Blanche gently brought her lips to Theodore's and felt how he melted under her touch. No matter how often they did this, it was still breathtaking. But at this very moment, it also reminded her of something else. When she pulled back, she looked deep into her lover's eyes. “If the empress did have an affair, would you be angry?”

Her question had been supposed to be ambiguous, but she definitely had failed. She had done it in a too obvious way, but it was too late now. But at least she would have an immediate reaction to her question now. She wanted to know whether Theodore would be mad at his wife for cheating on him even if he didn't have any interest in Seraphina. She was tenser than she would have admitted and slouched her shoulders in relief when the emperor replied with complete indifference.

“She has a lover, but that doesn't deserve to be called an affair. After all, we never were in a relationship. That is why you aren't an affair either, but my one and only. And to answer your question, I am rather happy about it. Aside from the fact that it may make her do us a favor that would keep this from ending in a bloody mess, it's also a good way to convince her father not to mention specific things anymore. Believe me, we can only gain advantages from this. Especially if she decides that she wants to join her crown prince. Sending the daughter of an influential duke, who happens to adore Artias, to be their queen would give us such a strong bond to Northern Ocrea that we would never have to worry about war anymore. Another big advantage would be her being so far away that you would have to travel two weeks with a carriage to go there.”

The way he talked made it seem like he was absolutely convinced that the empress was together with Linden, even if he couldn't have witnessed it himself. And for some reason, he almost sounded like he was already planning how to send Seraphina away into a neighboring country.

For Blanche, that was a bit too quick. “Wait. Even if she has a lover, she wouldn't run away with him. I doubt that she is a person that would place her own desires high enough to leave her family and, more importantly, her position behind.”

“I didn't say that she would run away. Obviously, she will do it the official way. You will see.” A smile slowly spread on Theodore's lips. “But the fact that you aren't arguing with me about her having a lover, says everything. You saw them together, didn't you?”

She wanted to deny it for a moment, but she knew how horrible she was at lying. “They were kissing in the labyrinth.”

Theodore's smile widened. “So, I won our bet, don't you think? Now I get to ask you to do something for me.” Of course, he wouldn't have forgotten about that.

Blanche leaned against him and sighed. “I'm an idiot for betting on something with you anyway. You only say such things when you are sure. Don't choose something too bad.”

“Oh, I already have something in mind. Obviously, it won't be anything that could hurt you. I may ask you to take some time to listen to me before denying it though. We will talk about that a bit later.”

Somehow, that didn't sound comforting but rather worried Blanche more. She didn't have much of a choice though. She wouldn't go back on her word. “I can't hope that you'll just forget it, right? So, I guess that I have to brace myself. It should be fine as long as you don't make me do something embarrassing.”

A smirk appeared on her lover's face. “More embarrassing than anything we did together? I don't think that is possible. I already saw every bit of your body and every single emotion on your face. There is nothing about you that I don't know. So, I would argue that you couldn't do anything for me that would embarrass you.”

Blanche wasn't sure about that. There certainly were things that could make her blush, but she doubted that he would ask her to do something that troubled her too much. This wasn't her number one worry right now anyway. “Let's not talk about that just to make me nervous. We should focus on the dinner tomorrow first. You surely didn't agree because you missed eating with your family. Do you have a plan?”

Theodore slowly let his hands wander to her back before he pulled her against him. “I do. I am telling myself that I want to prove that they can withdraw and end this the easy way. If they don't do anything, I won't do anything either. But that won't happen. They will try something, and when they do, I will be a bit more direct with my response to that.” He gazed into the distance for a moment before focusing on her again. “Cedar did...have someone deliver something odd to him recently, and I need to check on that. In any case, you don't have to worry. I will prepare everything. Do you know what the best about this event is? I have an excuse to gift you another dress.” Since he hadn't heard about the dinner until a few minutes ago, this meant that he had bought it for her earlier. He seemed to be in the middle of starting to shower her with gifts again.

But it wasn't like Blanche wanted to reject them either. “I will look forward to it then. Even if I already have about a hundred dresses I didn't wear yet.” Blanche tapped onto her lover's nose and grinned at the soft look in his eyes. She adored him, and a simple gesture like this made her realize that once more. She had never doubted her love for him, but with each second she spent with him, she was more certain that there wasn't anything that could compare to this feeling.

And that was exactly why she would never leave his side.

----------------------------------------

Preparing for dinner with two of her greatest enemies was something Blanche hadn't expected to be forced to do. It was also surprising how little that bothered her when Theodore was with her and helped her get ready. He was the one brushing her hair, putting the dress on her and choosing her accessories. She was sure that Stella was pouting by now because the maid didn't have a chance to serve her mistress as long as the emperor was there.

