“Please listen to the plan first. She will never be in any real danger since I will be right behind her, even when Owen goes away to purposefully create a chance. She only has to drink this and-”
Theodore cut Leonard off in a freezing voice. “No way. I will not let her drink anything that may be harmful.”
Surprisingly, Owen chimed in too. “I do not wish to agree to that either. Aside from us not being aware of the effects of such substances, I am positioned at Lady Blanche's side to protect her. I will only leave in case of an emergency.”
Leonard almost looked a bit frustrated at that. He glared at the two men while explaining. “I was going to give her the antidote for the substance our enemies have ordered, not a poison. I know the medicine they want to use. Some of my previous colleagues used it to...distract people. It's not deadly or harmful, especially not when she drank some of the antidote. How about asking her first before making the decision?”
Theodore wanted to talk back, but he was too slow.
Leon already turned to the concubine. “We found out that someone wants to poison one of you, which probably means that you are the target. No one would be stupid enough to have the emperor drugged during their party, so you will be the one needing to swallow the bitter pill. We could easily blame our enemies by letting you act a little. I will give you an antidote now, and if someone else offers you a drink, accept it. You will probably feel dizzy and warm afterward, but this antidote will have lessened the effect. Then Owen and Theodore will coincidentally leave you alone so that you are vulnerable. Obviously, I will stay close to you to prevent anything from actually happening. Act like you are extremely sick and pay attention to what the people around you say while they believe you to be barely conscious. Then your beloved rushes in to save the day, and we arrest the perpetrators. The effect of that medicine is temporary, so it will go away after a few hours or so. Does that sound good?”
Blanche could barely follow his words when he became faster and faster. To her, all of that sounded almost a bit too strange. “That sounds like it may be from a novel or something like that. But is that possible in real life? And why exactly did you come up with such a plan?”
Leonard shrugged and looked around before replying. “Because we don't have any clues, and I'm getting impatient. If we do this, we can have a trial in a month and use it to get rid of Claude Vasquez. We only need to cause a scene that allows us to arrest him so that we can freely search through his documents and unveil all of his crimes. This will also give us a chance to confirm whether he might be the secret third party we are worrying about so much. That it sounds like it might be from a novel isn't my problem.”
To be honest, that didn't bother Blanche much either. This was about whether it could work. She was silent for a moment and bit the inside of her cheek before speaking up. “What kind of medicine do they want to use on me? It's nothing bad like ‘Midnight Sleep’, right? In that case-”
Immediately, Theodore interrupted her. “No. There is no way that you will knowingly ingest some kind of poison.”
Leonard rested his elbow on the table and glanced to the side. “I'm telling you that it's not poison. It's a medicine that makes you drowsy and makes you feel like you have a fever. The other effect won't set in because she drank the antidote.”
Theodore still didn't listen to the other man. He spun around to his lover and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Don't do that. There is no need to bring yourself in danger when we already found out that something will happen. You don't have to feel like you need to do this because this would be completely useless. Your health is more important than anything else. We won't let someone drug you.” His expression looked so pained that the concubine was sure that she couldn't agree. Not when he looked at her like that.
But Leon was quick to speak up again. “But won't she be much safer if we finally get rid of Duke Vasquez? Now we may have been lucky enough to find out about their plot before, but we won't always be that fortunate. And then the poison may not be as harmless as this one. It's only more serious if Duke Vasquez is truly the man wanting to cause a war and take over the nation. We have to confirm whether it's him quickly and then get rid of him. You know that I'm right and that this plan is foolproof. I wouldn't propose anything that could pose a risk to Lady Blanche. I can intervene at any given time, you know? If everything goes downhill, I can make the whole situation look like an accident. No one believes that the secretary can fight, so it will be an easy win.” He was more than confident while saying all of that.
Theodore's face scrunched up at that. Apparently, he knew that Leonard was right with his assumptions. That didn't mean that he wanted to accept it though. “I won't send my angel into danger while I go somewhere else. There is no-”
Leon interrupted him this time. “By the gods. You can stay behind her too if you want to insist. You suddenly became a professional at sneaking, didn't you? If you manage to be silent, you can just follow me. Owen will be on the other side of the room and use another way from which he can still see us. I can even tell you where he needs to go right now.” He gestured to the other side of the ballroom. He seemed to refer to the area that was hidden behind some pillars that were carrying the second floor's hallway. “There is a corridor, and he needs to go straight and then go right, left and right again. Then he is right by the guest rooms, where almost no people are. He can reach the destination before us to ensure that nothing could possibly go wrong while Lady Blanche goes to that remote area to lure in anyone that may wish to harm us. The three of us should be the most skilled fighters in the palace. If we can't protect her, then nothing in this whole world can.”
