After she had searched out enough recipes for a whole month, Blanche brought most of the notes she had taken into her room and used that opportunity to write a response letter that included a date for their meeting to Sophia. She labeled the envelope and gave it to a Stella, who brought it to another servant that would transport the letter to its addressee. After that, Blanche hurried to the kitchen without taking a break. She started to mix the dough for a cake with a topping that would require her to cut a lot of fruits into small dice. Only after almost slicing through her finger and being scolded for that by Stella, she allowed her maid to finish the cutting for her.
Near the evening, Angelica, Darlene, George and Clark came, just when the cake was done. They sat down together and ate while chatting about different subjects, for which Blanche was grateful. While she was surrounded by her friends, it was never quiet enough for her to get lost in thoughts or remember that she would have to go to bed soon again. The only thing that bothered her was seeing that Clark's nose was still bluish under the layers of powder. She felt guilty about having injured him and apologized for that again, which only made him repeat that it didn't hurt anymore countless times. However, his flinching when Darlene moved her hand to his face proved that that had been a lie.
Blanche and Stella left the kitchen when it was completely dark outside. The concubine managed to stall some time before returning to her room by insisting on taking a walk through the corridors of the palace. Despite pushing the thoughts about the novel, Sefare and other dangers out of her brain, she was paranoid enough to always confirm whether there was a guard in that hallway before entering it. In the end, she couldn't delay going back even more though and reluctantly walked to her chambers.
By then, Stella had noticed what was going through her mistress' mind and attempted to soothe her, which didn't really help. Blanche asked her to play a few board games with her, and the maid complied, but at some point, they couldn't stay up anymore. Stella proposed that she could sleep on the sofa again, which her mistress gratefully accepted.
Upon lying down, Blanche felt her consciousness slipping away despite her fear of being forced to endure another nightmare. Consequently, she was very surprised when she opened her eyes the next time and realized that it was the following morning without her having dreamed anything. Euphoria flooded through her veins at that, and she made a conviction. She might still be in trouble because of Sefare, but she couldn't allow that to control her. She couldn't fight against him in her current position, so she had to wait while hoping for a better future either way, but she didn't have to live in fear.
Blanche was definitely safe for the next couple of weeks until Sefare realized that she was serious about betraying him. Even after that, he would have trouble harming her since he didn't have a chance to reveal her secrets without putting himself at risk. At least if Blanche's predictions were correct. This meant that she shouldn't focus on his intrigues until he began to show what his intentions were.
If it came that far, and Sefare openly threatened her, Blanche would lay out a new plan on how to act. For now, she would try to avoid being scared though. At least she foolishly told herself that.
The next day progressed similarly to the last one with only a few differences. Blanche didn't force herself to constantly do something and took small breaks in between. She used those to think about what events in the novel would follow next and how she might be able to softly interfere to keep Theodore from getting closer to Seraphina. She then met her lover for lunch and gave her best to show him that she was healthy. That didn't convince him, and he insisted on letting the doctor examine her again, which ended in the same result as last time. The concubine was still healthy.
Sophia also sent another letter back and confirmed their appointment in two days. Blanche was looking forward to that meeting and beamed at the prospect of having an opportunity to talk to a new person.
In the evening, the concubine didn't keep herself from collapsing onto the bed when her exhaustion overwhelmed her. There was still a little splinter of fear of another nightmare inside her, but she also managed to go through that night without a dream.
----------------------------------------
At first, the following day seemed to develop without any occurrences like the previous one had. Only in the afternoon, when Blanche and Stella were baking in the otherwise empty kitchen, it became obvious that it was a bit different.
Stella looked skeptical as she spoke up. “I don't think that it's supposed to look like that.” She lifted the bowl to glance inside and stirred the cream, in which small buttery spheres had formed, a few more times.
