The fact that Blanche made it through the night without another nightmare after facing her fears bordered on a miracle. This was thanks to her lover, who held her in the same position that they had fallen asleep in, she was sure of it. Waking up and seeing his face before anything else already lit up her day so much that it wouldn't be odd if the gods felt the need to send her another catastrophe in the afternoon. But she didn't want to dwell on grim visions, not when she was free to observe Theodore's unmoving face.

He was still asleep, which was out of the ordinary considering that he always left his bed before the sun even rose. This, along with the unwelcome gossip that the decision would have attracted, was the main reason why he had argued against her moving into his room after she had come to the palace. After all, he came back later than she did and went to his office earlier than she awoke, meaning that he would disturb her sleep and still be unable to interact with her in the morning or evening.

Naturally, Blanche sleeping in the chambers of a married man was also worthy of a scandal, so they avoided her entering his bedroom. If they did spend the night together, they did it in her room. This way, they would still be alone together, but fewer eyes were directed at her chambers than at the ones of the emperor. Like this, one could use the excuse that Theodore was allowed to go into every room in his palace whenever he wanted to, even though that wasn't a very convincing argument. Thus, they were always careful to not draw too much attention to them, which was nearly impossible since they were the most sought-after source of rumors in the capital.

Nevertheless, her lover hadn't spared a thought for what the nobles might say about them being together yesterday. He had grabbed her wrist in front of all the servants to bring her to his room to talk about their issues in private.

A beam appeared on Blanche's face upon remembering this. The situation had been more than a bit unpleasant, but it had once again proven that Theodore was ready to ignore everyone else to care for her. She gently reached out and brushed a strand of his hair away from his forehead, which caused him to move his head and let out a barely audible hum. She was forced to exhibit a great amount of self-control to refrain from giggling but managed to hold back to not wake him up.

In the end, her efforts had been for naught since Theodore's eyes flew open less than a minute after hers. He mirrored her smile. “Good morning.”

Blanche sat up to give him a small kiss on his nose before he pulled her onto him. With no desire to resist, she spread her arms and hugged him back. “Good morning to you too. I was awake before you were. Don't you usually rise much earlier? Am I starting to rub off on you?”

After Theodore took his time yawning and cuddling her, he responded. “I don't think so. I woke up a few times during the night, which I do frequently. But I still slept a lot longer than normal. You being here seems to help me with getting my deserved rest for once.”

“I know I keep saying this, but you shouldn't over-exhaust yourself. If you break down, you won't be able to work either.”

He kissed away the frown that had appeared on her forehead and rolled to the side, which made her lie next to him.

Blanche quickly closed the small distance that had come between them and pressed herself against his chest.

Theodore rubbed small circles into her back while replying. “I know. That's why I am going to stay here with you for a little more and take a break.” Before she could express her joy about that suggestion, a knock sounded from the door, and the emperor's smile died down. “Or not.” Now he spoke in a voice that dripped with annoyance. For a moment, he closed his eyes, and his lips formed a drawn-out sigh. He reluctantly sat up and spoke up in his loud, commanding tone. “Who is there?”

The answer came immediately. “It's me, Your Majesty. A letter from Northern Ocrea arrived. You need to read it as soon as possible.” The voice was easily recognizable as Leonard's. He sounded just as frustrated as Theodore, but he still conveyed an undeniable sense of urgency.

“I'll get ready.” Theodore said this loudly and then lowered his volume so that Blanche wouldn't hear him, but she understood every word. “By the gods, please. Don't let them declare war.”

Due to her knowledge of the book, Blanche already knew that this couldn't be the beginning of the military conflicts yet. Those wouldn't start until after their summer vacation. She couldn't tell him about that but tried to assure him anyway. “Until you read the opposite, believe that they won't. Having bad thoughts is only going to make everything worse.” Even though she actually believed in this, she was rather hypocritical in this aspect since she herself mulled over all possible problems that might arise.

