Blanche insulted the prince without holding back. She wasn't worried about the consequences, but Noah had seemed to expect backlash.

As expected, Cedar just responded with a smile despite her harsh comments. “Oh, don't worry, Sir Aldis. She called me a bastard a few times already. If I was upset because of that, I would have made myself clear already. I can take some petty comments.” He locked eyes with Blanche, and his smile looked much more sinister now. “But once I become emperor, you will have to behave better. We can't have anyone undermining the power of the royal family after all. You will have to get used to that soon. Theodore may tolerate everything you say, but others won't.”

Blanche probably should have backed down, but she met his gaze without any intention of withdrawing. “What makes you think that you can become emperor? Everyone in this nation knows that you and your mother are responsible for this.” She spat out those words while holding back all the insults that her mind had prepared. “You will be known as the man that tried to kill his own brother out of greed. There is no way that you will ever be accepted by the nobles or the citizens. And Theodore also won't hand over the crown. He cares for his nation, and he would never ever risk it getting destroyed because of a power-hungry brat. No matter what happens.”

That wasn't true. Her lover had made it clear that he would choose her above anything else. He would bring the whole country to the brink of destruction if it saved her. She couldn't even blame him for that. After all, she would do the exact same thing for him if she had to make a choice.

Unfortunately, Cedar knew that too. He chuckled at her pitiful attempt to lie to him. “Of course, he would give me anything in exchange for you, silly. Even a blind person could tell by now. He would even sign a contract that makes me the emperor. I would actually favor it if we can just do it like that, even if Mother doesn't. I promise that I won't hurt you though. This isn't your fight, so we can keep your involvement minimal. Let's stop arguing and let us move to our destination.” He gestured toward the door, and one of the masked men opened it. Then he turned back to the concubine. “After you, My Lady. Please lead the way to the ballroom. Ah. And don't try to run away. You with your dress won't be faster than the soldiers here.” He had suddenly sounded much more intimidating at the end.

Blanche would have loved to just flee, but she was aware that it was impossible. She wouldn't have tried it even without Cedar's warning. Maybe she would have attempted to bargain about Noah leaving, but she doubted that the knight would ever agree to that.

So, she had nothing left to do but to just follow Cedar's lead even if it was revolting. She could barely bring herself to move, but she walked forward.

The hallway was empty except for a few masked men standing at the side. They didn't try to intervene when she passed by, most likely because the prince had already appeared at her side. She refused to look at him and focused on the path in front of them.

Cedar didn't read the mood though. As usual, he began blabbering. “Say, where exactly is my brother? Is he still in his room? Or did he flee too? I can barely imagine the second option. You probably know where he is, right?”

Blanche truly didn't. She reminded herself that Theo had planned to start in his room, but he might be far away already. Hopefully, he was. She didn't want anyone to find him. Even if he was fighting well, there was no way that he could defend himself against the countless men that would storm in. The concubine didn't say anything though. She kept her gaze trained on something in the distance.

Of course, the prince didn't do her a favor by staying silent as well. He annoyed her again. “Are you sulking? Don't tell me that you are seriously that mad because I appeared here unannounced. That would be a bit exaggerated. Come on. Talk to me. The way to the ballroom will be boring otherwise.”

Blanche bit her lip with the full intention of not responding, but she couldn't help it. “You are trying to kill my lover. How could I not despise you? Do you know that Theodore is still worried about you after all that happened? He always says that he regrets how that horrible woman raised you and not Althea. He hates himself for not having done anything about it while you were young. And what are you doing? You pay it back to him by trying to murder him.”

She didn't know what she expected as a response. Maybe more mockery or that he would get angry.

She hadn't expected that Cedar would turn his gaze away from her. “I regret it too. But once the riverbed is carved into stone, the water's flow will not change.”

Blanche hated that metaphor. She knew that it wasn't true. She herself had believed that her future might be predetermined. Just over a year ago, she had been so scared of losing Theodore to Seraphina. But in the end, she had managed to change that ending. It was possible to alter your fate. As she kept staring at Cedar even when he didn't meet her gaze, she pressed out her response. “You can change it. With some effort, you can shovel up the dirt to free the path you would like and fill up the future that you want to avoid. It's possible if you start trying. If you don't like it, why are you doing it? This is supposed to be your life.”

