Blanche allowed Luciano to guide her to the center of the dance floor after meeting Stella's concerned gaze one last time. Taking three steps into the room was enough to attract even more attention. She could feel the many pairs of eyes that were burning themselves into her back, and she shrank in herself. If all of these people were waiting for her to mess up, she wouldn't be able to hide the errors she might make while dancing. And she would make numerous ones. During her lesson with Leon, she had somehow managed to perform acceptably, but there was no way that she could repeat that now with all the anxiety bubbling in her stomach.

They arrived at an empty spot next to the other couples, and Luciano turned to face her. He put one arm around her waist and gently pulled her a little closer. “If you stay so far away, we won't be able to dance.”

Blanche let out a nervous chuckle to veil her insecurity, but she doubted that she had acted convincingly.

Luciano made eye contact, and for a moment, his smile seemed to become more soft than taunting. “It's alright. I will take care of you.” Before she could point out that this wasn't calming, he began moving slowly in time with the orchestra's music.

She took a few seconds to imitate his steps, and to her surprise, they found a rhythm that allowed her to keep up with him. They repeated this a couple of times before Luciano started to turn along with the steps. All of her thoughts were focused on not letting out any of the motions and not tripping over his feet, but it seemed like this paid off. Whenever she feared that she would make a mistake, she used Luciano's movements as her guide, and this worked better than it should have.

Blanche couldn't quite estimate how much time had passed, but she would guess that they had danced for a few minutes when the steps began to feel more natural. She had to think less about her legs, and her body moved to the music almost without effort. Maybe she should have simply practiced more often in the past, and then she would have realized that waltzing wasn't that hard at all. Since she wasn't as tense as she had been at first, it actually was kind of fun now.

The concubine slowly collected the courage to stop looking at the floor and met Luciano's gaze. He was still smirking down at her, which reminded her of his earlier words. “Didn't you say that you weren't skillful at dancing?” Surely, all of this was more the result of his efforts since he was leading a rather inexperienced woman, so he had to be quite good.

The response came without hesitation. “I did say that. But you were insisting on something similar too. I'm pretty sure that you were unwilling to join me at first because you would step on my feet. If I remember correctly, you haven't done so once until now.” In all honesty, the concubine was surprised by that as well.

Blanche grimaced slightly at the thought of tripping while all of the nobles around them were watching her. In an attempt to distract herself, she concentrated on the conversation again. “The dance isn't over yet, is it? So, there is still plenty of time.”

Luciano snorted at that and showed her a grin that seemed like it was honest for a change. “Even though I wouldn't hold it against you, I can do without that.” But of course, he didn't allow her to see that genuine expression for long before covering it up with his usual smirk.

That was all Blanche needed to remember whom she was talking to. No matter how friendly he seemed, this man wasn't on her side. His family aimed to harm Theodore, and this made them her enemies.

Apparently, her face mirrored her thought process since Luciano spoke up again. “Is something wrong?” Perfect.

Blanche could use this opportunity to steer the dialogue in a more serious direction, and she did so promptly in a low volume. “No. I was just wondering. You surely didn't ask to dance with me for fun. There is still something you wish to say, right?”

Luciano closed his eyes and let out a quiet huff. “It seems like I couldn't fool Lady Blanche this time either. You caught me. Though I can assure you that the topic I want to address isn't one of great importance.” His eyes opened, and she stared right into his orbs, which made her feel like she was gazing into a pot of melted gold. Given that this was the world of a romance novel, it only made sense that the secondary love interest of the heroine, who was also Theodore's cousin, was as handsome as the main characters. However, with the knowledge of his family's ill intentions, his eyes didn't appear charming to Blanche but rather like the bait of a deadly trap.

They continued to twirl with the music, but Blanche wasn't focused on the noises in the background. Instead, she listened to Luciano's voice as he addressed a strange topic.

“I wanted to ask about your necklace. It is very beautiful, so I couldn't help but ponder about whom might have given this to you.”

She hesitated for a moment and considered whether she should respond at all. Surely, this piece of information didn't seem like it could grant the Vasquez family an advantage against the emperor. But why would Luciano question her if it wasn't to gain anything from it? That was odd, however, it might be best to reply truthfully while they were discussing such irrelevant things and spare her lies for when he was attempting to talk about a dangerous topic. “Theo...” Blanche hesitated for a moment and considered using her lover's title, but just imagining saying that phrase made her feel unwell. So, she chose not to dwell on that. Luciano probably didn't care. “Theo was generous enough to hand it over to me as a present.”

