The next day was as stressful as Blanche had imagined it to be, even though she didn't have anything to do herself. She only watched the servants run through the manor as they desperately tried to get everything ready in time, but that was exhausting enough.
Along with her excitement upon seeing Theodore again, this caused her to be stuck in an endless loop of wanting to sleep so that she could wake up tomorrow and wanting to run around outside for as long as possible. In the end, she chose the latter option since the next day would only consist out of sitting in a carriage while being unable to stretch her legs. The fact that her room was full of servants packing her things in countless suitcases might also have influenced her decision.
In the evening, it looked like the staff hadn't finished storing more than two thirds of the items they would have to move into the carriages. Most of the people were complaining loudly the whole time, but they continued to transport boxes and suitcases through the halls while others went through the rooms to make sure that they hadn't forgotten anything.
Blanche went to bed early, so she wouldn't know how long exactly they took. But since she wasn't able to fall asleep and heard footsteps from the corridor until way past midnight, it seemed like some stayed up the entire night. In the meantime, she was lying under her covers without moving, but in the end, she received the same amount of rest as the servants. She barely slept for more than an hour before it was the early morning, and she had to get ready.
Thankfully, she had enough adrenaline in her body to keep her awake either way. Keeping herself from fidgeting the whole time was worse than standing up despite the sun just being about to rise. The concubine could only think about Theodore and how she would fall into his arms as soon as she came back, so she would have liked to skip the next two days. But instead of that, she had to climb into the carriage and wait there until the staff had finished their preparations.
Luckily, the empress arrived soon, and they could leave. While the coach began moving, Blanche caught a last glimpse of the summer residence as she prayed that she would be able to come here with Theodore again. For the first few minutes of the journey, she managed to calm herself by tapping her foot or wringing her hands, but quickly, she began to get sick of sitting around and doing nothing.
She started random conversations with Stella at that point and was surprised that Seraphina chimed in. At first, it was a bit strange to talk with the empress despite them not being forced to because they were being watched or because they needed to discuss something. However, it soon became acceptable even if the concubine still found the other woman intimidating. But right now, talking to a person whose presence made her tense in unease was perfect to distract her from her constantly increasing impatience.
Blanche just wanted to see Theodore, and being able to count the hours until they would arrive made this feeling grow with every passing second. She became more nervous with every minute, and it felt like they had taken an eternity when they finally arrived at their midway stop. Blanche was dejected upon knowing that she would have to endure another day of yearning for her lover, but at the same time, she was aware that she would be with him tomorrow evening. That gave her enough energy to bear with this longing for one more day.
She didn't sleep for a single second that night, which frustrated her so much that she wanted to cry while rolling around in the bed that felt too hot with blankets and too cold without them. The next morning, this proved to be beneficial though. She hadn't slept properly for two nights, and adrenaline only did so much to keep her awake so that she nodded off after the first hour of the carriage ride.
When she awoke again, they were still two hours away from the capital, but she already felt her stomach churn. She was thankful that Stella and the empress were keeping her busy with a few lighthearted discussions in between. Without those, she might have snapped.
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Time barely seemed to pass when they finally arrived at the street that connected the capital with the royal palace. By then, Blanche wasn't able to hold herself back and pushed aside the curtain to look outside. She recognized some parts of the scenery around them from her secret visit to the city, so she had a general idea of how far they were away from the palace. Only a few minutes remained.
The sun was slowly coming closer to the horizon as she finally saw the palace in the distance. That made her heart skip a beat, and she forgot to breathe for a moment. She couldn't think about anything but seeing her lover now.
He would wait for her by the entrance, wouldn't he? Hopefully, there wouldn't be any nobles here to welcome the empress back since Blanche wouldn't be able to hold herself back from throwing her arms around her lover as soon as Theodore entered her field of view. She didn't care whether hugging him before he could even greet his wife would reveal their relationship Or rather, she did care, but right now, she wasn't able to focus on that.
