“We really can't mess up the schedule now already. I promised your maid that she would be allowed to bring you her present now.” Theodore surprised her with that.

Blanche turned to her maid. “You got me a gift?” She hadn't been sure whether that would actually happen. After all, she was already swimming in jewelry and anything else, and the servants didn't earn a fortune. So, she had expected nothing more but a little thing, but the other woman was carrying something a bit bigger.

As if she had waited for her cue, Stella spun around and held up the item in her hand. She rushed to the bed and placed a basket with a blanket in front of her mistress. “Happy birthday! Obviously, I cannot buy anything as valuable as His Majesty, so I thought that making it myself would be the better option. I know that it isn't much, but I hope that you will enjoy this.” She looked like she was torn between being happy and slightly embarrassed.

The concubine quickly greeted her with a soft smile. “That you actually took your time to make something for me makes me happy in itself. Thank you, Stella.”

The maid nodded but still stared at the basket in anticipation of what her mistress would think. “This isn't just my gift though. I had the idea a few weeks ago, and Angelica, Darlene and George helped too. Clark made one as well but chose to do something else in addition. We all sincerely hope that you will be able to use them occasionally.”

Blanche got more and more curious. She reached for the basket and pulled it to her to move the blanket aside.

She was greeted by a sea of flowers in all imaginable colors and shapes. At first glance, she thought that they might have been real, but they weren't. She carefully picked one of them up and examined it from up close. The petals were made from different kinds of fabric with metal clasps hidden underneath. These were hair ornaments, and there were at least a dozen of them. Each one looked different from the other ones, and immediately, her mind was filled with attires that would go perfectly with those.

“These are beautiful.” Blanche looked up at her maid. “You, all of you, are way too skilled. You could become a tailor if you wanted to. You cut out every single piece of fabric here to make the petals, right? It was worth it. They are perfect. Thank you.”

Stella's face lit up when she heard that, and all tension seemed to fall off her. “You often said that you didn't want to wear fragile accessories when going to the kitchen or taking a walk. So, I thought that you might like some hair ornaments that definitely won't break. Even if they did fall in such an unfitting way that the clasp was damaged, you could easily replace them by putting the flower on another clasp. They weren't that hard to make either. If one really does end up missing, we can quickly create a replica.” So, she had actually thought that far just because her mistress had complained a couple of times.

In reality, Blanche had mostly been worried about her butterfly ornament and refused to wear it whenever she went anywhere it could be damaged. But until now, she had managed to protect it even though they were already near the ending of the novel. That didn't mean that she would stop being careful though. She would continue to treasure it and never risk it falling out of her hair. That was why this idea here was perfect for her. If she had those flowers, she could easily find some for each of her attires and wear them when she was walking around in more casual clothes. Then she wouldn't need to worry about accessories that might break.

Blanche showed her friend a wide grin. “You really are considerate. I would have never thought of that. Thank you so much.”

Stella beamed like a young child that had been praised. “I'm glad that you like it. The others will be overjoyed too. Now you only have to taste Clark's gift.”

Blanche gazed at the table and wasn't surprised to find that it had already been set. Even from the bed, she could see that all of her favorite dishes were there. The only mystery was a bigger cover that hid its contents underneath. She was fairly sure that this would be her gift from Clark. She grinned at the full table and turned to her maid. “Oh, I'm not sure if I will manage to do that. Look at all the dishes over there. How would I be able to eat all of that?”

Theodore moved his feet onto the floor and stood up. He walked over to her and offered her his hand. “Don't worry about that. I will be glad to help you and Stella will too.” He pulled her to her feet when she took his hand and guided her over to the table. Then he helped her sit down on the chair and pushed her closer to the table. He sat down next to her and gestured to the food. “What do you want to try first? We have a lot of choices. Your favorite soup or salmon and macarons are here too, as well as a citrus cake with blueberries.” As he mentioned that last cake, a soft smile formed on his lips. For a moment, they just exchanged a small glance as Blanche silently thanked him for bringing her mother's favorite gift here even today. Theodore had already made sure to place the cake close to her, so he seemed to know that she would try it soon. At the same time, there were many other options here as well, and he left the choice to her. “You could also start with your friend's present though.”

