Slowly, the sun rose outside, which tinted the room in red light. This allowed Stella to extinguish all the candles before returning to the bed, where she and Blanche cuddled themselves into the soft blanket. When a loud knock sounded all of a sudden, both of the women flinched and sat up.
The maid jumped out of the bed and quickly put on her apron before glancing at the clock. “It's five o'clock in the morning. Who is disrespectful enough to come here this early? Normally, we would still be sleeping.” She put on an annoyed expression but moved nevertheless. She stomped to the door and opened it with the same aggression. “Yes?” Upon recognizing the person in front of the room was, she froze for a moment before stepping aside and bowing.
Blanche could barely place her feet onto the ground before Theodore rushed inside. He threw his arms around her and pulled her against his chest without giving her a chance to greet him.
“Theo, what are you...”
Her lover didn't reply immediately but held her tighter for a while before backing away enough to put his hands onto the sides of her face. “Why does something like this keep happening to you? You recover from one thing, and instantly, your body causes problems again. Are you feeling alright? Does anything hurt?”
She glanced at him with the intention of calming him, but seeing his face directly in front of her made the memories of her dream resurface. The things that the dream's Theodore had accused her of appeared in her mind and filled her with so much grief that it hurt. Quickly, she pressed her face against her lover's chest to keep him from seeing her expression, but he didn't allow her to do that.
Theodore's hand returned to her cheek, and he guided her to look up at him. “Is this about that nightmare?” So, the doctor had told him everything. On the one hand, that was terrible since he would insist on talking about it.
Still, it also relieved Blanche. She didn't have to hide anything this way or try to explain what happened while almost crying. She just nodded, and that was all her lover needed to know to pull her into his arms again.
Without letting her go, Theodore sat down on the bed and allowed her to cuddle herself against him. For the next few minutes, he gave her a chance to calm down while rubbing small circles into her skin and patting her head with occasional proclamations of his adoration for her and a few soothing phrases.
Still, Blanche was too emotional to think clearly. At that point, she wasn't sure whether she was this clingy because of the happiness caused by the fact that her lover was still with her or because of the grief over the possibility of losing him. The lines between these emotions had always been blurry after receiving the novel's memories. Every wonderful moment evoked the dread of not being able to stay this content forever, which threatened to overshadow any bliss that she felt. So, she wasn't certain what she was feeling at all. She was needy for Theodore's presence for sure, and she was desperate too.
But for some reason, she didn't cry, no matter how long they sat like this.
Blanche was surprised when the tears still didn't come after another minute of being consoled. Normally, she couldn't seem to calm herself when getting so emotional, but now it seemed like she had been crying in her sleep for so long that even she couldn't go on anymore. Slowly, she loosened her hold around her lover to move her face away from him, just enough to be able to make eye contact. A glance at his uniform caused her to realize that she had successfully smeared the remains of her old tears onto him. “I'm sorry for making your clothes dirty.”
Theodore cupped her cheek with his hand, and naturally, she leaned into him. He looked at her with a serious frown as he spoke up. “You shouldn't think about something unimportant like this. It will get cleaned sooner or later, and I don't plan on leaving your room in the next hour anyway. Will you tell me what your nightmare was about?” His question made it sound like he would allow her to decline, but they both knew that this wasn't true. He had never liked being unable to help with her worries, and since their reconciliation, he would pay attention to not let any lies come between them. If something burdened her, he had to find out what it was.
This once again left Blanche in a dilemma. She hated talking about the novel's future with her lover since her fears didn't make any sense to him. After all, he wasn't the one who had learned that this world had a predetermined ending. He would just deny that option. Right now, she might even be happy about him announcing that something like her downfall in the novel would never happen, but she feared that this, along with Stella's words, would make her overconfident. She couldn't believe that she would be able to prevent the original ending yet, or she would ruin her own progress.
However, she didn't have much of a choice either way, so contemplating whether she would tell him was useless too.
Blanche's mouth opened quickly. “I was in a cell, and you came because I refused to eat. Then you said mean things to me. Very mean ones. And you left while telling me that you didn't care whether I starved.” Saying this was enough to make her bottom lips tremble, and she quickly put her hand onto his that was still resting on her cheek as some kind of way to cheer herself up.
