Blanche chewed on her cake while scanning her lover's expression from the side. He had already scolded her for speaking while her mouth was full since it had caused her to choke a few times, but waiting was annoying. The second she opened her mouth, Theodore's finger landed on her lips and kept her from saying anything.
She was slightly frustrated at that but finished her piece of cake before beginning. “So, are saying that the odds of a fire in Southern Ocrea are rising because of the lacking rain there? Then we can assume that they won't sell us any wood for the time being. But since we never got much from them, there shouldn't be any issues. In fact, we sell them wood, which the territories near the northern border would need if their forests were burning. And you still say that we should sell them less to allow the people from Northern Ocrea to trade with them.”
Her lover nodded. “Basically, yes. In that case, they would develop an economical dependency and would start talking to each other. Linden will try his best to make progress, but it won't go as fast as we would like it.”
The concubine paused for a moment before replying. “Yes. I understand all of this, but something else is strange. If you are so sure that there will be a fire, why don't we prepare them for that? We can't bring water there when the fire starts. So, you should kindly recommend that they build a few big containers all around their forests so that they can take water from that in case something happens. It's better than nothing, and having spare water is never a bad idea. They only have to find a way to shield it from the sun, but the northern part of Southern Ocrea isn't too hot, right? If they build something that keeps away the sun, most of the water should be ready to use in an emergency. If your advice saved them, they will certainly owe you a favor, and you can ask them to meet with Linden too. So, you have the advantages that you mentioned and can still avoid some of the fires becoming bigger than they would have to be.”
Theodore slowly lowered his fork and stared at his plate as he got lost in thoughts. “I...didn't think about preventing it at all. I was sure that I couldn't keep a natural disaster from happening, but we may be able to do something about how severe the consequences will be. That is a much better method, you are right.” His face lit up as he lifted his head to smile at her. “We can start looking into it. Thank you, Beloved.” He raised his fork and offered her a piece of cake, which she gladly accepted.
After Blanche finished chewing and swallowing, she spoke up again. “That wasn't a demanding conclusion at all. If bad things happen, we try to prevent those. And if that isn't working, we will make sure to keep the people there safe. Surely, it won't always go according to the plan, but thanks to your scarily accurate predictions, I am certain that it will be fine. That you mentioned a fire made me think about something else though. Did you hear something new about the Vasquez family? I didn't hear anything after them moving into a smaller mansion far away from their original estate. You said that the duchess doesn't want to stay near the burned-down building. Did anything else happen to them? They are fine, right?”
Theodore replied after a few seconds. “Well, the baby sister didn't get to know her father before he died, which is good for her. She will probably sleep through this. Her mother is a bit more affected though. Even if she knew that her husband was horrible, she was married to him for a long time. She won't get over this so quickly, and seeing her son in pain has to be horrible too. Luciano is still hurt. The wounds on his back seem to have been worse than they were believed to be. Surely, he will recover, but he is in a lot of pain, and the wounds might leave scars. We'll hope that he gets better soon too.”
Blanche nodded quickly. “It would be nice if he isn't in pain for too long. It would be better if the injuries heal without scars too. But as long as they don't hurt, even having scars wouldn't be too bad. You have a scar too, and I don't mind it much. The one on your shoulder.”
A small smile formed on her lover's lips. “How could I mind it when that scar reminds me of the fact that I will always return to you? I received it on the day that I finally woke up, so I will treasure it. You kissed it so often that I have come to like it very much.”
Blanche brought her lips to his shoulder and give him a small kiss even though she had no idea whether she had actually found the right spot. Then she leaned back again and returned to poking her cake before offering him a bite. “I don't know. I would have favored it if you didn't get hurt. But then again, you seem oddly content with the events of that day whenever we mention it. So, I guess that it's... No, it's not alright at all. You have no idea how scared I was back then. I must have looked like a living corpse.”
