As soon as the next morning came, Blanche was wrecked by nervousness. She wasn't sure whether Theodore even wanted to eat breakfast with her anymore, and that thought scared her a bit.

But when someone ended up knocking, she still jumped up so quickly that she tangled herself in her blanket and crashed to the floor. She cursed herself for that and hurriedly stood up while trying to hide how embarrassed she was. She darted to the door and gestured to Stella, who had forgotten to open the door out of shock, to show that she would open up. Blanche straightened her hair and dress for a moment before quickly opening the door.

It was Theodore.

Blanche's heart skipped a beat, and she hurried to greet him. “Hello. Did you sleep well?” Even those few words made her voice shaky.

Theodore gave her a little smile before glancing into the room. “Good morning. I can't complain. Did I come at a bad time? I heard a loud noise. Did your maid drop something?”

Agreeing with that might be the better option here. “Yes, she-” Blanche cut herself off. She didn't want to lie, and she didn't have any item here that she could blame for causing such a loud noise either. It would be best to tell the truth. “I mean...no. I just stumbled for a moment and was a bit too loud in the process. I'm sorry.”

Theodore's smile was quickly wiped away and replaced with concern. “You don't have to apologize for that. Did you hurt yourself?”

“No, I'm fine. Thank you for asking.” Blanche twirled a strand of her hair around her finger to distract herself and barely dared to ask her most important question. “So...uhm. Are you here to eat breakfast?”

The emperor seemed taken aback by that. “Yes. I thought that we would eat together again. If it's unfitting, I can also-”

She hurried to cut him off there. “No, no! I didn't mean that. I just wasn't sure because of...well.” She licked her lips and took a step back. “Anyway. Please come in. I will get dressed quickly, and then I'll be right back.” Blanche didn't wait for his response before hurrying off while trying to hide her wide beam. She hadn't messed up completely. He wasn't avoiding her. So, she still had a chance to enjoy his presence as long as possible. She asked Stella to hurry and quickly changed into one of the new dresses she had received before running back to Theodore.

It seemed like breakfast had already arrived, so Blanche quickly sat down on the chair across from him. “I hope that I didn't make you wait.”

Theodore gave her a little smile and gestured to the food. “It just arrived. I didn't wait for even a single second. And if I did, it would be my fault for coming here unannounced and barging in like that.” He paused for a moment, and his smile dropped. “If it bothers you, I can also stop coming every day.”

“What? No!” Blanche regretted raising her voice as soon as she had done it. She shouldn't react so strongly, or she would make him uncomfortable again. “I mean... I like eating with you. So, I would be happy if you kept visiting me and...” She interrupted herself. This wouldn't do. She had considered ignoring what had happened yesterday completely, but she was way too tense for that. The problem would have to be taken care of first. She needed to ask Theodore to forgive her for making things so awkward between them, and if he agreed, she could be at rest. Blanche cleared her throat and folded her hands under the desk. “Uhm... About what happened yesterday evening. I sincerely apologize for that.” She barely dared to lift her gaze, and when she did, she expected anger or disgust. She had thought that she would at least find a small trace of annoyance. But she only found surprise.

“Yesterday? But you didn't do anything at all.” Theodore seemed genuinely taken aback by her comment.

Blanche's heart skipped a beat at that. He hadn't noticed what she had been thinking about. She could only thank the gods for that. But that only made the situation even worse. If he hadn't been upset with her, why had he suddenly rushed out of the room? She sheepishly made eye contact and quietly admitted the truth. “I thought that you left so quickly because I did something wrong. Because you darted out after we...” She bit the inside of her cheek and did her best to hold back her thoughts about kissing him.

That memory didn't seem to be fully forgotten by Theodore either though. Realization flickered in his eyes. “That...” He paused for a moment, with a deep frown being etched into his features. “No, no. That wasn't it at all. I was the one that suddenly... Honestly, I should have explained that to you. I'm sorry. You didn't do anything that bothered me.”

It felt like a huge burden had been lifted off Blanche's shoulders. So, she hadn't ruined the chances of spending time with him. That was enough even if she didn't receive a clear answer regarding her worries. A beam spread on her face before she could hide it. “I see. That's good. I was already worrying about what I did to make you feel uncomfortable.” She had actually thought that her staring at him had been too obvious. Seemingly, he hadn't understood her thought process though, which could only be good for her even if it almost seemed like a miracle. If he ever realized that she had fallen for him, she would probably sink into the floor out of embarrassment.

