Now it had truly happened. The dowager empress and the second prince had made their move and might be freed if the trial ended up being redone.
Blanche struggled to keep herself calm. She truly didn't need to break down in front of Seraphina, the owner of the restaurant and his daughter. What she needed to do was be there for her lover. She was at fault for the current situation, so she would at least have to make for it by supporting him. As soon as they returned to the summer mansion, she would write him a letter and ask whether he would allow her to come to the capital. She couldn't leave him on his own any longer.
Footsteps approached her and made her look up.
The empress was standing in front of her with a slight frown. “This situation is very unfavorable for His Majesty. I understand why he would want you to stay away from this, but it would be much better if I had accompanied him. Right now, he needs every bit of power that he can get, and if I appeared with him, my father would be willing to get more involved too. Did he say anything about why I should stay here?”
Blanche recounted the conversations with her lover for a moment before shaking her head. “He just insisted that he would be the only one to leave.” Maybe he didn't want Seraphina to find out about him falsifying evidence. He had told his lover, but that didn't mean that the empress and her family were aware of that as well, and it was logical that Theodore wanted to keep it that way. This single piece of information could severely damage his reputation and cause trouble that he had never had before.
Seraphina took a seat across from the other woman and narrowed her eyes as she stared into the distance, most likely being lost in thoughts.
The owner observed the two women's reaction with irritation and approached the table with hesitance. “Is there a need to worry? If the dowager empress and the second prince are innocent, they will be freed now. That isn't something bad, is it?”
Blanche felt her stomach churn at the thought of them being released. She balled her fists and pressed her hands against the table. “They aren't innocent. They are the very opposite of innocent. That woman planned on assassinating Theo and killed this mother in the process, just because she wants power. She deserves no sympathy or mercy.” She ignored Seraphina's surprised expression at the mention of Althea, whom the empress probably had never heard of.
The owner shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “I see. I couldn't have known that. I only heard a few rumors about their guilt being uncertain. I'm sorry if I said something unpleasant.”
“It's fine, but remember that the dowager empress is guilty.” Blanche intertwined her fingers as she already thought about how she should write the letter to her lover to get him to agree to let her join him. What would she do if he refused? She didn't want to stay here any longer while he was suffering because he had to deal with his mother. With the very person that had hated him from his early childhood on and had killed the woman that was like a mother to him.
But she couldn't just disregard the emperor's orders. Nothing was more important than his words if she wanted the servants to bring her back, so she had to make him agree. Maybe it would be good if she got someone else's support as well to seem more convincing. She glanced up at the heroine. If the empress asked Theodore to let her return, he might be inclined to allow it, and Blanche could just argue that traveling with the greatest portion of the knights would be safer for her too. Otherwise, the concubine would have to come up with a convincing excuse.
Blanche bit her lips for a moment before quietly speaking up. “Your Majesty, would it be possible for you to write Theo a letter to ask to let us return as well? If we both are voicing the wish, he won't decline as easily as he would if it was only mine.”
Before the empress could reply, the owner next to them opened his mouth. “Your Majesty?” The blood drained from his face as he quickly jumped away from them and bowed. “I apologize for not recognizing you. I wasn't aware of His Majesty's presence back then either, so this isn't-”
The empress cut him off with a movement of her hand while turning to the concubine. “You gave us away. I was surprised to hear that he knew who you were, but that he learns about my identity could have been prevented.”
Blanche shifted around on her chair. “I sincerely apologize, Your Majesty. I forgot about that for a moment.” It didn't matter to her either.
Seraphina let out a sigh before facing the owner. “Well, since it's too late for that, we will have to deal with this now. I can be sure that you will not tell anyone about our visit today?”
The man hurriedly nodded. “Of course! I didn't mention His Majesty coming here either. We're only able to stay in this house because of his generous donation, so I would never dare to do anything that would trouble him. Please forgive us for our careless words earlier.” He was probably referring to his daughter calling the empress mean.
Seraphina rested her chin on her palm as she scanned the owner in silence. She only spoke up after a few seconds. “I will not hold it against you. Just make sure that your daughter does not interact with other nobles in this manner. Unfortunately, some would blame a child for trivialities like this. Keep an eye on that, but do not worry about me. I am not so sensitive that I would feel offended because of a few words.” At least in most cases.
