Sophia began to panic as she tried to get her daughter to let go of the lock of Blanche's hair without hurting her or tearing out the concubine's hair.

Blanche wanted to help too since she worried about the girl accidentally swallowing some of her hair, but that was hard to do when she couldn't help laughing. Her own siblings had adored her locks too. Shiny curls that glittered in the sun seemed to attract babies' attention easily. That was a bitter-sweet memory, but she gave her best to think about the present, and the little girl on her lap was too adorable to make the concubine distract herself. She made a halfhearted attempt at pulling out the hair between Grace's lips but gave up when she faced resistance. She couldn't help chuckling again as she carefully patted the baby's head while holding her tightly with the other arm.

Grace seemed to understand that at least. A grin appeared on her face as well, and she opened her mouth to let out some babbling noises.

That was enough to allow Sophia to pull out the strand of hair. “Thank the gods. Don't do that again, Grace.” Even though she was scolding her daughter, she was smiling and spoke in a soft tone, so the baby probably didn't feel criticized in any way. She turned to the concubine after gazing at Grace for a moment and resumed. “I apologize for that, Lady Blanche. This is the second time she did this, isn't it? We should be careful with hair around her for now. She is of the age at which she starts grabbing everything she can see. And everything that she manages to take into her hands will inevitably end up in her mouth. I am truly sorry for that.”

“You don't have to apologize. She is a child. It's normal for her to do that. I don't mind. How could I when she is such an adorable, sweet, little thing?” Blanche moved her hand away from Grace's head and took the baby's hand in hers. Immediately, the tiny fingers gripped her little finger, and she couldn't stifle the cooing that came from her throat. The young girl giggled again, and once more, the concubine felt overwhelmed by so much cuteness. She almost didn't want to give back the child when Sophia extended her arms towards the baby, but naturally, she didn't hesitate to carefully hand Grace over.

Sophia held her daughter in her arms and smiled at her for a while before addressing all the people at the table. “Shouldn't we talk about something more pleasant then? I think that all of us are being too silent. The rest of you want to hold Grace too, right?” Her question wasn't actually an inquiry, she just assumed that all would agree.

Of course, no one refused to hold an adorable baby. Seraphina had been the first one to take Grace after Blanche and had seemed a bit stiff the whole time, which was a strange sight. When the baby began cooing at her, she warmed up to the idea of keeping her on her lap though. Still, she appeared to be a bit relieved upon hearing that it was her mother's turn to carry her.

Elaine looked like a proud grandmother while cuddling the grinning girl, who definitely recognized her to some extent.

Madeleine, who was next, showered the girl in compliments and gushed about how sweet Briana had been as a toddler.

Evelyn took Grace onto her lap too, which seemed to make the baby extremely uncomfortable. The concubine was ready to intervene at any moment if that horrible woman decided to do something that could hurt the child.

But luckily, Sophia quickly reacted and pulled her daughter into a hug when the girl was about to cry. She cuddled Grace until the baby began smiling again and then spoke up. “I think she was a bit exhausted after seeing so many people. She might fall asleep soon.”

Seraphina replied with a slight smile. “In that case, we should begin opening her presents. It would be a shame for her not to see what she received.”

Sophia nodded and lowered her gaze to her daughter. “You hear that? We will get some wonderful things for you now. Last time, you adored the gifts as well.” She turned to the adult guests again. “The last party was more stressful though. There were so many people there that it was hard to talk to everyone. And all of them got some toys for Grace. We already bought more than enough, so she will be swimming in playthings in a few months. She won't even know what to play with first.” It wasn't hard to imagine that Sophia pampered her daughter with everything she had.

The empress chimed in with a soft smile on her lips. “That would not be a problem, would it? Today she will probably get even more toys. But before we do that...” She gestured to one of the maids, who brought her a handkerchief. She held it towards the concubine. “You should clean your hair a little. Drying it would be enough.”

Blanche looked down at her hair and noted that one of her strands was still wet with a bit of saliva. “Ah, thank you, Your Majesty.” She quickly took the handkerchief and wiped it over her hair until the liquid wasn't visible anymore. When she finished, she gave the cloth to one of the maids, who brought it away quickly.

Sophia gave the concubine an apologetic gaze. “I would like to say that I am really sorry for this again.”

Blanche didn't let her continue after that. “Don't worry. I would never be angry at a baby for such a little thing. It's not that bad. Just focus on opening the gifts for Grace. This is your party after all.”

Sophia began smiling again after that. “Thank you for your consideration. I am honored that all of you decided to give something to our little angel.” She slowly handed over her daughter to her husband, who looked like he was immersed in admiring his daughter as well. Then she addressed one of the servants and asked him to bring over all the presents one after the other.