But Theodore wouldn't allow any complaints. After all, he seemed to adore combing through his lover's alabaster locks and did so for much longer than necessary. He also helped her put on his gift, another navy blue dress with golden patterns on the skirt. By now, Blanche was sure that he purposefully brought her more and more items that only members of the royal family could wear. The fact that the empress was the only one that should appear in an attire with only the royal colors was disregarded completely, which showed enough for Blanche not to ask any more questions.

When they were done preparing, they climbed into the carriage and drove to the other end of the royal estate. It took about twenty minutes to get there, which explained why the dowager empress had been rather upset about not being able to ride a carriage whenever her son sent a broken one. That was about the only complaint Blanche could understand though.

She scanned the mansion in front of her one more time. “That is the...run-down mansion full of dust and spiderwebs? The one the dowager empress despises because it's rather simple in comparison to the palace? I think that house is bigger than all houses around the area where I grew up, including the temple.” To be honest, that mansion might as well have been the emperor's summer residence. It was huge and looked gorgeous from the outside with its sand-colored pillars and countless ornaments adorning the walls. “I thought this was the smallest and ugliest of the three mansions within the royal estate.”

Theodore was less impressed than her and just gave the building a dismissive look. “It is. Admittedly, it's still fancy, but it's simply the smallest building we have. I used to like it too, but ever since those people moved in, I came to hate it. There was a lot more dirt when they arrived here. Sadly, the servants were forced to clean that. It's a shame.” He let out a deep breath before putting a smile on his lips. “But we can't help it. We will just have to sit through one evening and hope that they have some dignity left.”

Blanche watched as he knocked on the reddish wooden door of the carriage, which caused a servant to open it. She mirrored his smile and leaned against him for a moment. “It will be fine. They don't have any dignity, but I'm here with you. As long as we are together, their presence doesn't matter.” She lifted her head again to show him an expression that she hoped to be reassuring.

Theodore's grin became an honest one when he saw her. He pressed a kiss onto her forehead before climbing out of the carriage and turning around to extend his hand toward her. “You are right. Don't forget that they might show us an unpleasant surprise, but we are completely safe. Let us enter the lion's den.”

The concubine took his hand and looked into his eyes while responding. “If you are with me, I will gladly do it.” She did find it ominous that Theodore had warned her about his brother having a strange item delivered, but she knew that her lover had that under control too. So, she was calm as she stepped out of the vehicle and looked around for a moment.

There were some trees close to the back of the mansion, but it seemed like the rest of the area was rather empty aside from a lot of grass. The only plants that were taken care of were the ones in the garden, which was small in comparison to the royal one but rather big for any lower-ranked noble.

Her lover allowed her to get an overview before leading her to the entrance. They didn't get far before seeing that there were already countless people waiting for them. All the servants of the mansion seemed to have been asked to stand in front of the building with Cedar and Camille in the center, right by the door. All the staff members bowed, and Cedar did so too. Merely the dowager empress kept her head up high.

Blanche did the same even if she felt much less confident than the other woman. She was being escorted by Theodore, who had given her permission not to bow to those two, but she still felt like she might not get away with this disrespect to the royal family. The prince didn't seem to care, but Camille was rather sensitive to such matters. Still, the concubine didn't give in and forced herself to meet the dowager empress' gaze without backing down.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The couple arrived by the door. As usual, the emperor took a moment to let his family wait for him before speaking up. But this time, he didn't break the silence even when it was about time. Instead, he nudged his lover.

Blanche had to keep her expression from falling when understood what he was referring to. She definitely couldn't greet the dowager empress first. Cedar might ignore it, but Camille would cut her head off for something like this.

And still, her lover only gave her a confident look when she met his gaze.

Mentally, Blanche already wrote out the reaction that she would receive soon, but she went along with his wishes. This evening could only become horrible anyway. She might as well start off strong even if angering her enemies would only make everything worse. She put on a little smile and spoke as softly as possible as if she wasn't even aware of what she was doing. “Good evening to both of you. We are extremely grateful to have been invited by you. It is a pleasure to finally be able to see you in private without any prying eyes watching. How have you been doing lately?”

As expected, the dowager empress' face was immediately taken over by freezing anger. “You-”

She didn't even finish her first complaint thanks to Cedar's quick interruption. “Mother, we asked them to meet for a family banquet. That means that we won't insist on titles and all of those noble conventions. It would be too stiff otherwise. We will allow ourselves to speak honestly today. Good evening.”

