The doctor's office was more spacious than Blanche had imagined it to be and actually consisted of multiple chambers. The doctor's assistant led her to the biggest room, and after rounding a curtain, she finally found her lover.
The emperor was lying on a bed, and the royal doctor and the other three assistants were busy preparing the treatment. But in contrast to her assumption, Theodore wasn't conscious. The men around him had to change the posture of his arm to reach the wound, so it didn't seem like he was responsive. His eyes were closed, and his face was contorted in pain, which only served to make the pit that she felt in her stomach even more nauseating.
The doctor looked up when he heard the group enter and gestured to the chair next to the bed as he spoke with a sense of urgency in his voice. “His Majesty is in a stable condition right now, but he is very restless. He kept calling your name in his sleep. He needs any support that he can acquire so that he will stay still. Please take a seat there.”
Without hesitation, Blanche complied and sat by the bed while Leonard stayed next to Owen, who was standing in the corner of the room. The men began quietly talking in a serious tone, but Blanche couldn't care less about their topics.
Theodore was sweating, his eyes tightly squeezed shut. His muscles occasionally jerked so that his head fell to the side or his arm moved. It didn't look good. In an attempt to calm him, Blanche enclosed his hand with hers and began mumbling about how he would definitely be fine and that it would be over soon. She might have imagined it, but it appeared like he was a little better after she had done this for a minute.
At that point, she dared to gaze at her lover's bare chest. She flinched upon seeing the deep cut that adorned Theodore's left shoulder. The wound looked like it was deeper than any injury she had ever seen from up close. Blood continued to stream out, and the doctor gave his best to stop this by building up pressure on the area around the cut. This worked after some time, but there was no break. The assistants disinfected the wound already, and the doctor began stitching it. This should be safe and much better than the quick treatment on a battlefield would be, but that didn't make it much better.
One look was enough for Blanche, and she quickly lowered her gaze to her lover's face. Though seeing him grimacing in pain despite his unconsciousness wasn't much better than the sickening sight of a needle being inserted into his flesh. This only made her feel more miserable. Surprisingly, she had stopped crying and suspected that her tears for the day were used up already. That didn't mean that the dread that was making her stomach churn had disappeared though.
When Theodore murmured her name for the first time, the concubine's heart almost stopped beating.
Immediately, Blanche tightened her hold on his hand and stroked over his hair in a way that wouldn't obstruct the doctor. “I'm right here by your side. I won't leave until you wake up.” Her words only made Theodore repeat her name a little bit louder. Again, she assured him that she was there and pressed a kiss on his hand.
Her lover became calmer after that and stayed still for a while so that the doctor could continue the treatment without a pause.
Every time that Blanche thought that she had calmed down, Theodore stirred or called her name once more, which always made her tense. It felt like a nightmare.
A few times, the assistants left to bring a new thread or a clean utensil, but other than that, no one in the room moved away from their spot. Leonard and Owen discussed something in the neighboring chamber, and aside from their voices, it was almost completely silent. The only occasional noises were the doctor's instructions, Theodore's low groans, which made Blanche's heart sting each time, and her reaffirmations that she was still here.
Stitching the wound took the medical staff an eternity, so the concubine let her shoulders slouch when the doctor finally put away the needle to wrap bandages around the emperor's wound. It felt like she had held her breath since entering the room and could finally let air into her lungs again.
The doctor seemed to have been in a similar state. He also sighed when he removed his gloves and asked for a glass of water. He only spoke up after drinking a sip. “The injury is deep, but no tendons have been cut. His Majesty will have to rest for a while and shouldn't move much for the next weeks, but other than that, he should be unaffected. A scar will remain, but it's more important that he won't have any other remaining damages. The only thing that worries me is him being unconscious. I assume that this was either because of the shock or because of the pain. In either way, it won't be a problem if he wakes up by the day after tomorrow.”
Blanche tensed at these words. “And if he doesn't?”
The doctor looked at her in silence for a moment before responding. “We have to hope that he does. Otherwise, we'll have to find a way to forcibly wake him up, and that would weaken his body, which is something we should avoid.”
Blanche could only nod at that and focused on Theodore's face again. It was a bit better than before, but he was still obviously in pain. She lifted her head to meet the doctor's gaze. “Do you have something that could lessen his sensitivity to pain a little?”
“Yes, I already gave him a dose when he came in. In an hour, we'll give him another one.” This meant that the emperor had been in even more agony before getting the medicine. That realization increased the concubine's nausea once more.
