“Why is Sir Maillont here too? I feel like this is a rather personal matter, so including such a big number of people could possibly be avoided. Surely, he could leave the room for just a few minutes. After all, he also cannot protect his masters when he is sleeping for hours at a time. Thus, such a short amount of time doesn't matter much, correct?” Naturally, Duke Vasquez's request would be ignored.

The emperor gestured to the knight to allow him to speak. Obviously, he wouldn't send the guard away, and the other's response only proved that.

Owen's face still looked like he was indifferent, but it felt like he was actually gazing at Duke Vasquez with a colder expression than normal. “I cannot leave Lady Blanche's side under any circumstances. There will be no exception unless it is absolutely required. Unfortunately, I cannot avoid sleeping, but during that time, four guards will replace me. But as long as a person that we need to be cautious of is in the room, I would not withdraw no matter how many others are present.”

Claude glared at the other man for a moment. “I hope you are not referring to me, Sir Maillont. That would be rather impolite. After all, I have never posed a danger to anyone within the palace. I am a loyal subject to the royal family as anyone in the nation should be.”

Owen's response came immediately, and he didn't even try to dance around the issue. “There was an incident related to you threatening Lady Blanche and me consequently needing to escort you out of the royal palace. There is no doubt that this is an understandable reason for us to be careful when it comes to you.”

Duke Vasquez's mouth twitched, but he quickly forced himself to smile. “I see. I do not hold it against you. That topic is still open for discussion later. But it already reminded me of another question.” He turned to the emperor and continued in a voice that made it seem like he was completely clueless. “With all due respect, why was it needed for Lady Blanche to go through the trouble of dressing up to join this audience? After all, Your Majesty and I could have spoken with each other, and that would have been fine. Now she used her valuable time to get ready for only a few minutes. Was that not unnecessary?”

Theodore rested his chin on the palm of his hand while watching the duke with a smile that made him look extremely arrogant. “Of course not. She likes dressing up, so how is that unnecessary? Besides, I get to see her smile at me in countless different ways whenever I compliment her. It's the best of all for both of us. Aside from that, it's only natural that she would come to an audience if I have one. It's been a while since someone came to meet me this formally, so we have to do it properly. Your presence also made it necessary for her to appear here. Since you came here of your own free volition, I believed that you would finally do what I ordered you to do. If you plan on apologizing to her, she should be here, right? Surely, that was your intention. Otherwise, you wouldn't have dared to show your face here after I told you, no, promised you that I would crush you. Am I right about that assumption?”

Claude's expression changed at that. He was clenching his jaw and watched the emperor with a little frown. His uncertainty was painfully obvious even as he wanted to cover it up. His fake smile didn't look very convincing. “Your Majesty, I assumed that those words were a...rather harsh joke. After all, the house of Vasquez has served the Estien family for generations. We are one of the three grand dukedoms in Artias and are important for the political balance in our nation. We have never committed any crimes except for some mere mishaps by my ancestors that can be corrected if I am given a little time. So, I came to ask Your Majesty for forgiveness and a second chance. I assure you that I will not disappoint again.”

The emperor let out a little hum and continued to smirk at the other man. “Didn't I make it rather clear that this wasn't a joke? Should I have said it in a more intimidating way? Or should I have sent the guards to arrest you immediately? But that would have been boring. I thought this way was a bit more entertaining.”

If this was anyone else, Blanche might have had some sympathy. But she knew exactly what kind of person Claude was. She couldn't bring herself to care about his worry or anger. She just watched the scene while preparing for the moment at which she would chime in again.

Duke Vasquez narrowed his eyes. “I apologize for speaking so frankly, Your Majesty. But it is not entertaining to bring an influential noble household to the brink of destruction because someone unintentionally voiced a few careless words. Not in the slightest. I was already punished by losing my position as a minister, should that not suffice? The Vasquez family stabilizes the political situation in Artias and especially in the capital. If we disappeared, the two other dukedoms might become too powerful and monopolize most of the power among the aristocrats. You cannot truly intend to risk that because of such an incident.”

Theodore made a rejecting gesture with his hand before replying. “Naturally, I agree that your family is somewhat beneficial to the situation in our nation. That is the only reason you still exist despite obviously backing another ruler. And I also never said that I would destroy your household. Your wife is my aunt, and your son and daughter are my cousins. How could I harm them for someone else's mistake? I will not punish your family for your abhorrent behavior. Your wife and your two children deserve better, even if I don't like them very much either. I will definitely not harm them unless they follow your steps.”