Theodore scanned her face as his expression darkened. “Whenever a dream upsets you this much, I always seem to be the one at fault. It makes me feel terrible that-”
Blanche interrupted him to prevent him from apologizing for something that wasn't in his power. “It's not your fault. It's my brain that makes this up because you are the person I care about the most. For that reason, you are the thing that my mind can use against me to do the most damage.”
“Then I seem to have to show your brain that it has to stop creating such nightmares. I would never hurt you intentionally whether it may be with my words or my hands. If anything I said upset you, you would always tell me, right?” That was true. It was rare that he actually voiced anything that would affect her negatively in the slightest. And if he did, she didn't hide it for the most part. Except for when he was mentioning the empress and she knew that she was exaggerating for being dejected over a little sentence.
So, Blanche nodded.
Theodore grabbed her free hand to intertwine their fingers before continuing. “Then what did the evil nightmare version of me tell you?”
Blanche didn't want to repeat any of those things. But at the same time, she wanted to hear him promise that they weren't true, so she had to speak up. She hesitated for a moment and tried to come up with the shortest way to summarize the hateful accusations she had been forced to listen to. “You said that I was a narcissist and greedy. The butterfly clasp that you gave me for our first anniversary was broken, and you told me that it was stupid to be sad about that. You also said that I didn't value your gifts, which isn't true. You insisted that I was only claiming that I loved you because I wanted to gain something by lying, and you know that isn't true either. Then you wanted to say that you didn't...”
She paused to use other words since just stating it outright would break her heart. “That you didn't return my feelings, but I stopped you because I couldn't endure hearing that. In the end, you accused me of secretly meeting another man and left me alone in the cell by saying that you don't care how I die.” Despite her attempts to press these words out as fast as possible, she felt a stinging sensation in her eyes. Normally, this announced that tears would follow, but it seemed like there wasn't enough water in her tear ducts to let anything come out, which was the one positive aspect of crying so much.
Theodore let go of her to pull her onto his lap and wrap his arms around her back. He allowed her to put her arms around his neck in return and leaned his forehead against hers. “Of course I don't have to explicitly state this, but none of that was anywhere close to the truth. You already pointed out some things that you know are lies. I am sure that you love me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen-” He paused for a moment. “I wouldn't be this close to you if I thought that you didn't love me. I see how you look at me, and there is nothing but love in your eyes. Naturally, I love you too. I adore you more than anyone else in this whole world. You know that, right?”
She nodded quickly. She had seen his proofs of love often enough to be sure. The future was what scared her and not the present.
“See? And obviously, I don't think that you are a narcissist. If I thought that you were only capable of caring about yourself, I wouldn't be in a relationship with you. I can tell that other people are important to you. You try so hard to ensure that I won't get in trouble with the Duremont family and put that before your own interests. You don't only care for me but also for your maid or the other four servants you told me about too. A narcissist wouldn't, so you can't be one. Right?” He paused again and waited until she nodded to confirm his statement.
Blanche truly wasn't that self-centered. The novel might have said so, but she had to disagree here. Of course, she relished in being indulged, but she had always cared for others. From the beginning, she had loved her family with all of her heart, and upon meeting Theodore, he had always been her priority. Now her friends were also incredibly important to her, so it was false to claim that she didn't think about other people.
Theodore continued as soon as she nodded. “I also don't think that you are greedy or aren't content with my gifts. I explained that last time, didn't I? Due to my position, I can shower you with luxurious presents and I do that because of my own free will. I'm glad that you love them so much. Otherwise, giving them to you would be half as fun. After all, I gift you something with the intention of making you happy. Since I have more than enough money to get you anything that you want, there is nothing bad about letting me pamper you. And seeing you smile is bliss for me, so your gifts are basically gifts for me too. The broken butterfly doesn't make any sense either. I adore seeing you wear it because it means the same thing to me that it means to you. It represents our relationship, so I would never call it stupid to cry about that. If it were to be destroyed, I would definitely get you an identical replacement as soon as possible instead of condemning you for being sad.”
Blanche would not let it go that far. She had already hidden the precious clasp and would be extremely careful with it. She had treasured it before too, but now she would pay attention to it always being fastened tightly in her hair so that it couldn't fall out at all. As Theodore spoke, she nodded each time to underline his words, which was both supposed to calm her and him.
