Blanche avoided going to Theodore's office until it was almost time for lunch. In addition to hating the possibility of meeting Seraphina there, she worried about how she should explain the way that she had found the hole in the wall of the royal estate without using too obvious lies. She kept stalling for time, but in the end, she knew that she couldn't keep quiet for much longer.
But when she arrived at the office's corridor, the guards in front of the door stroke her as odd immediately. Three knights stood there and were happily chatting about something related to alcohol, which was very unusual. Normally, every person would be extremely quiet when they were close to the emperor's office to not disturb him.
Since Blanche saw how the guards joked around, it seemed like Theodore wasn't there right now. He had probably taken the first break of the week, and she was unlucky enough to appear in the one moment that he was gone.
With an inward sigh, Blanche approached the knights anyway. As soon as they heard her footsteps, they shut their mouths and stared at her. She ignored their unveiled confusion and spoke up. “Is Theodore not here right now?”
The guards exchanged an irritated look before one of them replied. “Yes, His Majesty is currently on an outing. He left about two hours ago and said that he would return in the evening.”
Blanche froze at that. Had Theodore really left the royal estate? He always told her when he was planning something like that. Had this trip been the reason that he couldn't join her for lunch? If so, why hadn't he just told her?
The emperor only went out when it was absolutely necessary or in very rare cases because he wished to enjoy some time outside the palace walls. But in general, Theodore was too deliberate to go on an outing unless he had to attend the ball or banquet of another noble family. After all, leaving the safety of the royal estate behind was always a risk. If he did travel, he had to be accompanied by countless guards, and the area around his carriage's route had to be cleared first. All of this had to be planned weeks before the trip, so her lover had to have known for some time. Why hadn't he ever mentioned that despite normally revealing everything to her?
Absentmindedly, Blanche thanked the knights for their response and turned around to walk down the corridor.
Stella was trailing behind her and seemed to be just as concerned. “His Majesty went out? He does that rarely. Didn't he tell you?”
The concubine shook her head as she asked herself the most important question of all. Where had Theodore gone? She recounted their conversations of the last days, but she was sure that he had never remotely touched on the subject of going out. Yesterday, he had told her that he was busy working the next day. Maybe he was on his way to meet an influential person that had to sign a contract for him. But even then there was no reason for him not to inform her of that. Normally, she always bid him goodbye at the entrance when he left.
Slowly but surely, she felt how dread was rising inside her. It was odd for Theodore to keep quiet about something like this, and he wouldn't do so without a good cause. That made her worry even more than the fact that he had gone out. Maybe she could ask someone to tell her where he went. Hopefully, that would allow her to understand why he had kept silent.
Blanche steered toward the entrance hall. If the emperor had left by carriage, some servant had to have sent him off and surely knew what his destination was. Without noticing it, she became faster with every step until she was almost running. For some reason, she had a bad feeling about this. But she had no reason to believe that her lover was in danger, right?
After all, Theodore was the main character, and nothing that would prevent his happy end could occur. Any conflict that he was involved in would be mentioned in the book at least once, and he would always win.
Blanche abruptly stopped at that thought. Had there been a description of an outing in “To Be Empress”? She began to go through the events of the novel that happened until now. The last important scene from the book had been the empress' birthday, and they were two weeks before the hunting festival. What had occurred between those two story events? There was something that she had previously disregarded.
Seraphina and Theodore were about to have their first kiss. This one had been the only one that was vividly described in the novel, so it was obvious that the concubine hadn't mistaken the timing. This event would truly happen now. The spouses would later agree on forgetting that kiss because it had been an accident, but it would still be a driving point for their romance's progression. That had to have happened before the hunting competition since it was the reason for Seraphina's changed view of her husband.
Blanche's stomach began to churn. She hugged herself with one arm and hid her mouth with the other hand. She felt like she was about to throw up, but the kiss wasn't the only cause for that. She was still forgetting something. Why was it so hard to remember this one part when the rest of the novel's storyline was perfectly aligned in her head? Was it because this very memory pained her so much that it felt like it was ripping out her heart? Had she unconsciously pushed away one of the awful events in hopes of forgetting this? She needed to remember that event now though.
