If Blanche had a wish, she might have voiced it now. But naturally, she didn't have one.

Everything she had ever wished to own was in her wardrobe already. Any other object she needed could be found in the palace. And there was nothing she wanted her lover to change either. As long as he kept spending time with her, she was content. She had nothing that she needed to change in her life. She could visit her lessons with Leon while Theodore trained and bake a bit while the emperor was in his office. Everything was wonderful and relaxed right now.

Maybe that was why she was so unwilling to allow anything to be different. But if Seraphina did sign the divorce papers, everything would change inevitably. Desperately clinging to the past and denying that option was useless.

But Blanche couldn't bring herself to do anything else at this moment.

Blanche drew small circles onto her lover's shoulder while responding quietly. “I don't have anything I want. Everything I need is already with me. That's why I like your gifts, but I don't require them to be happy.”

Theodore wrapped a strand of her hair around his finger before releasing it again. “I know. But I also know that there are things you find pretty. And then I will give my best to get those for you. I have the chance to give you as many things as you can imagine, so I will exploit that fully. I want you to understand that making you happy brings me joy. That is why I could never be angry at you for liking my presents. I bought them to please you after all. So, I want you to stop feeling bad about accepting them.”

Why was he so insistent on this? It felt like he had a specific reason to be so focused on reminding her of this.

The concubine was silent for a moment. All she could think about was the mountain of gifts that she had received for their anniversary. There was no way that she could take such a big amount without feeling guilty to some extent. The fact that she still didn't want to risk ever being like the hated villainess of “To Be Empress” was enough to make her insist on trying to regulate her lover. But it would be hard to explain that.

“Theo... You know that I love your presents. But...it's too much. Now you give me more than in the past, and still, you add something new each time. I think I own more jewelry than the rest of the noble ladies in the capital by now. This is way too much for one person. I barely managed to wear half of the dresses you gifted me because most of them are so extravagant that putting them on for something other than a ball seems exaggerated. There is no need for me to get more and more each time. Just a little bit would be fine so that I can pay attention to each piece. I don't want to make you believe that I don't value your gifts after all.”

Theodore placed his hand on the side of her face. “I would never believe that. Don't you think that I notice how you try to put on each piece at least once for me after receiving it? I know that you are trying to prove how much you care, but you don't need to do that. Your expression is more than enough. From the very beginning, I gave you gifts because I knew that they would make you happy. The first time that I gave a dress to you was just a day after you arrived here.”

She remembered that. A soft smile formed on her lips.

Theodore smiled back at her, but he seemed to be a little more serious than her. “And the moment that your eyes began shining as you asked me whether this truly was for you, my heart started pounding. Back then, I thought I was getting sick, but that was just me falling in love with you even more. I can remember how I began buying more and more clothes for you after that while using the excuse of you needing one for every imaginable occasion. I sometimes even made some up just to give you more. And I was never disappointed by your reaction. So, you don't have to worry about me not believing that you enjoy my presents. I know that you adore them, and that is what makes me happy too.”

If they both knew that, why would he keep repeating that? But in the end, she was a bit grateful to hear this.

Blanche leaned her head forward and cuddled against him. If he kept saying such things, her memories of the nightmare of the cell might fade away soon. She hoped that they would. Because she clearly hadn't seen her Theodore in that dream. Her lover was the one sacrificing everything for her. As long as she knew that, she shouldn't have to be scared of accidentally hurting him by enjoying his gifts. “Thank you.” She had barely spoken up when he already stopped her.

“Don't thank me. I am the one that is forever indebted to you. I will give my everything to make up for that for as long as I live. And you are the one allowing me to stay with you. So, I need to thank you.”

Blanche listened for a moment before interrupting him in return. “You are always saying things like that when there is no way for me to ever consider pushing you away. My love for you is unconditional. You should know that by now. ”

“I do. That is why I will do everything in my power to prove that my love for you is as strong as yours for me. And we will finally show the whole world that nothing can come between us.” He gently rubbed over her skin before releasing her to hold her hands instead. “Alright?”

