Climbing down the ladder was horrible.
Blanche's arms and legs were shaking the whole time, and her sweaty fingers made her feel like she would slip any second. Whenever visions of a horrible future appeared in her head, she automatically pushed them away and focused on moving downward.
The ladder almost didn't seem to have an end.
She took a step and then another one, but it felt like there were even more left than she had already passed. Her muscles ached, and even if she knew that this was only caused by her own mind imagining things, it made her think that she had been here for an eternity. In reality, it was obvious that this ladder was only leading from the third floor to the first one though. She should be able to make it.
Just when she thought that she would have to ask for a break, Noah's voice sounded from below. “We reached the ground. I apologize, but you will need to come down here while it's still very tight. We need to make sure that no one is here before going out.” He spoke so quietly that she could barely hear him, most likely to avoid outsiders noticing them.
Blanche tried to respond in a just as quiet voice. “It's fine.” She would be glad as long as she could stand on solid ground again without needing to fear that she would fall down two stories. When she reached the floor, she quickly realized why Noah had warned her though. There was barely enough space for them to stand here, so she was basically pressed against the walls and Noah without any room to breathe. It was terribly suffocating. She didn't have time to care though, and her knight was busy with other things too.
Noah leaned his ear against the wall, from under which a faint beam of light fell into their small room. He tried to listen to whether anyone was moving around outside. Even after a few seconds passed, he didn't move.
Normally, the concubine would be happy about him being careful, but now she was impatient. The longer she stood around here with nothing to do, the easier it would be for her brain to pull all the horrible scenes that she was imagining out of the darkest parts of her mind. She felt like crying, but it seemed like she was too dejected for that. She leaned against the solid part of the wall and stared up into the darkness above her while trying to keep herself from saying anything. But the storm inside her became bigger with each second, and one thing became clearer to her.
The only reason why she was here was that she was useless at fighting. She was completely unable to defend herself, and that was why Noah was here too. If she could fight, he would have stayed with Theodore and could have protected him.
Before she could hold herself back, her mouth opened. “I feel horrible. Everyone is fighting, and I'm just running away like a coward. Because of me, you can't even fight at Theo's side. I'm sorry.”
It was too dark to see anything but the knight's silhouette, so she could only make out that Noah turned his head to her. His gentle voice told her enough about what his expression looked like right now. “There is no need to apologize. No one is condemning you because you aren't fighting. Most people won't get involved in physical battles at all. That's why we knights are here to protect them. There is nothing bad about letting them do their job. You are paying everyone back by staying alive and standing in for our nation as the future empress. Besides, I am your guard, remember? I pledged my loyalty to you, so I would have been by your side no matter what. I will fight for you, and His Majesty is fighting for you too. So, don't lose hope and move forward with me. We will bring you out of here so that you can meet him again.”
Blanche would have liked to believe those words. Yet, her exhaustion made her feel like she did everything wrong. But she didn't say that. How could she worry the person that was trying to cheer her up like this? “Thank you, Noah.” She couldn't bring herself to say more than that and hoped that it was enough for him to believe that she was fine when she was actually doing horribly. It seemed like she couldn't fool him though.
Noah didn't hesitate a second before whispering to her. “You aren't doing anything wrong. You left so that His Majesty could focus on fighting. He will do his best to return to your side. There is no way that he would give up on that. He will come back, and you can rely on that. In the meantime, you just have to be strong for him. We will make sure that you are unhurt and in a good mood when he arrives. You will need to greet him with a smile after all.”
His hand carefully found her head, and he brushed over her head just once. He had acted like this when she had panicked after the attack on Theodore too. Suddenly touching other people seemed to be Noah's strategy to calm them.
Most others would probably be extremely uncomfortable with that, but to Blanche, it was wonderful right now. She closed her eyes as Noah pulled back again and allowed her tense muscles to relax while listening to his calming voice. All of this was enough to almost make her want to fall asleep, but she forced herself to stay awake. She couldn't doze off now. She needed to be fully conscious and hurry toward their destination as soon as they left the shaft here.
Still, Blanche allowed herself to relax for a minute before whispering to the knight. “Really, it's pitiful how I need to be consoled now when I'm not even fighting. Thank you. I'm fine now. Let's go.”
