“Please give me another chance, I will never bother you again! I'm sorry, Lady Blanche! Please forgive me! I never wanted to do anything that could help the prince. I only wanted to help Her Majesty. Please...” As the empress' maids collapsed to the floor, one of them even pleaded to the concubine, whom they had called a vile thief just a moment ago.
Blanche could only stare at the other woman in utter confusion. She had never expected the maid to address her of all people. She wasn't even sure how to deal with such an apology, especially not after being treated so disrespectfully. Blanche almost asked the other woman why she had changed her mind so quickly but caught herself at the last moment. This wasn't how she should respond to such a serious topic. She had to speak in a way that would calm the others down. Theodore had told her that she would decide what the punishment would be, right? So, she had to take care of that. And one thing was especially important to her. “Please stand up. I do not wish to see anyone on the floor.”
Both maids hurried to rise again.
The concubine inwardly sighed in relief at that, but she quickly focused on resuming. “I am aware that all of this was only a misunderstanding, which is why I am not necessarily mad, even when I find it quite upsetting that you speak to me without any form of politeness. No matter what you think of me, I am still a noble living in the palace, and you didn't show me the respect that would be required due to this.” She used a slightly sharper tone here and only stopped when the maids flinched a bit. Then she moved on. “I am even more unhappy about you accusing my maid of a crime, which could have ended in her leaving the palace. Please make sure to check whether you are speaking about facts before spreading such news. Naturally, I will also ask you not to enter rooms that aren't yours either. Even if Her Majesty gave you permission, which I assume she did to protect you, it is unbecoming to do that. Remember that you can easily upset a person by calling them a vile thief when they never did anything to harm you. If you do keep that in mind, I will not insist on a punishment aside from having your pay cut for three months or so. I will ask Her Majesty to deal with this matter since I believe that she has the most experience in this field. She shall give you the punishment she finds appropriate.” She closed her mouth after that and intended to stop here when something else resurfaced in her mind. “Ah. Now that I am thinking about it, I do have a request. Refrain from facing me without respect and hold back your unjustified anger from now on. It is rather uncomfortable to be watched by people with such a strong dislike whenever we accidentally meet. Treat me as the emperor's fiancée from now on.”
The maids both stared at her as if she had grown wings. Apparently, she had been too lenient, but it didn't matter much now. One of the attendants opened her mouth a few times before speaking up. “Thank you. Thank you.” She began crying at that, which only made Blanche feel even more conflicted.
Seraphina visibly relaxed as if a burden had fallen off her shoulders. “I am grateful for your trust. I will ensure that no incidents of this kind will ever occur again. I thank you for your generosity, Lady Blanche.”
The concubine tried to show her a little smile, but she wasn't sure whether it worked. “I am thanking you for your calm judgment. It would not have been strange for you to assume that we were involved, but you trusted that we would not do something this traitorous. I am glad that your belongings were returned to you. Hopefully, the last remaining piece will be found too. Cedar sent me a necklace with amethysts today. Was that perhaps what you were searching for?”
Seraphina didn't seem surprised, but she was quite solemn as she nodded. “Yes. That happens to be the item I was missing. We will look into what you proposed. Thank you for your hint. And please rest assured that this matter will never be brought up again. From now on, we will be much more careful when it comes to our enemies' plots. It was not our intention to cause trouble and disturb you. We will take our leave now if His Majesty would give us permission.”
Theodore, who had watched all of this quietly for some time, spoke up with a soft voice while he gazed at his lover. “You are really kind, and you don't even notice it. You let others get away with way too much.” He showed her a sad smile before lowering his voice. “You may be this generous and kind, but I'm not.” His eyes snapped to Seraphina, and his expression changed into one of freezing wrath. “Empress. Keep your servants in check. I was lenient when the now deceased one tried to kill the woman I love more than anything else. Now I was lenient again after they falsely accused Blanche of a crime. Remember that this was only the case because my angel asked me to let it be. If it continues like this, I may believe that you are the one putting those ideas in their heads. You should make sure that nothing like this ever happens again. Because I can assure you that my patience is wearing thin.”
The empress stiffened at that. “Of course, Your Majesty. I may not be able to prove it, but I swear on the honor of my family that I never intended and also do not intend to harm Lady Blanche in any way. I will-” For some reason, speaking up didn't do her a favor.
Theodore's face scrunched up as the temperature around them seemed to drop. “Get out.”
This time, Seraphina didn't even try to argue about his disrespect but only nodded and stepped out of the room. Her maids hurried to follow behind her.
Stella was left behind and breathed out in relief before looking around in the otherwise empty office while trying to figure out what she should do.
The emperor didn't make her wait for a response. “You may leave as well.”
Stella bowed and hurried out after showing her mistress a forced smile.
