Henry's fury was never nice to witness. Obviously, it was even worse today. After everything audacious the couple had done, the following conversion couldn't be friendly.

And now the concubine had to address him. Great. She could immediately come up with all kinds of things that would be more pleasant, but she had no choice if she didn't want to be impertinent. “Good evening, Your Grace. I am honored to see that you and your family took time out of your busy day to see us. It is a pleasure that you are here to enjoy this event. Were there any issues during the trip here?” She hoped that this didn't sound like she made fun of them for being forced to come due to the emperor's invitation.

Henry narrowed his eyes at her and opened his mouth, which caused his wife to pinch his arm. He looked at Elaine, who whispered something to him. That made him stay silent for another moment before his face fell. Then he raised his head to the concubine again. “Good evening, Lady Blanche. May you enjoy this wonderful day. We are here to congratulate you on your birthday. We hope that you will stay healthy and full of energy this year too. There weren't any issues during our trip.” One could see how defeated he felt upon being forced to say that. It might have even made the concubine feel a little bad if he hadn't spoken in such an icy tone.

But now, Blanche just continued to show a polite smile. “Thank you, Your Grace. As I said, it is an honor to welcome you here. Naturally, receiving your wishes is only an even greater honor. It is good to hear that you arrived here without problems. I hope that your daily life is as unproblematic as before. Is that the case, Your Grace?” She glanced at the duchess.

Elaine managed to put on a little grin as well even if hers was rather strained, probably thanks to her fear of her husband losing his temper. She kept glancing at him while speaking. “Happy birthday, Lady Blanche. We will make sure to treasure such a wonderful celebration and are extremely grateful for your invitation. Thankfully, we cannot complain about any difficulties. I assume that life within the royal palace is calm as well?”

Theodore chimed in at that. “Right now, there aren't any issues. Fortunately, some minor incident two weeks ago was resolved quickly. Since Prince Linden left, it has been way more relaxing. After all, some specific person kept approaching our guest, and now we can finally send him away. That alone is enough to raise our mood. Good evening, Your Grace. I am happy to see that you and your family are doing well. It may be a little inappropriate to ask this now, but I'm curious. How is that matter going?” He became a bit more serious as he addressed this. “Is there anything special going on, or will it end like expected? I heard that she was brought into the most secure prison in the capital. Were there any strange movements?” He was referring to Evelyn, which didn't quite make the mood any better.

Elaine's face fell as she was forced to remember her traitorous sister. “Fortunately, nothing much happened. My sister is still...delusional. She insists that we, or rather my husband, will come to help her no matter how often she is told that it won't happen. She just keeps talking about events that never took place and misinterprets ones that did occur. At the same time, she caused a scene multiple times, which is why the guards already have a strong dislike for her. I don't think that she will be treated very kindly.” She lowered her gaze to the floor, and it was Henry's turn to pat her hand. It was easy to understand how horrible she had to feel after all that had happened during the emperor's birthday party. Evelyn had even confessed to trying to kill Elaine in her youth, which certainly added another dent to the younger sister's well-being. At the moment, it would be hard for Elaine to process all of this.

Theodore gave her a moment to calm down before responding. “I see. That is what we expected. I do not mean to interfere with your decisions, but I would not recommend going to meet her again. Her illness will not get better if she sees you and believes that you will help her at some point. But I do not care much for her. I am only worried about it taking a toll on you.”

Elaine forced herself to smile. “Thank you for your consideration, Your Majesty. We will take care of this matter soon. I thank you for your support during the investigation and the trial. And naturally, we cannot thank Lady Blanche enough either.”

Immediately, the concubine's smile became more nervous as well. She still had no idea how to deal with praise for saving Grace when she had just acted like any other person with the novel's memories would have. So, addressing this topic was always uncomfortable for her. Still, she chose to speak up to avoid ignoring the other woman. “While I am grateful for your support, there is no need to thank me. I was merely reacting to a threat like anyone else would have. I did that gladly, and I would always do it again without expecting anyone's praise.”