“I am always here to help.” Noah leaned his head against the wall again. For a moment, he was silent before speaking up. “I can't hear anything. No one is moving inside that room at least. We will still need to leave through the big door on the right and cross the hallway. On the other side, there is a smaller room, where we can enter the passageway. The corridor is the most dangerous part. If someone happens to catch us there, we only need to run into the passage though. It can be closed from the inside, so we would be safe then. But of course, we will try to avoid people altogether. Since the servants' quarters shouldn't be very interesting to anyone, we should be fine though. We will step outside now and then listen at the next door again. Are you alright with that?”
Blanche nodded, only to remember that it was rather dark in here so that she would have to speak to signal her agreement. “Yes.” She had no idea where that secret passageway was, so she definitely wouldn't find it on her own. As long as Noah was with her, she should be able to follow his instructions though. The biggest problem would be her needing to be as quiet as possible. If she tripped or pushed aside a vase, it would be over.
Noah listened for a few more seconds before putting his hand against the handle on the inside. “If, perchance, anyone is there, you will climb back up immediately. The same goes for us being found by someone. If we are still far away from the second passageway, I will keep them from getting to you, and you will go back to the ladder. If we are close to it, we will run there. Understood?” He waited for her affirmation again before he slowly pressed down on the handle while giving the door a small push.
The wall opened with a faint creaking, and light flooded into the room.
Noah stepped out without making a single sound while drawing his sword and looked around the room.
It was empty.
The knight sneaked forward and confirmed that they were alone a few more times before he relaxed slightly. “No one is here. You can come out.”
Blanche carefully moved out of the slim gap in the wall as well. Even then, she was paranoid about putting her feet on the wrong part of the floor. She didn't want to alert anyone by making the parquet creak. It seemed like she was lucky though. She managed to move forward without being too loud even if she cringed at every small noise.
Noah closed the wall behind her after showing her the small hidden lever to open it. Then he tiptoed toward the door while ensuring that she stayed behind him at all times.
They only walked a few steps, but it felt like they took an eternity to cross the room. Every little noise echoed in their minds and led them to believe that someone would hear them.
When they reached the door, Noah gestured for her to wait before he laid his head against the door. “Nothing here either. We could be lucky.” He opened this door even more slowly than the last one and held onto it so that it didn't swing open. He took one step forward and leaned his head out to look down the hallways, where he scanned the left side before turning to the right. Noah repeated that for at least a minute before he was finally content. “There is no one here.” He finally dared to open the door a bit further and stepped outside. He looked around once more before turning back to her. “Quick. We need to get over to that room.” He gestured toward it before pulling her out of the other room to close the door.
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Blanche confirmed whether there was anyone here too and then sneaked over to the other side as fast as possible. The first thing she noticed was the massive grandfather clock next to their destination door. If they saw someone, they could hide behind that. At least if they were fast enough. She reached the door without anything special happening and positioned herself next to the clock in an attempt to shield herself from people that were coming from that side.
Noah was directly behind her. He stood as close to the wall as possible while focusing on opening that door as well. He seemed to plan to go as slowly as before, but he froze before he had even moved the door.
There were people talking. Not inside the room but on the other side of the hallway. The grandfather clock that had been supposed to protect them from others' gazes now made it impossible to confirm how close those men were. But the chatting grew louder, which could only mean that those people were coming toward them.
She could see the gears turning in Noah's head, but they both knew that they only had one choice. He opened the door without checking the inside and quickly shooed her into it. He followed her and closed the door behind them as quietly as possible.
But that didn't do much for them anymore.
Even while Blanche had stepped inside, her gaze had already found the person that was waiting inside for them. A wave of desperation crashed over her as she made eye contact with them. She could never have been unhappier to see that bright smile.
Normally, it seemed like Cedar was just teasing everyone around him, but now it actually looked like he was grinning at her misery.
She balled her fists and stayed as close to the door as possible.
Noah next to her lifted his sword and stood in front of her, but they both knew that this wouldn't do anything. The knight was an excellent fighter, but defeating the twenty men that accompanied the prince was impossible when their enemies had clearly expected them.
