Theodore put on his polite smile and spoke up to greet the visitors. “Good evening to all of you. Welcome to the royal palace. I hope that you had a calm journey here. I am pleased to see all of those known faces and that none of you declined the invitation.” He began addressing all the people inside the room, one after the other while beginning with the ducal couple. All of them were curtsying or bowing to the emperor and raised their heads when he spoke to them.

Henry was fuming already and glared at Theodore while Elaine patted his hand in an attempt to distract him. Allen was a bit annoyed too and clenched his jaw as he scanned the outfits of the three people that had entered. Sophia was smiling nervously, and Evelyn just showed a fake grin that was sickeningly sweet. Of all the people here, Duke Duremont was the most likely person to cause issues.

The emperor was eventually finished speaking to everyone except for Sophia and Evelyn when he stopped abruptly. “This is taking way too long, isn't it? We should greet each other after we sit down. It's much more comfortable like that.” He put his hand on the chair at the short end of the table and smiled at the group.

Henry was the one that spoke up. His tone was as icy as his expression was. “Your Majesty. Before that, I would like to inquire about one thing. Why is Lady Blanche here during our family banquet?” So, he just voiced the problem outright.

The concubine felt how she shrank in herself when Duke Duremont glanced at her and had to fight against the urge to hide behind Theodore.

In contrast to her, the emperor was too relaxed. He leaned onto the backrest of his chair and let out an exaggerated sigh. “You didn't sleep well this night, did you? You're awfully disrespectful today. Blanche has lived here for almost two years. As an inhabitant of the palace, being invited to a banquet that takes place here is logical. Basically, she is a host too, so she wouldn't even have needed an invitation. But that I asked her to come is enough of a reason, right? Besides, your definition of a family banquet seems to differ from mine. After all, I would have needed to invite the dowager empress and my brother for a real family banquet, but I doubt that anyone here would have enjoyed that. You brought people I wasn't thinking about too, and I didn't complain, so you shouldn't criticize me for whom I gather here for my party either.”

None of the guests were happy about those statements. They all just looked uncomfortable or offended while Henry's face scrunched up with anger. He narrowed his eyes at the emperor. “Surely, Your Majesty must be jesting. This-”

Seraphina chimed in at that. “Good evening, Father. Maybe we should delay this conversation until after we are done with the meal. It would be unfavorable to spoil the mood before we tasted even a small bite of the delicious dishes of the palace.” Seemingly, she was giving her best to prevent a fight before the meal had started.

Duke Duremont forced himself to close his mouth at that, but he still glared at the people in front of him. When his eyes landed on Blanche, he decided to speak anyway though. “I refuse to accept this without an explanation. There is a limit to how long I will stay quiet.”

The concubine pressed her mouth into a thin line and considered telling him that she was glad to see him too, but that would only infuriate him. So, she kept her mouth closed and turned her head to wait for Theodore's instructions on what to do next.

Her lover didn't respond to Henry and just lowered his gaze to the table. He scanned the dishware with satisfaction and straightened his posture again to take a step to the side. At the moment that he grabbed the chair on the long side of the table, Blanche noticed the crucial detail that would cause an uproar if he really considered pulling through with his plan.

There were three plates and three sets of utensils on the shorter side of the table. Right now, Theodore was in the middle of making sure that everyone's eyes were on him while he swiftly moved an extra chair next to his one.

The concubine repeatedly told herself that he couldn't actually intend to make her sit next to him while Seraphina was on his other side. She was paralyzed and just watched as her lover brought the seat next to the ones that were for him and the empress.

Everyone else seemed to do the same. It was so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop.

Blanche blinked at that image a few times and was only seconds away from spinning around on her heel and leaving the room without further ado. “Theo. What are you doing?” The words left her mouth before she could even think about holding herself back.

Her lover turned his head to her and gave her a radiant beam. “What does it look like? I promised you that I wouldn't make you sit next to any stranger. I said that I wouldn't leave you alone, right? So, you're sitting next to me.”

A few seconds passed in absolute silence. Then the realization seemed to seep in.

Seraphina stepped next to the emperor before speaking to him in a whisper. Blanche didn't need to understand the words to know that the heroine was hissing at the emperor and that she was boiling with anger.

The concubine herself was about to bring the chair back to its original place, but she had the suspicion that Theodore wouldn't let her do that.