Blanche raised an eyebrow at the maid's obvious statement while she replied in a sarcastic tone. “Really? I thought that that was normal.” She dipped a spoon in the mixture and inspected it closely. She sniffed a few times before tasting it. “Well, it's still sweet just like it was supposed to be. It doesn't smell odd either. Do you think that we can just use it anyway? It's only for us, so it doesn't have to be perfect, and it would be a shame to throw it away if it's still good.”
“I don't know. We should ask one of the cooks first, or it might-” Stella was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. The women halted their conversation and turned to face the entrance.
Surprisingly, Gloria, who rarely was in the kitchen, had been the one to come inside. The head maid looked around, and upon not seeing anyone else in the room, she approached the women before she bowed her head.
The concubine was a bit taken aback at the unusual politeness of the elder woman. She was a little suspicious of the sudden change, but she wouldn't complain about having a respectful conversation. “Hello, Gloria. Good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon, Lady Blanche. Hopefully, I'm not disturbing you.” After saying that, Gloria nodded towards Stella to greet her too. Then she turned her head to both sides to scan the kitchen again and frowned. That made it quite obvious that something was wrong.
Blanche was a bit worried now. She quickly responded while trying to sound less curious than she actually was. “We're just baking, so you're not interrupting anything. Do you perhaps need something?” She didn't expect the head maid to respond honestly since Blanche herself had asked, but she was surprised.
Gloria looked around again before she made eye contact with the concubine. “Actually, I was searching for Clark. I thought that he might be here, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Have you seen him today? I tried to find him since lunch already, and it's like he had disappeared.” Her voice was layered with concern, which immediately alarmed Blanche. Normally, Gloria was rather composed unless she attempted to provoke someone on purpose, so this meant that the head maid was truly worried.
Blanche glanced at Stella, who shook her head, before she replied. “No. I can't remember seeing him today. We met here yesterday in the evening, but that was the last time that we spoke to him.”
Gloria's expression darkened even more at that. “That is unfortunate, but I am still very grateful. Would you be able to send him to me if you do happen to meet him?”
This only served to make Blanche's stomach churn even more. “Of course. If you don't mind me asking, are you searching for him for a specific reason? Is he sick or hurt or something like that?”
Gloria shook her head, which relieved the concubine a bit. “No, no. You also don't have to worry about him. I merely wanted to remind him to not get involved in useless arguments with a specific person. There have been a few conflicts between him and another servant for a while now, and during the last days, it got worse.”
Blanche could guess who that other person was. She knew that she should hold back in that regard, but her mouth worked before her mind. “Is this about Harris?”
Gloria's eyes widened slightly in surprise. She probably hadn't expected that the concubine would know enough about the servants to name them and be able to determine who was fighting with whom. “That is correct. I intended to speak to both of them separately first before trying to mediate, but I can't find either one. I heard that they often come here around this time, so I thought I would check the kitchen first, but maybe I missed them.”
Blanche was uncertain. She couldn't affirm whether Clark and Harris were here often. She could only worry about where her friend was and whether he would be punished because of someone's lie. That thought made Blanche open her mouth, but she couldn't even decide on what to say before she was interrupted.
As if someone had waited for their cue, one of the side doors flew open at that moment. It crashed into the wall with a loud bang, which made everyone in the kitchen flinch. Clark rushed into the room, and Harris followed a second after him. Both were tense, which one could see even from a distance, and glared at each other with wrath.
For a moment, Blanche could just stare at Harris as memories of her nightmare returned. She was more than unhappy with that, but she saw how the servant had sat in front of her cell in her mind. Even then Harris had seemed somewhat calm, so it was a shock to see him so angry. Neither Blanche nor Stella knew what to say about that.
Gloria regained her composure first. Even though she was still slightly shaken, she attempted to speak up, but the men hadn't even noticed that they weren't alone.
Harris spoke in a tone that dripped with frustration. “So, you're running away again. Great. That's going to magically solve every problem!” Seemingly, he was too upset to use his acting skill to cover his annoyance. Unfortunately, he was also loud enough to drown out Gloria's voice since he showed no signs of surprise or uncertainty. There was just anger to be seen on his face.