Cedar was sitting on the sofa in the center of the room where he was sure to grab anyone's attention as soon as they entered the room. The men around him had already drawn their swords, and four were directly next to the door to keep the unwilling guests from leaving. This had been planned with great detail.
Knowing that their enemy had been one step ahead of them made the concubine grit her teeth.
That earned her a chuckle from Cedar. “Our honored guest has finally arrived. It was getting boring without you. Welcome to your surprise party, Lady Blanche. Do you like it? I apologize for not being able to decorate much due to the short notice, but a lot of guests came. See it as some sort of apology since my mother ruined your birthday. I prepared cake for you. You like that, right?” He gestured to the pie that was sitting in front of him on the desk. He was truly mocking her.
Blanche glared at him while desperately trying to swallow her growing fear. This surely hadn't been part of her lover's plan. What should they do now? There was no way to leave when there were people surrounding them.
All the warriors wore the same dark clothes that hid most of their skin while their faces were covered with black masks. Those were the ones that Theodore had described. That could only mean that they were part of the mercenaries that had come here to kill the emperor. And Cedar was here with them. This truly was the dowager empress' attack.
Blanche wasn't surprised, but that the prince was shameless enough to appear side by side with them filled her with fury. “You have some courage to stand next to the people that dared to attack the royal palace. Do you have no respect for the royal family at all? Do you really hate Theo that much even though he never did anything to you?”
Cedar blinked at her and put on an infuriatingly convincing surprised expression. “I don't know what you are talking about. My brother and I get along well. You should know that. It's just that the people here showed up while I was trying to speak to Theodore. Unfortunately, he seemed to have been busy, so he couldn't see me.”
The concubine fought against the overwhelming urge to insult him until his smile dropped. She knew that it wouldn't be that easy. So, she forced herself to relax her fists to not hurt herself with her own fingernails and narrowed her eyes at him. “The staff members have a brain. Don't you think that people will understand what you did when you run around with them? Countless witnesses will know that you helped the people that are trying to assassinate the emperor. You will be executed for treason for real this time, do you get that? And you didn't even bother to get a mask yourself?” That might be what upset her the most. He didn't even fear being caught. He acted like this was completely natural and like this wouldn't possibly hurt him in any way.
Cedar showed her a dejected expression in response. “What are you saying? I could never work with the people that attacked my brother. When I heard that something was wrong, I started running here and only arrived now. I tried my best, but unfortunately, I came too late. I couldn't stop the tragedy, and it breaks my heart to hear that you believe that I would be responsible here.” In an instant, his smile returned. “I'm glad that you are worried about my reputation, but my face is too special to be hidden by a mask. My hair color would stick out either way too.” He had just mentioned a tragedy that was probably related to Theodore being injured or killed as if it was nothing.
Blanche could barely keep herself from yelling at him. She gritted her teeth again and averted her eyes. She could have sworn that that only made the prince grin more.
“Oh? Did I leave you speechless? That's new. Normally, you always have something mean to say to me. Did I surprise you that much? How lucky I am.” Cedar's eyes stayed on her for a bit longer before he turned his attention to the knight in front of her. After a short pause, he addressed him. “Your name is Noah Aldis, I am right? I heard about your skills and have to say that I am impressed. People like to talk about how talented you are despite your young age. They also say that you are the most loyal knight one can imagine. So, I doubt that you will listen to my orders. That is fine, but we don't want anyone to be hurt here. That is why I would kindly ask you to lower your sword. You wish to protect Lady Blanche for a while longer, right?”
Noah let his eyes roam across the room for one more time, but it was helpless. There was no way for them to win. Even he couldn't defeat so many people at once. Still, he refused to put down his weapon.
Blanche watched that from the corner of her eyes before quietly speaking up. “Lower your sword, Noah. We don't need to endure more horrible situations than necessary.” There was no need for him to provoke getting injured now when they had no way out. Maybe she could find a way to make sure that the guard could flee at some point.
Noah let out a deep breath, and his face showed desperation, but he complied anyway.
Cedar smirked at that. “Good. You are intelligent as always, Lady Blanche.”