Fortunately, Theodore didn't point this out but gave her a tired smile. “I hope so. It seems like I won't be able to stay here despite announcing it earlier. I thought that I would be able to join you for breakfast at least. I'm sorry.”

“No, it's alright. Will we see each other at noon?” Her lover's hesitation was enough to serve as an answer. “Don't worry, I understand that you can't lose time and will have to deal with this as soon as possible. If you want me to come to the office to distract you for a few minutes, send a servant, and I'll be there.”

Her lover smiled at her and pulled her into a short embrace. He muttered a small “Thank you” into her ear before forcing himself to leave the bed. He got dressed within seconds, which seemed like an impossible endeavor to Blanche. In her defense, he didn't have to put on a corset and floor-length dresses or brush wavy locks that didn't want to submit to their owner, but he was still surprisingly quick. Theodore put on his jacket in a hurry and returned to the bed to kiss her once more. “I'll try to meet you for dinner, but I really don't know whether I will make it in time. Would you mind staying here tonight too?”

This question caught her off guard. Blanche never slept in his room and had only done so today because it had been a state of emergency. “Of course I would love to. But isn't this a little risky?” Yesterday, he had said that they didn't need to hide anything in the palace, however, the line might be crossed when rumors about them spending the night together in the emperor's chambers surfaced.

Theodore's expression revealed that he didn't care much about that. “Something would be extremely wrong with the distribution of power in the palace if I had to justify where I allow my guests to sleep.”

“Yes, sure. Still, it would be slightly less obvious if you came to my room. More guards and servants watch your chambers than mine, so a smaller amount of people would notice when we enter my room. Naturally, it's your decision, but...” Her voice trailed off as she expectantly gazed at her lover. She wasn't disappointed.

He nodded at her suggestion. “It's not only mine, it's your choice too. So, I'll come to your room when I'm finished with my work, which may...” He paused to groan quietly. “Or may not be before midnight.”

Slowly, Blanche pushed the blanket aside and placed her feet onto the cool floor. She tried to ignore the urge to shiver and stood up. “You can wake me up no matter how late, or early, you arrive. It's not like I have to leave the bed at a specific time anyway.”

The emperor took a few steps forward and stopped right in front of her. “I definitely won't wake you. In fact, I'll be as quiet as a mouse to not disturb you. If one of us has to get by with five hours of sleep each day, the other one doesn't have to do the same.” Before she could complain about his lack of rest, he continued already. “By the way, why are you getting up? You don't necessarily have to leave already. You can sleep a bit more or stay here if you want to.”

She moved towards him to put her hands around his neck, and he bowed down slightly to make this easier for her as she replied. “It's better to leave along with you. How strange would it seem if I came out of your personal chambers without any reason to be there since you were in your office? Besides, right now fewer servants will run around than at noon, and I don't want to be watched so closely by that many people.”

“Well, if you insist, we can go together.” A playful grin that she couldn't quite read spread across Theodore's face.

“Good.” Blanche walked towards the door, only to be stopped by her lover.

“Haven't you forgotten something?”

She turned around with confusion. She hadn't brought anything with her, right? A glance at the nightstand proved that she hadn't left any object there. She didn't remember taking anything to the office in the first place, so she couldn't have placed it in any other spot either.

Theodore observed her inspecting the room and looked like he held back a chuckle. He waited a few seconds before he gave her a hint. “Are you really going out without dressing yourself first?”

Blanche lowered her head to inspect her clothes, and seeing her under-dress reminded her that she obviously hadn't slept in her normal attire. She really seemed to have been absentminded if she didn't think about something this crucial. She was a bit embarrassed when she replied. “Actually, I would have forgotten that. Thank you for telling me. Otherwise, I would have rushed out without checking whether I was dressed.”

“As if I would allow anyone else to see you like this. That sight is only-” Theodore approached her but stopped after one step and interrupted himself. “If I hug you again, we're going to let Leon wait even longer, and while there is nothing that I'd rather do, I can't simply stay. I'll help you dress, and then we need to go.”