Blanche didn't complain to the poor doctor about that though. She thanked him for his work before gazing at Theodore again. He looked so vulnerable in this state, and she hated every second of it. Knowing that he was hurting while she sat next to him but was unable to do anything about it was the worst feeling she could imagine at that moment. He had to have felt like this too after she had refused to wake up after collapsing at the ball. She could only hope that he wouldn't make her wait for two days, like she had done it to him. But still, she would wait as long as it took him to recover just to see his smile again.
As she had promised, she didn't leave Theodore's side until the evening. Stella had come in twice to bring her food, but Blanche hadn't been able to swallow more than three bites each time.
When the sun was about to set, the doctor told the concubine that she could leave, which she refuted no matter often the assistants reminded her that it was fine. Blanche suspected that they worried about her having a breakdown if she continued to sit here, and their concern wasn't unreasonable. Whenever her body allowed her to cry again, she did until no tears were there anymore. She didn't need a mirror to guess how she looked right now. But did it matter when her lover was in a coma?
No, it didn't.
That day, Blanche only left Theodore's side once after being pushed by the doctor to take a relaxing bath. She didn't even do that but only freshened up in the bathroom in the doctor's office for a minute before taking a seat on the chair by the bed again.
The doctor and his assistants weren't pleased about that. Still, none of them attempted to send her away again. They didn't even ask her to leave overnight but immediately gave her an overview of their plan. The assistants, except for the missing one who was tending to the empress, would sleep in shifts so that one of them would always be awake in the neighboring room to check on the emperor each hour. In addition, servants and knights would constantly be waiting by the door so that she could ask for help at any time.
Blanche agreed to that and insisted on staying right next to her lover despite them offering her a bed in the neighboring room. In the end, a few servants moved a small sofa next to the bed. Blanche thanked them with a weak smile and kept silent about not planning on sleeping anyway to not waste their efforts.
Leonard left shortly before midnight after he promised to take care of the emperor's most urgent tasks and the investigation regarding the attack. Owen, on the other hand, stayed in the doctor's office too. He announced that he would sleep in another room next door, but the concubine doubted that he would lie down for more than three hours.
As soon as the remaining people left Blanche alone with Theodore, the current circumstances became even more unbearable. With every passing minute, she hated herself more for being unable to remember this scene of the book. She could have prevented her lover from getting hurt if she had just recounted the chronology of the story events properly before. Why had her mind let her down in this exact situation? Why had that strange fuzzy mist that sometimes showed up at the most awful times kept her from remembering this? Forgetting all the other scenes might not have been a problem, but those had stayed intact in her memory. Instead, she had forgotten this one, which was the only one that had truly endangered Theodore. Why had that happened? Had that been just because her brain had wanted to forget that stupid kiss? Did the gods want to make fun of her? It didn't make any sense unless the whole world was truly out to see her suffer.
But there was no one here that gave Blanche an answer to her questions. The silence only reminded her that her lover wouldn't respond no matter what she tried. Still, she began to mumble about anything she could come up with, more to distract herself than to tell Theodore anything. In between, she sent prayers to the gods over and over again in hopes that they would listen to her just once.
Theodore was the hero. He always had to be happy and safe. He had to.
A few hours later, Blanche's eyelids became heavy, and she fought against her exhaustion for a while until she couldn't anymore. She didn't believe that she would sleep for more than an hour at a time anyway, so she allowed herself to lean forward and rest her head on the mattress. Her eyes fell shut, and within seconds, she slipped away into unconsciousness.
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When she awoke, it was still as dark as before, and a look at the clock showed Blanche that she had only slept for forty minutes. The doctor came to check on the emperor and retreated quickly, which left her alone again. She stood up for a moment and stretched her aching muscles before sitting down and repeating the cycle. After talking to Theodore for a bit, she closed her eyes for a while.
She didn't know how many times she had done this until the first rays of the sun shone through the window. She gazed at her lover without lifting her head off the mattress. He needed to wake up soon, or she would fall apart.
Blanche gently ran her fingers over his face and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill for the hundredth time in the past ten hours. She closed her eyes without taking her hand off his cheek. Another wave of worries filled her mind and threatened to take over all she could ponder about, but her thoughts were quickly interrupted. When she felt something move under her fingers, a rush of energy flooded her veins. She jumped up and tipped over the chair with that, but she only focused on her lover.
