“Theodore murdered our father. That wasn't a lie.”

It was justified. That was Blanche's immediate thought. She didn't regret it either.

Blanche had never questioned whether her lover had killed the previous emperor. There had never been a reason to doubt Theo's words. Even now, she had no intention of trusting the person she despised more than most others in this world. But even if Cedar was right, the response wouldn't change. “I don't believe you. And if he truly did do it, it wasn't for no reason. He would never harm another person unless he was forced to. Do you blame him for what he allegedly did?”

The prince just stared at her for a moment. He blinked a few times without stopping to smile before he looked to the side. “I should have expected that response. I was counting on a little more panic, but well... There is nothing I can do about this.” He beamed at her. “If you ask me personally, I cannot blame Theodore for his decision. It was better for everyone included, except for Theodore himself, so it would be hard for me to judge. Though, why would my opinion matter? This is more about whether you trust your lover without any details.”

Blanche actually felt like just hearing Cedar's judgment confirmed that she was right to trust Theodore. She wouldn't tell him that she partially relied on his view though. “I trust him. This is not your story to tell, so we do not have to continue this conversation. If Theo wishes to enlighten me, he will do it himself. If not, I'm fine with it too.”

Cedar didn't seem surprised in the slightest. Yet, he couldn't help but comment on it. “You are so naive, it's almost concerning. Are you sure that your relationship is healthy?”

Blanche narrowed her eyes at him. “You are the one to speak. You mentioned your father's death like you didn't care about it at all. Aren't you the vile one? Don't drag Theo into this.”

Cedar still didn't move away from her as his grin widened. “Ouch. Your words scar my heart. How could I not be upset upon remembering my own father's early demise? I am as dejected as he would have been to hear about my death. Do not worry about our family matters. We were talking about you and my brother, weren't we? I am a bit concerned when it comes to your blind trust in him.”

He had brushed off the matter about his father as if it wasn't important, but Blanche had stopped listening after that. She didn't really want to think about it, but that one sentence had made her pause. Cedar had basically just admitted that his father wouldn't have cared if he died without batting an eye. Either this was some extremely well-acted pretense to make her pity him or...

Or Cedar truly deserved pity.

It was obvious that the prince hadn't had a pleasant life. A mother that only used him to surpass his brother, whom she had taught him to hate. A father that didn't care about anything but his firstborn heir. A brother that had a loving foster mother and was destined to become the next emperor. It was clear why Cedar had become the person he was now.

That didn't make the concubine like him more, but she couldn't help but notice that it was unfair. That a child became a horrible person just because of those unfavorable circumstances was dejecting. Could they try to change anything here? Was there even the slightest chance to get through to Cedar here?

Apparently, she hadn't hidden her thought process well enough.

Cedar scanned her expression with an unmoving smile, but she could tell that his eyes rested on her as he figured out what she was thinking. “What's with that look? Did I say something wrong, or are you enamored with me?” Within one sentence, he had ruined the image of the helpless boy completely again. Of course, he tried to provoke her now.

Cedar hated pity. She should have kept that in mind.

Blanche's face fell, and she sighed. It was better if she didn't have any empathy for their enemies. One of them wouldn't have a good ending, and pitying the other party when they wanted you dead wasn't helpful. “You don't need to worry about that. I was trying to remember what you said about me and Theo. Because none of the things you addressed are important to you. This is all about our relationship, so I doubt that you will need to know anything.”

Cedar averted his eyes for a moment. “How defensive you are when it comes to this. Seemingly, you are a bit sensitive when this is brought up, but I don't mind. I will tell you my opinion anyway.” He looked back into her eyes. “Theodore doesn't deserve you. So much loyalty and kindness are wasted on him.”

The concubine felt how her patience was deteriorating more rapidly with that statement. She truly considered calling Cedar out on his lacking understanding of love here. “You are the most arrogant person I know. Don't say things like that when you have no experience with genuine feelings whatsoever. Theodore is a wonderful person and the best partner I could imagine. You are horrible. How dare you judge him?” She gritted her teeth before even more could come out. If she spoke for longer, she would surely lose her temper.

