Of course, her careless words hadn't helped much. It had just ended with Cedar reminding her of the fact that they were at a dead end. “What will happen now that you clearly have become an obstacle in my way?”

The concubine would have liked to find a response to that, but she was truly clueless. She couldn't just blurt out something. She needed more time to think about an answer that would satisfy the prince in some way, or he might really end up hurting her, even if he didn't actually enjoy doing it. So, she just said that out loud. “Give me a moment. I need a minute to think about it. I'm sure that we will find something that both of us are content with.”

To her surprise, Cedar just nodded at that. “Fine. Then do your best to find something because I'm running out of ideas. Mother will come at some point, and you don't want to be known as an obstacle when that happens.” That might be the real reason that he was threatening her right now. Maybe he just wanted to pacify Camille by saying that he was completely on her side. Maybe he needed this excuse to spare the concubine more to calm his mother than to actually stop himself.

Blanche didn't care. Until now, Cedar hadn't touched her with that sword. But the fact that he was able to hold it sideways without moving for so long only proved that he had steady hands. If he wanted to kill her, he would do it within a second. So, she was glad that he didn't seem to have that desire. Now she only had to find something that she could use as a reason to keep him from killing her for the time being.

She was sure that she only needed something small that was enough to make him believe that her being alive could help him in some way. But she had no idea. With every passing second, she got more uneasy and began looking around.

The situation around them hadn't changed much. Noah stared at something on the side of the ballroom, but she couldn't see what it was. Half of the masked men seemed to have stayed at their posts while the other half had disappeared and been replaced by new ones.

It was only a bit strange that the man that had been grinning earlier wasn't here anymore. Shouldn't he have been waiting for more orders? Or had he gone to retrieve the crown? Blanche tensed at that thought while scanning the mercenaries again. Hopefully, he wasn't going to the dressing room, or he might find Theodore, who had to be fighting there somewhere. Even if one person shouldn't be much of a problem, the risk was too grand.

The concubine's heart began quickening its pace. She was about to fall back into a panic, but Cedar's voice snapped her out of it.

The prince had leaned down to her and still kept his eyes on her face without looking away. “You seem to be rather uncertain about this reason of yours. This was more than a minute. Do you have anything for me?” She didn't.

She bit the inside of her cheek. “Give me one more minute. No, at least three minutes. This is a matter that will decide Artias' future. We need to take some time.” She received silence as an answer, which she took as an agreement. She quickly returned to looking around.

For some reason, Noah seemed to be less tense. He still glared at the prince, but when he made eye contact with the concubine, he gave her a faint smile. That made her search for whatever good thing had happened in the area around them. But Noah hadn't retrieved his sword nor had anything truly changed.

Blanche could feel the time passing in the blink of an eye, and she still had no idea how to respond. Would Cedar actually want to kill her if she didn't say anything? She doubted it, but she couldn't really rely on her guesses.

There was one thing that she could suggest. One way in which Blanche could actually help Cedar legitimize his position that was only going to work if she was the empress. But proposing that would make her quite unhappy. She refused to say that.

The three minutes came to an end without her being able to think of another way though.

Cedar spoke up at a time that felt like it was way too soon. “And? Is there something, anything you can tell me to resolve this situation, Your Majesty? Are you sure that you don't just want to admit that you lied about being the empress? That would make everything so much easier for the both of us.”

Before she could respond, they were interrupted when the door to the ballroom was opened once again. Both the concubine and the prince turned to face the door, probably with different hopes and worries.

This time, only two masked men entered. As soon as they saw what was going on in the middle of the room, they stopped behind their other colleagues and took care not to pull any attention toward them.

But that didn't help much to keep Blanche's heart from skipping a beat. She couldn't keep her eyes off one of the men. He reminded her of Theodore. He had the same body type and stance. She obviously couldn't see his face because of the mask, but she could easily imagine what kind of features might be hidden behind it. If that had been all, she would have scolded her mind for playing tricks on her.

But this wasn't just her imagination. For a moment, the world around her seemed to disappear, and she could only see that man. Just like when they had met in the pavilion for the first time. It was only the two of them, and time froze around them.

There was no doubt that this was indeed Theodore.

It took all of her self-control not to jump up to run to her lover to fall into his arms. Right now, she wouldn't even question her judgment and could end up rushing to the wrong person, but she didn't mind that.

The only reason Blanche didn't move was that she knew that Theodore had been proclaimed dead for a reason. He needed this advantage to attack from behind. So, she had to keep silent and act like he wasn't special. But that was almost impossible.