Theodore was still lying there unmoving. Yet, she was sure that the muscles of his jaw had just tensed. Of course, that didn't mean anything. He could have just twitched involuntarily again like during his treatment. Nevertheless, she began hoping.
Blanche fell onto her knees next to the bed and grabbed his hand. “Theo?”
For a moment, the room was completely silent so that one could have heard a pin drop.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
A feeling of utter disappointment formed a pit in her stomach, but she attempted it one last time. “Theo, can you hear me? If you can move, please show me that you are fine.” Again, nothing followed. She was already preparing to pick up the chair and sit down to wait another ten hours as she swallowed her dejection.
But just before she gave up, Theodore slowly opened his eyes, and it was like she was paralyzed. Her lover was staring at the end of the bed with a hardened expression. His eyes seemed a bit darker than normal, but that might just have been because his gaze seemed to be different from usual. He had just survived an assassination attempt, so it made sense for him to have such an exhausted and cold look though.
A few seconds passed, and Blanche's mind finally processed that he was truly awake. She let out a low gasp and tightened her grip on his hand. “Theo... You woke up. I'm so glad. I was so scared, I thought I was going to die out of fear.”
As soon as those words had left her mouth, Theodore tensed. It looked like every one of his muscles was strained as he turned his head to her at a pace that almost made it seem like he was reluctant. When his eyes locked onto her, his expression became completely blank, and his mouth opened slightly without him saying anything.
Was he not fully awake yet? Even though that would be normal after having to process an unexpected ambush and a fight for his survival, the concubine was worried.
Blanche's stomach churned as she saw how he stared at her without moving. “Don't scare me like this. Please say something, Theo. Should I call the doctor?” She was about to do that no matter whether he would respond.
Theodore still only stared at her, so she opened her mouth to yell for help, but at that exact moment, he spoke. “Blanche?” He called her name in a hoarse voice and nothing else. It wasn't much at all, but that was enough to make sure that he was fully conscious and able to recognize the people around him.
Tears were rushing to Blanche's eyes before she could think about holding them back. “Yes, yes, yes. It's me. I'm here next to you. We're in the doctor's office right now. He took care of your wound. It only needs time to heal, and you will be fine in a few weeks.”
Her lover's eyes widened at that. “Blanche?” He repeated his question in an even more hazy tone, which made her worry again. He barely seemed to be awake despite the medicine he had been given.
She stood up and sat on the side of his mattress so that her whole body was in his field of view and not just her head. “Yes. I'm right here. See? I won't leave.”
Before she could even take another breath, Theodore suddenly sat up. He repeated her name again, this time with utter disbelief painted onto his features.
Blanche immediately panicked. “What are you doing? You're hurt, you can't just-”
Her attempt at calming Theodore was shut down by his arms circling her body and pulling her to him with such strength that she basically fell on top of him.
This made the concubine even more scared. “Theo, your wound will open again! Let go of me. We have to call the doctor!” Blanche tried to loosen his grasp around her body halfheartedly to not graze his injury, but that only made him tighten his hold on her.
In fact, Theodore was using way more strength than he usually did. It almost felt like he was about to crush her chest with his embrace, but she wasn't concerned about herself right now.
“Theo!” When he ignored this objection too, Blanche stopped her efforts and just returned the hug lightly to not hurt him.
Only then Blanche realized that her lover was pressing his face into her neck and that his body was jolting every few seconds as low sobs reached her ears. In between, he muttered something, of which she didn't understand the most part. Mere syllables were comprehensible, but Theodore definitely kept repeating the same things again and again while clinging to her.
“Theo...” Hearing him cry broke Blanche's heart too, and she was about to join him in sobbing, with the only thing keeping her body under control being the concern about accidentally brushing over his wound. “Don't cry. I'm here, and you are safe. Everything is fine now. I love you.”
That caused Theodore to loosen his grasp on her, just enough to bring his face in front of hers. For a second, he met her eyes with his wide pupils, which showed so much fear that she thought that her heart would stop beating this instant. Had the attack horrified him so much that he was in this state? But before she could ask him or voice any soothing phrases, her lover brought a hand to the backside of her head and moved her to him.
His lips crashed onto hers, and she was about to pull away to remind him of his injuries, but the way that he desperately clung to her made her reconsider. She could barely breathe through her nose while he kept her so close. Yet, she held still. Her lover only ended the kiss after an eternity, and by then, Blanche was panting. While she was trying to catch her breath, his expression suddenly changed completely.
