Blanche seemed more and more uncomfortable, especially when the doctor began rearranging the threads with a needle. She should know that her lover was used to the quick and painful treatment on the battlefield and that he wouldn't complain about something small as this. Still, she addressed the doctor with worry. “Say, about the medicine against pain. Did you perhaps give him too much? It's good if he doesn't feel pained, but this is a bit...” She turned to the emperor. “Do you feel anything around the injury at all?”

Theodore showed her a bright smile. “Yes, I already checked, but the area isn't numb. I do notice the pain too, it's just very faint.” It was nothing in comparison to the things he had felt in the last version of his life. He had suffered more both physically during the war and psychically after losing his angel for much longer in a much more painful way.

The assistants whispered about this a bit before the doctor spoke up. “To be honest, we are a bit worried too. I gave him a dose of the medicine, and it was smaller than what I would usually inject an adult man. After all, these substances tend to make you tired, and we needed him to wake up. We cannot explain why he is this insensitive. Even if the sword coincidentally cut some nerves, he should be a little more affected than this.”

Theodore held himself back from saying that almost being trampled to death by a horse was worse. He just made a dismissive motion with his hand. “I'm fine though. You can rest assured that I will say something if it gets worse. So, don't focus on me that much. You should take a look at the knights too. Just to be certain that none of them has an injury and forgot to inform their superior. Any wounds need to be disinfected this instant.” He was rather sure that nothing troublesome had happened last time, so it shouldn't have now either, but he wanted the doctor to leave him alone.

After a short discussion, he at least got rid of two assistants, who left to examine the guards.

For now, that was probably the best Theodore could get, so he was content. “Good. That should be taken care of with that. Now we just have to wait for Leon. He sure is being slow today.” Which only meant that he could relax a bit longer and admire his angel. The emperor smirked at his lover and slowly brought his face in front of hers. He could see that she waited for a kiss, and he would be happy to give it to her. First, he needed to get rid of the spectators though. He didn't care, but his angel would be embarrassed. So he put his arms around her and spoke up. “But in the end, that gives us more time for ourselves, doesn't it?” Then he glanced at the others in the room.

The doctor and the remaining assistants quickly understood and left the room.

Theodore was very satisfied with that and leaned forward to reward Blanche and himself for enduring the treatment. Just before he reached her, a knock sounded from the door. He let out a small huff and stole a short kiss from her before raising his voice. “You can come in, Leon.”

There was no one else here that would knock while the emperor was resting here, and the pattern was the same as always, so his friend was easy to identify. Still, Blanche and Leonard, who had entered the room along with Owen upon being invited, looked at him as if he had created a miracle.

The secretary acted like he was serious, but upon seeing that the emperor was smiling, he relaxed. “I'm glad that you are awake. Can you move your arm? Luckily, it's not your right shoulder, or you would have had trouble with writing during the next weeks.”

Theodore had missed this. Ever since he had lost Blanche, he hadn't joked around with anyone. Especially not with Leon, with whom he had had countless fights in that other world.

Leonard had always been suspicious of the empress and had voiced doubts regarding Blanche's trial, which obviously had caused hefty arguments. Still, he had been the person that fought for the emperor's survival most even though the concerned person himself had been the greatest danger to himself. Now none of these things would happen.

Theodore greeted his friend with a bright smile. “Oh, how cruel you are. I could be paralyzed for life, and you make fun of me. I intended to scare you for a bit. What gave it away?”