The more Blanche listened, the more she seriously began to think about it. She wasn't truly in any danger if these men were there to protect her. The poison didn't seem to have the capability of harming her, so there was no need to be scared. She would only help her lover with this. Of course, she wasn't screaming in joy at the prospect of drinking some weird drug while being fully aware of that. But it was better than letting Theodore ingest some lethal substance in a few months because they hadn't gotten rid of their enemies in time.
So, Blanche forced herself to speak up in a steady voice, even though her stomach was churning. “If I can help in some way, I will do it. I'm always passive, so I might as well do something helpful at some point. I know that you worry about medicine like that a lot, but maybe I can do this. It shouldn't be difficult.”
Theodore whipped his head around to her and cupped her cheeks. “Don't. You can't get hurt, no matter what. I don't want to risk you getting injured or-”
Leonard sighed and looked around with more worry. “Would you keep it down, please? We don't need everyone here to know that we are planning something. Your expression is traitorous enough. Besides, please listen to me. This here is safe. But if Lady Blanche becomes empress while those people are still here, it will be more than dangerous for her.”
The emperor gritted his teeth and pulled his lover closer to him. “I can't let you do something that dangerous. I can't.” That had been expected.
“Theo.” Blanche gently placed her hands on top of his and looked into his eyes. “You will protect me too. You and Owen and Leon. Don't you think that you will have an advantage over our unknowing enemies?”
Theodore gazed at her with an expression that made her heart ache. “I know. But my emotions will never be outweighed by logic. I can't let you get hurt, I can't-”
Leonard took a deep breath before cutting the other man off. “I swear on my name that I will protect her with my life. Is that enough to convince you? You know how important this name is to me, so you should understand that I'm being serious when I say that nothing will happen.”
The emperor froze for a moment. Then he slowly breathed in and out before replying. “I know that you will do your best. Owen and I will too. But I'm still scared.” He looked into his lover's eyes and carefully stroked over her cheeks. “Are you sure that you want to risk that? You don't have to. You shouldn't.”
Blanche gave him a calming smile. “I am sure. As long as you are with me, nothing will happen. So, I won't be scared.”
Theodore clenched his jaw at that, but he nodded. “Alright. Alright. I will be right behind you. I will protect you with my life, and I won't leave or look away for a single second.”
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Leonard didn't seem to trust that the emperor wouldn't change his mind. He scanned the other man with skepticism before turning to the knight. “Owen?”
The guard was silent for a moment before replying. “I will help. I refuse to take my eyes off Lady Blanche though. I will stay in the same room until I can be sure that you are behind her.”
Leon nodded. “You can do that. There will always be at least two pairs of eyes on her, so it will go smoothly.” He opened a wine flask and poured three glasses for them with seemingly flawless motions. One could barely see his fingers moving, but he pulled out something from his sleeve and put something of a second liquid into a glass, which he pushed toward the concubine after.
Blanche was taken aback by his quick motions, but she didn't say anything about that. Instead, she moved closer to her glass and leaned down to smell the wine. The fragrance was the same as always, so it would probably taste like normal wine too despite the secret added ingredient. She picked up the glass and held it to her eyes to gaze at it in the candlelight. The last time she had drunk poison, it had left a bad memory, so she was reluctant to even touch this antidote. She could only hope that it didn't taste as sweet as that poison, or she might throw up. But, on the other hand, she hated bitter things. She asked before thinking about it. “Is it sweet or bitter?”
Leonard gave her a skeptical look. “What kind of question is that?”
“Well, both extremes would be bad. Since I don't like bitter... You know what, forget it.” Blanche lifted the glass and drank a big sip. She was relieved to find out that it tasted like normal red wine, so she just gulped down the rest of the liquid too.
