The proposal had left her breathless, and even now, she couldn't believe it.

Blanche's voice was hoarse when she spoke up. “We will really do it? We will marry? I can become your wife?” But as soon as she said that, her panic came back. She froze and dug her fingers into her lover's clothes. “But...but the empress-”

Theodore cut her off before she could even begin explaining. “Don't talk about her. I don't want that woman to ruin our moment. She has nothing to do with us. No law states that the emperor needs anyone's permission to marry. Even if that was the case, I could just change it. I don't care what I have to do, I will marry you in a gorgeous temple.” His expression softened as he continued, and his voice became quieter too. “You will be the most beautiful bride the world has ever seen. With a white dress and a long veil. I will see you and almost die out of happiness, and I will struggle to refrain from kissing you immediately. And then we will exchange our vows at the altar. The priest will give a speech about how our union may bring the best for Artias, and we will put on each other's rings. And everyone will cheer when we finally kiss and the priest pronounces us husband and wife before he names you a member of the royal family. It will be perfect, I'll make sure of that.”

Blanche nodded in affirmation with every sentence he said while tears ran down her cheeks. She wanted that. No matter what, she wanted the exact same thing he had just described. Then she would finally be able to stand next to him in public with pride and could show that he was hers and she was his. Then no one would be able to scold her for sitting next to him, and she wouldn't need to feel tense and fear the Duremonts' wrath whenever she showed her lover affection. “Yes, please.”

Theodore smiled at her and wiped her tears away with his thumbs. “Good. We will deal with all of that later. We will plan a huge celebration and invite every noble in the whole country, just to prove how much we adore each other. I want you by my side, and everyone should know what true love looks like. All of this will happen when our enemies are gone, alright?”

The concubine nodded. It would be much better if they had some time left. Then could have their ceremony in peace without the dowager empress and the second prince attending. Maybe the emperor could also pacify the Duremonts until then so that their family wouldn't oppose this marriage. That sounded impossible, but it was a wonderful thought.

Theodore's smile widened as he slowly took a step back. “Then let us make it official. We'll go to my office now. The contract is already lying there, and everything is prepared. We just need to sign.” With that, he pulled her out of the pavilion. His beam and his quick pace both revealed how excited he was to do this.

Blanche couldn't deny that she felt the same. Though, she was also a bit cautious. Her heart had skipped a beat when Theodore had spoken about making it official as she had feared that he wanted to announce it to the public now. She wasn't prepared for the outrage that that would create yet. She needed some time to get used to the thought that she would actually marry Theodore before telling anyone. After all, she was already uncertain enough about whether this was a good idea. Their difference in status was too great, wasn't it?

But her love was even more powerful than her doubt. And signing a contract that would guarantee that they were engaged was enough to make her even more ecstatic.

So, she hurried to keep up with her lover's steps as a beam spread across her face. Today, she would keep her promise. She wouldn't think about the other's opinion but do what she longed for. Her heart told her to sign immediately, so she would do just that.

The couple rushed out of the pavilion, and Theodore only slowed his steps when they reached Owen and Stella.

The maid smiled at them like she normally did until she saw her mistress' face, but the knight immediately bowed to them. Then Owen straightened his posture again, and his face looked a bit softer than normal when he spoke. “Congratulations. May your union bring prosperity and peace to the nation and be blessed by the gods.”

The emperor grinned at him. “I didn't even say whether she accepted it yet.” He glanced over at his lover with a glowing smile. “I assume that our expressions already revealed everything though.”

Blanche had barely gotten over her surprise about Owen knowing what would happen when another noise caught her attention.

Stella stared at her with wide eyes before she began crying. “My Lady...” She paused for a moment before she managed to choke out the rest. “Congratulations! I'm so happy for you...” She hick-upped while saying that and could barely hold herself back from sobbing, but a few words were enough to reveal that she was truly euphoric for her mistress. It didn't take long before her face was covered in tears and snot, but she was beaming.

“Thank you.” The concubine could only smile at her while her own eyes were still wet, but she didn't dare to say anything but a short phrase. If she wanted to sign that contract, she would have to be able to read, so she couldn't cry too much.

Theodore scanned her expression before taking a step forward again. “I'm sorry, but I can't hold back any longer. Let us go.” With that, he pulled her to the building, and she was extremely glad that they didn't run into any noble but only some servants.

