The official part of Theodore's announcement was done, but he wouldn't end this without personally saying one more thing to his mother. He made eye contact with Camille but paused before beginning.

Just seeing the couple in front of her seemed to make the dowager empress so upset that she was shaking with anger. It was clear to see that she was so corroded with wrath and resentment that any help would come too late for her. Maybe Camille knew that herself too. Her path was already leading toward a lifetime in prison with everyone knowing that she had attempted to murder her own son multiple times. There was no way that any nobles would try to curry favor with her after this, except for possibly the ones that were already going down. She herself had destroyed the second prince's faction by doing this. And now she could only helplessly look at her first son, whom she despised with every fiber of her being, while knowing that he would remain the most powerful person in this nation to the end of her life.

Theodore watched her with a cold gaze while he spoke up with utmost sincerity. “You are already wondering why I'm even letting you live, aren't you? I have to admit that the only reason for that is that I want to pay you back. I will ruin your life just with my existence. I want you to think about Blanche and me being happy together for the rest of your life. We will live here in the palace as the emperor and the empress with our children while not wasting a thought on you. And at the same time, you will rot in a small room while being eaten away by the thought of us being here. Every single of your allies that tries to help you will be arrested as you can only wait without knowing when the date of your death will come. I hope that even Cedar will leave you until then so that you can reap what you have sown and live your last days all alone. One day, I will have you brought here for your execution, so do not forget that. Now that you are finally gone, I will also grant Althea the title of a dame for her special support of the royal family. She saved my life after all. And she did that she died with a smile. Even though she died because of you, she was much happier than you ever were. Please keep that in mind while the rats are your only company.”

Upon hearing about her archnemesis, Camille suddenly jumped toward her son, only to be held back in an ungentle manner by the royal guards. It seemed like she had lost all the cold dignity that she usually showed and began yelling. “That wretched woman died seven years ago while lying in the dirt! That is where she belongs! I hate her, I hate her so much, and I hate you too. I-”

The emperor replied in a calm voice. “I hate you too. I don't know if you ever thought about that, but I hate you as much as you hate me. That is why I refuse to acknowledge you as my mother. The only person that ever treated me like her son was Althea. Don't you think that I should grant her the title of the dowager empress for that?”

That made Camille freeze in the middle of her yelling. For a second, she just stared at Theodore. Then it seemed like she fully grasped what he had said. “You can't do that. I'm the dowager empress. I'm your mother and your father's wife.”

Theodore gave her a little smirk, but it didn't hold any kindness and only rage. “I'm the emperor. I can do anything I want. Right now, I don't have much time, but I will take care of that during the next few years.” Without listening to Camille's endless complaints, which flowed out of her mouth without a break, he addressed the guards. “Bring her to one of the cells now. One of the ugly ones, of course.”

The guards bowed before dragging the dowager empress away without the slightest bit of pity.

Camille changed her strategy now. She started calling for someone else. “Cedar! Cedar, help me!” Her voice was so shrill that it hurt to listen to her. “Look what they are doing to your mother! You have to help me. Say something!” Even though she received no response, she continued to yell until she was brought out of the room. When she left the ballroom, her screams abruptly stopped before she began to loudly scold the knights.

Only a few seconds later, Cedar slowly lifted his head. “Is she gone?” He looked around before letting out a sigh. “Finally. My head hurts from all that yelling.”

Leonard glanced at the blood that had soaked the cloth he pressed against the other's wound by now. “I don't think that this is because of the yelling. You may not have noticed, but Theodore truly used all of his force while knocking you out. It's a wonder that you're even awake right now. You will get medicine in a moment, but we will need to bring you to the doctor's office first. Can you walk a bit, or do you need to be carried?”

Cedar tried to focus on the other man, but it seemed like he had some problems holding his head up. “Why exactly am I getting treatment here at all?”

Theodore pulled his lover with him as he stepped forward to stand next to his brother. “You are getting treatment because your head is bleeding. We don't want you to get an infection. How are your coordination and your memory?”

“Alright, I think. I know who everyone here is, and I remember how I got here. My head is pounding, and noise makes it feel like there are knives being plunged into my brain, but otherwise, I'm fine. I just feel like throwing up.” The prince already showed them a wide smile, which seemed so unfitting in this situation that it hurt.

