That night, Blanche dreamed about standing next to a bed in a room that she didn't recognize in the darkness at first. Though when the clouds drifted apart to make way for the moonlight, she realized that it was the emperor's bedroom. It wasn't surprising that he was the person lying in the bed as well, but another figure was covered by the blanket and snuggled against his side.
For some reason, Blanche quickly became aware of the fact that this was a dream, which was probably why it didn't feel strange to her to roam around in Theodore's room while he was sleeping. Since this was another nightmare, she didn't even bother to confirm whether the woman next to the emperor was Seraphina, who had wrapped her arm around Theodore. From the very moment that she had seen a blonde streak of hair shimmering in the dim light, she had been sure of that.
Despite feeling the inexplicable need to keep staring at the cuddling spouses, Blanche forced herself to turn away. She didn't need to twist the knife in the wound when even a short glimpse of the couple had sufficed to hurt her. She would only have to endure it for a few minutes, and then her dream would be over so that she could awake in her lover's arms.
To distract herself, she tiptoed through the room in an attempt to find the door so that she could leave before accidentally awakening one of the sleeping people. They surely wouldn't react kindly to her sneaking around in the middle of the night while they were defenseless, and she didn't need to hear Theodore scream at her again.
The whole interior seemed oddly realistic, much like the other nightmares had been, but Blanche didn't pay any attention to the furniture unless she wanted to refrain from bumping into them. Especially any vases that stood on the edges of the tables and commodes were red flags for her, so she took a few detours to evade them.
When she reached the entrance, a big amount of tension fell off her back. She would only have to quietly open and close the door now, and she would be gone. But as she put her hand onto the door handle, she was unable to touch it as if the metal wasn't made from solid material at all. Why was her dream doing this to her? She sighed in annoyance before covering her mouth after she realized that she might have been too loud. Even though a glance toward the bed proved that none of the spouses had stirred, she left her hand pressed to her lips as she looked around.
The only other way that would allow Blanche to distance herself from them a bit was the balcony. The glass door by the window front was opened to let in fresh air, so she wouldn't have to struggle to grasp any objects again. She crept to her destination with even more care to not make a sound while confirming that neither Theodore nor Seraphina were moving around. She actually didn't expect to make it to the balcony, but she managed to step outside without any problems.
The clouds seemed to have disappeared as the sky was perfectly clear and allowed her to gaze at the beautiful stars. She had braced herself for the cold, but surprisingly, the air didn't feel any different from the inside. Even though the wind rustled the bushes and trees, she didn't freeze despite only wearing a thin white dress and being barefoot. So, she didn't hesitate to walk to the very edge of the balcony to get a better view of the estate.
The palace garden looked exactly as it did in reality except for the unusual perspective since Blanche rarely looked out from the emperor's bedroom. Still, she recognized most of the paths and even some flowerbeds that she had found impressive during her walks. She carefully tried to press her fingers against the railing, and this time, she didn't pass through. She slowly leaned against it until she was sure that she wouldn't suddenly fall forward and relaxed.
Blanche tilted her head back to look up at the starry sky, but admittedly, she couldn't really focus on that. Not when the image of Seraphina clinging to Theodore kept reappearing in her mind and made her heart ache. It felt like her nightmares were only supposed to upset her and had no other meaning than that. But in comparison to the others, this one was still pretty tame. It was already too late when she remembered that she should have already learned not to voice things like that in her head at this point in time. She always seemed to evoke some kind of disaster with such thoughts, and it wasn't different this time.
Only seconds after that, slow steps sounded behind her, and she whirled around to see Theodore by the threshold to the balcony. For a moment, they only stared at each other.
Theodore looked tired. The concubine stood quite far away, but it was still visible that he hadn't rested well in the last few days, maybe weeks, even from a distance. But even this exhaustion didn't keep him from noticing that he wasn't alone. The dejected expression was wiped off his face when he saw the concubine and was replaced by shock. “Blanche?” His voice sounded as if he was in disbelief, which she liked much better than the wrath that he had shown her during the last few nightmares.
Still, Blanche feared that his anger might return quickly, so she stayed silent.
That only served to make Theodore take a step in her direction and question her again. “You didn't leave?” He was quieter now. It seemed like he almost didn't dare to voice his inquiry. He took another step forward, which caused Blanche to take one back.
During her hallucination, he had ordered her to disappear, and now she was here again. If this was the continuation of that scene, it definitely wouldn't make him happy, and she didn't want to face his resentment once more. Not when it crashed her heart every time. But even though Theodore hesitantly moved toward her, Blanche didn't have any more space to avoid him since the railing was already pressing against her back. Of course, the objects decided to remain solid now when she would have been grateful to pass through.