On their way to the office, they were quiet, which allowed them to listen to the conversation behind them. Despite her pounding heart, Blanche made out how Stella asked Owen about what they would do now. The maid cried even more when she was told that they would sign the engagement contract. It was adorable how happy the servant was about all of this, but the concubine had to distract herself the whole time so that she wouldn't be tempted to cry as well.

Actually, Blanche had never stopped, but at least she wasn't sobbing anymore. She might only be so lucky because her brain still had trouble understanding what was going to happen. To her, none of this felt real even when they arrived at the office and Theodore slammed open the door.

Leon sat inside and gave the emperor an annoyed look while putting away his documents. “I know that this is theoretically your office, but could you stop entering like this? You don't have to knock, but you could open the door slower, you know.”

Theodore didn't even bother to close the door but pulled his lover to the desk immediately. “You didn't even flinch, so don't complain. You noticed me already, you always do.”

Leonard eyed him with indifference. “I never do. I always hear the people you're with, but when you come alone, you always surprise me ever since you suddenly learned how to sneak. Today, you just stomped here. And this isn't just about me. I feel like you make your entrance this way too often. You might get used to this and give others a heart attack. But do whatever you want. You aren't listening at all, are you?”

It was true that the emperor just opened his drawer and pulled out a golden pen before trying it out on a scrap of unused paper. It looked like this was the pen that he and the previous emperor always used to sign the most important documents, so it seemed like he was taking this very seriously.

Blanche stepped next to him and looked at the piece of paper that he was moving toward the middle of the desk. There was a long text in the middle, but the most prominent part was the big headline and the two empty spots at the bottom. It was an engagement certificate, which was binding in itself, but that didn't seem to be enough for her lover. She watched as he placed two candles, a navy one and a golden one, on the desk and lit them on fire with a match before he retrieved the royal stamp from the drawer.

Theodore turned to her and smiled at her with so much happiness that she had to refrain from hugging him in fear of knocking over the candles. “I would like to use your gift to seal this, but it's in our room. I will remember to take it with me starting from tomorrow and use it whenever possible, but right now, I'm too impatient to go get it. That's fine, right? I already need to keep myself calm while we wait for the wax to melt.”

Blanche nodded at him and mirrored his smile before looking at the contract. “It's alright. You don't need to rush it though. I need to read it first after all. That text is longer than it normally would be, right?”

“Yes. I wanted to make sure that there was no gray area. There is another text on the backside because I needed to take care of every eventuality. I added a paragraph that would require both of us to agree to break the engagement. That won't ever happen, which is why this is a guarantee that no one can try to pressure one of us into giving in. This contract is set in stone as soon as we put our signatures below it. And there may be a few extra pages, but those only deal with affirming this.”

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The concubine noticed that he hadn't exaggerated quickly. She carefully took the first paper of the stack in her hands and began reading it. The text contained what she had expected. It was a declaration of the two of them promising that they would marry and that they were engaged from now on. Thus, it would grant her the title of a person that wasn't exactly a full member of royalty yet, but she would be considered their relative and gain some rights that weren't specified here.

In contrast to that, the contract was very specific about what would happen when it was broken. Effectively nothing, since ending the engagement with this contract was almost impossible. After all, the singular paragraphs listed so many requirements in addition to the agreement of both partners that it would never happen.

Blanche stopped reading after the first sentence on the backside and looked up at her lover. “This is really safe. I don't think anyone could point out a single complaint about this, even if they asked a lawyer to inspect it.”

Leonard chimed in at that. “Obviously. Who do you think had to spend the last months reading stacks of books about engagements and marriages as well as the customs in the royal family? I don't think I will ever hate another set of laws this much again. I needed to write that contract five times, and each time, I was told that it wasn't safe enough. So, you can rest assured. If you sign that, you won't ever get out of it again. Someone forced me to guarantee that.” He crossed his arms and glared at the emperor, who only returned a smile.

Blanche blinked at that. Her gaze wandered to the contract before she looked at the secretary again. “I don't particularly mind that. It's just...” She paused for a moment before continuing while keeping her lover's expression in her field of view. “You said that you worked on this for months, didn't you? Since when did you plan this?” She didn't know which of the men she should look at, so she alternated between watching both of them.

