When the group reached the entrance hall, the whole room was pretty full. Many servants ran around to finish the preparations. It was as stressful as always. Blanche didn't have any clue why there were still so many suitcases standing around here when the guests hadn't stayed for longer than three days. But there was unmistakably some issue with the planning here. Either that was the case because the servants didn't work the whole time and paused to chat or because they purposefully didn't finish earlier than they had to.
The concubine couldn't do anything about it for now, but she took a mental note to keep this in mind. She already had a long list of things she wanted to check, so she would have to start writing it down soon.
Theodore stopped by the entrance and turned around now. He gazed at Seraphina for a short moment before scanning her servants. “You should bring your suitcases to the carriages.” That short sentence was enough to make the two maids nod and rush out. When they were gone, he addressed the former empress while watching the servants running around. “Today is your last day in Artias. You made sure to pack everything and got all of your important documents, right? We don't want you coming back here in a few weeks.” He could have gone without that ending, but one couldn't ask too much of him. At least he spoke to the other woman now.
Seraphina curtsied to the emperor. “Good morning, Your Majesty. I have checked whether I took everything with me multiple times. I also stored the royal decree in my suitcase to make sure that I never forget that my marriage was blessed by Your Majesty.” She sounded a bit sarcastic while saying that. Most likely because she knew that her ex-husband was just eager to send her to another nation. “I will miss Artias with all of my heart, and I will never forget all the kindness the people of my home country offered to me. That is why I hope to visit occasionally too. But I will mostly send letters. I hope I can get along well with the rulers of an allied nation after all.” She had probably just said that to annoy the emperor. It was understandable that she used her last chance to pay him back for all the underhanded comments even if she could only do a little bit.
Theodore didn't seem to care much though. He kept staring at the entrance hall without ever making eye contact. He was quiet for a moment before speaking up. “Children should not be punished for their parent's crimes, correct?”
Seraphina was taken aback by that question, but she still replied rather quickly. “Of course not. They are a separate identity and should never suffer because they were born to a bad person. Why are you asking, Your Majesty?”
The emperor was silent for a bit. When he spoke up, he was quiet so that only the three of them and possibly Owen and Noah could hear them. “As a child, you suffered from a sickness once. I don't remember the name, but you caught it after playing in the river while it was cold. That wasn't the only issue that caused the illness, and you never cared to investigate it properly. This might have consequences later. If you remember the name of that sickness, talk to a skillful doctor about it.”
This time, Seraphina didn't bother to hide her shock. She got a bit paler while watching the emperor's emotionless expression. “How did you know that?” She didn't receive a response to that.
Theodore continued to speak in a monotonous voice without answering her question. “Consult a doctor before the birth, or even better, before the ninth month. I'm not telling you this for your sake, by the way. I couldn't care less. It's about your child. If nothing special happens, it should be fine, but if you get stressed too much, there may be issues. And as you just said, children shouldn't be punished for their parent's mistakes. Linden needs an heir, so I would suggest that you take this advice to heart, or you will end up with a bitter surprise.”
Seraphina involuntarily brought her arm in front of her stomach as if she wanted to protect her child. There were deep wrinkles on her forehead as she stared at the emperor. “Your Majesty. I never told anyone within the palace about that sickness. In fact, I am sure that only my family knows, and it was never important enough to talk about it in public. Even Sir Aldis could not have told you. How did you know about that, Your Majesty?”
Blanche could only watch this exchange while alternating between looking at both of them. She had no idea why they were suddenly talking about this, but she was glad. Her lover had mentioned warning the other woman about something, and luckily, he had brought himself to do just that. It would have been stupid for him not to do it because he didn't want to talk to his ex-wife.
But Theodore didn't look like he personally cared much, even when Seraphina was clearly concerned about him knowing this about her past. He glanced at the door with an indifferent expression. “Your parents are waiting for you. You don't want to make them wait for too long. You probably won't see them for a while.”
Seraphina glared at him, but she quickly seemed to notice that she wouldn't receive a response. She forced herself to calm down a bit and neutralized her face as much as possible, but a bit of worry remained. “I will do so in a moment. This may be the last time that we see each other too, and there is still something that we need to discuss. Allow me to ask it one more time. What is the reason that you despise me so much? You owe me some kind of response this time.”