The man had his gaze on her too, which only confirmed her certainty even more. Then he erased all small doubts with a little movement. He held up a small pouch next to his hips before hiding it in his cape again.

No one had seen it except for Blanche, and she had only caught a glimpse of it. But that had been enough for her. She had recognized it immediately. That was the pouch that she had sewed for her lover. She would recognize all the effort that she had put into that within a second. No mercenary would just pick it up to show it to her since no one here could know what that item meant to the couple. Theodore was the only one that would show it to her to calm her down. She had known that he would survive. He had kept his promise and had returned to her.

Theodore was here.

Blanche felt tears pricking in her eyes, and it took all of her self-control not to break down now. She couldn't give their plan away now. She knew what depended on this. Still, holding back her tears was so hard that it only made her want to cry more. She dug her fingers into her palms and desperately tried to come up with something that she could do to keep herself from losing her composure. But she had forgotten that someone was watching her.

When she slowly lifted her head, she made eye contact with Cedar, who had retracted the sword for some reason. He stared at her before turning his head in the direction she had looked before.

That was a big issue. This was Theodore's brother, so he would recognize him too. That couldn't happen.

It had been an impulse without any part of her brain thinking about it. Blanche moved way too quickly and brought her hands to the prince's face to keep him from looking at Theodore. “Cedar!” She just realized what she had done when it was already too late.

Cedar, who clearly didn't like being touched, wasn't able to cover up his emotions this time. He had barely pushed aside the sword that had been resting in his hand as he crouched down to her. He could only stare at her with a frown for a few seconds before speaking with an unusual mix of annoyance and uncertainty. “What...are you doing?”

Blanche had no explanation for that either. And she didn't need one. Because Theodore was here. That meant that her only task was now stalling for time. To do that, she would even force herself to propose the one thing that she hated to think about.

Blanche swallowed her pride and looked deep into Cedar's eyes while responding in a tone that she hoped to sound somewhat confident. “There is one way for us to both survive without you needing to risk me taking away your position. Me being alive would, in fact, give you the biggest advantage that you can imagine. If I am the current ruler, my duty would be to find a husband that can rule the nation. If you marry me, you will be legitimized because you are the empress' husband and because you are the previous emperor's son. No one will be able to complain.” She felt horrible while saying that, and utter dread pooled in her stomach.

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The prince's reaction surprisingly calmed her down a little. Cedar wasn't happy or even indifferent. Instead, his face scrunched up as he stared at her like she was insane. “I don't think so. Did you hit your head somewhere? Or do you have a fever?”

She would have liked to affirm that so badly, but she needed to distract him. So, she forced herself to smile. “No, I want to survive. Your mother will kill me if she finds out that I will be the lawful ruler. If Theodore can't protect me, I need to find a way to make her see me as useful, or she will have me assassinated immediately. Do you think that I want that? Of course not. And the only way that I can get her to ignore her hatred for me is if I can help make you the ruler. This is the easiest way. I could also resign and give you the position as the ruler.” Her eyes widened. “Yes, wouldn't that be better? I can just hand over the power to you in a few days because I feel like the responsibility is too big.”

Cedar's expression had neutralized again, except for the fact that she was still squeezing his cheeks between her hands. She was surprised that he hadn't pushed her away yet, but right now, she was just happy that he didn't look at Theodore. The prince scanned her for a moment before speaking up. “So, that second option surely won't make it seem like I threatened you into giving me the crown? And my mother won't kill you as soon as you step out of the palace? I doubt it.”

Inwardly, Blanche cursed herself at that. He was right. To her, saying all of this was just a way to distract him, but Cedar was actually planning his future right now. It seemed like she would need to stick to talking about the first option even if she hated it. “Then we need to go through with the marriage. If the widowed empress suddenly dies after remarrying, it's obviously murder. So, your mother can't harm me then. I will just stay out of everything and let her forget about me. I will shower her with so many compliments and be so respectful that she won't be able to think badly about me. She will just ignore me then, and I can live, right? And you can rule all you want.”

Cedar carefully tried to lean his head backward to make her let go. Still, she held onto him out of fear that he would turn to Theodore after this whole strange scene. That was enough to make the prince give up on that, but he still watched her with skepticism. “I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to say about such a proposal. That's going to be a bit difficult. Mother would probably want to kill you even more then. And the people know that you love Theodore and hate me. What would be a believable excuse for you to change your mind within a few weeks? Now, would you please-” He tried to pull her hands away from his face again, but she refused to budge.