The fear in Theodore's gaze disappeared, only to be replaced with a radiant smile. He didn't leave her any time to fill her lungs with air again or raise her voice. He pulled her into an embrace once more and grinned at her. “I love you.” He pressed a kiss onto her forehead. “I love you.” He touched her nose with his lips. “I love you.” Then he kissed her cheek. Her lover repeated this so many times that the concubine lost count of how often it had been. He told her the same three words and covered her face and every other part of her that he could reach with kisses.
Blanche worried about his wound but kept her mouth closed. This euphoria was better than him being petrified. The current display was pretty good to witness too. She could be sure that her lover was well enough to move without any pain now. After all, Theodore hadn't flinched once despite pressing her against his chest, so the cut didn't seem to cause him unbearable agony. The doctor would come in half an hour at most, and it was enough to check on the emperor after he calmed down. So, Blanche allowed Theodore to continue his kissing for as long as he wanted. The only thing she did was occasionally repeating that she loved him too and pressing a kiss on his face before letting him take over again.
After some time passed, Theodore slowly calmed down a bit and eventually stopped showering her with declarations of his devotion. Then he smiled at her with the softest smile that she could imagine and massaged her head with one hand until her scalp began to tingle. At that point, he finally seemed like he could listen to her reasoning, so she spoke up.
“I'm very happy that you are awake too. And it's great that you aren't in too much pain, but you still need to be careful. The doctor stitched your wound, and the thread might come out if you move around too much.”
Her words made Theodore look down for the first time. He stared at his bandages for a moment and then began pressing his fingertips onto the spot where his wound should be. Before Blanche could protest, he lifted his head again and shrugged while responding in a slightly hoarse voice. “It hurts a bit, but I've been through worse. The doctor already took care of it, so it should be fine.”
Blanche didn't like that response at all. She didn't know whether to be offended or stay serious, so she mixed both. “Still. It was awful. While you slept, you were definitely in more pain, and you were out for a couple of hours. Don't overdo it. I don't want you to make it worse again after you just got better. And you shouldn't even think about working for the next weeks.” She pouted while voicing the last sentence, which painted a gentle smile onto her lover's face again.
Theodore stroked over her head again and slowly moved his hand to her cheek. As usual, she leaned into him, which seemed to make his grin even wider. His expression neutralized after he glanced down at his chest though. “What exactly happened? I remember...” He paused and frowned for a moment as the gears in his head were turning. “I was in a carriage in a forest... I think there were guards with me too.” That question proved that he was a bit confused no matter how much he tried to act like nothing was wrong, possibly because he had been drugged.
Blanche made a mental note to confirm whether his memory was only affected right now or whether she had to inform the doctor later since this medicine might cause issues. Quickly, she responded. “Yes, you went on an outing with the empress to visit-”
His frown deepened, and he interrupted her. “Why?”
That question took the concubine by surprise. It was normal for the emperor to go out with his wife for an important event for which invitations were sent. In those cases, Blanche, as a baroness and well-known troublemaker, didn't receive an invitation most of the time and thus couldn't attend. Logically, Theodore would only travel with Seraphina then. He almost sounded indignant while asking about the reason though, which didn't make much sense.
But Blanche didn't wish to unnerve him by remarking that his memory was a bit off at this moment, so she gave the quick summary. “You were on your way to attend Duke Lamont's birthday banquet when you were ambushed. For some reason, you didn't tell me about you going there before though. I just found out today when I searched for you, and you weren't there.”
The emperor frowned at that and stared into the distance for a while. Just when Blanche was about to call out his name, he whipped his head back to her with shock written onto his features.
Immediately, she moved closer to him and cupped his chin. “What's wrong? Should I get the doctor?”
Theodore shook his head. “No, no. I'm alright. I remember again. It's just, you...” Her lover paused to pull her closer again and gave her another kiss. This one wasn't as long but just as breathtaking as the first one, even though he was gentler. When he released her, he stared into her eyes for a moment while caressing her cheek with his hand. “I should have told you more often. I love you more than anything else in this whole world. I won't allow anyone to ever stand between us. No matter who attacks us, I will always come back to you.”
That declaration was sudden, but Blanche wouldn't complain. “I love you too, Theodore. I'll be by your side forever.” Or at least until he didn't want her anymore, but she didn't have any time for those depressing thoughts now.
Her lover looked like he was about to cry again for a second, however, he caught himself fast. He took her hands in his and stroked over her skin carefully. “What day is it today? Did I sleep for long?”