The closer the palace came, the faster her heart was pounding even if she continued to believe that it couldn't beat any quicker. She dug her fingers into the cushion on the benches and began to bop up and down, no matter how often Stella reminded her not to destroy the carriage with her fingernails. Blanche still didn't stop and just looked outside. They were moving towards a smaller side gate as Theodore had asked them to, so Blanche couldn't see the smaller golden gate from afar. But when she was finally able to catch a glimpse of it, the first carriage of the convoy already entered the estate. That filled her with even more impatience.
She would have liked to jump out of the carriage and run the rest of the way, but that would have taken longer. She only had to compose herself for five more minutes, and then she would be able to see Theodore. If he wasn't there to greet her, she would seriously get mad.
By now, her mind was constantly shifting between euphoria about being home again and worry about her being too excited. What if her lover hadn't missed her as much as she had missed him? They had clung to each other before he had been forced to leave, so he might be annoyed by her immediately jumping onto him. That thought only made her even shakier. She needed to check whether Theodore still treated her like before too. By now, she feared that he might suddenly act like in the novel, and that option terrified her.
Blanche jumped to her feet despite the fact that the carriage was still moving and ignored Stella's, Owen's and Noah's complaints about that being dangerous. She leaned against the door and pushed aside the curtain while pressing her face close to the window to see as much of the palace as possible. Maybe she could already spot her Theodore in the crowd.
That quickly proved to be to no avail as their carriage moved through the gate though. There were too many people waiting to greet the empress, and the concubine wasn't able to see the area right in front of the coach. But her lover obviously had to be there, right? She wouldn't catch a glimpse of him until this damned carriage finally stopped, but he would be there.
It seemed like they took forever to reach the square where the vehicles were parked.
Blanche was sweating, and her pounding heart drowned everything else out when she felt that the horses were slowing down. She put her hand on the door and was ready to open it as soon as they came to a halt. Her mind was only focused on her lover now. If he wasn't here, she would definitely cry.
Seraphina said something to her, but she wasn't able to comprehend a single word.
The one thing Blanche managed to pay attention to was that the coach was going so slow that it might as well stand still. Going out a few seconds earlier wouldn't be a problem, right? Blanche wanted to hold herself back, but she wasn't able to control her body. She pressed her hand against the door while lowering the handle so that it opened.
Since she used her weight to push it open, it should have been obvious that it would be quick, but for some reason, it felt like this was very fast. She hadn't anticipated that her main support would suddenly disappear, so she fell forward. Her first instinct was to grab the carriage to keep herself upright, but at that very moment, her eyes met Theodore's.
Her lover was standing directly in front of her, and his arms were spread so that she could dive right into them.
That was all Blanche needed to change her plans and jump forward with as much force as possible. She expected a harsh impact, but instead of that, Theodore caught her rather gracefully and lifted her while beaming up at her.
He still loved her. He hadn't magically turned into the person that despised the villainess.
Seeing this radiant smile was enough to make all of Blanche's emotions come crashing down in seconds. She managed to whimper a drawn-out “Theo” before she broke down and began sobbing.
Theodore slowly lowered her so that he could put her feet on the floor and wrapped his arms around her. “I missed you, I missed you so much that it hurt.” His voice was hoarse while he spoke, and it cracked once in the middle. Still, he was in a better state than Blanche was.
She wanted to reply and tell him that she felt the same, but her vocal cords were refusing to produce any sound apart from her wailing. But even though she was crying as hard as she had on the day of her lover's departure, she wasn't sad.
She was happy.
Happier than she had been for the past month without him. She used all of her force to cling to him and embrace him as tightly as possible while he did the same.
Theodore almost crushed her, but she wouldn't have it any other way right now. “I love you.” Despite his voice still sounding like he struggled to speak, he began repeating this like a mantra.
Blanche gave her best to say that she loved him too, but nothing but slurred syllables left her mouth. It should be obvious what she was trying to voice though. She rubbed her face against his chest without caring for the tears that she would smear on his clothes. She didn't know how much time passed, but that didn't matter when there was no way that she would let go of her lover in the next hours.
Someone next to them cleared their throat but luckily didn't address the couple to ask them to separate. It was Leon, who spoke up a moment later. “Greetings to Her Majesty, the empress of Artias. Welcome back to the royal palace. How was your trip?” How come he spoke up first? Had he really waited for someone to talk for so long already?
