“I'm sorry that this party was abused by them. I will pay them back by a hundredfold.”

Blanche leaned her head against her lover and patted his back, which caused him to put his arms around her again. “You don't need to worry about that too much. My day wasn't ruined. The dowager empress and Cedar embarrassed themselves in front of everyone, so they are probably very upset right now. I'm happy as long as you spend the rest of the day with me. We will take on one thing after the other. That means that we will deal with Cedar first. We will go talk to him, right? After all, he might know something about that poisoning.”

Theodore let out an unamused chuckle. “Of course, he does. His mother was the one doing it, so he would have heard something about it no matter what. He will probably make up excuses as much as possible, but there is no way that I'll doubt that they were involved. Sefare speaking about him backing their faction could have seriously troubled them. So, they needed to quieten him down. I don't need Cedar to tell me any lies about that, so we don't have to-” He cut himself off and paused for a moment. “Or we should just do it to see how he is doing right now. After all, the dowager empress was the one trying to push all of this forward. She embarrassed herself. Cedar is probably fuming because he told her to shut up multiple times, but she didn't listen. It may be interesting to meet him. Maybe he is annoyed enough to reveal something important to us. We'll give him five minutes.” He was about to turn to Leonard but froze in the middle of the movement and faced Blanche again. “Are you fine with that? I would like to see him, but if you don't, we won't go. It's your day. I don't want to make it any worse.”

Blanche gave him a little smile. “It's fine. For just five minutes, I will be able to endure it. But afterward, you will have to make it up to me by showering me with affection.”

Theodore gently cradled her head and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. “Of course. I will make sure that you can't think about anything but me while I pamper you.”

Leonard watched the two of them fake annoyance on his face, but the corners of his lips lifted and betrayed him. “Don't you always do that? I don't think that your cuddling is special. It would be more of a surprise if you didn't do it.”

The emperor completely ignored that in favor of kissing his lover again. Only then, he turned to the other man. “So. Where is he?”

Leon raised his hand and gestured down the corridor before beginning to move. The couple followed him through the hallways until they reached a side entrance. They went outside and walked for a short while until they arrived at the terrace.

Leonard stopped there. “As always, I will wait here, and Owen stays close to you. If anything happens, I will come immediately. And before you go, you should remember not to be too surprised.” He gestured to his cheek.

Blanche was rather confused by that gesture, and Theodore appeared to be irritated as well. But after a moment, the emperor's expression darkened as if he knew what this was about. He linked his arm with his lover's and led her to the tiled area while seeming quite grim.

There were a few smaller tables for the guests there, and candles illuminated the space around them. But only one person sat at one of the tables, and naturally, they approach this one. As they came closer, Cedar turned his head to them and greeted them with a smile that possibly was even brighter than the one he showed normally. He seemed to be in the mood to annoy them. At first, that was the most irritating thing about him, as always. But when they reached the table and stood directly in front of him, something else was much more striking.

Cedar's left cheek was covered with a red handprint. It was barely visible from afar, but from up close, the area was way too red to be ignored. Especially since a few thin red streams, which might have been the result of fingernails scratching him, were pretty prominent too. It had to sting. But Cedar was used to much worse. That was obvious when he didn't even seem to care and just beamed at them.

Blanche stared at that for a moment without really knowing what to say. Only one person could have been responsible for this. If anyone from a lower rank had hit the prince, they would have been arrested immediately. This hadn't been done by the emperor or the empress, so Camille was the only possible perpetrator.

Theodore narrowed his eyes and spoke up in a low voice. “I can assume that our beloved dowager empress wasn't too happy about you asking her to apologize.”

Cedar's smile remained unmoved as he looked at them. “So, the powder didn't do much. That's disappointing. Maybe I should ask for a refund.” He placed a small round box on the table and tapped its cover twice before leaning against the backrest again. “But then again, it's rather old. I didn't have to use it for a while. Well, not that it matters. You arrived rather quickly. I didn't expect that.” He had completely avoided the topic of the handprint that was obviously adoring his face. The fact that he was carrying powder around didn't make it seem like this was a one-time occurrence either.