Her lover was only a couple of steps away from her now, and he raised his hand, which made her shrink in herself. He looked so hurt now. That didn't fit together with the other versions of him from her nightmares at all.
But trusting that it was fine would probably make her regret it, so Blanche stayed on guard, even if she almost wished for him to touch her.
A mere second before Theodore reached her, a voice called him from the room.
“Theodore? What are you doing out there?”
After the emperor froze for a moment, he shook his head like he wanted to clear his mind and turned around to face Seraphina, who was leaning against the door frame. Her hand was resting on her stomach, which was prominently rounded and proved that this was a vision from the future after the empress had gotten pregnant.
Blanche tensed as the other woman let her eyes roam over the balcony, but the heroine didn't acknowledge her presence even after multiple seconds of silence. Did the heroine truly not see her? That relieved the concubine tremendously, so she didn't bother to worry about how something like this was even possible. It was a nightmare anyway.
Theodore had finally composed himself enough to respond. “Oh, don't worry.” His voice trembled a little. “I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to look at the stars. They are stunning tonight.”
Seraphina's lips were graced by a smile, which only enhanced her unfair beauty as she extended her arm towards her husband. “I believe that. But it's freezing outside, and you don't need to get a cold now. The doctor said that you can't go without sleep for so long. You know that over-exhausting yourself would only make it worse again. You need rest to get better. Come join me in bed.”
Momentarily, it seemed like the emperor might refuse. However, that impression didn't last long. As soon as Seraphina came towards him, Theodore allowed her to take his hand and let her lead him inside, even if he did it without any hint of enthusiasm.
Blanche distracted herself from that scene and tried her best to blink away the tears that were starting to form in her eyes. She dug her fingers into the railing and focused on breathing in and out while staring into the distance. She wasn't able to avert her gaze for as long as she had wanted to and hoped that the couple had already reentered the room, but when she spun around, they were still by the door.
Slowly, Theodore turned to her, and they looked at each other. It almost seemed like there was an undeniable amount of sadness in his eyes as he pressed his mouth in a thin line. Though only seconds later, he concentrated on his wife again and listened to her whispering before letting her pull him into the bedroom, so the concubine couldn't confirm her initial thought.
Blanche didn't even consider following them, so she faced the garden again while trying to ponder about other things than her lover ignoring her to be with Seraphina. Some time passed without any occurrences as she became increasingly restless. Shouldn't this have been enough for her to witness? Why wasn't the dream over yet? It seemed like someone truly wanted to torture her by not allowing her to return to the Theodore that was still hers.
Before she could even begin to cry about that, a noise interrupted her. It didn't come from the room but from below the balcony. She leaned forward to look over the railing to the bushes that were directly under her.
At first, she didn't believe her eyes when she saw a group of men sitting between the hedges. No one should be able to breach the palace's security, and bringing so many people inside would be impossible. Maybe those were just some servants that wanted to do something exciting for a change and made a trip at night.
But that excuse immediately lost its legitimacy when two knights walked past them and were ambushed by the hidden men. The guards attempted to fight back, but they were held by the neck and stopped struggling after about a minute without a chance to call for help. The way that those intruders had cornered the royal knights and choked them proved that those invaders weren't some random people. They were trained fighters.
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This was a planned attack to infiltrate the palace.
Before Blanche could think about it, her feet carried her into the bedroom, where Seraphina and Theodore were already in bed again, with the empress hugging her husband.
The emperor's eyes were still open, and he stared against the wall blankly so that Blanche feared that he didn't even see her. Luckily, his gaze snapped to her when she ran towards him, and he jolted up, which caused the empress to awake too.
“What's wrong?” The heroine spoke with fear in her voice. She still couldn't see the concubine, so she was confused, but Theodore didn't reply.
Instead, he frowned at Blanche.
The concubine wasn't even intimidated by that since she was too glad about him noticing her. She opened her mouth to warn him, only to cough as a burning pain prevented her from voicing a single word. It wasn't as strong as during the hallucination, but it still hurt. However, she couldn't focus on that anymore when Theodore gave on trying to read her.
He shook his head and turned to his wife. “Nothing. I'm sorry. You should sleep. It's getting awfully late.” Without listening to Blanche, Theodore lay down and faced away from her, which caused her to panic. If he didn't find out about the intruders, they would have an easy time getting rid of every single knight one after the other and eventually harm him. She didn't have a choice but to lead him to the balcony.
It hurt so much, but Blanche forced herself to speak again. The pain was worse than before. Though it was worth it since she managed to press out a few words between the coughs. “No, Theo... Attack...look...”
It wasn't very loud, but her lover heard it. Theodore lifted his head off the pillow to glance at her, which was all she needed.
