“It is. It's that poison.” Blanche only took a single glance to figure out that Cedar had put a flask with the very poison that had once been used on her onto the table. Theodore had warned her about his brother buying something odd, but it was this? This was a huge issue. But seemingly, only the couple really cared.
Camille just calmly ate a piece of her cake while scanning the other woman with disgust in her eyes.
Cedar was the one that spoke up without seeming very affected. “What are you talking about? I can assure you that there is nothing else inside but the herbs I mentioned. Is it not to your liking?”
Theodore, on the other hand, had lost his temper by now. He stood up without a warning while slamming his hand down on the table. “We're leaving.” He pulled Blanche up as well and stomped to the door. She only heard the two others yell behind them.
Camille was the louder one. “How dare you leave like that? Accusing us of crimes will not gain you anything! How dare you disrespect us like that?”
Cedar was calling after them too and still didn't let go of his fake kindness. “Please wait! There is nothing harmful inside, it is merely-”
Theodore slammed open the door with his free hand so that it hit the wall outside. He spun around to his family one more time and showed them his expression, which would deserve to be called a personification of wrath. “Shut up. You should thank the gods that she didn't drink it. If you ever try that again, I will kill you. Whether I can use a sword or need to use my hands to break your necks. Don't think that I won't do it just because of rumors. If I'm a tyrant already, I will gladly murder my own family to prove it.”
Blanche knew exactly what was happening now. Theodore had warned her about him needing to react with a bit more wrath today. Still, the sight was quite unpleasant. At least her lover's anger wasn't directed at her.
Frankly, Cedar's reaction was a bit concerning since he just smiled back despite the obvious threat. He seemed like this sort of tension between the family didn't bother him at all.
The expression on Camille's face was priceless though. She was absolutely speechless and shocked by this harsh tone so that she could only stare at the emperor with wide eyes. Only for a moment though. After that, her face scrunched up as she screamed back, her voice so shrill that it hurt to listen to her. “You filthy murderer! You worthless imbecile! How dare you? You already killed your father, and now you-”
Theodore didn't pay attention to that. He ran out of the room. Not without speaking to the next royal guard though. “They are not to leave this building from now on. Arrest all the servants here immediately. Put them in the cell and don't let them see any sunlight for the next week. Only give them the necessary amount of water and bread. I will question every single person myself.”
The knight looked like he was fearing for his life right now. He nodded in a hurry before storming into the dining room along with the other guards while some others ran through the mansion.
Seconds later, the dowager empress began yelling even louder. “How dare you? Theodore, get back here! I'll make you beg for forgiveness!”
The emperor didn't listen. He strode forward so fast that Blanche almost didn't manage to follow behind him. He was basically dragging her out of the building and to their carriage while she hurried with him and tried to look as shocked and worried as possible. They just needed to keep acting like this until they were alone, which her lover quickly ensured. Theodore lifted her up into his arms and climbed inside before shutting the door behind them with a loud crash.
All of that went by so quickly that Blanche had barely had a chance to act and add to her lover's play. She had just followed him, but seemingly, that had been enough too. She looked up at Theodore to scan his expression.
As expected, he had stopped the act.
Theodore didn't even show a hint of fury anymore. Instead, he gazed at her with concern and brought his hands to her face. “Are you alright? I'm sorry for that just now. You didn't touch that stuff, did you?”
Blanche slowly shook her head while showing her lover a little smile. “I didn't touch it. I was a bit surprised to see that poison, but thankfully, nothing happened. Are you fine? I know this was planned, but... It was still quite showy.”
The emperor's face scrunched up. “Well, I was really upset, so I guess it wasn't just an act. But luckily, I was prepared. There is no way that I would trust them not to do anything strange. When Cedar asked someone to retrieve a vial from the capital, I already knew that they were planning something. I don't think he wanted to poison you since he made it rather obvious so that you'd notice. But he must have intended to make you react in some way.” While he spoke, he gently brushed over his lover's hair.
Blanche found Cedar hard to read, but she agreed with Theodore's judgment. The prince wouldn't actually want to kill her so openly, she was sure of that. That was quite calming. She wouldn't be happy with others trying to make her swallow that horrible poison again. Still, the whole situation didn't quite make her feel at ease. “It's great that you found out. But you need to give me the details next time. I was surprised when I saw that poison. Plus, your acting is too convincing. I actually worried that you would do something bad.” She wrapped her arms around his torso and leaned against him.