Thus, the couple was alone again. Theodore immediately wrapped his arms around his lover and pulled her against his chest. He took a while to compose himself before beginning in a weak voice. “You really are too kind. If you allow me to, I will punish them without anyone knowing.”
Blanche lifted her head abruptly to look at him. “What? No! I said that it was fine, and I meant that. Why would I want to punish them for jumping to the conclusions that every normal person would come to when stolen goods are found in someone's room? It's obvious that they didn't trouble us just because they could but because they believed me to be guilty. What would you have done if my things suddenly ended up in the empress' room?”
Her lover didn't reply immediately, and that already served as enough of a response. But he spoke up after a moment anyway. “It wouldn't have been pretty. I have men guarding your belongings at all times, so those maids would be caught in the act of stealing. I am sure that the knights that were present while they searched your room were waiting in front of the door for my judgment. The only reason that they didn't arrest those maids immediately was that the empress was with them. But if I had the suspicion that she may be stealing from you, she would regret it. I'm not sure of the method I would have used, but I would have come up with something interesting.”
Blanche didn't even want to imagine what he was referring to. “But nothing like that happened, so you don't have to think about it. All that matters is that they apologized and that they will be much more careful in the future. Surely, the empress will scold them harshly. That is good for us in general, isn't it? The empress owes us something now. If there is any trouble with her or her family, we can just remind her of this.” Which was partly why she had refrained from asking Theodore to throw out those maids. That would have made Seraphina hate her, but like this, the empress was indebted to them. This should make the next months a bit easier. “I would worry about something else way more. If Harris is working for the enemy, why didn't you do anything against it yet?”
Theodore gave her a slight smile. “Because Cedar only has few people. He relies on finding one or two capable ones. I believe that he may only have Harris here in the palace. As long as he believes that he can use that pawn, he will not make an attempt to find someone else. And Harris is on our side in some way. He drops hints all the time so that we can guess what Cedar is planning. That is why I knew about Harris bringing something to your room as well. That servant purposefully did it in an obvious way to make sure that the guards would notice and approach me because they thought that it was weird. He doesn't know that we found out yet. He has to be despairing right now because he thinks I'm dense. But since he didn't tell me directly himself, he deserves this.”
Blanche didn't like that too much. Harris might be loyal now, but he might as well be trying to stab the emperor in his sleep in a few months. She didn't want to risk it. “You're right. That may be a good idea as long as you are careful. You will have to do something about it at some point though.”
Her lover nodded before tightening his hold on her and leaning forward to let his lips brush over her shoulder. “I will. Since he is doing what he can to help us and he is being blackmailed, I will forgive him. I owe him for something as well, so this is the most I can do. We'll just make sure to crush Cedar before anything bad happens.”
Blanche nodded in affirmation and closed her eyes to allow her lover to kiss her collarbone. “You deal with so much and still never lose sight of anything. You are amazing.”
Theodore stopped covering her skin with kisses to reply. “I'm not amazing at all. I have an unfair advantage. But I will never regret having it. Because I can finally create our future now. I will take care of everything that is in our way to make sure that we can be happy together in peace. I love you. As long as you love me too, I can do anything.”
She gently put her hands to his face and guided him to look at her. “I love you. More than I ever loved anything in this whole world. I will be by your side the whole time. If I can be your strength, I will be happy.” She slowly moved closer to him and laid her lips on his.
By the time that she noticed it, her lover had already taken over and deepened the kiss until there was no way to pull back anymore. Blanche was convinced that she wouldn't be able to end it anytime soon, but there was no need for that.
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They had all the time in the world.
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The days passed after that incident, but nothing much changed. It seemed like the empress and her maids were tight-lipped about this matter, which was for the better. After all, the amethyst necklace had truly been found in Cedar's gift box. The item had been returned to the empress, so everything was fixed again. The only difference was that Seraphina's attendants didn't seem to be filled with anger when they saw the concubine anymore. They rather looked like they were still thankful, even when the empress had apparently cut their entire pay for a whole five years while scolding them so much that even Noah seemed uncomfortable. He had seemed quite uneasy upon telling the emperor that it seemed like the maids now also weren't allowed to eat the kitchen staff's food anymore but had to prepare their own meals without ever eating with Seraphina. Seemingly, the empress had been rather intimidating while putting up some new and stricter rules regarding her maids' free time.
Though, this was a rather light punishment for someone who had been so foolish as to offend the emperor's lover still.
That might be why Seraphina made sure to be much harsher with them in front of Theodore while also being more respectful with Blanche than usual to the point at which she had her maids bow to her as soon as they saw her from afar. The maids suddenly didn't seem to mind that and just treated the concubine like she was the emperor himself.