“Oh, if I had known that this would upset you so much, I would have said the other half quicker too.” Cedar leaned forward, and this time, she couldn't help but take a step back. “You don't deserve him either. All you do is go on about love and trust when you don't have any of that. You're a traitor, remember that?”

Her blood ran cold when she heard that. Blanche stumbled another step away as she stared at him in disbelief. She had no response to that as he continued. “You-”

Cedar showed her that mocking smirk that he loved to put on when he wanted to provoke people. “There is no one without ulterior motives. I met too many people to believe in anything like unconditional love. Your feelings will cool at some point, or you'll cling to a person that hates you. In any case, it will hurt. So, you should prepare yourself for that. This isn't a taunt but well-meant advice. You can admit that you're only here because he gives you more luxury than you could have ever had on your own. Or...do you genuinely trust him?”

Her mind was swimming, and she barely managed to form a coherent reply. “Of course. What you said... That's not true. I love him. And I'm not a traitor. I would never do anything that could hurt him. I love-”

“You said that already. About a few dozen times. That doesn't make it true.” Cedar lowered his voice until even she could barely hear it. It probably ensured that Owen wouldn't hear, but that barely made it better. “If you really trusted him, you would have told him about your past already. What do you think will happen when the truth comes out? That you were brought here by Lord Sefare to seduce your dearest lover is no secret among my closest supporters. You came here to gain power because you were promised that you would become empress. That's a shallow reason, isn't it? The fact that you didn't tell Theodore will disappoint him so much. And the whole story about your amnesia? Don't make me laugh. Theodore will know at some point, I can promise you that. If you don't tell him, one of my people will as soon as they feel cornered.”

Blanche's heart picked up its pace. It felt like it would jump out of her chest in a few seconds. She opened her mouth to deny all of that, but no voice came out. She couldn't say anything while Cedar continued to go on about her greatest nightmare.

“Suddenly, Theodore will know why you appeared in front of him like in a fairy tale. He will learn that you used to be nothing but a power-hungry little girl, whose family was convicted of treason. He won't like that very much, will he? Do you really think he will look at you like now when this comes out? He will definitely treat you more coldly. But that is only if you are lucky. I'm not sure whether he could ever forgive you. Theodore isn't good with traitors due to his personal memories, you know? He also has the option of throwing you out or putting you on trial for trying to betray him. None of those choices sound good for you. So, it might be beneficial for you to be open with everything now. If you do trust Theodore, you wouldn't mind telling him, correct? If he loves you as much as you claim him to, he will believe you. That makes sense, doesn't it?”

It should. Oh, it should make sense.

But the villainess had once relied on that too, and she had been executed anyway.

Blanche felt tears pricking in her eyes as she backed away. Those words were the worst thing that could happen to her. She was happy right now, but only a few sentences could ruin all of that. Cedar was right about all of this being revealed at some point. That was the worst of all of this. Theodore would hate her if he learned the truth. He had done it last time, so why would it be different?

But she could never admit that, not when her heart was desperately clinging to a solution that wouldn't crush her. She barely managed to whisper and was so quiet that she wondered whether Cedar even understood her. “He wouldn't throw me out. Theo loves me, just like I love him. He will listen to me before coming to any conclusion. He will know that I was a child that had just lost her family and was easy to manipulate by the man that saved her life. I can tell him about that man purposefully freeing me and not stopping the execution so that you could use me as a pawn. I never had the intention of betraying my lover, so that won't be an issue. Theo would trust me no matter what. Because he loves me. He promised.”

Cedar looked right into her eyes while she spoke, which only made her want to cry even more. Seemingly, her uncertainty was even more obvious than she had believed it to be. He grinned at her as always, but his eyes hid some emotion that she hated more than that smile. “Oh, are you going to cry? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so harsh. Truly, I just wanted to make you understand what is bound to happen. So that you are prepared for it then and won't break down into a sobbing mess. So that you can maybe take matters into your own hands before it all falls down. Do you need a handkerchief?” He reached for his jacket and was about to pull something out, but she hurriedly shook her head.

