Cedar actually sounded a bit less cheerful than usual when he felt the concubine's forehead. “She is burning up. That's not good.” He let his hand drop again and straightened his posture with a sigh, even when he was still beaming like before. “Why did they come here if she was that sick? Is my brother an idiot?”

Harris snorted at that. “Obviously, she wasn't sick earlier. Someone must have put something in her drink. I wouldn't be surprised if your mother was involved.”

Cedar was silent for a moment before shaking his head. “I don't think so. She didn't tell me anything. I also hope that she isn't stupid enough to try something during a party while Theodore is present. He will massacre us if he thinks that we did that. Anyway.” He backed away and made eye contact with the servant. “I trust that you are able to hold her up with your frail arms for a moment. In the meantime, will look for Theodore while trying to refrain from causing a scene. I don't know whether my cousin honestly wants to find him after all.”

Harris scanned the other man with skepticism. “I'm surprised that you want to help. Hurry up. She's heavy.”

Blanche held back a snarky comment at that and forced herself to keep her expression relaxed.

The prince just beamed at the other man. “You might just be weak too. I forgot that you were always the one carried by your dear lover.” He ignored how Harris glared at him for that and spun around. “I will try to hurry though. Try not to drop her onto the floor, or Theodore will probably make your missing muscles your smallest problem.” He took a few steps before abruptly stopping. “By the gods. Why does she have to come now?” He whipped his head around to the servant and hurried back the last few steps. “Give her to me. Hurry and get Theodore.”

Harris froze at that. “Why? You won't hurt her, right?”

Cedar actually looked annoyed at that, even if he was still smiling brightly. “Are you stupid? I won't. My mother can order you around but not me, and she hates Lady Blanche. I need to stay here to keep her from doing something foolish. Get my brother before Mother turns this into a big problem. Now.”

The servant paused before complying. He carefully let the prince hold Blanche before storming off in the opposite direction.

The concubine had to force herself not to grimace at the fact that Cedar was carrying her now. Her heart was pounding so loudly that she feared that it would give her away. But the strange sensation in her chest and the tingling of her skin were much worse. Even her stomach seemed to churn now so that it took all of her self-control not to complain. Leaning against Cedar felt like she was only punishing herself, and she didn't want to imagine how much Theodore was fuming. She also didn't want to acknowledge that she felt quite safe and didn't actually feel as disgusted as she should have been. In fact, Blanche almost felt like an old friend would protect her now, even when she knew how foolish it was that the drug upset her more than Cedar's presence. Now she only had to wait.

She almost expected the prince to do something. She had believed that he would speak up or look at her face from up close to ensure that she was really drugged.

But Cedar didn't do much but stare down the hallway. He only covered his expression with his bright smile while trying to hold Blanche as upright as he could while touching her as little as possible.

Slowly, the rhythmic clicking of heels against the tiles became louder and announced the arrival of Camille. The dowager empress stepped closer without greeting her son and scanned Blanche's face with disdain. “I was already worrying about why you suddenly ran away, but it seems like you found something interesting. Does she have a fever? That's not what the effect of a sleeping pill looks like. It's more of an aphrodisiac, isn't it?”

Blanche froze at that before forcing herself to relax. Duke Vasquez, that bastard, had actually given her something like that? It made sense. Her body felt overly sensitive, and she might even feel the desire to fall into Theodore's arms right now. But at the same time, her anger grew much more than anything else.

Cedar's smile only widened. “Mother, what sleeping pill? What did you do?”

Camille raised her hand to silence her son before replying. “After the recent events, I believed that it may be necessary to get rid of her. In the best case, we would have brought her out of the back entrance while she was sleeping. If we had positioned her corpse in a more dangerous part of the city, no one could have linked it to us. I hoped that this would crush your brother, but it seems like she never got our medicine.”

Cedar still grinned, but his voice had a sharp edge when he spoke. “Mother. Do you know what Theodore will do to us if you even brush over her skin with your fingers? If you wish to hurt her, for whatever reason, you can't do it while he is still alive, or he will kill you with his own hands. You can't tell me that you forgot about that. I also hope that you didn't purposefully refrain from informing me about this. You know that I am good at coming up with some plans that maybe don't consist of actions that will get us beheaded for treason in two days. Besides, I already told you that she isn't-”

The dowager cut him off with narrowed eyes. “You are becoming pettier with every day. Do not act like I am too stupid to come up with my own plan. It also upsets me greatly that you keep defending that disgusting woman. Did she fool you too and that is why you get more difficult each day? I don't have to quietly accept your disrespect too when my first son already dares to defy me.”

Blanche almost would have liked to chime in and tell her to shut up, but she had to act like a corpse.

The prince seemed to have much better self-control. “I apologize, Mother. I will just be extremely worried about your well-being if you continue to trouble Lady Blanche. You noticed that Theodore will skin you alive if you hurt her, right? And we don't want to be skinned alive. That is why I would propose bringing her back to him, and everything will be fine. We didn't use the medicine on her, so he can't blame us for it.”

Camille was silent for a while before speaking up in an indifferent tone. “No, this can help us too. She looks like she is barely conscious, so it should be fine. If she remembers this conversation, we will kill her. If not, we can use her to do even more damage.” She turned to her son and looked him straight in the eyes. “Do it.”