Blanche favored this over being glared at, but she was still a bit uncomfortable in their presence as they had voiced quite harsh things recently. But maybe her forgiveness had saved them, so she couldn't regret her decision. Whenever Theodore was near them, the maids almost cowered and basically hid behind the empress. Blanche was glad that she had been able to protect them from the emperor's wrath in return for having a much easier time dealing with Seraphina. It was a good bargain. That didn't save the maids from Theodore's glare, which he showed them occasionally when he thought that Blanche wasn't watching, but otherwise, it seemed like they would be fine. The concubine didn't think about getting involved here again.
All in all, the couple rarely interacted with the empress and her attendants, so there wouldn't be many issues. The emperor only decided to see Seraphina when they were with Linden and gave his best to avoid her otherwise. Naturally, even those short interactions didn't happen too often. Aside from the daily meeting, some meals or occasional walks with the crown prince, Theodore left everything to his wife. He didn't change that even when his lover asked him whether he was sure that this was a good idea multiple times.
Luckily, it seemed like Linden wasn't upset because the emperor didn't meet him so often. The men seemed to be fine chatting a bit and then taking care of their own matters. Still, the atmosphere during the conversations with them, the empress and Blanche was a bit strained.
Right now, they were taking a walk through the palace garden once again. As always, Theodore clung to his lover while ignoring his wife to the best of his abilities. The concubine could just go along with it and flinch whenever her fiancé did something extremely disrespectful. In the end, that didn't help her at all. The emperor held her arm tightly and gave her the twelfth kiss within this hour. That the situation was as uncomfortable as ever didn't seem to bother him at all.
Linden was in the middle of introducing a political discussion, and waiting for the other man to stop cuddling probably wasn't amusing. Still, he kept a straight expression and spoke without letting the annoyance that he definitely had to feel show. “In that case, it would be better not to trade with Clatos, would it not? If they are trying to expand their territory through war, it would be risky to support them by buying their goods. Why are you so sure that this contract will not trouble you immensely later? A war between the neighboring nations would be unfavorable for Artias too.”
Theodore gave Blanche another kiss before finally lifting his head and replying. “I understand your worry, but that contract is almost ten months old. I couldn't take it back now even if I wanted to, but that isn't necessary. I am rather happy with that result. After all, Artias made a lot of profit. Clatos has many mountains, and their mines produce some of the most valuable metals on the whole continent. Those can be used to create extremely strong weapons and armory. The best weapons known to us, to be exact. Naturally, it would be better for Artias to have those than for a power-hungry dictatorship. We give them money in return, but they lose a chance to prepare for war with their own resources. And even if they buy weapons from others, they will be less refined and cost them more. That is, if they do find someone that is willing to give them weapons.”
Blanche remembered the contract about the weapon delivery. It had been signed a few weeks after she had gained the novel's memories. The reason she still hadn't forgotten was that this had been a conflict in the book as well.
Seraphina had argued like Linden, and Theodore had responded with Artias gaining more than they would lose in this trade. Back then, he hadn't had this many arguments, but the royal couple had fought a lot about that. They had stood on the balcony and stared into each other's eyes in the process. In the novel, that had been supposed to be an event that would bring them closer together.
The concubine remembered exactly how she had seen that scene and despaired because she thought that she would lose everything. And now it seemed like she would be able to stay with her lover without losing him to Seraphina. Without noticing it, she leaned her head against Theodore's arm.
The emperor reacted immediately and returned to patting her head while he spoke to Linden and resumed his story. “So, Clatos might not become weaker because of this trade, but they won't become stronger either. That is exactly what we need. Travuan is the other nation that threatens to wage war soon, and those two are at the same level right now. If one lost power, the other one would crush them immediately, and that may cause a war that we cannot even imagine. As long as they both have the same strength, they won't enter combat. So, keeping them stable is the best thing we can do. This is why I trade with both of them to control them in some way.” Ten months ago, he hadn't argued like this. It seemed like he had changed a lot too, along with the world around them.
Linden listened patiently until the end before nodding. “If you explain it like this, it makes sense. I apologize for not understanding before. I was rather irritated by you dealing with such people at first. It seems like I have misinterpreted your intentions. Forgive me for that.”
Theodore chuckled quietly. “Oh, do not worry. Countless people have already voiced their doubts about this. Including the empress. You two share the opinion on many topics, have you noticed?”
Seraphina gazed at the emperor with what seemed to be annoyance for a moment before neutralizing her expression. “Indeed, Your Majesty. There are a lot of topics that we agree on. It is almost concerning how similar we are.” It sounded a bit like an accusation, but the emperor didn't care.
As Theodore had done often in the last weeks, he completely ignored that his wife had spoken and just addressed another subject. “You asked many questions already, so it is my turn now. What do you think about Artias now that you've been here for two weeks? You asked me to allow you to stay for longer, so you seem to be fond of something here.” He turned to Linden, who was pressing his lips into a line. “It's not my brother, is it?”