She didn't want anything from him. “Don't. Go away.” She stared at the ground while trying to keep herself from crying.

Cedar let out a sigh, but at least he didn't insist on giving her something to wipe her tears. “I see. That would be rather unkind of me though. I made a lady cry. I can't just make you stay here on your own. It's the duty of every man to console a crying woman. Didn't my brother do that here too?”

Blanche didn't want to say anything about that, but her mouth was opening on her own. “This is our place. You have no right to be here or anywhere in the palace for that matter. Leave us alone. You have no reason to try to ruin our lives. We love each other, and everything is finally fine. Why?” She could barely bring that out without losing her self-control, but she managed to hold the tears back for another moment. She could have sworn that she heard Cedar mutter something under his breath, but when she looked up, his lips didn't move.

The prince gazed to the side before speaking up. “You really do love him, right? You two love each other. You always seem to forget that and worry about whether he will forgive you while he gets jealous when I just talk to you, but it's quite obvious. It's laughable, really. How come his life is like a fairy tale while everyone else suffers? What kind of world is that? Fate truly seems to be biased.” Maybe she was just imagining it, but he genuinely sounded frustrated.

Or was that an act?

Blanche had no idea what to trust here, but a part of her wanted to believe that Cedar felt normal emotions he chose to hide. She stared at him for a moment before replying with uncertainty. “What do you mean? This has nothing to do with fate. You shape your life with your own actions.” She needed to believe that, or all of her efforts would be useless.

But trying to be kind to Cedar never ended well for her. She knew that he despised it when people tried to sympathize with him. He always reacted the same then. His smirk widened again as he looked into her eyes. “What an optimistic stance. It almost sounds like you are trying to cheer me up. I appreciate it, but it's not needed. I'm more than happy with the way that everything is going. We spent six years locked in a mansion somewhere, so I'm quite content roaming around freely again. It's also nice to meet our family more often. Human interactions make everything more pleasant.” He paused for a moment before resuming with a playful glint in his eyes. “I'm honored that you worry about me though. It's adorable. Though, not necessary. I feel like you need more guidance than I do.” Now he upset her on purpose.

As she had guessed, Cedar hated pity. Whenever he was met with that, he just stressed her out.

Blanche turned her gaze away again. She was still about to cry, but now it was partly because of fear and partly because of frustration. What had she been thinking? Trying to sympathize with Cedar didn't gain her anything. She should remember that. Attempting to help a person she hated wasn't clever, but she hadn't been able to hold herself back. She wouldn't make such mistakes in the future though. She couldn't risk her enemies trying to use that against her. To be honest, she also didn't like to admit that she had tried to begin a less infuriating conversation. “I didn't try to cheer you up. I just voiced my opinion, that's all. Am I not allowed to do that anymore? That Theodore and I found each other may have been a coincidence, but that we fell in love was caused by our own actions. We have both committed to this relationship ever since we met, and that is why we are linked by a bond of unbreakable trust. Pushing the blame onto fate because you don't have that is just an excuse.”

Cedar chuckled quietly. “So, you are saying that everyone can change their destiny? Even when their role was decided before their birth? I would like to think like that too, but it's rather hard when you have been watching your surroundings for a while. It seems that you still try to see everything in a positive light. That's admirable, but it will also hurt you. How can you be so loyal to a person that already caused so much pain in your life?” He waited until she looked up at him before continuing. “Don't show me that questioning expression. Have you forgotten already? He might not have been involved directly, but his laws were. Theodore was the person that increased the severity of punishments for interacting with merchants from Northern Ocrea. He wasn't necessarily aiming to-”

That sly bastard.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Blanche knew what was coming, and she didn't want to hear that. “Don't say it. I'm not joking, Cedar. I am telling this only once, don't say it.” Otherwise, she would really lose her temper.