His derogatory way of speaking had always upset her, and this time, Blanche didn't just listen to him saying that. “Stop speaking to me like I'm a little child. I am sick of hearing your voice in general, and it only gets worse when you think you can make fun of me. I forbid you from even using my name from now on.”
“Don't be so mean. I am told that I have a very pleasant voice, so it's a bit painful to have you say something so awful. That doesn't matter though. I guess I should stop calling you Lady Blanche. Laister is your real last name, right? You didn't marry Theodore yet, so you would actually need to be addressed by the last name your family carried. Why no one did that is strange to me. Did you know that everyone I asked said that they respected your decision to keep quiet about your past and that they wouldn't use your last name unless you revealed it to them of your own volition? You truly managed to gain the sympathy of countless people in the last few months. You seem to be good at impressing people. Though, it is odd to see that you just gave up on your last name. Your parents would be hurt if they were here to find out.”
Blanche ignored all of that. Especially the fact that he had dared to mention her parents. For now, she wanted to focus on the situation at hand. They hadn't lost completely yet since no one had made a move to hurt them. If she found out how Cedar had predicted where they would be, she could possibly warn Theodore about other things as well. But she certainly wouldn't be able to fool the prince if she tried to coax him into answering her questions.
She stayed quiet for a moment before just deciding to be direct. “How did you know that we would be here?” If someone from within the palace had told him, she would need to find a way to inform her lover. They couldn't leave a traitor amongst them. But the prince's reply immediately made that worry seem useless.
Cedar beamed at her while responding without the slightest bit of hesitation. “I told you that I like hide-and-seek. I grew up here as the second prince. Do you not think that I would know some of the most important secret passageways too? It was obvious that my brother would only let his treasure use the most secure one. What a shame that he didn't remember that I knew about it too. I found it when I was four. He must have thought that I would have forgotten. That's a bit sad. We used to run around the palace together when we were young and wanted to explore the world around us. It was always exciting to take a look at the secret passageways. I would have liked to do that more often, but sometimes, the passing of time is cruel. I doubt that we will ever have the chance to spend time together again. How dejecting.”
The concubine felt the urge to make him choke on those words, but she would never be able to attack him. She was way too slow and weak, and the mercenaries around him would kill her before she did anything. It wouldn't be possible for her to do anything. So, she had to hold back, or she would risk getting stabbed by one of the swords the men were holding.
But even though she was obviously trying to keep her composure, Cedar didn't even give her a minute. He immediately began pestering her again. “What's with that look? Are you unhappy with your surprise? Even though I put so much effort into it, it seems to be lacking. Then it seems like we will have to move to a more pleasing location. I have something in mind already.” He stood up and strode forward before stopping right in front of the concubine. “Would you mind granting me the honor? I would like to ask you to accompany me. You will do that for me, right?”
Blanche didn't want to do that, but it wasn't like she had much of a choice. But at the same time, the fact that he was asking her to go somewhere meant that he had some kind of goal. “What will you do now? What good will having us with you do?”
Cedar seemed to find that question amusing. “Isn't that obvious? Don't forget who you are and who is in love with you.” The mockery was basically dripping out of his voice. “I need to make sure that my brother doesn't save himself through some dirty methods. If I have you in my hands, do you think that he would oppose anything I say? He might even hand me the crown without me needing to kill him. That would be much more pleasant for all of us, wouldn't it?”
A surge of wrath rushed through Blanche. Cedar was right, and that made her angrier than she could have imagined. Of course, Theodore would immediately do what his brother asked if she was in danger. Once again, she had become her lover's weak spot, and she hated it. She used all of her self-control to keep herself from moving forward to push Cedar aside, but that didn't leave any self-control to swallow the words in her mouth. She raised her voice without wanting to. “You are the one using dirty methods! You attacked him in his own home, you bastard! And now you want to use such underhanded schemes. You are pathetic. There is no way that someone like you could ever be emperor!”
Almost instantly, Noah put his hand on her wrist and whispered to her. “Lady Blanche, please don't provoke him. We don't know how he will react.” By that, he meant that they couldn't be sure how bad the prince's state of mind was.
But she knew Cedar better than most people here. He wouldn't blow up. In fact, she was sure that Cedar was quite aware of how horrible he was being right now. The fact that he knew and still did this was the real threat.