Leonard came closer and set two books on the nightstand before he shrugged. “I'm not sure. Maybe it was the fact that the both of you are already cuddling again and look like you have done so quite passionately.” While he spoke, he placed pens and a jar of ink on the nightstand as well. “That should be all you need. Otherwise, there are enough replacements in the library. I already ordered the unharmed knights to guard the scene, so no one will meddle with it, and reported the incident to the court. They can start securing evidence in the forest and eventually have a trial. I also sent the Duke of Lamont a short letter explaining why you didn't attend his banquet. After that, I took care of a few duties that you don't necessarily have to deal with so that the only thing that is missing is your signature. The knights that have been injured aren't hurt too badly and are resting until one of the doctor's assistants will tend to them. Other than them, everyone got away without being wounded. The empress is safely in her room and is being-”

Theodore barely kept his face from scrunching up when Leon used that title. He didn't want to hear a single thing about that woman, and he was happy about making it clear that he didn't care about her one bit. He waved his hand and cut the secretary off. “You don't have to tell me about anyone who wasn't hurt. The less urgent things can wait. For now, I'll need you to do three things until tomorrow, or rather until this noon. I will write them down for you.” He had quite a few things that he needed the other man to take care of, and he wouldn't say them out loud now.

He reached for a paper, only to see how Blanche already jumped up to be faster than he was. Despite being injured, he would easily have been able to grab the items before her, but he let her have this victory.

Theodore stopped his movements and watched with a smile as Blanche gave the paper to him. “Thank you.” He kissed her forehead and quickly scribbled down the three most urgent points.

One.

In the future, the empress was to be treated like the dowager empress. All kinds of schemes and dangers might come from her, which was why she would be under surveillance from now on. Even though Noah had fallen in love with her last time, that knight was still the best choice. Theodore would instruct him later, and for now, a warning about that woman being an enemy from within would suffice. The empress was a threat to Blanche, and for that reason, she needed to be kept away from his angel under any circumstances. More information would come later. In any case, that person wasn't to be trusted.

Theodore paused to glance at his lover, who tried to catch a glimpse of what he was writing. He hated hiding something from her, but for now, she couldn't know about this. He moved his hand in front of the book to shield the page from her eyes and continued writing.

Two.

The conflict with Northern Ocrea was based on fake letters. The messenger had been bribed and exchanged the letters. The ones that made it sound like the king was a paranoid war-hungry psychopath were written by another person. They needed to locate that person and find out why they wished to cause a war. More importantly, they had to contact Prince Linden by sending a secret message without involving the traitorous messenger. Through him, it would be easy to approach the king. A war could be avoided with just a few letters.

Three.

The dowager empress and the second prince needed to be put under more strict security measures. Theodore worried about them having their memories too, but he obviously couldn't write that. If Cedar actually remembered, the prince would never stay silent about Blanche being here with his brother.

The emperor gritted his teeth and quickly continued writing.

From now on, a servant named Harris would need to be put under surveillance as well. He would work together with the prince soon. But his circumstances were troubling, and most likely related to blackmail, which meant that he should not be treated like a traitor until further information came. Theodore had to admit that he was being way kinder than he would have been in the past, but he owed Harris. That servant had taken care of Blanche and become her friend. It had even come to the point that the man tried to kill the emperor to get revenge. Harris had been absolutely loyal to Blanche. There was no way that Theodore could throw him out for that.

The emperor added a few hints about what should be done to each paragraph and read the whole thing again. For now, this much should suffice. He handed the paper to Leon. “These are my thoughts regarding the attack.” That wasn't the topic at all, but he didn't need anyone but Leonard knowing what this was about to avoid attracting attention. This little excuse should be perfect for that. “As you can imagine, this is extremely confidential. This time, this means that not a single soul can ever hear about that. I'm only writing it down because it's important that you follow every single step on this list. Burn it when you are done.”

Leonard nodded and began to read. At first, he only seemed surprised, even though he couldn't hide his satisfaction about being right about the empress. But the clearer the word choice got, the more obvious his disbelief became. Maybe Theodore had written a bit too much for not having mentioned anything like this until yesterday, but it was too late now. “This is...” Leon lifted his head and frowned at his friend.

Theodore did his best to act like him having all of this knowledge was natural. “I know. You may think that I'm beside myself because of the recent events. I can assure you that I'm not, but in any case, none of the things you will do would be irreversible. So, believe me for now, and take care of this. I'll gladly explain some of the topics in more detail at a later time.” Even if he might arise even more suspicion then. There was so much he needed to keep in mind, and he couldn't just refrain from taking care of that. In the worst case, he could just argue by mentioning his intuition. He had always trusted Leon with that, so the other man should return the favor.

