck to her view no matter what. Mostly, she was right about her intuition too. But since being clever had been one of her main characteristics, it should probably have been obvious. Thus, her not noticing that Kate wasn't as loyal as her two other maids was surprising.
That made Blanche think. Should she tell the other woman about Kate's tendency to do everything for money? Harris hadn't been mentioned often in the novel, so he wouldn't be a threat to Seraphina, but Kate had caused significant damage. Blanche had already changed the whole storyline, so preventing the empress from getting poisoned could only be beneficial, right? It wasn't like Blanche cared much about Seraphina drinking that poison since she would recover anyway, but it would be possible to gain sympathy here, and that was what Blanche needed most to survive. The worst thing that could happen was the empress not believing her and getting angry. Of course, that wasn't good, especially since this seemed to be the first conversation in which they had been able to get along.
But was a little anger enough to justify not warning someone about an incident that might confine them in bed and pain them?
Blanche was a bit upset with herself for being so indifferent when it came to Seraphina being poisoned, which made her force herself. She took a deep breath and attempted to address the issue as carefully as possible. “Your Majesty? There is someone else I would be cautious of. They aren't noble though.”
Seraphina paused momentarily before nodding. “Go ahead.”
The concubine took another breath before beginning. “This is nothing more than a wild guess, and I do not have a single piece of evidence to base this on. Still, I had a feeling that this person was a little off. I rarely see Your Majesty's attendants, but even I have noticed one thing. They are extremely loyal to you. Two of them are very eager to speak up for you and will defend you even if the remark hadn't been intended to insult anyone. And then there is the third maid, Kate.”
The empress' eyes narrowed at that, but she let Blanche continue.
“She is rather quiet the whole time and seems very shy. I thought that this was just her personality at first. It would be odd for her to suddenly get loud and confrontational, so it seemed to be fine. But then there were a few moments in which this seemed strange too. After all, Kate might be quiet, but she never got upset in uncomfortable situations even when your two other maids were fuming. She just looked like she wished to be somewhere else. Of course, none of this is solid proof for anything, but I depended on my instinct. It is none of my business, and I have no authority to tell Your Majesty what to do, but I wouldn't trust Kate. At least not when it comes to very important matters and money.”
Seraphina was silent after that. She eyed the concubine while her expression was full of disdain for a while until Blanche would have liked to vanish into thin air. Only then, the empress spoke. “What do you mean by that?” Her voice was dripping with hidden anger.
That was enough to show Blanche that her words would not be received well. The empress didn't like being proven wrong about her views on other people. Since being executed wasn't Blanche's goal, it might be better to end the conversation. “I apologize if I accidentally offended you or wasted your time, Your Majesty. I merely voiced some foolish thoughts. I tend to listen to my instinct, but logically, there is no reason for you to do so.” She put the pen and the ink back to the middle of the table and grabbed her books. “If you gave me permission, I would retreat to my room then.” This request to leave wasn't hidden at all, but Blanche couldn't think of another way to do it. She could only be direct and hope for the other woman to be annoyed enough to send her away.
The empress kept quiet again, and this time, she waited for long enough to make the concubine sweat. When she finally responded, the reply was unfavorable though. “I would like to ask you something else first. Do you mind?”
Blanche put the books back onto the table and sank in her chair while holding back a groan. “No, of course not. Please go ahead.” Would the conversation become unpleasant again now that she had angered the other woman? Hopefully not.
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The empress leaned forward and took one of the books from her side of the table before showing it to the concubine. The cover was made from leather with golden letters revealing that this was a guide about touristic attractions in Artias. Immediately, Blanche's concern turned to confusion that only increased when Seraphina opened the book and pointed at one side.
The concubine leaned forward to read. This chapter seemed to be about the northern part of the country and specifically the coast, with the main focus being Ibela. She lifted her gaze to the empress, and her expression had to have mirrored her emotions.
The empress put her finger onto a drawing of the haven in Ibela that looked very similar to the part that Blanche had visited. “This city. Is this where you went with His Majesty one day? I heard about it from a servant, but I cannot simply trust gossip. Is this close to the residence?”
The tension slowly fell off Blanche. If she had known that such a harmless question would follow, she wouldn't have worried this much. She scolded herself for being so sensitive and made a mental note to avoid seeming suspicious because of her nervousness. “Yes. We went there a few days before he left. We took one hour by carriage to get there and walked around the haven. It looks exactly like in the drawing.” She gestured to the image on the page.