Clark appeared to be in a just as bad mood, which made him look quite intimidating, even when he stood far away from Harris. He yelled back, which rendered Gloria speechless again. “Haven't you realized that you are the problem? If you had, maybe you'd understand why I have no interest in talking to you or even seeing you for that matter. If you keep annoying me, I have no choice but to run away unless you want me to shut you up for good.”
Harris snapped back without even taking a break to breathe. “Sure. Because you can't handle me speaking the truth, you damn coward!”
At that point, it was already quite obvious that the conversation was too heated for anyone's good. The others should definitely have intervened, but Blanche, Stella and Gloria were taken aback by the scene in front of them. They could only stand there and listen in utter shock.
Clark walked around the counter and turned around to face the other man. “The truth? When was the last time that something except for a lie has left your mouth? I'm sure that that has to have been years ago.”
Harris let out a huff and crossed his arms. “So, this is about the truth? First, you don't want to hear it, and now you accuse me of not saying it? Do you want me to tell you something true? I'm sick of you. I'm sick of seeing you every time that I leave my room. I'm sick of constantly being forced to work with you. I'm sick of your existence in general.”
Clark loudly slammed his hands onto the counter and got even louder. “How full of yourself are you? I'm the one who is sick of you. Whenever I see your face, I want to throw up and leave the country!”
Harris stepped to the other side of the counter and leaned forward in a provoking manner while planting his hands on the wooden surface as well. “No one is keeping you here! How about you move to the other end of the continent? You could build your house with a white fence there. Maybe in a beautiful nation with many floods? I don't care as long as you disappear so that I can have my peace.”
Clark leaned forward as well so that their faces were directly in front of each other. He narrowed his eyes into slits and grasped the counter so tightly that one could see how his tendons were being strained. “Maybe I will. Drowning is a hundred times better than having to see you every day!”
While they spoke, they got louder with every word until they were screaming at each other from the top of their lungs. Still, they didn't even pause to take a breath and just continued to insult one another.
Blanche and Stella were just standing at the other end of the kitchen and were dumbfounded. They listened to the fight without saying anything. Blanche was pretty sure that she knew too little about the personal conflict that definitely existed here to get involved.
Gloria, on the other hand, knew more than the concubine, and it was her task to take care of things like this. She quickly reacted again after the initial shock. She slowly called out the servants' names to stop them, only to remain unheard.
The men didn't pay any attention to her and were fully immersed in their argument. Apparently, not only the volume was what kept them from noticing the head maid since they were still focused on one another even while screaming less.
Harris had just received another insult and suddenly spoke in a much quieter voice, which was just barely loud enough for Blanche to understand it. “You know, I complained the whole time, but maybe it was good that that woman came here. She was the reason that I finally understood what an opinionated idiot you are.” With that, he turned around and walked toward the exit.
Clark realized what the other man would do in an instant. “Stop right there!” Now he was yelling again while it looked like he had to keep himself from moving around the counter to face Harris directly. “Now you're running away? I thought that I was a coward for doing that, and now it's fine because you do it?” He sounded so upset that it was quite clear that the grudges that were held here were very personal.
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Harris, who should be immune to petty comments like that, reacted immediately. He spun around to face Clark and raised both of his hands. “Fine! You were the one that claimed that the only things that left my mouth were lies, right? Suddenly, they're not when you want to use them against me. That's awfully convenient. But alright. I'm here. I'm listening to you. What do you want to add?”
Clark seemed like he had just waited for that. His mouth opened instantly. “That you are the one who is the opinionated one. You know well that this topic was just one of the many things that made us fight, but if you want me to be honest, I will be. As far as I can remember, you are the person that spread rumors about Lady Blanche up until only two weeks ago. I remember multiple occasions in which you insulted her for no reason. You don't even know her, so speaking like that about some random person shows how much of a bastard you are. You are the hateful one, not me.”