Theodore watched her expression for a moment before he replied. “But you didn't do anything bad. I can assure you that I would not stay quiet and let you ponder what you did if I was dissatisfied with something. I would tell you what the problem was immediately. Even if I doubt that you could ever do anything that would upset me so much that I'd want to run away. Please don't worry about things like that in the future. I'm not so sensitive that I would feel offended easily.”

Blanche happily nodded. To her, most things around her were unimportant as long as Theodore wasn't angry with her. She could eat normally again without worrying the whole time and gladly tasted some of the delicious meals again.

Theodore seemed a bit more uncertain than her and kept glancing at her while they ate. At first, she gave her best to ignore it, but by the end of the meal, she couldn't shake the feeling that he wanted to tell her something.

When Blanche set down her fork and finished chewing on the piece of cake in her mouth, she met his gaze again. At that point, she spoke up even though she was almost a bit scared that she wouldn't like what could follow. “Is something wrong? You keep looking at me. Are you sure that I didn't do anything wrong?”

Theodore quickly denied that. “No, you definitely didn't do anything wrong. It's rather...the opposite.” He drank some tea as if he wanted to stall for time before he eventually cleared his throat. “I wanted to add something to the previous topic. Just like I would tell you if I was upset, I would ask you to tell me if I end up doing something you don't like. I know that it may seem weird to you, but it's really important to me that you tell me to stop at certain points. Right now, I'm a bit... No, that's not the right word. Around you, I sometimes do things without thinking about it first. And I'm scared that I'll intimidate you with that. So, I want you to know that you should always speak your mind. This is in no relation to my title whatsoever. I want you to be honest no matter what.”

Blanche didn't take long to answer. “Alright. Until now, you never did anything that made me uncomfortable, but I will make sure to tell you if that ever changes.” She beamed at him while trying to swallow her joy about this comment. Theodore had admitted to being different around her. He really had to like her. At least she was special to him in some way. He wanted to make sure that she was comfortable around him. She doubted that she would ever tell him to stop something though, especially if he unintentionally came so close again. She would rather endorse that.

Even this small answer seemed to calm Theodore a bit. “Thank you. Please keep that in mind. It's important to me. You are under no obligation to do anything you dislike nor is there anything you need to do to earn the right to be here. I don't want you to feel indebted either.”

Blanche nodded. “I understand. I won't do anything I don't want.” She hadn't had the intention to do that anyway, so this promise was kind of useless. “And while I am eternally grateful to you, I won't feel indebted.” This was the harder part. He had done so much for her. How could she not feel indebted to some extent? If he asked her for a favor, she would definitely listen to it and give it some thought. But she wouldn't follow him blindly.

At least she told herself that, but she knew that it was wrong. She would probably do what he told her to do without thinking about it for even a single second. That wasn't because she felt indebted though. That was because she was foolishly in love with him.

Theodore still seemed to be convinced by her response and breathed out in relief. “Good. That's really, really important, so don't forget it. I will remind you as many times as I can, but I may forget it at some point. I will definitely not get upset if you voice your own opinion or something like that.”

It sounded like he was really worried about this even if she had no idea why. Apart from when it came to her amnesia and her love for him, Blanche had always been honest. At least she thought so. She had never purposefully withheld her opinion around him. She didn't plan on doing that in the future either, so his worries weren't going to come true. But still, she took her time to reassure him again.

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After that, Theodore seemed to be calmed, and he started to change the topic to random lighthearted themes again. They talked about what they liked and disliked and about what their hobbies were.

Blanche felt a bit boring when she realized that she had no special things she liked to do. The only thing that came to her mind was baking, and she hadn't even done that in a long time. Thankfully, Theodore also claimed to have few hobbies, but for him, it was because of the little free time he had. Being reminded of that only made Blanche feel even more special. He was truly spending time with her even though he had so much to do.

This breakfast ended on a positive note, and Blanche couldn't stop beaming even after Theodore left. She stumbled over to her bed and hugged the pillow before squealing. After a short while, she propped her head up on her hands and grinned at the wall. Without noticing it, her lips already formed his name again. “Theodore.”

She liked saying his name. For some reason, even this was enough to make her feel happy. His name was probably only so wonderful because her mind associated it with him, but still, she couldn't help but call it her favorite word, along with the word ‘love’ maybe.