“I thought so.” Luciano hummed shortly, which confused Blanche even more, but he didn't keep quiet for long after that. “After all, the original necklace was expensive already, and this version looks like it would be even more costly. Not many people could afford to pay for a skillfully crafted recreation of an existent piece of jewelry, so I already expected that His Majesty had to have been the purchaser.”

His words made Blanche pause and stare at him with wide eyes. He knew about the store's gift. Aside from the people who had been present at the trip to the jeweler's shop and Theodore, no one should have heard anything about that mysterious accessory. Did this mean that his family was connected to the gift?

“Is your father...” Blanche didn't finish her sentence, but these words should be enough to make him understand her intention.

Her guess seemed to amuse him. The corners of Luciano's lips twitched slightly as if he was holding himself back from laughing. “Almost.” He spoke with a delighted voice that made her realize that he had probably predicted that she would come to that conclusion. So, the more unlikely deduction had to be true.

“No, you are the owner of that store.”

Luciano let out a low chuckle before he replied. “As expected of Lady Blanche. A little clue is sufficient to get you to make the correct verdict. You are right. The jeweler's shop has been in my possession for two years.”

Blanche didn't like how he talked about her one bit. She wasn't a toddler that needed to be praised for being able to conclude something after another person had given her a push in the right direction. When other people called her smart, she would accept the compliment, but his words sounded like he was mocking her despite his cheerful tone. Still, she ignored that for the sake of having the opportunity to find out why he had wanted her to receive such an expensive gift. First, another question came to her mind though. “You had the store for two years? How old are you? You seem to be in similar age to me.”

Luciano promptly replied. “I will become twenty-four years old in a few months.”

So, she had been right with her assumption. He was only one year older than she was and had taken over the shop two years ago. In Artias, the citizens would be declared an adult at the age of twenty, so him gaining possession of a jeweler's store so early was certainly special.

Blanche scanned him for a moment before speaking. “You are quite young to be the owner of a shop, especially such an esteemed one. You can't have been an adult for more than a year when you received that position. I assume that your father was the one who bought the establishment before giving it to you?” Even if that was the case, such a decision seemed risky. No matter how intelligent a person was, if they didn't have enough experience, it was still possible that they wouldn't be able to maintain the shop and thus lose a lot of money. Gifting your children a less expensive shop might be fine but a jeweler's store? Blanche didn't even want to know how much that establishment was worth.

Her question was justified, however, Luciano just laughed at it. “I don't mean to boast, but I actually bought it myself along with a handful of other stores in the capital. Surely, my parents loaned me a couple of gold coins when I turned twenty. Nevertheless, I earned all of my accomplishments without further help and already returned the doubled amount of money to them. So, I don't feel guilty when I say that I achieved all of this on my own.” Blanche gave him a skeptical look, which coaxed him to continue. “You don't believe me? I could show you the deeds of ownership if I had them with me. I might be young, but that doesn't mean that I'm not good with business. You know, I have always been interested in economics and the like.”

If that was really true, Blanche would have to admit that she was impressed. She was only a year younger than him, and while he had already built himself a source of steady income, she was as helpless as ever and would starve without Theodore's help. Though this wasn't what she should concentrate on. She was still clueless about why Luciano had asked the vendor to hand over such an overpriced item to her, so she focused on that.

“You say that you are experienced with running businesses. But I would argue that giving away expensive items to a stranger for free won't increase your income very much.”

Luciano chuckled again, which made her wonder what about her remark had been amusing when she had only stated the truth. “Oh, of course not. But you aren't a stranger. You are Sefare's friend, and his friends are mine too. Though it seems like you didn't even accept the present.”

At the mention of the marquess, Blanche forgot that they were dancing for a second. Luckily, Luciano quickly guided her, and she managed to get used to the rhythm again. She stared at her feet as an excuse to not meet his gaze and concentrated on sorting her thoughts. By now, she should have realized that the Vasquez family not only knew about her involvement in Sefare's plan but also didn't mind talking about it while others watched them. But even if they were able to keep a straight face during this, she wasn't. She thought about revealing that she wouldn't work with them anymore now, but one look into Luciano's eyes convinced her not to do that now. He was already intimidating while he smiled, so she didn't want to see him angry from up close. Maybe she could do it once the dance ended so that she could run away after.

In an attempt to change the subject to avoid accidentally spilling the truth already, Blanche readdressed the necklace. “What do you mean by saying I didn't accept it? I took the box when it was offered to me.”