For some reason, Camille calmed down after hearing that. She narrowed her eyes at the concubine and was still visibly shaken with rage, but she didn't yell anymore. “You should not forget your position even when you are granted the honor of eating at a table with us. Whenever we are meeting from now on, I expect you to follow the protocol properly. My rank is much higher than yours, so you are required to show me respect.”

Theodore finally spoke up at that. “Since you just ignored it too, you can't complain, can you? If you won't wish us an enjoyable evening, we won't return that favor either. The same is applied when it comes to following the protocol and respect. I believe that you may have forgotten about the last ball. You never greeted Blanche properly and criticized her and me for minutes at a time. So, you didn't only disturb the happy atmosphere at the party but also disrespected the emperor in public. If we don't hold it against you, you shouldn't cling to such trivialities either. That is not good for your blood pressure.”

Camille's face fell at that. She glared at her son, and the only reason she held back had to have been Cedar patting her hand.

It seemed like the prince was used to such outbreaks since he didn't even look like he was affected by his mother's anger at all. He just chimed in to keep her from talking. “Thank you for your concern. You don't need to worry though. She is in good health, and I assume that it can only get better from now on. Would you like to follow us inside? Dinner has already been prepared, and there are quite a few courses, so we have plenty of time to talk.”

Theodore didn't respond, so Blanche hurried to speak up. “Yes, thank you. We would be happy to.”

Cedar escorted his mother to the massive entrance door, which was opened by two servants, and turned back to smile at them. “Welcome to our modest residence for the moment. It may be lacking in comparison to the royal palace, but it is cozy and will allow us to have a wonderful evening. We will bring you to the dining room now, and if you wish to, we could give you a tour of the house after our meal.”

The emperor and the concubine followed behind them, and Blanche looked around as much as she could. Theodore knew this house, but she didn't. She would rather memorize the way out from the very beginning so that they could retreat as soon as possible if something went wrong. That shouldn't be the case since Owen and at least forty other guards were accompanying them too. Still, it was good to be prepared. She didn't have a chance to take her time though.

After they crossed the entrance hall with a checkered floor and countless portraits on the wall, Camille spoke up again. “Lady Blanche, are you aware of the meaning of the royal colors?”

The concubine knew exactly what would follow now and almost rolled her eyes at that. By now, she had worn navy and gold too often for anyone to be surprised. Bringing it up was pointless. “I am, Your Majesty.”

The dowager empress and her son stopped in front of a big double door before she turned around. “Then would you care to explain why you are wearing such an attire when only Her Majesty is allowed to appear in a combination of those only two colors? Someone ought to have mentioned your mistake by now. I do not wish to assume that you merely ignored those rules after all.”

Did Camille still not know about the engagement then?

Blanche wanted to glance at Cedar but held back to hide the fact that a secret was hidden in the first place. She focused on Camille and just replied as if she wasn't the emperor's fiancée. She was getting tired of explaining the same thing so often. The dress had been a gift from Theodore, but Blanche wanted to add a bit more of her own words. Naturally, offending the other woman openly wasn't a good idea, so showing another fake smile and using an overly sweet tone was the solution.

“As long as Theo didn't change the law without telling me, there is no rule forbidding it. It is a convention, but no one can be charged for wearing clothes with blue and gold, right? Besides, Theo was the one generous enough to gift it to me. How could I say no to the emperor of Artias?” In the end, she had still mentioned her lover again. But she wasn't done. “Besides, you heard about me being the future mother of the next royal heir already, have you not? It would only be appropriate for me to show some sort of presence when I will be the next dowager empress.”

But seemingly, that had been enough to make Camille fume again. Her mouth opened as she seemed like she would voice a string of insults, only to be stopped when her son squeezed her arm. She only kept quiet to keep herself from exploding after, and the prince's whispering to her made it even more obvious.

When Cedar was done pacifying his mother, he gestured to the servants to have them open the doors. He quickly changed the topic. “Please do not expect too much, but I believe that the dishes will satisfy you anyway. After all, we asked the most skilled chefs from the palace to help us. Please feel free to take a seat.” He gestured toward the medium-sized table that came into view. “We chose to take a smaller table to make sure that we wouldn't have too much of a distance between us. I hope that you do not mind that decision.”

Theodore didn't waste any time moving forward to the table. “We don't mind. Thank you for your concern.” He let go of Blanche's arm to pull back a chair and looked at her with a smile on his face before he whispered to her. “The future dowager empress? It seems like you finally accepted it.”

Blanche swiftly pushed that thought away and whispered back. “Not now.” She sat down and let her lover move her closer to the table before he took a seat on the chair next to her. Right now, the table was only filled with plates and utensils while no food was in sight. Hopefully, there would be enough for her to eat when things got uncomfortable later. That had saved her at the last banquet, but she couldn't be sure whether it would work again. She would favor not needing to distract herself, but she had the suspicion that this meal wouldn't end nicely.