“I can imagine well how you felt then. Did you forget that you collapsed at a ball? That we got attacked during a picnic and that you got poisoned a bit later also didn't make me euphoric. Everyone that had seen me on those days has to have noticed that my whole life depends on your existence. Hopefully, they will get it without me needing to be terrified much more often.”
Blanche ate a piece of her own cake while staring at her lover. She was aware of how worried he had been whenever she had been in danger. She had seen that often enough. “I hope that the both of us don't have to worry that much in the future. After all, worrying feels horrible. It's like it's eating at you from within. So that your chest gets all constricted, and you can barely...”
Then something interrupted her. It was quiet and barely audible, but she had noticed it.
Blanche paused and remained silent for a moment. “Did you hear that too? Someone seems to have an argument somewhere.” She was sure that she had heard someone raising their voice, but now everything was quiet.
Theodore shrugged and offered her a bite of his cake. “You know how they are. There are a lot of new recruits for the royal guards. They are young and full of adrenaline. It's annoying, but they will calm down with time.” He said that but still seemed to listen to whatever was happening outside.
No other noise came though.
The concubine chewed on her cake before swallowing. “I guess it was nothing then. We were talking about being worried, right? I think you forgot one of the most horrible times in our lives.” She pointed her fork at him. “Spending one month without you was torture. I felt like a picture of misery the-”
This time, she was sure that someone had yelled. She turned her head to the door and stayed silent to listen.
There were multiple voices that were louder than they were usually. But that was only the beginning. A bunch of strange noises filled the building right after. It sounded like they were far away but so loud that one could hear them here.
Blanche was still petrified while trying to find out what was happening and could only stare at the door.
But Theodore reacted already. He jumped up and carefully pulled her up from her chair as well. He led her to the side of the room and picked up his sword, which made her blood freeze.
She barely dared to talk but forced herself to whisper to him. “What is going on? It's not dangerous, right?”
Her lover pressed his lips into a thin line while listening to the surrounding noises that only seemed to get louder. “I have no idea what this is, but it's not good. We'll ask Owen.”
As if he had waited for his cue, the door swung open, and Owen rushed inside. He was accompanied by Leonard, Noah and Gloria, who closed the door in a hurry as soon as they stormed inside. It only took a second until they reached the couple. Leonard spoke up immediately. “We are under attack. A big group of fighters. They got inside somehow and now spread. We will need to get you out this instant.”
Blanche froze in place and gripped her lover's clothes tighter as fear welled up in her.
But Theodore didn't say anything. He didn't move either.
For a moment, Blanche just looked up at him before she became too scared. “Theo?”
That made the emperor snap out of it. He squeezed her waist before replying with the same blank stare as before. “What are they doing? Any special moving patterns?”
Leon's frown deepened. “We have no time to-” He interrupted himself when he saw the emperor's expression. “We don't know how they got in. They knocked out most guards from behind and the rest disappeared in some way, so we can't depend on too many helping hands. No known deaths, and all servants are unharmed. A group runs around to make noise and scares off anyone that can't fight, and the other one is focused on attacking. The only goal seems to be you. They are on the way here. We need to leave right-”
Theodore spoke up before the other man could finish. “Are they wearing black masks? The ones that cover the area around their eyes and the right side of their faces?”
The way that Leon froze already was enough of an answer. “Yes. How did you know that?”
A moment of silence passed before a quiet chuckle sounded through the air.
A smile spread on Theodore's lips while he pulled his lover into his arms. He pressed a kiss onto the top of her head and completely ignored her terror to respond with a beam. “It's the same. They are doing the exact same thing. That means that I know exactly what they will do.” He kissed her head again before whipping his head around to the others. In an instant, his seriousness returned. “We will pull through with the plan that I told you about. This is the exact situation on which this idea was based. If you follow the guide I gave you, everything will be resolved in an hour. Trust me.”