Claude let his shoulders slouch and breathed out in relief. He slowly bowed to the emperor. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I cannot express my gratitude enough.” Even before he stopped bowing, he was already rebuked.

“I wasn't done yet.” Theodore grinned at the other man, who had raised his head and looked at the emperor with a small trace of worry. “I said that I wouldn't end your household. You aren't needed for the future of the dukedom of Vasquez though. Your son can take over. That is why me destroying you has nothing to do with attacking your household. The Vasquez family can continue to exist if they don't cross paths with me, but you already messed up. There is no way for you to make me forget my anger now.” He paused to scan the duke, who had become rather pale by now. “But maybe...just maybe...you could pacify me a little by finally doing what I demanded from the very beginning.” He gestured to his lover. “Apologize.”

Claude's forehead was covered in wrinkles as he stared at the emperor. Slowly, his wrath began surfacing no matter how much he tried to suppress it. “I offered Lady Blanche an apology last time, and she refused. How can you blame me for that?”

Now it was time for Blanche to enter the conversation again. She didn't even need to act to appear angry. Just remembering the conversation was enough to make her boil. “Do you mean the thing you said before or after calling a loose woman and telling Theo to throw me out of the palace?” She waited for a moment and was satisfied with Claude flinching a little at that. But she wasn't done yet. “If I remember correctly, I refused because you made it clear that you do not understand that your rank does not enable you to threaten and insult a person that merely pointed out your mistake. Before that, you told me to apologize for this incident or offered that we could forget both of our errors. The issue is that I did not do anything wrong. So, I will not apologize, which should be obvious. And when I pointed that out, you suddenly began insulting me again. Certainly, this would mean that you owe me two apologies by now. Do you understand that?”

Duke Vasquez was fuming. His balled fists and gritted teeth proved that much. Still, he desperately tried to hold back his anger. It was obvious that exploding again would not gain him anything. He could only risk enraging the emperor even more, and that was the most stupid thing he could do. So, it seemed like he chose a calmer approach even when his facade already had countless cracks.

Claude struggled, but he spoke slowly. “Yes. I do understand. I made an inexcusable error on both of these occasions, and I will have to take responsibility for that. The reason for my inability to control myself was due to my personal situation at the moment. As you might have heard, there were many cases of criminals that hid in between our most trusted employees. Finding that out was a shock, and at the same time, a storm let a ship with many of our products sink. Simultaneously, my wife was pregnant, and we were only waiting for the birth. There were a few incidents, and we were worried about whether our child would even live to see the world. Thus, I was constantly tense, and after our daughter's birth, it only got a little better. She is still rather weak, you see? That is why-”

Theodore cut him off there. “Is that all you have to say?” The disinterest was basically dipping out of his voice. “You can save your breath instead of trying to gain pity from us. We're not that easy to manipulate.”

Claude put his hand on his heart and showed a hurt expression that looked rather genuine. “Your Majesty, I was just talking about my little girl. Am I not allowed to worry about her? I am not sure whether she would have survived without the help of some skilled doctors that we ordered to come to our house. You cannot imagine how much I suffered when I thought that I might have to continue living without her. That is why saying things like this is rather harsh.”

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Blanche thought about leaving the response to her lover, but she had too much to say about this. “That is strange, Your Grace. You not only mentioned your store's problems before talking about your child, which is odd, but I also never heard about your daughter having any issues. In fact, I heard that she is rather lively and adores being cuddled by her mother and brother.” The one telling her that had been Luciano. She obviously didn't trust him, but it had been easy to find out that he truly cared about his younger sister. So, she doubted that he would be able to lie about the baby being well with such a bright smile. It was more likely that Claude had lied to gain sympathy. “In addition, I remember an incident during the ball after our summer vacation. Did you not try to persuade your wife to drink wine despite her telling you that she wouldn't do it multiple times? You didn't seem too worried about your frail baby's health back then.” That had upset her so much that she still remembered it without even needing to try hard.

Duke Vasquez clenched his jaw and took a moment before replying. “That was my mistake. I was not aware of how damaging alcohol could be to a baby back then. My wife lectured me when we came home, so I will never repeat such an error again. My daughter is lively as the rumors have said, but she still is a bit frail. Those two traits do not prevent each other from being true.” He was still using excuses to desperately try to save himself. But it wouldn't help him.