The crown prince almost lost control of his expression for a moment. A deep frown appeared on his face as a display of pure frustration showed itself on his features. “With all due respect. I do not mean to insult your family, but...”
The emperor laughed at that. “That's exactly how I felt when I met him too. I apologize for the fact that he annoys you the whole time, but I can't forbid him from coming here without causing rumors about me preventing him from meeting our allies. He is infuriating, isn't he?”
Linden managed to straighten his expression again. He nodded in agreement. “He certainly is. But he seems to hide it well. Without your warning, I would have grown to like him. But rest assured that I am fully aware of what kind of person he is. I heard about the plot he used to try to cause a fight between you, Lady Blanche and...the empress. I am calmed that everything ended peacefully, but to think that he would resort to such dirty schemes...” So, Seraphina had told him about it.
Theodore seemed to say that with his eyes as he gazed at his wife. But he quickly turned his attention back to the crown prince. “I warned you about him being awful. But at least he doesn't try to bring our nations to the brink of war while some third party certainly does. Were there any further occurrences?”
Linden responded without letting his face reveal what he was thinking. “It seems like I was lucky. There were some minor things, but nothing serious happened. It was the usual thing about my food needing to be replaced again and about some servants pretending to pass by with the intention of shoving me down the stairs. No one succeeded though. Thanks to your careful preparation and your capable guards, none of my people were harmed.”
That sounded worse than Blanche had imagined it to be. She turned her head to look at the men and scanned their expressions. She couldn't keep herself from speaking, with shock being visible on her features. “Did something like that really happen? I didn't hear anything about any issues. Were there further assassination attempts?”
Linden was the one to answer. “Unfortunately, the person that attempted to crush one of us with the chandelier didn't give up so fast. They are doing their best to trouble us even more. These are mainly little schemes like items of my servants disappearing or our weapons being destroyed or placed in strange places. There are some other problems too though. Apparently, that person wishes for my death while I am in Artias so that they can gain something from a war.”
Blanche's mouth almost fell open as she waited for the reactions of the group. But none of their faces budged, so all of them had known. Why were they so calm about something like that happening so regularly? They shouldn't be this composed when it came to a possible war. “I do not think you should call that little schemes. The fact that people wish to assassinate you is horrible. You said something about food earlier too. If you are poisoned, there is no way for you to fight back against that. You need to be careful. And what about direct attacks? Do you have anything to protect yourself with you?”
Linden wordlessly moved his jacket aside to reveal a sword that was fastened to his waist.
The concubine relaxed when she saw that. A few glances to the side also proved that there were plenty of knights here, so they should be fine. She slouched her shoulders a bit when she thought about what could happen if the crown prince came to harm here. That would be horrible.
Theodore reached to her face to gently poke her cheek. “Did you really think we would let him run around unprepared when we knew about the threat? He is being accompanied by countless guards at all times, and his food is examined thrice before he eats. I doubt that anyone would be able to pass by all the security measures we put in place. I would argue that being here is safer than being outside the palace despite those people aiming for his life. We just need to make sure that he crosses the border without being harmed on his way back. That is the hard part.” His smile slowly died down. “It would be so much easier if I knew who this mysterious enemy is. Everything could get resolved in a few minutes then.”
It should be obvious that someone that wished to kill the royal guest from another country wouldn't reveal their identity this easily. What was more concerning was that they hadn't messed up and left behind evidence yet.
Blanche put her hand on her lover's and squeezed him. “Are there really no clues? They've been active for a while now and got into contact with a lot of people, like when they sent servants to our messenger. Is there no one that ever managed to see their face?”
Theodore paused for a moment before replying. “Not really. We only have a few barely useful hints. They bribe everyone that they can bribe, and they use countless different people to meet with others and make their underlings check on the other ones. So, they never have to appear themself. The only true clue we have is that they sent people to meet the messenger we already dealt with in an inn. Apparently, they also ordered some of their lackeys to visit a city near the border to Northern Ocrea. There is only one single piece of information we secured now after interrogating some people. This third party is more ambitious than we could have guessed.” His expression darkened as he resumed. “We managed to find a few letters in which they promised someone things for their help. They said that they would give them land, money and sometimes even a high-ranking position. One was promised the leadership of the royal knights, one was told he would receive help to become the heir of their family instead of their cousin. Others were promised a job in the palace as servants and attendants of the emperor. Those last things can only be decided by one person. This means that we have to accept one of two options. Either they promise things they don't intend to keep, or...”
Blanche felt her stomach churn as she processed what she was told. There was no way. Anyone knew that the royal knights were the responsibility of the emperor. Naturally, the ruler would also choose their own attendants. If that person truly wished to make their followers' wishes come true, they would have to govern the nation. She could only voice a single guess in this regard.
“They want to become emperor?”