Seraphina turned the book around and looked at it for a moment before nodding. “I see. Thank you. That was all I wished to know. You may leave if you wish to do so.”
Blanche was pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. Apparently, the empress was interested enough in Ibela to forget about her previous anger. So, the concubine was able to leave without getting into a fight and didn't have to be wrathful with herself for messing up a perfectly calm conversation up by pointing out a traitor. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I will take my leave now. Have a nice day.”
Seraphina was already immersed in the book and murmured a “You too” without looking up.
Blanche stood up and grabbed her books before bringing the cooking guide back to the shelf she had taken it from. Then she left the room while being as quiet as possible. She managed to shut the door without slamming it loudly, so she hadn't made an error at the last second either.
Did this mean that she had truly been able to have an interaction with Seraphina that didn't end in a disaster? She almost couldn't believe it and blinked at the door a few times before turning around. Only now, she processed that she had successfully avoided another conflict, even though the last conversation had ended so horribly, and a nervous smile spread across her face. Would she really not receive backlash for criticizing Kate? She could only hope so.
She was greeted by Stella, Owen and Noah, who were still waiting in front of the door. The maid immediately came towards her with curiosity written on her face. “You are smiling, so it wasn't too bad. What happened?”
Blanche thought about the conversation, and the answer was a bit amusing. “Politics, people we dislike and Ibela. Quite the strange combination, isn't it?”
Stella let out a snort at that and began to grin. “That does sound odd. Are you sure that it happened like that? I was really worried, you know. I thought you were going to get scolded.”
Noah approached them and stopped next to the two women. “For what would Lady Blanche get scolded? She did nothing wrong.”
The concubine turned to him and gave him a smile. “Good morning, Sir Aldis. The empress and I didn't fight, so it's alright.”
This had been supposed to be a subtle hint not to assume that Seraphina had done something mean, but apparently, Stella didn't get it. She put her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes. “That's good. I already thought that she frustrated you like last week.” She turned to Noah and continued. “I'm surprised that you haven't noticed until now, but Her Majesty and Lady Blanche aren't very close, and that is mainly because of the former one's attitude. It's understandable that she is in a strange situation, but threatening or unreasonably punishing My Lady is unacceptable.”
Blanche wanted to speak up to remind her maid that her own behavior in the past was to blame for her icy relationship with the empress, but she didn't get a chance to talk. It wasn't like Seraphina treated her fairly either, so she didn't insist.
Noah chimed in quickly. “Is that so? I noticed that there was some sort of tension between you two, but since Her Majesty never voiced anything bad about you, I assumed that you were on neutral terms at least.”
Stella let out a snort. “Haven't you heard how Her Majesty's attendants speak about My Lady? That should make it obvious that their mistress doesn't care enough to stop such talk.”
Noah paused for a moment before averting his gaze. “I think she did tell them to be quiet a few times already. Not always, but there were occasions. And the maids have started to pull themselves together. They aren't mentioning Lady Blanche that often anymore.”
“Really? That's good. Last time, I had to win a bet with one of them to make them shut up. Back then, I told them that-”
The concubine put her hand on her maid's shoulder to signal her to stop. “I remember that, but this is in the past, isn't it? There is no need to dwell on that. After all, I caused a lot of trouble for the empress too, and she is gracious enough to give me another chance. We don't have to obstruct each other and can just live our own lives without hurting anyone. She was kind just now, and we talked about a few things. She guaranteed that she doesn't care about my presence in the palace as long as I don't intentionally provoke anyone. So, it will be fine. It doesn't matter what her maids think if the empress has no problem with me being here.” She gave Stella a smile, which the maid mirrored after a couple of seconds of being visibly uncertain.
“Alright, My Lady. But if she ever attempts to harm you, I won't forgive her.”
Blanche quickly shook her head. “She wouldn't do that.” Since Seraphina was the heroine and could only be good, it should be easy to say that. But if Blanche was honest, she was a bit too uncertain while saying that. No one cared what happened to the villainess, so no one would criticize the heroine for pushing her into a cruel ending. She pushed that thought away quickly and hurried to speak up. “I thank you for your concern, but you should be a bit more careful about what you say about the empress. Many servants are very loyal to her, so you could make a lot of enemies by claiming something like this.”
Stella pouted at her. “I know, but I'm not voicing unreasonable doubts. She did act strangely harsh towards you on multiple occasions. So, being cautious couldn't hurt.”