The concubine had done much worse things to provoke the empress and had never been punished for that specifically, so it should have been obvious that nothing would happen now. Still, Seraphina could be easy to offend sometimes, so Blanche was a bit relieved as well when she saw the owner relax.
The man's daughter had apparently heard the conversation from before. She came towards them and hid behind her father for a moment before slowly leaning to the side to look past him. She took a while until she had gathered enough courage to step out from behind her protector and stopped next to him before speaking up in a small voice. “Are you the empress?”
Seraphina turned to the child and was silent for a few seconds before nodding.
The girl began playing with her hair and averted her gaze as she spoke after stammering a bit. “Oh... I didn't want to say bad things about you. I'm sorry for saying...that you are mean.”
This certainly wasn't the harshest criticism the empress had been forced to listen to, so while she might be a bit annoyed, she wouldn't be angry at a child. As expected, she responded in a calm voice. “I do not care much for things like that. I am used to overhearing words that are not meant for me to hear, and I can assure you that you were rather nice in comparison. Still, you should be careful about what you say when strangers are listening. Depending on the people you mention, you might have serious trouble later in case they felt offended. At this point, you are still a child, so it will be forgiven, but the future looks different.” She paused and scanned the girl's dim expression before adding the rest. “I appreciate that you stood up to your actions and apologized though. That is very mature behavior.”
That was enough to make the girl cheer up a bit. “Thank you, Your Majesty.” Apparently, being called ‘mature’ pleased her so much that she could forget anything the others had said previously.
Blanche remembered that Noel had been like this even before he had begun learning with their father. In contrast to him, Nelly had never cared about acting like an adult when she was able to play the whole day. The concubine quickly forced herself to push away those memories. She could lock herself away and think about her family whenever she wanted, so she wouldn't do that in public. She shook her head slightly before addressing the empress again. “Then, about the letter. Your Majesty, would you mind writing to the capital?”
Seraphina turned away from the owner's daughter to face Blanche. “No. In fact, I was planning on doing this anyway. I would like to be in the palace if there are political issues at the moment. I assume that you wish to return as well?”
The concubine nodded with as much emphasis as possible. “Under any circumstances. This situation isn't harmless, so it would be better to be close to Theodore instead of sitting on the beach and baking in the summer residence. I can't help him like this at all. I might not be able to do a lot even when I'm with him, but at least I can support him a bit so that he isn't alone.”
She only realized that her words might have come across wrong when she finished. She had basically said that her lover would be on his own as long she wasn't by his side, which would mean that the empress' presence didn't matter much. Blanche hadn't intended to refer to anything like that, but she couldn't revise that statement.
Seraphina already spoke. “That might be better. It would not be beneficial for us to split the royal knights into even smaller troops, so traveling separately would be unnecessarily dangerous too. I will write His Majesty as soon as we are back in the manor. Still, I would ask you to write a letter as well since I believe that he will listen to you rather than to me.”
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Blanche felt how her heartbeat quickened at that. Would she really be able to see Theodore again in a few days? No matter how long she had survived without him before, this separation felt nightmarish, and thinking about him made her heart ache. She couldn't wait for the day that they would finally fall into each other's arms again. She just wanted to hug him and make sure that everything was fine and that he wasn't hurt. Then she wanted to tell him that she loved him and that he was right to fight against the dowager empress with every instrument that he could find. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Seraphina scanned her expression for a while before speaking up. “Well, since that is decided, we should enjoy our day in Ibela to the fullest. I heard that you wanted to eat here as a reward for guiding us. Is there anything special about this food?”
Blanche was thankful for that distraction as tears were pricking in her eyes already. She wiped them away for a moment before replying. “Yes. They are preparing dishes with fresh fish from the haven that we already saw today. The owner uses his grandmother's herb mixture, and thus, the meals don't taste like the ones you would find anywhere else. The salmon plate here is delicious.”
The owner took that as his cue to get the booklet with the dishes from the counter and brought them to their table. “I'm not a special person, so my cooking is average, but my wife creates heavenly meals. I don't know whether they would please Your Majesty though. We don't use the most expensive or exclusive ingredients, so...”
Seraphina looked over the first page and spoke without glancing up. “You should not judge your abilities more harshly than others do. Allow me to decide whether I will like the dishes. I wish to try this one. Number twelve.” She gestured to the booklet and showed which one she was referring to.