Theodore gazed at him with exaggerated boredom. “And that justifies your actions? I don't think so. After my coronation, no one seemed to support me thanks to the dowager empress believing that I was useless. Then there were multiple assassination attempts on me. That was a horrible time for me, but I never offended anyone to the point of making them wish to crush my very existence. As an adult, you should have been able to control your emotions. That is why you should take responsibility, as you promised. But you didn't do that until now. I didn't hear anything that sounded like an apology. You merely listed excuses. Are you done with that? Tell us what we want to hear, or you can leave again. I will be happy to continue closing your stores and draining your funds until nothing is left. Then you will be put on trial and lose your noble title before getting the real punishment. It's your choice.”

Claude was so tense that his muscles probably had to hurt already. He was seconds away from raising his voice, and he couldn't keep himself from being a bit louder when he spoke up. “You cannot just decide to destroy everything I worked for because of a few insults. You can't justify that. A judge will never decide in your favor and strip me of my title for a few words said to a baroness.”

Theodore sighed and gazed down at the other man with indifference. “First of all, I could simply be the judge if I want to make sure that the trial ends in my favor. You know that the emperor can do that, right? But aside from that, you are missing one crucial thing. Surely, those insults were why I decided to attack you, but I don't have to use them as a reason in front of the court. You will be charged with entering the royal palace against my wishes, disobeying my orders in general and slandering royalty.” Theodore paused for a moment and glanced to the side while he continued. “In addition, all the crimes you committed will also play a great role. Your insolence only made me want to dig deeper, but I didn't have to come up with any false claims. You did commit tax evasion, embezzlement and identity theft in some cases. You also bribed some rather important people among the city council, some courthouses, a prison and some other places as well. Naturally, smuggling goods from Northern Ocrea isn't a crime anymore, but since those were goods that are forbidden in Artias, it's still illegal. So, there is a long list of things I can use against you waiting right here.”

Blanche tightened her hold on the armrests and squeezed her lover's hand tighter as well. Theodore had mentioned both of the things that were connected to her family's case. The people in prison being bribed and the trade with Ocreans.

And Duke Vasquez hadn't been surprised. He hadn't been irritated for a single second. That meant that he definitely smuggled items from Northern Ocrea and had influenced the outcome of a trial at some point. This wasn't quite a hint yet, but it was something.

Claude barely seemed to be able to contain his anger when he heard that. He paled even more and glared at the emperor while trembling with anger. He was silent for a while until his eyes suddenly widened. “But I didn't commit those crimes, Your Majesty. The employees in the stores are responsible. And even if you assumed that the owners were connected to that in some way, which isn't true, you would have to suspect my son instead. Luciano owns many of the shops, so it is only logical that he would have to be at fault for the crimes in those establishments too, right?”

The concubine didn't like Luciano very much, but even she felt sorry for him right now. If his father was so cold to actually pin the blame for crimes on him, it should be obvious why he had grown up to be so unlikeable. Claude was actually trying to frame his own son to avoid punishment for his crimes. That was so horrible that she had no idea what to say.

Thankfully, Theodore spoke up instead. “Maybe you should have done some better research. Do you actually care about your stores? In fact, only about a quarter are owned by your son. Those are the ones that bring about three quarters of your sales though. Can you imagine why the source of the biggest part of your wealth hasn't been closed down? Because not a single store of your son has been involved in criminal activity. Believe me, I tried to find something, but there wasn't a single trace. It seems like he either controls your employees better, or he simply isn't as brazen as you. Maybe some of the few good traits of his mother were inherited by him. It's pathetic to try to accuse him of your crimes, do you know that?”

Duke Vasquez quickly shook his head. “I would never accuse a member of my own family. I merely said that I do not remember ever committing such crimes. If someone from my family did it, it would have to have been Luciano. But he obviously didn't do anything either. It is true that I will need to increase my efforts to control my people. Still, I can proudly say that I did not do anything illegal. If you give me a chance, I will root out all the criminals among my people and replace them. There is no need for you to put me on trial when I'm not responsible. Please reconsider whether it is truly important to you to crush an innocent person's life because a woman that you love has been hurt. I understand that you feel unwell and-”

The emperor cut him off with an icy expression. “You don't understand. If you did, you would notice that your excuses don't do a single thing. Apologize, or I will have you removed this instant. I think Owen would be happy to escort you out again. Make your decision now. Will you really be so proud that you will risk losing everything instead of apologizing once? That has nothing to do with arrogance anymore. That is just plain foolishness and stupidity.”