Even Theodore seemed a bit worried. He turned to Leonard. “He never admits when it hurts, so I don't like hearing it now. Is the wound deep? Can we expect complications later?” He only relaxed a bit when the other man shook his head. Then he focused his attention on his brother again. “It seems that I was a bit too harsh. I'm sorry for hitting you that hard. I meant to knock you out, but I should have used my hand and not the sword.”

Cedar was silent for a moment before he slowly began to lift himself up to sit. He completely ignored how Leon repeatedly told him not to move and took over the bloody cloth to press it against his head after staring at it for a few seconds. It probably hurt a lot, but he just showed the couple a radiant smile. “It's fine. I tried to kill you, so I doubt that I have the right to complain. But you could have just asked me to step aside while holding a sword toward me. That would have been enough, and it would have been much more heroic. Remember that for the next time you want to knock me out.”

The emperor narrowed his eyes at that. “I sincerely hope that there won't be a next time. There doesn't have to be one. I wouldn't have attacked you if you hadn't been so close to Blanche with that sword. But you never wanted to harm her, isn't that right? That is why you didn't use the sharp side of the sword, even if that one isn't very dangerous either. It's a decorative sword after all. You also didn't try to kill me, and we both know that well. You had already guessed that I was behind you. And yet, you didn't grab your sword and turn around. You could have forced me to fight you and given me a hard time, but you refrained from doing that on purpose. That was your only way of refusing to help your mother without showing that you were defying her.”

Cedar let out a snort, which made him freeze for a moment as the pain set in again. He closed his eyes for a second before replying. “I didn't really have another option. Do you think that I should have tried to kill you in front of your lover? That would have been too cruel. She would have either broken down or rushed in to save you, and both wouldn't have been good. I'm not that malicious, you know?”

Theodore gazed at him for a while before replying. “I know. You are the one that limited the damages that woman left behind. Even if you definitely have psychological problems.”

The prince raised his eyebrows, only to flinch at the slight movement. But his smile returned immediately. “Oh, my. Really? How could you, the perfect child, ever have known that? There is no way that it was that obvious.” The sarcasm was dripping out of his words, but he didn't seem to be annoyed like Blanche would have assumed. “If you recognize that, could you do your injured brother another favor aside from banning vases from our house? After my treatment is done and I get to my new home, can you get me a week without Mother? I would like for my wound to recover a bit until she is gone. I shall prepare everything for her then.”

Cedar acted like he wanted to wait until his head had healed, but he actually just wanted to give Camille a few days to calm down. He was used to her unstable outbursts, so he probably expected to be the one that had to endure the rage that his mother was feeling now. If so, giving him a week to evade the biggest part of the anger was logical.

The concubine looked up at her lover as Theodore was already nodding. He gazed at his brother while replying. “Of course. You will get two weeks. She will stay here for a bit longer until she truly realizes that no one will come to save her. Then she will be locked into a cell, so don't worry about her hurting you. And you will go to the doctor now.” He gestured to two of the guards, who promptly rushed to the prince's side to help him stand up.

Cedar tried it by himself before they were with him and managed to do so with a lot of stumbling. It was better that the knights quickly held his shoulders to keep him from falling over to the side. Right now, he just looked pitiful. He couldn't even keep himself upright and had to be in a lot of pain because of this wound. Even that wide smile on his lips didn't fool anyone when his eyes held the joy of a corpse. It truly seemed like he had conditioned himself to smile to make himself feel better. The worse the mood he was in was, the more he grinned to keep himself from noticing what was truly going on in his head. It was actually a bit depressing to see that.

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Blanche clung to her lover's side, but she couldn't stop looking at Cedar. The prince looked like he was broken right now. Surely, she knew that he wasn't a good person. She was well aware that he wasn't innocent and that he had some serious problems.

But there might still be hope for him.

If Luciano had found a way to get rid of the shackles that had been binding him, Cedar could do it too. But he might need a bit of help on the way. Surely, Blanche and Theodore weren't qualified for that. Because the prince disliked them and because he actually needed to have the desire to do something himself. She was certain that the wish to change something was there for him. But he might not be able to push the fear of losing his mother away. Or he had just thought that his fate was already predetermined?

Blanche thought about that for a moment before she spoke up. “Please wait. I want to remind you of one thing. Do you remember our bet? If Theodore is alive, I win. As you can see, he is right here, so you need to do something for me. You said that there was no backing out.”