Blanche spun around and retrieved her clothes from the armchair. Despite not doing it too often, her lover managed to help her put on her corset and dress rather quickly, so they didn't take more than five minutes before stepping out of his chambers.

Stolen novel; please report.

Leonard and Stella patiently stood next to the knights guarding the door, and all of them bowed upon seeing the emperor.

As usual, Theodore gave them a nod before turning his attention to his secretary. “Did you read it already?”

Leon immediately replied. “I wouldn't dare to take hasty steps without Your Majesty's permission. Though I fear that we do not have much time to react, or the king of Northern Ocrea may not wait for a response before making his decision. But I would guess that they haven't declared war.” Which meant that he had read the letter and could calm them by saying that the conflict hasn't escalated yet.

As he spoke, Blanche let her gaze wander to her maid to greet her with a warm smile, which Stella returned immediately. A small motion next to the other woman made the concubine look to the side, and she was met by a pair of eyes, which was staring right into her direction.

One of the knights had lifted his head and was observing her with curiosity, but she couldn't take note of his features since he instantly turned away after his colleague had nudged him with his elbow. That purplish hair was awfully familiar, but Blanche couldn't focus on that.

She had still the feeling that someone was watching her. So, she tried to be inconspicuous as she allowed her gaze to roam across the hallway, and within seconds, she found the responsible one.

Or rather the responsible ones.

At the end of the corridor, a crowd of servants and a few guards had formed. If they had even attempted to remain unnoticed in the first place, they had given up sometime in the last minutes. It was quite obvious that they only stood here out of curiosity.

Next to the concubine, Theodore sighed, and a glance at him revealed that he had become aware of the unwanted spectators too. “Don't they have some work that needs to be done? Maybe the cells can be cleaned. We could add that to their schedule as they seem to have too much free time.”

The knight that had looked at Blanche sounded like he had to keep himself from snorting at this. For him, seeing the emperor being bothered by the gossipy staff that was probably annoying him as well had to be quite amusing.

Theodore inspected the man from the corner of his eye but decided to ignore this inappropriate behavior. Instead of commenting on this, he turned to his lover and addressed her. “I have to go now. Until this evening.” Before she could reply, he already moved. He put his arms around her and pulled her into another embrace.

Normally, Blanche adored this, but right now, she stiffened in disbelief. Unlike the countless times he had embraced her over the course of the last hours, they weren't in private but in front of a group of numerous chatty servants. She had no way to deescalate the situation. Pushing him away wasn't what she desired to do, and refusing the emperor wouldn't make this any better but rather worse.

“Theo!” She whispered as quietly as she could. “Not in front of-”

Her lover chuckled beside her ear and whispered his response in a playful tone. “It's already too late. Leaving in the morning was a bad decision. If you had left in the afternoon, one might have been able to convince them that you were merely visiting me to have a chat. But everyone who sees you now will know that you spent the night with me. Have a nice day, my angel.” He didn't give her a chance to reply. He let go of her with a grin painted onto his face and spun on his heel to walk down the corridor.

Leonard hurriedly followed him after voicing a curt goodbye and left the speechless Blanche behind.

She blinked a few times and held her hands in front of her cheeks to hide that they had been tinted in red already. Helplessly, she looked to Stella, who seemed surprised as well but quickly gave her mistress an encouraging smile as they made eye contact.

Blanche tried to recreate this and failed miserably due to the feeling of countless gazes on her. She glanced at the end of the corridor towards the spectators. Most of them appeared to be just as shocked as she was, and it was reasonable that they would react like this.

The emperor had always ignored the guards that patrolled the estate in pairs or the servants who happened to be in the same hallway to cuddle with his lover while they walked somewhere. But he had never been the one to purposefully initiate physical contact when they were being observed by this many people. He usually avoided coming too close to Blanche if he realized that a big group was in visual range of the couple, and that had remained true throughout the entire novel as well.