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Footsteps sounded from the carriage, and Seraphina, who didn't seem to care about being addressed first, replied. “Thank you, Lord Astame. There weren't any occurrences, but it was still exhausting. Even though I have to say that I was more relaxed than some other passengers. It's good that we finally arrived. How is the situation in the capital?”
Leonard replied after a short pause. “It would be better to discuss everything related to politics tomorrow. There is no need to feel unsafe for now, and while the issues are unpleasant, they do not pose an immediate threat to us. That is why His Majesty allowed you to return. For now, we will postpone any explanations though. They will be delivered to you in a meeting in his office tomorrow. Please excuse the delay, Your Majesty.”
The empress replied immediately. “I see. In that case, I ask for all of my things to be brought inside. If there is nothing else His Majesty wishes to tell me in person, I would retreat to rest for now. I assume anything urgent can be dealt with after dinner if necessary.”
Theodore didn't speak up, even though his wife had clearly aimed the question at him. He was still busy whispering that he loved Blanche next to his lover's ear and told her not to cry. That was easier said than done, and she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be able to stop until her tears were dried.
Instead of the emperor, Leon responded. “His Majesty said that he would rather like to evaluate the political situation in peace, so we will do that tomorrow. I apologize, but the current issues have taken a toll on his health. He might be a bit forgetful right now.” His tone was sharp and most likely was supposed to remind Theodore that he would at least have to greet the empress in front of almost all the staff members instead of clinging to his concubine.
However, the emperor didn't seem to have any intention to do that. He didn't loosen his hold on his lover, for which Blanche was very thankful, and kept whispering sweet little phrases to her even though his voice trembled like he was crying.
Blanche couldn't even bring herself to feel sorry for that. If he turned away from her now, even for one second, her legs might give in. She should care about the fact that Theodore basically ridiculed the most important woman in the nation by ignoring her in favor of hugging his concubine directly in front of his wife's eyes. That was truly audacious, but right now, she felt worse about sobbing loudly while Leon was trying to talk to Seraphina. Since she was this loud, no one would be able to overlook them, which would only pull more attention to the issue. But keeping quiet also wasn't an option.
Luckily, it sounded like the empress was retreating to her room. “I understand. I will take my leave then.” Due to not being addressed, the heroine also hadn't been able to greet the emperor, but she probably wasn't in the mood to do so right now either.
Leon instructed some servants to unpack the carriages before responding. “I understand. Have a nice evening, Your Majesty. I will make sure that all of your belongings are brought to you within the next two hours.”
“Thank you.” Footsteps sounded, which made it seem like Seraphina was walking towards the palace along with some others.
At this point, Theodore loosened his hold on his lover a bit, and Blanche immediately protested by pulling him to her tighter until one of his hands moved to the backside of her head. He took a little step back so that her face wasn't pressing against him anymore and leaned down to her.
Blanche immediately knew what his intention was and happily accepted his kiss. It had been too long since she had enjoyed his soft lips on hers. They were gentle at first but quickly become more passionate, so she was glad that the empress had disappeared by now. She dug her fingers into his clothes and stood on her tiptoes to be as close to him as possible, even though that was completely unnecessary when she could taste him with every part of her tongue. Somehow, the fact that she could touch him and taste him like this was a huge relief. She had felt like she might not be able to hold Theodore again for a while, so she was truly overjoyed to find out that their separation hadn't been final this time. Instead, the couple could still share everything much like before, and they started with such deep kisses already.
They only separated when Leon intervened. “You might want to stop eating each other in front of every servant in this whole palace. Everyone is watching. Do you have no shame? I'm used to this and can't even watch without wishing for the ground to open and swallow me up. What will the others think? I get that you are happy to see each other, but you could do that in your room.”
The couple stopped kissing because of that but didn't let go of the other one. They stared at each other while trying to catch their breath and clinging to the other person as if they were the only thing keeping them grounded.
Theodore turned his head to the side to nod at Owen before immediately looking back to his lover. He stroked his knuckles over her cheek while smiling at her. Still, the way that his irises reflected the weak sun made it obvious that there were tears in his eyes. “I'm so happy that you are here again.”