“No. You drove to the banquet yesterday and were unconscious for the whole afternoon and the night. I didn't leave your side during that, so I know that you didn't wake up in between, but it's only...” She glanced at the clock. “A few minutes before half-past five. So, you didn't sleep for more than twelve hours. By the way, the doctor or one of his assistants will come at six to check on you.”
Theodore seemed to take this as his cue to cover her whole hand with countless small kisses. “Of course, you stayed with me the whole time. You always do when I need you. And since there will never be a moment in which I don't need you, you will have to be by my side forever, like you promised.”
Blanche squeezed his hands in response. “I would love to. As long as I make you happy, I won't ever think about leaving.” And as her last nightmares had proven, she would also refuse to go if he didn't want her to stay.
Her words caused Theodore to kiss her lips for the third time. It was a very short kiss, but his expression showed that he was very serious about it nonetheless. “Forever means forever. I won't ever let you go, my angel.” His features softened a bit when he waited a few seconds before continuing. “You said that you wanted to meet me yesterday. Did you want to tell me something?”
It was surprising that he still remembered that. Blanche had already forgotten everything she had voiced a minute ago. Her mind was in utter disarray right now, so that wasn't unexpected though. After all, she was torn between being overjoyed about Theodore, who seemingly wasn't too affected by the wound, being awake and being worried about his health anyway. Still, it was good that he had reminded her.
For a moment, she considered keeping quiet about the issue to not make him fear for the palace's safety while he was hurt, but she doubted that he would let her get away with postponing this conversation.
Blanche prepared the words in her head to not accidentally let it slip that she had known about the secret passageway for weeks because a novel's villainess had tried to use it to send assassins inside. “I wanted to warn you about a gap in the palace's security measures.” When her lover didn't speak up and only scanned her expression in return, she continued. “By coincidence, I found a hole in the walls behind a tree and a bush during a walk. It is big enough for an adult human to go through easily, so it might be better to close it off and look for other cracks in the walls as well.”
Theodore was quiet for a couple of seconds, which was enough to make her heart beat faster. Had he believed her lie? Or would he question how she had seen such a hidden passage by chance? In any case, she had expected that he would become distressed by the news in an instant and hurry to call a knight to close it off.
But her lover was just staring at her.
By now, Blanche had realized that this look in his eyes meant that he would kiss her, so she was prepared when he pressed his lips onto hers.
When Theodore pulled back, he tangled his fingers into her hair and began massaging her scalp. “Thank you for telling me. I will take care of that matter this instant. I'll be back in a minute.”
That made Blanche freeze and snap open her eyes, which she had previously closed to enjoy the massage. “You don't intend to leave now, right?” He had been wounded only yesterday. Even if it didn't hurt, it was reckless to risk reopening the cut just because he wanted to walk around. Surely, he had to be clever enough to figure that out by himself, so he had to be joking.
Theodore's expression was completely serious when he replied though. “I have to go see something for a moment. If I'm up already, I can tend to this matter at the same time.”
Blanche opened her mouth to object, but the words died in her throat when she remembered the novel. The Theodore from “To Be Empress” had done that too. He had rushed to Seraphina's room despite his injuries and checked on her. After the heroine had thanked him for saving her life by jumping in front of her, they would be ecstatic about surviving. The empress would hug him and then kiss him.
If there was one thing that Blanche had to prevent from happening, this was it.
The first kiss the empress and the emperor shared was the catalyst for the main character's romantic attraction to each other and thus the death sentence for the villainess. This scene had been a one-time thing, so this kiss had definitely caused the beginning of the end for Blanche. She didn't claim that being forced to watch her lover falling for another woman was more painful than the execution itself though. Her heart already felt like it was speared by a dozen swords at the prospect of the main characters getting that close. She had to keep her lover from leaving now, or the novel would follow its original course and destine her to be doomed.
But while she had been in a daze, Theodore was already moving his feet off the bed and tried to stand up. He needed two attempts before he rose to his feet, seemingly without any pain.
If she didn't stop him now, he would really leave.
In a panic, Blanche jumped up onto her knees and threw her arms around his waist before he could step away. “Don't go! If you go now, you'll...” She had yelled louder than she had originally wanted to, but right now, the only thing that mattered was keeping her lover here. But she was already trembling after just having said those few words and cursed herself for being unable to choke out anything else.
This hadn't been enough, had it?