Her lover stroked over her back and gently brushed his fingers through her hair. “I'm sorry for not saying any more, but I couldn't be sure whether it would be the poison until today. Just know that you were never in any danger. I made sure that each drink and plate wasn't the one that was supposed to be for us. I asked the cooks to make replicas for us before so that we would have food that wasn't tampered with. So, you could never have drunk any poison. And regarding that act just now...” He leaned back to look into her eyes while seeming quite dejected. “I purposefully acted this angry because me being calm would have made them suspect that I was aware of them bringing poison here. I couldn't risk that. While I did warn you, it wasn't enough, and I'm sorry for that. I shouldn't have shown you something so unsightly either.” He placed a kiss on her head before cupping her cheeks again.
Blanche re-positioned her arms on his back to move closer to him. “It's perfectly fine. You are a nice sight even when you are angry. Plus, you told me enough for me to brace myself. Our act worked well, so don't worry. The question is what we will do now. Can you blame them for trying to poison me?”
Theodore shook his head. “Cedar didn't put it in your drink. He just presented it to you and gave you the option of using it. Surely, I could put him on trial and win since one could see the intent, but it wouldn't give him a severe punishment. I could try to blame the last poisoning on him by using this vial as evidence. I would have to create some evidence for that though. If it becomes necessary, I would rather wait for this to be near the end. Then we could pin more crimes on them. For now, we will focus on investigating in secret. We need to find out one thing first. What did Cedar try to do with this? Making me mad wouldn't help him, and he is only risking being affiliated with poisoning you. Surely, he didn't want to kill you so openly either. There is no way my scheming brother would be that foolish. Did he say something that would give his intentions away?”
Blanche scanned her lover's face for anything that would betray that his determination was fake, but he seemed to be honest about blaming his brother for random crimes with false evidence if needed. She couldn't even bring herself to think about why this made her uneasy despite agreeing that this might be the right course of action. So, she concentrated on trying to help Theodore instead of questioning his behavior. “Well, Cedar insisted on this being a harmless mixture made with herbs and water. I think he said that someone brought this from the coast of Travuan. He claimed that he just offered it to me because he liked drinking it with tea.”
Theodore kept his hands on her cheeks while staring past her and thinking about what she had said. He remained in that position for a moment before he stiffened. “I know that someone recently went to Travuan during their vacation, but why...”
Oh.
Blanche felt a shiver creep up her neck. “Right. Now that you say it... Didn't they...”
Theodore solemnly nodded. “The Vasquez family. They were there during the summer. I am sure that they were. They mentioned it during a ball. It would fit together with their servant being the one to bribe that maid. But why would Cedar want to prove our suspicions true? That would only make sense if he was involved and wanted them to take the fall. But aren't they his greatest support? Why would he risk me seeing them as guilty and punishing them for this matter?” He was right. That didn't make much sense.
Blanche chewed on her bottom lips while thinking about that. She only managed to find one solution that seemed to be somewhat logical. “You threatened that you would crush Duke Vasquez at the last tea party. That would mean that the whole household might lose most of its power. Then they wouldn't be that much of a help anymore. Maybe the dowager empress tries to blame everything on them and then wants to get rid of unnecessary baggage.” She paused for a moment before adding another thought. “Or not. I mean, the duchess is her sister, right? She wouldn't betray her like this, would she? Though... When you look at that woman, even family doesn't seem to matter to her. She tried to kill her own son often enough.”
Theodore's expression already said everything about what he was thinking. “Exactly. She would betray her own sister gladly. I think she would burn the whole world if she managed to make me fall because of that. Like with the house of Besseta, she has no issues crushing anyone to gain an advantage. That might be what this is about. But that can only be beneficial for us. If our enemies are beginning to claw at each other's throats, we can take both of them down at the same time. We don't know if Duke Vasquez is actually responsible for the poisoning, but it wouldn't surprise me. I wouldn't care if he is innocent either. I said that I would ruin him, and I will make that promise come true. At this point, I already started crushing his sources of income one after the other. If he happens to be accused of murder, it will only speed up the process.”
The concubine nodded to herself as she prayed for their opponents to get weaker. Maybe this incident had brought them some sort of information then. “Can you use today in some way too? I know that you won't be able to put them on trial, but...”