Henry narrowed his eyes at that and looked to the side as if he was annoyed. Elaine gave him an irritated look, which almost gave this scene a comical appearance.

Blanche still expected that she might have a problem with Duke Duremont unless she ended the conversation as soon as possible. So she hurried to speak up to address Allen. “It is good to see that you are healthy too, Lord Duremont.” At least she couldn't see any dark circles under his eyes, which made it seem like he hadn't had any other nightmares. It appeared like the herb-tea had helped him. “I assume that you do not have many issues when your family is relaxed.”

Allen nodded at her. “Happy birthday, Lady Blanche. I hope that you are well on this joyful day. Fortunately, I did not encounter trouble. It was very relaxed. It is good to hear that there weren't any issues in the palace either.”

Theodore took over once more. “Naturally, we are rather thankful too. We can only hope that it will stay like this in the future. Thanks to the royal guards, we feel very safe too. Even if there are some smaller issues outside, we have no problems within the palace walls.”

That concluded everything that they were required to say to each other. It was clear to see that no one here wanted to speak more than absolutely necessary. So, the concubine was tempted to offer the family to hand over the gifts now just so that they could leave after. But at the same time, proposing it this quickly might be a little disrespectful. Staying silent was awful too, so she would have to start another topic before they just stared at each other.

But she didn't have any idea what to talk about. Mentioning Seraphina was a death sentence and would make it seem like she was mocking the empress. Chatting about Linden felt strange too when she knew about his relationship with the empress but wasn't sure whether the Duremonts were aware. Aside from that, there wasn't much she desired to tell the other family. In fact, there was close to nothing she wanted to mention. After all, it felt like Henry was a bit less upset than he should have been today. Maybe Seraphina had warned him not to provoke the emperor, but no one knew how far the duke's patience would go.

So, Blanche just sat there and smiled at them without having a clue about what she should say. There was nothing new in her life aside from the royal couple's looming divorce and her lover's wish to possibly give her a rank that she would struggle with a lot. Naturally, saying any of that was a horrible idea. Wasn't there some extremely superficial topic she could address? There had to be something like that. She just needed a little idea, just something that would give them a chance to speak a bit longer.

A memory of Allen mentioning his interests flashed through her mind. She immediately clung to that thought. It was desperate but better than nothing.

“Ah, Lord Duremont. Are you still busy examining plants and herbs? I believe you said that you were interested in it a while ago. Did that change, or are you as immersed as before?”

Allen seemed to be a bit taken aback by that, but he responded after only a few seconds. “I am still as interested in it as before. Unfortunately, I was required to take care of some different matters in between, which is why I have less time now. But I do go out to examine all kinds of plants in the forest near our estate.” Judging by his mother's expression, his parents weren't too happy about that. It was understandable. Allen was supposed to become the next duke and deal with politics and the economy. If none of that interested him too much, he would rather do something else like going outside. But that wouldn't help the household much.

Of course, Blanche kept quiet about that and only addressed the other topic she deemed more important to keep the conversation going. “It is good that you found something that interests you. As long as you are still taking care of your responsibilities, there is nothing wrong with broadening your horizon. I have met few people that are interested in that topic. It seems to be a rare subject among most nobles.”

Theodore let out a chuckle that was just quiet enough for her to hear. “Most people like to let others deal with that and only pick up the results to use them elsewhere. It's calming to see that some people on our side might qualify to create antidotes at some point.” He turned to Allen. “Lord Astame is very knowledgeable when it comes to poisons too. If you share that interest, you might be well off talking to each other.”

Allen didn't even hide how his face scrunched up. At least not before he remembered that showing his personal grudges in front of the emperor like this wasn't the most clever choice. He tried to cover up his slight annoyance at that proposal. “Thank you for the hint, Your Majesty. But I am the type of person that would rather deal with things like this by myself. Studying with others is not something I'm good at.” Seemingly, he and Leon still didn't like each other just because of that one incident. It was almost a little ridiculous.