Theodore finally turned to the former empress. He didn't hide the cold glint of resentment in his eyes as he replied in a freezing tone. “There are a few reasons. You would not understand even if I told you. So, let me make it more simple. You put logic above emotions and your goals above those of others. You don't check facts, assume your guesses to be true and act ruthlessly. As long you can reach your goal, you don't care whom you need to hurt, whom to frame or whom to drug. You will gladly manipulate others to get what you want and destroy people's happiness just because you can. If something goes wrong, it's never your fault because you can't accept the fact that the world doesn't revolve around you and that people have different things in mind. And you disrespected and hurt Blanche without ever seeing how it was your fault. That is why I hate you with every fiber of my being.”
Even if that wasn't directed at Blanche, she didn't need much imagination to feel a chill run down her spine. She was rather glad to be standing directly next to her lover and was content with being in his embrace despite this horrible atmosphere. If she had been in Seraphina's shoes, she would have started crying already even if a stranger had told her that.
But Seraphina took it rather well. She met the emperor's gaze with one that was just as cold. “I see. It is a bit disgruntling to hear that someone thinks so badly about me. Do you mind telling me what exactly I did to make you come to that conclusion? Those are awfully specific claims. Surely, you didn't make it up. I would refrain from bothering you if I knew, but I don't. There have been occasional problems, but none would justify the amount of hatred that you encountered me with ever since the attack during which you saved my life. I tried to remember for the past months, but I cannot name a single incident which you could be referring to.”
Theodore's expression hadn't seemed like it could get any colder, but it did. “You should be thankful for that. If you remembered it, you wouldn't be alive anymore. The only reason that you can leave unharmed is that we need to prevent a war with Ocrea. So, do your job well.” While speaking, he pulled Blanche a bit closer to him to stroke over her head without having a real reason to do that.
Seraphina gazed back at him with a freezing look as well. “Certainly. Not because of your request but because I care about our nations. You can rest assured that I will not return here often. If I visit, I will see my family and not the royal palace. I will go speak to them now. You will only need to endure my presence for five minutes afterward when we say our formal farewell. I would like to ask for permission to leave.”
The emperor replied as curtly as possible. “Granted.”
That was all Seraphina needed to know. She curtsied and gave the concubine a little smile, which the other woman nervously returned, before she steered toward the door.
This left the couple alone. Theodore only waited for a second before he turned his lover so that she faced him and pulled her against his chest. “Just five more minutes of holding back.” He leaned down to her and looked at her with a serious expression. “Then she will be finally gone, and we can have our peace.” He cuddled into her and pressed a kiss onto the top of her head.
Blanche still didn't know what his reason for hating the heroine that much was, but she wouldn't ask. Theodore needed a bit more time, and she knew that. So, she wouldn't ask him to tell her when she was well aware that hidden memories were beginning to well up inside her. She just stopped thinking and told herself that it would be fine. Seraphina wouldn't be here for a while, so Theodore wouldn't have a chance to offend the other woman over and over again. This meant that they had many opportunities to speak about this later.
The concubine reached up to pat her lover's head while whispering to him. “Then you can stop being so worried the whole time too. But it will still be an hour until we bid her goodbye. We can't just sit around. Let's do something. We must have some kind of task down here.” To be honest, she just wanted to distract herself and her lover since he seemed to be really upset right now, but it worked.
Theodore gave her a small smile. “Of course, we will let the Ocreans say goodbye properly. We won't go there just now. I thought about using this chance to show you something new. Surely, our steward or Gloria usually take care of this kind of work, but we could try it too. Just so that you did it once.” He took her hand and pulled her into the room while she followed him.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
During the next two hours, the emperor focused on instructing the servants and checked whether every listed item was there while systematically going through each important line. He let his lover help too even if she felt a bit bad upon taking away the steward's work.
Normally, no one would be upset about having another break, but the steward almost seemed to watch them with dejection when they went through the list of items and confirmed that each one was present. In the end, the concubine told him to check one more time because she wasn't sure about some items, which for some reason, made the steward's face light up. Going through this list had taken much longer than it should have due to the nearly nonexistent order in which the suitcases had been stored. Blanche made a mental note to talk about this with Theodore, but expressing that here might upset the steward much more, so she stayed quiet about this for now.
Like this, they busied themselves until Prince Linden came. He seemed to have taken care of some other matters and brought the rest of his servants with their baggage with him. Upon spotting the emperor, he immediately walked toward him. “Good morning. I hope that we did not cause any trouble by taking longer than expected.”
Theodore took a step back to look out of the opened entrance door before responding. “I wish you a good morning too, Prince Linden. You don't have to worry. Your wife needs to say goodbye to her family anyway. And afterward, you will have to listen to a few of her father's threats about what will happen if you hurt her. It will at least take another half an hour. So, take your time.”