Blanche leaned into his touch and was finally able to use her voice since the kiss had forced her to stop crying. “Me too. I missed you every single second. Being without you is torture.”
“Oh, you don't know how I felt without seeing you and pulling you into my arms. Now I can finally feel your warmth and hear you breathing again while you are right here with me. We should go to our room, shouldn't we?”
Blanche nodded without skipping a beat. She wouldn't make him cry in front of his citizens. No matter what, he couldn't lose the facade of the collected ruler, even though he hadn't paid much attention to that in the palace ever since meeting her. Because of her, he had already shown his tears in front of others, and she wouldn't force him to do it again. “Let's go.”
Theodore suddenly crouched down, which made her freeze, but she relaxed after realizing that he was picking her up. He put one arm behind her back and one under her legs as he lifted her and began walking towards the palace.
Blanche held onto his neck while leaning against him as a smile began spreading on her face despite the few tears that were still rolling down her cheeks. Hopefully, the spectators wouldn't look at her face too much, or they would see how much of a mess she was at this moment.
“Your Majesty!” Leon sounded indignant while he called out for the emperor, who turned his head to the other man with reluctance.
“What?”
“You need to greet the people that came here despite the short notice. They worked hard for the last month to take care of everything while you were absent.”
Theodore was silent for a few seconds before letting out an “Oh”, which made it seem like he had actually forgotten about that. He turned his whole body around to face the servants, and Blanche quickly buried her face in his uniform. He took a deep breath before speaking up in a loud and confident voice. “I want to thank all of you for your hard work in the past weeks. Welcome back to the palace. Since the trip was exhausting, all the people from the summer residence are allowed to rest while the others will take care of everything for the day. Please excuse my rudeness for not addressing that immediately. I was too distracted by how much I missed my angel, so I wasn't focused. I'll make it up to you by giving the people that arrived today two days off without any pay reductions. Good evening to all of you.” With that, he spun around and carried his speechless lover to the building.
Surely, Blanche wasn't thinking clearly right now. But even then she could point out that stating that he had missed his concubine so much that he had forgotten about basic politeness was problematic. People would talk about that for the next few months to come. Of course, all the members of the staff were aware of their relationship already, but this was a bit too much.
Still, she wasn't able to put that into words while she was so happy that her heart almost hurt. She just wanted to yell about how much she loved Theodore, and the only thing holding her back was her sore throat.
The emperor didn't let her down for the entire way up to the third floor, which earned them a lot of stares from the servants that were walking around in the hallways. When they reached his chambers, a guard opened the door for him, and Theodore stepped inside before turning around to Owen, who had been following them. “As always, I was able to trust you fully. Thank you for protecting her. I should greet you a bit more warmly, but I'm pretty sure that I won't be able to do so properly now. So, let me welcome you later. You deserve a raise and a few weeks of vacation, of course only after this mess is over.”
Blanche eyed the head knight while hiding her tear-stained face by looking to the side. “Yes. Thank you very much.” That was all she brought out.
Owen bowed and put his hand on his chest as he responded. “I am happy to fulfill my duty, Your Majesty and Lady Blanche. There is no need to thank me. As for a reward, I need neither money nor vacation. I would not be able to rest while knowing that you are unguarded.”
Theodore let out a small sigh and shook his head. “You work too much. Go sleep now. You probably didn't do that at all in the last month. We'll talk about how the vacation was without me later. Goodnight.”
Owen nodded. “I understand. Goodnight, Your Majesty. Lady Blanche.” He bowed again before leaving.
The concubine lifted her hand to wave him, which he barely could have seen, but apparently, this had been enough to get his attention. The knight stopped and waved towards her before continuing his movements.
Theodore shut the door behind them with his foot before bringing his lover to the bed. He slowly lowered her onto the mattress before climbing on top of her within seconds. He was careful not to rest his weight on her as he put his chin onto her chest.
Blanche ran her fingers through his hair and beamed at him as he closed his eyes while relaxing in her embrace. She continued to caress him while slowly looking around as she tried to find out why the bed felt different from before the vacation. She took a few moments to notice the countless pillows that had never been here before. “Did...you buy these cushions because I liked them in the summer residence?”