The main characters hadn't kissed without a reason. There had been a situation that filled both of them with extreme emotions and caused them, especially the normally composed empress, to lose their self-control for a moment. How had Seraphina described it later?
Reciting the kiss scene felt like Blanche's heart was torn to shreds, but she had to find out what piece of information she was missing. The spouses had both been scared of something and then suddenly became energized because they had overcome that danger. Theodore had visited Seraphina's room to check whether she was fine, and they had hugged each other, which had led to the empress kissing him because she had been too overjoyed to hold back.
The main characters had feared their death before that and had been relieved to have survived, hadn't they? That was why they had been so unrestrained. Seraphina had thanked her husband for saving her life, so the situation couldn't have been a triviality. What had that life-threatening situation been?
Blanche's heart was beating faster with everything that she remembered. The haziness in her mind which surrounded that event was slowly starting to clear, and each bit made her tense even more. That dangerous issue had been what had caused Theodore to assign Noah to the empress. How exactly had that played out?
The royal couple had been out together. They had left to visit the banquet of a noble family. Was it Duke Lamont's birthday party? In any case, they never arrived because of an attack in the middle of their trip. The concubine took another moment to think about what exactly had happened, and the response knocked all air out of her lungs.
The carriages had been driving through a forest and were ambushed by a group of mercenaries that attempted to kill both the emperor and the empress.
Blanche's whole body began to tremble, and her legs were about to give out. She leaned her hands against the wall to keep herself upright as the roaring sound of her blood rushing through her veins echoed in her ears. Faintly, she could hear Stella calling out for her and feel hands grabbing her shoulders, but she couldn't bring herself to pay attention to anything except the turmoil in her mind.
Theodore was the hero of the novel. He would definitely survive and protect Seraphina. He would return safely with only a few wounds and heighten the security measures of the palace. After all, he had to have his happy end under any circumstances. He could never die since he was destined to live the most wonderful life one could imagine as the main character of a romance novel.
Normally, that would be certain, but due to Blanche's meddling, she couldn't be sure.
The blood in her veins froze. She pushed herself away from the wall and forced her unsteady legs to carry her to the entrance hall as quickly as possible.
The ending of the novel was changing due to Blanche's different actions. Accomplishing that was her greatest goal right now, and if she assumed that it was possible to prevent her doom, the rest of the storyline could be altered too. That meant that Theodore's happy end wasn't necessarily guaranteed. But her actions hadn't created a scenario that could lead to him getting seriously injured or even killed, right?
In the past months, she had gained friends, troubled Seraphina less and had gotten closer to her lover. None of those things should cause the attack on him to develop differently. So, he would definitely survive, right? Blanche had never been a religious person, and in the last weeks, she had found herself cursing the gods often, but at this moment, she couldn't do anything but pray. She begged every single god whose name she had ever heard to protect Theodore.
Her pace quickened as she ran to the foyer and rushed down the stairs while taking three steps at a time. She heard Stella calling her name, but she ignored that in favor of storming into the entrance hall. Without waiting for the servant next to the door to open it for her, she slammed it open herself, which caused it to crash against the wall.
Blanche let her gaze dart across the room as she desperately searched for anyone that could give a hint regarding the emperor's departure.
A group of servants was standing by the entrance door along with some knights. All of them turned to her due to her sudden appearance and looked a bit startled upon seeing her, but she didn't care about how desperate she looked right now.
Blanche didn't hesitate to rush toward them despite being out of breath already. When she came closer, she quickly saw that some servants were backing away in fear while others didn't even try to hide their annoyance. She didn't pay attention to that though and focused on the one person that she recognized.
Harris was standing in the middle of his colleagues and evaded her eyes, but he was forced to look at her when she approached him to grab his shoulders harshly.
Blanche noticed that she was yelling in a much too frantic manner, but she couldn't think about holding back. “Harris! Where is Theodore? Did he go to Duke Lamont?”
Harris' expression changed into utter shock, and he was speechless for a moment. He took a few seconds to collect himself before responding. “Do you mean His Majesty?”