A little smile spread on Theodore's lips. “Indeed. That is the main reason that I didn't keep them from receiving the vial and only made sure that people would protect our dishes. I needed to arrest the servants. Not for real, of course. They are innocent. I chose the most loyal servants to take care of this place. The one that was asked to transport the vial immediately informed me after getting the order, so I can be rather sure. I am only using them being arrested as an excuse to question them about what is going on here. Some pretend to be traitors that support the dowager empress, and I need to find out what they know without revealing their true identities. So, I am making everyone go to the palace. There, they will sleep in their cozy guest rooms for a week and tell me about what they experienced before being sent back to the enemy with an excuse for their disappearance.” Of course, he had planned something like that already.
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Blanche couldn't help but beam at him. “That is a genius idea. But did you warn them? Otherwise, they might have a heart attack.”
The emperor chuckled at that and grinned at her. “They know. Before they started working here, I told them that I may imprison them to ask some questions. They know that I won't arrest them for no reason. It will take a while until I can release them to make it seem like there was a serious investigation, and that will be difficult to do. As long as even one person has some valuable information though, it was worth it. I need to find out whether the dowager empress met with some assassins again and whether they are as clueless as they pretend to be or whether they secretly know more.”
Blanche leaned forward and used the backrest to support herself so that she could reach her lover's face. She gave him a small kiss. “You are amazing. It's almost like you can foresee the future. You were able to come up with such a good plot and even acted so well that no one would be able to tell the difference.”
Theodore's smile dimmed a bit. “It's not much. If I want to act angry, I just need to think about them trying to harm you, and the necessary wrath is there. I really considered drawing my sword just to threaten them a bit, but I wouldn't have been able to stop myself if I did that. I already killed in front of you, and I don't want to do it again.”
An image of that assassin being stabbed and falling to the floor appeared in front of Blanche's inner eyes. She had hated seeing that person bleed out. But more than that, she had despised the thought of Theodore being in danger. She lifted her hand and stroked over his hair. “I don't mind that, and you know it. It wasn't pretty, but it had to be done. You protected me and yourself. I would never hold that against you. I would only worry about you getting in trouble if you killed your family. And...you know how good Cedar is with a sword. Please don't enter combat with him.”
The very thought of that made her shiver.
Theodore didn't like that option either. He averted his eyes while replying. “I can assure you that there would be a lot of trouble if I had to... That is the last thing I should do. Cedar could probably challenge Owen to a duel and win, and we don't need that. So, let's not involve physical combat in our plans unless there is an emergency. And even if I was able to get rid of them some other way, it might be hard. I am convinced that I would be able to stabilize everything despite that, but I don't want to risk it. If I need to kill them, we'll have to use a more subtle method. I did want to keep them alive, but...” It almost sounded like he was seriously thinking about killing them.
Blanche completely understood him. Their enemies' lives didn't matter too much to her. Something else was the problem here. “You should try to prevent it though. I really don't want you to get in trouble.” Both the legal consequences and the mental ones worried her too much. After all, Theodore had often said that he didn't want to kill his opponents if there was another way.
Plus, she didn't want him to kill Cedar either. Theodore should rather come up with something else that would capture their enemies forever. Even then, Blanche found herself wishing Camille much more pain and terror than Cedar, but she didn't admit that.
Theodore gave her a little smile and pulled her closer to him again. “I will be careful, so you don't have to fear for me. Would you wait here for a bit? I have to go back inside to take care of something. I can't leave the vial with such a strong poison outside on a table, so I will give it to Leon. He can help us a lot by examining the mixture. I'm sure that he will be able to find out some things that may give us some kind of clue.”
Blanche nodded at him and pressed one last kiss onto his lips before letting go of him. “Then go get it before someone else puts their hands on it.”
Theodore gave her a few seconds to climb off his lap before he stood up. “I may or may not use this chance to threaten my dear family a bit more. It will not take long though. Owen is right by the door. Call him if something happens.” With that, he left the carriage and walked over to the building again.
True to his words, Theodore returned after a few minutes.