Today, Theodore had done the opposite of that though. He had seen the spectators and still insisted on hugging Blanche in front of them. Maybe he had done it even because of that. With just one motion, he had interfered with her plans to keep him at a distance in public to protect her reputation and avoid the heroine's hatred.

Still, Blanche couldn't bring herself to be mad. Not when her lover had proven that he didn't mind that people knew about their relationship. In fact, he had encouraged others knowing by embracing her just after she had come out of his private chambers. He really wasn't ashamed.

Before Blanche had realized it, a beam spread across her whole face. “Let's go to my room, Stella. I need to change into new clothes.” Even her voice was full of glee now. Blanche began to walk down the corridor and had to keep herself from skipping. She didn't even care that she had to pass by the group that was still standing by the corner. The patter of footsteps behind her confirmed that her maid was following her, but she didn't pay attention to this.

As soon as she reached the intersecting hallways, the servants stepped aside. They didn't give way out of respect like they did for the emperor but rather because they feared conflict and only moved slightly. Still, it was enough to form an empty path that allowed Blanche to walk by without touching any of them. The servant's murmur filled the air, but she continued to move forward. Many members of the crowd viewed this as their cue to leave the location as all the sources of entertainment had now disappeared.

Blanche took a few steps forward before glancing over her shoulder to observe how many of them would decide to stay at the corner to chat about what they had seen.

To her surprise, Stella had stopped directly next to the remaining people. A smug grin adorned the maid's face, and she made eye contact with another female servant, whose expression was full of exasperation.

That second maid was none other than one of Seraphina's attendants.

Stella was motionless for a moment and just grinned at the other woman before she turned back to her mistress and caught up with her, still with a satisfied smile on her lips. “We should go now, My Lady.”

Blanche agreed and complied with the request, so they walked away. When they had put some distance between them and the empress' maid, she turned to Stella. “Why did you stop back there? Did she do something?”

Her servant's grin faded. “She did. I had a conversation with that girl yesterday, and it wasn't very pleasant. After you allowed me to take the evening off, I went into the kitchen, and there I overheard her speaking to another member of the staff. Both of them said some mean things about you, and I couldn't help telling them my honest thoughts. I might not have been as level-headed as I should have been, but she was so arrogant during the whole interaction. So, I reacted before my mind did and made a bet with her. And...” Stella paused, and the corners of her lips lifted into a taunting smirk. “I just won.”

That immediately awakened Blanche's curiosity. “What was it about? The bet, I mean.”

The maid went quiet. Her gaze wandered to the end of the corridor before she replied. “About that... It might be better if I don't repeat it. In retrospect, I feel childish for even allowing her to provoke me. But I couldn't just ignore how they ran their mouths like that! She was pretty upset because she lost the bet, but she deserved to be silenced for once. Being Her Majesty's attendant doesn't give her the right to act like she is worth more than the others.” For Stella, the dialogue about this topic seemed to be finished with that since she kept her mouth closed during the rest of their walk.

Blanche was taken aback by her maid's strange behavior, nonetheless, she stayed silent.

If Stella didn't want to open up to her mistress despite her unusual honesty, she had to have a valid reason to do so.

Still, the concubine couldn't deny that it made her curious. Since the fight had apparently taken place in the kitchen, other members of the staff would definitely have witnessed it. Maybe she could ask one of them for details later.

On the way to Blanche's room, more servants than normal seemed to pass them by, and even though that might have been her imagination, all of them appeared to stare at her. Thus, the sound of the door closing behind was more relieving than it usually was when she was finally in private.

Stella immediately hurried to the wardrobe, possibly to avoid her mistress readdressing the previous subject. “What would you like to wear today, My Lady?”