Owen and Gloria immediately nodded and bowed to the emperor. Leonard and Noah, on the other hand, couldn't keep their uncertainty to themselves for a moment. But after meeting their ruler's eyes for a few seconds and seeing his conviction, they gave in as well.
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Theodore nodded at that and then turned to his lover. “I told you about this plan too. We will need to leave now and do our best to defeat them without anyone noticing. My plan is going to work, I promise. I know exactly how our enemy will move, so we have a huge advantage.” He took her hand and began to pull her to the back of the room.
Blanche stumbled behind him while her mind was in utter disarray. She couldn't think clearly, and it felt like everything around her was spinning. They were under attack? People had actually broken into the palace and were searching for the emperor now. Without a doubt, they wanted to kill Theodore. Thinking about that made her heart pound faster, and a surge of adrenaline rushed through her veins.
But it didn't help much.
Her feet barely worked, and she felt like she would fall to the floor if her lover didn't hold her. After a few steps, her whole body began protesting, but she forced herself to follow. What had Theodore told her about his plan? What would they do now? It seemed like he wanted to fight himself, but that could get him killed. There was no way that she could accept that.
Her mouth called out to him even when Blanche hadn't actually wanted to speak. “Theo...”
Her lover slowed his steps as soon as she said his name. He turned his head to her while carefully maneuvering her toward the dressing room. “I'm right here. I know what I'm doing. I will defeat all of them without getting a single injury. Let me promise you that. You can trust me. We will find a way to end all of this differently this time.”
Those words should calm her, but Blanche's chest constricted, and her heart felt like it had shattered into pieces. She couldn't focus on anything around them as a hundred thoughts raced through her mind at the same time. Theodore wasn't the only one in danger. Everyone here could get killed. Panic rose inside her as a realization crossed her mind. Her maids should have waited in front of the door. Why weren't her maids here? “Where are Stella and-”
Owen replied before she could finish her question. “They are safer if they are not with us. They are not the goal of this attack. The servants are being driven away, and then they are ignored completely. They will not engage in any combat. Bringing you to safety at this point in time is much more important.” He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her forward so that she was a bit faster again.
It was logical to listen to him and to leave like this, but that thought made Blanche sick. She couldn't bear the thought of abandoning her friends. A sudden image of Stella covered in blood and with cuts on her arms in her mind made her want to turn around and call for her immediately. But that wouldn't help any of them. She wouldn't even be able to turn around with Owen and Theodore guiding her forward.
Blanche's eyes pricked, but it felt like no tears were coming. She was much too terrified for her body to do anything properly. She almost tripped over nothing when they entered the dressing room.
Gloria closed the door behind them, and Leonard immediately began pushing aside one of the jewelry stands. Behind that wooden pedestal, a hole came into view. It was just broad enough for a muscular man to fit through, and a thin ladder rested on one of the sides. It led downward into darkness without any source of light revealing how long it was.
Theodore pointed into it and spoke up a moment later. “This will lead you downstairs to the first floor. From there, you will only need to walk a few steps outside and reach another secret pathway. You can open it by-”
Blanche vigorously shook her head. He wouldn't say that if he planned on coming with her. She remembered what her lover had said about a possible plan. He had said that there could be a time at which he would have to leave her side.
He wanted to fight after sending her away to safety.
That meant that Blanche would sit around somewhere without knowing whether she would ever see her lover again. Anything could happen to him while she was cluelessly waiting for his return. She wouldn't endure that. “Theo, you can't leave me alone.” Panic sounded in her voice, and now the tears finally came out. The concubine dug her fingers into her lover's clothes in an attempt to make him change his mind, but she knew that she was fighting a lost battle.
Theodore put his hand on the side of her face, which was probably supposed to calm her down but only made her tear up more. “Blanche, my angel.”
She shook her head. “No, no. I won't go without you.”
Her lover wiped away her tears and shushed her in a gentle voice. “Everything is going to be alright. I just want you to get away from all of this. I will return to your side in a little while. You can wait for me in a safe place. There is no need to cry. I promise you that I won't get hurt.”