Blanche nodded at the last part. “Obviously, I need to have room for Clark's gift. There is no way I'll miss out on my mother's blueberry cake either though. Those two have to be eaten first. The rest can wait a little while longer. I feel like we might be able to eat this for lunch and dinner too.” She gestured at the table.

“Oh, I don't think we'll have a chance to have dinner today. After all, your birthday ball will go on until midnight. We might leave an hour earlier again, but we can only enjoy the buffet there. Naturally, all the things you see here will be offered there too. We will have some time to enjoy our food during the ball, and none of your favorite dishes will run away.”

Before the concubine could voice her concerns or her surprise upon hearing that her mother's cake might be offered during a royal ball, Stella chimed in. “And you don't need to worry about the food being thrown away. The kitchen staff always shares the dishes that you didn't put onto your plates. After all, those are still untouched. Like that, we have the chance to try such delicious things for once too.” Only now, the maid seemed to have noticed that the emperor was here too. She froze and averted her eyes before adding another sentence in a quieter voice while fumbling with her skirt a bit. “I mean... Naturally, we would never dare to steal the food that was made for Your Majesty and My Lady.”

Theodore replied to her with a smirk. “I don't mind. It's obvious that this would happen. The food is of great quality, and if we didn't touch it, it's not contaminated in any way either. We need our servants to be happy, so it's good if you have some of the wonderful meals you prepare. There is no way that I would ask you to throw away food that is perfectly fine because I don't want you to enjoy yourselves.”

Stella visibly relaxed at that. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Blanche waited for a moment until they were done and stayed quiet for another few seconds before speaking up. “I agree that it's perfectly fine. But there was something else I wanted to mention. When will the party start?”

Theodore gave her a little smile. “Five o'clock in the afternoon.” That was the same time at which his birthday ball had begun.

She almost hoped that she had heard it wrong before, but she was almost sure that she hadn't. “And you said that it will go until midnight?”

Her lover responded without batting an eye. “Yes. But we'll leave an hour before that again. Is there something wrong with that?”

Blanche opened her mouth to argue but stopped herself at the last moment. It wouldn't change anything about the invitations already being sent. Obviously, the time was set now, so she had to accept it. “You know that making my celebration as long as yours is somewhat strange. I would tell you about how the people will talk about that and wonder why a baroness has such a lavish party. But I doubt that you would care.”

Theodore shrugged. “At some point, they will learn about us marrying. We might as well slowly show it beforehand. I thought the fact that I was always escorting you already gave it away, but seemingly, that isn't enough to make everyone understand.”

Blanche didn't bother arguing with this logic. She quickly pushed away the memory of Seraphina wanting a divorce and of what marrying her lover after that would mean. She wouldn't let that worry ruin her day and focused on the present again. Blanche turned to the cover that was hiding Clark's present and pulled it closer to her.

There was a little note sticking to the top. Someone had written about this being a bribe in cursive letters and promised that there weren't any cherries inside. An additional sentence revealed that Clark's curse regarding this dessert seemed to have been lifted. That was enough to make her guess what it was.

Blanche pulled open the cover and grinned at the apple pie. “Stella, he finally did it. He finally managed to bake an apple pie without burning it.”

The maid immediately rushed to her side to check. “No way! He actually broke his curse. That lucky man. Now the cooks will finally stop complaining about him.”

The concubine nodded at that and grabbed a knife to cut off a slice. As always, her hand was far from steady, but it was enough to go through the baked apple pieces and the thin dough. She cut off three pieces and lifted her head to look at the other two. “Now we only need to check whether it's good.” She smirked at Stella and shoved the plate toward her. “Come one, don't be shy. I understand if you are scared, but it looks like it might not ruin your sense of taste.”

The maid mirrored her grin and pushed the plate back. “But this is your present, My Lady. You have to try it first.”

Actually, Blanche didn't mind that at all. One glance was enough to see how much effort Clark had put into this. It would certainly taste good. As soon as she lifted her fork and ate some of the cake, she knew that she had been right about that. She would have to make sure to thank him later.