Leon watched her and began explaining when she was finished. “After someone offered you a drink and you accepted it, you will feel normal for a few minutes. When you start to notice the effects of the medicine, you have to excuse yourself and go toward the guest rooms. You only need to seem as feverish as possible. Stumble a bit, hold your head and act like you are drowsy. Then our enemies will make their move. Alright?” That didn't sound too difficult.
The concubine nodded. “I will do my best.” Even if her acting skills weren't as good as they could be, she should be able to pretend to feel unwell. That was easy to do, right? After all, she had whined about harmless things often enough. She tried to seem at least a little confident, but she doubted that it worked.
Theodore still looked like he was extremely unhappy about all of this, so it was hard for her to smile at him. He pulled her into his arms again and tightly held her against his chest.
Leonard was silent for a moment before speaking up. “It will be fine. In the worst case...” He turned to Blanche. “You will use something interesting too. You put on the earrings like I asked you to, right?”
The concubine gestured to her ears. “There they are. I like them a lot.”
Leonard crossed his arms as he began explaining. “You may like them more or less after you find out what their specialty is, depending on your interests. If you put your hand on the bottom crystal and turn it toward you, it will open, and you will have something like a sharp needle in your hand. Do not pierce your own skin with that. If you use it on others, you just need to get the tip into their bloodstream, and they will collapse within a minute at most. They will just sleep for a while, but it should ensure that they won't bother you anymore.”
Blanche just blinked at that. “Pardon?” Leon opened his mouth to repeat what he had just said, and she quickly cut him off. “No, no. I understood that. But did you really give me a weapon with something like poison? I'm useless with knives, so-”
Leonard nodded at her. “I know. That's why I didn't give you a bracelet with a hidden blade. Trust me. You already sewed something for Theodore, and he even carries it around with him now. I looked at your needlework. It wasn't perfect, but you should be able to stab a clueless person with a needle. You should still be careful with how you use those stingers though. I don't want you to knock yourself out nor do I want them anywhere close to my face.”
This was the point in time at which Blanche thought about how little she knew about Leon. He surely wasn't a normal nobleman with his endurance and his great knowledge and skill when it came to fighting and weapons. Wasn't he also interested in poisons and antidotes? It was almost scary how calm he was when dealing with matters like this. “If you use such secret weapons, you make me worry. Leon, are you sure that you're not actually an assassin?”
For a moment, everyone was silent.
Then Leonard gave her a little smile. “You hit the bullseye. You shouldn't be so open about your guesses in front of strangers though. They might not just calmly accept it.” When she was quiet and blinked at him a few times, he resumed after a sigh. “You are right. I met Theodore seven years ago during that assassination attempt. I was actually hired for that job but didn't want to get too close to the knights and just watched from afar. I planned to wait until most people were dead and kill the target then. But then I saw some young man, who was a horrible sword fighter at that time, defeat countless attackers by using tricks. A few things happened, and I saw Althea there too and felt some pity for them. It takes too long to explain, but I helped Theodore escape and came with him. He gave me a new name and made sure that I was appointed as the heir of my elderly father despite me only being an illegitimate child. Since then, I've been Theodore's advisor but like to secretly deal with the less pleasant matters. That sounds like a novel too, right?” It did.
But Blanche wasn't too surprised. After all, she had seen some rather strange things in her life. From political intrigues to people that broke the laws of life and death to overly skillful individuals around her that learned how to fight overnight. That this story about Leonard was true didn't surprise her much. She was only shocked to find out that Leon was an assassin. After all, she only knew him as her tutor and the snarky secretary that loved to comment on the couple's cuddling. She didn't even know what to say about that. “I see. So, that's why you are so good at fighting. And why you know so much about weapons and poison. That explains it in some way. Thank you for rescuing Theo.”
Both Theodore and Leon looked rather surprised at that. The emperor was the first one to speak up. “I was going to give you a long story about how he saved my life, but you already accepted it. I expected you to be a bit worried at least.”
Blanche shook her head. “Not really. You trust him, so I know that he is good. For the last two years, he's always been kind to me too. He's been mad at us for kissing in front of him so often that I couldn't be scared about him doing anything. He never tried to harm either of us no matter how long we bothered him, so his self-control is probably much better than ours. Leon is on our side, so him being able to fight can only be beneficial.”