She began crying harder at that and shook off his hands to press herself against him.
Theodore cradled her head and talked before she could. “Noah, you will bring Blanche out of the palace. We went through the plan a dozen times. At the end of the ladder, you need to be careful. If you are sure that the servants' quarters are empty, you can go through the room, cross the hallway and open the wall on the other side. The pathway there will get you into a smaller house at the edges of the royal estate. I showed it to you often enough. No one should be there since they are searching for me. Be careful nonetheless.”
Noah immediately bowed his head. “Yes, Your Majesty. I will protect her with my life.”
Blanche was still in denial. Her head refused to accept all of this. She just wanted it to be a bad dream that would be over in a moment. She wanted to close her eyes to open them again to a better reality. And even if that wasn't an option, she didn't want to leave her lover here. “Theo, you can come with us.” She barely brought these words out, and she was way too quiet.
Still, her lover understood her. He patted her head and gave his best to speak in a soothing voice. “I need to fight. A ruler can't just leave behind his nation like this. But you don't have to-”
Blanche wanted to keep silent so badly, but she couldn't hold back the sudden rush of despair. She lifted her head and looked at him with panic. “You said that I was more important than the nation! So, come with me. We can return later with more forces, and you can immediately take care of everything again. You don't have to fight now!”
Theodore leaned forward to rest her forehead against hers. “I have to. Of course, you are more important than everything. That is why you need to leave. I wouldn't stay here if I wasn't sure that I would return. I fought in a war and learned a thing or two there. There is no way that any of those cowardly bastards here could win against me. I will definitely bring back victory for our nation. So, trust me.”
The concubine wanted to do that. But it was impossible. There was no guarantee that he would be safe. Theodore couldn't just expect that he would survive due to a wonder. She had seen him fight and kill efficiently countless times. She knew that he was strong, and yet, she was scared. Scared of the same catastrophe happening again. Scared of Cedar taking his brother's life once more.
Blanche knew how selfish it was to wish to get Theodore away from here while leaving other knights to die, but she couldn't stop herself. “I don't want to go without you, I can't. If you can't go, let me stay. Please.”
Her lover gently brushed over her hair and guided her head so that she could look at him. She could swear that there was something wet glittering in his eyes as well. But he managed to stay composed while he spoke to her in a quiet voice. “Please don't say that. You don't know how weak I get when you start talking. I don't want to leave your side either, but there is no choice. If we want to win, I can't run away now. As soon as we win here, I can finally convict Camille and prevent countless people from dying, so I need to stay here. Of course, I would like to keep an eye on you, but more than that, I refuse to let you get hurt. You need to get out so that I can fight without being scared the whole time. It's the same as last time, Blanche. The same exact strategy. Right now, I know what will happen in the next two hours. I can use that to our advantage and defeat them without losing any more royal guards.”
Blanche gritted her teeth at that. He was right. While they were arguing here, people were hurt. Some could even die because she refused to follow Theodore's plan. He was so confident that this was for the best. Then she should trust him like she always did. Still, it was hard to ignore the way her heart was aching. It felt like there was a knife being plunged into her chest over and over again “Theo...”
Leonard chimed in as she barely whispered her lover's name. “Don't think so lowly of us. We won't lose. Theodore came up with this plan a while ago. It's perfectly safe. There is no way that we can mess this up. There is a second hidden pathway too. Gloria and I will use it to get into the neighboring room. We will begin our attack from there while Theodore and Owen stay here. We will crush our enemies from both sides. The people here are the most skillful warriors within the palace. You can trust that we will win.”
Blanche cried even more at that. If something went wrong, not only her lover could suffer. Everyone else here could get injured or worse too. That didn't make her desire to leave grow. But she knew that she was only wasting their time if she insisted on staying here. She closed her eyes for a moment and forced herself to use all of her self-control to listen. She took a deep breath before listing to the one rational voice in her head. “Stay safe, all of you.” She lifted her head and looked around while desperately hoping for some sort of affirmation.
