The next day began with Blanche smiling as well. She barely opened her eyes and already remembered that she would become Theodore's wife in the future. Much like last night, she couldn't help but kiss her lover a dozen times. He was just as eager to wish her a good morning, so there weren't any issues about that.

The only problem was them standing up way too late. They had to hurry to eat a little bit before getting ready and leaving to reach the terrace before the tea party would begin.

The concubine almost forgot that she needed to wear a dress that could get wet without staining and had a hard time explaining this to her maid. But luckily, she managed to convince Stella and just chose a wine-colored dress with puffy sleeves but an otherwise simple design. The dark fabric wouldn't get see-through because of some water, and after drying it a bit, everything should be fine again.

Naturally, Blanche didn't hope that she needed to jump into the fountain, but it was a possibility that she couldn't ignore. So, she mentally prepared herself to deal with Evelyn, only to be faced with another issue.

As soon as they reached the balcony and gazed down onto the terraces, where all the guests were already mingling, she stopped. None of those people knew about her engagement, and even though they couldn't read her mind, she still worried about messing up somehow. A glance at the ring on her finger made her wonder whether this was a good idea again.

Theodore immediately noticed her hesitation. “Is something wrong?”

Blanche squeezed his arm once before forcing herself to smile. “Well... I'm a bit nervous. About people seeing our rings and such... I'm not ready to reveal it yet, so I'm worried about accidentally gushing about it.”

Her lover gave her a soft grin and stroked his finger over her hand. “They didn't question our last rings much either. Even if they did, that wouldn't be much of an issue. I mean, we decided to keep it unmentioned for now, but we can change our minds any time. If anyone asks, you can be honest.”

She probably wouldn't even be able to act well enough to hide it if someone questioned her. Not that she wanted to lie about this wonderful development, but revealing it now was a much bigger danger. After all, Cedar was still a threat, and she didn't want to give him an advantage. “I'll think about what I'll do when it comes up. I hope that it won't though.”

Theodore chuckled before his smile faded a bit. He turned around and whispered to her. “It seems that we have an unwanted visitor.”

Blanche had expected the dowager empress or the prince after this description and was surprised to see Seraphina.

The empress wore a simple navy gown with golden decorations like always. That her focus was on elegance and natural beauty made her stand out even more among the other ladies that chose more colorful and flashy dresses. She glowed in the noon sun despite her aloof expression and greeted the emperor with a slight nod of her head.

Luckily, Theodore didn't make her wait this time. “Good day. We're a bit late. How is the tea party going?”

Seraphina truly seemed like she had gotten over the incident from yesterday already. She responded with the same calm voice as always. “Good day, Your Majesty. It has been rather lively. No issues of any sort, only gossip. The kitchen staff prepared delicious treats and tea, and the guests are happy to devour the dishes. The people are sitting in their usual groups or taking strolls through the royal garden. It seems that some are quite fond of your winter garden. I have been asked about it multiple times now.”

A smile formed on Theodore's lips as he glanced at his lover. “See? Everyone adores your winter garden. We should go there soon again. Maybe to have the rest of your cake tomorrow.”

Blanche held back a sigh. He truly didn't have to emphasize their relationship so much when he was only doing it to frustrate the empress. “Sure. But we can plan that later, right?” Her lover shrugged at her, but she didn't look at him for long. After all, she would need to pay attention to someone else.

Seraphina met the concubine's gaze with a calm expression and a posture that exhibited her gracefulness, even though she was only standing there. She waited for a few seconds, and when the emperor didn't speak up, she opened her mouth. “It is a pleasure to see you too, Lady Blanche. May the two of you will enjoy the festivities today again.”

The concubine hurried to nod and made a small curtsy, which was rather hard when Theodore still held her arm. “I'm pleased to meet you as well, Your Majesty. Good day. I'm sure that the tea party will be a wonderful event. I hope that you will like it just as much.”