Linden, who had just averted his eyes for a second upon hearing how someone called Seraphina his wife, nodded at that before turning to the concubine. “Good morning, Lady Blanche. You seem to have been doing well.” It wasn't clear whether he was referring to the fact that she was cuddling with Theodore first thing in the morning or whether he just thought that she didn't look tired.
Blanche didn't care much about that though. “Good morning, Prince Linden. Thank you. I have slept enough this night, so I didn't mind standing up earlier today.” That might just be the case due to Theodore waking her up with the patience of a saint and a lot of kisses. “I hope that the preparations went smoothly.”
The prince turned around to scan the room once. “It seems like it. No issues were reported to me, and everything seems to be in order. I would assume that something was forgotten again as always, but we will see. Until now, it seems to go well.”
Theodore smiled at him. “That is good to hear. But you have something else to tell us, right? There surely is a reason why you aren't with your wife already.”
Once again, Linden looked away as soon as he heard the word ‘wife’, but he still kept his expression straight. The slight reddening of his ears betrayed him though. “It seems like you already guessed correctly. There is something that I would like to talk about. It will not take long, I promise.” He paused for a moment and made eye contact with the emperor again. “I am aware that you repeatedly told me that you wish for nothing in return, but I need to thank you properly. Thanks to your investigation, we managed to prevent a war that would have unnecessarily dragged hundreds of thousands into doom. That is enough to earn you the respect of every citizen in Northern Ocrea. But that is not all.” Linden continued without skipping a beat. “You chose to approach this matter in the most logical way, and after reading your letters, it was already clear to me that you are a wise ruler that wishes for the best of his people and adores peace. That is why I came here, and I was not disappointed. The trading deals you proposed are beneficial to both of our nations and have finally ended the cold war between us. And then you even found a medicine that helps our king, my father, regain some of his previous energy. Our whole nation and the royal family are indebted to you, and we will do our best to continue this alliance for the next centuries. But...”
Theodore waited for a short moment, and when nothing came, he replied. “But you wish to offer more than your friendship, correct? If you truly wish to repay us in some way, I have a proposal. Hear me out before coming to a conclusion. Allow me to mediate between you and Southern Ocrea.”
Linden's expression shifted for the first time as obvious dismay appeared on his face. “I don't believe that you understand the problems that separated our people. I truly appreciate that you wish to support other nations, but we are too different to ever-”
The emperor cut him off. “I am not trying to make you into one country again. If you are worried about that, I can calm you. I believe that splitting Ocrea was the best option, and both nations should continue to exist as separate and independent parts. As you said, the differences between the population in the north and south are too big. The culture and public opinion differ too greatly. It has always been impossible to create a society that everyone loves, but you can come closer to the ideal of having a country full of happy people if you can guess what the majority is thinking. And obviously, the northern and southern parts can do that better if they continue to have their own rulers and their own laws. But you should still see your history together as a reason to celebrate your friendship. If your nations are in the middle of a cold war in the center of our continent, it won't be good for any of us. The political stability depends on us facing the dangers together.”
Linden seemed slightly less adverse to the idea now, but he was still cautious. “I do admire your great talent as a negotiator, and I can confirm that you know your way with words. Still, I doubt that you would be able to appeal to the ruler of Southern Ocrea. We wrote the king letters numerous times, and we just received complaints about us not having enough information to even consider meeting us.”
Theodore replied with a smile. “That's because Southern Ocrea has two rulers. The king is taking care of matters within the nation, but the queen is considered to be much more powerful than him, even when she married into the royal family in this case. Her husband might have the royal bloodline, but she is the one that deals with matters that are connected to foreign policy, the military and big parts of the economy. By writing to the king, you made it seem like you assumed that Ocrea is still one nation. Of course, that was just a misunderstanding, and I am sure that they guessed that, but they may be a bit prideful. Imagine that the queen is similar to your sister, and you will understand. In any case, I won't try to suddenly make you into friends overnight. I just want you to be on neutral ground so that Northern and Southern Ocrea and Artias can enter an alliance. If three nations are on one side, there is no way that Clatos or Travuan can begin a war. Even if they happened to enter a union through some marriage, they wouldn't dare to attack us or our allies. This is just a precaution, but it would be better to do something just in case.”
