Cedar was as annoying as always with his sudden comments. “Ah, that isn't wrong. Thinking about your career and chances first would be beneficial to everyone. Even when you think that you already have enough, you could gain even more by letting go of unimportant baggage. Many more people should understand that. It would benefit them a lot, even those that are just content with their loved one's affection.” As if his words weren't enough, he also glanced at the concubine to underline whom he really meant.
Blanche had to force her face to relax, or she would have frowned at Cedar. He was trying to lure her in again. But little did he know that she would hate him even more every time he ridiculed her feelings. Or he probably did. After all, this was Cedar she was talking to. “Naturally, favoring power is a valid option. But if Your Royal Highness ever falls in love, you will quickly see that your way of thinking will change. Because love is more important than anything. No one would understand before experiencing it. People that are blinded by power and wealth will just walk right past their happiness because they focus on less important things in the distance.”
Cedar stared at her for a moment and pretended to ponder. “I guess so. But priorities differ, as you said. What is important and what is not will be decided by everyone for themselves. For example, what would a single person's promises mean when an empire could belong to you? I believe that most people would choose the second option.” He spoke as if that was what he was told to say. In reality, she was sure that his opinion differed from this.
Blanche's mouth opened before she could hold back. “Then most people are stupid. If that singular person is the one you love, you would believe everything they say. Even if it was a lie, you would be content trusting them and staying by their side. And it's easy to say that this is the more fulfilling choice. Because even if you have an empire, if your heart is empty, it will stay like that until the very end, and only true love can wake you up.” She had to admit that she was being overly romantic and had expected the men to laugh at her.
Sefare did just that, but Cedar didn't make any attempts of ridiculing her statement. The prince just continued to smile as he normally did and didn't even see the need to say much for a change. “I see. That is an interesting concept.” After that, he was silent.
Theodore was the one to speak up. “I think it's not just interesting but very close to the truth. I can share my own experience about that, but I think I'll refrain from doing that. What were we talking about before I asked about you, Lord Sefare?”
The marquess was eager to be addressed, just so that he could try to get the emperor to trust him again. “Ah, yes. There is nothing special about me, so it would be better to chat about those matters. I was mentioning how wonderful it was that you and Lady Blanche are so harmonious together. It is soothing to all of us to see that you are with someone that helps you stay calm after all that work. Your Majesty, you deserve to have someone to distract you from the political issues you have to deal with the whole day. It can be helpful to have a slightly less...experienced person by your side. Just so that your conversations are a bit more relaxing for you. I did not wish to offend Lady Blanche with that comment though. If you happened to misunderstand my intentions, I apologize.” Someone tried to deal out barely hidden insults now.
Before the concubine could even get mad about that remark, Theodore opened his mouth. His smile had dimmed while he looked into the marquess' eyes in a manner that made the other man unknowingly take back a step. “Oh, I am very much aware of your intentions. I'm the emperor of Artias. Do you not think that I learned to read people and understand relations among the opposing factions by now?” That sounded like an underlying warning about him being aware of the fact that Sefare's connection to the Vasquez family wasn't just one based on friendly interactions but political support.
Sefare certainly understood it as such too. Judging by his expression, he truly worried for a moment.
But as suddenly as the emperor's threatening aura had appeared, it was gone again. He grinned at the men in front of him and resumed in a carefree tone. “Of course, all of you do. After all, I keep getting compliments about how I do my work. Do you remember the new law that enables the ministers to get involved more? Everyone praised me for that.”
Blanche knew exactly what was coming now, so she just kept her mouth shut. She didn't want him to start talking about this again, but on the other hand, it would be satisfying to see Sefare's reaction. It wasn't like she could stop her lover anyway, so she let him decide.