The concubine thought about this being a plot to make them pity the prince for a moment but pushed that thought away. Right now, it didn't matter much whether Camille was only seeing the life of her eldest son as unimportant or whether she was incapable of love in general. In any case, it didn't make Cedar a good person. Still, Blanche would have to lie if she wanted to say that she hadn't felt a pang of anger toward the dowager empress upon seeing this. This wasn't the worst that Cedar had gone through, was it? If he received this response for helping his mother, there might be even worse situations in case he didn't listen.

Blanche shouldn't address this at all. She should ignore it fully. But she couldn't bring herself to do that. “Why did you let her hit you?” The question left her mouth before she could stop herself.

Cedar didn't give a reply to loaded questions, as usual. He just smiled at her like she had asked about the weather. “Pardon? I am unsure what you mean.” What a liar. He couldn't be unaware.

Blanche furrowed her brows a bit while unwillingly speaking louder. “Your mother clearly hit you. But it's obvious that you are physically stronger than her. Why didn't you just defend yourself? You could have hit her back for this.” No one would have complained in the slightest.

Despite the grim topic, Cedar's bright smile seemed to light up their whole scenery. Even his voice sounded so cheerful that Blanche got uneasy. “I thank you for your concern, but it is not needed. You speak as if I was capable of injuring her, but how could I ever harm my mother? She was merely a bit upset after a long day, so I cannot blame her for that. I will always treat her with respect and utter care.”

Blanche's unease just grew even more. “Then she should return that sentiment. She may be your mother, but you are her son too. She owes you kindness and affection and not this because you helped her out of the problem she caused.” She vaguely gestured to Cedar's injury and then let her hand drop as she realized what she was doing.

Somehow, it was no surprise.

Cedar's smile didn't falter even now. He did meet Blanche's gaze directly though, and that was enough to give his reply more weight. “Lady Blanche, if Mother cared about family bonds that much, do you think we would be sitting here?”

It was nothing new, but that direct response hit Blanche like a brick. Maybe because it was the first time that Cedar had actually acknowledged that they were enemies in some way, or maybe because he had shown that he understood how cruel his mother was to some extent. A part of her wanted to speak up again, to ask for more details. Just so that they could have a conversation, maybe one that revealed a bit more about what was going on behind Cedar's constant smile. But Blanche didn't find the right words, simply because there weren't any for this situation. So, she didn't speak.

For a few seconds, all of them were quiet.

Theodore's expression had darkened more with every second they had spent in silence before he spoke up. “So, why are you here? You wished to tell us something, right?”

Cedar nodded at that, with his smile being as wide as ever. “Of course. I wouldn't dare to waste your time. I will be honest. I sincerely apologize for this whole situation. There was no need to bring up any of the things that were discussed today. That is why I wanted to apologize once more. It was not only inappropriate and somewhat treacherous but also rather useless. I hope that you will see it in your hearts to forgive us.”

Blanche still frowned at him, trying to ignore the fact that it was hard to be strict with Cedar when that damn red handprint was all she could see while looking at his face. A part of her wanted to direct the conversation back to that previous topic, just to try to break through this indestructible wall of indifference for once. But she knew that this wouldn't work, so she forced herself to be harsher to hide all traces of sympathy. “You already said that during the ball. My reply won't change, especially since it feels like this wasn't your idea. I doubt that my annoyance is a bigger problem than your reputation among the nobles now.”

Cedar didn't reply and only nodded with his bright grin.

The emperor stared at his brother for a moment. He scanned the prince's expression for a while before replying. “You don't need to keep speaking about ‘us’. Not in general and especially not in this case. I don't think that that woman is sorry in the slightest. She regrets that she was forced to admit defeat, but she doesn't regret trying to destroy our happiness. You probably tried to keep her from doing this, didn't you? You are far too calculative to run into such mishaps at full speed. You knew that I would stand by Blanche and attempted to reason with our dear dowager empress, but you were ignored.”

Cedar didn't say anything this time either.

Theodore sounded almost bitter while he continued. “You also knew how I would react and that you would not end up in a good situation. You only came along to limit the damages. In the end, that might have been the only thing saving her from disobeying my orders in public and being arrested after throwing a tantrum. That she was forced to apologize was her own fault, and she deserved to be properly humiliated by the truth about her malice spilling out. You probably told her that in a bit more kind words after you left. And she didn't react kindly.”