The whole meal was as delicious as the cake had been, with the clear favorites being Clark's cake and the blueberry citrus pie. Blanche thought that she might be in the midst of the best chefs in the whole world. Every single of the dishes pleased her so much that she had to hold back from eating more than a little portion. That might have been because all the meals here were those she adored, but they were certainly well-made too. She quickly felt like she had enough, but she didn't have any problems devouring a bit more, which also might have been caused by her lover feeding her.

By the end of breakfast, she was sure that she had eaten enough for the entire day. So, she was happy when they rose and prepared to leave after Theodore proposed a walk to help their digestion.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

In hindsight, believing that it would merely be a walk had been naive, but she followed him with no doubts.

Blanche only started to worry a bit when they walked through the hallways and barely met any people aside from the guards, who all wished her a happy birthday. “Say. Did you make all the servants decorate the ballroom? Why is no one here?”

The emperor hummed at that. “They are done decorating everything. You will see.”

They reached the doors to the entrance hall and stopped for a moment. Upon seeing that those were closed, Blanche had a bad premonition. “Theo. No. Tell me that you didn't-” She wasn't able to finish that sentence.

By the time she had begun, the door was already opened. She just froze upon seeing the people at the bottom of the staircase. Those weren't all the servants of the palace, but there were a lot. She blinked at them with a flabbergasted expression.

It took a moment before the servants spoke up simultaneously. “Happy birthday, Lady Blanche!” Most of them smiled at her, with only a few being slightly irritated at their colleagues' enthusiasm, and then bowed to the emperor.

The concubine was pretty sure that her expression gave away how surprisingly this came. She turned to her lover while still being dumbfounded. She didn't even have a single thing to say about this.

Theodore grinned at her. “Don't look at me like that. It wasn't my idea. Well, it somehow was. I brought it up once, and a couple of servants seemed to like it a lot. Your visits in the kitchen quickly made you the favorite member of royalty, did you know that? Apparently, your cake is magical. Everyone that tasted it and chatted with you for a few minutes likes you a lot now. That's why I thought that it was fine to start this already. Naturally, we will do it when we are married too, so why not begin a bit earlier?”

That wasn't natural at all. Not even the empress had received such greetings even once during her time here. Why would the concubine suddenly get them?

Blanche was still speechless and turned to look at all the people in front of her. She would need to say something to them, right? Speaking in front of such a large crowd would be awful, but she had to thank them at least once. Should she step forward for that?

Theodore took that second decision away from her. He linked their arms and guided her to the top of the staircase.

Leon, Gloria and the steward were waiting next to the stairs and greeted her with a smile. The head maid's one was a bit forced, but the other two genuinely didn't seem to see any faults with this. Even Gloria acted much too compliant if one considered that all of this indicated that Blanche had the same rank as Theodore.

The concubine could only pray that they wouldn't go through the same routine as they used for the emperor. She definitely wouldn't receive a speech now, right? Her hopes were shattered in an instant.

Leonard cleared his throat and stepped forward to speak to them. “I wish you a wonderful and enjoyable morning, Lady Blanche. Happy birthday. May this day, as well as the rest of your life, be full of happiness and luck. This here may have been a bit surprising, but I do hope that you will accept our sincere wishes. The people who gathered here wish to celebrate your presence with joy and gratitude. We all would like to pledge our loyalty to you for the next year, and the following ones, of course. May you stay by His Majesty's side as his partner and guide the nation toward a glorious future along with him. You can rest assured that every person in the royal palace is fully on your side. We will support you as much as before and do our best to help you even more. Please do not hesitate to ask for anything you require.”

By the end of his speech, Blanche was absolutely petrified. Was Leon stupid? How could he say things like this? The only one guiding the nation and staying at the emperor's side was the empress. You could only say that to her. The same held true for his comment about the servants pledging their loyalty. There was no way that he could include this in a speech for anyone that wasn't the empress or wasn't supposed to fill that role later.

The rest, which had indicated that she was a member of the royal family, hadn't been better. Blanche might be Theodore's fiancée, which justified anything but the remark about guiding the country, but no one here knew that.

About half of the servants reacted like she did and gazed at her and the emperor to check how they acted now. The rest of the staff members didn't seem to be bothered by this and just continued to grin. What were all of them thinking? Did they not realize what Leon had said? But even the ones that were confused were simply led astray by Theodore's expression. Her lover still smiled without commenting on what had just been voiced. That convinced most of the servants that it had to be right like that. Only a couple of people looked around in confusion, but no one spoke up. That was the next issue.