Sefare immediately began speaking about Theodore's statement as if he had just waited for a chance to forget about the tense situation a few seconds ago. “Of course. Your Majesty deserves that praise after all. Your idea was genius. To split the power so that the ministers take over more work and leave the truly important matters to you is the best imaginable way. That you came up with that only shows that you are the most competent ruler that Artias ever had. We are lucky to have such an intelligent person as our emperor. Decisions like this are why no one questions that you are the one and only choice for the one sitting on the throne.” If he truly thought like this, he wouldn't support Cedar, but that didn't matter much now.
Theodore let him babble for a while before responding with a smile. “I'm glad that you agree. Tell Blanche that.”
Sefare froze. It was an amusing sight to watch how his expression slowly fell as he worried about whether he had misunderstood. “What?”
The emperor laughed quietly as he stroked over his lover's head. He looked down at her and met her gaze with a beam. “Blanche is the one that came up with that law. I would have never thought about that idea myself. So, it seems like the true genius here is her.”
While she blushed at hearing that, Sefare became pale.
Despite Blanche's embarrassment about being praised for an accomplishment that wasn't hers, she couldn't help but grin when that arrogant person was shocked. So, she needed to add something else. “Thank you, Theo. But I only thought about that because I wanted you to have more time for me. To think that I would accidentally reform an ancient law with that was surprising. But it seems like a spontaneous and thoughtless idea was enough to help you, so I'm content.”
Theodore put his hand to her face and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “As long as you say it, I will realize it immediately. There is no need to hold back since I will fulfill all your wishes. Naturally, working less is connected to that too. We should go on vacation more often.”
Sefare just stared at the couple in disbelief while the prince slowly clapped his hands.
Cedar showed them a perfected smile and spoke when everyone was looking at him. “Congratulations. It seems like Theodore can fully use this to prove how capable you are to everyone. I need to applaud you, Lady Blanche. Being able to create a law that the previous emperor never even considered shows that you are viewing things from a different angle. That may prove to be helpful to the nation over and over again. Please stay in the palace and let everyone benefit from your new ideas. It would be a shame not to use such talent.”
Being praised by Theodore was wonderful, but his brother's words made Blanche want to roll her eyes. Empty promises would only get Cedar so far. When would he finally notice that she wasn't interested in betraying her lover? Keeping up this pretense of friendliness only upset her more each time. Besides, she unconsciously guessed that Cedar's honest friendliness looked very different.
Blanche didn't bother to fake a smile when she replied. “I was never intending on leaving, so you do not need to worry. But I am not involved in politics, nor do I care for power. I am just content with being here with Theo.” To underline her words, she leaned against the emperor and let him pat her head.
Naturally, Cedar seemed to feel the need to ruin the moment by speaking up again. “The conversion has barely gone on for ten minutes, and you cannot keep your hands off each other. It wasn't wrong what the people said. They compare you to newlyweds, you know? I think that is very accurate. It's adorable, but at the same time, I feel sorry for the palace staff. They truly have to be jealous to see such a wonderful couple every day.”
The emperor's smile widened at that. “Oh, don't worry. You'll find someone eventually too. For some it happens faster, others might wait until their hair becomes gray. But there will be someone that understands you and cares for you at some point.” The hidden insult was barely veiled this time.
Cedar surprisingly didn't even pretend to care. He just chuckled at that. “Definitely.” Had that sounded a bit sarcastic? “Thank you for your concern, Theodore. I wouldn't worry about that if I were you. Sometimes, fate just has strange twists and turns, you know? All things change over time, so I won't hurry. When the time comes, I'll be prepared to strike and never let go. It will be fine. Everything will be as it was intended to.” That sounded like he wasn't necessarily talking about love but rather about the crown.
Blanche hated the way that Cedar looked at Theodore while speaking. If he was doing this to upset his brother, which she felt might be the case, it would certainly work. After all, Theodore had already tightened his hold on her, and even her cuddling into him didn't help much. Hopefully, the conversation would be over soon. She truly didn't want to face the prince and the man that had forsaken her family in an attempt to turn her into a mindless pawn any longer. For once, it seemed like the gods were pitying her.
