Time passed way too quickly and brought many changes with it. Blanche was already used to that. What was even more surprising than that was they had reached the novel's ending though. A little more than twelve months had passed since she had regained the memories of the book.

And everything was still fine.

They had reached the ending of the novel's timeline without anything special happening. Everything was completely different from the original story, and even the finale didn't influence their world at all. No one had been overwritten by the author's will nor had anything suddenly changed because of what had been written in that book. For some reason, she hadn't been surprised or fearful either.

Blanche had spent that last day of the novel cuddling with her lover. Knowing that she couldn't foresee what would happen now was somewhat scary, but at the same time, she hadn't been able to look into the future for a long time now. Too much differed from the novel so that the knowledge from “To Be Empress” was rather useless to her now.

But she was content with that. As long as she had her own happy end, she had to admit that she didn't care about having changed the story at all. She would do her best to help Theodore with his problems and fight for their future, and that was all that mattered now.

Today, this would include visiting the baby party of one of their greatest enemies. The couple was sitting in the carriage while riding toward the mansion of the Vasquez family.

Blanche stared at the huge building in front of them before letting the curtain fall back and turning to her lover. “You can see that they're rich just by looking at this house. It couldn't have been bigger, could it?”

Theodore shrugged at that. “The palace is bigger.”

She gave him a slightly annoyed look. “Comparing the emperor's home with anyone else's is a bit unfair, right? I know that you aren't impressed because you already visited a few times, but this is a first for me. I've never been here or at any other mansions before.” In the past, she hadn't received many invitations to come to other households' events. After all, she was only a baroness without her own wealth or any interesting relations. So, few people had wished to let her attend their parties.

The ones that had wanted to gain an advantage by impressing the emperor's lover had only invited her when they made sure that Theodore wasn't there. This had been done to prevent Blanche from causing trouble by clinging to him and offending Seraphina, which would have ended in a big fight. But it also had caused the concubine to ignore any letters that were sent to her. She would never have gone to a party without her lover. Aside from being too nervous and just not interested, she had also been too scared of the noble's unfiltered disdain.

But now everyone knew that she was much closer to Theodore than they had imagined. That had caused her to receive countless invitations each month. Now she, and sometimes Leon after she had asked him to help her sort the hundreds of envelopes by their importance, actually took the time to write a formal letter to apologize for not being able to attend every event. Today was the first time that she actually attended another family's party at their estate, so this was special to her, even if it was just routine for her lover.

Theodore gave her a little smile and reached for her to caress the side of her neck to avoid wiping away her powder. “From now on, you will receive many more invitations. You will always come to every party I attend. I still don't go to many thanks to my dear family, whom I do not trust for a single second, but that will change when they are gone. I will escort you to every single event there is.” He had already made that clear by accompanying her today despite her pointing out that he should offer his wife some respect for the last few weeks that Seraphina was here.

Blanche didn't bother to argue again. She felt bad about this, but she was also relieved that her lover wouldn't leave her alone in the lion's den. Both Leon and Stella had warned her about feeling like something unfavorable might happen today, so she wanted to be extra careful.

The carriage reached the plaza in front of the main entrance and stopped. Slowly, the door of the vehicle opened, and a group of servants stepped aside and bowed to the emperor.

Theodore didn't even glance at them before climbing out of the coach. He purposefully stood in front of another servant, who had probably wanted to help the concubine out, and offered his lover his hand. She put her hand on his and climbed out while trying to look as graceful as possible.

It felt like everyone's gazes snapped to them in an instant. That wasn't very surprising though. The emperor had just arrived, and the sparkling royal carriage made it obvious that he wanted others to notice. He had done everything to make sure that no one here would be able to overlook them. They were even surrounded by at least a hundred guards, which was definitely more of a threat than a security measure. Most of them wouldn't enter the house and just wait by the carriage anyway.

The couple's attires were also made to attract everyone's eyes. Like for most events, Theodore wore his uniform in the royal colors and had insisted on his lover wearing a matching dress that was as extravagant as the one she had worn for her birthday. The tiara on her head also worried her a bit, but now it was too late to change anything. She had supported the emperor's plan from the moment she had taken a seat next to him in the coach. The fact that he had sat in the royal carriage with his lover and sent his wife to sit in a separate one already said everything.

Blanche glanced to the side and watched the empress' carriage that would arrive in a few seconds as well. Hopefully, Theodore would at least have the decency to wait for Seraphina so that they could enter together.