Leonard was the one that spoke up while he gave her a smile. “Of course. We all have our job to do. We can't rely on others to do it, so we need to stay alive. We won't get hurt so easily. You won't be able to avoid your lessons just like that.” If the situation was less grim, she might have smiled at that.
But right now, Blanche could only continue sobbing. She slowly forced herself to let go of her lover, even though every fiber of her being was screaming. Her plan had been to go to the hole immediately so that she couldn't be tempted to keep holding onto him. But she couldn't do it. She stepped forward again and fell into Theodore's arms one last time. “Theo, you need to come back for me. Cedar can't defeat you again.”
Her lover pulled her into his embrace and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. “He won't because I will actually fight back this time. There is no way that I would give up like this after we went through so much. I would even come back to you if death should part us. You know that. But this time, it will be different. So, I need you to remember one thing. We have a plan, Blanche. Everything will be fine, and we will stick to it. Those people will claim that I am dead, but that isn't true. We will make them believe that we have died. Then we will slowly make our way through the enemies and get rid of them one after the other. And after that, I will immediately come back to you. So, don't despair when you hear about my alleged demise.”
Blanche hated that thought with every bit of her soul. She wouldn't be able to stay calm if she heard that her lover died just because he had said that he wouldn't. He couldn't control this world. There was no way for him to guarantee that he would be fine, no guarantee that they could gain another chance after their deaths again. And she should just rely on some of his words?
But she would have to do that. It would be the only thing keeping her sane. “I understand. I expect you to come back, no matter what.”
Theodore gave her a sad smile. “I always do. Even if I had to go through three years of suffering, lose my mind and be sliced open with a sword for that. I will always return to your side. Now that I finally have you back, I will never let go.” It was a horrible sensation to pull back from his embrace after he said.
But they had no other choice. Time was slipping through their fingers. It was only a question of time when the first attackers would appear here, and that Gloria and Owen guarded the door proved that it was serious.
Blanche wiped her tears away and rushed over to the hole.
Noah had already climbed inside and quickly went down when he saw that she was following him. “There is no need to worry, Lady Blanche. I am right below you. You can't fall nor can anything dangerous reach you.”
To be honest, she wasn't scared of being hurt herself at all. Her friends and especially Theodore were in far more danger. Still, she nodded and crouched down to follow after him.
Leonard helped her by stabilizing her and giving her an encouraging smile.
Blanche could barely pay attention to him, but she forced herself to mutter a “Thank you” while her eyes were still directed at Theodore. Her lover was smiling at her too, but she could only remind him of one thing. “You have to keep your promises. All of them. You can't let Cedar hurt you again.”
Theodore's response followed immediately. “I won't. I'll defeat him this time. I love you.”
The concubine's legs almost gave in as she held back a loud sob. “I love you too.” With that, she forced herself to take the first step of the ladder. She stopped to make sure that she wasn't slipping and then went down another step.
When her head reached the level of the floor, Leonard prepared to put the stand back on top of the hole. It would be horribly dark in a moment, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She didn't need to see anything right now, not that she would have been able to make out what was around her with her blurred sight anyway. Her mind was already in turmoil. All the fears in her mind were too much for her to bear, so her head banned them without her being able to prevent it.
It became completely dark.
She focused on keeping herself steady as she climbed down to avoid falling and hurting Noah. But even that thought faded away when noises from the room above them came. Something was happening there, and it could be good or bad. She had no way to know and thinking about it would kill her.
So, her brain did the only thing it could do to keep her going, the thing that had saved her mental health once already. It forced out all unpleasant memories. It distracted her and repeatedly gave her excuses for why it would be fine. She had only one thought as she descended into the dark hole.
Theodore was the main character. He had to win.