For a moment, it was silent. Blanche just glared at Cedar while she began shaking with rage. She was just waiting for him to open his mouth and attack what he knew to be her biggest weak spot. He could happily make fun of everything else, but if he mentioned her family, she would truly lose it.

But Cedar didn't stop, not when he always seemed to strive to get the most emotional reaction he could. “You said it twice, but that won't keep me from being honest. The truth is important, isn't it? So, please be honest as well. Why are you in love with the person that is at fault for your family's execution? I looked at their case files. Your mother looked very similar to you. Your sister would also have had the same appearance if she had grown old enough. Nelly, was it? I believe your brother's name was Noel. That is adorable. To give twins a similar name is-”

That was too much.

Everything else would have been fine. But not this.

Blanche had tried her best, but her patience had a limit. She took a step forward and grabbed Cedar's collar to bring him down to her level. “How...dare you, you piece of garbage?” She was shaking far more than she should, and the same held true for her voice. “You are despicable. Disgusting, horrible and nothing more but a pawn in your mother's schemes. You don't have any idea what normal people are like, or you would never say things like this!” She got louder and louder.

Yelling was what tipped over her overflowing barrel of emotions.

She couldn't help it anymore. Tears were streaming down her face. Hearing Cedar talk about her family like that, like he just viewed them as pawns, wasn't something she could stand. That was too much. But venting her anger didn't bring them back either. Blanche let go of the prince after she faintly heard Owen calling out to her and stared at the floor while trying not to sob in addition to crying. It was humiliating enough that she hadn't been able to hold back in front of Theodore's greatest enemy.

To her surprise, Cedar didn't say anything for a moment. She heard quiet rustling before a piece of white cloth appeared in the corner of her eyes. She refused to take it even when her face was covered in tears.

It was silent for a few seconds before Cedar spoke up, lacking his usual cheerful tone but also any hint of sympathy, which proved that he still didn't truly care. “I didn't know that you would be this upset because of that. They've been gone for four years, so I thought that you wouldn't care as much. I'm-”

Blanche knew that she should keep her mouth shut. But she couldn't keep her anger from flaring up again. She lifted her head and stared right into his eyes. “What did you think? That people forget those who they care about after a few weeks? Are you stupid? No, that's not it. It's not that you're arrogant enough to not see those around you as real people. You never saw anything else until now because you are so focused on power that everyone else around you blurs. You're just pitiful. If you ever had someone you loved, you would have known that it doesn't work like that.” She should stop here, but Blanche didn't want to do that. Instead, she wanted even more poison to drip out with her words. “But you never cared about someone, and there was never a person who showed you love either. Isn't that true? You've always been alone, and you will stay by yourself if you keep acting like this. Even your own mother just sees you as a way to trouble Theodore, and if he was kind to her, you would lose importance for her in an instant. Everyone in your faction just wants to increase their power through you. No one cares about you or trusts you personally. Not even once, a single person really loved you, and you don't have the ability to feel that emotion either. That's why you are so pitiful.”

She didn't know why she had said that. She had voiced all the things that Theodore had warned her about. This was Cedar's weak point. Maybe she had done it because she was aware of that.

The prince had hurt her deeply, and she had wanted to return that. It hadn't been logical, and it certainly hadn't been a wise decision either. It only took a fraction of a second before she was forced to face the consequences of her outbreak.

Cedar gave her a smile for just a moment, so she thought that he wouldn't do anything. His voice didn't even sound angry as he replied. “Pitiful? I guess so. Though, that's the thing you weren't supposed to say to me.”

Then he moved way faster than she had anticipated. Blanche barely saw that his hand was brought upwards before panic welled up in her. For a moment, she really thought that Cedar would grasp her throat. The underlying threat had been there, but he didn't do that. Instead, he chose an option that wasn't much better.