The empress didn't show much of a reaction at that. She kept her stoic expression as always, and it was reassuring to see that she didn't seem to be upset. “I am confident that this will be the case. Thank you for your concern. Then, I do not wish to disturb you any longer. I will retreat now and join my family if you do not have any issue with that.” So, she was actually accepting the fact that Theodore wouldn't escort her?

Blanche was baffled by that for a moment, but she didn't have enough time to worry. That the heroine had mentioned her family gave her another idea. She whipped her head around and searched for Sophia and her daughter, only to breathe out in relief when she found them at the table, far away from the fountain. Apparently, Evelyn hadn't made her move yet, which gave the concubine enough time to intervene before that happened.

Normally, it shouldn't be an issue to act in time because she knew what would occur, but she didn't trust herself enough. A little mistake could cost Grace's life, so she would have to be as careful as possible. That included telling her lover, which she had done yesterday, and also giving the empress a hint. It might be hard to do that without seeming odd, but she didn't care when a baby's life was on the line. But it still felt strange to suddenly address such a topic, so she hesitated.

By the time Blanche finally called out to her, Seraphina was already in the middle of turning around after Theodore told her that she could leave.

“Uhm... Your Majesty, please wait.”

The other woman stopped and faced the couple again. “Yes? If it is connected to the issue from yesterday, please do not speak about this here in public.”

The concubine quickly shook her head. “No, that's not it. This is about...” She took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. She needed an excuse that would convince the heroine, so it needed to be good.

What had her father done whenever he wanted to persuade some? She remembered that like it was yesterday. He had always brought up things the other person had said to underline his own arguments and appealed to the other's trust. Maybe she could do that too.

They had already talked about Evelyn once after all. Seraphina was already suspicious of her aunt, she just needed a little push in the right direction to see how vile Lady Lemares truly was.

And Blanche was happy to give her that shove. She made eye contact with the heroine before slowly beginning in the most confident voice that she could muster. “I am not sure whether Your Majesty remembers such a trivial conversation, but during the summer vacation, we spoke about people in our surroundings. We agreed on some issues since some people seemed odd to both of us.”

Seraphina almost seemed to be a bit suspicious of that, even though she kept her expression neutral. “I do remember. Is there something you wished to add to that?”

The concubine nodded. “Yes. I would like to remind you of the fact that we expressed our concerns to Lady Ravillot. We both deemed Lady Lemares an unfavorable influence on Grace, so I would like to ask you to keep that in mind. I do not have much to say about this except for me having a bad premonition about today. After the incident at Lady Ravillot's party, I cannot help but wonder. Naturally, that is no reason to overdo it, but it is better to be safe than sorry. If Lady Lemares ever takes care of Lady Ravillot's daughter, would Your Majesty please keep an eye on them, even if just from afar? Merely to ensure that...there would be a witness in case something did happen. So that we could solve this issue once and for all. I believe you should be especially careful today.”

The empress stayed silent for a while. It almost made Blanche believe that she had lost and that she would get scolded by the heroine, but that didn't happen. Seraphina stared at the other woman's face as if she tried to read her intentions before finally replying. “I see. The indication that my aunt could wish to harm my niece is a rather sensitive subject, so you should be careful regarding whom you tell this. I will keep my eyes open, but it would be better to remain silent aside from that.”

Blanche felt how she relaxed in relief. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I hope that nothing will happen, but...”

The empress gazed at the venue below them. “You cannot prevent issues just by hoping. You will need to take precautions to change the outcome. I do not believe that anyone would be daring enough to try to harm someone during the royal tea party, but I would rather be too cautious than negligent. As I intended before, I will take my leave then.” She waited for a moment, and when the emperor didn't object, she moved to the staircase and climbed down in the most elegant way the concubine had ever seen.

Blanche couldn't help but be calmed by the fact that someone else was paying attention now too. Along with her, three people would watch Evelyn, so it should be obvious that nothing would slip past their eyes. If something did happen, they would have enough witnesses to lock that vile woman away. She let her eyes wander over the crowd and found Grace on her grandfather's lap.