Cedar brought the emperor to the door and showed the same blinking smile as always, but he made sure to keep some distance from his brother. They spoke for a moment, with Theodore bringing something up multiple times while it seemed like Cedar didn't budge as the emperor grew more and more frustrated. The conversation ended quickly. When Cedar watched how Theodore left, he met the concubine's gaze and stared at her for a moment even though she had sure that he shouldn't see her in this dark carriage. The only reason she could make out his face was that the entrance of the building happened to be lit up by lanterns after all. But she had no way of being sure, so she just maintained eye contact to seem strong and held still until Theodore came back to her.
Her lover climbed back inside with the vial in his possession and immediately ordered the coachman to bring them to the palace.
For a while, Theodore was just silent. When he eventually spoke up, his voice was a bit too weak. She could quickly hear why he was so tense too. “Cedar...repeatedly told me that Duke Vasquez was the one buying this little flask. He didn't even find excuses aside from that. He just said it so openly. That is odd for him. I don't trust this.”
That was true. Cedar wouldn't reveal his allies' faults so easily. They both knew that.
Blanche could already guess why Theodore told her. “I see. He is adamant about that then. But I don't know why he wishes to blame this on Claude. Then they might really have infighting, but why?”
Theodore shrugged. “Both the dowager empress and Duke Vasquez are power-hungry and wish to control everything. It was only a matter of time until they argued. But to think that they would give up their strongest supporters like this. It doesn't make sense unless they need to blame the poisoning onto someone desperately.” Theodore narrowed his eyes. “I don't think that this Cedar's way of buying time for himself though. There is no trial happening right now. And what he shared was said with the intention of directing our attention to Duke Vasquez. Camille would gladly wish to sacrifice people that start to annoy her no matter who they are, so I would believe that she could make things up. But not Cedar. He would never reveal this even if he knows who brought the poison. He would never reveal this unless he feels like the Vasquez family needs to be taken care of.”
That thought alone was troublesome. The fights between the factions had been bad enough, and now it seemed like things became even more complicated. Blanche didn't trust this at all. Theodore didn't either, which made him hug her tighter.
On their way back, they didn't talk much and just cuddled while being lost in their thoughts. They would have enough time to speak for hours when they retreated to their room, so a short pause was perfect right now, especially when such unpleasant thoughts rested on their minds.
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It should have been logical for Theodore to spend some more time away from his lover when he was busy questioning the servants and setting up more security measures around them. But logic didn't seem to apply to this man in some cases.
Theodore didn't stay away for longer than the usual two hours and didn't focus on Prince Linden, even though the date of the guest's departure came closer. Still, he somehow managed to work out one contract after the other and signed about a dozen different ones with the crown prince. In addition to that, he was already sending back the first servants to the confinement mansion after talking to them while listening to more testimonies about people that observed the Vasquez family, whose members hadn't done anything special.
Apparently, there wasn't any news except for the affirmation that Camille had not met with any mercenaries in the past month. Theodore was content with that and returned to ignoring his family while using the incident as an excuse to forbid Cedar from entering the palace for the next two weeks. That was enough to make sure that the prince would not be able to see Linden again, which was probably for the best.
Linden himself just continued to spend all of his free time with Seraphina. With the knowledge that they certainly weren't just friends, all of their interactions seemed to consist of romantic gestures. With every conversation, they appeared to bond more and always agreed with each other. They were often more relaxed around one another and smiled when they thought that others weren't watching. Occasional fleeting touches were normal as well.
Still, they never did anything that would reveal that they were having an affair in public. Merely the fact that they often retreated to the labyrinth made the concubine guess that the less hidden displays of affection would follow then. Blanche was somewhat happy to see that those two had found their happiness so quickly even if she worried about what would happen if the public found out. Wouldn't it trouble the relationship between Artias and Northern Ocrea if a political guest had an affair with the host's wife? Blanche could tell that it would be better to hide this.
But time passed by way too quickly, and the end of Linden's visit arrived at some point. Even if he had prolonged his stay two times, he still had to leave at some point.
And that troublesome day had come now.
The servants already had been busy packing for the last few days and were finally close to finishing their tasks. That announced the departure more than anything else.
Blanche wasn't the one being emotional since she had only spoken to the crown prince occasionally. A part of her felt bad for Seraphina, but that was about her only personal involvement. Even this was too much though. She probably shouldn't worry about the empress, who was still in a position that could cause issues for Blanche in the future.
But at the same time, the heroine was in an unfavorable situation right now. She was married to a man that seemed to hate her and liked to cling to his concubine, whom he would also marry. She was unable to take political action due to her husband's resentment and had no way to change anything about that. Now she had finally met someone that made her happy, and that person would have to travel back home.
