Theodore didn't mind declaring that Seraphina had been the one to attack them first and thus deserved revenge with conviction.

Blanche looked into her lover's eyes for a few seconds before breathing out. “As I just said, I don't remember that.” She definitely didn't. Or did she? “But I do remember that Duke Vasquez and the dowager empress are our enemies. If you want to focus on troubling someone, choose them. They deserve it, and their safety won't directly influence the stability of the peace between us and Northern Ocrea. Alright?”

Theodore nodded at her. “I will do that if you tell me to. I won't try anything after Prince Linden leaves. But it's troublesome if I need to warn that woman. Prince Linden needs an heir to ensure that his sister doesn't have an advantage over him. So, her pregnancy has to go well.”

The concubine was completely speechless at that. Theodore certainly said strange things at random times. “And warning her about that is bad in what way? I mean...every pregnant woman should be careful.” Blanche included, at least if she was truly pregnant.

Theodore replied with a serious expression. “I don't want to talk to her. Seeing her makes me sick, and helping her will make me gag. Besides, I don't need anyone to think that I care for her or wish her a happy future, especially not her.” That those were his greatest worries was the worst part.

Blanche could barely keep herself from grimacing. “I don't think that anyone assumes that. You treated her rather coldly in public. Ignoring your wife to spend time with me won't have made them believe that you worry much about her feelings. I think the servants know too. So, you don't really have to worry about others misunderstanding.”

By now, the whole palace knew that the emperor had despised his ex-wife for the last few months of their marriage. Theodore continuously avoiding the former empress in a barely hidden manner had made that much clear. That had probably been the reason why no one had been surprised about the divorce. Even the Ocreans had seen how he ignored Seraphina, which had most likely made them wonder why the emperor had neglected his wife that much.

Theodore was quiet for a moment before responding. “Good. Because other people thinking that I care would be a grave punishment. The only one I care about is you.” He lifted her hand and pressed a kiss onto her fingers as he gave her a little smile. “The whole nation should know that by now.” Based on the way that he was acting in public, it was easy to assume that the rumors had already reached even the most southern territories.

Blanche smiled back at him even if she was still a bit taken aback by his grudge against Seraphina. “It doesn't matter much what the nation thinks. You just need to convince me. And so far, you have been doing a great job.”

Theodore pressed another kiss onto the back of her hand. “That's good to hear. Then I fulfilled my goal. Now I only have to continue doing that for the rest of my life. Aside from getting rid of our enemies, I just have one more goal. I will take care of the nation. But that is only a small part of my future. The priority is you and our family. So, you have to let me pamper you.”

It wasn't like she could do anything about that when he was being stubborn. “Of course. But you have to let me return that favor. I want to be able to make you happy too. I don't feel like buying you something will do the trick, so you need to let me cuddle with you as much as possible.”

Her lover leaned down to kiss her nose. “Gladly. Your presence alone is enough to make me happy, but I will happily accept any affection that you could offer to me. I will never get enough. That's why we will retreat now and eat breakfast in private so that we can go back to bed for a bit. I don't want you to fall asleep while we are walking around. So, let's just say goodbye to those two and leave immediately.”

He didn't need to wait for her response. Going to bed sounded wonderful right now. Blanche would gladly fall back into the warm blanket and cuddle for the rest of the day. She had enough time to take care of work later.

With that in mind, they stepped back to allow Linden and Seraphina to reunite properly.

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Three days passed by in the blink of an eye. It was actually surprising to see that everything was similar to Linden's last visit. The prince spent all of his time with Seraphina.

On the second day, Linden had formally asked Henry for permission to marry his daughter. Duke Duremont had seemed rather torn from afar, but he had obviously agreed to make sure that his precious Seraphina was happy.

In general, it had seemed like the Duremonts got along well with Linden even if they were a bit disgruntled at the fact that he would bring their daughter or sister away from them. Both Henry and Allen seemed to have been rather harsh, but in the end, they accepted their beloved's future husband. Sophia, on the other hand, had been eager to meet Linden immediately even if she seemed to miss her sister already, which wasn't surprising.

Blanche didn't know much more about their conversations since she hadn't been present, which was probably for the better. She didn't want to insert herself into a family discussion even if Sophia had invited her once. The concubine had just left them on their own and spent time with her lover instead.

In the end, she had worked a lot too, which she was rather happy about. It felt good to finish a stack of documents and to know that she had done this, even if her stack was much smaller than Theodore's. At first, she had thought that he was just giving her fewer tasks as some sort of preferential treatment. But it seemed like Leon also didn't do much more than she did before he returned to the cells to interrogate someone, who was probably Duke Vasquez.