In fact, the emperor didn't care for de-escalation at all. He did the one thing that made everything even worse. He gazed at his wife with indifference before speaking up. “You do resemble your father.” He stood behind the chair next to his without saying anything else to Seraphina's complaints. He pulled it back before patting the backrest as he turned to his lover. “Come, sit down. We can't let you stand around for too long.”

Blanche would have liked to disappear into thin air at that. This was ridiculous. The only way to avoid offending all the guests and the empress would be to completely ignore the emperor's instructions. She certainly couldn't do that. It felt like the blood drained from her body as she stiffly walked over to him and stopped next to his chair to whisper to him. “Theo, that's a stupid idea.”

Her lover calmly smiled at her and responded in the same volume. “Take a seat. It will be fine, believe me.”

The concubine was fairly sure that she had to have misheard. “How can I believe that? Look at the faces of everyone and then tell me that again. Theo, please. Don't ruin Duke Duremont's mood before the dinner even started.”

Theodore stared into the distance for a moment as if he pondered about her words before giving her a small smirk. “But wouldn't it be even worse if I let you sit elsewhere now? I mean, theoretically, the emperor just assigned a seat to you. There is no way that anyone could refuse. I surely don't mind admitting that I listen to each of your demands, but would the others like to hear that? Besides, I want you by my side during the meal. I'm not going to do anything physical other than that, I promise. If we don't have you next to me, I would have to resort to using other tricks. For example, I could also ask you to sit on my lap and feed me. The choice is yours.”

That made all the words in Blanche's throat die down. He didn't truly consider doing that, right? She scanned his expression and quickly noticed that he wouldn't mind pulling through with this plan. Panic rose in her. “Are you trying to make this even more awful than the last banquet? We can't do something like that!”

Theodore gave her a grin, which was enough of a reply. Whatever he was thinking about would only get way worse, so she would rather accept the lesser evil.

Blanche slowly sat down on the chair next to his while giving her best not to make any noise. Her lover pushed her chair closer to the table so that she didn't have to do anything, but that didn't make her feel better. She began fiddling her hands under the table and lowered her gaze to her lap. She heard how Theodore sat down next to her, but she didn't dare turn her head.

A few seconds passed in silence passed, but she didn't need the guests to speak to know what they were thinking. Currently, all of them were just speechless at the emperor and his concubine's audacity. They would surely complain in just a few seconds, and Blanche didn't look forward to that. She was already cowering and considered moving closer to her lover to hide from the piercing stares of the people inside the room. But that would only make everything worse, so she tried not to move at all.

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But when she heard footsteps behind her, another shock came crashing down on her. She had taken a seat before the emperor and the empress had.

As the only baroness here, she would have needed to wait until everyone else had positioned themselves at the table. The concubine almost jumped up in a panic, as if that would undo her insolent act. Theodore's demand in itself had been bad enough, but now she had messed up even more. She just wanted to slam her head onto the table and cry.

Blanche balled her hands into fists and glanced at her lover, who was sitting right next to her, without lifting her head while whispering to him. “You're stupid, Theo, stupid.”

The emperor gave her an infuriating smile in return. “I know. That's why I'm proving the opposite this time. But don't say things like that too often, or I might get so upset that you have to kiss it better.” He truly seemed to find a way to make everything worse with just a few words.

By now, Blanche was sure that Seraphina or Henry would kill them both when this was over. It was questionable that the banquet would even continue as long as the concubine was sitting on the side of the table that was reserved for the emperor and the empress. But she couldn't do anything but sit on her chair and wait for anyone to react.

The longer no one said anything, the tenser the atmosphere became. Theodore was the one to break the silence. He turned his head to his wife and spoke up in a seemingly indifferent voice. “Aren't you going to take a seat? Don't make your family stand for too long. They have to wait until you sit after all.” Now he acknowledged that rule? It was just strange that he had ignored that first while telling his lover to take a seat before the empress.

Seraphina was quiet for a few seconds before footsteps sounded, and a chair screeched across the floor. That was another issue. Normally, the emperor would have pulled the seat back for his wife, but he hadn't done that. Instead, he had helped his lover and ignored the empress completely. Great. Thankfully, the heroine seemed to refrain from bringing this up now in front of the guests and sat down so that the banquet could start. But she was definitely fuming.