Cedar didn't look at her while replying. “Who said that? I don't think that much of what I did was ever done to make me happy. But that's fine. It's normal for nobles and especially the royal family to live like this. Arranged marriages are similar, aren't they? That's why it isn't special to feel like that. You are lucky for being able to live how you want it. Everyone else is a bit more restricted. But we never knew it differently, so we are content with it.” Even though what he said was more than depressing, he didn't stop smiling for a second.

Blanche averted her eyes again and stared at the floor. She might have had sympathy for Cedar if he was actually trying to do something different, but now she could only feel irritation.

She knew that it was hard for him. Being trapped in the same mindset was horrible, and it could make a person believe that no way out was possible. But how come Cedar knew that he was doing something wrong and that he still didn't do anything to prevent it? He couldn't just be doing all of this for his mother, right? For Camille, who manipulated him and hit him when she didn't like his response? That left a bitter taste in the concubine's mouth.

It only got worse when they left the wing of the servant's quarters.

When Blanche looked around and saw some of the royal guards, her hopes were reawakened for a moment. But then she saw that the two men just stayed away from the group. It was clear that they would have no chance, but still, it was strange to see how those knights ignored a threat to the emperor. Even when she made eye contact, they just looked to the side. She balled her fists at that. It seemed like they were truly on their own right now.

Cedar immediately read her expression. “Are you wondering why aren't they attacking us? The reason for that is quite simple. Since Sir Owen Maillont's location is unknown, the second-in-command took over. And to avoid any harm on their side, he ordered them to stay back. That means that no one here will give us a hard time. Don't be mad at him though. It would have happened anyway. The emperor disappeared, right? That would make the second one in line to the throne stand in for him. I would have ordered them to stay calm either way. But I was still surprised, you know? Who thought that invading the royal palace was this easy?”

Blanche had barely been able to listen to the whole rest. She could only pray that Owen was with Theodore and that they were both fine. But, among with worry, anger welled up in her. How could another knight disappoint his superior like this? By just giving up and betraying Theodore as soon as they were attacked? She didn't believe that for one second.

Every single one of the guards that she had met had been absolutely loyal to the emperor. Surely, a few of them could give in when confronted with so much pressure. But there was no way that Owen's most trusted comrade would ever give their enemies a chance to strike like this. She refused to believe that. She knew that Theo had a plan. This had to be a part of it. It had to. Even if she told herself that over and over again, a little bit of concern remained. She was pretty sure that her mood couldn't get worse, and then Cedar opened up his mouth.

“You know, I told you that I would favor winning without violence. But that might be impossible. I don't think that Theodore would be able to accept his loss. He would fight against me for the rest of his life. And since he has the noble's support, I would be in trouble. That means that I probably need to ensure that he can't take over the throne from now on. There is only one way to get absolute certainty. I might have to use it that way. He might already be dead, but if not, that wouldn't be too bad either. Just for that, I brought this. He hid it in one of the storage rooms, but I found it quickly. It was as if it secretly called my name.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

She shouldn't have looked, but her panic had gotten the better of her. As soon as Cedar lifted the sword and showed her the gems on the handle, she recognized it. That was the sword that he had gifted Theodore for his birthday.

The one that Cedar had promised to kill his brother with.

That should have been enough to make Blanche's blood boil. But the first emotion she felt wasn't rage. What she felt was pure and utter dread. Something flashed inside her mind and made her whole body freeze with fear.

It was the image of her lover lying in front of a grave while butterflies flew around him. He was bleeding out, but a soft smile graced his lips as he extended his hand toward her. His lips formed an ‘I love you’ before he closed his eyes.

Instantly, Blanche's legs gave in. She almost fell to the ground while she had to fight the urge to gag, but Noah caught her in time.

Cedar actually seemed taken aback by her reaction so that his smile disappeared for a moment. “Lady Blanche?”

Normally, the concubine might have seen even that confusion as her victory, but right now, she could only think about that horrible image. Why did her mind have to come up with such a vivid picture of her lover dying? Even now, even though she knew that this hadn't happened, her legs trembled, and she felt like she would plunge to the ground at any moment.