The others didn't work slowly, Theodore was just incredibly fast. He skimmed through the pages as if he was barely reading them and still understood as much as Blanche did. He had a good memory and told her about the contents of documents that she hadn't seen him read at all. That meant that he had to have gone through them weeks ago and still remembered. She was a bit jealous of those abilities, but she couldn't do much about that. She could only try to improve herself in hopes of reaching that level at some point.

Aside from the work in the office and the daily lessons with Leon, Blanche only did one thing, and that was allowing her lover to cuddle with her at each chance they got. They took walks, visited the winter garden and the pavilion or ate together. It was very relaxed for them even while the servants seemed to be busy preparing the guests' departure the whole time.

Especially bringing Seraphina's suitcases downstairs from the third floor seemed to trouble the staff members that kept complaining about them being heavy. Blanche was rather sure that they hadn't whined that much before the vacation, during which there have been much more to carry down, but she didn't comment on that. She had no right to do that when she hadn't brought a single item to the carriages.

So, the time passed, and the day of Prince Linden's departure arrived. It was odd to know that Seraphina, who had lived here for so long, would leave alongside him. She would never return for more than a visit, and it was even questionable whether Theodore would allow that.

Even though Blanche and the former empress had always had their conflicts, it would feel disrespectful to part without a short conversation. That was why the concubine had prepared a little gift. It was just a big chest with multiple smaller containers for the sleeping herbs and a list of the ingredients, but this should be helpful to Seraphina to prevent nightmares in the future. She was sure that Theodore wouldn't even like her giving that small present to the other woman though. She also feared interrupting the goodbyes between Seraphina and her family, so she chose to hand her gift over before the preparations were done.

There were about two hours left before the servants should be done storing everything in the vehicles. Blanche had brought the concerned items from the doctor and now stood in front of the empress' chambers, which probably wouldn't be used for the next decade after the current inhabitant moved out. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door. She remembered doing this as well after the attack on Duke Lamont's birthday, but so much had changed ever since then. Blanche wasn't terrified of losing her lover to the other woman nor was she scared of her anymore. Still, there was an odd feeling of unease inside her while she waited for someone to respond.

A voice from the inside spoke up a moment later. “I'm coming.” After a few seconds, the door opened. It was one of Seraphina's maids. The woman seemed surprised to see the concubine here, but she caught herself quickly. Still, she didn't dare to speak up and just bowed.

Blanche probably wouldn't get used to the fact that some servants even paid attention to that now when they had just called her name normally in the past. At least she wouldn't get used to it any time soon. She gave the attendant a smile. “Good morning. I would like to speak to Lady Duremont. Is that possible? If she is busy preparing, I don't want to disturb her, but I brought a small goodbye gift.”

The maid opened the door a bit more. “I...will ask her.” She turned around and disappeared from the concubine's field of view. Some faint voices were heard from the inside.

Then Seraphina replied while being a bit louder. “You may come in.”

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Blanche slowly stepped forward and went into the room. For a moment, she looked around without saying anything. The room didn't look as bare as she had imagined it to be. Countless decorations still adorned the cabinets and dressers, including jewelry and all kind of lavish goods that probably only held ornamental value. It was a bit similar to the emperor's chambers, but there were fewer decorations here, and these were less extravagant. But the heroine had probably already disliked this number of fancy ornaments.

Blanche walked forward and made eye contact with the former empress, who sat on the grand double bed. She was silent for a short moment before speaking up. “Good morning, Lady Duremont. I hope that I'm not disturbing you. If that is the case, please do not hesitate to be honest.”

Seraphina stood up to make a small curtsy. “You needn't worry about that, Lady Blanche. I am done with everything, and most of my suitcases are already stored in the carriage. Packing all the books from my office was a hassle, but we are finally done.”

The concubine felt a bit strange even when she received such a nice response. She still didn't know how to interact with the other woman. So, she looked around again. “And you definitely finished packing already? This room is still rather full.”

Seraphina gave her a faint smile. “Most items here were prepared before I moved in. I never liked those flashy things, so I don't feel too bad about leaving them. They belong to the royal family, so I will not touch them. But I gave my best to clean everything out even though I doubt that someone will use this room.” She glanced at the other woman. “I took all of my personal belongings and most of my dresses. I assume that they would only be thrown away otherwise since the only two women that can wear attires in royal colors won't take them. I hope that this is fine.” She looked into the concubine's eyes as if she waited for a response.

Blanche didn't know what to say about that. “Well... Those are your gowns. You should be able to do what you want to do. You can take your jewelry too. Theo will give it away otherwise.”

Seraphina let her gaze roam through the room as well. “Theoretically, they don't belong to me. They were made for the empress, so they belong to the royal family. That is why I wanted to mention this to you. I would have asked His Majesty to give me permission, but it is easy to imagine how he would have reacted. Since this is basically your palace already, I thought that asking you might be fine too.”