Sophia took her time admiring the toys for Grace and was happy about every single piece. It seemed like it was impossible to give this woman a gift that she didn't enjoy. She praised everyone's choice and beamed like they had gifted her the most valuable things in the world, which definitely wasn't the case.

Blanche agreed that most of the presents were sweet though. The toys appeared to be well-made and had colorful patterns so that Grace immediately extended her arms towards them. The one that had given most to the baby was Seraphina, who had gotten a mountain of toys and sweets that children should enjoy. The empress had even bought jewelry for Sophia and handed over some food as well. In general, the other women offered the same things in smaller amounts, so everything was appropriate.

Merely Evelyn's gifts were horrendous. It might not have been obvious at first glance, but if one paid attention to it, it was obvious that she didn't care for the child's health. She had not only brought many small toys that babies could swallow and choke on but also pralines with honey and some with alcohol. Both labels didn't have the ingredients listed, and the only reason that the concubine knew about these was because of the novel.

After Evelyn's deeds had been revealed near the end, it had been mentioned that she had given things that might harm a toddler to Sophia on purpose. Apparently, that had made Grace sick a few times until her mother and father had visited a doctor. In the end, the little girl had recovered, but Blanche wouldn't allow those incidents to happen anyway. She was only waiting for an opportunity to address the topic.

But the women chatted about their distant relatives first. Then Seraphina spoke about her vacation at the coast, of course while leaving out the part about visiting Ibela secretly and that a specific couple had annoyed her again.

So, the concubine didn't have any chance to retouch on the subject that she needed to discuss subtly. At some point, she just gave up and told the truth directly. When a small pause appeared, she used that for herself immediately. “If I may ask something, I would like to pose a question.”

Sophia greeted her with a bright grin. “Please do. Speak up about whatever you wish to address.”

Blanche sighed inwardly. Hopefully, she wouldn't ruin the mood too much due to her meddling. “I wanted to make sure that you remember to give Lady Lemares' gifts to Grace a bit later. Maybe in a little over a year. I doubt that the pralines will be good until then, so you should eat them with Lord Ravillot instead.”

Before the mother could say anything, Evelyn already opened her mouth. Her face was scrunched up, and if looks could kill, the concubine would already be dead and buried. “What could you be hinting at with that, Lady Blanche? Why would Sophia need to wait to give her daughter presents? You reached a level of-”

Elaine stopped her. “Please hold back a little. I would like to listen to Lady Blanche's reasoning before you accuse her of anything. What would she gain from voicing something like this? I don't think that there is a need to assume the worst immediately.”

Evelyn's frown deepened. She set her cup down with a loud clink and glared at her sister. “Have you forgotten that she was the one that had me thrown out of the palace because of her own incompetence? She despises me and will use every chance to slander my name.”

Blanche narrowed her eyes at the other woman. “I feel like I keep repeating myself, but you were the one that insulted me. You did it while my maid was present, and you were about to call me...” She didn't want to voice that word out loud, so she quickly used a more vague phrase. “By a very unkind name. At that very moment, Theo came inside. I didn't say anything about him dismissing you, he decided to do so himself.” Only when she finished, she realized that using his nickname might not be the best idea. “Ah, I mean...” She still hated the title for her lover, so she almost didn't want to use it.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Seraphina waved her hand through the air. “After almost two years of hearing that, we are used to your way of addressing His Majesty. You are very inconsistent in your usage of those two titles, so just stick to one.”

Blanche blinked at that. She was almost sure that she had misunderstood something. After all, the empress wouldn't indirectly give her permission to keep calling her lover by a pet name. But she didn't have enough time to fully process this, and judging by their expressions, the others didn't either.

The empress already continued before the others could. “In any case, I would like to add that His Majesty informed me of his decision to dismiss Lady Lemares the very day the incident Lady Blanche described happened. He did not voice the exact words, but he summarized the contents of what he heard, and I doubt that he would make something like this up. I sincerely hope that he exaggerated though. After all, Lady Lemares would never dare to insult the royal family with such vulgar remarks, correct?” Seraphina calmly sipped her tea, but her aura was enough to intimidate anyone that she scolded.

Just like that, Evelyn was quiet and slouched in her seat. She tried to give an excuse and stuttered a bit. “Of course not, Your Majesty. How could I? I would never dare to do that. I must have been out of my mind that day, but I can assure you that I did not insult the royal family.”