The owner was taken aback by that but quickly nodded and turned to the concubine. “And what does Lady Blanche want to try? Something new or the number six again?”
The answer was obvious. “I'll have the salmon plate again. It was too delicious to miss out on that.” This might be the only meal that Blanche could gulp down with her current mood too.
The owner nodded and was about to leave to hurry to the kitchen when the empress stopped him.
“Our servants and the knight might wish to request a dish as well. Please wait for a moment.” Seraphina faced the people that had been accompanying her and the concubine. “I will pay for the expenses, so feel free to enjoy a nice meal today. This might be our last chance to eat in Ibela this year.”
The others looked like they were startled by that but quickly went through the booklet when the owner gave them one exemplar each. The maids were obviously struggling to pick as their excitement oozed out of their expression while they read. Owen was as stoic as always and calmly turned the pages as if he was searching for something specific.
The only one that didn't look inside yet was Noah. He just frowned at the others before addressing the empress. “Please excuse this, Your Majesty. But is it not a bit reckless for you to eat in a public space? Any food for members of royalty has to be checked by servants first. We cannot be sure that there aren't any people with bad intentions here. Now that your identity is known, this might cause you to get hurt.”
Seraphina looked up from the booklet and made eye contact with him. “I am not worried about that. If you feel like this is necessary, you or one of the servants could accompany him to the kitchen to watch over him as he is preparing the food. Otherwise, just trust my judgment.” That was a typical response that the heroine had often given her knight in the novel, which just proved how overconfident she was at times.
With how protective Noah was, he certainly shouldn't let it slide without a comment about how the empress didn't value her safety enough. But his reply was different this time. “I understand. I won't question your decision.”
Blanche blinked at that as she lowered her gaze onto the booklet while trying to hide her confusion. Normally, Noah would at least have insisted on following the cook into the kitchen and searching the room for anything that resembled poison. Why was he acting so differently now? He didn't even seem to care. He just opened his own booklet and chose a dish for himself.
Seraphina calmly waved to one of the servants outside and told the man that came inside to accompany the cook. Even then, Noah didn't look up again to make sure that the servant was a trustworthy one.
Blanche felt like she was about to go insane as she forced herself to keep staring at the text in front of her without reading it. She had truly influenced the novel too much. She didn't know how she had done it, but the knight's relation to the empress had significantly changed due to her actions. That might not be problematic for now, but she couldn't be sure whether that wouldn't cause trouble later. Staying away from Sefare had also indirectly caused the dowager empress to come up with another plot to harm Theodore. So, she would have to be careful with how much the storyline diverged already.
Though, sitting with Seraphina and her maids, Stella, Owen and Noah wasn't making it seem like this change was bad in all aspects.
Each person chose their dish, and then they waited for the owner to prepare the food. His daughter had insisted on helping him, so the group was alone in the main room. They didn't speak, but the atmosphere wasn't as tense as it had often been in the past, even though it was obvious that Stella and the empress' maids still didn't like each other very much.
The food arrived quickly, and Blanche relished in the delicious taste of the salmon again. It tasted as good as last time, and the others were content with their meals as well.
The owner was showered with so much praise that he didn't even know how to react, especially when Seraphina gave him a sack with gold coins as payment for the great quality of his dishes. Afterward, the empress asked him to tell her about the city, and he gladly obliged. He explained similar things to the last time that Blanche had listened to him, but the empress sucked in all the information like a sponge and took notes in between. Seemingly, Seraphina was serious about learning as much about this city as possible
They only left when it was already late afternoon. The owner attempted to give back a bit of the money, only to be rejected by the empress, who showed her typical stubbornness and didn't intend to back down on this matter, multiple times.
This discussion took a while, and in the meantime, the owner's daughter had approached the concubine again. “Uhm, Lady Blanche? Can I say something before you leave?”
Blanche looked at the child, who was fiddling her hands nervously, and leaned down to be on her eye level. “Of course. What do you want to tell me?”
The girl averted her eyes for a moment before her expression filled with determination. “I just wanted to say that you are very nice and pretty. Anyone who says something else is lying.”