Leonard took a few seconds to narrow his eyes at Theodore before meeting her gaze. “I have been working on this piece of paper ever since he returned from the vacation. He came home and immediately blabbered about marrying you. It's been three months, and during those three months, half of my time was used reading books about engagements and court cases about how they were broken. I shouldn't complain since my workload was still much smaller than before thanks to the law you proposed. But I will burn all the books I had to read as soon as you sign that. I won't risk anyone making me read that much about dry laws again when you finally marry.”

Theodore shrugged. “We'll see about that. I mean, you're my secretary. You can't just refuse to take care of documents. Doing that for me is literally your job.”

Leon clenched his jaw at that. “Maybe. But I won't recreate the marriage laws in Artias just for you. If you feel the need to do that, take care of it yourself.”

While the men were bickering, Blanche stared at both of them. She processed what he had said for a moment before speaking up. “You knew for so long? Owen wasn't shocked either. Does that mean...”

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her. “Don't tell me you were surprised.” He scanned her expression for a moment, and then his face showed pure frustration. “How oblivious can you be? I think about anyone that pays the slightest bit of attention to the two of you noticed. Didn't you see what he was doing at all?” He pointed at the emperor while resuming. “He bought you matching rings and made you wear them in public. He escorted you during multiple events so that you were accompanying him and the empress. Theodore slowly but surely put you up on a pedestal with more lavish attires each time and gave you accessories in the royal colors or wore matching outfits. Remember the ridiculous amount of guards and the carriage that we used to ride to the jeweler? That was on purpose.”

Oh. The image slowly put itself together in Blanche's head. Her lover seemingly hadn't just talked about placing her by his side carelessly after all.

Leon seemed frustrated upon seeing her expression. He massaged his temples while he continued and listed even more things. “He even announced that your children would be the royal heirs. The descendants of a lawful wife will be more highly regarded than illegitimate ones, so it was clear that this would be the better option. Today should have made it even more obvious. Did you look at the attire he chose for you once? And he escorted you inside and let you sit next to the thrones. You stayed by his side the whole time while he greeted the nobles, and he sent his personal knight to guard you when he was gone for a bit. Not to mention that I needed to watch you too. Didn't any of that remind you of the position a wife of the emperor would have?”

Now that he listed all of that, Blanche felt a little stupid. Her lover had slowly pulled more and more attention to her and eased the Duremonts into allowing a small bit more each time. Maybe she should have thought about him strategically doing that. She looked at Theodore and didn't really know how to pose her question. “How long... Since when did you...”

The emperor turned to her and showed her the same radiant beam he had had on his face during the whole evening. “Ever since I met you. I wanted to marry you starting from the very first time that I saw you, but I didn't understand that yet. After we first kissed, I noticed that this would be my greatest desire, but I was too cowardly. I let others influence me so that I believed it wouldn't be possible for us to be happy. But now I finally woke up. I seriously thought about it for a while, and the vacation made me understand that the proposal had to be this year. What date would be better than our anniversary?”

Leon rested his elbow on the table and leaned his head onto his palm while he went back to reading his documents. “He mentioned ominous things ever since the hunting festival. This isn't the last surprise he has for you, believe me. He won't just make-”

Theodore cut him off there. “Don't spoil it. By the way, what are you doing here? The ball should only be over in a few minutes.”

“The guests all slowly left, so the empress ended it. And before you ask, no. No one caused any issues. Your beloved family was quiet except for whining about how you could put your own uncle and cousin in prison. Everyone else just gossiped about anything imaginable. Lady Blanche was a hot topic, but most were curious rather than critical.”

Theodore nodded at that. “I see. That's good. Thank you.” He turned to the desk again and inspected the candles. The top had already warmed enough to melt, so they were ready. He smiled at that and picked up the pen to hand it to his lover. “It's almost ready. Do you want to sign first?”

Blanche slowly extended her arm to him, but he pulled it away from her.

Theodore suddenly seemed to become much more serious again and made sure that she met his gaze before he spoke. “We will only do it if you are sure. As Leon said, this contract is basically unbreakable. I would have to agree to end the engagement to release you, and I won't ever do that. If you sign this, I will never let you go, so I don't want to overwhelm you.”