Cedar's hand landed on her face, and he forced her to look at him while he dug his fingers into her cheeks. Still, he was smiling, but it was the most disturbing grin she had ever seen on him, simply because he seemed so calm. His eyes didn't hold a portion of amusement or anger. They were just...void of any personal emotion. Cedar just looked at her like he was watching an experiment unfold before him. As much as Blanche felt lost in Theodore's blue eyes, as much she felt like she was looking right at something that would pull her under and drown her now even when the color was much different. A single look at that man proved that he was insane.

But at the same time, he was way too strong. Cedar's grip was extremely painful, but she wasn't able to move in the slightest and could only look at him and listen to his words while her mind tried to sort the conflicting feelings she had upon looking right into those soft brown eyes and forgot everything else.

Cedar spoke calmly without caring for the fact that she was horrified. “Slowly, it's getting annoying. I don't have those breakdowns anymore, no matter how often any of you provoke me.” He let out a quiet chuckle. “Let me give you a hint. Don't do things like this. Didn't my brother tell you what not to say around me? Either he was stupid enough not to tell you, or you are stupid enough to say this to me despite the warning. You should be thankful that I learned to suppress my anger, or you would have had a huge problem. Don't try to provoke unstable people, or it will end badly for you. The people around me wouldn't be as lenient.”

Cedar didn't have a breakdown right now. He was fully in control of his own actions. And yet, he was horrifying. Even his cold voice made her shiver as she was petrified with fear. It truly felt like he would crush her jaw if this went on any longer.

Blanche should really push him away, but as she lifted her arm to grasp his hand, it felt like time froze. For a single second, the scene reminded her of something. Something she could just barely remember flashed in her mind, and that was enough to make her freeze. It felt like Blanche's brain grabbed the edges of that memory and tried to unwrap it, but there seemed to be something holding it back. She forgot to move completely. If she had been alone, she would just have been stuck there staring at Cedar and wondering why this situation was so familiar.

Maybe she would even have asked him whether they had met before all of this.

But thankfully, Blanche wasn't alone here. Everything had to have happened within a second since she didn't see or hear anything but a quiet clink followed by a slightly louder noise as Cedar abruptly let go of her while giving her a small push to make her stumble back.

The next thing she saw was that Owen stood next to the prince and had the blade at the other man's neck. The knight didn't allow a single movement and gazed at Cedar with a murderous glint in his eyes. “Back away this instant. Otherwise, I will attack you based on His Majesty's order.” If it was anyone else, he would have done much more already, but injuring a member of royalty wasn't a triviality.

But that hadn't stopped Owen from making sure that nothing would happen. He wasn't just threatening someone without actually touching them like he had done it with Duke Vasquez. The cut on Cedar's skin and the few drops of blood that rolled down from the wound were proof of that.

It was just that Owen hadn't met the neck despite aiming at it, which even surprised the normally so stoic man.

The disturbing part was that Cedar hadn't even flinched upon reacting to the attack as if he had just waited for it. He had moved so suddenly that he had actually defended against Owen's attack by grabbing the other man's arm, which had slowed the blade enough so that Cedar could stop it with his hand. Of course, this hadn't protected him completely. In fact, it looked quite painful. Yet, he fully ignored the deep cut that had to have injured more than the skin on his palm while he smiled at Owen as if none of this bothered him.

But the worst thing about this was that Cedar kept acting his role of the perfect prince as if nothing had happened.

Within a second, Cedar loosened his grip on Owen's arm and relaxed his posture as if he was at a tea party and not holding a royal guard's sword while defending his neck. He showed Owen a blinding smile. “Oh, my. Now I am even being attacked in my own home. How cruel. You shouldn't be so overprotective, or you might anger the wrong person. There was a small bit of dirt next to Lady Blanche's lips. I merely wanted to help her.” Slowly, his eyes wandered to the concubine, who almost cowered under his gaze. “I should have warned you before, but I just wished to be rid of that bit of dirt. My mother used to do that when I was younger and had some leftovers from lunch on my face. It must have slipped my mind that you could be surprised by that. It was not my intention to scare you. I admit that I shouldn't have done that. My apologies. Yet, this is not a reason to commit treason, is it?”