Harris let out an unamused laugh before getting furious in an instant. “I think you're missing the point. If you are going to bring this up, you should pay attention to the crucial details. Let's take Lady Blanche for example if you insist. You hated her from the very beginning without giving her a chance and said very nasty things about her. Then you got angry when I defended her, even though I just said that we didn't know her. I, on the other hand, only began disliking her after I got to witness her abhorrent behavior towards the servants. My opinion of her was justified up until a few months ago while yours wasn't. Especially not since you switched sides overnight. You suddenly got a piece of cake from her and fell in love or something like that.”
It almost looked like Clark flinched a little when he heard that. He talked back a second later. “That's not true, and you know that. I have only ever lo-”
Harris got a bit louder, which seemed almost unwilling. “Don't interrupt me.” He hurried to resume after that. “As you said, I changed my opinion about her as well, two weeks ago. For me, it was based on personal experience too and not just on some piece of pie. This leads to a strange comparison. When you change your mind, it's giving a person a second chance, and when I do, it's hypocritical? That seems pretty unfair to me. But you know what else is unfair? That it seems like you have nothing better to do than badmouthing me when you are in the presence of influential people. From a short conversation with some others, I picked up that they heard that I am the one that tortures you and your friends for fun. I'm not the most honest person nor very kind when it comes to you, but even then you should realize that you were exaggerating.” Near the end, he got faster and faster so that he almost tripped over his words.
Blanche had never seen Harris like that. He seemed so emotional and uncontrolled, which was the polar opposite of what he wanted to be seen as. She definitely got the impression that the men here fought about issues that were a replacement for the core of their real problems, but she couldn't determine what exactly this was about. This raised a few questions, which she didn't dare to ask. So, her eyes were glued onto the scene as she tried to figure out as much as she could by listening.
Gloria saw that differently. She seemed to be eager to end the fight. When she called out to the men numerous times, they still didn't listen to her, which made her act. She slowly began walking in their direction.
Clark didn't seem to see that either since he resumed speaking without looking away from his opponent. “I wasn't overdoing it in the slightest. Ever since we...” He hesitated for a moment before continuing in a quieter voice. “Since that fight, you have been doing nothing but using your influence to trouble my friends.”
Harris almost seemed indignant while he replied. “Can you blame me? They are the ones that-” He paused before putting on a fake smile that didn't hide his anger at all. “No, if I think more about it, you're right about that one. They didn't do anything wrong except for befriending you. I'm surprised that they didn't notice how hateful you truly are yet. They'll probably find out soon, don't you think? Or do you plan on fooling them as long as you fooled me?”
Clark clenched his jaw at that. He balled his fist on the counter, probably to control himself before replying. “I didn't fool anyone. You were the one that made me believe that you were a good person with your lies.”
Harris laughed again in a way that showed that happiness was the last emotion he felt right now. “So, you can't even admit it in the end? I thought so. Otherwise, you would have apologized to Lady Blanche already too. When I told her that you didn't really support her in the beginning, she seemed very surprised, so I assume that you didn't even think that it was necessary to tell her. Ever the coward, I see.”
That comment seemed to be enough to make Clark narrow his eyes. “What I tell or not tell anyone is none of your business.” His mouth was still opened, but he didn't get to say more.
Harris already resumed without hesitation. “You think so? I would argue that someone deserves to know when you purposefully triggered their allergy without being aware of how severe it is and now pretend to be their friend. Maybe I should just tell her if you are too cowardly for that. Just to paint an a bit more objective picture of the situation.”
What?
Blanche was pretty sure that she had heard something about her allergy here, but the fight continued before she could really focus.