Blanche had to thank them now. She had no idea what to say, how to act or whether she would be able to speak without tripping over her own words. She tightened her hold on Theodore's arm, but that didn't stop the pounding in her chest as she forced herself to begin louder than she was comfortable with. “Thank you, Leon. And I thank everyone that came here and sacrificed their time just to congratulate me.” At first, she had to focus to keep her voice from shaking, but as she spoke longer, it became a bit better. “I cannot express how grateful I am to have been taken in and to have been welcomed by all of you. I am aware that there were some issues, and I am terribly sorry for that. But we have been able to move on from that, which fills me with joy. That is why seeing you here today pleases me greatly.”

And it made her nervous, but she couldn't say that.

Luckily, she wasn't doing a too bad job. After all, no one interrupted her, and most people seemed to listen carefully. Then she should probably add the most important part. Theodore always mentioned things like that, so she should do the same.

Blanche forced herself to continue despite the churning of her stomach. “I would like to thank you for your continuous hard work within the royal palace as well. All of us are, even if you may not always receive a note of thanks. Every little of your actions is needed to allow us to move forward. That is why your support is crucial for our whole nation. Only because you work here, we have the chance to do our best to help the country as well. Never forget that. May Artias continue to flourish with our competent ruler leading it.” By the end, she wasn't even sure what she had said just now.

Blanche was pretty sure that she should have phrased most things a little differently, but now it was too late. She just hoped that she hadn't said anything stupid and embarrassed herself. But the fact that no one was grimacing made it seem like it had been fine.

A few seconds after she finished, the servants began clapping, which only made her want to curl up and hide.

Theodore was the one keeping her from doing that by pulling her into his arms. “You did well. See? All of them love you.”

Blanche shook her head weakly. “I don't think so. They are applauding because you are here.”

“That's not true. The ones that didn't want to congratulate you didn't come. As you can see, the rest is here of their own will. I never forced them. From what I heard, four servants were the ones that really pushed this forward. I think you would recognize them.”

The concubine turned to the crowd downstairs again and couldn't help smiling when she saw four familiar faces smiling at her. She waved toward them and showed them a grin.

George and Darlene eagerly waved back, with Angelica doing the same thing a bit more carefully. Clark crossed his arms and acted like he wouldn't wave, but in the end, he did so anyway.

And just a few steps away from them, she saw another familiar face. Harris blended into the group well, but his presence still reminded her.

Blanche hadn't told her friends about Harris being a traitor yet. Maybe she should do that to ensure that they would be more careful around him. She didn't know what kind of orders Cedar would give and couldn't risk her friends getting hurt. At the same time, spreading the news wasn't a good idea. After all, Harris was being forced to do something he didn't want to do at all. Letting other people know about that would ruin his chances of getting out of this unharmed.

The concubine's smile slowly faded as she turned her head back to her lover and spoke up in a whisper. “Do you think that we should inform them about Harris? If they don't know, something bad might happen.”

Theodore shook his head and replied in the same low volume. “Gloria knows that she should pay attention to him. She will monitor him, and in case he starts acting strangely, she will intervene.” That was calming. The head maid might have liked Harris before, but she would know what to do if anything bad happened.

Blanche relaxed at that and let her gaze roam across the servants again while trying to focus on one of the many concerns that had rushed through her mind. Only months ago, she had never believed that a single person in the palace except for her lover cared for her. Back then, him being this open about his affection for her had been an unimaginable wish too. And suddenly, everything had changed. She couldn't be happier with any other change. She adored her new reality that was far away from the novel's one. Now they would only have to deal with the dowager empress and the second prince, and then everything would be perfect.

The concubine leaned her head against Theodore's chest and beamed when he patted her head. She was more than grateful just for the fact that she could be here with him, even after he had found out about her past already. It seemed like their relationship was truly perfect at this point. She had never expected that to happen so smoothly.

The emperor smiled at her and brought his lips to her ear to whisper something. “You look adorable when you grin at me like that. It just makes me want to shower you with even more love, affection and-”

Another voice chimed in. “I thought that you were just torturing me like that, but it seems like you enjoy bothering the entire palace. If your interactions get even sweeter, you might actually poison everyone here.” Of course, Leon was the one standing by their side.