Her lover stroked over her back and spoke again without leaving much of a pause. “What else do I need to address?” She was about to respond, but he seemed to have remembered. “Ah, you meeting another man. First of all, I know that you love me, which should already ensure that something like that wouldn't happen. In addition, you rarely leave the palace, so aren't doing anything that could make me suspect you seeing someone else. Your brain must have mixed my reaction to you dancing with Duke Vasquez's son into this mess, and that was the result. I might not have found the right words to tell you this yet, but I trust you. You are the only one I need, and it's the same the other way around.”
Blanche felt the need to affirm that with more than a nod. “Yes, of course! I love you and no one else. And it will stay like this forever.” She didn't even understand why the villainess' loyalty would ever be questioned when she knew that she would never consider meeting another person. There was only one man she loved.
Theodore tilted her head upward and smiled at her. “That should be enough proof that I would never consider saying any of the things you explained to me.” With that, he pressed his lips onto hers, which made her cling to him even more.
She refused to break the kiss on her initiative, and her lover also didn't show any signs of pulling away. They stayed like this a while until they eventually did move their faces apart. Still, they continued to hug each other, and Blanche buried her nose in his neck.
She didn't want to lose him under any circumstances. The way that Theodore talked to her made her believe that he wouldn't hate her as long as she didn't become a vile person and tried to harm others. And maybe, just maybe, she could stay by his side as his lover. If she wasn't as selfish as in the novel, he didn't have to fall for another person at all. If she continued to spend time with him and strategically tried to prevent the story events from occurring, the main characters shouldn't get closer to each other.
Blanche knew that this was risky. As soon as she began thinking like that, she would become too comfortable with that option and do all she could to make it come true, which could end up harming her. But she knew that this was what she really wanted herself. If there was a chance to keep the main characters apart without causing too many problems, Blanche could subtly try it, right? She allowed herself to indulge in these thoughts for a short moment. The last novel event that had progressed the main characters' romance had been connected to Seraphina's birthday present.
The one Theodore hadn't handed over in time.
Blanche immediately clung to the hope that she could get involved a little here. She slowly raised her head while barely daring to ask. “Did you give the empress her present yet?”
Theodore met her eyes with slight confusion. “Yes, I did. I think that was yesterday.”
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Blanche's grasp around him tightened as the worst-case scenario appeared in her mind. Had the heroine been overwhelmed by his consideration and decided that they should become friends? She needed to know. “What did she say?”
“How is that important?” A small frown appeared on Theodore's face. Of course, he was confused, but this was hard to explain.
She had to refrain from panicking as she imagined the scene of the novel. “Theo, just tell me!” She really couldn't have Seraphina getting closer to her husband in secret.
Theodore stroked over her head with one hand while the other remained on her back. He stared at her for a moment that was enough for her heart to beat faster before he replied. “The empress didn't do anything special. I knew that she worked in the library until now, so I decided to furnish an office for her. I showed her the room and gave her the key. She was surprised for a bit when I told her that this was hers. Then I said that it was also some kind of compensation for what happened at the ball but that I wouldn't apologize for it. She returned to her usual stone face and claimed that it was fine. She thanked me for the gift since she will be able to work in silence now, and I left. As you can hear, there wasn't anything unexpected.”
The scene had changed. Even though he had handed over the gift, he hadn't made Seraphina search for the office like in the novel. The heroine hadn't been as overjoyed either, probably because Theodore had mentioned the events at the ball, which had to have reminded her of an unpleasant memory. This meant that she wasn't moved by his kindness and also didn't want to spend more time with him. They wouldn't eat together and wouldn't become friends because of that. If nothing else pushed them together, this little change could make sure that they wouldn't fall in love.
Blanche's heart began thumping loudly in her chest, and she couldn't stop the wide smile that was spreading on her lips. Before she was able to control herself, she leaned forward to kiss Theodore with vigor. The sudden movement was enough to make him fall onto the bed, with her lying on top of him. But Blanche couldn't bring herself to care when she could use that position to her advantage. She started to press little kisses everywhere on her lover's face and only stopped when he tightened his hold around her.
Theodore kept his eyes on her face as if he wanted to pick up any small signs of her possible distress. “It seems like someone is very happy about that. Will you enlighten me regarding what about my short story made you this euphoric?”
It had proven that Blanche might really have a chance to stay with him. She couldn't trust that fully yet, but if the novel's events kept being prevented, the main characters shouldn't get closer to each other magically. Blanche lifted her head to grin down at him. “I'm happy because you're here.”