That was what he worried about? How foolish.

A soft smile formed on Blanche's lips as she replied. “I know. I don't expect anything less from you. I'm happy about that.” After all, him letting go was the thing she feared the most. “I want this. I wanted this the very moment I fell in love with you. Of course, it's a bit sudden, but my decision won't change. I'm just...” Her hand was shaking a bit, and she could easily explain why that was the case. “I...worry. About the things you tell me to ignore. I know that you can do what you want. But it won't be pretty if the nobles and the empress oppose you.”

Theodore smiled at her and slowly took her hands in his. “I wouldn't be troubled either. I know that at least half of the nobles care more about this nation than about old traditions. They won't throw me away as long as my brother is the other option. Just like he can spread false rumors about me, I can spread true ones about him. Give me some time, and I'll resolve this issue for you. But no matter what, you are more important to me than the whole country. I want to be yours and you to be mine. Let us do what we desired for so long.” With that, he put the pen into her hands.

Blanche accepted it carefully. This was a family heirloom, so she obviously couldn't drop it or accidentally damaged the tip. She slowly took the cap off and leaned down to the table. She struggled to steady her trembling hand and moved the pen to the paper. She gave her best to write her name in the most beautiful letters that she had ever managed to create.

When she was finished, her heart was pounding, but she still had to sign the second exemplar. Somehow, she also managed to do that without messing up. She wanted to turn around to give the pen to her lover, but he was faster.

Theodore already stood behind her and bowed over her. He took the pen from her hand and wrote his name in cursive letters on the other side of the contract. Then he grabbed the golden candle and let a bit of the wax drip onto the paper. Without waiting any longer, he took the stamp and the blue candle to slowly pour the wax onto the royal crest that was engraved on the metal plate. He pressed the stamp onto the paper with a practiced motion and waited for a few seconds. It felt like an eternity before he pulled it up again and let her see the navy seal with a golden rim that was now adorning the contract. “It's done.”

He repeated the same with the second version and slowly put the items back onto the table. Theodore's movements had been so careful before that she almost had a heart attack when he stepped back and pulled her against his chest in an instant.

Her lover turned her around and kissed her without giving her a chance to refuse.

Blanche hadn't intended to do that from the very beginning. She happily accepted his kiss and tangled her fingers in his hair to keep him in place. None of them pulled back for a long time, and surprisingly, they weren't interrupted. When they eventually parted from one another, they could only grin at each other.

Leon looked up from his documents at that. “Congratulations. You are now successfully trapped in this marriage.” A small smile formed on his lips as he met their gazes. “You not only signed a contract with no way out, you also let him put on the royal seal. That means that this document has the importance of a royal decree. No one can do anything about your engagement now.”

Blanche beamed at him. “Thank you. I'm rather happy about that.” She turned to her lover and leaned against him. “We're finally...” She couldn't finish that sentence and just pressed herself against his chest. They were finally going to be together officially.

Now she could become Theodore's and didn't have to keep the fact that only Seraphina was the lawful wife in the back of her mind. It was like a burden that she had never admitted to having had been taken off her chest.

Was it selfish of them to do this? Of course.

Weakening the emperor's power during a conflict with the second prince was foolish. But they wouldn't have it any other way. If they waited before revealing this, it didn't have to be that bad. As long as their enemies' faction was defeated at that point, she didn't have to fear that Theodore would lose his position. Surely, it would still cause many issues with the nobles, but if he could keep most of his power, it was fine. He had said so himself, and when it came to political topics, she trusted his judgment more than hers.

That didn't mean that Blanche didn't have any doubts, but in the end, her emotions were outweighing her rational thoughts by a lot. She trusted her lover, so she just relished in this moment. She was so happy that she couldn't do anything but cling to her lover and cry.

Theodore patiently held her in his arms, and she could swear that she heard him cry a bit too while he was burying his face in her hair. His voice sounded strange when he began whispering. It seemed like he was confident, but he was still hoarse enough to make it obvious that he was emotional too. “I love you. And from now on, I'll never let you go. You won't leave me behind.”

Blanche hurried to shake her head. “No, I'd never do that. Keep clinging onto me because I won't stop either. We're finally here together.”

Her lover nuzzled his nose in her hair and muttered. “Finally.”