The concubine blinked a few times. “I don't think that you should say that. I'm not married to Theodore yet.”

The other woman gazed at her again. “But if it is more accurate to say it like this, it is not wrong. Do you not know? His Majesty already made it very clear that you are the mistress of this house. All the servants were instructed to interact with you as if you were empress. They did not seem to mind that. In the past, most were not keen on serving you, but it seems that your cake melted their heart while they have grown to hate me for some reason. But that is not what you came here to talk about, correct?” Seraphina gestured to one of her maids. “Please prepare some tea for us. Apple tea would be wonderful.”

Blanche quickly lifted her hand. “Oh, no. That is not necessary. I don't want to disturb you any longer. I merely wanted to come in for a little moment and bring a small gift.”

Seraphina gave her a smile that looked like it hid a few secrets behind it. “But this is the last time that we will have the chance to chat in peace. I am done with my preparations, so you can surely give me a few minutes of your time. Just for a nice cup of tea before we say goodbye.” If she put it like this, there was no way that someone would refuse.

The villainess would also like to bid the heroine farewell without a hurry.

“Then I will gladly accept your offer.” Blanche turned to face Stella, who was holding onto the chest that contained her presents. “Then I can at least bring a gift to thank you for inviting me. I asked the doctor to give me a few portions of the sleeping herbs that we both use. They are dried, so they should last for a while. I also made him write down the ingredients so that you can recreate the mix in Ocrea.”

Seraphina let out a quiet chuckle, which almost made the concubine believe that she had misheard. She pointed to a lonely little suitcase that was standing next to the table. “Thank you very much. You can put it there. It seems like I will be able to open up a store soon. My maids and I all already gathered as much of this as possible. I do not wish to have another nightmare again after all. But now it seems like I don't have to worry about that anymore.” It should have been clear that she would think about that herself when the other option was having traumatizing nightmares.

Blanche felt a bit stupid, but she returned a smile. “Well... If you have too much, you can at least offer it to others as well. They don't need too much space, so it should be fine.”

“You don't have to worry. If I use them each day, they won't last as long. That is why it can never be bad to have more. And they are supposed to be good for pregnant women, so I can't do anything wrong.” Seraphina walked over to the table and gestured to the chair on the opposite. “Then would you like to sit down? Our tea will be prepared in a moment. Please be patient for a little while.”

Blanche thanked her and sat down. The table was quickly set by the maids, but the tea would take a bit longer. For a few seconds, everyone was quiet before the concubine spoke up. “Has anything special happened recently? Aside from you planning on getting married to Prince Linden, of course.” That was the only topic she could think of after she had silently decided not to mention anything related to the option of her own pregnancy.

In return, Seraphina gave her a little smile. “Not much happened. I prepared to depart and spent time with Linden. After only having interacted with him for four weeks in person, marriage feels a bit quick, but at least he behaves like last time. I was a bit worried about him suddenly changing his mind about me, but he seems to find me bearable at least. That is much more than I can say about my last husband, but we'll see. I hope that Linden doesn't act similarly to His Majesty in the future and that he doesn't have a lover in Northern Ocrea.” She made it sound like that was a joke, but maybe she was really worrying about that. After all, she had never visited Linden's home country. She couldn't be sure about who he really was, and now she was following him into another nation. That was awfully risky for the normally so calculative woman.

Blanche scanned Seraphina's expression for a moment before speaking up. “I think that it will be fine. You are good at judging people. You would have known if he was hiding something. So, I trust that you two are a good fit.”

Seraphina smiled at her. “Thank you. I can only hope that this is true. I used to pride myself in being able to see through most people, but recently, my odds of success have decreased tremendously.” Her expression became more serious. “I did not expect Lady Lemares to try to drown my niece, for example. I always knew that she was jealous of my mother and that she sometimes took it out on Sophia, who was too kind to assume that her aunt had bad intentions. I tried to point out that something was wrong, but my family was rather naive. And over the years, I stopped expecting the worst. I just thought that it couldn't be helped since that woman cared for my father. But that she could actually try to hurt a baby was something I could never have imagined. You deserve my whole family's gratitude and utmost respect for being able to intervene in time. I cannot thank you enough for that, so I will not even try.”

Blanche wanted to respond to that, but the other woman already continued.

“I also would have never guessed that His Majesty would change into a different person overnight. That he would despise me so much that he looks like he wants to murder me. But apparently, changing over the course of a few hours is normal here. You did it too.” The smile on Seraphina's lips returned. “I misjudged you more than anyone else. Even before we talked for the first time, I believed that you were merely here to gain a bit of power while being too naive to understand the world of nobles in the slightest. For that, I want to sincerely apologize one last time. Even if you may have acted rather petty on some occasions, I did too. And since both of our stances were understandable, I would like to move past this. From now on, I would like to see our first pleasant conversation as the starting point of our relationship. Only if you are fine with that, of course.”