The empress placed her cup on the table with unrivaled grace and looked away from her aunt while speaking. “So, you aren't denying that you did, in fact, enter Lady Blanche's room without her permission and accused her of very unfriendly things.” She didn't leave a pause for anyone to chime in and just continued immediately. “That means that you should hold back a bit when this topic comes up. You should be ashamed about having acted this inappropriately and then having blamed the other party. It seems like your grudge is not only baseless and childish but also unreasonable. Since this is the case, you should at least allow Lady Blanche to finish her appeal before complaining. Since your mind should be clear now, one thing is easy to understand. If your presents are well-chosen, it will not be a problem to talk about them, correct? Please go ahead, Lady Blanche. Continue from where you left off.”

Evelyn visibly gritted her teeth, and her hands disappeared under the table, where she probably dug her fingers into her chair.

Blanche was also speechless as she stared at the heroine in awe. Why was Seraphina protecting her suddenly? Was it because they had talked about Evelyn and both knew that the woman was a threat to Sophia's daughter? No matter whether that was the reason, the concubine would use this chance to defend Grace with everything in her power. “Thank you, Your Majesty. As I said, I would recommend that those presents should not be given to a baby, or even be put in a child's vicinity for that matter. The gifts are without a doubt well-made, but they simply aren't suitable for a toddler. Maybe they will be fine in a year, but I doubt it.”

Sophia glanced at the presents her aunt had bought for her. “Would you explain what you mean by that? To me, they look good for children. After all, no older child will want a rattle.”

Blanche turned her palm upwards and extend her hand to the other woman. “May I?” The mother handed her the rattle, and the concubine turned it around once. There were countless small ornaments on the toy, which were just decorative at first look. But if one cared to touch them a bit, they fell off immediately. She demonstrated that by tapping onto one of the gems once. She hadn't used any force at all, but the emerald landed on the table with a clink. She picked it up between two fingers and showed it to the women while ignoring Evelyn, who was trembling with anger. “As you know, Grace is in a phase in which she will grab everything and then put it in her mouth. Obviously, something like this is dangerous to her.”

Sophia's face paled as she saw that and turned to the gifts. “I didn't pay attention to that at all. I saw that the rattle was big, so it was fine. But that those things could fall out...”

Her husband looked as shocked as her, but he didn't say anything like previously.

Blanche gestured to the rest of Evelyn's presents. “You should probably check each item before giving it to Grace. Not just Lady Lemares' things but in general. Even though it seems like her presents specifically have many loose ornaments.”

Sophia nodded with shock still written onto her features. Now that she was listening, the concubine would continue with the others things too.

“Then the pralines. First of all, babies don't need anything but milk, and it is recommended to nourish them solely with that.” Even if nobles often did it differently. “It's healthier, and you don't have to worry about what they can or can't eat in that case. The younger a child is, the more sensitive it is to specific food items. For example...” Blanche gestured to the first pack of pralines. “Toddlers shouldn't eat honey, which is in here. It's bad for their health. So, you would have to eat it yourself instead of letting Grace taste it. And this one...” She tapped onto the other package. “Has alcohol inside. Needless to say, a baby shouldn't have that either.”

Sophia was as white as a bedsheet now as she scanned the boxes. “I...I...” And suddenly, tears glistered in her eyes as she stared at the gifts with something like fear. “I would have given that to her without checking what was in it. I'm a horrible mother. I almost...”

Immediately, a pang of guilt hit Blanche. This wasn't Sophia's fault at all but Evelyn's. She quickly gave her best to cheer up the other woman. “Don't cry. Grace will notice and cry too if her mother is upset. You didn't do anything wrong. There is no way that you could have noticed. Naturally, you wouldn't expect that something so dangerous was hidden in between the gifts from people you trust.” She glared at Evelyn while saying that.

Evelyn clenched her jaw, and the glint of wrath in her eyes became more obvious. “It truly is surprising that Lady Blanche is so knowledgeable about what is harmful to children. Maybe you intended to use that against someone else.”

The concubine was seconds away from throwing her cup at Evelyn when Elaine's sharp voice cut through the silence. “You should think about what you say before opening your mouth, Evelyn. Lady Blanche just prevented the possibility of something happening to Grace because of your negligence.”

Evelyn gasped as if she was offended while she whipped her head around to her sister. “What? Why am I blamed now?”

Elaine stared at her sister with a cold expression. “You were the one that brought those gifts, so you should have checked whether they are suitable for children. It seems like you forgot that completely. You might not have noticed that the ornaments would fall off or known that honey is bad for toddlers, but how could you bring pralines with alcohol? You must have been mentally absent to not notice what a thoughtless and possibly even harmful choice that was. Lady Blanche was kind enough to point out what we all failed to notice. You should thank her instead of coming up with such nonsense.”

Evelyn opened her mouth, but Madeleine, who previously had stayed out about this discussion, chimed in a calm tone. “Lady Lemares, do you know that there is an interesting saying? Some people believe that the ones who accuse others of awful things are the ones that thought about that first.”