Clark either hated that topic or Harris' smug expression. Either way, it made him round the corner in a surprisingly quick manner. Then he forced himself to slow down and stepped toward the other man. “Don't you dare-”
Harris made an attempt to seem confident, but he backed away with every step that his colleague took. Yet, he interrupted him again. “What are you going to do about it? It's not like she will believe me anyway since you successfully make her believe that I'm the bad one. But wasn't I the person that reminded you to refrain from using cherries because of her allergy? Do you remember what you responded with? You said that you knew and wanted to see how bad it would get while joking around with a few other servants. Well, when she was confined to her bed for days after that, you weren't in the mood to laugh anymore. Even from a distance, I could see that you felt guilty. And still, you didn't admit to it after all this time and despite being one of her so-called friends? You can't tell me that that is not cowardly.”
Blanche heard Stella gasp at that while she was left speechless. But she didn't even have a chance to think much about what she had just learned since the discussion in front of her didn't pause even now. Right now, it looked like the scene threatened to escalate.
Harris was forced to stop retreating since he had reached the door with his back. He crossed his arms and looked up at the other man, who was at least a head taller than he was.
Clark stood directly in front of his colleague, and it looked like he would hit Harris, which made Blanche shrink in herself. But Clark held himself back and spoke up in a shaky voice instead of doing anything else. “That's not the point of any of this, and you know it. Even now you still make me-” He was interrupted in the worst moment.
Gloria had finally reached the men. Apparently, her patience was at its end. She addressed them in a commanding tone from right beside them, which made the servants freeze. “Will the both of you get a hold on yourselves already? You are both servants in the royal palace and have nothing better to do than insulting each other in a location where everyone can see you? This is blatant disrespect toward the people who employed you to ensure that His and Her Majesty have a convenient life.” She was quite authoritarian while she said that, so the received reaction wasn't surprising.
Immediately, the men froze and whipped their heads towards the head maid. Harris was the first one to grasp the whole situation. He looked to the side and met Blanche's gaze, only to pale immediately and direct his eyes onto the floor, which was so unlike him. Clark only opened his mouth a few times and closed it again while glancing at all the other people in the room.
All of them were silent for a moment so that one could have heard a pin drop.
Gloria crossed her arms and tapped onto her elbow. Obviously, she was waiting for an explanation. When nothing followed, she looked like she was about to scold the servants again, but she didn't have a chance to do so. “You-”
Harris bowed down and spoke up. As soon as he began, the words basically spilled out of his mouth. “I sincerely apologize from the bottom of my heart. This shouldn't have happened, and it won't ever occur again. This conversation should have been had in a private location, and with our negligence, we bothered you. None of the things you heard were meant for your ears, so I would appreciate it if you could just forget about them. I'm sorry. I will take my leave now.” He spun around on his heel without skipping a beat. He opened the door and stormed out.
Clark called after him but was ignored. “Harris!”
The door fell shut with a loud thump. This seemed to take away the aggression of the scene in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, the kitchen seemed far quieter and almost oppressive. It wasn't surprising that the involved people couldn't stay still like this.
Clark didn't speak, but it was obvious that he couldn't take it anymore. He took the few steps to the table to plop down onto a chair with a groan. He rested his head on his palms and began massaging his temples.
Blanche stood there for a while without moving or saying anything, just like the others. She didn't know what could help to make the situation better since speaking would probably only make it worse. She only exchanged a few looks with Stella but didn't do anything else.
Gloria, on the other hand, moved quickly. She walked over to Clark and sat down next to him to quietly talk to him in a volume that didn't allow the two others to eavesdrop. The head maid was definitely good at dealing with her subordinates, so it would be best to let her do this.
Blanche slowly returned to the furnace while paying attention to not make loud sounds. Stella gave her a questioning look, but she just shook her head and pulled the cake out to let it cool. She only had one small idea that might get her out of this situation in a more pleasant way. If that didn't work, she would be in trouble, so she prayed that it would work.
Slowly, Blanche cut off the outer circle of the cake so that she had a long piece of dough. She spread some of the cream on it after stirring it once more and planted a handful of fruit pieces on it. Then she rolled the whole thing into a somewhat round spiral and carefully positioned it on a plate. It didn't look perfect, but this should do the trick. Blanche breathed in deeply before she walked to the table and waited for Clark to react to her presence.