She nodded at him and gave in to his kiss. When he lifted his head again to look down at her, she rose to her tiptoes to lean into his embrace for a moment. “I love you.” She immediately received another kiss in response.

“I love you too. You are the one that taught me what that emotion truly means, and I will remind you of that as often as possible.” With that, Theodore slowly loosened his hold on her to step to her side and led her away from the maze.

For a moment, Blanche was silent and wrapped her arms around his as usual. While they steered towards the building, she spoke up. “Will you go to your office now?”

Theodore shook his head. “I'm not in the mood today. The things I need to do can wait until tomorrow. Today, I won't leave your side. We still need to celebrate that everything went well after all. What do you say about having some delicious wine along with a salmon dinner?”

Her previous doubts were wiped away by that immediately. “That sounds amazing. I'm happy that the discussions with Prince Linden worked out. You seem to have a talent for finishing everything within two hours.”

“Of course. I had to make sure that he had enough time outside the meetings. And in the end, it worked out perfectly fine. I was correct about everything, right?”

Blanche was silent for a moment as she thought back to what Theodore had predicted. It was almost scary how accurately he had been able to judge that Seraphina and Linden would get along well. And that the empress would give up her position after this also hadn't been a surprise to him. “I think you were right each time. That's impressive. I couldn't believe that anything like this would happen at all.” The concubine turned her head to look back at the labyrinth. “She was so...different from usual. I mean, last time, she was too. But today, it was even stranger.”

Her lover glanced over at her while responding. “By last time, you are referring to the meeting a week ago, right?”

“Yes, the one in the labyrinth where we....” Blanche paused as she tried to remember whether she had told her lover about that conversation at all. She hadn't, right? She had gone to the maze while Theodore had been in a meeting with the ministers. He had only returned when she was in bed again. That was why she hadn't been with him during that time and probably hadn't mentioned meeting the empress either. Slowly, a frown spread on her face. “Did I ever tell you about that? Or did...”

Theodore slowed his steps to turn to her. He took her head in his and stroked over her skin while gazing at the ring on her finger. “I'm sorry. I asked Owen to tell me about each time you meet that woman. Don't think that I distrust you. I just need to know whether she is planning something. I'm worried about her trying to hurt you. Especially now that...” He didn't finish that sentence, and it looked like he had no intention of doing so even if she stayed silent.

So, Blanche hurried to reply. “It's alright. It's not a secret if I ever meet her. And being cautious is fine. But... I don't think the empress is a threat to us.” Not like this. “She is rather...kind and-”

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Theodore's gaze changed in an instant. He tightened his hold on his lover's hand as he lifted his head and revealed an expression full of hatred. “Nothing about that woman is kind. She is a selfish person that would do anything for power. And she will manipulate everyone around her and get rid of those that are immune to her to reach her goal. She will literally put some drug in your drink as soon as you turn your back and have the nerve to act innocent afterward. You can't trust her no matter what sort of mask she puts on. The only reason that I didn't take care of this problem immediately is that her family would lose all sense of logical thinking then. I can't risk disturbing the political balance too much because of a single life. That is why I need her to go to Northern Ocrea. She has to deal with the political problems there. And it's also to get her far away from here and to ensure that she will never come back, all without ruining the most influential dukedom. But that doesn't mean that I won't change my mind if she ever tries anything.” He sounded too serious for this to be a joke.

Blanche had heard him rant about how awful the empress was a couple of times now, and she was always surprised by how cold he was when it came to the other woman. Could Seraphina truly be a vile person when all the heroine wanted was to help her people? That was important to know.

There was no way, right?

After all, the empress had never harmed anyone or made an attempt to grasp more power. Surely, Seraphina was ambitious but not ruthless. And she was the heroine, so she couldn't be bad. The heroine was always good and won, no matter what. The vile one could only be the villainess. That was obvious.

But Theodore wouldn't accuse someone without any evidence. He had already revealed that there was a reason, but Blanche was still left in the dark.