Leonard still seemed a bit uncomfortable and glanced at the paper again. Then he let out a quiet breath and replied. “Of course. But you will definitely have to talk to me about this as soon as you can move around freely again. I won't let you evade this discussion.”

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The emperor laughed at that, which earned him a concerned glance from his lover. He patted her back before responding to the secretary. “Naturally. If you finish that, you will have plenty to tend to in the office though. So, don't give yourself too much time. As I said, it would be best to handle these matters until noon.” He allowed himself to become serious to show the other man that this wasn't an exaggeration.

Leonard understood quickly. He bowed while his mind was already busy with how he would deal with this. “I'll take care of it immediately. If you would excuse me, I'm going to leave now.” He waited until he received the emperor's approval and walked away with a cold glare, which only showed when he was truly lost in thoughts. But before leaving the room, he stopped and addressed his friend once again. “Please recover quickly.”

Theodore gave him a confident smile. “I can promise you that I will. I need to vent my anger about this presumptuous attack after all. There are many people that still deserve my thanks, so I won't die that quickly.” He did his best to hide it, but he was fuming inside. A single thought about the empress made him want to deal with her in the exact same way that she had made Blanche take the fall. But that alone wouldn't satisfy him. That woman would regret ever messing with the lovers.

Leon recognized that anger, and that was enough to show him that his friend wouldn't die any time soon. “Good. I don't want to take over your workload for long. Hurry with getting better.” He left the room with that and immediately looked down at the paper again before folding it.

Owen watched that before glancing at the couple. He scanned their expressions for a moment before speaking up. “I will return to my position in the neighboring room to not disturb you. If you require my assistance, speak up, and I will be there within a few seconds.”

Theodore nodded at him and made eye contact for a moment. That was enough to signal the other man that they would talk later. He waited until the knight left the room before pulling Blanche closer again. He did his best to hide how starved for her presence he was, but he doubted that he succeeded. But that didn't matter when his angel happily cuddled against him.

Blanche was lost in thoughts and just smiled to herself while leaning her head against him. He didn't need to guess what this was about. Surely, she was happy that he was fine, but the fact that he hadn't disappeared to search for Seraphina had probably left a bigger impression. If that was enough to make her happy, he would probably shock her with all of the affection he would shower her with from now on.

They had cuddled before often, and he had given her many gifts, but that would pale in comparison to what would follow now. Theodore would use his ‘painful wound’ as an excuse to recover until the hunt and push away anything that wasn't urgent. Then he would use that minister rule again and implement it as soon as possible. Afterward, he would have more than enough time to pamper his angel. Especially during their summer vacation. He wouldn't leave her side for even a single second and keep that witch's lackeys from troubling his lover. He wouldn't let that witch drug him, and he surely wouldn't let Blanche run around in that confusing maze while she was still injured from her fall down the stairs.

The longer Theodore thought about this, the more ideas he had about what he needed to deal with. It would be better to write a long detailed list as soon as he found a way to work without Blanche noticing it. He scanned her dreamy expression and stroked over her head. She was still thinking about something, which made him ask her even though he knew the answer. “What are you thinking about? You seem to be so distracted. Is something bothering you?” He had to make it clear that he would take care of every single one of her problems from now on. She only needed to say the word, and he would twist the laws of this world for her.

Blanche beamed at him, and her words flowed out of her before she could stop herself. “No, I'm just glad that you are safe. And I'm glad that you are here with me and not...” She froze at that and quickly looked to the side. “Running around.” She still wanted to hide it even though it was so obvious.

Maybe because he had been annoyed when she had been jealous in the past. How ridiculous. She had had every right to be jealous when he was married to another woman and acted like she just had to accept that. He had lost his mind as soon as someone had uttered a single sentence about her being with another man, and yet, he had demanded her to be silent while he got closer to that witch. How pathetic.