Blanche stood next to her and let her gaze roam across the attires. The little girl in her soul still wanted to gush about all the gorgeous dresses and dance with joy at the fact that they were hers, which made deciding more difficult than it should be. She wanted to put on all of them, so she wouldn't force herself to make that choice. “I won't have to go out today, so it doesn't matter. How about you pick one?”

Stella nodded and began inspecting the attires with an amount of care that wouldn't have been necessary at all. She took a short moment before pulling out a dress. “I don't believe that you have worn this yet.”

Blanche looked at the attire she was shown and pressed her lips into a line. Stella had chosen the one dress that was capable of causing a lot of trouble for her mistress. It was the navy ballgown that Theodore had bought from the tailor. “I don't think that I should put this on today. We already caused enough of a scandal. I really don't need people to tell me that I'm impersonating the empress.”

The maid turned her eyes to the piece of clothing in her hand again before meeting the concubine's gaze. “I didn't think about that, I'm sorry. If I look more closely, this also might be a bit too elegant to wear on a normal day.” She slowly put the dress back into the wardrobe and was only successful after multiple attempts.

“Well, actually I'm going to have to wear it in my free time since appearing at a ball like this would make it even-” Blanche interrupted herself as she saw how her maid struggled with organizing the attires so that the doors of the wardrobe would be able to shut fully. That sight was more dejecting than it should be. “It's starting to get too full, isn't it? I might have to give some dresses away.” The words had barely left Blanche's mouth, and she already knew that she wouldn't keep that conviction. She adored all the dresses, so even getting rid of one would physically pain her.

Maybe she should have asked for a dressing room when Theodore had offered it to her. That way she would have a place to store her attires and could put them on broader racks or dress holders so that she could see all of them at once and prevent them from wrinkling as much. That would be the perfect solution, but asking for more luxury was exactly what she shouldn't do.

Blanche pondered over that in silence for a while before speaking up. “Do you believe Theo would think I'm greedy if I ask him to give me another wardrobe?”

Stella, who was in the middle of inspecting a different dress, turned to her mistress with a skeptical expression. “Why would His Majesty think something like that? You need more space for the things that you own. That is completely normal. Besides, he was the one who gifted you all of this, wasn't he? He would never be upset when his beloved is voicing a wish.” She seemed oddly keen on convincing the concubine that this demand wasn't condemnable. “In fact, even asking for a dressing room wouldn't be exaggerated. That alternative might be better than placing another closet in here.”

Blanche took another look at the overfilled wardrobe and let out a sigh. To survive, she couldn't become a selfish villainess like she had been in the book. But could begging Theodore for another room really be that bad? She wasn't sure about that. After all, she had to stray as far as possible from the intended path of the story, and to do that, she needed to be completely different from her original self. But thinking about this didn't help her to come to a conclusion, so she pushed this decision off into the far future, along with all the other little dilemmas. If she was still alive at that point, she would have to deal with it then.

After getting dressed with Stella's help and letting the maid brush her hair, Blanche spent the rest of the day in her room and ate breakfast and lunch there. In the beginning, she had considered going into the kitchen to bake, but it occurred to her that showing up there after the tumult of this morning could lead to uncomfortable situations. If she evaded being seen by most servants for a bit, they might have forgotten about that incident or at least moved on to gossip about another topic when she came out again.

For the next few days, she would stay in her chambers unless Theodore ate with her, and it was questionable whether he would be able to set aside enough time for that. Even though this was regrettable, finding a diplomatic solution to prevent a war with Ocrea was more important than her missing her lover for a bit.

True to Blanche's doubts, the emperor sent someone in the evening to deliver the message that he wouldn't be able to join her for dinner. This allowed her to eat with Stella once again. Naturally, this wasn't a replacement for Theodore's presence, but Blanche was glad to listen to the maid's lively description of her colleagues once again. It almost made her feel like staying up longer just to finish the conversation.

In the end, she gave in and followed her desire in hopes that her lover would arrive while she was still awake. Nevertheless, he didn't, and she went to bed without him. After Stella left, the concubine quickly fell asleep.