She didn't remember the reason.

She didn't.

Just because of that, the concubine couldn't hold back her question. “Since when did you...think about her like this? I know that you said that you can't tell me immediately, but I need to know a little before judging. What changed? During the first attack this year, you protected her and saved her life. You got seriously hurt because of that, but you saved her because you cared. And after that, you gave Noah to her so that he could protect her.”

Theodore's expression darkened as he shook his head. “Sir Aldis isn't here to protect her. He is supposed to keep an eye on her and tell me if she plots against us. He is the one needing to be close to her in order to control her. There is no other reason for him to be with her. I even considered moving him from her to you multiple times so that he could protect you instead of wasting his skills while watching that woman. I mentioned that, didn't I?” He had indeed explained that Noah could become the concubine's guard due to the strained situation.

But to think that the knight had been instructed to wait for the empress to try to harm someone else didn't make sense. Did that mean that Theodore had been suspicious of the heroine even when he had placed Noah by her side? That would prove that Seraphina had been right about him hating her ever since the attack back then.

But that had happened over seven months ago. There was no way that the emperor had despised his wife that much ever since then, right?

It would explain why Noah had been acting so strange though. He hadn't been as loyal as in the novel, and that would make sense if he had been told that the empress was likely to betray them at some point. So, he might not see the need to stay by her side when he couldn't watch her and often roamed around while she was busy. It would also be logical for him to have a colder relationship with Seraphina because of his doubts, which could have led to her not always being as gentle with him as in the book. It all made sense.

Blanche could only stare at her lover as her mind tried to process all of this. “Ever since then, you...”

Theodore nodded. “Ever since then, I've been waiting for her to make her move. But she didn't do anything. And that was for her own good. Because if she had tried anything, I would have put an end to that immediately. Killing her might not have been the best choice, but I would have found a way to do it secretly. But it's good that nothing happened because we can use her to form a bond with Northern Ocrea now. We need to prevent the wars and the possible consequences under any circumstances, and this meeting with Prince Linden saved us. But finalizing this friendship with their nation by exchanging people would be perfect.”

The concubine paused at that and averted her eyes. All of that was a lot to take in. Along with the rest of what she had heard from Seraphina, this made the day the most informative one she had experienced ever since gaining the novel's memories. She lifted her hand to massage her temples for a moment before whispering. “And now? You want to send her to Northern Ocrea?”

Theodore slowly grabbed her hand again and held it between his. He was so gentle with her while still having a murderous expression on his face. It was almost ridiculous how stark the contrast was. “I don't have to send her when she will go on her own. You can't imagine how much I'm looking forward to that day. Then I can finally stop acting in front of others whenever she comes. And I won't have to hold myself back from drawing my sword when she begins talking about how unfairly she is being treated. There have been moments in which I have only been seconds away from actually threatening her so that she will leave.” The emperor was rather clear about this not being a joke and spoke without even the slightest trace of sympathy for his wife. “Leon was always the one saving the situation, and you did so a few times too. That's why I will be more than relieved when she is finally gone. Not only will I not risk killing her each time I see her, she also won't stand in the way of you finally taking your rightful spot anymore.” His expression slowly lost his anger. “You can't imagine how hard it was to wait for that. And now it's finally time.”

She was very sure that this could just indicate one thing.

Blanche felt like her blood was running cold. A commoner marrying the emperor was bad enough, but this? He couldn't be serious. She knew that she had to tell him that, but her stomach made her feel sick, and her mouth couldn't produce any words.

Theodore used that chance to cup her cheeks while all of his wrath faded away. “It's fine. We don't need to do it suddenly. The only thing I will tell you now is that there will be no one but you, understand? We will deal with it later when you are ready to talk about it. Alright?”

How could they deal with this when there was only one real option?

Blanche slowly nodded without being sure what she agreed to. She would never be ready for that discussion. Not when she could barely keep her composure upon hearing this. The very thought was too ridiculous for her to accept, no matter how much time passed. She was probably imagining it, that had to be the case. Otherwise, there was no way that the emperor would act so foolishly. She had to be misinterpreting his words.