Theodore clenched his jaw and tightened his embrace so that she was pressed against his body. From now on, he would never hurt her again. He remembered the promises he had made before his death, and he would keep his word. He would breathe every single breath for her, and his heart would only beat for her as well. And he would gladly spend every second of his life proving that to her. “There is no other place where I would rather be right now. I won't hurt myself by being careless either. I want to be by your side no matter what. From now until the day I die and even after that, I will be yours.” The fact that he was here proved that much.

Blanche didn't like that phrasing though. “Don't talk about dying, please. You were in danger yesterday, and that was already enough for a whole lifetime. I don't want to think about you being hurt again. Promise me that you will take care of yourself so that the wound heals quickly and that you will be more careful from now on.” She lifted her head to look up at him with a serious expression. She linked their pinkie fingers and made him swear.

Theodore was happy to do that. “I promise so that you don't have to worry. I'll be extremely cautious in the future so that I can always return home safely to fall into your arms. I have no intention of missing out on a single second with the person that I love most in the entire world.” He wouldn't throw away his second chance and enjoy each moment with her. With that, he gave her another kiss and was rewarded with a bright grin.

Blanche replied in a cheerful tone. “You are awfully romantic today. I won't complain. Still, I can't help but notice that you have been kissing me very often during the past hour.” The fact that she was so euphoric because of a few kisses meant that he had already neglected her at this point in time.

Theodore's smile faded as he added another vow to the hundreds of already existing ones. He would kiss her much more often from now on. And he would tell her what he felt at all times. He could begin with that right now. “I want to make you understand how I feel. There can't be room for doubt about whether I love you anymore. When I was sleeping, the only thing I dreamed about was you. I saw you over and over again in countless memories, and I was so scared that I...couldn't return to you. When I finally opened my eyes, I still thought that I was dreaming, but...” Thankfully, she was here with him again. Theodore swallowed and gently put his hands on her cheeks. “I'm not. You're here, and I can hug you, kiss you and tell you how much I love you. I won't let you go any time soon.” Not for his entire life.

Blanche wrapped her arms around his neck and carefully pulled him down to the bed so that they were lying next to each other. She stroked over his head while whispering to him. “That's good. Because I don't want you to let go either. I love you. I was so scared when I heard that you left without telling me. Then the guard came in and said that you were attacked. My heart was about to splinter into a thousand pieces. And when they carried you in through the front door...” Her voice cracked, and she gave up on speaking here. Instead, she buried her face in the pillow and tried to hide how she was fighting against her tears.

Theodore hummed and began massaging her scalp. “I'm right here with you. I won't just disappear like that. You know that I'm too stubborn to give in because of such a misaimed cut. The wound looks worse than it actually is. It doesn't hurt at all. And while I can't promise you that no one will ever try to attack me again, I promise that I will be prepared to face them the next time. From now on, I will also tell you before I go out no matter how spontaneous it is.”

The only reason he hadn't done it this time seemed to be because his previous self had at least had one thoughtful bone in his body. Unfortunately, his past self had also been stupid. After all, not telling Blanche about him going out alone with the empress to keep her from being jealous was not a good idea. If his angel had found out later, she would rather suspect that there had been a reason for him not to tell her. Being honest was definitely the best option. From now on, he would always pay attention to that unless there was absolutely no other way.

Just like when he was hiding that he remembered the past world too. Theodore needed some time to prove that he would live for Blanche, and then he could start hinting at it so that she wouldn't hate him when she found out. For now, he would focus on making her happy and creating the perfect world for her.

Blanche whimpered a quiet “Thank you” before sobbing. She did her best to hold back, but the day had probably been way too stressful for her. It would be better if she got some sleep now. It was six in the morning after all.

Theodore shushed her and spoke to her in a gentle voice as he caressed her. “I assume that you barely slept during the last night. How about we rest now? It's still early in the morning, so we should have more than enough time to close our eyes for a bit.”

It didn't take more than a glance at Blanche to tell that she was drained of all energy. It wasn't surprising when she replied in a small voice. “Please.”