Noah tried his best to calm her, but it was almost impossible. “Lady Blanche, everything is fine. I am right here with you. Those people will not hurt us. We are safe. I will protect you no matter what.”

Blanche wasn't content with that alone. How could she calm down when her lover was at risk of getting hurt because some insane person wanted to kill him to gain power? She felt like her chest was constricted, and she had trouble breathing. If she was alone, she would lie on the ground for a while and cry, but she wouldn't grant Cedar that sight. No matter how much it hurt, she wouldn't give up now.

Theodore was alive. He needed her to be strong.

So, she slowly shifted her weight onto her feet and let go of the knight. She could barely keep herself upright and had to force herself to stand without help again. It was much harder than it should have been, but she managed to do it. She took a deep breath before speaking up in the most confident voice she could muster. “Thank you, Noah. Let us move on.” With that, she walked forward again even though her knees felt like they were made out of glass.

She could feel how the prince's gaze was burning into her back, but she forced herself to keep going. Blanche wouldn't give in now. She wouldn't. She refused to do that.

At least her momentary breakdown had given her one advantage.

Cedar didn't speak to her for the rest of their walk.

When they arrived at the ballroom, even more masked men were waiting for them. The mercenaries were positioned at every door, but they looked into the room and not out of it, which proved that they actually didn't expect an attack from the outside. They were only supposed to intimidate the hostages. One of them opened the door for them, and the group stepped inside.

There had been absolutely no need to go here but to brag, Blanche was sure of it. Aside from the prince's soldiers, no one was here. She didn't know what he wanted to do now that they had gathered in this room. But pondering that was better than thinking about the nightmarish vision that she had seen just now. How was she supposed to react to viewing a lifelike image of her lover dying?

Blanche wouldn't react at all. She refused to acknowledge that, and being forced to focus on Cedar's presence now was helpful to distract herself. She wanted to fall into Theodore's arms and hear him promise that everything would be fine so badly. But she wouldn't be able to run away now. She had to face the monster that had separated her and her lover first.

After taking a few steps into the room, Blanche spun around. “And now? What will we do now? Are you going to hold a ball with the mercenaries here?”

Cedar came closer to her, and she fought the urge to back away. She stayed put and met his eyes even when he stopped right in front of her. As always, he showed her a bright smile that seemed so genuine that it was rage-inducing. “That may be my only way to get you to finally dance with me, wouldn't it? But don't worry. It would be macabre for you to dance with another man on the day that your fiancé lost his throne. That would be too strange. For now, we will just do one thing.” Of course, he didn't give her a response immediately.

Blanche wanted to refuse to play his games but if she wished to know what would come, she needed to hear his reply. “What exactly is that thing?”

The prince beamed at her and brought his face a bit closer to hers. “Waiting.” With that, he turned away from her and strode toward the thrones. While he wasn't looking at her, he still spoke. “We will wait for news to come from. We will see how your dearest is then. Maybe he will be fine, maybe he won't. We shall find out soon enough. There is no need for us to worry about that now. The answer to all of our questions will come in a while, and then we'll know which one of us will end up being happy by the end of the day.”

Blanche couldn't do anything but stare at his back while he walked away.

Just a moment ago, Cedar had made a mistake. He was a phenomenal actor. Maybe he was even so good that he could fool himself, but people's eyes couldn't lie. He had come close enough to show her what he should have tried to hide. His eyes didn't show the maniac joy that a true murderer would feel upon knowing that he could kill the person he had hated for so long.

Cedar just looked tired. Tired of all of this.

Maybe it was a risky gamble, but now that Blanche knew this, she could try to use it for herself in some. She opened her mouth as soon as the thought crossed her mind. “You have absolutely no desire to kill Theodore, isn't that right? You actually don't want to do any of this today. Your mother trained you to hate him with every fiber of your being, but when you see him, you can't help but wonder why that woman despises him so much. You know that she is the one that is at fault for all of this, don't you? And deep inside, you want to do something about it, but you feel like you can't. You don't have to live like this though. You can change your life. Luciano Vasquez, your own cousin, did it too. He cut his father off when he noticed how horrible that man was. Even if he was raised to obey. You, too, can-”

Cedar let out a chuckle that sounded so deranged that she closed her mouth immediately. “Don't compare that moron, Claude Vasquez, to my mother. You have absolutely no idea what kind of person she is, and you don't know who I am either. Stop trying to assume what I feel like. It's getting really annoying by now. When I doubted your devotion to Theodore, you got upset. So, stay out of my relationships too.”