Cedar turned to her with the same fake smile as before. “Ah, now that you mention it. But I doubt that I would be able to do much for you in my current position, Your Majesty.”

Blanche averted her eyes for a few seconds. “You probably already found out that that was a lie. I'm not empress yet.” She turned to Theodore to explain it to him. “I may have lied about being the lawful ruler because we already married. Just so that I could keep them from getting the crown out of the dressing room. I didn't know whether you were still there, so... I'm sorry about that.”

Theodore leaned forward to give her a small kiss. “There is absolutely no need to apologize for that. You would actually be the ruler after my death. Since you were appointed as the temporary ruler in our engagement contract, which the supreme judge knows about, you would truly have been crowned empress. Besides, I don't mind you saying that you are my wife. How could I complain about being honored with something like that?”

She was a bit relieved at that. She hadn't expected Theodore to be angry at her, but she thought that there might have been issues if she lied about something like this. But once again, she had worried for naught. She kissed her lover's cheek before turning to the prince.

Cedar greeted her with a smile already. “Of course, I guessed that it was a lie. Like I said, there was no way that Theodore wouldn't have bragged with his new wife already. Even if he decided to do the ceremony in secret, he would have happily announced it a day later. Besides, it was obvious that you would wait after Mother had her completely unexpected breakdown. You surely don't want us as guests during your wedding after all. But I digress. What did you wish to ask of me now? It seems like I will have to follow your lead no matter what it is.”

Blanche took a deep breath while trying to sort the words in her head. She wasn't sure whether this would work. She even questioned it, but it was worth a try. “Earlier, we talked about a riverbed, do you remember? You said that it was impossible to alter the flow of such a river. I said that you could do it with some effort. It seems like you have some digging to do now. Try to change that riverbed, no matter what it takes.”

For a moment, Cedar was quiet. He actually looked like he was taken aback by those words and needed some time to understand their full meaning. But it only took a few seconds for him to return to his usual smile, which never had completely disappeared in the first place. “But isn't that supposed to help me more than it helps you? As I thought, I really can't guess what is going on in your head. I'm not a construction worker, so I may just direct a flood toward a village by trying something. But I don't have much of a choice here, do I? You won our bet. And still, I can't guarantee you that I will even be able to attempt to make the first turn of the shovel. That's how solid the stone around that area is. I'm sorry to disappoint, but don't expect results.”

Blanche would have been surprised by any other answer. Still, she had something to say about this. “I won't be disappointed if you don't try it, you will. You should keep in mind that this is still your life. If you look back on it later and don't feel the slightest bit of happiness, you did something wrong. So, don't use excuses or apologize to anyone. You only have to justify your actions in front of yourself.”

Cedar was silent for a moment before he let out a chuckle. “Don't see me as a victim, or you might end up regretting it. Your speech was almost touching though. Are you a priest or something like that? If you talk about gods now, you copied their speeches without any differences.” It was painfully obvious that he was trying to distract from what he had just heard. He always acted like this when topics he disliked were mentioned.

There was nothing Blanche could do about it then. She gave him a little smile. “No, I'm done. Don't worry about receiving a lecture. This is your choice. We won't interfere. But you should really get treatment from a doctor now. This wound shouldn't get infected.”

Cedar returned a bright smile. “Of course, Your Majesty. I will go to the doctor now. Since there is no trial, we will probably not see each other for a very long time. I wish the best to both of you. May you stay happy and healthy while ruling over Artias and leading our nation to a prosperous future. Write me a letter when you marry so that I can give you my congratulations. Until then. Goodbye, Your Majesty. Goodbye, Theodore.”

The emperor scanned him for a moment before replying. “You don't need to worry about too much. The house you enter is small and a bit shabby, but your room will be nicer than that woman's. You will have food and everything else that is necessary there. If someone came there, perchance, to bother someone, your mother will be affected, and you just have to stay out of it. I sincerely hope that you break out of your own personal confinement at some point. Goodbye, Cedar.”

Blanche felt like she needed to say something about that too. “Theo's right. Think about that a bit longer. Are you happy right now? If not, do something about it. You can't just wait for your mother's death to be free. But you will have to deal with that yourself. For now, just take care of yourself. Goodbye.” It was a strange farewell.