But Blanche wouldn't get involved in that. Even if the original conflict had been connected to her, it wasn't her fault if two adult men still didn't get over a silly quarrel. So, she chose to change the topic. If nothing worked anymore, mentioning rumors would always save the conversation for at least a few seconds. “Everyone has their own preferences. Of course, you should decide what fits you better. I apologize for keeping you busy for long, but there is something else I'm curious about. Have you, or your family in general, visited the capital during the last weeks? There is not much to hear about the city here. Are there any new developments or rumors we should be aware of?” Somehow, it seemed like her question hadn't been wise.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Henry's expression darkened, and only Elaine's quick intervention kept him from speaking. “A big number of crimes have been exposed lately. Seemingly, many rather influential people committed tax fraud or hoarded their wealth in some other illegal way. Everything is being revealed at the same time, so it appears like someone is dealing with those cases. But we have only left our estate for a picnic and a visit to the Bellfaux estate. So, we did not have much to do with rumors in the capital.”

The concubine had a suspicion about who the person going against corrupt nobles might be. She glanced at her lover, who had a confident grin on his face. It seemed like he was doing his all to trouble his brother's faction. She wouldn't complain about that.

Blanche just decided to be polite. “If criminals are being punished, that is wonderful. We should be happy that so many people that go against our nation are being found. They will be put on trial. The guilty ones will pay for what they did wrong, and the innocent ones will be released. There is nothing wrong with that. Thank you for the information.” Blanche had said enough with that. Ending the conversation now had to be fine, right? “I do not wish to bother you much longer so that you may enjoy the rest of the evening by yourselves.” She gestured to the servants, who hurried to bring her the gift. As soon as she had the box on her lap, she smiled at the group. “I am honored to receive gifts from you. That alone fills me with joy. I am truly grateful to be met with so much kindness.” After voicing a bunch of empty words, she opened the present and was greeted by three different things, which she assumed to have been chosen by one of the Duremonts each.

It was clear that the perfume had been Elaine's choice. The concubine assumed that Henry had picked the small porcelain statue of two young girls sitting on a meadow, and Allen had probably been the one choosing the bracelet. All of these items were beautiful as well, but this time, the concubine would actually be able to use them. Perfume was always good, and she had more than enough attires to match this bracelet. Even the statue was beautiful, so she could place it on top of one of the dressers in her room. She stared at the items for a little moment and carefully stroked her fingers over the statue. Blanche had almost been convinced that the paint would fall off, but it didn't. She hadn't necessarily expected a gift from Henry and had believed that it might have a double meaning if she did get one. That this might not be the case was surprising. But then again, Henry was typically showing his anger outright instead of being petty.

Blanche lifted her head to beam at the group. “These are wonderful gifts. I wish to sincerely thank you. They were chosen very well, and I will make sure to use them.”

Elaine returned the smile, this time with less hesitance than before. “We are overjoyed to hear that. If they are of good use to you, we will be even happier. If I may mention it, I would like to point something else out. Our son was the one personally creating this perfume. As you know, he has recently gained interest in plants, herbs and any related topics and started performing some experiments. He was able to extract some of the essences of flowers and mixed them together to create this. Until now, only I have been able to try it. Since I believe that it was a good product, I recommended allowing other noble ladies to use it too. He came up with a new fragrance just a few days ago, and we believed that you may wish to try it.”

Blanche didn't believe that this was specifically made for her for one second, even if Elaine had made it sound like it. This was obviously an attempt to make Allen's products known so that he would be able to sell them better. But there wasn't anything bad about that. It was a clever way to make the emperor's lover, whom everyone talked about, accept one of those items. Without a doubt, people would notice and pay attention if they saw such items being sold anywhere. If Blanche got a free perfume, she didn't mind being used to gather interest either. Then people staring at her might actually have another effect aside from stressing her out, and the Duremonts might hate her a tiny bit less if she helped them that way.