Seeing Henry beam at the little girl was the strangest thing to Blanche. She was used to witnessing his unrestrained anger, so being met with the opposite was a surprise, but she didn't dare to look at this scene any longer. If Henry noticed her watching them, he would only get angry. But at least it seemed like Grace was safe as she was with her loving family for now.

The concubine was only torn from her thoughts when her lover spoke up.

Theodore's smiling face moved directly in front of hers. “You didn't hear what I was saying at all, did you?”

Blanche thought about it for a moment but had to shake her head. “I'm sorry.”

“That's alright.” The emperor poked her cheek. “I just told you that I found it admirable how you pay attention to those around you and work hard to help others. Even when the danger isn't immediate. You're much kinder than anyone else here. You really are an angel.”

Blanche felt her heart skip a beat at that, but she still averted her eyes. It was nice to hear such things from her lover, but she knew that it wasn't true. She cared most for Theodore and herself as well as the ones close to her. She gladly helped others, but putting her beloved ones first probably wasn't what a true angel would do. “If you think so. I doubt it though. That isn't really important anyway, but... Let's talk about something else.” She squeezed her lover's arm. “We need to go downstairs after all. The guests are waiting.”

Her lover stopped her attempt to pull him towards the terrace without any effort. He just refused to budge and held onto her arm and kept her in place with that. “Oh, you won't get away from this conversation that easily. I can list about a million things that make you the most wonderful person in the whole world. Either you believe my phenomenal judgment, or I'll start listing all of them.”

Blanche spun around to beg him not to do anything like that. But as soon as her eyes landed on the people approaching them from behind, she froze and her expression fell.

Theodore was able to interpret her reaction immediately. He sighed quietly before turning around to face Cedar and Marquess Sefare. As always, he let them wait for a moment, in which he pulled his lover against his side and tightly wrapped his arm around her. “Good day. I'm pleased to see that both of you arrived here without any problems. But I have to say that I'm surprised that your mother isn't by your side, Cedar. Did her sickness get worse again? If so, send her my regards.”

Cedar greeted him with a bow, which Sefare imitated. Naturally, the prince spoke up first. “It is an honor and pleasure to have a chance to speak to you so early, Theodore. Do not worry about Mother. She is perfectly fine again. How could she not be? After all, she finally spent a night in the royal palace again instead of the cool and slightly humid mansion in the woods. We are happy to be home, and that works like a miracle. She recovered overnight. Right now, she is enjoying her tea by the terrace with some noble ladies, and men would only have disturbed them, so I gave her privacy.”

Theodore mirrored his brother's smile. He glanced at the table and seemed to take in the people there before he focused on the conversation again. “I'm pleased to hear that. I am sure that I will speak to her later, so you do not need to greet her for me. Though, I have to say that you made the right decision not to join that group. They would have ruined your mood quite easily.” He turned his head to the other man after that. “Lord Sefare, how are you today?”

The marquess bowed his head to the emperor again. “How could I not be well when I have the honor of interacting with Your Majesty? I am happy to be attending these wonderful festivities. They are as breathtaking as always.” And as always, he was trying to gain other people's trust by complimenting them.

Blanche knew that too well. She remembered how Sefare had once told her that she was beautiful or clever and that she would surely charm the emperor and become empress herself. Back when she had barely been eighteen and alone without her family, she had clung to the person that saved her and trusted his every word. Only after remembering the novel, she had understood how foolish that had been. Inside her, two emotions battled for dominance. Anger at him for using a child and her shame for believing him without questioning it when he might have been the one sacrificing her family purposefully. She couldn't tell anyone about this though. She could only avert her eyes in annoyance and wait for the men to chat.

At least that had been her intention, but Theodore wouldn't have any of it. He had to have observed her face again because he turned his attention to her as soon as she looked away. “Is everything alright?” The fact that the emperor just ignored a marquess' greeting for her had to be humiliating to Sefare.