Cedar let his gaze wander over the venue before smiling at the couple again. “It seems that Mother is done with her chat for now. I will go join her. I assume that we will see each other later?”
Theodore replied without bothering to fake a happy expression. “How unfortunate. We certainly will have a chance to talk later. Until then. Both of you may leave. But you should probably avoid that group now if you don't want to see that person. She's been sticking to the dowager empress the whole time. You could just go the other way and look at the winter garden now.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
Cedar just nodded. “Thank you. But I do not know what you are referring to. I get along well with everyone. Have a nice afternoon.” He turned around to walk down the stairs. As soon as he did that, his gaze fell onto the table of his mother, and his smile widened. It didn't make much sense, but to Blanche, it looked like he was annoyed upon finding a specific person close to Camille. Yet, he approached them without hesitation.
Sefare took a moment longer. “Goodbye, Your Majesty. Lady Blanche.” After that, he followed the prince but looked back once more before immediately opening his mouth to speak with Cedar.
The emperor watched the two leave, and for a moment, he actually looked concerned as he watched how Cedar approached the group of women around the dowager empress. But he made sure to cover that up quickly and glared at him instead. “It seems like I was too direct. I hit my brother's weak point. When he thinks that his facade might break, he disappears as soon as he can, so I was too rash. As I said, we don't want him to snap. That wouldn't be pretty. But he does control himself now. He didn't even insult me.”
Frankly, Cedar hadn't even seemed offended. Blanche would claim that he hadn't felt even a hint of rage a moment ago, so she wouldn't call this a breaking facade. She didn't correct Theodore though.
Blanche gazed at the men for a moment before looking up at her lover. “What part made him angry? His face didn't change much, so I have no idea.”
“About him never experiencing real love. I mean, he didn't show it just now, so I'm not sure if he thinks about this anymore. But in the past, this upset him a lot. He is very much aware of the fact that no one cares about him. To his mother, he only was a way to attack me. Our father didn't have much interest in him since I was the heir and also couldn't really spend time with him because of the dowager empress. Everyone in Cedar's faction just supports him because they believe that he will give them more power and not because they trust that he is the better ruler. Even if he would never admit it, that infuriates him. I think your comment about having an empty heart didn't please him either.” He turned to her and stroked over her head while speaking.
Blanche listened until the very end before replying. “That...sounds sad. It doesn't make me pity him or forget how much I hate him, but it's still horrible. I mean, with that mother and no other influence, what was supposed to happen?” Althea would have been a better mother for sure.
Theodore let out a chuckle without amusement. “That is what I'm always saying. It's tragic, and I know that it's his mother's fault. But not only that. Our father is to blame for never seeing his second son as a human being as well. Maybe I am at fault too. I could have influenced Cedar to be better if I had found a way to spend time with him when we were younger instead of just seeing him as a rival when he kept trying to be better than me. He could have had a second opinion on things then and might not be this hateful. That is the only reason why I don't want to end this in a bloody way. Because I know that if I, as his brother, had opened up to him, Cedar wouldn't be so lonely. We did play together when we were young, so there might have been a chance if we had just...” He stopped and let out a dejected sigh. “But it's too late for that. I won't forgive him now. Even though I would have to thank him for one thing, I will never do that. No matter how tragic it is, I don't think that he can be saved anymore. I would hope it for him, but I doubt it. And still...”
Blanche almost wanted to ask what he meant when her lover hesitated, but then he continued.
Theodore stared into the distance for a moment before slowly letting go of his lover's arm. He opted for cupping her cheeks instead and brought his face close to hers. “No matter how much you might pity him, please don't show him kindness. I think that would only make him cling to the one person that was ever nice to him.” The seriousness in his voice made it more than obvious that this was a genuine concern of his.