Henry was furious too, but he wasn't kind enough not to address this in public. “How dare you?” His voice was trembling with anger. “You arrogant-” It wasn't clear whether he had intended to insult the emperor or the concubine, but he didn't finish either way. Simultaneously, Elaine, Sophia, Allen and Seraphina interrupted him to prevent him actually offending Theodore.

Blanche would have liked to sink into the floor as she watched how the duchess calmed her husband down while the duke's children were doing the same. But it didn't seem like Henry intended to drop this, which she unfortunately understood. The emperor's actions were only meant to provoke the family now, so they had the right to be upset. Still, it was horrible to see Duke Duremont's rage. It felt like she would be hurt badly if she just dared to meet his gaze, so she directed her eyes onto the table.

Henry didn't listen to any of the advice his relatives gave him and just continued to scold Theodore. “Do you really believe that you can do anything you want and disrespect Seraphina like that without any consequences? You aren't as powerful as you think that you are. The Duremont family refuses-”

Theodore cut him off there. “First of all, I believe that you should lower your voice if you address me.” His tone didn't leave any room for discussion and effectively silenced all the people in the room. “Secondly, the one who seems to have a problem with disrespect is you as well. After all, I did not do anything that would justify your childish outbreak right now. I merely assigned the seats in my house in a manner that I liked. That is what hosts normally do, correct? So, I would like you to tell me what exactly the issue seems to be in a calm and composed manner.”

Duke Duremont's expression scrunched up more, and he was shaking with rage. His voice was laced with freezing resentment while he spoke, but he had lowered his volume. “Your Majesty appears to be in the mood to joke, but I assure you that I am not. Everyone knows that the side of the table at which you are sitting is reserved for the royal couple of Artias. Allowing this-” He glanced at the concubine with pure fury and held back an insult before continuing. “Person to sit with you is offending to the royal family and Her Majesty as well as her relatives.”

The emperor rested his elbow on the table and leaned his head onto his palm as he watched the other man with annoyance. “So, you are telling me that you are stirring up trouble with me because of a chair.”

Duke Duremont's composure probably hung by a thread by now. “This isn't about a chair! This is about your treatment of Her Majesty ever since you brought in this woman. You can't be so blind! You are completely disregarding the traditions of the nation and everything that belongs to the empress just because of some-”

Theodore interrupted him again. “I'll pretend that you just told me that formally and politely and did not attempt to insult Blanche and me for the second time today. So, let us talk about what you were saying. I am a bit surprised to hear you talk about traditions and things like that.” He cleared his throat before continuing in a different intonation and at a slower pace. “Artias is a wonderful country that has the chance to flourish in the hands of a wise ruler. But to ensure that we progress instead of staying immobile, some things need to change. I am convinced that you might be the right person to take care of that, Your Majesty.” He paused for a moment to lock eyes with Henry, who had frowned at him before resuming in his normal voice again. “Wasn't that what you told me the day of my coronation? And now you are complaining about me changing up things that don't even influence anything. That seems hypocritical to me.”

Henry narrowed his eyes and glared at the other man while replying. “While I did say that, I wasn't referring to you completely disregarding everything the royal family stands for.” He wanted to continue, but Theodore was faster.

“I don't think that you should speak for the Estien family. I will take care of that. Your words would be considered very inappropriate by many people, so you should probably hold back a bit. Especially since you should think about what you will say before criticizing the emperor. After all, there is a little problem with your statement. If you reason with traditions, you should understand them.” The emperor lifted his left hand and gestured to the chair Seraphina sat on. “Traditionally, the empress sits on the chair to the left of her husband, correct? Who is currently sitting there? The empress. Weird. It seems like I did nothing wrong. After all, the chair on my right isn't given to anyone at this moment. So, I could allow anyone to take a seat there, couldn't I?”

Normally, that place would indeed be empty. However, it would always be empty. If the emperor had any more wives, they would sit on his right but at the long side of the table instead of the short one. This meant that Theodore claiming that had given an empty spot to Blanche wasn't wrong. But still, this wouldn't be enough to calm down Henry in the slightest.