Blanche still felt like she had done much more troublesome things than the other woman. Assuming that they were both responsible for their fights to the same extent was a bit odd, even if she agreed that Seraphina hadn't always been cool-headed when it came to her. But she also wanted to let go of the past. It was true that she had changed. The lonely version of her that used throwing tantrums to address her problems didn't exist anymore. She was surrounded by wonderful people now and had managed to open up to someone aside from Theodore, to whom she was much closer too. There was no need to hold on to the past that had forced her and Seraphina into the roles of enemies.

Though, forgiving the woman that had pushed for the villainess' execution was never easy. And as much as Blanche would like to forget that, she could never.

Still, Blanche returned a smile while trying to seem as friendly as possible. “I would be happy about that. I would like to be able to move on as well. I will apologize one last time too. Because you were Theo's fiancée, and later his wife, I only saw you as that and nothing more. So, I got jealous and saw you as my opponent, which is why I was so disrespectful. Back then, I did not understand why I couldn't be with him while you accompanied him in public. I vented that frustration on you and your family. For that, I apologize from the bottom of my heart.”

Seraphina scanned her expression for a short while. “So, this is the last time that you will apologize?”

“Yes.” After all the time that had passed, Blanche wanted to close the chapter of her life that had been related to so many misunderstandings. She could stop apologizing at some point. It wasn't like the other woman hadn't gotten revenge already after all.

Seraphina looked at the concubine and only glanced to the side when her maid brought two cups of tea. “I am pleased to hear that you wish to move on too. I already thought that you would insist on apologizing a hundred times more. It was getting a bit repetitive.” She thanked her maid before inspecting the tea. “It should be done in a few minutes. That gives us the chance to talk for a bit longer.” She made eye contact with the other woman. “But our time is still limited. If you want to reveal that you were acting the whole time and fooled me completely, this is the last chance. You could make a great scene out of ridiculing me for trusting you and make fun of me for losing to you. I would actually be very impressed by your acting skills, you know.”

Blanche's face fell. “What? I didn't act. I just-”

Seraphina cut her off with a chuckle. She stared at the concubine for a while before speaking up with a soft grin. “Your expressions are still as amusing as ever. You really do need to work on that. The empress can't show others that she dislikes them, so you will have to keep a straight face around Her Majesty and His Royal Highness. I don't have an idea how you could train that though. It might be hard to learn acting, but I assume that you will find enough people that would be happy to help you.” She paused for a moment and added something when no response followed. “What I said before was a joke. If you didn't understand it like that, I apologize. I'm always told that I am not very good at showing when I'm joking.”

Indeed, Blanche had been taken aback a bit when the other woman had asked her whether she was acting. It was strange to hear Seraphina speak so casually. Blanche showed a little smile while replying. “I see. I was getting a bit worried already. But I can assure you that this is not an evil plot. I lack the vile intentions, the acting skills and the patience to go through with something like that.”

“It's good that you say that about yourself. If you had vile intentions, our nation would be in a lot of trouble. I am rather sure that His Majesty would do anything for you no matter what the consequences might be. But having acting skills and patience would be helpful. In the future, you will have to deal with more complicated matters that require caution and strategic thinking. But I don't have to tell that to someone who went over my father's contracts and found ways to improve them. You have my respect. It seems like His Majesty and Lord Astame managed to teach you more than you noticed.”

Blanche wanted to explain how she wasn't sure why some people believed that doing the work that she took care of was hard, but she stayed quiet about that. “To be honest, I didn't know that His Grace was the one that proposed that contract. I read through some more unimportant ones, and Theo just put them in between the others. But His Grace is definitely much more skilled than most merchants that appealed to the emperor. He didn't have any spelling errors, and his paragraphs were in a logical order.”

The corners of Seraphina's lips lifted. “I'm sure that he would be thrilled to hear you compliment him.” He would probably be more upset than happy. Seraphina, who knew that too, chuckled at the concubine's expression, which probably showed what she was thinking. “Don't worry. The Duremont family will always support the people that wish to protect Artias. As long as you don't start a war with another nation, even my father will have to yield and pledge his loyalty to you. He may be a bit harsh, but he doesn't hate you. Not anymore at least. If you pay attention to his words, you will notice that he worries a bit about how you will do as the empress. Many will criticize you no matter what happens, and you will need to ignore them, which can be difficult at times. But if you remember that two of the dukedoms should support you, everything will be fine.”

Those were oddly motivating words.