“Yes! Did he go out for a banquet with the empress?” She had to be almost screaming at him, but she didn't care about that. She needed a definitive answer this instant.
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Just when Harris opened his mouth, a female servant interfered.
The maid glared at Blanche and put her arms into her hips before speaking with resentment dripping out of her voice. “Get a hold of yourself! You can't just storm in like that give everyone a heart attack because you can't hold back your controlling tendencies. His Majesty doesn't have to tell you anything, and if he didn't inform you of this, he doesn't want you to know. That means we won't reveal it either. Just because His Majesty pities you, that doesn't mean that he owes you something. It also doesn't give you permission to look down on anyone else. Let go of Harris now, you're hurting him.”
Frankly, Blanche didn't care much about that maid when Theodore was in danger. She didn't loosen her hold on Harris' upper arms and shook him a bit. “You don't understand! I need to know whether he went to that banquet. He is-”
“Lady Blanche.” A gentle voice cut her off, and she felt a hand on her shoulder. “Please calm down. Everything is alright.”
Blanche turned her head to find Noah standing behind her. “No, Theodore is in danger! If he leaves through the forest, he will-” She tried to refute his words, but the knight shushed her with a low hum.
Noah carefully grabbed her wrists and directed her arms away from Harris, who was still staring at her like he was paralyzed. He slowly spun her around so that he could see her face. Then he began talking to her in a soft but insistent voice that was underlined by his determined expression. “His Majesty has indeed left with Her Majesty to visit the banquet for the birthday of the Duke of Lamont. They are being accompanied by Lord Astame and Sir Maillont, who are both excellent at using a sword. Along with them, about sixty of the most experienced royal guards will also surround the carriage at all times. The path to the manor of the Lamonts is not very long and leads through a secluded forest, so we were able to examine the area carefully on multiple occasions. Another set of guards is currently securing the forest during His Majesty's travel. There is no way for anyone with ill intentions to get close enough to the carriage to attack them from proximity. The vehicle's walls are reinforced so that no arrow in the world could ever pierce it too. As you can see, His Majesty is perfectly safe. There is no way that anyone would be able to harm him. He will return to you without a single scratch, so you can rest assured.”
Noah's tranquilizing presence and his deliberate words almost made Blanche want to believe him and give up her worries, but she knew that his statements weren't true. This story event would occur no matter how much she wanted it not to. Her actions until now had not influenced the carriage ride today in the slightest, so it wouldn't make any sense that the attack wouldn't happen. She would fall to her knees and thank the gods if Theodore came home without any incidents, but she didn't believe that this was possible. Her chest hurt as if she had been the one being injured by a sword instead of her lover, who was probably fighting for his life by now. And still, she had no choice but to stand by while he was in serious danger.
This was her fault for not remembering it sooner.
Blanche attempted to get Noah's hands off her wrists and began to struggle, but the knight's grip didn't budge. “I know that he isn't safe! Something bad will happen, I'm sure of that! People will try to hurt him and the empress!”
Her exclamations didn't encourage Noah to let go but rather made him grasp her tighter. “Everything is alright, Lady Blanche. I fear that you might have a panic attack. Focus on breathing in and out. I need to look at me and calm down.”
“No, aren't you listening to me? He will-”
Before she could finish, Noah let go. However, he didn't allow her to move away but pulled her into a hug.
She tensed as the knight slowly brushed over her hair and repeatedly whispered calming phrases into her ear. If she had been panicking without a reason, his presence would definitely have soothed her within a few minutes. But her problem wasn't just in her imagination and wouldn't be solved by his words.
Blanche got even more scared. “Noah, I don't have time for this! We need to warn Theo as fast as possible!” She herself didn't even know how she would be able to do that, but she couldn't just do nothing while her lover got hurt. She tried to loosen the knight's grip on her, but he was way stronger than she was. “Noah!”
Noah stopped speaking for a moment and turned his head to the side. “I'll bring her to the royal doctor.” That was a horrible idea.
Blanche had to contact Theodore, so she couldn't lose time like that. “What? No!”