The concubine felt a smile tugging at her lips. “Thank you. If you are telling me that, I have no choice but to believe you. You're the sweetest and most polite girl I have ever met after all. I can guarantee you that you will grow up to be a wonderful, gorgeous and kind lady in the future.”
The girl's eyes sparkled at that. “That would be nice. But do you really think that?”
“Well, you already have the traits I named and only need to wait a few years so that you are an adult. So, I'm positive that I'm right.”
The girl grinned at that. She bobbed around for a while, which made Blanche smile as well, before her expression became a bit more serious. She licked her lips as the gears in her head visibly turned. It looked like she was thinking about something, but she didn't take long to come to a conclusion. “I believe that you and the emperor will be able to marry soon. Don't stop hoping for it! The people here all support you. If the nobles see how much you love each other and how kind you are, they will definitely agree with your wish.”
Blanche forced herself to keep smiling as she saw the girl's determined expression. “It would be nice if that happened.” But it wouldn't. There was barely anyone in an aristocratic society that valued love or friendliness over their rank. The sad truth was that she would have to accept that becoming Theodore's wife was impossible. She was very happy by his side, so she shouldn't even complain about that either. She was a commoner, so even living in the palace and having the emperor's favor was incredible. She shouldn't ask for more. The last time she had done that, she had lost more than she could give.
But Blanche still didn't have the courage to tell the little girl that. Or maybe she just didn't want to voice the undeniable truth herself. “Let's hope for the best. I wish you and your family good luck and health for the future.”
The girl happily nodded. “Thank you! I wish you and the emperor all the best too. You need to protect the nation and get married after all.” That a child said this with such an innocent face made it hurt even more.
Blanche forced herself to keep smiling as she brushed her hand over the girl's head before straightening her posture. By now, Seraphina had shut down the owner's argument about why he couldn't take so much money and walked to the exit. The group followed her, and the concubine trailed behind them.
Blanche stopped by the door once more and turned around. “I already told your daughter, but I hope that you will have a wonderful life from now on. Keep your restaurant and become famous with your dishes. You deserve it.”
The owner began beaming at that. “Thank you, Lady Blanche. We will give our best. We hope that you and His Majesty will be well too. Don't worry about any rumors. The biggest part of the citizens is supporting him and you too.”
The concubine paused in the middle of spinning around to the door and faced the man again. “I'm very glad to hear that...but what do you mean by them supporting me? No one knows who I am. Why would anyone care about me?”
The owner's beam softened a bit, and his expression was full of genuine happiness. “There are many ears and eyes everywhere. Each person in this city knows you and heard countless stories about you. And I can assure you that all of them adore you. You've given many people a bit of hope, so to say. That the emperor fell in love, even though there isn't much amusement in noble society, with a person that seems to be a commoner. That is like a fairy tale, and this made many regain their belief that the world can be a bit magical. Thank you.”
Blanche gave him a slight smile. She didn't know whether to be happy or sad about that. Her life wasn't like a fairy tale at the moment, even though she would like it to be. “There is no need to be grateful. I didn't do anything. I was just lucky to be in the right place at the right time to meet the right person. Still, it's good if people are content hearing about that. Goodbye. Maybe we'll see each other next summer.” If she was still alive at that point.
She waved them and left the restaurant with mixed feelings. When she stepped onto the street, it felt like she was in another world, which luckily pushed some of her thoughts away.
The store had been quiet and empty while the city was full of busy people that were chatting loudly about their day. Now that it was the afternoon, the workers were probably done with their duties for the day and could spend their free time with their families by the market stalls. This was way more stressful for the guards since they had to be more careful and stick closer to the empress, but it was a beautiful sight.
It had been years since Blanche had seen a city that was this busy, apart from her secret visit to the capital and the trip to Ibela with Theodore. Observing how so many people were following their daily routine was enchanting in some way, even though it was also exhausting to squeeze through the crowd. Especially since Noah always scolded them for doing that. He insisted that there wouldn't be a chance for a knight to intervene if one of the citizens suddenly attacked.
Seraphina was annoyed by his persistent complaints, and that was obvious no matter how much she tried to hide it. She argued that there was no way for them to pass by the crowd otherwise and ignored his remarks about that being dangerous. Blanche, on the other hand, was relieved that the guard was finally acting like he was supposed to. She didn't believe that they were being threatened by anyone, but she held back a bit not to give Noah a heart attack.