Cedar was brought away by the guards with the same bright smile he always showed. But he seemed to avert his eyes after the couple had bid him farewell. He knew that he couldn't cover up the exhaustion in his eyes. He refused to show that to them, even when it was already clear to everyone here that he wasn't happy in the slightest. Cedar didn't turn around once when he was being led away and just focused on relying as little as possible on the guards carrying him. That seemed to be rather hard as him stumbling from one side to the other indicated.

Blanche's own skull puckered when she saw that and hoped that the doctor would be able to find some medicine that could help Cedar at least a bit. She tore her eyes away from the prince though and turned to her lover, who was already staring at her. She didn't waste a second before leaning her head against him.

Her memories from the whole conversation earlier came flooding back as she clung to Theodore. Almost immediately, tears came to Blanche's eyes, and the words flowed out of her mouth. “I said some horrible things to distract him earlier. I love you. Even if you lost, I would never ever consider giving you up. I would never marry anyone else or be nice to the dowager empress either. I wouldn't ever betray you.”

Theodore's arms were wrapped around her and gave off a warmth that seemed to sink into every fiber of her being to calm her down. He leaned down to kiss her while raising one hand to wipe her tears away. Then he returned his arm to her waist and pulled back to look into her eyes. “Blanche, I know. Everyone that ever cared to listen to you knows. You don't have to be so uncertain. I will never let anyone doubt your loyalty, and I won't do that either. I adore you, and I know that your feelings for me are just as strong. Do you remember that I told you to say whatever you need to say to protect yourself? If you needed to lie to do that, there is no issue. Because I trust you with my whole heart.”

The concubine still couldn't stop whining. “But I hated saying that! I wouldn't forget about you if something happened to you! Instead, I would just come to you and-”

“Don't say that.” Her lover put one of his hands on the backside of her head to pull her closer to him. “I know that I always say the same thing to you, but I don't want to hear anything about you giving up, alright? Nothing will happen to me, so you don't have to think about this at all. You will stay by my side, and we will have our happy family right here in our home. There is no need for us to worry from now on. Because we just won. That woman is finally gone, and Cedar will not be a threat to us as long as she isn't here. So, we can finally relax and celebrate being together. There is no reason for me to constantly worry about them anymore. We can finally reach our wonderful future without anyone obstructing us.”

Theodore smiled at her, and only now, the realization began sinking in.

Blanche felt like time was standing still for a moment before a beam appeared on her face as well. They had brought every issue behind them. The novel's storyline had ceased to be an option long ago, and the political problems were resolved too. From now on, they could live without expecting a huge issue at each turn. She could finally stop worrying about whether each small misstep of hers could ruin everything for them. She didn't need to fear ending up as the villainess, and she also didn't need to be scared of Theodore losing his happy end anymore.

Even if that thought made her beam, she couldn't stop crying at the same time and dug her fingers into her lover's clothes. “Theo, we won.”

Theodore kissed the top of her head and slowly swayed her from side to side while grinning at her with tears in his eyes as well. “We won. This time, everything is finally good. From now on, no one will be giving us a hard time anymore. We will do our best to make all of this perfect. We'll marry and have children and be happy for the rest of our lives. I love you.” He tightened his hold on her.

For a while, they just stood there and told each other how much they loved each other without caring whether there were three dozen people watching them.

At some point, Leon cleared his throat to interrupt their kisses. “I do not wish to sound too harsh since this was a stressful day, but would you mind retreating for that? Or you could at least give some orders to the guards here. Otherwise, we have to watch you the whole time while waiting for instructions. Just say the word, and I will take care of it while you go rest.”

Theodore replied immediately. “That's a good idea. You can deal with everything that I didn't explain yet. Bring the tied-up mercenaries into their cells and make sure to search every corner of this place for leftover troublemakers. Anyone that you find will be brought to the cells as well. Everyone shall be interrogated, but in the end, none of their excuses matter much. You know about the usual things. I will quickly bid farewell to them before we leave.” The emperor turned to face the people around him and raised his voice to address the knights, who immediately quietened down. “As you may have noticed, we have been victorious once again. We defeated our enemies without any causalities on our side, as far as I can tell. This was only possible thanks to your loyalty to me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for fighting on my side. May Artias continue to flourish under our protection.”

The men yelled some affirmations at that. It was almost scary how Theodore could motivate them with only a few sentences, but they might have been because they were euphoric after winning. But in any case, no one complained when the emperor prepared to leave.