Leonard stared at her for a few seconds before his typical grin spread on his face. “Your morality is only dependent on who supports Theodore and who doesn't. That shows that you are loyal, but it also shows that you may be a bit too naive. I'm glad that you didn't start crying though.” He was joking about it now, but he seemed like he was genuinely glad that she hadn't suddenly been scared of him.
Blanche just gave him a wide smile in return. “I cry at everything, so the tears might just follow when we face the bad people later. Please use your assassin skills to save me then.”
“With pleasure.” Leon finished his glass of wine too and set it back on the table. “I will go now, or they will notice that we are talking for too long. But first, I will give you a short summary of the plan so that you know what to do. For now, talk to the guests, and at some point, Lady Blanche can go to the group of women surrounding Duchess Vasquez. Then someone will approach her. She drinks the liquid offered to her and goes to the guest rooms over there.” He gestured to one of the two hallways leading away from the ballroom. “Owen will leave earlier when he is being told about the commotion by the entrance and then go through the second hallway to reach the destination first. Theodore and I will act like we are absorbed in a conversation and then follow her. Alright?” He waited for everyone to nod before smiling at them. “Good. Then I bid you farewell for now, Your Majesty and Lady Blanche. Goodbye, Sir Maillont.” With that, he spun around and left.
To Blanche, all of this felt like it went by a little too fast. She was rather sure that one should come up with such a plan earlier. But now they had to act somewhat similar to what Leon had proposed without having any chance to prepare. Maybe this would overwhelm her a bit.
As if Theodore had read her thoughts, he brought his lips to her forehead. “Everything will be fine. I am with you no matter what. If that Besseta girl really works with the people that framed her father, I will make sure that their family understands what it really means to attack us. And Duke Vasquez will have spent his last days in freedom. I will take care of everything, I promise.” He wanted to comfort her, but at the same time, he was the one trembling.
Blanche quickly wrapped her arms around him and pulled him against her. “You're right. Everything will be fine. Trust your most skilled men. They will be able to protect me when I am on guard.”
Theodore nodded to himself and buried his face in her neck. “Alright. I swear that I will protect you. I won't ever let anyone hurt you again. I swear on my life, my name, the Estien family and all of Artias.”
She raised her arm and gently patted his head. “You don't have to go so far. I believe you. You will definitely protect me and crush our enemies. That is why we will take care of the plan now. We can't let them see that we are cautious.” She had said that without expecting a direct response, but the emperor immediately lifted his head.
Theodore gave her a forced smile before putting on his perfectly calm mask. “Then we will go entertain the nobles for a while. Let's try to have some fun before everything starts.” He offered her his hand, and when she took it, he brought her to the center of the room again. It didn't take long for other people to come to them.
The Duremonts along with the Bellfaux family were one of the first ones to greet them. Henry was a bit disgruntled, but apparently, he had talked to Seraphina for a long time and forced himself to stay quiet because of that. He still glared at the emperor and the concubine but didn't dare to speak up. Allen was escorting Briana, who beamed more than ever before, while Elaine watched her son with a smile. Madeleine and Marquess Bellfaux were polite and seemingly didn't care much about whether Theodore was with his wife or not. That Madeleine kept glancing at Seraphina proved otherwise though.
The empress herself appeared to avoid her husband as much as he avoided her. She had stepped aside to allow her family to greet him, and as soon as he was gone, she joined her parents and brother again.
Even though they were in the middle of a party, many people began to gossip about that. If the royal spouses acted like this, most nobles probably wouldn't even be surprised because of the divorce anymore.
Blanche was a bit worried about that affecting the Duremonts too much, but she couldn't do much about the emperor and the empress not getting along. She was a bit taken aback to receive a smile from Seraphina whenever their eyes met and gave her best to return it despite being pretty sure that Theodore was glaring at his wife. But luckily, no fight developed as the emperor just escorted his lover for a while.
The couple continued their conversations and talked to whoever approached them. There was only one strange thing about that, and as they chatted with a few nobles, it became clearer with each conversation. For some reason, no one dared to greet Blanche first.
Instead, the aristocrats waited until it became so quiet that the concubine decided that she had to greet them. Rank-wise that didn't make any sense at all, but the other party always seemed to insist on her speaking first. It probably had something to do with her being next to the emperor, but it was still strange.
Though, at this point, it wouldn't be surprising if people had guessed that she would soon be part of the royal family either.