It should have been clear that he didn't have it.

Her lover just linked their arms and guided her forward so that she had no way to stop him without making it obvious that she was trying to go against the emperor's ideas. He looked up at the building for a moment, and when her eyes followed his, he spoke up just loud enough that the bowing people around them would hear. “Do you like the house?”

The concubine couldn't really insult the hosts' house now. There was only one thing she could say. “I would say that the facade is aesthetically pleasing. I have not seen it from the inside, but it looks rather spacious. The pillars here are an interesting design choice, and the ornaments are very beautiful as well.” She already regretted her answer when she gazed at her lover again.

Theodore gave her a bright smile while replying. “I could buy you a house in a similar style if you want to. Or we can build a new one within the royal estate. What do you think?”

The concubine almost choked on the air in her mouth. “What? No. We already have a palace that is big enough and three mansions and a summer residence. Why would you need more?”

The emperor continued to beam at her. “You are right. I just thought that we could use a smaller house to have some privacy. But I know that you like our room a lot, so we probably would sleep there even if we had a separate house for ourselves.” Seemingly, he had just wanted to point out that they were sharing a room. If he wanted to catch the attention of others, he had surely done it now.

The servants were giving the couple confused looks while some whispered to each other as quietly as possible. There would be new rumors by tomorrow, and Theodore had probably waited for that.

Blanche glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, and he was smirking at her. With an inward sigh, she gave up and let him guide her into the building.

A long red carpet led the guest through a hallway with countless majestic candelabras and expensive paintings on the walls. Every door was closed, so the only accessible destination was the ballroom at the end of the corridor. This ballroom wasn't as big as the royal one, but it certainly had its charm. It was split into two floors, with the upper one only consisting of a hallway leading around the round room and the lower one with the dance floor. Countless people were already chatting everywhere, and the buffet seemed to have been opened too.

The couple reached the top of a broad staircase that led down to the dance floor, where a servant was standing by the railing and announced every single guest that came inside after checking their invitations. A short queue had formed in front of him, but all of them stepped aside to let the emperor enter first.

It felt a bit unfair that Blanche was also able to pass by the others without needing to wait. She showed them a smile as some sort of apology and was surprised to see the other women curtsy to her while the men bowed. They probably had to do that because she was with the emperor, but it still made her feel a little strange. She would take ages to get used to being a member of the royal family after she married Theodore.

When the couple approached the servant, the man bowed before turning to the ballroom. He didn't even ask for the invitations and just announced their presence immediately. “His Majesty, the emperor of Artias and Lady Blanche.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

As if their arrival was a miracle, everyone stopped what they were doing to face the couple and bowed to them.

Blanche bit the inside of her cheek and forced herself to smile while concentrating on matching her lover's pace as they climbed down the stairs. Luckily, she neither tripped nor did anything else that would embarrass her forever happen. Instead, they just arrived at the dance floor without any issues.

Theodore wasn't as hesitant as she was and guided her forward to the center of the room, where he stopped. “See? Everyone is looking at us. We will offer them a perfect waltz again when music is being played. They all will be jealous of me because I have such a gorgeous wife.”

Blanche's heart skipped a beat when she heard that, and she struggled to keep a straight expression. “But you know that I am not quite your wife yet. Some things have to happen first. You need to announce our engagement, and then we have to have the party and the wedding later too. Don't just skip all of that.”

“I would never skip any of those steps. I just think that I already have the right to call you mine when nothing can ever prevent our wedding now. Remember the engagement contract? It's safer than any other document that was ever written. You don't get to back out anymore.” He gave her a confident grin, which made her smile as well.

“You can believe me when I say that backing out isn't my goal. I want to stay with you until the very end. That is why you could have made the contract as loose as you wanted to. I wouldn't have tried to break it anyway.” She moved her hand to his and interlinked their fingers.

Theodore looked at her with a loving gaze before lifting her hand to his lips and gently kissing her fingers. “Good. Because that contract isn't supposed to bind you but ensure that no one else could ever intervene. But I won't let you go anyway. We'll be together forever.”

Now that the novel was over and hadn't magically overwritten the past, Blanche was rather certain that he would keep that promise. She would force him to. “Of course. We promised each other so often that doing something else would be a crime.” She guided his hand to the side of her face while trying to ignore the gazes that were directed at them. “And now we'll spend the whole evening together too, right? I would be too nervous without you. It's rather busy here after all. This is a grand baby party.”