Even if his serious expression didn't let any doubts about him not joking.

Theodore stroked over her hair for a while before offering to bring her to their room. Blanche gratefully accepted and didn't need much persuasion to be convinced to spend the rest of the day cuddling in bed. By midnight, her head was almost hurting from thinking about all of this so much.

That was the point at which she decided to push everything away. She refused to spend another second worrying about the future that hadn't happened yet. It might have been a coping mechanism to avoid facing the reality that she would eventually have to concern herself with, but she didn't care.

She was used to that at this point.

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

For the next few days, Blanche completely denied herself the right to ponder anything that was related to this topic. When she saw Seraphina from afar, she looked away as soon as possible. When her lover mentioned that he was waiting for the empress to come and sign the divorce papers, she hurried to distract herself. That was why the business of the next two weeks was wonderful.

Even if Theodore did everything in his power to hide as much from her as possible, it was obvious. Blanche quickly noticed that he wasn't actually going to his office when he said he was taking care of urgent matters. In reality, he seemed to focus on planning her birthday party, which unsettled her a bit. After all, the emperor should prioritize his political duties over a ball, but every attempt at bringing this up was ignored.

Whenever Theodore left, Leon was coincidentally free to give her another lesson, which was probably just supposed to keep her from finding out what exactly was being planned. Blanche was able to guess some things due to the decorations that were being carried around by the servants though. Apparently, the garlands and ornaments would be colored in navy and gold, which was a bit risky for a baroness' birthday party.

Likewise, she was skeptical about Theodore sending the invitations with a royal seal, which hinted that this event was held for a member of the royal family. The fact that he did his best to persuade her to invite every single noble in the capital except for Duke Vasquez also didn't raise her mood. After a long time of bargaining, even the dowager empress and the prince were invited to keep up appearances. She was rather convinced that this was a horrible idea, but that part was about the only one they couldn't change.

Theodore was the one that refused to budge on the rest and only promised her that it would be the most lavish celebration she could imagine. She quickly noticed that she had no idea what exactly that meant, and she was scared to find out. The preparations went on in secret, but still, it soon became obvious that all the main rooms in the palace would be decorated.

Blanche first had suspicions when both Stella and Owen kept steering her away from the foyer, the ballroom and the terrace as well as the whole area around it. She didn't take long to understand why there were doing that, but she kept acting stupid just to see how Stella panicked when she insisted on going out through the main exit. But since she didn't have too much time on her own thanks to Leon's involvement, that didn't happen too often.

More than that, Blanche attended lessons and chatted about the party with her lover. Theodore told her about half of the things he had decided to do but kept quiet about the other half, which only served to worry her more. But she would have to lie if she said that she wasn't excited. She was looking forward to her birthday, even if she would have favored doing it in an a little smaller venue.

But at least her lover intended to celebrate with her.

The villainess in the novel hadn't been granted a party anymore. In the book, Theodore had spent the whole day with Seraphina despite being quite unsure about it, which had caused the original Blanche to lose her mind completely. That had probably been the reason for her attempt to poison the empress the next day. But that wouldn't happen this time.

The villainess' original death day was only three weeks away, and the end of the first book would arrive in less than a month. The concubine had been convinced that she would be a bit more scared when that time came after waiting for it for so long, but she wasn't. She knew that this world wasn't the novel. The characters acted of their own will, and everyone's relationships were completely different.

Due to her meddling, she had truly been able to influence her fate and shape a better future with Theodore at her side and friends that cared about her. There was only one disadvantage that was caused by this change, and that was the appearance of Camille and Cedar. They were the ones that were the big threat now and not the novel.

That was exactly why Blanche couldn't be bothered with pondering the novel. No one acted like they had supposed to act anyway, and that even included both of the main characters. So, she focused on the current problems instead.

Aside from the matter of the emperor's divorce, of course. She still pushed that far away.

Instead, she directed her full attention toward the present and enjoyed all the time she had with her lover.