Blanche was just surprised that Allen had managed to gain interest in such an activity by himself. To her, he had just seemed like someone that trailed behind his older sister, so seeing him doing something for himself for once was new. “Thank you, Lord Duremont. It's impressive that you were able to create something this special without others' help. I will try it as soon as I get the chance.” While she said that, she was already thinking about whether she had done something wrong. After all, it felt like someone was glaring at her. She turned her head slightly and scanned the ballroom before stopping when she saw Briana. She almost sighed when she saw how distressed that girl looked.

She knew exactly that some people wouldn't understand the business aspect of this. They would misunderstand and possibly believe that Allen might not hate Blanche anymore since he had allegedly made perfume for her. But obviously, no one here in the room was clueless enough to believe that he suddenly liked the rival of his beloved sister. No one but his fiancée. Apparently, Marquess Bellfaux and Madeleine hadn't noticed either and happily chatted with Sophia and her husband. Blanche would have liked to wave to Briana to invite her over in secret, but that wasn't possible right now while they were in public. They couldn't quite talk without letting all guests know.

But one look at Briana's face broke her heart. That poor girl was way too dependent on a clueless man.

And if Blanche happened to help a little, maybe Allen would be grateful later. She didn't have any high hopes, but ensuring that the future duke and duchess of Duremont didn't hate her might be worth an attempt.

Blanche just told herself that this wouldn't cost her anything. She turned to Allen and spoke up with a smile. “It is good to see that you use your talent to create something new. If the quality is high, you will have no issue selling this soon. Before that, you need to spread the word about this perfume though. I'm sure that many people around you would like to try your products. Especially a specific young lady.” She glanced at Briana, who took a step back at that. The concubine was sure that this little hint should have been enough for that young woman's fiancé to get it, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

Allen was slightly confused at her comment. “I am uncertain of whom you may be referring to.”

Blanche closed her eyes for a moment. Apparently, she needed to be direct, or he wouldn't get it. “How about asking Lady Bellfaux to try it too? I'm sure that she would be happy to try a perfume her fiancé made for her.” Anyone with even a little understanding of romance would have agreed now.

But Allen's response was rather disappointing with him still being irritated and having no clue what she was talking about. “I understand why you might believe that. But I doubt that she is a person that would like such things. She hasn't bought anything like perfume for a while since she still has enough at home. She mentioned liking specific fragrances sometimes but never actually went into the city to buy them. When I explained that one of the new perfumes would be your gift, she didn't seem to be interested either. So, she must not need anything.”

How could a person be so dense? Briana had obviously described what kind of perfume she would like and had been jealous upon not being able to try it first, and this idiot hadn't understood. Even Elaine gave her son an irritated look before exchanging a quick glance with her husband.

Blanche didn't manage to keep her expression straight at that. She averted her eyes and pressed her lips into a line.

Theodore next to her laughed about that though. He grinned at the Duremonts and spoke up as quietly as he could to let Allen still understand him. “Lord Duremont, you are not familiar with the way that some people express their wishes. In your case, Lady Bellfaux was disappointed that you did not let her try your products first and chose to gift them to someone else. And when she mentioned what sort of things she likes, she was referring to what you can get her to make her happy. She wants you to gift her something, and that is why she didn't buy it herself.”

Allen seemed to freeze at that. “Really?” He looked at the emperor, his mother and his father one after the other. When everyone nodded, he turned to his fiancée before staring at the floor. It looked like he was completely confused now.

Blanche had to hold back a chuckle. Surely, having this conversation wouldn't do much politically, but it seemed like she had found Allen's weak spot. If anything went wrong, maybe involving Brianna could make things better. So, Blanche tried her best to do something the other woman would thank her for. “You can at least offer her one vial, and you will see whether we are right. I wish you good luck. Please have a pleasant evening and enjoy yourselves to the fullest. We may see each other later.” Another glance at Briana made her add something else even though she should have stayed quiet. “And please visit the person we were referring to now. She may be feeling a little unwell.”