Theodore gave her a slight smile, but he still seemed to be serious as he let go of her waist to cup her chin. “When the whole situation here has calmed down, I will stay with you longer. A few months should be enough to finalize all the contracts for trading routes and send a mediator to Batra to prevent an escalation there. By then, the matter with Ocrea will hopefully be settled too. Unless we can't avoid involving the military. In that case, we will have to deal with all this for much longer.”
Those words were enough to pull Blanche out of her bliss back into reality. Even if she was able to prevent the main character's romance, which she could never be sure of, there were still many other problems that she would have to face.
The wars with Northern Ocrea would cost the lives of countless soldiers and civilians, and the consequences would haunt both nations for the next century. Even if Blanche put in some effort, she wouldn't be able to interfere with politics and prevent this useless bloodshed. Theodore couldn't just not send his men if Ocrea attacked first on an unknown date in the future.
But the concubine didn't have even to focus on the whole country to see other issues that would arise soon.
The matter with Sefare also wasn't settled yet. Surely, Blanche could expect that he would stay quiet and not try to attack her recklessly, but she had no guarantee. She couldn't do anything except for waiting and not letting down her guard. Within the palace, she might be protected from most attacks. However, if Sefare decided to reveal her past to the public, she would lose everything without being able to fight back.
But Blanche didn't want to think about problems that she couldn't solve anyway. So, she pushed them out of her mind, which she often seemed to do when her mental health suffered too much. She replied to Theodore instead of feeling sad. “You don't have to pressure yourself. I'm just content with you visiting me every day.”
Her lover's expression fell at that. “Even though I'm not eating each meal with you anymore? I promised you that we would continue to do that, but ever since the letter from Ocrea came, we stopped. I'm sorry for that.”
Blanche slowly ran her fingers through his hair and pressed another kiss to his neck before responding. “I know that you are very busy. I assume that you barely consume anything during the meals that I'm not with you. You probably swallow a few bites while reading some documents without even pausing for a minute. If I had to guess, I would also say that you reduced your sleeping time to meet me instead of decreasing the time spend in your office. Naturally, your work is important, but don't overdo it. Neither the nation nor me will be happy about you passing out.”
The look in Theodore's eyes made it obvious that her guess had been correct. Still, he smiled at her with confidence. “I won't go that far. As I already told you, I don't need that much sleep. And I don't lack food or relaxation because I get that when I'm with you. I can't accompany you on a walk every day, but when I do, it's the longest break I took in a couple of weeks. That might change soon though. I don't want to make any empty promises, but I believe that I can reduce my workload by a slight amount soon. This means that I might be able to eat every meal with you again.”
“Really?” Blanche didn't have to see herself to know that she was glowing at that promise. A beam spread across her whole face, and she felt just as joyful as she had to have looked. Not only would she see him more often, but he would also have to work less. She knew how much all of his duties stressed him despite him never acknowledging it, so she would be glad if the situation was calming down again.
“Yes.” His smile faded when he continued. “Even though I can't help it, I'm really sorry for not being able to do this now already. I wish I could, but many of my tasks can't wait. If I finish those though, I can make sure that our vacation will be undisturbed. I only have one and a half months to settle everything, so forgive me for my stress right now.”
Blanche was a bit surprised that summer was already so close. She had barely imagined that she would still be by her lover's side when it was time to leave for the coast, and now it would happen soon. Knowing that she might really have succeeded in keeping him close to her made her ecstatic. But soothing her lover's guilty consciousness was more important now, so she said that out loud. “It's not your fault that you have to work so much. The whole form of our monarchy is to blame. After all, you have most of the power in Artias and also the biggest amount of duties.”
Theodore rolled to the side and carefully lowered her so that she was lying next to him before he responded with a sigh. “It's unfortunate that I have that much work to do, but the alternative would be worse. I don't trust anyone except Leon with managing all the governing business, so I'd rather do it myself than hand those things over to other people. Besides, it has been like this for centuries. The previous emperors also dealt with this much trouble. There were even more stressful times, and still, my ancestors didn't complain, so I can't do that either.”