“Theodore.”

It was wonderful, but she felt like it might get even better if she changed it a little.

His full name might be a bit too long if she wanted to say it often. Couples often had nicknames for each other, so it might be alright for her to come up with one too. Obviously, she wouldn't say it out loud, but she could affectionately call him that in her mind. As uncreative as she was, she used the most simple approach. She just shortened his name.

“Theo.”

The moment that she said this, something clicked inside her. It was perfect. It was short and still sounded so beautiful. Blanche pressed her face down into the pillow and squirmed around a bit again. Why was the thought of addressing him like that enough to make her stomach tingle this strangely? Her stomach felt like she was falling while her heart felt as if it was surrounded by a warm shield. Certainly, others didn't feel this odd when they were in love. Right?

For the rest of the day, Blanche just lay and sat around while thinking about her situation. Mostly about Theodore but also about what Julien might be doing. She hadn't heard about the marquess ever since coming here. He would probably scold her for falling in love so easily and tell her to get a grip. Maybe he would be right about that too, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Being close to Theodore felt like a dream, and she didn't ever want to wake up.

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Another week passed, and Blanche couldn't have been happier to be in the palace. Theodore had a lot of work to do, so he only ate with her and then had to hurry back to his office. But whenever he managed to take off a few minutes, he came to meet her. They had gotten much closer at a somewhat concerning speed, but she couldn't be bothered to be skeptical. His presence was already enough to make her feel like she had been blessed by all gods in existence, but it got even better.

Even if the first stack of dresses should have been enough, Theodore just bought her new ones every few days. He claimed that it was because she needed a full wardrobe if she wanted to live here for longer, even if she felt like the original amount would have been fine. But she wouldn't complain when she got such wonderful dresses.

Just today, Blanche had received her first ballgown. Normal dresses were very pretty, but this gown here was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen. Blanche had stood there in awe and admired the dress and the matching emerald collar for at least five minutes before being able to speak. “I need to go thank him.” She knew that Theodore was working right now, but he had told her that she could come if there was something she needed to tell him. Thanking him for this gorgeous gown was definitely important.

She swore that she would only go bother him for five minutes and leave afterward. She rushed out of the room without any explanation, which only made Stella follow behind her in confusion.

On the way to Theodore's office, which she had been lucky enough to memorize, Blanche almost bumped into four different people, who always ended up staring at her. Even after she apologized and ran off, they seemed to look after her, which made her wonder how bored the servants here had to be. She could understand that the guards, who had nothing to do except for patrolling the hallways and looking around, scanned her because they had to make sure that she wasn't a threat. But that everyone else looked at her for so long bothered her a bit.

Blanche didn't let that ruin her mood though and just hurried to Theodore's office. Would she have to knock? Or was there someone in front of the door that would open it for her? She had no idea how it would work, but she was too ecstatic to care. When she rounded the last corner and stepped into the hallway in front of his office, her gaze immediately snapped to the person that stood a few steps away from her. She recognized his silhouette even from afar and while just seeing his back.

This was unmistakably Theodore. The last rational part in her mind told her to approach him calmly, but that was long forgotten when she remembered his present.

Before she could think about it, Blanche lifted the hem of her dress and ran toward him. This was a horrible idea, but she didn't care. She fully blamed it on the fact that she was drunk on her love for him.

She heard a random voice addressing her, but she paid no attention to that and kept rushing toward the emperor. Her heels had to be loud, but he didn't hear her for some reason, which gave her the chance to surprise him.

A wide beam lit up Blanche's face as she reached his side and hugged his arm with so much force that she made him stumble for a moment. When he looked down at her with utter shock on his features, she should have stopped, but she couldn't hold back. “Theo! Thank you so much! The dress is beautiful, I love it!”

A second passed, and Theodore still just stared at her. His mouth opened before he closed it again, and he looked at her as if she was a ghost as a slight blush appeared on his cheeks. He looked like he was absolutely flustered.

That was the point at which Blanche questioned whether she might have done something wrong. Had she startled him too much? Most likely, hugging the emperor all of a sudden wasn't the best option either.

Oh, no.

Still, Blanche held onto his arm while freezing in place. She had really messed up this time, hadn't she? He would definitely be mad, and if she was unlucky, she might even have made him so upset that he wouldn't just ignore this. In that case, the only thing she could do was apologize. Yes, doing that quickly would be best.