Duke Duremont already opened his mouth again. “You didn't just do that on accident.” His eyes moved to the concubine and pierced her like daggers. “You were the one trying to take Seraphina's place again, and His Majesty is doing this to keep everyone from seeing how insolent you are. That's also why you would appear in an attire like this. You always attempt to steal-”

The emperor cut him off with a loud sigh. He began massaging his forehead and shook his head to himself until he eventually spoke up in a voice that was dripping with frustration. “I'm pretty sure you never spoke to Blanche properly once. All you ever did was threaten her, so it's quite amusing to hear that you believe to know her. Accusing someone of being a vile person with no evidence is very easy, but I can refute that by reminding you of two things. I was the one that came up with the idea of her sitting with me. As you would have been able to see if you had paid attention to her expression instead of immediately complaining. She was as surprised as you were because I didn't tell her before.”

Henry didn't look pleased, but he didn't interrupt.

Theodore made a small pause and narrowed her eyes at Duke Duremont as if to test how the other man would react. When he wasn't cut off, he resumed. “And the one choosing her attire was me too. Who do you think pays for her clothes and asks the tailor to make some for her? That's obviously me, so if you have a complaint about her wardrobe, I am to blame for that too. But that would seem strange to me. After all, I went out of my way to get a dress that wouldn't make you angry. After the last ball, you were upset about her wearing light blue, so I picked a completely different color. What is bothering you now? There is nothing on that dress that you could compare to any shade of blue. Since you are still annoyed, I would suspect that you are angry no matter what Blanche is wearing. So, we can give up trying to please you.” He turned his head to his lover. “See? You should have put on my present anyway. You didn't have to be kind at all.”

The concubine wasn't sure whether he was referring to their rings from the summer vacation, which wouldn't have matched with the dress' color, or the diadem, but she was very relieved that she hadn't worn either one. She didn't know whether saying that out loud would be clever though. So, she kept quiet.

Luckily, it didn't seem like Theodore had expected a response. He faced Henry again and resumed. “Well. We cleared up that misunderstanding, right? We can move on now. Unless you have another complaint to make. If so, let us finish this quickly. We haven't eaten for a while, which means that we would like to begin with dinner soon.”

Duke Duremont's expression darkened even more. “Do you really think I would ignore this and move on without-”

At this point, Seraphina finally chimed in to stop the men. “It is quite late, so we should begin with the meal as His Majesty said. After all, the cooks have prepared a delicious dinner with seven courses that will all be just as mouthwatering. To enjoy all of them properly, we need to start in time though. I do not wish to make anyone here wait unnecessarily long, so please sit down. We will ask the servants to serve the appetizer soon.” Seemingly, the empress had finally regained her composure and tried to save as much of her honor as possible. Only her words would be able to keep her father under control now.

But of course, Henry wouldn't give in immediately. “There is no way that I can eat while-”

This time, his wife cut him off. “Darling, please be quiet for a moment. Her Majesty asked us to sit down. We can't ignore her request, correct?” Elaine gently grabbed her husband's hand and led him to his seat that was next to Seraphina's. She pushed him until he eventually plopped down and sat down next to him.

That was perfect. Duke Duremont was seated so that Blanche could lean back a bit and hide behind Theodore whenever it became necessary. The only thing she could hope for was that Sophia would be the one sitting next to her. After all, she had no desire to have Evelyn or Allen, who was probably boiling as much as his father and only kept silent, sit anywhere close to her. Fortunately, Theodore had been the one deciding where each person would be seated.

Sophia walked over to the long side of the table and stood by the chair across from her mother. After her brother had sat next to her and her aunt took a seat next to Elaine, she carefully sat down as well. She was obviously a bit uncomfortable but still gave Blanche a little smile.

The concubine returned that but was quick to neutralize her expression again in fear that anyone would accuse her of being contemptuous. The situation was horrible enough, so she didn't intend to speak to anyone or make a single noise or movement that wasn't necessary. Any attention she might attract would not be one of a positive nature, so she had to give her best to be invisible.

Seraphina summoned a servant with a wave of her hand and asked him to bring the first course of the meal. The man hurried away without any hesitation and left behind the group in unpleasant silence again.

Blanche looked forward to the food being there because she would be able to drink or eat whenever she felt watched at that point. Right now, she could do nothing but sit there and stare at her empty plate. It probably looked pathetic, but she didn't care. Making eye contact with anyone now would be too pleasant. As soon as people talked, she would have to gaze in their direction, but at least she couldn't see Henry and Seraphina from her seat. She also hoped that she could get the chance to enjoy silence for a couple of minutes before the exhausting small talk would begin too.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.