“You know that that's not true.” Blanche frowned at him and propped herself up on her elbow to lean over him. “You, your father and your grandfather were the first rulers that even thought about changing any laws. Ever since this system was implemented, which was centuries ago as you said, nothing much was altered. Most of the constitution stayed the same, and only small additions were made every few years. Artias wasn't that prosperous until your grandfather began trading with the neighboring countries, and your father came up with countless ideas to increase that wealth. He was the first emperor to not just live in luxury and have fun at balls but actually worked to improve the nation. And you are doing even more. I doubt that there has ever been a ruler that put as much effort into this as you do. So, while this form of government may have worked for centuries, it's not effective now since you will end up overworking yourself.” She couldn't herself from saying all of this and pouting afterward. It was unfair that her lover had to throw away all of his time just to fulfill duties that others could have finished.
Theodore seemed to understand what she was thinking quickly and gently rolled up a strand of her hair around his finger. “You talked about that with Leon too, didn't you? He told me about it after you came back from the jeweler's store.”
On that day, Blanche had proposed the heroine's idea to change the way that the monarchy worked, only to be informed that it wasn't that simple to alter the laws this greatly without limiting the emperor's power. So, she hadn't believed that Leonard would even mention it. “Yes, we did talk about that. I just told him the first thing that was on my mind. He said that it wouldn't work like that though.”
“Of course it wouldn't. That concept is too good to be true.” Theodore released her hair and lifted his head to kiss her forehead. “Even problems that seem easy at first glance are often way more complicated in reality. There aren't any simple solutions in politics, no matter what people may tell you. But it's never bad to think about what you can do to improve a situation. Most of those ideas will be impossible to implement in our functioning system, however, there might be thoughts that could help our country.”
For that reason, Blanche was uncertain whether it was good for the emperor to focus on politics the whole day. Wasn't his brain exhausted at some point? It couldn't be healthy to barely take any break before going on summer vacation for two months and presumably still working even then. There was almost never a moment in which Theodore could fully relax without a single thought about documents, wars and the economy.
Blanche glanced down at his uniform, which proved that he had been on his way to work before he had come here too. She turned around to look at the clock for a moment before facing her lover again and cuddling herself against him. “It's very early. The sun barely rose. Why are you even up already?”
Theodore's reply didn't surprise her. “I was on the way to my office. But a servant waited directly in front of my door and told me that the doctor wanted to talk to me. So, I visited him, and he informed me about your maid calling him during the night because you didn't react to attempts of waking you up. Then he summarized everything that he could find out. I already asked someone to order the herbs that the doctor recommended. Though I have to admit that I was shocked to hear that you had trouble with nightmares for three months now. I know about the first one, and you mentioned dreaming about me being attacked too. Of course, you just told me about the last one today, so I am aware of that one too. Were the other two about me as well?”
Since the dream he knew as the first one was just her lie to cover up Blanche's gained memories about the novel, there were actually three others. They had consisted out of her being executed because of Theodore's order, him and Seraphina cuddling in the pavilion and Blanche being arrested after trying to kill the empress. So, all of them were connected to him again.
The concubine knew that her expression would immediately allow him to read her, so she wanted to avoid his gaze. But Theodore put his hand on her cheek and gently directed her head so that she looked at him. Their faces were directly in front of each other, which left her with no choice but to stare into his eyes and melt. She gave up with an inward sigh and answered his question. “Well, yes. You always play a major role in my dreams, and when I have a nightmare, something bad usually happens. Either you are in danger, or you leave me. In most cases, it's the second one.”
Theodore brushed over the side of her face with his fingertips as his expression became serious. “You should have told me about that earlier. I didn't know that it was that often.” Before she could argue that five cases in over a hundred nights weren't a lot, he continued. “Hopefully, the herbs will help and keep those unrealistic nightmares at bay. But if they don't, you have to come to me immediately. I will remind you that those dreams don't mirror the truth as often as you need to hear it. Then I'll kiss all of your worries better. Don't stay quiet about those nightmares anymore. I want to make sure they go away.”
She would love it if that was all it took for the novel to be erased for eternity. Maybe it was enough. Right now, she just wanted to believe in that. Even if hoping meant that her happiness could shatter into a thousand pieces any second. “I will tell you from now on. Are you going to stay here until breakfast?” She just needed a few hours. Blanche knew that she shouldn't keep Theodore from leaving since that would only make him postpone his work until the evening and sleep less. But she wouldn't be able to stand seeing him walk away now that a small seed of hope had been implanted in her heart. Being alone with her thoughts would cause her to overthink and lose all of her confidence again. She held her breath while waiting for the response.
The relief came immediately when Theodore nodded. “Of course. I'll stay until you are feeling better.”