Noah ignored her protest completely to calmly explain that he would lead her to the doctor's office to get her some tranquilizing medicine.
That only served to infuriate Blanche further. Why was no one listening to her? Of course, she sounded like a madwoman right now, but how was she supposed to stay composed when Theodore could die? She began struggling against the knight's embrace with more energy. “I won't go there! I need to-” She couldn't finish that sentence before the door of the main entrance was opened.
A group of royal guards stumbled in, and Blanche only needed one look to determine that the attack had just happened. The men's uniforms were dirtied, some even had blood clinging to their skin, and all of them were out of breath. The first knight to have entered managed to calm down before the others and yelled as soon as he was able to. “His Majesty was injured in an ambush! We need the royal doctor immediately!”
All the people in the entrance hall let out shrieks of surprise, and within seconds, they were panicking. Some ran to get the doctor, and some stood there and shivered while murmuring.
Blanche was the only one that wasn't startled by the news. Still, she felt how the blood drained from her face. She used Noah's petrification to free herself from his grasp and rushed to the other knights. “How is he? Is it bad?”
The guard hesitated for a moment while trying to guess whether he could tell her anything. Information about the emperor, especially when he was in danger, was extremely confidential, so it wouldn't be strange for him to keep quiet.
But Blanche didn't know how long she would have to wait for a response in that case. She would collapse again if she didn't hear that her lover was fine right now. “Please...” Pressing out that one word was suddenly much harder than it should be, and it felt like all the air had been sucked out of her chest.
Seemingly, that was enough to soften the knight's heart though. He looked to both sides before leaning forward and uttering his reply in a low voice. “He won't die.” That was all he could say, but it eased Blanche's biggest fears.
“Thank you, thank you...” She repeated that a couple of times. Slowly but surely, her adrenaline level decreased, which caused her legs to be weaker again. She was shaking and quickly realized that she wouldn't be able to stand much longer. She stumbled backward, only to be supported by Stella.
The maid was quite loud as she tried to help the other woman. “My Lady, you need to breathe! You have to calm down!” Stella was frantically trying to keep her mistress upright, which became harder with every second since Blanche only became weaker, but that didn't help the concubine much.
Before Blanche could fall to the ground though, Noah stepped in and held her shoulders too. Both he and Stella kept on talking, but their voices faded into the background when Owen entered the hall with another group of guards.
Those knights were carrying someone with care to not hurt them but still hurried to transport that man. It was obvious that this was Theodore. The guards didn't stop even once to let anyone see the emperor but brought him to the doctor's office immediately, which painted a horrible picture. If Theodore was too weak to walk by himself, that didn't mean anything good.
The surge of fear that followed that sight gave Blanche the strength to walk again. She wanted to run to them and see Theodore or at least hear his voice saying that he was fine, so she couldn't help wishing to join them.
But Noah kept a hold on her shoulders. “Lady Blanche, you have to collect yourself first. It won't help His Majesty if you need medical help as well. You need to sit down for a few minutes now. You won't be able to enter the room while he is being treated anyway.” That was true, but only someone with no relation to the emperor could utter such words.
In Blanche's case, her logical reasoning had been completely discarded. She could only think about her lover being injured and wanting to be with him. Her legs were still quivering, but she would manage to run to Theodore no matter what. Just as she struggled to put that into words while her mind was refusing to work, another group of knights entered.
They were accompanying a person who could only be the empress. For a second, Seraphina made eye contact with the concubine, and that was enough to scare Blanche even more.
Seraphina looked like she was beyond terrified. One could see that she was trying to hide it, but she was deeply affected by the attack just now. She was as pale as a corpse, and her eyes were frantically darting around the room. She was cuddling herself into the blanket that was wrapped around her in an unsuccessful attempt to keep herself from shaking. If the composed empress was this petrified, it had to have been awful.
Blanche whipped her head around to face Noah. “I need to see Theodore.”
“It would be better for you-”
“I need to see him.” She repeated her words louder than before and with as much strength in her voice as she could muster.
Apparently, that helped Noah understand. He clenched his jaw for a moment and frowned at her before glancing at his colleagues and then back at her. “Alright. I'll bring you there. But don't run.”