Cedar moved back a chair for his mother as well and let her sit down across from the emperor while he took a seat in front of Blanche. He took a moment to grin at the concubine, which served to make her mood deteriorate immediately.

Blanche almost groaned at that and would have liked to ask her lover to change seats, but that wouldn't happen, and the dowager empress wouldn't be a much nicer seating partner either. So, she just waited patiently for the others to say something.

Camille was the one that spoke up after a short while, her expression still cold. “If you do not mind, we shall begin with the first course now.” When she didn't receive any complaint, she picked up a small bell and rang it to call the servants.

A moment later, a group of servants entered the room with four plates, which were placed in front of the people sitting at the table. Almost instantly, they retreated without daring to make eye contact with anyone. Somehow, it felt like the atmosphere between the staff members and their masters was a bit more strained in this mansion. But that was understandable. It was easy to imagine how Camille would blow up if someone made a mistake or did something that made her feel disrespected. So, the servants probably did their best to avoid being thrown out or severely punished at all times. The food surely looked like it.

Blanche had to admit that the appetizers in front of her made seemed like they would be rather tasty. Still, she was reluctant to start eating when everyone else hadn't even picked up their fork yet. The fact that she didn't trust anything that came from those two might have played a role in her wanting to draw taking the first bite out too.

But Theodore had other plans. He immediately pierced a stuffed mushroom with his fork and brought it to her lips. “Say ‘Ahh’.” To her, it almost seemed like he was keen on embarrassing her in front of those people, but obviously, that wasn't true. He wanted to enrage his mother, and it seemed to work.

Blanche definitely didn't mind annoying his family a bit as long as the emperor was here to protect her. She tried to ignore their spectators and happily took a bite as if they were alone. The mushroom was delicious. But it might have tasted a bit better if Camille wasn't glaring at them as if they had just committed a severe crime.

Cedar just smiled at that display without letting his frustration, if he had any, show. “And? Is it to your liking?”

The concubine almost didn't want to admit it, but she didn't bother lying about such a little thing. “It is. One truly notices how skillful the cooks of the palace are. No one else would be able to create dishes that are so rich in flavor. I must say that I'm impressed each time.” Of course, it tasted even better when her lover was the one feeding her, but she wouldn't voice that.

The prince seemed to be content with her answer. “That is good to hear. They worked hard to create dishes that would satisfy you, so I hope that you will like every single one.” He left a little pause and gestured to a servant that promptly filled four glasses with red wine. “Now that our dinner can start, we finally have a chance to speak to each other in peace for once. There are no prying ears here. It's been over seven years since we've been together like this, hasn't it? Do you even remember the last time?”

Theodore responded while bringing another bite to his lover's mouth. “I do. That was about a week before the trial that convicted you for treason and put you in confinement.” It wasn't really surprising that he had eaten with his family during the time in which he had pretended to be close to his mother.

Still, those words rendered the other two speechless for a moment. Seemingly, they had not expected him to be so open about matters they deemed unpleasant. Cedar coughed a few times before continuing with a smile as if nothing had happened. “I see. I apologize for not being sure about that. Now that you say it, I do remember something like that. How fast time passes by. We don't need to concern ourselves with unfavorable memories of that misunderstanding. We should just focus on the present in which we finally have the chance to be with each other again. Would you grant us the honor of toasting to our family?”

The emperor put on a fake smile as well. “Naturally. How could I not have longed for having dinner with you again? I missed it more than anything else for the past years. So, I am overjoyed to be here today. Obviously, we will remember this day as a wonderful evening, so it would only be becoming to celebrate it properly. Let's hope the best for our family and that Artias may blossom under my reign.” He picked up the glass in front of him and raised it.

Cedar did the same, and Blanche hurried to imitate them. Camille was the one taking the longest as she lifted her glass with so slow and graceful movements that it was clear that she had stalled for time on purpose.

Theodore should have been the first one to drink, so everyone was waiting for him, but he had another idea. He brought the glass to his lover's lips and gave her a blinding smile. Blanche hesitated for a second before moving hers to his mouth. Both tilted their glasses to allow the other one to drink while staring into each other's eyes.

The slightly sweet and fruity flavor in her mouth couldn't compare to being able to look at her lover, who gazed at her with so much affection that she was about to kiss him. For a moment, she completely forgot that they weren't alone and considered leaning over to him. But when they finished their sips and lowered the glasses, she snapped out of it and hurried to avert her eyes before she did anything unfavorable.

Sure enough, this also upset the dowager empress. Well deserved.