Happily, Blanche put her hand into his and interlocked their fingers. “Thank you.” Her lover's presence was all she needed to distract herself from the matter with Sefare for a while.
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Until it was time for breakfast, the couple stayed on the bed and alternated between chatting about numerous topics and cuddling in silence. They only stood up after Stella had brought breakfast to sit down at the table. Despite not having done anything exhausting, Blanche felt drained. She yawned every few minutes, which earned her a worried look from Theodore. Still, she refused every time that he offered her to lie down again. Even though she was tired, she definitely wouldn't sleep before she absolutely had to. After all, her head was full of concerns and different approaches regarding her future, which only increased the chances of her having another nightmare. She would love to avoid sleeping until the doctor's herbs had arrived, but she already noticed that she wouldn't be able to make it until then. Her eyelids were already heavy, and she hadn't even finished breakfast.
Theodore watched her the whole time before addressing her worry. “You don't have to force yourself to stay awake, you know? You slept less than normal today, so it's natural for you to be tired. If you want to, I can even lay down next to you. Just in case.”
She shook her head at that. She rubbed her eyes and yawned again. “I can't keep you from working for that long. You already missed three hours because of me, so I shouldn't make you stay longer. Besides, I will stay up anyway because I don't want to ruin my sleeping cycle.” That was obviously just an excuse, and she was sure that he had realized that too.
Theodore opened his mouth, and she could already see that he was about to argue that she should lie down.
Just at that moment, a knock sounded at the door. Blanche exchanged an irritated look with her lover before sending Stella to greet the visitor. A servant that she had never seen before stood in front of the room. The man said something before handing an envelope over and leaving.
Stella brought the item to her. “The servant claimed that this letter had arrived at the palace this morning. It is addressed to you, My Lady.”
The concubine was confused, but she accepted the item and stared at it for a few seconds. Her heart was already quickening its pace when she imagined what terrible news could hide inside this envelope. There shouldn't be anything harmful inside since everything that was brought into the palace would be examined carefully. But still, it could contain an ominous message by Sefare. Blanche flipped it over to read who the sender was, and immediately, a weight was lifted off her mind.
It was from Sophia. That gentle woman was one of the few people that Blanche did trust despite not having spent much time together.
Quickly, the concubine ripped open the envelope and pulled out the letter to read it. She was greeted by a short note in elegant handwriting that sounded somewhat poetic. Seemingly, the ability to write beautiful letters was hereditary in the Duremont family.
As Sophia had announced at the ball, she asked for permission to visit to have tea with the concubine. After wishing the other woman a good recovery, of course. The way that Sophia had phrased her text was very sweet, much like the woman was in general, which painted a smile onto the concubine's lips.
Blanche looked up from the paper to her lover. “I recently had a nice conversation with Sophia Ravillot, and we talked about meeting sometime. Would you mind if I invited her to the palace in a few days?”
Theodore drank a sip from his cup before setting it down and smiling at her. “Of course not. Though I'm surprised that you have a good relationship with the empress' sister.”
Blanche shrugged as she lifted her croissant. “I think that it's a bit odd too. But Sophia was always kind to me, and after the chat I mentioned, I wanted to talk to her more.”
“I didn't say that it was bad. Just propose a date that you would favor, and inform the servants. They'll prepare a table, sweets, tea and anything else you could need.”
Blanche assured her lover that she would with a grin. Sophia's visit came at a good time. Now the concubine had a chance to speak to one of the most kindhearted people she knew. She could possibly even get close enough to the other woman to warn her about Evelyn again after Sophia's daughter was born. Right now, the concubine also had to distract herself from all the thoughts that were racing in her mind and portrayed the worst imaginable future. Doing something new for a change was perfect to keep her from worrying too much.
For that reason, Blanche rushed into the library as soon as Theodore left for work after giving her a kiss. She had taken a while to persuade him that he didn't have to stay so that she could sleep and almost given up, but he had surrendered at the last moment, and she was free to do what she wanted Stella was a bit concerned about her mistress' health and asked her to move slower, which Blanche accepted with a roll of her eyes.
But the concubine quickly focused on matters that would keep thoughts of the nightmare away. She searched all the recipe books her maid had told her about and began taking notes about a few desserts that she wanted to recreate. Purposefully, she added a couple of complicated ones as well to make sure that she would have to work on them for a whole day to keep herself busy. If baking kept her worries away, she would do so until her fingers bled.