Cedar chuckled at that. He put his fingers onto the powder box and began playing around with the cover before slowly opening it. “Let's just say that listening to others was never Mother's strength. But we all have our weaknesses. Even if it would be better to get rid of them before others use them.” He snapped the box shut and looked up at them with a wide smile before another sentence left his mouth, this one far sharper than the rest. “We didn't poison Sefare.”

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The concubine barely processed that information before Theodore next to her frowned already. He glared at his brother and spoke up with mockery in his voice. “Of course, you didn't. Cedar, don't joke with me. How could I ever believe that? You also didn't hire the assassins that attacked me during the hunting festival after my coronation. You weren't responsible for my mother's death. You also didn't frame Count Besseta and had him executed, which causes his family to suffer until this day. Naturally, you didn't send your personal guard to watch me during this hunt either. Nor did you send the men that attacked us during our picnic or tried to poison Blanche.”

Cedar opened the powder box with a click before shutting it again. He didn't look up while speaking. “I don't know anything about the last two things. I already wrote that in my letters after those incidents, but I doubt that you'll believe me.” Another click sounded from the box. “But this is about Sefare being poisoned now.” He let the cover snap shut again before grinning up at them. “I swear on my name and the whole Estien bloodline as well as Artias' well-being that I did not ever give Lord Sefare any substance that would have the capabilities of harming him. I cannot make a vow for Mother, but you know that she isn't a vile person. I am certain that she is not involved in this either. Is that convincing?”

Theodore let out a bitter laugh. “No. I don't think that anything you tell me would be convincing even if you spoke the truth. You should have understood that by now. Nothing but lies comes out of your mouth.”

Cedar lifted his head and gazed at the horizon for a moment. “I thought so. It seems like you aren't completely stupid. Well.” Without a warning, he stood up and took the powder box off the table to put it in his jacket. “Just remember that there might be someone else with vile intentions here. That was all I had to say. I do not wish to disturb you any longer. Goodnight to both of you. Rest well, Theodore. Happy birthday, Lady Blanche.” He didn't wait for a response and just turned around to leave.

The couple was left behind in confusion.

Blanche turned to her lover and gave him a questioning look. “What was that just now? He was odd. I don't think I've ever seen him like this.” It was somehow easy to guess what this might be about though.

Theodore stared at his brother's back and watched how the prince got smaller in the distance. “I saw it a few times. He usually runs away as soon as his facade can get any cracks, so it's unusual for him to stay when he is feeling unwell. He must really be upset with the dowager empress. She basically just risked ruining everything they are working for just because she can't forget about Althea. I truly think that she sees you as some sort of replacement and wants to see you betraying me or me leaving you. She wants to project that onto my father. I don't understand how she convinced herself of the fact that she is sane, but there is nothing we can do about it.” He gazed down at his lover and reached over to brush through her hair.

Blanche was quiet for a moment and went through their conversation in her head. There was one thing that was the most prominent question for her, aside from what Theodore had just noted. “What do you think about the poisoning? Why would Cedar go out of his way to tell us that they weren't involved when he knows that we won't believe him?”

Theodore paused to think about his words for a few seconds before responding. “There is a very small chance that this was our mysterious third party. But it is more likely that Cedar was just lying again. Or he wasn't informed about the plan this time. If he complained about the dowager empress' judgment, I can imagine that she didn't tell him anything else.”

It was obvious that trusting Cedar was the first step toward their doom. Blanche knew that. But still, she wanted to think about this for one more second. “What if he said the truth then? It wouldn't change much if we consider all possibilities during the investigation. I don't believe him at all, but...they aren't completely stupid. The dowager empress may be a little emotional and uncontrollable, but even she should understand that poisoning someone who was in your company before they collapsed is foolish. An outsider could have gotten involved here. Even if I don't understand the dowager empress' thought process in general. I don't get why she wanted to bring Sefare in front of the ballroom anyway. After all, it was clear that he would try to harm her too if he was being accused of treason. She can't just throw him into the lion's den and expect him to stay quiet about it.”

Theodore brought his hand to his chin as he got lost in thoughts. “That is strange. I presume that she would only take that risk if Sefare was quite distant to her and barely knew things about her plans. But then she wouldn't have a reason to want him dead. That's odd. We need to make sure to interrogate Sefare as soon as he wakes up. I don't want any information to be lost. Maybe someone else was involved here too. We will see.”