That reaction proved two things. One, he knew that she was right. And two, he wouldn't do anything about it.

Blanche stayed silent after that. If Cedar didn't want help, there was no way to force him. Even if his end might be tragic, she couldn't pull him off that bad path. So, she didn't have to pay more attention to him.

Even if it was more painful than it should be.

The concubine pushed that thought away and turned to Noah to whisper to him. “Are you alright? They didn't hurt you in any way, did they?”

Noah shook his head. “I'm fine. You almost collapsed. Are you feeling better now?” He only seemed less worried when she nodded at him. “Good. Then what will we do now?”

The concubine looked around as inconspicuously as possible before replying. “We need to wait for Theo or his men. Now would be a good time to tell me whether his plan will help us from now on. Surely, us getting caught by Cedar wasn't part of it.”

Noah paused for a moment before responding. “His Majesty mentioned that his brother might do unexpected things. But he also said that we should be fine as long as we don't address any of his triggers, whatever that means. The rest went exactly as he claimed that it would though. His plan contained detailed information about how the enemies positioned themselves. As you can see, they aren't very careful. They walk around in pairs, but their backs show in the same direction. That means that they are vulnerable. Not to us but to people from outside. Every few minutes, the people by the door leave, and new ones come in, which our people could use to their advantage. His Majesty said that we would need to distract the prince in such a case. So that he can't draw his sword. Apparently, His Royal Highness is a good fighter.”

“Then we should be extra careful about that. I don't think that he is planning on fighting himself. But keep an eye on him, just in case. Maybe we-” Blanche was cut off before she could finish.

Cedar's voice echoed through the quiet room. “What are you two whispering about? Did I miss something?”

One look at the prince made the concubine freeze. He was sitting on the emperor's throne. He actually had the courage to claim Theodore's seat while she was right here.

Anger flared up in Blanche, and she opened her mouth before thinking about it. “That is the emperor's throne. Doesn't your mother always scold me for ignoring the rules? Now it seems like she raised you in a manner that shows that rules aren't that important to her. That is quite odd.”

Cedar grinned down at her. “I'll be emperor in a few minutes anyway, so it's not that important. It's pretty comfortable up here. And the view is nice too. But you would know that already, right? After all, you sat on that seat multiple times.” He patted the throne next to him. “But are you the empress? Not yet since Theodore didn't marry you. If you can use your throne prematurely, I can do the same with mine. By the way, I would also give you permission to sit here again one last time. You don't have to stand down there for the next minutes or hours.”

Blanche's response followed immediately in a harsh tone. “No way.” She wouldn't ever take a seat next to that man.

The prince shrugged. “I knew that you would reply like this. That is your loss. I don't really care. After all, we can still have a conversation like this. Being quiet the whole time would be boring, right? So, do you have anything exciting to tell me?”

The concubine considered being silent, but she felt annoyance rising inside her. It would be better to vent by complaining so that she wouldn't end up doing something stupid. “Not much. There is an assassination attempt on my lover being executed right now. I wonder if he is even fazed by this. After all that happened, he should slowly get used to it. How often did you send people already? Let me count.” She raised her hands and exaggeratedly lifted one finger after the other. “Once after his coronation. Then the second time just a few minutes after that. The third case was during the hunting festival, during which he killed your personal guard. My condolences. The fourth time, you attacked us during our picnic, and now you are here again. If you count you trying to make me feed him the nuts that trigger his allergy, we have six cases of attempted murder here. I seem to be well off in comparison. I only got attacked once and poisoned once. By you, at least. Oh, and we could count you threatening me twice too. Then I feel like I'm not too happy with my result either.”

Complaining about that didn't help at all. Yet, Blanche was glad that she had taken the chance to release some of the pent-up anger that was steadily growing inside her.