Noah nodded and chimed in. “Being careful can never be bad. As far as I know, Her Majesty does not see the need to interact with you more than necessary and doesn't have the intention of harming you either. That does not guarantee anything, but I doubt that she would be able to hide her true views from me. I have been by her side with few breaks for three months. No one would be capable of maintaining a facade this long. But if anything appears weird to me, I swear that I will find a way to inform you of this on my honor as a member of the royal guards.” He had a strangely serious expression when he said that, which made Blanche wonder.
Shouldn't the knight be absolutely loyal to Seraphina to the point that he would blindly follow her orders and gladly give his life to protect her? Of course, the concubine had influenced his story by meddling with the original course of this world, but she hadn't interacted with Noah much. So, he might be a bit different from the novel, but he shouldn't be a completely different person. Then why was the man, whose only trait had been being loyal, questioning his mistress' intentions and didn't even try to defend her when someone voiced that they believed her to have vile intentions?
Not only that, but he had also sworn that he would tell others about the empress' plans on his honor as a knight. He wasn't denying that Seraphina could do something that might hurt the concubine in the future.
Blanche gave her best not to show her confusion on her face as she went through the conversations she had had with the knight in her mind. Had she done anything that would change his attitude towards Seraphina? She couldn't remember ever badmouthing the empress in front of him or saying anything unfavorable about the other woman. She thought about asking him first, but this would definitely seem strange to him. So, she forced herself to give him a little smile. “Thank you for your offer, but I doubt that you will ever be forced to tell me something like that. I am pretty sure that the empress wouldn't trouble me intentionally since that would only make life harder for her too. She is a reasonable person, so she wouldn't cause problems for herself unless she sees me as a threat.” Which could happen far too quickly. “So, you don't really have to worry.”
Noah paused for a moment before replying with the same serious expression. “I thought so too. But I'll keep my guard up anyway.”
Stella nodded happily. “Thank you, Sir Aldis. It's better to be safe than sorry.”
Blanche rolled her eyes before a movement at the end of the corridor caught her attention. The empress' maids were approaching with a tray, which made the concubine turn to her servant immediately. “Maybe we should leave before they come. I don't really want to have a discussion with them. I thought about making a more complex recipe today too, so we need all the time we can have.”
Stella crossed her arms and lifted her chin as she glared towards the three women. “But we could also stay here for one more minute and annoy them a bit. They were so brazen last time that I would like to get revenge by ruining their day. Especially because of the one that tampered with the clock in His Majesty's office. I wasn't able to give her a piece of my mind about that yet.”
Blanche turned her head to the approaching maids, who were looking at her as if she had done something wrong, which almost made her consider listening to Stella. But she didn't have any interest in starting a fight. Even if she was extremely irritated because she knew that one of them was at fault for her waiting for Theodore for over an hour. “They aren't worth it. You will just get angry and ruin your own day instead of theirs. So, let's just leave and bake a wonderful banana chocolate cake.” Stella still glanced at the attendants as if she was pondering about her response, so the concubine added something. “We're in the middle of our vacation. I don't want even more stress.”
That finally convinced Stella to back down. “Alright. Then we should leave before I lose my temper. If I have to look at them for one more second, I will do something I might regret later.” At this point, it almost seemed like the servants had a troublesome conflict on their own. Hopefully, that wouldn't cause trouble. At least it ensured that Stella wouldn't ever change sides.
Blanche observed how her maid showed the empress' attendants a grimace before turning around. Stella acted like a child sometimes, but the concubine couldn't be angry for long, not when she had been just as petty in many situations. She faced Noah and smiled at him. “We'll take our leave now. Have a nice day, Sir Aldis.”
Noah returned to his soothing beam for the first time today. “You too, Lady Blanche. Take care of yourself and make sure that Sir Maillont doesn't leave your side. I've seen our head knight train many times, and I can assure you that he is the most skilled guard in Artias. I wish Sir Maillont and Miss Stella a wonderful day as well.”
Owen nodded towards him without showing any reaction on his face while the maid happily bid Noah farewell.
Blanche left after. She led her small group to the first floor toward the kitchen without taking any detours and already focused on her recipe. She thought that the topic from before would be over, but as soon as they were in a corridor with only a few other guards, Owen spoke up.
“Lady Blanche, would you mind if I asked you a question?”
She halted her movements and turned around. “Of course not. Go ahead.”
Owen was absolutely serious, as always, but his words seemed to hold even more meaning now. “Has there ever been a moment in which you felt threatened by Her Majesty?” The question came suddenly, but the reply was quite obvious.
Yes.
There had been far too many moments for Blanche to count.