Theodore smirked at him. “Oh, really? If it can get even sweeter, we aren't doing enough.” He glanced down at his lover and brought his hand to her chin to guide her head up. “It seems like we need to work a bit harder in that case.” He laid his lips on top of hers and gently pulled her closer to him.

Blanche thought about stopping him for a moment. They were still being watched by so many people after all. But as soon as their lips met, every single thought vanished from her head. She just put her arms around his neck and let her body fall into his embrace.

The thing that eventually ended their kiss was Leonard sighing. “I didn't mean to provoke you. It truly seems like you misunderstand everything.” He held his hand to his forehead and watched them with fake annoyance. “If you ever need to spend a week apart, I'm sure that both of you will get sick.”

Blanche shrugged. “Maybe. But you can't let the emperor get sick. So, we can't risk it no matter what, which means that no one will ever be able to separate us.”

Leon glanced at Theodore while responding. “To be honest, I fear for the safety of everyone that will try it. You can't imagine how scary a certain someone can be sometimes. That I received orders to prevent him from killing someone that might try this says everything. So, you don't need to worry about ever being able to leave. But that wasn't what I wanted to talk about at all.”

The emperor spoke up while resting his chin on his lover's head. “Exactly. What do you want? You surely didn't come here just to annoy us, right?”

“No, I did not. Even if I have to admit that me coming here was also to prevent the others from being blinded by so much attachment.” Leon turned to the concubine and greeted her with a bright smile. “I wanted to wish you a happy birthday again. That a moment ago was my speech as His Majesty's advisor. This now is my personal wish. I hope that you will continue to live here in peace and will stay healthy and happy. Even if you might have a little more to do from now on, you will get as much help from others as possible. And since His Majesty never works more than two hours, you also will never be forced to do much more. So, you can relax. As long as you don't forget to attend our lessons.”

Blanche showed him a smile in return. “Thank you. I'll make sure that I won't spend a moment without thinking about that.” She wouldn't ever miss a lesson since she had attended one almost every day by now. She knew that she had to learn a lot. So, that comment didn't bother her. The rest made her worry a bit though. “But we need to talk about something. You said some strange things today, you know? I'm happy to receive your good wishes, but you should pay a bit more attention to what you are voicing in public. That just now was odd. And that thing about guiding the country could have been phrased better too. That made it sound completely wrong too.”

Leon gave her a skeptical look. “There is nothing wrong about that. I said all of this purposefully. I think you should have noticed what the future will offer you by now. You're not that dense. Besides, you're His Majesty's wife, so it's normal for people to go on about how you are helping him with the nation.”

But he hadn't meant just that. The first part had given it away.

Blanche felt her blood drain from her face. She was hot and cold at the same time as she gazed to the side and shrank in herself at the expressions that Gloria and the steward showed before quickly turning to the secretary again. “Don't say that so loudly. Others will hear. We didn't marry yet!”

Leonard crossed his arms. “Not yet, but you will get married soon enough. It's not like you have a choice. I wrote that contract with the intention of making it impossible to break. You wouldn't get out of it even if the both of you wanted to. So, you will be married by the end of next year at least. Unless both of you die before that, which I wouldn't want to witness, there is no way to get rid of it. And since His Majesty was kind enough to bring the copy to the highest ranking judge in Artias, there is no going back even if the contract disappears. Your dear lover made the judge swear that he would testify about this if needed. So, you can rest assured that you will become a member of the royal family in the near future. And now just any member of royalty, but-”

Theodore cut him off there. “That's enough for now. Let's not deal with this topic today.” He looked down at his lover and gave her a soft smile. “I will wait as long as you need me to. We will discuss this later. We have other things to do now.”

Blanche thanked her lover with a small kiss on his cheek. Inwardly, she denied that the secretary could have mentioned what she thought he was referring to and pushed that subject far away. Today, she would focus on completely different things. She could panic about all of this tomorrow. “It sounds like our schedule is quite full. What will we do next?”

The emperor's smile widened. “We have enough time before the ball. So, I thought that we could hunt for a treasure.” Oh. He already wanted to add more gifts. What a surprise.