Theodore opened his eyes and gave her a breathtaking smile. “Yes. You sleep here often enough, so I thought that it would be good for you to be as pleased as possible. Especially since I want to keep you here for a very long time. I got a few for your old room too though.”
The corners of Blanche's lips lifted even more. “It's not even been an hour, and you're already giving me gifts again. Do you know how much trouble I had while trying to store all the things you bought in Ibela in the suitcases? Or rather, the servants had trouble. I just had to watch and tried to put away some small things, and that was exhausting already.”
Her lover propped himself up on his arms and moved forward so that his face was above hers. “I have to show you my love somehow. What is better than making you happy? I wouldn't get anything I know you wouldn't like. I will buy you everything you could possibly want for as long as I have the funds. Which I always will since I have an almost unlimited amount of money lying around even without counting the nation's wealth, which I can access too. So, feel free to ask me for anything. Whether it may be an object or an action. I have a few other ideas on how to please you as well, so you can still allow me to surprise you either way.”
Blanche stroked over his hair as she took in everything that this scene was offering her. The sound of her lover's voice. The gorgeous smile on his face. The soft sensation of his hair against her skin. The way his warm breath reached her cheek. She could feel him everywhere and wasn't stuck watching him from afar without being able to come close. She could talk to him without her throat aching. This was pure bliss. She couldn't help but pull him down and kiss him again.
Theodore was quick to join in as his hands wandered up to cup her chin. He stayed in the same position for a moment before pressing small kisses onto her cheeks, her forehead and her neck and nibbling on her skin. When he was satisfied with the red marks that he had left on her skin again, he raised his head and smirked at her. “That was exactly what I had in mind when I thought about how to make you happy. It's good that we feel the same.” His smile slowly faded while he raked his fingers through her hair and sorted the strands that had been splayed all across the pillows. “I missed you so much. I couldn't sleep or eat without thinking about you. You were on my mind constantly.”
Blanche let out a huff that was half amused and half sad. “At least I didn't exaggerate then. I longed for you every day and night. I tried to busy myself to stop thinking about how much I miss you, but that was useless. I already feared that I was too clingy.”
“As long as that makes the two of us happy, it doesn't matter, right? Because we like it this way. It shouldn't be surprising that we are like this either.” He lowered his head and buried his face in her neck before breathing in deeply. “And we'll never do something like this again. This was already bad enough, but the bad memories would kill me if it took any longer. I have no intention to ever let you stray away from my side.”
Blanche was content with that, but she couldn't ignore the fact that this wasn't certain. This was how her lover felt now, and in a few months, the situation could have changed again. Since the novel's course was completely ruined, she wasn't even sure which events would still happen and which new ones would occur. But for now, they had one huge problem to deal with already, so it would be useless to focus on the future. Blanche's smile faded at the thought. “I'd rather talk about how much I love you for longer, but we really need to address something serious. If you let me come home, you are safe, right?”
Theodore nodded slightly while still resting his head against her skin. “Yes. We increased the security measurements, so staying at the summer residence would have been more dangerous than being here. Since our enemies used to spent their summers in that mansion too, they knew where it was, so I needed to get you here as soon as I confirmed that they don't have the upper hand. But...” He slowly lifted his head and caressed her cheek with his hand. “Let me tell you about that tomorrow. It's late, so we don't have enough time to do this today. Besides, I would like to celebrate our reunion first. You don't mind that, do you?” He pressed a long kiss onto the skin under her ear.
Blanche's heartbeat quickened to its usual pace whenever her lover did something like this. It felt wonderful to be able to be in his arms without needing to worry whether he was safe. She was still a bit worried, but they should have a night to themselves. “No, I don't mind that at all.” In fact, she was eager to spend the next few hours being as close to him as possible. She wouldn't leave his side after that either, but she wouldn't keep her hands off him for one second for the night. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him down to her. “Promise that you'll stay with me for the whole night.”
Theodore gave her a bright smile. “Of course. Not just the night, I will stay with you forever. You won't be able to get rid of me, even if you wanted to. Let me prove that to you.”
As always, Theodore kept his promises.