Theoretically, the concubine shouldn't speak to avoid underlining this embarrassment.

But Blanche couldn't care any less. She had been embarrassed about falling for that awful person's manipulation, so Sefare deserved it. “I'm fine. Just a bit tired. But I assume that we can sit down soon, right?” She didn't know whether she was overdoing it by leaning her head against her lover and asking him something like this in an exaggerated sugary voice, but she didn't mind either way.

Theodore didn't have a problem with it either. He stroked over her hair and smiled down at her while completely disregarding the people in front of them. “Oh, my sweet angel. That's my fault, isn't it? Tell me if it gets too exhausting, and I'll carry you to our room immediately.” Now that he called it their room instead of his, it sounded even more intimate than before.

Normally, Blanche would be embarrassed about things like this. But after seeing how Sefare's lips twitched from the corner of her eyes, she decided to continue their little show for a bit longer. “For now, it's still fine. I just don't want to have as little free time as yesterday. I barely managed to eat my sweets, and that was awful. I want to enjoy them properly, so we have to sit down together for a while.” Few people in the nation could speak like this with the emperor, and she was proud to show their enemies that she belonged to that group.

Theodore gazed at her with a warm smile and kept his attention on her fully. “Of course. I will find a nice place for us.” His eyes wandered across the venue, and his grin slowly faded. “But that won't do. We need a separate table. Where do you want to put it?”

Blanche hoped that he had understood that she was joking by now. After all, it would be the ultimate humiliation for the empress if her husband sat at a separate table with his mistress. But she just chose to believe that he did comprehend and focused on frustrating the people they were talking to. “We definitely need to be able to see the fountain from there. And we need to have some sunlight but not too much, just a bit. It should be close to the servants as well. I don't want to force them to run too far each time I ask for some sweets. Also-” She cut herself off and gazed at the men that were watching their conversation.

Unsurprisingly, Cedar was grinning, but Sefare looked extremely irritated by now. It was probably for the better to end it here. Not without angering that marquess one more time though.

“Ah, Theo. We have company. I almost forgot. We should discuss this later.”

Theodore rolled a strand of her alabaster hair around his finger and leaned down to kiss it. “I won't ever put anything before you. If you want to talk about our table now, we can do that.”

Before the concubine had a chance to respond, Cedar chimed in. “My, my. I thought yesterday was bad, but it seems that it's only gotten worse today. The lovebirds can finally show up together in public, so you intend to use that chance to the fullest, right? I doubt that anyone will be able to separate you at all.”

The emperor laughed. “Of course not. After all, Blanche is the woman I love. She is the most important person to me, and no one could ever take her spot.”

While they weren't in the middle of the crowd on the terrace yet but on top of the stairs, where it was emptier, they still weren't alone. Countless people were standing around them, and none of them focused on their own conversations but rather on the emperor's one with the second prince. Maybe it would have been fine to say those words in public if Theodore had made some effort to speak quieter, but he didn't do that.

Thus, not only the two in front of them heard but also the rest of the people upstairs. A murmur went through the crowd immediately.

Blanche felt how her whole body was getting hot as she tried to come up with a way to hide her face to keep others from seeing how she became red. There was no way that she would be able to refrain from blushing when she knew that everyone here had witnessed how she had clung to her lover and disrespected the prince and a marquess.

Not only that, but Theodore had also announced his feelings for her openly. She didn't know whether to start laughing or crying at that. It was extremely embarrassing, but at the same time, she felt her heart constricting with joy. It was an overwhelming feeling, and she didn't have any idea how to react. So, she just hugged her lover's arm and pressed herself against him. If she was to marry him later, she had to get used to this.

Upon seeing that, Sefare's mood seemed to become better again. Apparently, he was still thinking that Blanche would ruin the emperor's marriage without knowing that Seraphina had already approved of the concubine's engagement. “It is refreshing to see such young love blossom. People rarely show that they care so much this openly. Especially since...well. That does not matter much. In any way, I am happy to be able to witness that the two of you get along this wonderfully.”