Fortunately, her dance partner didn't ignore her effort and followed her thought process. “Yes. Still, you didn't wear it. You must have like the necklace since you made His Majesty find someone to recreate it, but you didn't put on the original. Why is that?”

Both Leon and Blanche had been worried about the necklace's unknown source, so the secretary had taken it away before she could even touch it. Though after finding out who the one giving the present had been, she wouldn't keep it either.

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Blanche forced herself to pause for a moment to focus on her steps before replying. “I suddenly received an expensive piece of jewelry from a stranger. We thought that the owner of the store had to have a goal that they wanted to accomplish with this, and that seemed suspicious, so I didn't dare to wear it.”

“I see.” Luciano let out a fake sigh and put on a dejected expression. “And I just wished to surprise you. But naturally, I understand your sentiment. Next time, I will have to think more about it and come up with something better.”

The best gift he could give her was leaving her alone. She didn't want to interact with him at all, and the prospect of receiving any more presents didn't fill her with happiness but dread. What did he intend to reach by acting as if they were on good terms? She was sure that this pretense of amity would quickly turn into unveiled hostility after Sefare told the Vasquez family about her decision.

Blanche quickly tried to explain that without being too direct. “While I thank Lord Vasquez for your good intentions, you really do not have to bother with getting me anything. I live quite comfortably in the palace and have more than I could ever need. You shouldn't waste your money on me but rather help people who don't own as much.”

Her words only served to amuse Luciano further. “How generous of you. Though I fear that I will have to insist. For now, I do not have anything but a few words to gift you though. You can see them as a piece of advice from a good friend. Will you listen to it?” The ominous tone of his voice made her want to deny it, and she almost did.

Only at the last moment, Blanche realized that he could possibly give her a piece of information that would help her. She doubted it, but she didn't have much of a choice either way. “Sure. What is it?”

Seeing the glint in Luciano's eyes caused her to regret her decision immediately. “Say... You remember what I told you in front of the palace walls, right after I brought you home, don't you?” Of course she did.

For a moment, Luciano had stopped smiling and changed into a completely different person that was even more terrifying than his carefree persona. Then he had told her not to be reckless and go outside alone again. After returning to his usual self, he had added that comment about Sefare, which had made her aware of the fact that he knew about those intrigues.

But seemingly, Luciano hadn't intended to let Blanche answer. He continued without leaving a pause for her to speak up. “I reminded you to not spend too much time with other men to avoid aggravating His Majesty. Even though I was the one to point that out, it appears that I wasn't careful enough either.”

Instantly, Blanche's instincts were telling her to put up her guard. Whenever a member of the Vasquez family mentioned Theodore, it wouldn't be with good intentions. “What do you mean?”

Luciano made her wait for his response. For a couple of seconds, he gazed into the distance before looking back to her and giving her a bright smile. “One glance in His Majesty's direction should be all you need to understand.”

She didn't lose time after that unpromising remark and whipped her head around to face the thrones. A marquess and his family were currently speaking to the royal couple and handing over their gifts. The empress was completely focused on them, but the emperor was staring right at Blanche.

Normally, Theodore's expression remained composed in public. Right now, he was trying to do the same, but his anger was still seeping through the cracks of his self-control.

At first, Blanche didn't believe that Theodore was looking at her, but they made eye contact, and he visibly tensed for a moment before attempting to neutralize his expression, which he didn't fully succeed in. They weren't able to meet each other's gazes for long since the marquess in front of Theodore addressed him, and he was forced to concentrate on the conversation again. Still, it had been enough to make her realize why he was upset.

Her lover was jealous.

That realization shouldn't have brought happiness to her, but it did.

Blanche was constantly in a state of envy when Seraphina was around and felt like she was a horrible person because of that. She shouldn't doubt Theodore's commitment, so it didn't make sense to worry about him being with another woman. Even after gaining the novel's knowledge and having seen the inevitable outcome, she had felt guilty while admitting that she feared him leaving her. In that discussion, Theodore had his unwavering devotion as an argument to convince her that she could stop being jealous, but that hadn't helped at all.

Now that she had witnessed Theodore becoming envious too, she didn't have to blame herself anymore when she experienced that emotion. He would understand that she wasn't doubting his love now.

Blanche's chest felt warm, and before she could control herself, a smile grew on her face.

However, Luciano quickly forced her to return to the present. He sighed again and showed her an exaggerated downcast expression. “Isn't it unfair?”