Blanche remained quiet for a moment. Who would get involved in a matter like this? Coming between the fronts during a struggle for power of this size was rather dangerous. Everyone knew that there was a lot of tension between the members of the royal family. That was why most people stayed neutral and others chose one side to support. But trying to meddle here when the emperor was clearly furious with his family was risky. Hadn't this incident just worsened the relationship between the two sides of the Estien household?

No one that supported any side should wish for the emotions to boil over. If the conflict got resolved through obvious violence, the victor would still suffer the loss of a lot of power due to rumors circulating. If one heir to the throne killed the other possible ruler, which might happen if everything went downhill, that would cause an uproar in the whole nation. The faction of the other party would immediately protest and spread the information about what had happened. Thus, the winner would be known as a murderer and consequently receive less support from the citizens. In the worst case, this could lead to revolts and a civil war that ended in many others trying to gain power. Who would benefit from that chaos?

It didn't make much sense, and that was exactly what reminded Blanche of the same thoughts she had had after finding out that someone was trying to kill Prince Linden. Maybe, just maybe, this third party didn't need a war with Northern Ocrea at all.

They merely need enough chaos to be able to gain power in the process.

Blanche whipped her head around to her lover. “This incident made you and the dowager empress mad, right? What if someone wanted to do that on purpose to make things escalate? This third party wanted a war to get rid of both possible rulers to ascend to the throne themselves. What if they are trying to make you and our enemies furious enough so that you would attack each other? Then the victor would not be accepted by all people, and this third person may try to gain influence. It would be the same as if they made you start a war with Ocrea to let you seem incompetent. In any case, the royal family would lose some power. Couldn't that mean that our third party is trying to use another way now that Linden left and they can't use him to begin a war anymore?”

Theodore's expression was grim as he responded. “That is true. I thought that I was imagining it, but I did feel like the dowager empress has been more rash than usual. Someone may have assured her that she would win. After all, things like criticizing me in public and bringing Duke Vasquez to the palace when I banned him from entering are risky. I mean, it was obvious that I wouldn't be pleased and that she would have to retreat. It was the same today. Doing this was unbelievably stupid. She didn't even give up when I repeatedly defended you. That was a bit strange even for her.” He sighed and massaged his temple for a moment. “But at the same time, I can barely imagine that she would let anyone tell her what to do. This is much more complicated than I thought. I never got around to finding that out before, so it won't help us. We need Sefare's testimony. We will announce that he did not survive this ordeal despite our efforts. After all, this was done to hide information. If the responsible person believes that they succeeded, they won't attempt to kill him again. As long as he is declared dead, our enemy would lay down quietly to not attract attention and hopefully refrain from trying to send assassins.”

Blanche nodded. “That makes sense. Right now, our third party is trying to stay invisible, so they would have to be inconspicuous. Whether they or the dowager empress poisoned Sefare doesn't matter during the investigation. We'll just keep both in mind. We still have some time to find out who the third party is. We already came to the conclusion that they can only come from one of the most well-known families, right?”

Theodore exhaled deeply. “It would be logical if it was one of the most influential families. If someone dreams about becoming emperor by killing the possible rulers without having a relation to the royal family, they need to have a lot of money and power. And if we assume that they also have a strong connection to the dowager empress, not many remain. I can't imagine it being that easy. It wouldn't be strange for them to have created false trails that lead to other suspects. For now, I will continue to investigate and send my best men. We'll find something at some point. No one can stay perfect at all times, no matter who they are.”

Blanche knew that too. And she knew that she should wait for results before jumping to conclusions. But if she was honest, she had a suspicion. She knew many awful people in the capital. But how many of those would actually be willing to sacrifice Artias to gain the crown? Blanche spoke before thinking about it. “Of the powerful families in the capital, there is only one I would believe to be so foolish.”

The three most influential households in Artias were the dukedoms. Of those, the Lamonts and the Duremonts were on Theodore's side. Clearly, they wouldn't grasp for the throne.

But the Vasquez household was different. They did belong to the dowager empress' faction, but Blanche still wouldn't call Claude loyal. She was fully capable of believing that he would be arrogant enough to desire the absolute power within the nation while being heartless enough to even betray his wife's sister and his nephew.