Oh. He could easily turn this into an advantage for him now if he wanted. Surely, Owen had the emperor's backing, but attacking the second prince of Artias because he had held a baroness' face for a moment would be hard to justify.

Had Cedar wanted to provoke this? She prayed that he hadn't, but...

Blanche was still speechless and didn't even process what this situation meant fully. She could only stumble back and hide behind Owen, who had stepped between her and that insane person. She had understood that Cedar was good at scaring people before, but this was too much. There was a royal guard present, and he had still convinced her that she was helpless. Her jaw was still aching, even when Cedar clearly hadn't left a single bruise or mark. He had been so careful to not hurt her that no one could prove ill intent.

But that was the minor issue. What actually troubled Blanche was her mental state.

Blanche's limps were still trembling, and her legs were about to give out. Her throat was dry, and she barely managed to breathe properly while her heart pounded in her chest. She was terrified. Even though she knew that Cedar could have done much worse if he wanted to and even though her mind told her that he hadn't wanted to hurt her.

But at the same time, she felt dirty. Using someone's weak point like that was horrible. Surely, she had done the same thing the prince had done, but had that really been necessary? Cedar had been tormented in more ways than she could ever have imagined, and she had just directly put salt into that wound. In return, he had basically just slapped her hand once while telling her to be careful in the future. That thought made her feel just as bad as her fear.

A part of her wanted to apologize while the rest of her hated her for that.

And even though she was this shaken, Cedar had already recovered despite her apparently attacking his greatest weakness. He grinned at Owen, let go of his arm and held up his free hand in a mocking way while pushing away the sword with the other, which was already bleeding a lot. He knew that the guard could not hurt him more without a good reason. His excuse was good too. If he said that he had just wanted to wipe away something, he could easily convince many people that the other two had overreacted in surprise. That could cause huge issues with the big wound he now had on his hand, especially since Blanche wasn't injured at all.

That was why Cedar was so confident now. “Will neither of you respond to me? I guess I will have to apologize properly then. Lady Blanche, please do forgive my insolent action just now. I only wished to help you without pulling attention to the small crumb on your face. It was not my intention to scare you, so I hope that we can forget this incident for the sake of both of us. You agree with that, right? Keeping things peaceful is much more pleasant. Will you forgive me, Blanche? You surely will.”

Cedar was annoyed. Even if he had no issue covering up his true feelings with his expression, it was too obvious. His voice sounded too cheerful. The air around him almost seemed to radiate danger, and everything told her to run away or at least apologize.

Blanche didn't even manage to get angry at him for saying her name. She was way too busy being terrified. Though, that somehow also made her act on her initial thought, which might have been a bad idea. “Your...hand is bleeding. It's... You need...a bandage.” It definitely needed to be treated, but why was she saying that? Surely, the prince had noticed too.

But Cedar didn't react to that. He fully ignored his hand as he replied to her like she hadn't talked. “I'll take that as an affirmation. I love talking to you, but I fear that I have to leave now. Would you allow your guard to let me go?”

Thankfully, Owen lowered his sword and stepped to the side without her needing to say anything. He pulled her with him so that they had some distance from the prince, still while looking like he had seen a ghost.

Cedar nodded toward them and walked to the entrance. “Thank you. Until we meet each other again. I look forward to it.” He didn't turn around even once and just disappeared behind the hedges, all while ignoring the blood that dripped down his hand.

Blanche was still tense for a few seconds until she was sure that he was gone. She relaxed her muscles and touched her face with her hands. It still hurt, but more because she felt so many different emotions at the moment. For a minute or so, she just stood there and tried to fight the uproar in her mind.

She honestly didn't know whether she wanted to tell Theodore about this yet.

Her lover would probably snap, and while she would love to vent to him, she didn't want to admit that this had happened because she had disregarded Theodore's advice. The emperor had told her that she wasn't supposed to meet his brother, and she had already done so twice. Surely, Theodore would be disappointed because of that, and last time, that hadn't ended well. She didn't have much more time to ponder about that though.