These words made her turn to him, and the corners of her lips sank. Only when he continued, she realized that exactly this had been his intention.

“His Majesty always spends so much time with his wife in front of you and expects you to stay quiet about it. Then you dance with a man at a ball once because you were all alone before that, and he is upset. That's a very hypocritical approach, isn't it?”

While a small part of Blanche immediately agreed with his statement, her rational part, fortunately, outweighed it. In the past, she had sometimes believed that it was selfish of Theodore to be at Seraphina's side in public and then to be confused why she felt lonely and attempted to get his attention at every opportunity. But Luciano didn't bring this up to sympathize with her. He was trying to get her to continue to act in a manner that would hurt Theodore. He hoped that she would take pleasure in making her lover jealous and gain an advantage because of that. Maybe he thought that the emperor would lose his temper at some point and ruin his reputation with that or something similar to this.

That realization erased the last traces of satisfaction that had lasted until now. Blanche shouldn't be joyful about Theodore feeling jealous. She knew that emotion too well and was aware of how much it hurt to see the person you love with someone else.

And that was all Blanche needed to remind herself that Luciano was her enemy. She wasn't even sure whether Theodore had truly been envious or simply worried about her being with a member of the Vasquez family. In any case, she wouldn't continue to do play along with these mind games. She replied in a voice that had a much sharper edge than she had intended. “That doesn't concern you.”

Luciano looked up at the ceiling, and unwillingly, she followed his gaze, only to find nothing special there. When she lowered her gaze again, he was already staring at her. “Naturally, I am aware of that. This is why I asked you whether you wanted to hear the advice of a good friend. It isn't my place to get involved in your and His Majesty's relationship, and I also didn't mean to invalidate his reaction. After all, I can understand that he is a bit distraught after seeing us dance for at least five music pieces.”

Blanche almost froze at that, and once again, Luciano had to guide her so that she managed to move in the right rhythm. Had she really forgotten the time that much? If she did, it wasn't strange for Theodore to have narrowed his eyes at them.

Normally, unrelated couples danced for one music piece, in rare cases maybe two pieces, before moving on to another partner. Engaged or married couples danced together for the whole evening, and in that case, it was frowned upon to do so with a different person, with the only exception being family members. This wasn't an unbreakable rule, but it was a convention that every aristocrat followed. For as long as the concubine could remember, no one had ever disregarded it.

Now she had spent far too much time with an unmarried man though.

Blanche's first impulse was to push Luciano away, but that would only attract even more attention. Instead, she glared at him and voiced her anger. “You could have said something, you know? You are always awfully chatty, but you didn't even consider warning me about that. You are aware that gossip spreads like a wildfire in this society, or at least you should be after being raised in these surroundings. Any rumor is going to be more unpleasant for you than it will be for me.” Just after she finished, she realized that she wasn't sure how Luciano would react to her speaking to him like this.

Fortunately, he didn't appear to be offended. It was quite the opposite, which irritated Blanche even more.

Luciano was really audacious to directly laugh at her fury. He took his time too and continued to chuckle until she was only moments before snapping at him again. Then he spoke with obvious amusement in his tone. “It's been a while since someone called me chatty. Though I have to admit that my father tends to talk a lot, and people always say that I am similar to him. I'm glad that you feel comfortable enough to be so honest with me. Not many would dare to voice something like that. But is being chatty truly that bad? I think it's a rather positive trait to be able to keep a conversation going. Unless, of course, one has to keep secrets, much like we have to. In that case, it is important to be quiet for a while. However, that doesn't imply that one should stop contacting the other party entirely.”

Blanche immediately knew what he was referring to, and her assumption was only validated by Luciano's eyes piercing hers as his smile became wider.

“Sefare was quite worried, and we were too. We thought that something might have happened to you. Luckily, you seemed fine at both balls and the tea party, so that wasn't the reason. Since everyone needs to take a break once, we allowed you to skip the last three months in the belief that you would begin to write letters again.” Luciano's smile vanished completely for a moment. “But you didn't.” He left a short pause that only served to increase the tension in the air and raised the corners of his lips again. “Naturally, that isn't much of a problem if it's a one-time occurrence. But we'll need you to return to your old schedule again so that we can make sure that you are safe. One letter about the situation in the palace every month. Alright? Unless there is something keeping you from sending us anything. In that case, I would advise you to tell me, and we'll take care of it.”