Northern Ocrea was so far away that a trip there with a carriage would take two weeks. Linden was the future ruler of that nation while Seraphina was the empress of Artias. Neither of them could just run away. They would be forced to stay in the spot that was intended for them to take and live without one another.
Feeling like inevitable obstacles separated you from your lover was something Blanche understood too well. Thus, she was unhappy about this day, even when she wasn't connected to the couple at all. She would even like to skip saying the goodbyes because seeing Linden and Seraphina now would be somewhat tragic. It almost made her want to believe Theodore's premonition.
“I don't think you need to be sad about them. They will see each other again very soon. You didn't forget about me wanting to send her to Northern Ocrea, did you?”
Blanche lifted her head off the pillow and scanned her lover's expression with skepticism. “No, but I take you're not serious about that. There is no way that the empress would actually give up her position. She dealt with your antics for far too long to throw it away all of a sudden. She might love Linden, but she wouldn't leave her beloved home country for him.”
The heroine of the novel cared for Artias way too deeply. But on the other hand, the Seraphina from “To Be Empress” also would never have an affair. At least not a serious one. Maybe a fake one in an attempt to attract her husband's jealousy despite failing miserably.
Blanche let out a snort at the thought and focused on the present again instead of focusing on the vague memories of some scenes from the novel that somehow didn't seem to fit in with the whole story.
Theodore sat down next to his lover and patted her back. “Then I will claim the opposite and say that she is eager to run away because she doesn't want to deal with my antics anymore. Let's hope that that is the case because I truly couldn't have been much more direct without pointing a sword at her neck. But no matter who is right, we have to say goodbye to Prince Linden. That means that you need to stand up now.”
The concubine let her head plop down again. “I know.” She let out a drawn-out sigh before rolling onto her back and sitting up. “I would actually hope for you to be right. I mean, it's too sad when people fall in love and can't be together.”
Her lover grabbed the brush from the nightstand and went through her hair once more to untangle the knot she had created while rolling around on the bed. “Since she tried to keep us apart, she deserves to experience the same thing and much worse. But I feel like you might not have grasped that the whole situation is a bit more complex when she decides to leave at some point.” He tapped her nose. “It would influence the political situation, the economy and a lot of the relationships in the capital. Like I said, there will be so many advantages that any other option would seem horrible.” He finished combing her hair and stood up to put the brush away. “But we have some time left. You'll see what the biggest advantage will be.”
Blanche allowed him to pull her to her feet before following him to the dressing room. “You know that I'm still convinced that she would never run away, right? After all, she feels responsible for Artias. No matter what you may-” She cut herself off as she saw what her lover was picking out for her. “No. I will not ruin her day even more by putting on a tiara.”
Theodore gave her a bright smile before putting the accessory back onto the dresser again. “It was worth a try. We will just have to go with the best piece of jewelry then.” He presented her with the butterfly ornament and gently put the clasp in her hair when she beamed at him. “It's perfect.” He pressed a kiss onto her cheek before leading her to the entrance door. “Then we are ready, right?”
The concubine nodded and interlocked their fingers while they left the room. She greeted Stella and Owen with a smile before lowering her voice and whispered to her lover. “Say, will Leon come today? Yesterday, he was rather...busy.”
For the past few days, the secretary had done his best to investigate what the poison Cedar had brought consisted of. It was surprising, but he seemed to have experience with this sort of matter. He had had some issues with that investigation from the very beginning, but yesterday had been particularly bad. He had voiced some interesting curse words while the couple had watched in confusion.
Theodore let out a small chuckle. “I think he will come. He might have dark rings under his eyes, but he will definitely be polite. He has enough time now. Thanks to his exaggerated ambition, he actually finished his research already. He just told me the result. The poison we found is unfinished. One or two ingredients are missing. It isn't harmful yet, which means that no one could ever blame Cedar for having it. It's no wonder that that bastard was so certain that he wouldn't get punished.” By the end, his expression had darkened a bit, but he pushed those thoughts away. “But we can't do anything at this moment. So, we should focus on one thing at a time. And now that will be bidding farewell to Prince Linden and asking him to take that woman with him.”
Blanche ignored his last comment and just walked downstairs with him. Even though she tried not to think, she slowly got worried though.