Owen addressed her after a moment of silence. “I apologize for not being able to do more than that. His Majesty instructed me to strike without holding, but I fear that this would be more trouble in the end. He also warned me not to engage in a physical battle though. Even this much was...” Naturally, he was a bit reluctant to attack a prince.

If Cedar wanted to, he could ask for a trial for every small injury and demand a punishment. This wound was certainly worthy of a serious trial, and it merely depended on whether Cedar would insist on one. No one here wanted Owen to be threatened because of such an incident, so it was better that they had stopped here.

Even if Cedar's indifference to wounds and his much too quick reflexes were scarier than the rest of the situation.

Blanche forced herself to give the knight a small smile. “Don't worry. I'm fine. Theodore might be forced to dismiss you if something happens, so we should avoid it.” And they should also avoid it because she knew that Cedar was better at sword-fighting than most people here. They didn't need to provoke a serious duel, or Owen would lose and not just the fight. Blanche was somehow convinced of that.

Owen's response came immediately. “That is not what I was referring to. My position is not nearly as important as protecting His Majesty and you. I worry about this being used against His Majesty. People may twist our words and accuse him of ordering me to attack his brother. If there are more witnesses, it may be fine, but today, we were alone.” It should have been expected that he would reply like this. Owen was loyal to the emperor no matter what. Obviously, he would put the political stability here first.

The concubine nodded to herself before frowning when a thought appeared in her head. “You are correct. It was unfavorable for me to send away Stella and the other servant.”

Owen remained silent for a moment before speaking up. “It might have been better for them to be here. In that case, four witnesses would testify against one. Even if three of them are serving His Majesty, that would be more believable than just two witnesses.” He was right about that. Though, even that would be dangerous.

Blanche scolded herself quietly before showing him a weak smile. “I see. I'm sorry for not thinking about that. But Cedar lies too well, so even multiple witnesses wouldn't help if they belong to Theodore's faction. In the future, I won't interact with him unless we're in public or Theo is there so that we have more of a guarantee. Don't worry. I keep trying to gain information, but it won't work like this. So, we'll have to rely on other methods. It makes me feel like I put myself through this for nothing, but at least I won't have to deal with Cedar's infuriating comments in the future if I stop now. Let's go back.” She faced the pathway and began walking away from the pavilion. She would like to forget this conversation completely, but she couldn't.

The parts about Theodore hating her once he found out about the truth were too upsetting to allow her to stay calm. That there had been a third person present while Cedar said that made it even worse. Hopefully, the knight hadn't thought too much about the remarks about her being a traitor.

Just as she had that thought, Owen spoke up. “Lady Blanche, I apologize for eavesdropping. I could not help but hear some things that strike me as odd.”

Blanche stiffened and considered ignoring him for now, but that would only pull more attention to the topic. She slowly turned to stall time and faced him. “What do you mean? He said lots of strange things, so you need to be more specific. Cedar always talks for a long time, and not everything that leaves his mouth is true.”

Owen took two steps to catch up with her and stopped directly in front of her. “I heard that His Royal Highness questioned whether you and His Majesty were in a healthy relationship multiple times. I can not do much but inform you that His Majesty truly loves you. I served him during the day that you first met and have been present from then onward until today. If I may make this judgment, he is much happier now than he was before. I heard him talk about you for hours at a time when he was unsure whether you liked him or were just grateful. I saw him sitting at his desk in utter disarray after you called him by his pet name for the first time. And I was present while he could not meet you due to his overwhelming amount of work too. He is without a doubt devoted to you. He would never throw you out of the palace or judge you based on things that His Royal Highness said. His Majesty will always be on your side. He is much less clueless about what his enemies are plotting than you may believe. So, it would be best to speak-”

It should have been to be expected that he would get cut off there.

Theodore's voice sounded from afar. “Blanche?” He was finally here. Now, right after Cedar had made fun of her, his presence ended up making Blanche worry quite a bit though.