Blanche began pointing to the balcony hectically and disregarded his frown at these exaggerated movements.
In the end, this was enough to get Theodore to stand up and follow her as she rushed to the railing to gesture downwards. He ignored his wife calling his name to finally stand next to Blanche and look at the ground. A few seconds passed before his eyes widened, and his gaze snapped to her as he opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Seemingly, he needed a while to process this piece of information before he turned around and stormed back into the room. He ushered Seraphina away without giving her a single word of explanation. Just before he closed the door behind them, he looked back at Blanche, and at the moment that their eyes met, the floor under her feet vanished, and she was falling.
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It was just for a second before Blanche felt a pair of arms being wrapped around her and the warmth of being engulfed in a soft blanket. She heard Theodore whisper her name, which made her open her eyes to look at him.
Her lover already sat upright and was leaning over her so that his face was directly in front of her. “Good morning.” He greeted her while caressing her cheek with the backside of his fingers. “Did you have an unpleasant dream?”
At first, Blanche wanted to deny it, but when he looked at her with this much worry, she realized that lying wouldn't convince him. So, she tried to explain herself. “Yes. My dreams are always very realistic, so I thought that they made me feel strong emotions because of that. But today, I immediately knew that I was dreaming, and it still wasn't better. For a few months now, it's always been something odd whenever I dream. If it goes on like this, I would rather not dream at all.” She pouted but allowed her lover to lean down and kiss her, which caused her to give him a slight smile.
“Do you want to talk about it?” Theodore stroked a few strands of her hair to the side.
Blanche hesitated for a moment upon hearing his question. She wasn't too sure whether it was even useful to talk about her dream since she would leave out the most heartbreaking part anyway. There was no way that she would tell her lover that imagining him cuddling with his pregnant wife was enough to make her stir even in her sleep.
Theodore noticed her reluctance and lay down again. He rested his head on his palm and placed his elbow onto the pillow to keep observing her reaction when he began speaking again. “You move around a lot while you dream, do you know that? You almost rolled out of the bed, and I could barely hold you in place. You also talked. It was very quiet, but I think that you mentioned some attack. It sounded like you were trying to warn me.”
She let out a quiet chuckle that was supposed to hide her insecurity, but even she herself heard how fake it sounded. “I didn't know that I was moving around that much. I hope I didn't disturb your sleep too often.”
After she finished, her lover's expression still hadn't changed, which proved that he had noticed that she was trying to distract him.
Blanche didn't want to admit that she wasn't willing to tell him about the dream. Maybe she should just describe the part that she had no problem with sharing. As long as she didn't mention Seraphina's existence, talking about the contents of that nightmare wasn't that awful. “Actually, you were right with your guess. I did dream about people attacking you.”
Theodore's expression made it obvious that he would listen to her as he scanned her face for any sign of discomfort. “What happened?”
Blanche took a deep breath before reciting a slightly altered version of her dream. “The dream began with me standing in your room while you were sleeping. I didn't want to wake you up, so I went onto the balcony and looked at the stars. Then I heard a rustling from the bushes. I looked down, only to see that some weird men were hiding and attacking the guards. When I ran to you to tell you, I could barely speak and only managed to say a few words. At first, you ignored me, but luckily, you listened in the end, and I was able to show you the intruders.”
When she finished, Theodore waited for a few more seconds before a small grin appeared on his lips. “That was it?” She nodded, which caused him to pat her head. “But then nothing happened to me, right? So, you don't have to be upset at all. Did the fear of me getting hurt really worry you that much?” That was one out of the two reasons that she was this upset, with the other being him being affectionate with Seraphina.
Blanche nodded again and stretched out her arms towards him. Her lover followed her wish instantly and pulled her into an embrace that allowed her to press her face against his chest. They remained in that position for a while in silence, with only the occasional chirping of the birds sounding in the background.
At some point, Theodore broke through the quietness. “I love you more than anything else. You know that, right?” His sudden profession startled her, but she definitely didn't mind it.
She looked up at him and brushed across the bridge of his nose with her fingertips. “Yes, I do.” At least she was sure of his devotion for now. The future was a completely different story. “And you know that I love you just as much, if not even more.”
Theodore propped himself up onto his elbow to lean above her and kiss her gently. Their lips met, and she immediately melted. But it wasn't enough.
Blanche interlocked her fingers behind his neck to pull him closer and feel every bit of him that she could. Her lover seemed to feel the same way. He didn't back away for what felt like the most wonderful eternity she could imagine, and when they eventually had to separate, her whole body was tingling with the need to pull him into another kiss.