Stella opened her mouth as if she wanted to protest, but in the end, she just nodded. “If your legs give in, you can lean onto us.”
That was a nice sentiment that Blanche gladly accepted. She didn't need much help, but she had to take a short break at every corner out of fear that she would collapse directly in front of her destination. She already recognized the doctor's office from afar.
About a dozen people were gathered in front of the door, and all of them were loudly conversing except for a few guards, who had sat on the floor and buried their faces in their hands. Some of them were shaking, a couple of them just stared into the distance absentmindedly. Even though the knights were trained for emergencies and more skillful with the sword than most other people, they were only human as well. It made sense for them to be fearful after directly facing the possibility of death.
Blanche only hoped that none of them had been injured too badly or even died, but the most important person to her was still Theodore. As she approached the office, the people that had gathered there looked in her direction with the same uncertainty that she felt too. Those servants knew even less than she did. She was already aware that the emperor's injuries weren't deadly while they hadn't even gotten a small hint about what had happened. Blanche did at least have a clue.
If the novel's description was still accurate, Theodore's shoulder had been grazed by an attacker's sword while he had protected Seraphina. If she remembered correctly, the injury had been disinfected, sewn and wrapped in bandages. After that, the emperor had needed to rest for a few days, and he had been fine again then. The same would happen now, right?
Blanche had to see him to confirm that instantly. She immediately approached the doctor's office. Her attempt at knocking at the door was stopped by two knights who stepped between her and the room though.
The first of the guards quickly spoke up. “The doctor told us not to let anyone in. He needs absolute silence during the treatment to avoid being distracted.”
Blanche felt like she had been slapped. Her mouth opened as she wanted to argue, but no words came out.
The second knight scanned her expression upon hearing that statement and added another sentence that proved that the concubine had to look pitiful since he suddenly seemed so apologetic. “We're sorry, but it's for the best for His Majesty.”
Blanche knew that, but she still wanted to cry. She nodded weakly and took a few steps to the next wall to lean her back against it. Slowly, she slid down until she was sitting on the floor and pulled her knees to her chest to rest her forehead on them. Both Stella and Noah tried to cheer her up and distract her, but she didn't react to any of that. She remained still in that position, with the only movement being her shoulders jerking when a quiet sob escaped her throat.
Occasionally, another pair of footsteps came closer, and a stranger voiced their wish for Theodore's quick recovery. In those cases, Blanche glanced up for a second and nodded at them before lowering her gaze again. She didn't know how long she sat there, whether it had been minutes or hours. Either way, it felt like torture.
At some point, Leonard arrived. He looked terrible with deep wrinkles etched into his forehead and a dark expression that would scare anyone who didn't know him. He stared at Blanche, who was still sitting on the ground like a picture of misery, with irritation. “Why are you here?”
Slowly, Blanche lifted her head to meet his gaze. Even now, her throat was aching so that she had to speak in a hoarse voice. “Theodore's hurt. I have to make sure that he is alright.”
Leon's expression softened a tiny bit, but he still looked like he was ready to slaughter someone. “That's not what I meant. Why aren't you inside?”
At those words, Blanche let her eyes roam across Leon's whole attire. His uniform was bloody, but he didn't move like he was in pain. So, that wasn't his blood. Seemingly, Leonard was more of a fighter than the concubine had believed. She forced herself to speak up despite her weak voice. “The doctor doesn't want to be disturbed.”
Leonard's frown deepened again upon hearing her words. She caught a short glimpse of his expression before he turned around to approach the door. With all the anger that was visible on his face, it wasn't a wonder that the knights didn't dare to stop him.
Just before he reached the entrance, the door swung open and one of the doctor's assistants stepped out. “Please bring Lady Blanche here. She-” The man in a white coat interrupted himself as he saw her sitting directly in front of the door. “Lady Blanche, the doctor wants you to come in.”
In an instant, Blanche's adrenaline returned. She jumped to her feet and stormed into the room without looking back. She faintly heard how Leon followed her while barely registering her surroundings. The door was closed behind them, but she didn't pay attention to anything but Theodore.