The emperor nodded and scanned the decorations with skepticism. “They certainly like to show off their family crest. Everything is green. I feel like I won't be able to like the color anymore after this. But, well.” He turned to his lover again. “I agree that there are a lot of guests here. Normally, baby parties are on a smaller scale. But they probably have to distract the nobles from the issues regarding their stores. And like this, they get more gifts, which they can sell later if their money is being drained. So, having such grand celebrations could help them. That means that it's very exhausting for them though. The poor baby won't be able to rest properly for the rest of the night. But that won't be our concern. The same holds true for any problems that may arise.”

The concubine still felt a little bad about the baby being forced to lie in a cradle for the whole evening, but she couldn't do anything about it. She glanced at the seating area, where Selena sat with a bundle of blankets in her arms. Luciano stood directly behind his mother's couch, but his father was nowhere to be seen over there.

Blanche focused on her lover again. “There they are. You prepared some presents, right?” She was a bit scared when the response didn't come immediately.

But Theodore just grinned at her. “Of course. They are a bit special though. Naturally, there is nothing that would hurt a child, but almost everything has some sort of hidden meaning. The hosts will be glad to receive them.”

“Now that you say it... This is the first event that I visit that doesn't include you being the host. So, I assume that we will just walk around and talk to others for a while.”

Theodore looked around for a moment before his eyes met hers again. “Most people will come to us. We don't have to walk around that much. Even when we're not hosting, the most influential families will come to greet us anyway. Let's see who comes first. It's either Duke Vasquez or my beloved relatives. For now, we will just visit the buffet for the first time. We need to check whether he prepared your salmon after all.”

Blanche tugged at his hand when he started to take a step backward. “I don't think that I want to eat here though. If the Vasquez family prepared it, we will not consume anything. Besides, should we not go greet the hosts first?”

Her lover gave her a small grin. “Unfortunately, I didn't see the hosts, did you? When I do spot them, we will go there immediately. It's their task to greet us, so if they aren't anywhere to be found, it's not our problem. You don't have to worry about the banquet either. We won't eat anything, but we can pretend to be dissatisfied with the food. If there isn't any salmon, I will immediately complain.”

That sounded a bit mean. Hosting a celebration was hard enough, but doing it while everyone else was criticizing you had to be even harder. Claude deserved that, but his wife and especially his daughter didn't as they still needed their rest. So, Blanche would rather not begin a discussion about the buffet unless she could ensure that only Claude suffered. She would gladly ruin his evening. Just at the moment that this thought had crossed her mind, they were approached.

It was Duke Vasquez, who needed to squeeze through some other group of guests to reach them. He bowed in an exaggerated motion and showed them his usual wide smirk when he looked up again.

Then the three of them looked at each other for a moment.

Now there was the question of who addressed whom. Normally, the hosts would be able to speak up first. While dealing with members of the royal family, one would have to show them even more courtesy than usual at the same time to ensure that one didn't disrespect them. Theoretically, the emperor, who could choose whether to address the others first or whether to wait, was the only exception to that rule. The topic of whether the same applied to the empress was unclear, but it probably depended on her wishes too. The big issue now was that both Theodore and Claude wouldn't like backing down. And if they started talking at the same time, it would be embarrassing for everyone. So, every normal person would be worried about what to do now.

Seemingly, the emperor wasn't normal though. He spoke up without hesitation. “Good evening, Your Grace. Being invited to your wonderful celebration is an honor and a pleasure at the same time.” Normally, he should have added a question now, but he just put a hand on his lover's shoulder, smiled at her and squeezed her arm.

He was truly serious even when he obviously knew what he was doing. Beginning now without waiting for the host to address you first was more than insolent.

Blanche had insisted on those rules a while ago during her ball, so breaking them now was somewhat stupid. But if she could upset the duke, she didn't mind. She easily put on a smile. “Good evening. I can only agree with what Theo said. It is a pleasure to be here. Thank you for your invitation, Your Grace. How are you and your family, most importantly, your little daughter?” She had expected Claude to get angry at that.