Gloria stopped talking when she saw the concubine. Surprisingly, she even stood up and stepped away to leave them alone for a while. Unfortunately, this didn't make the situation more pleasant.
Clark still blankly stared at the table, even though he had surely noticed that someone was next to him. But he was rather stubborn and stayed like this for another minute. When he didn't move after some time, Blanche's patience was used up though. She just put the plate directly next to him. That finally made Clark gaze to the side. He stared at the dessert for a moment before looking up at her in confusion.
Blanche chose to respond in the most serious way she could. “I'm bribing you.” She wasn't sure whether he still remembered that they had joked about that after meeting in the kitchen for the first time, but she hoped that he did. “It's not an apple pie, but there are some fruits in here too, so it should be fine.”
Clark's mouth opened, and he stared at the concubine for a moment while struggling to find the right words before replying. “Why? Didn't you hear what Harris just said? He wasn't lying about that, alright? I was lying. There wasn't another servant who made the cake for you three months ago. I made it.” He lowered his gaze onto the table. “And I also put the cherries inside because I knew about your allergy. Back then, you were terrible to us servants. A day prior to that, you had threatened to make His Majesty dismiss one of the maids because you didn't like her cake. Nothing happened in the end, but she cried the whole evening, so I wanted to get back at you. I really, really believed you were just whining about something insignificant. That was the only reason I thought that triggering your allergy was a good idea to secretly get revenge. Then I heard about you not being able to leave your bed and having trouble with breathing. I was so scared that you would get seriously hurt because of something that was only supposed to be a harmless joke.”
It was clear that he had said more than he wanted to say. It was important to hear those subconscious thoughts, so Blanche could only sit there and listen until the very end.
Clark paused to hide his face in his hands. “I'm sorry. I was feeling sorry back then, and I still do. I know that it doesn't make me purposefully hurting you better. And I should have told you, but we were getting along so well, and I knew that this would ruin everything. I didn't want to lose one of my friends because of something stupid I did in a moment of anger. So, I lied about seeing someone else making that cake. I should have been honest and told you earlier. I'm sorry. I don't know if I can make up for it, but I'm really-”
For the longest time, Blanche had been the one to apologize until others told her to stop. In the past, she had done this to make Theodore forgive her after the awful banquet, and she had also annoyed Stella with apologies. Today, it seemed to be a first that she would ask someone to stop repeating those words when they were already forgiven. Maybe it was because the novel had given her far more horrible things to be scared of. Maybe it was because Clark was her friend, or because Blanche knew that she hadn't been a good person. Either way, she didn't get angry and said just that. “It's fine.”
Apparently, that had come unexpectedly.
“What?” Clark lifted his head again to scan her face. A deep frown was etched into his features, and drying tears were still in his eyes. He looked so full of disbelieving regarding her forgiving him that the concubine wouldn't have been able to scold him even if she had wanted to.
If Blanche had been angry before, she would have given in at that expression. Since she had never been angry, she found it more than easy to show Clark a faint smile. “Of course, I'm not happy about having been forced to go through an allergy outbreak and would appreciate you not making me experience it again. But nothing has changed regarding the things that I told you when you gave an altered version of the story. I made countless mistakes ever since I came to the palace. As you just said, I treated the servants terribly and didn't care much about other people. Despite all of that, you gave me a second chance. So, it would be odd of me to not forgive you for messing up once.”
And there was also another connected benefit. In hindsight, her memories of the novel had only appeared shortly after she had eaten that cherry cake. Maybe her allergy had even been the reason for her gaining that knowledge. In that case, Clark's error had saved her life since it had allowed her to see into the future.
That realization slipped out of Blanche's mouth before she could prevent it. “Maybe it was good that you decided to do that.”