However, Theodore had a different idea. He cupped her chin and made her meet his eyes. The way that his gaze seemed to pierce into her soul assured her that he was serious about any words that left his mouth at this moment. They stared at each other for numerous seconds before he spoke up in a hoarse voice. “Promise me that we will stay together no matter what happens.”
Those words stung in Blanche's heart. She knew that this promise was entirely dependent on his feelings for her and whether those would fade or even turn into hatred. For her, there was only one answer. “I swear on my life that I will stay by your side as long as you want me to be near you.”
Theodore moved his free hand to lower his lover's hands onto the pillow and interlocked their fingers. “That means that you'll have to be with me forever.” Then he leaned down and finally gave her the second kiss that she so desired.
Blanche couldn't tell whether they stayed connected like that for even longer this time, but she would bet on it. When he moved his face away from hers, they still stared at each other for a while.
Theodore looked at her with so much love that her heart felt like it was about to burst. “My desire to stay with you for the rest of the day is so strong right now that you can't even imagine it. I don't want to leave.” Her lover lowered his head to rest it on her chest, which gave her the perfect opportunity to stroke over his hair and play with some of his strands. He probably heard how fast the concubine's heart was beating, but she didn't mind him knowing that he affected her this much.
Blanche replied calmly while she tried not to sound too pleading. “Then don't leave. You were so tired yesterday, so you deserve a one-day break too.”
Theodore let out a sigh, which reached her skin as a warm breath of air. “There is nothing else I'd rather do. But I haven't worked for a single minute since the ball, even though I gave my best. At first, I sat at your desk and wrote a text that was full of so many errors that I had to use a new paper a dozen times. Then I moved to your bed because I couldn't stand being away from you. I tried to go through some documents, but I couldn't read a single line without thinking about your condition, let alone write something. I pushed everything onto Leon for the last days, so I can't just force him to do it for the following days as well, or he might break down.”
Blanche was a bit disappointed by that, but she made sure not to let it show in her voice. “Alright. You have to promise to give yourself some free time when it gets too much though.”
Her lover lifted his head to look at her with raised eyebrows. “I will if you focus on recovering. I don't want to see you running around anywhere. Will you stay inside your room for a few days on your own, or do I have to order the servants to ensure that you don't leave?” His tone was playful, but some amount of worry still resonated in his voice as well. But his concern was unnecessary after the concubine collapsing at the ball.
Blanche definitely would not risk doing anything that might bring back such hallucinations and pain. She was annoyed about being this weak too, so it was also on her behalf to rest for the next days to overcome her illness as quickly as possible. That thought made her eyes widen. “Theo! I'm still a little sick. You shouldn't come too close, or you might get infected too.”
Theodore pressed his lips against hers for a second and smirked at her irritation. “It's too late for that now, isn't it? We cuddled the whole night. But I don't get sick easily, so it should be fine. If not, you will simply have to kiss it better.” Slowly, he let go of her to sit up and stretched his arms for a bit. Apparently, this one night had been enough for him to refill his energy completely. The rings under his eyes were barely visible anymore, and his smile proved that he was in a good mood as well.
Blanche was happy for him but a little confused at how quickly his body managed to do that. Had the unknown cursed author made the main characters so perfect in any aspect that they could make up for a stressful week and three days of not sleeping by resting for a couple of hours? That didn't seem normal. She watched as her lover got dressed and approached the entrance.
Theodore turned around to make sure that she was still wrapped in her blanket before he opened the door and spoke a few words to the guards in front of the door. Then he closed it again and returned to her side. “Breakfast should be here soon. We'll eat together, and unfortunately, I have to leave after that. But I will visit you every day for at least a few minutes.”
She grinned as he plopped down onto the mattress and sat up to move over to him. “If you indulge me like that while I'm sick, it's not that bad at all. I might have to complain more often in that case.”
“Only if you want me to force you to stay in bed and call the doctor every five minutes. When you feel bad, I immediately expect the worst. While that may raise the chances of us treating you as soon as possible, it wouldn't be very nice to make me shake in fear for no reason.”
Blanche glanced up at him with a taunting grin. “Don't worry. Doing something like this isn't my intention.” She slowly lowered herself to the side to lay her head onto his lap, and her lover began to circle his fingers around on her scalp, which caused her to let out sighs of bliss.
Within a couple of minutes, pleasant shudders ran down Blanche's spine, and when a knock came from the door, she almost sulked since her lover had to stop. But that feeling quickly disappeared after the food had been brought inside, and her lover started to feed her again. This time, she coaxed him into allowing her to return the favor occasionally as well.
They took a while to finish, and by then, Blanche already hated the thought of her lover leaving, but she had no other choice than to let him leave. So, she hugged Theodore tightly and pressed many kisses onto his face before he eventually had to go.