Claude gritted his teeth again. This time, it looked like he finally understood that he was cornered. This had nothing to do with him being upset about having to bow down to a baroness anymore, even if that certainly angered him too. He knew that he was at the emperor's mercy and couldn't do anything but give in. Still, his ego was so inflated that he couldn't apologize even when he was clearly at fault.

The only question was whether Claude's greed for money and power was strong enough to outweigh his pride. He could either get over his arrogance for a moment or risk losing everything he had worked for. It was obvious how he was pondering that while hating both options. In the end, he only got more upset with each second.

Blanche was almost sure that he would yell at her again and just turn around. After all, his pride had been the one thing that had caused this whole situation in the first place. There was no way that a person that was angry because someone had criticized them for offending the royal family would be able to acknowledge their own error. Especially since so many other people were here to watch them. Duke Vasquez would probably think about this for a while longer before leaving of his own volition. She had been sure about that, so him suddenly bowing was a surprise.

Claude kept his eyes firmly on the ground as he began to speak. “Lady Blanche, I sincerely apologize for insulting and offending you when my mistake was the only reason for the conflict in the first place. I know that my behavior in the last weeks was not much better, so I do not deserve forgiveness, but I still would like to ask you to overlook my insolence just this once. It was never my intention to actually cause harm to you, and I was merely overtaken by my anger. Once again, I need to point out that my personal situation was at fault here, but I am aware that this does not excuse anything. That is why I still do not believe that I have the right to voice an apology. Please give me another chance to make up for my previous misdeeds.” If he was a different person, he might actually have sounded convincing.

But Blanche knew that he was just acting to get what he wanted. Claude couldn't even hide his anger completely, and she also knew that he looked down on her. Bowing to her probably had to feel horrible for him. And he deserved that. One single thought about him possibly being connected to the family's demise filled her with so much anger that she couldn't even smile despite her satisfaction with his rage. She still wouldn't let a chance to upset him as much as possible get away.

Blanche stared at him with no sympathy and replied while trying to keep her voice calm. “I can only recite my dear Theo here. Is that all you have to say?” She was pretty sure that she sounded more provokingly sweet than she had intended to.

Claude whipped his head up and looked at her in disbelief. “What? What are you saying, you-”

Blanche cut him off immediately. “I might have forgiven you if you had chosen to apologize after that first incident. But do you not remember the second one?” She didn't conceal any of her hatred while looking at him. “You called me a whore and said that I would be thrown out of the palace, do you not remember that? You voiced that in front of members of the royal family and the three most influential dukedoms, nonetheless. This could seriously damage my reputation. Can you imagine that I'm upset about that? Our first conflict arose because you caused a scene after you felt like I offended you. Is it not my turn to repay you now that you obviously insulted me in the vilest way imaginable?”

Duke Vasquez stared at her in an utter panic now. “Lady Blanche, you cannot compare-”

Once again, she interrupted him. This time, she allowed herself to get louder and raised her voice at him. “I can't compare that? Why can I not compare me pointing out your mistakes with you insulting me openly for no reason? It should be obvious that I was the one being mistreated here from the very beginning. And you still dare to question my decision to not forgive you? I already promised that I would not accept it since I know that you aren't genuinely regretful. If you didn't understand that back then, it's not my fault.”

Claude lost most of his composure now. He took a step forward and balled his hands into fists. “You are quite selfish. Everyone knew that you are, but now you want to drag down an entire family because of your fragile ego? Because of one of your sudden whims?”

Blanche was still inflamed with anger, but she couldn't help but laugh at that. Just seeing the man's expression was worth it, and she would add something that would upset him even more. “Are you listening to yourself? The reason we are here is that your pride is so big that it might swallow you in whole at one point. I never did anything that forced you into this position. If you hadn't been Theo's enemy from the very beginning, you would never have been targeted. You are only here because of your own decision to disrespect everyone around you while telling yourself that you are so much better than them. Don't blame me for that pathetic mindset.”

That did its damage.