Blanche was happy to immediately distract him while locking onto the question he had voiced. She could easily talk for about that a while. As long as she didn't need to explain her sudden choice to cling to Cedar, she could distract him for a while. “That's easy. You just need to twist the story a bit for that. You came here on your way to save everyone, right? We simply say that you arrived too late to help all the deceased people, but then you rushed into my room. I was being threatened by one of the attackers, and you saved my life. That is a valid reason why people could fall in love. Just use that excuse, and everything will be fine. I won't appear in public much after that because I was scarred during the attack, and that's it. If I need to go out, I'll use make-up and put a huge gash on my face. See? It's perfect. No one will be able to argue with that.”

There were so many flaws here that she couldn't bear to point them out, but if Cedar didn't say that, she wouldn't either. Right now, she was only focused on staring into his light brown eyes. They seemed painfully familiar, but there was no recognition on his side. He seemed to be thinking about something, which was good since it gave her time.

The concubine dared to lift her head a bit to look over his shoulder and almost froze in the middle of her movement. Theodore wasn't standing at the door anymore. He had slowly made his way over along the wall. He was still far away, but he came closer. And no one here was stopping him.

That made Blanche a bit hopeful. As long as she kept telling the prince some nonsense, he wouldn't pay attention to his surroundings.

Indeed, Cedar's eyes were still trained on her face when she looked back at him, but at the same time, his wide smile had returned, which made her stomach sink. “You know... I find it a bit strange. You hate me being anywhere close to you, and suddenly, you do something like this.” He pulled at her hands again with more force, but when she insisted on not letting go of his face, he gave up on that and just continued. “I doubt that proposing to me is what you really want. Didn't your lover just die? How can you already have moved on to the next person? You always insisted that you are loyal and so in love with him, and now you ask the person that caused his death to marry you.”

Blanche's heart ached at that thought, but she needed to continue her act unless she wanted to reveal that she was purposefully keeping him from looking around. “The thing is...he is dead. And I don't want to die too. Living is more important than loyalty that can't give me anything in return anymore.” Those words pained her so much that she almost began crying. But she couldn't give up now.

Just a little while longer.

Cedar's smirk didn't help though. “I guess that's true. I just wonder why you suddenly changed your mind about that. But it seems that you are more intelligent than I gave you credit for. But do you know how heartbroken my brother would be if he heard this? He probably thought about you until the very end, and you pay him back like this.”

She unwillingly tightened her hold on his face. “Well, he can't have an opinion about this anymore. He would want me to survive though.” In fact, Theodore had told her to lie as much as possible if it could help them, and that was what she was doing right now.

A short glimpse of the person behind Cedar relieved her. Theodore had now reached the wall behind his brother, so he only needed to come to the center without being noticed.

That meant that Blanche had to talk as much as possible now. “To survive, I can deal with some fake marriage. I swear that I won't bother you in the slightest. I will just stay far away in my room without interfering in any way.”

Cedar let out a chuckle. “I don't believe that for one second.” He spoke in a way that made shivers run down her spine. “You know what I think?” He leaned forward despite her attempts to hold him back so that she had to give up and let go of his face. He brought his mouth next to her ear and whispered. “There is no way that this would work. An advantageous marriage with partners that respect each other is nice, but I think that my mother would kill you the moment you mention this. Plus, you would stab me to death the first chance you get. You would never betray Theodore after all. You got way too upset about the guards not fighting to ever consider that.” He pulled back and gave her the same infuriating beam as always. “Isn't that right?”

Blanche pressed her lips into a thin line. Of course, Cedar would end up figuring it out. But he hadn't looked back yet, so she might be able to keep him from doing so for a while. She gave her best to speak in an indifferent voice. “Does that make a difference? You could take the risk and try to gain power through me before getting rid of me when I try to kill you. Then your reputation will suffer because your wife suddenly died a few days after the wedding. Or you could kill me now and see how everyone realizes that you are a murderer. In the end, both choices are bad for both of us. So, we'll need to reconcile about how this should end.”

Cedar replied without looking away. “Do you really think anyone here cares about whether I end your life? Theodore killed his own father, and none of the nobles complained. They wouldn't even argue against me if I turned this whole thing into a bloodbath. That means that I could just get my sword and finish it the easy way, you know. You shouldn't talk about that if you don't want to die.”

Blanche really didn't have a helpful argument as to why Cedar shouldn't just kill her. But at the moment, she still felt quite secure. She didn't know where that confidence came from, but she couldn't keep herself from raising an eyebrow. “You mean you can use the sword that you threw away to avoid hurting me when I surprised you by pulling you down earlier? I wonder. Are you going to threaten me with the dull side of the sword again too? And jolt it back as soon as I move a little bit?” Even if she hadn't paid attention to it, she had realized that Cedar was trying to keep the more dangerous side of the decorative sword away from her. And that said it all.