Clark's mind seemed to stop working for a moment. Then he lost his composure. He threw his arms up in the air and gesticulated wildly while being louder than he probably wanted to be. “How could that have been good? If your throat had been swollen any more, you might have choked to death!”
Surprisingly, Blanche didn't get upset even after thinking about it like that. She paused shortly to find the words that described her way of viewing this situation and used that opportunity to sit down next to him. “I'm not lying. It was kind of like a wake-up call. You experienced what kind of person I previously was yourself. So, my change should have surprised all of you. Do you know what made me want to become a better person? I had a dream, a nightmare to be exact.” Even now, Blanche hated talking about this, but she might just manage to explain it in a slightly altered version that didn't make her seem like a crazy person. “I was all alone in that dream with no one on my side because I had pushed everyone away with my cruel actions. The end of the nightmare consisted out of me being beheaded and a crowd cheering on the executioner. That image burned itself into my mind and made me realize that I was a terrible person. I knew that I had to change my behavior to not become a villainess and to avoid that ending.”
Before the concubine could decide whether to be content with that explanation or to add anything, Stella interrupted her in a serious voice. “You never were a villainess. My Lady.”
Blanche raised an eyebrow as she turned to look at Stella. She knew better than her maid due to her memories of “To Be Empress”, but even in this world, her maid's words were just plainly wrong. “Are you sure that we remember the same me?”
Surprisingly, Stella didn't bat an eye while replying with a serious expression. “Of course. But I think you are a bit harsh on yourself, My Lady. You might have said things that weren't kind, but you never threatened a servant that didn't do anything wrong. I remember the maid from the day before your allergy began. You brought the cake she made back to her because it wasn't fully baked. There was still rough dough in the middle, and you could see that she didn't put any effort into it in general. That would have justified dismissing her, but you didn't even do that. You weren't very polite, but you only asked her to put the cake into the furnace for a few more minutes instead of demanding a new one. Then we waited in front of the door.”
Stella plopped down onto the chair across from her mistress while she continued to explain with a darkening expression. “As soon as that maid couldn't see us anymore, she began whining. She said that you had no right to complain since you were a woman from the streets and should be used to rotten food. She also included a few insults in those words, so you entered the kitchen and confronted her for disrespecting you. Suddenly, she was really quiet and didn't know how to respond with anything but hollow apologies. You put her in her place, which was justified in that scenario, and then left without even punishing her. One can't criticize someone for scolding their servant after they had openly offended their masters.” When Stella finished, she was fuming and tapped her fingernails onto the table.
Blanche blinked a few times when she heard this story, which sounded a bit too subjective. Had it really been like this? It was possible that something like that had happened, but her own mind might have erased it to focus on the more important parts of her life, like the novel. “You still remember that? I don't even know who you are talking about. You surely have a good brain.”
Stella hurriedly shook her head. “No, it just stood out to me because she was this brazen and still pretended to be the victim after that. I thought that it was quite insolent, so I made a mental note to avoid that woman.”
Clark lowered his gaze onto the table and was silent for a while as he listened to all of that. Then he quietly spoke up while balling his fists. “I didn't know that. That maid is a friend of mine, so... I just heard her words and assumed that she was telling the truth. I made that mistake from the very beginning. I've always disliked you just for being a person that randomly showed up and won His Majesty's favor. I thought that you wanted to use him and that he fell for your lies because he was lonely. Then your actions gave me a reason to assume that you were an arrogant brat that behaved like the palace belonged to you. The testimonies of others also influenced me in that way of thinking. Admittedly, I haven't ever confirmed whether their stories were true. I mean... In reality, you weren't overly cruel. You never hit anyone or truly threw someone out of the palace. Maybe you said some mean things, but that was it.” He paused for a moment before adding another sentence. “Now I feel even worse for triggering your allergy.”
Great. Now Blanche would have to try to cheer him up again after that without even being sure whether she had been unnecessarily mean to the maid Clark had mentioned. She struggled to find a way to do that.