Blanche didn't need to think about it for long. She reached up to put her hands onto the sides of his face and looked directly into his eyes. “I could never do that. I despise him too much.” Was that really what she felt though? “Whenever I see him, my stomach churns and I get the urge to run away and hide behind you. I want to be even closer to you than usual because I feel unsafe with only him being there. So, you can trust that I wouldn't try to be nice to him. I called him an arrogant bastard, remember? I don't think I'll ever be able to forgive him even if he'd change completely and apologized, which I doubt to be possible. While I hope for someone to show him sincerity, that person has to be someone else. Maybe he'll find that person someday, like you said. But for now, I couldn't care less. If he threatens you, he is my enemy and nothing more. All the pity that I could have ever developed for him disappeared on the day that I heard about the assassination attempt on you. So, you can trust that I-”
That wasn't entirely true, and Blanche had more sympathy for Cedar than she ever wanted to admit to herself, but she didn't get far anyway.
Theodore cut her off at that. “Of course. You don't need to tell me that you hate him. I'll always trust you. No matter what. I'm on your side, and that will never change.”
Blanche smiled at him and leaned her forehead against his for a few seconds. “Good. Because I'll demand your utter devotion until the very end. Naturally, I will give you mine in exchange.”
Her lover closed his eyes for a moment before slowly pulling back and looking at her with a soft expression. “Thank you. I will make sure to remind you of that deal every single day. But for now, we have to take care of the guests. If I don't let go of you now, I won't be able to stop kissing you, so I need to stay away a little bit.”
The concubine mirrored his grin and offered him her arm. “So, you aren't going to escort me?”
Within an instant, the emperor linked their arms. “It should be obvious that I will. No one can keep me from doing that. I'll make sure to prove that to you and everyone else over and over again.” With that, he led her down the stairs toward the venue. He just kept smiling at her the whole time, even when the guests bowed to him.
Maybe Blanche shouldn't have been that happy about just being with Theodore, but she was.
In hindsight, the beginning of the tea party had been the best part of the event, so she should have enjoyed that emotion properly.
----------------------------------------
As usual, the emperor's main task was greeting the guests and chatting with them for a while. In itself, that wasn't too much of an issue, but there were multiple reasons why that proved to be more exhausting than anything else. It was satisfying to see that neither Fiona nor Lucille tried to impress the emperor in any way, despite them originally having done so in the novel, but that was about it. Everything else continued to worsen Blanche's mood with every passing minute.
Naturally, speaking to the dowager empress and the Duremont family was nerve-wracking as always. Both Camille and Henry glared at the concubine like they wanted to kill her until Theodore addressed it and asked whether they were feeling unwell. That only earned him even more poisonous stares, but in contrast to his lover, he didn't seem to mind.
The other guests were more pleasant, but all of them seemed to be overly curious about why the emperor wasn't escorting his wife. They openly gawked at the couple and watched how Seraphina always greeted other families than her husband without trying to hide anything. Apparently, the rumors about Theodore declaring his love for Blanche before had already reached the ears of everyone here. So, all nobles seemed to be very interested in what the couple was doing and how the empress would react. The couple from the rumors didn't do anything out of the ordinary, and Seraphina also just spoke to some aristocrats before returning to her family, but the stares didn't seem to lessen.
Blanche hated that others were watching her this much, but she couldn't do much except for keeping her posture straight and having a slight smile on her face. Aside from the small pauses, in which she finally got some sweets, Theodore and she walked around and greeted the guests before engaging in more or less interesting small talk. She sometimes heard some educational things or learned about a topic that might help her later as well as current rumors in the capital, but for the most part, it was boring.
The only thing that kept her from getting tired was pure tension.
Even during their breaks, Blanche needed to look at least a little graceful while eating, drinking and chatting with her lover. At the same time, she had to keep an eye on Evelyn and Grace and stiffened each time that woman moved. But for now, the baby hadn't been in anyone's arms except for Sophia's, Henry's and Elaine's. Currently, it looked like Sophia was trying to convince her siblings to hold Grace too.