She dared to glance over his shoulder again, and her heart fluttered. Theodore was almost here. Just a few more steps, and he would save her.

Cedar didn't seem surprised by her words. He moved back a bit and gave her some space, but as he just smiled at Blanche, something felt a bit off. “So, you did notice. I thought that I was intimidating enough to make it seem like you were actually in danger. But using something aside from my father's decorative sword seemed too risky to me. You just heard that Theodore is allegedly dead. I thought that you might end up doing something stupid. That's why your knight had to give away his sword too. But Theodore is alive, so I worried for nothing, right? Let me guess. He is right behind me.”

Those words cut through the silence like a knife.

Blanche froze. “You-” There was no way that Cedar should have been able to guess that. Had she messed up? Probably. But to her surprise, the prince didn't make a move to turn around to check.

For a moment, Cedar genuinely looked bored before he returned to smiling at her. “Your expression was enough of an answer. All of you are too predictable. If you keep glancing behind me and say strange things that don't fit you at all, I will obviously assume that something is coming. Of course, I didn't expect Theodore to die from the very beginning. I was sure that he was alive even after the news came too. You were too composed for him to have been in real danger. And he isn't the type to give in so easily. Especially not because of such a badly planned attack. The golden emperor never loses. The only reason he could have lost here would be if he was suicidal, but he clearly has a reason to live for. It's a bit unfair, so to say.”

Blanche frowned unwillingly as she heard that. Had Cedar really just mentioned that Theodore was here and wouldn't do anything about it? That was odd.

And Cedar didn't even stop here. “You know, I've been jealous of him all my life. He always gets what he wants, whether it may be love from our father or a wonderful caring mother.” As if that had been the first drop of a flood, the words came flowing out of Cedar's mouth. “I liked Althea too, even if I barely saw her. But for some reason, Father, who didn't even see the need to look at me, couldn't have allowed her to raise me too. Mother bullied her really often. Still, Althea was kind to me whenever we ran into each other. And after meeting her, I always needed to go back to my own mother, who simply doesn't care about anything but power. And all of this didn't just happen during our childhood. Theodore is still fate's favorite. He is the emperor whom the whole nation loves. The nobles are in the palm of his hand, so he can basically do anything. As if that wasn't enough, he also found his soulmate, who adores him with her whole heart. Why does he have so much more luck when he is the son of the same parents?”

Why was he saying this? That was so unlike him. Why wasn't he turning around when he knew that Theodore was behind him? Why didn't he fight?

Cedar didn't do any of that. He just knelt there while being extremely tense and focused all of his attention on something in front of her. He probably didn't even see Blanche and just looked right past her. Cedar continued talking without a pause as if he was reading off a chart, and the radiant smile on his face seemed so mismatched with what he told her. “What is so special about him that he needs to be showered in love while everyone else around him is rotting away? But even so, I can't really blame him with all of my heart. I've been told to hate him for all my life, but when we were children, he ended up being the only one to invite me out to play in the garden. And even now, he still only does something that harms me when I, the insane and cruel younger brother, attacked him first. It's pathetic, isn't-”

He was interrupted so suddenly that Blanche barely knew what was happened. It all went by so fast.

Within the same second, a figure appeared directly behind the prince and lifted a sword before slamming the handle against his head with such force that Cedar, who had closed his eyes and flinched even before the impact, basically flew to the side.

The concubine fell backward and scrambled away before she recognized who the person there was. “Theo!” She jumped to her feet as fast as possible, only to stumble toward her lover.

Theodore dropped his sword to catch her and pulled her into a tight embrace that almost crushed her chest, but she didn't complain. She was just so happy to see him.

Tears spilled out of Blanche's eyes and streamed down her cheeks. She didn't even have a chance to begin sobbing before Theodore had already thrown away the mask and his lips landed on hers. She put her arms around his neck and clung to him as if her life depended on it. When their lips separated, she couldn't help but finally say what she had been wanting to call for so long. “Theo, Theo. You came back! I love you.”

Theodore looked both overjoyed and exhausted at the same time. “Of course, I'd come back. I love you, and I told you that I would always return to your side. Here I am. Are you alright? Did anyone touch you?”

She shook her head before leaning it against his chest. “I'm fine and Noah is too.” A single thought was enough to make her lift her head in a rapid motion. “Are Owen and Leon and the others alright?”

If the emperor was here, that was almost certain. She still wished to confirm it.