He quickly moved to pick up the blanket, which he had pushed away upon waking up, and covered their bodies with it. “Then let's take a nap until someone is careless enough to disturb us. If we're lucky, the doctor will manage to leave quietly when he sees us, but I can't be sure.”

Blanche weakly nodded and already looked like she was half asleep. “Goodnight.” Her voice sounded slurred as her eyes fell shut.

Theodore had to hold back not to chuckle at her cuteness. “That's not quite the right word. But I wish you a good night too.” He pressed another kiss on top of her head before lying there without moving. Theodore waited for a few minutes and hoped that his angel would fall asleep soon. He had eyed the book on the nightstand a few times already and had only barely held himself back. He wanted to be sure that she wouldn't notice.

When a few minutes of silence had passed, he carefully reached over to grab a pen.

Blanche tensed immediately. So, she was still awake. The way that her fingers dug into his clothes revealed that she was scared of him leaving despite his promise. It wasn't surprising with how often he had disappointed her in the past.

Theodore's heart broke at that. He did his best to keep himself from crying as he began telling her how much he loved her and how he would never leave her side. This time, he would stay true to his word. He brushed over her hair and spoke to her until she relaxed and her grasp on him weakened.

He let a few minutes pass, and only then, he dared to move again. Theodore was as careful as he could and took a pen and one of the notebooks from the nightstand. He returned to his original position and positioned the book so that he could write without disturbing his angel. This was a bit uncomfortable for his arms, but he would manage. He began writing.

The first thing he made was a timeline with the most important events of the next three years. Then he took notes on how to prevent certain things and about how he could influence some developments for the better. Political and economic events were important as well, but he focused on personal things first. He wouldn't allow anyone to harm his Blanche ever again. He needed to prevent every single of the mishaps from happening. Each victory that had belonged to that woman would be Blanche's now while the empress could grit her teeth in the background.

Theodore would make sure to give his angel an alibi for every single crime that she was accused of. He would intervene each time that Duke Duremont or his cowardly son tried to scold his lover. He wouldn't yield to political pressure this time. No one had dared to touch him even when he had done his best to make everyone understand that he was completely insane. There was no way that Duke Duremont could lift a single finger when Blanche finally became empress.

Theodore couldn't help but give in to the tears at this point.

The more he wrote, the more he wanted to cry and ask for forgiveness. He saw what he needed to do so clearly now. Why hadn't he done it the first time? But even if the memory of that other world haunted him, he wouldn't give up.

Blanche still loved him despite all of the things he had done to her. He didn't deserve it, but he would enjoy each second with her. He would indulge her and shower her with gifts. He would make sure that no servants dared to look down on her, and no duke would do that either. He would show her to the world and yell about her being the one he loved with his whole heart. And then, in the end, he would make her his one and only wife. No matter how much he tried to hold back, he began sobbing at that thought.

Theodore buried his face in Blanche's neck. He was well aware that she was awake, but he couldn't help himself. He felt how she tensed and considered whether to console him. Most likely, she still believed that this was because of this stupid attack, but it was good if she didn't suspect the truth just yet. For now, it seemed like she pretended to be asleep to let him cry. To her, it had probably looked like he was only holding back because of her, and she wasn't wrong. If she had left his side, he would have broken down completely already. But she was right here next to him.

Despite everything that had happened, she still loved him. And he loved her too. More than anything else in his whole life.

So, he would prove it this time. Theodore would ensure that everything in this nation belonged to her. He would give her whatever she could ask for. He would make her happy and crush her enemies for her. He would fight for their future together, for their happy end, where Blanche would receive all the things she deserved. And he would be right by her side and make up for his past mistakes.

He didn't deserve her. He knew that, but he couldn't give her up. Theodore wouldn't hold back his love this time. He would stand up to anyone that dared to target his angel, and he would crush them without mercy.

For once, he was thankful for having gone to war and learning to be cruel. Their enemies would be faced with nothing but misery now while his angel would live in luxury. Blanche would be showered with nothing but love and be crowned his empress while that witch, who still called herself empress, rotted away.

That version of the story seemed much better to the emperor.