But for some reason, Duke Vasquez just smiled at her and replied without the slightest trace of wrath. He wasn't that good at controlling his facial expressions, so he seemed to be strangely fine with her daring to speak up first. “I am honored to have both Your Majesty and Lady Blanche attend this party. We sincerely thank you for deciding to grace us with your presence. I cannot complain about any issues.” Except for the big amount of his stores closing, maybe. “My family is in good health and our sweet little girl is too. She cries very often, but there isn't much I can do about that. She is quite lively, so it can be exhausting to deal with her.” So, he had already forgotten that he had claimed that his daughter was sick during the audience. “Of course, all of that is forgotten when such important visitors come here to greet her. She will be excited to meet you. Would you mind following me to see her?”

Theodore showed him a wide smile in return. “Not at all, Your Grace. Please lead the way.” The duke began moving, and the emperor followed while linking his arm with his concubine. He leaned over to her and whispered to her. “He addressed us like we were spouses, did you hear that? I think his plan is to upset the empress today because he hopes that I will be threatened if she divorces me. Since I don't mind annoying her a bit, we can play along. And then near the end, we can reveal that we noticed what he was doing.”

It was true that one usually only addressed the members of a family, mostly spouses, at the same time. So, it wasn't unthinkable that Claude would want to ruin Seraphina's relationship with Theodore. But that didn't mean that the rest was good.

“Theo, that won't help. We don't want people to find out about the divorce before you make it official, right? So, we will stay quiet. And angering the empress isn't necessary either.”

Her lover pouted at her. “But it will be official in about a week anyway. We can at least drop a few hints. I mean, everyone that paid attention will already know what my goal is. So, it doesn't matter if we say it now. And there is never a problem with upsetting that power-hungry woman a bit. Let us focus on that later though. Now we need to see what my small cousin looks like. I hope that she won't trouble me as much as her family.”

Blanche focused her attention on the scene in front of them again. They had reached the seating area, and a group of women, who had sat beside the duchess, stepped aside to give the emperor some privacy.

Selena looked up from the cradle and greeted the guests with a smile. But no matter how lovely her imitation of happiness was, she couldn't hide the exhaustion that showed on her face and through her body language. Blanche could see the many layers of powder underneath her eyes and could guess what had required this sort of cosmetic.

Once again, Theodore spoke up first. “I wish you a wonderful evening, Your Grace. You created a beautiful celebration here.” He did the same thing as last time and made his lover resume.

Blanche forced herself to smile as she greeted the other woman. “It really does look beautiful here. Good evening, Your Grace. I hope that you and your family are doing well. How is the main person of this event today?”

Selena was taken aback for a moment before her smile returned. It wasn't a fake one this time. She genuinely seemed like she was content despite being tired. “It is an honor to hear such kind words from you. Thank you for the compliments, Your Majesty. And I thank you for your concern, Lady Blanche. We are all doing well given the circumstances. Our small addition to the family is good at keeping everyone awake unless she is being held in someone's arms so that they have to be scared of accidentally hurting her in their sleep. But she is fine. Do you want to see her?” Before even waiting for a response, she reached into the cradle.

A small yelp was the only complaint she got before she pulled out a bundle of blankets, from which two small hands stuck out.

The duchess whispered something to her girl and carefully positioned her in her arms. Then she showed the others her child with a loving smile. “This is Rebecca. Our pride and joy, along with Luciano, of course. All of us treat her with way too much affection. She will end up being a spoiled little girl that wants to be a princess.”

To be honest, this baby was as adorable as every other one would be. Even if her father was a horrible person, the way the girl squeezed her eyes shut and balled her tiny hands into fists was so sweet that Blanche felt like she had lost. This girl was destined to be one of their enemies when she grew up, but still, there was no way that anyone could dislike her for her family. Hopefully, the Vasquez household would change their course soon, or Rebecca also wouldn't have a happy ending.

The concubine smiled at the baby while pushing away those thoughts. “She is beautiful and so adorable that everyone's heart will melt. It looks like she will have black hair like her father and brother.”

Selena nodded with a soft grin on her lips. “Thank you for your kind words. We think the same whenever we see her. And you are right about your assumption. No one inherits my light hair. But that may be better too. Luciano looks perfect with his hair color, so this little girl will be a beauty later too. I'm still glad that she has my eyes though. I obviously love the golden ones of my husband and son, but...” The corners of her lips lifted a little higher. “It is nice to see that she looks a bit like me.”

The fact that she truly seemed to love her daughter made all of this so much more bitter. The Vasquez family wouldn't be able to go on like this for long. And knowing that there was more to them than them just being cruel made that thought a bit sour.

Though, all of this was still their fault. Complaining now wouldn't make sense when they had supported the wrong people freely.