It made too much sense. Hadn't Cedar put a lot of effort into making them suspect the Vasquez family during their dinner? Why else would he have gone out of his buy to retrieve the poison that had been used on Blanche? But he had taken the risk of Theodore's anger just to give them a direct reminder of the fact that Claude had bought that poison. Cedar had also stubbornly claimed not to have been responsible for this incident.

What if he wasn't lying?

And as soon as you considered that, the puzzle pieces fit together.

Theodore still stared at her with unease, but he should have understood too. Which of the most powerful people around them could actually be the mysterious third party that longed for chaos within the nation?

Blanche was onto something, and now she was almost certain. She turned to Theodore fully and grabbed his arms as her heart began hammering in her chest. “It would fit Duke Vasquez, wouldn't it? He is power-hungry, arrogant and has control issues. And if Cedar goes out of his way to point out that a third party intervened with this case... That means that he recognized that someone tried to frame him and the dowager empress. The person trying to cause discord certainly might work with this. And who could have influenced Camille enough since he was close to her for years? Who is so close to him that Cedar would be the first person to notice that something's wrong?”

And Theodore just gritted his teeth more as he tightened his hold on Blanche. He hated the idea that Cedar might be right as much as expected, but he understood too. “That...might be true. Duke Vasquez does have enough money and power to consider himself untouchable. He could easily have bribed countless people that later falsified the letters for Northern Ocrea's king. I also wouldn't put betraying the dowager empress above him. And...I don't doubt that my brother is clever enough to notice it when someone isn't too loyal. It makes sense for Cedar to warn me in this case. He wouldn't want anyone outside our family to steal the throne either, and if he thinks that Duke Vasquez-” He stopped himself and cursed under his breath. “To think that man's arrogance was so grand...” Theodore forced himself to calm down while he closed his eyes and rested his chin on Blanche's shoulder. “But we will deal with this too. We will win. Don't worry. I'll make everything perfect for us.” He clung to those words even more than usual.

Blanche didn't mind. She just hugged Theodore back as much as she could while trying to keep herself calm. They had a guess who the third party was now. That was certainly helpful, but they still had to solve many issues. It was questionable whether they would easily win here. Yet, she was sure that their happy end was waiting just around the corner.

Blanche patted her lover's back gently while speaking up. “It will all work out. Now that we know who to watch out for, I will be fine. We won't give up. From now on, Duke Vasquez won't come up with any plots anymore.”

Theodore was still nervous about all of this. How could he not be with how grand this new problem was getting? But he allowed Blanche to cheer him up. He took a deep breath before smiling at his lover. “Of course. I will not let him hurt anyone. But none of this should be discussed on your birthday.” He held his hand to her. “Let's go back and enjoy the last hours of this beautiful day together.”

Blanche gave him a smile and let him pull her toward the building. She didn't want to distract him from important matters, but she trusted in him being able to deal with urgent matters while he was working. Right now, they couldn't do much anyway, so they might as well enjoy the rest of the evening.

They arrived at their room without any incidents except for Theodore instructing Leonard to place some spies around Duke Vasquez, the secretary agreeing and then wishing them a good night while winking at them. When the concubine entered her chambers and found even more gifts, she shouldn't have been surprised, but she still was overwhelmed by the amount.

Theodore promised that they could go through it during the next few days together since he wanted to see her reaction to every little thing. He only insisted on giving her one thing immediately.

It was a baking set with small pans, all kinds of utensils, baking forms and similar items, which he handed over while explaining that she would never have to give up on her favorite things to stay by his side. He wanted to allow her to do what she liked even if she was in a position in which baking would seem a bit strange to outsiders. She ignored what he was hinting at with that and just enjoyed her gift. She would surely be able to use it soon to surprise him with another cake. That wasn't much compensation for the jewelry, decorations and dresses she got, but at least she could return something.

The incident of the ball was soon pushed into the background when Theodore showed her a few of his favorite presents. She put some attires on for him and relished in the way he praised her each time. He also kissed her whenever she looked at him with shining eyes because she had found another item she was enchanted by. That made it seem like getting so many gifts might not be completely bad.

That night, Theodore showered her with as much affection as he had promised, and she gave her best to give as much back. So, the evening was filled with nothing but thoughts about one another and how much they adored each other. Thus, it was a fitting end for a birthday that had been accompanied by her lover proving how much he cared over and over again.