Just as she opened her mouth, another person yelled next to her. “Your Majesty! Is this person-”

Theodore immediately lifted his hand and hurried to cut them off. “No, it's fine. Stand down.”

Only now Blanche turned her head and saw that they weren't alone. At least six guards had drawn their weapons and lowered them after the emperor's comment while a male servant, who seemed absolutely terrified, looked at her as if she had grown wings. She hadn't seen any of those people before, or she wouldn't have tried this. It felt as if she had been hit by something.

In an instant, blood rushed to her face, and Blanche let go of Theodore. What had she been thinking? Doing something while they were alone would have been bad enough, and now she had hugged him in front of an audience. Those people stared at her with so much skepticism that she felt like she had committed a grave error. Especially the servant looked as if she might be executed any second. “Ah.” She hadn't meant to do something like this at all. But now it was too late to turn back time.

One of the guards turned to the emperor and spoke up. “Are you injured, Your Majesty?”

“No.” Theodore covered his face with one hand and took a deep breath, which made her shrink in herself. He was definitely mad. Would he yell at her?

Blanche couldn't take yelling. She would cry immediately, especially if it was him. Had she really just risked losing everything she had dreamed about just because she hadn't been able to hold back for a bit? How dumb she was. Blanche inwardly called herself the most stupid person in this whole world while praying that he wouldn't get too upset.

Theodore was quiet for a moment before he replied to the guard. “I'm perfectly fine. This is the new guest in the palace. There is no threat, so you can put your weapons away.”

The knights slowly obeyed while scanning the woman in front of them with a mix of anger and worry. It looked like they were still on alert and ready to attack her if she made one wrong move though.

Theodore waited for them to withdraw their swords before taking a few deep breaths again. Only then did he lower his hand and met Blanche's gaze. He was even redder than before, which probably meant that he was fuming.

By now, Blanche was actually scared of being yelled at. She pulled her arms to her chest and desperately tried not to get too fearful as she spoke up in a shaky voice. “Theodore, I...I'm really, really sorry. I didn't see that anyone else was here. Please don't...get mad.” She felt pathetic while saying that. She had no right to ask for this when she had clearly been the one at fault.

Theodore covered his mouth and looked at her for a moment. Then he sighed and reached for her. To her surprise, he stroked over her head and replied calmly. “It's fine. Just don't scare me like that again. I thought I would get a heart attack.”

Blanche's heart skipped a beat as she looked up at him. How kind could he be? Everyone around him had acted like she would definitely get punished in some way, and he even consoled her. She couldn't help but gaze at him with shiny eyes. She still couldn't believe that he actually patted her head even though she had just made a mistake.

The people around them seemed even more surprised than she was. They looked at the emperor in utter confusion before gazing at Blanche with even more skepticism than before.

But she couldn't be bothered to pay attention to them. Blanche was busy getting flustered because Theodore was touching her. And even though it felt a bit strange to do this in front of other people, she happily accepted his affection. She didn't care if this was just supposed to keep her from crying. In any case, he was patting her head, and she adored every second of it. Even her heart had begun increasing its speed despite it not having wanted to work properly just a few seconds ago. She enjoyed his touch until he pulled his hand back and tried her best not to show that she was a bit disappointed at the lost contact. “I will remember that. But...is this really fine? I didn't know that other people were here, and I was happy because of the dress, so I...”

Theodore spoke up before she could find the words to finish. “I said that it was alright, so you don't have to worry. The timing was a bit...unfitting, but we'll survive it.” He said that, but he was still red, which made it seem like she had scared him much more than she had wanted to.

Blanche scanned him with worry before quietly speaking up. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you.” Or rather, she had intended to surprise him but not to this extent. She had expected that he would hear the clicking of her heels and turn around. When that hadn't happened, she had just thought about surprising him, but it should have been clear that she had gone too far. She wrung her hands and averted her eyes while trying to hide her embarrassment.

Everyone around them had to think that she was a complete idiot now. Great. But they didn't matter much. It was only important what Theodore thought. And even though he said that it was fine, it probably wasn't.

Theodore seemed to have no trouble reading her expression and gave her a little smile. “It's really alright. Did you just come here to thank me, or was there something else?” This probably meant that she should leave. That might be for the best anyway.