Evelyn snapped at the other woman. “So, you want to say that I purposefully brought these things to hurt Sophia's daughter? Don't be ridiculous. What do you know about my family? You have no right to get involved. You're just-”

Madeleine stirred her tea while looking fully unaffected. “A marquess' daughter, just like you are. You should calm down a bit, Lady Lemares. I only wished for you to stop saying such insulting things about others when you were at fault for not paying attention. So, please do not cause a scene in the royal palace. You are too old to embarrass your family like this.”

Evelyn seemed like she wanted to yell and barely held herself back. “You surely have nerves to say things like this. You are awfully arrogant for only being Her Majesty's guest.”

Madeleine replied in a neutral tone. “So are you.”

Before the enraged Evelyn could respond, Elaine chimed in again, her voice as heavy and authoritarian as a duchess should be. “Lady Bellfaux is right. Please pull yourself together.”

Seraphina watched the conversation silently, but it was obvious that the gears in her head were turning. She was probably thinking about how she could use this scene to get more information about how harmful her aunt truly was. At this point, she spoke up though. “I agree with everything that was said by my mother and Madeleine. If you can't behave appropriately, you should leave this instant, Lady Lemares. From now, on I expect perfect conduct. Do you understand?”

Evelyn gritted her teeth and pressed out a curt response despite shivering with rage. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

This discussion was resolved now, but Sophia, who hadn't even considered blaming her aunt yet, was still sniffling and rubbing her eyes. She turned to Blanche and talked with a weak voice. “Thank you for pointing this out. I will be much more careful from now on. I can't thank you enough. If I hadn't noticed...” She choked down a sob and hid her face behind her hands.

As if Grace had waited for her cue, she began crying at that moment too.

Sophia's husband hugged his wife and daughter while trying to console both of them. Quickly, all the other people, except for Evelyn, who was still fuming, spoke up as well to distract them.

Fortunately, Sophia calmed down soon so that the baby stopped sobbing too. Grace fell asleep while her mother still blamed herself for not being careful enough.

Blanche reminded her that this wasn't her fault countless times. The only reason she had paid attention to those details was that the novel had given her some hints and that she remembered her siblings. The concubine's mother had spent her whole pregnancy reading books about motherhood, which she had already read before Blanche's birth. So, the entire family had inevitably learned a lot about children and what they should or shouldn't consume. The concubine couldn't voice any of this as her reason though. After all, the others didn't know anything about the novel's existence, and officially, Blanche had no memory of her past, and Seraphina might be aware of that.

Unfortunately, the trouble for the day wasn't over with this though. The rest of the party was quite stressful.

Most of the conversation consisted of Sophia asking for more information about children and Blanche struggling to explain why she knew so much. The concubine stressed that Grace should be kept away from water and people she didn't like in hopes that this could prevent the incident at Theodore's birthday, but she doubted it. But at least the conversation wasn't as uncomfortable anymore.

Evelyn stayed silent, and the rest of the people happily chatted about how important it was to cherish children and shower them in affection.

Blanche was feeling relaxed during an interaction with the empress' family for once, so this was progress. After all, her goal was still having a neutral reputation, and if the Duremonts didn't care about her, she would have a great advantage. So, she was content, and when the topic slowly moved to the more pleasant parts of childcare, she was fully immersed in talking with them and explaining some of her mother's tips.

Seraphina was relatively quiet and only occasionally added something, which made the concubine worry, but the empress didn't seem upset.

So, Blanche continued the conversation normally. She was pretty sure that everything was going well until Evelyn opened her mouth again.

Evelyn had watched the concubine for a while and eventually spoke up in a questioning tone that was definitely fake. “Lady Blanche, I do not mean to be disrespectful, but I've been wondering. You seem very eager to chat about children and babies specifically. You are very knowledgeable about this as well. Could it be that you were reading some books from the royal library?” This was obviously a trap. Evelyn knew how much the concubine disliked reading, so she wanted to use a lie as a reason to make fun of her.

Blanche tried to come up with a response that would explain her knowledge and quickly found one. “You know that I don't read much, Lady Lemares. I am just fond of children. Whenever I hear that one of the servants has a family, I ask about them. They are very eager to give tips about each and every aspect that you need to pay attention to so that you can secure a baby's safe growth.” She put on a fake smile and sipped a bit of her tea.

Evelyn was silent for a few more seconds before speaking up. “But that is just a coincidence, correct? It could not possibly be because of the topic we had at the hunting festival. Did you perhaps not tell the truth on that day, or are you trying to change what you responded with then?” That damned witch. Hadn't she been scolded enough last time?

Blanche certainly wasn't pregnant even now, and yet, the question made her boil.