Blanche watched that with worry before seeing that Allen had decided to take his niece for a moment. She slouched her shoulders in relief and bit into her cookie. The Duremonts sat too close to the fountain for her liking, so she was on edge the whole time. But as long as Evelyn didn't watch over Grace while everyone else was away, it would be fine. Once that happened, the concubine would have to act quickly though. After all, she had to catch Evelyn in the act without letting Grace come to harm. Blanche didn't quite know how to do that though.
Theodore pulled her out of her thoughts by holding a fork in front of her face.
She didn't even look before eating it. This seemed to be a citrus cake with blueberries, the one kind she adored more than anything. She would like to honor it more, but at this moment in time, she was too focused on Grace. Still, she glanced at her lover and gave him a smile. “Thank you. It's delicious.”
“I think that I like the ones you make more though.” Theodore grinned at her before feeding her another portion. He glanced at the fountain as well before meeting her gaze again. “Did anything strange happen already?”
Blanche finished chewing her piece of cake and swallowed it before shaking her head. “Not yet.” If she could believe her vague memories of this scene, it wasn't quite time yet. While most of the guests were currently scattering to look around in the garden or visit the winter garden, which had gotten quite famous within one day, the description didn't match fully at this moment.
The book had described that there were barely any people left on the terrace when the incident happened. That was why there hadn't been any witnesses except for some child, who had only spoken up way later. Blanche was pretty convinced that she had found the young boy that would take on that role since he was playing hide and seek with some others right now. As soon as he would hide behind the bush right next to the fountain, she had to be prepared. Aside from that, there were still some other things she was waiting for though. If she remembered correctly, the Ravillots had would leave to chat with the royal couple while the Duremonts were speaking to the Bellfaux family.
Seemingly, this wouldn't happen now since Seraphina and Theodore weren't together. Besides, Blanche and the emperor sat here right next to the fountain, so Evelyn would probably not try anything.
This meant that they would have to move away, as unpleasant as it was.
It was a shame that Blanche would have to use this event to prove that the other woman was insane. It would be nice to protect Grace from a traumatic experience, but the concubine was too worried about Evelyn harming the baby later. That woman would have to be arrested today, no matter what. Blanche munched on her cookie again while keeping her eyes on the Duremonts. They still weren't doing anything except sitting there and chatting, which meant that she could take a break for a minute. She leaned against her backrest and sighed quietly.
Theodore saw that as his cue to give her another piece of cake, which she gladly accepted. “So, you will still have to wait, won't you? You look like it would be bad for us to leave now.”
Blanche shook her head. “We do need to leave so that she can't see us, but we need to check on that woman until the very end. I doubt that she would try anything while so many people are here though.” A few families had left by now, but there were still about a handful of people left.
The emperor watched her expression for a moment before speaking up. “I could send them away, you know? That could cause what you are waiting for to happen faster. I know that being impatient isn't helpful, but we might lure in that woman with it. She will surely not do something bad while we are sitting here with a perfect view on her. If we hid, we could make her act though. Wouldn't that be best? We have enough guards to interfere, so nothing bad will happen either way.”
Blanche pondered about this while chewing on her sweets. It was a tempting idea. After all, defeating Evelyn in public with someone influential like Theodore as a witness would be best. But there was no way that she could enforce a situation in which everyone left the terrace without being suspicious while also securing that witnesses Evelyn couldn't see were present.
The concubine looked around while opening her mouth to respond, only to close it again when she saw that another family had left. They were almost alone now. That couldn't be a coincidence. One glance at the little boy proved that he was hurrying to the hedges right now before he gave his best to climb inside quietly. As if it had been scripted, the Bellfaux family appeared at that very moment. They approached the Duremonts and began chatting with them.
Blanche recognized that scene. It was time for Evelyn to strike.