Of course, Sefare was happy when he believed that this would cause the empress to divorce her husband and thus make Seraphina lose all claims to the throne. So, he was doing his best to show his support for this relationship in hopes that it would make the couple bolder and the empress angrier. Sefare was as manipulative as always without hiding his intentions well.

It made Blanche sick to know that he had fooled her in the past.

The emperor grinned at his lover as he heard the other man's words. “I know. After all, we truly are the most open about our feelings for each other. It seems that everyone knew the truth even before I escorted her. But that only means that we can stop trying to hide it.” He pressed a kiss onto Blanche's hair before raking through it to straighten her strands again, as much as her wavy hair allowed it. “Now you can run up to me and hug me as often as you want to. Or you can ask me to dance and sit next to me while eating. No more holding back.”

Even if all of those were things that Blanche had wanted to do in the past without paying attention to the problems that would cause, she was still hesitant. After all, the relationship with the Duremont family was unsteady right now, and she didn't want to strain it any more. So, she wouldn't overdo it. That her lover was escorting her was bad enough, and after he had declared his devotion to her in public, they would have to be a bit quieter for the rest of the evening.

At least a bit. Not that it mattered much at this point.

Thankfully, Theodore didn't wait for a response though. He lifted his gaze to the marquess again and showed him a grin. “But if seeing us happy makes you glad, you should consider finding someone for yourself too. I don't mean to be impolite, but you were never married or had a lover, right? I can assure you that falling in love is much more pleasant than watching others.”

Blanche couldn't hold back a quiet snort at that. She hurriedly covered her mouth, but she felt like everyone had heard. Frankly, she didn't even feel bad. Instead, Blanche was so tempted by Theodore's obvious provocation that she couldn't hold back and addressed her lover. “It's mean to ask that, Theo. We know that Lord Sefare is one of the oldest bachelors here, but saying it so directly...” She didn't have to add more.

Sefare was visibly taken unhappy about this topic. Maybe because he really was embarrassed or because he hated the fact that Blanche talked back to him. In any case, he didn't even manage to press out a real response. “I... That is a very private matter.” Obviously, he had never been interested in anyone else. His only goal was gaining power, and human interactions were too exhausting for him most of the time. Most women of his age were already married, and the ones that weren't were from families with little influence. So, he had never bothered to look into that matter, even though he would need an heir to secure his family's bloodline at some point. He probably wanted to focus on that once Cedar was sitting on the throne. Naturally, it would be hard for him to explain that to the very person he wanted to revolt against though.

Blanche tried to keep herself silent after her last blunder, but when the marquess struggled to explain, she couldn't help it. She turned to her lover and added another insult. “See, Theo? Now you embarrassed him.” She beamed at Sefare again. “You do not need to feel bad, Lord Sefare. Not everyone has the same priorities. Some people wish for power first and think about a family later. Just to secure their loved ones, of course. There are some that don't care about humans as long as they aren't useful to them too. But naturally, those are rare.”

It felt good to insult that man, even when it wasn't really direct. The fact that Blanche got her small revenge was quite satisfying, especially when the marquess glared at her for that.

Unfortunately, she wasn't the only one having a chance to speak here.

Even as Sefare was made fun of, Cedar chuckled. He met Blanche's gaze with a smirk before glancing at the man beside him. “Ah, that isn't wrong. Lord Sefare certainly made his choice to focus on his work a while ago. But that is not bad, is it? Thinking about your career and chances first would be beneficial to everyone. Even when you think that you already have enough, you could gain even more by letting go of unimportant baggage. Many more people should understand that. It would benefit them a lot, even those that are just content with their loved one's affection.”

Cedar was being an idiot again. That was nothing new.

Clearly, Blanche shouldn't even discuss with him. Somehow, she at least wanted to say one small thing though.