Linden just stared at the emperor for a moment. Then he quietly began speaking again. “I see. I will consult my father about this. We would like to return to amicable terms with Southern Ocrea as well. I would greatly appreciate your help in that case too. But wouldn't you just do more for us with that?” He paused for a moment and gave in after some silence. “If you do not ask for anything else, it cannot be helped. But keep one thing in mind. My nation and I will never forget that you helped us this much. We will offer our assistance whenever you need it, and we would be happy to do you a favor at any time.”
Theodore smiled at him. “Thank you. I will gladly take you up on that offer in the future. For now, you cannot help us much though. I will need to take care of my family before I can deal with other things. Unfortunately, you cannot meddle with them, no matter how much I would like to ask you to take them with you to exile them. But Blanche and I will manage.” He squeezed his lover's waist, which made her lean her head against his chest.
By now, the concubine had also heard a bit about the situation between Northern and Southern Ocrea, so she knew that it would be hard for them to rekindle. But a war between those nations would be problematic for the whole continent. So, trying to create an alliance was the best thing one could try. After all, Artias was already allied with both nations and only needed to get those two to talk with each other.
But as Theodore had said, he had little time to deal with that right now. First, Camille and Cedar would have to disappear from the picture.
The couple had a short conversation with Linden after that and mostly mentioned how good it was that Northern Ocrea and Artias were working together now. Then the prince went outside to meet the Duremonts that were probably already waiting for him there.
Linden would definitely have to face Henry and Allen, who would remind him to treat Seraphina well if he didn't want to experience their vengeance. Certainly, Sophia would also tell him to make her sister happy while crying the whole time. Elaine would be the calmest on the outside and hug her daughter for as long as possible but would still sob as soon as Seraphina climbed into the carriage. Most likely, all of them would insist on a big group hug before their beloved left.
Even Blanche could tell by now without even spending that much time with them. She wasn't surprised when she stepped outside an hour later, only to find the exact scene that she had imagined.
It was adorable to see how close the family was to each other, and at the same time, that was what made it bittersweet. Seraphina would leave now, and her family and friends would miss her dearly. From what the concubine had heard, the other woman had already visited the Bellfaux family to say goodbye yesterday, which was why they weren't here today. Madeleine was probably pretty dejected as well though.
Blanche had thought that she would feel some amount of sadness as well, but that wasn't it. She was feeling something else, but she had no idea how to describe it. It felt just odd that Seraphina left.
Theodore didn't seem to have problems knowing how he felt. He was absolutely ecstatic to send his ex-wife far away so that he would never have to see her again, as he put it. That was probably why he didn't care much about approaching the crying family either. When the couple reached the hugging group, no one noticed them though.
Only Linden looked at them for a moment. But he didn't have a chance to speak up. He had stood next to the group until Sophia pulled him into the hug. He clearly didn't know how to react to that, so he didn't dare to move.
That became even worse when Henry began threatening him. “If you break my daughter's heart, I will personally travel to Northern Ocrea to break your bones in return. Have you understood me?”
Linden replied immediately as he did his best to sound as earnest as possible. “Yes. I have no intention of breaking her heart. I am marrying her because I wish to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Elaine lifted her hand to wipe away some tears. “You need to smile more for her. Don't just say that you love her, show it to her too.”
Again, Linden replied quickly. “I promise that I will do that every day of my life. I-”
Sophia chimed in before he even finished completely. “You can't break that promise. You need to take care of her. But you also can't restrict her freedom. You need to allow her to do what she wants and give her what she asks for. Seraphina is the most intelligent person I know. You need to let her govern when she becomes your queen. You can't say that her accomplishments are yours either.” She sniffled after every few words, and her voice made her seem rather pitiful in general.
Linden responded without skipping a beat, even when he seemed to be unsure about how to act around an expressive person like Sofia. “I am aware that she will become the queen our nation needs. I would never take anything away from her, be it her freedom or her recognition. My only goal is to give.” But he still hadn't convinced the whole family.
Allen spoke in a grim tone that rivaled his father's. “We have only seen you four days now. There is no way that we can trust you already. Seraphina, you need to write us if he ever does something that troubles you. We don't care when that is, we will always come to pick you up.” His sister tried to ease his worries, but he was already busy glaring at Linden. “I swear to the gods. If you have a concubine or take in a mistress later, I will make you regret it.”
The prince's expression still didn't budge when he replied. “I am not interested in paying attention to anyone but my future wife. I neither have the right to take another wife nor do I have the desire to do so. Naturally, I also will not have a lover.”
It seemed like Linden gave his best, but no matter what he said, it would be hard to convince the Duremonts that he would treat Seraphina. This was something he would have to prove with time. Blanche was sure that he could do that easily though.