Allen immediately spun around at that, which caused his mother to tap his arm so that wouldn't turn his back on the emperor.

Elaine was the one taking care of the goodbyes for her whole family. “Of course, Lady Blanche. May you enjoy your festivities as well. Until we happen to see each other again.” It almost looked like she was shoving her son and husband away when she started moving after the emperor bid them farewell too. It wasn't surprising that she was the person keeping the men in check. Not when Henry was still fuming quietly with something like shame on his face while Allen would have liked to run to Briana immediately.

When the Duremonts left, the concubine breathed out in relief. This had gone better than she had expected. She closed her eyes and rested her head against the backrest before beginning quietly. “Supporting the romance between the future duke and duchess is one thing. But I thought that Duke Duremont would explode for sure. He was awfully calm today for his usual behavior.”

Theodore's reply followed immediately. “He is embarrassed. You saving his beloved granddaughter doesn't allow his consciousness to hate you any longer. At the same time, his eldest daughter must have forbidden him from opening his mouth, and he noticed that harming my reputation will strengthen my brother. He just can't do anything about this, and that upsets him a lot. But don't worry. He will get over it. Do you think offering him tea that lowers his blood pressure will make him mad?”

Blanche whipped her head around to him. “Please don't do that. We just went through the conversation without beginning a war and tried to convince Lord Duremont to forget his hatred for us. Shouldn't we try to get along with them? I'm very happy as long as they support you. After all, making them help us will be for the best for both us and our children. It will also be better for the whole nation.”

The emperor chuckled at that. “Yes, yes. I know. It's just tempting. But since him hearing about the divorce and what will follow will only anger him more, we should try to get on his good side for the moment until his daughter finally reveals it. For his sake. After all, becoming our enemy won't be pleasant for him. But let's not deal with frustrating subjects on your birthday. Let's make fun of Lord Duremont instead.” Theodore hid his mouth behind his hand and whispered to his lover. “Was I ever that dense? Please tell me I wasn't.”

Blanche shrugged and replied in a low volume. “I remember having to wait at least two weeks for a kiss and three months for you to touch me. Despite my obvious advances, someone was scared of me feeling pressured, so I was worried about doing something wrong at the end.”

The emperor smirked at that. “I remember that too. Those were the tensest three months of my whole life. Holding back while you acted like that was the most painful thing I could have imagined.” Talking about things like this in public was one of the least intelligent things they could do, but they didn't pay much attention to that.

Blanche was completely focused on her lover, and joking with him to break the strained atmosphere was perfect. “Then maybe you shouldn't have held back while I was begging you to touch me. I had self-doubts when you didn't react to my attempts to coax you into going just a bit farther. I was so embarrassed that you can't imagine it.”

“Oh, I certainly can. After all, I was much more embarrassed when you started touching me. I thought that you weren't doing it purposefully and was angry at myself for not being able to keep my cool. You are the most beautiful woman in the whole world, and I was already completely enchanted back then. Obviously, your attempts didn't leave me unaffected. There were times when I thought my heart was going to burst. And sleeping next to you after you tried something was the worst. You were sleeping soundly while I was lying there and tried to keep myself from imagining how adorable you would be if I could finally touch you. You have no idea how...” Theodore cut himself off and looked at the area in front of the thrones. “I'm surprised that he dared to show up.”

Indeed.

It was a surprise that Luciano Vasquez was actually here after all that had happened. That would make things interesting. Especially since they suspected that this man's father might have a somewhat strained relationship with Cedar and Camille now. Would that change anything? Blanche wasn't sure. They certainly wouldn't become friends because of that either though.

Judging by Luciano's expression, he was very aware of what a stiff situation he was currently in. This could certainly become interesting.