With every word that he spoke, it became clearer that Blanche wouldn't be able to please him with some kind of excuse. She lowered her eyes to avoid looking at him while she formed her reply in her mind. Since Sefare would receive her letter today, the Vasquez family would know about her decision to cut off all contact with them by tomorrow. It wouldn't make much of a difference to tell Luciano now. She wanted to evade any confrontation with him, but she doubted that that was possible. If he didn't confront her about it today, he would do it in the near future. Right now, they were surrounded by countless people, so he couldn't even hurt or intimidate her physically. It wasn't guaranteed that she would have the same luck the next time. So, doing it today was better.

Blanche took a while of sorting her thoughts until she was more satisfied with her speech and swallowed to calm herself. It felt like an eternity, in which she needed to remind herself that this was for her survival numerous times, passed before she had gathered the courage to face him. She lifted her head to meet Luciano's gaze and opened her mouth, only to close it again when she saw the malicious glimmer in his eyes.

Luciano leaned forward slightly and began speaking in a low voice. “One can really read every single thought off your face. Did you know that? It's quite entertaining. It's also very fun to observe how quickly you lose determination when I make eye contact with you.” The taunting tone of his voice was the last thing that Blanche needed to hear now.

Her patience was already wearing thin, and every fiber of her being was on edge, so his arrogance didn't support her self-control. “What do you want?” She had snapped at him before managing to hold herself back.

The answer followed immediately. “I want to stop you from doing something stupid.” Luciano's smile had disappeared off his face and was nowhere to be found. Along with the sharp edge of his voice, this made it feel like the temperature in the room had dropped within seconds. He didn't allow her to regain her composure and get used to his sudden change before resuming with his usual smile and carefree tone. “We are your friends after all and only want your best. We brought you into the palace, which allowed you to live this beautiful life that you adore so much. And we continued to support you the whole time, don't you remember? We will do that until the day that you finally get the position that you have always wanted. So, you shouldn't treat us like enemies. I even have some good news for you.”

His fake declarations of amity were too obvious to her, but Blanche's desire to object vanished at his vague message. She had to admit that she was curious despite her reluctance to talk to him. “What kind of good news?” She had to warn Theodore if this was serious.

Luciano's grin widened, which made her suspect that his interpretation of ‘good’ greatly differed from hers. “There is someone that wants to meet you.”

That sentence had barely given Blanche any piece of information that helped her find out what he was referring to. Though the general idea was already enough to worry her. If that person contacted her through the Vasquez family, their intentions would definitely be vile. “Who is that someone that you are talking about?”

“Someone really important who will help you in the future. You don't know them yet, however, you can rest assured that you will meet them soon. My father tried to tell you about that already, but you didn't give him an opportunity to do so. I would tell you more, but the details should be discussed in private. Sefare will contact you to schedule an appointment for a meeting, which he will use to inform you of anything else.”

So, that had been the reason Claude had been intent on taking a walk to Blanche. Knowing that made her want to refrain from seeing that mysterious person even more. If it was someone innocent, they wouldn't have to be so secretive about it after all.

But Luciano didn't give her a chance to respond. The music piece ended, which he took as his cue to bid her farewell. “It was pleasant to have been able to spend a portion of the evening with you. I look forward to the next time.” They stopped dancing, and he let go of her.

Normally, that would have been good.

The only problem was that Blanche's head was spinning after they had been waltzing in circles for at least half an hour. As soon as she was standing still, a wave of nausea hit her stomach and made her wince. The worst part, however, was that her sense of balance refused to work for a few seconds. She could barely keep herself upright by extending her arms and focusing all of her attention on her shaky legs. This was awful. Why did she have to break down now when she had been fine for the whole evening?

To Blanche, it was a surprise that she managed to withstand this without falling to the floor and embarrassing herself in front of everyone who was present. But naturally, her stumbling hadn't been as inconspicuous as she had wanted them to be.

“Is everything alright, Lady Blanche?” Luciano's voice honestly sounded concerned for a change.

Blanche wasn't able to look up and confirm whether his expression mirrored this. But that might have been better since her face definitely showed how awful she felt. “I'm perfectly-” She wasn't even able to finish that sentence without gagging. She remained silent for a few seconds to calm herself, and when a bit of nausea slowly ebbed away, she replied. “I'm fine. It's just that I'm not used to dancing. I apologize for that. Goodbye.”

She didn't want to give Luciano a chance to see her misery and turned around as quickly as she could without re-evoking her queasiness. She ran, or rather stumbled, back to Stella immediately.