Cedar froze at that. He hid his emotions on his face well, but he couldn't prevent his muscles from tensing. “What? I'm not sure if I understand what you are talking about. You're not... Please tell me that you're not actually...proposing something that will get us killed. You surely mean that we will bring her to Theodore now, right?”

The missing response was enough of an answer. The dowager empress had something else in mind.

Blanche wasn't certain what that was either, but she was pretty certain that this wouldn't be something she would like to hear. She doubled her efforts to keep her face relaxed while letting her head hand forward in hopes of hiding that she was actually awake.

Camille's heels clicked over the floor again as she walked a bit closer and lowered her voice to speak to her son. “There is no need to be so surprised. Someone else had the idea first. Even if this wasn't our medicine, we can still take advantage of it. She may be dirty, but you will have to endure that. This is the perfect opportunity to make sure that Theodore will despair even if it's just for a little while. He would be brokenhearted upon hearing that his lover was sharing the bed with his brother, whom she pretended to hate so much. Don't you think that that would crush him? If we're lucky, she may be delusional to believe that she can become your empress later, and we can use her. So, you just have to bring her into one of these rooms and lock the door. You don't actually have to touch her. We can just make it seem like she was with you. It's enough if Theodore and that whore feel crushed afterward, so don't worry. I will make sure that Theodore is busy for a while.”

At the moment that Blanche fully grasped what that woman was talking about, she was really about to throw up. She had clung to the hope that there was no way that Camille could actually be that vile, and now that hope was crushed. That woman was completely insane. The concubine could only tell herself that she was so glad to have drunk the antidote. Otherwise, she would be unable to do anything, and now she could at least fight back. And by now, her protectors should be here too.

But despite being aware of what the dowager empress was saying, Blanche kept herself as still as possible. She didn't manage to control her expression, but her hair was covering most of her face, so it seemed to be fine. She needed to hear the prince's response now. Then she would know how far the mother's malice had spread. For some reason, she already knew the response.

For a moment, it was so quiet that one could have heard a pin drop.

It almost seemed like Cedar was frozen in place. He spoke up in a barely audible voice. “You're not joking, are you?”

Camille turned her head to the side and confirmed whether they were alone while replying in a tone that showed how little she cared. “Of course not. I understand if you are reluctant to touch a filthy commoner, so we will just pretend. It's for the greater good. As I said, you don't even have-” She wasn't able to finish.

This might have been the limit for the person that usually never expressed any dislike.

Cedar stayed quiet, but his voice had such a sharp edge that Blanche unwillingly flinched. “You're actually insane. I knew that it was bad, but this is ridiculous.”

Luckily, the prince didn't notice Blanche's movement and still focused on his mother. The concubine could only glance up at him from the corner of her eyes. This was the first time that she had heard Cedar get mad, and it had a much bigger impact than she had expected. His smile was long gone, and for the first time, he looked genuinely furious, his brows furrowed and his disgust quite visible.

Camille took a step back at that, but her voice was as shrill and confident as before. “Cedar, how can you speak to me like that? This is only logical. If you bothered to think about this, you would realize that this is a perfect plan. There is no need to focus on your emotions in this matter. I get that you will not find this pleasant, but it will make it easier to ascend to the throne. And that is our final goal. You would do anything for that, right?”

It didn't make any sense in this situation, but Cedar's smile returned immediately. Still, the look in his eyes remained cold. He didn't say anything to his mother and spun around before carefully guiding Blanche away. “I don't know if you can even understand my reasoning, but I will bring her to my brother now.”

The concubine was more than taken aback by that. She hadn't expected him to just turn his back on his mother.

Camille apparently hadn't either. “Cedar!” Her heels clicked over the ground as she followed them. “Cedar, stop now!” She didn't have an issue catching up with the person dragging another human being and walked around them to stand right in front of her son. “I told you to stop. Keep your rebellious phase to yourself and listen to me. You won't go back to the ballroom now. You will-”

The prince still beamed and cut her off. “Pardon me, but right now, I believe that it would be best to delay this conversation. I will have to retreat. We will see each other later, Mother.” He stepped to the side and wanted to pass by his mother, but she mirrored him.

Camille put her hands on her hips and glared at her son. “Why are you acting like this? Nothing I said was wrong. Is there a need for me to explain our advantages in even more great detail?”

Cedar gave up on trying to avoid his mother and just stubbornly walked forward until she made way for him. He turned to her to give a smile, but it seemed somewhat desperate. “Do I really need to explain why I won't force someone to sleep with me or why I wouldn't make anyone believe that something like this happened? That you even ask once again proves that this isn't normal anymore. You see everything and everyone as a tool to hurt Theodore. That you hate him is fine, but you can't just harm everyone else in the process of attacking him. There are people who have nothing to do with this, and you aren't even satisfied just pushing them aside. You actually want to hurt them.” His voice got a bit louder, a bit less cheerful. It wasn't much, but it gave away enough. “And you don't consider how they, or even I, will feel about this. And that is a little concerning in my opinion. But what do I know? I'm way stupider than my brother. So, why don't we ask him what he thinks about your plan?”

“You dare-” The dowager empress gave up on following her son and stopped in the middle of the hallway. Blanche couldn't see her face, but she was sure that it was distorted with rage. “Cedar.” Her voice had a warning edge now. “You don't want to disappoint me, do you?”

Cedar stopped in his tracks so that the concubine almost fell forward again. He didn't even glance at her and just stared at the end of the corridor. He was way stiffer than before, so it felt like he had to force himself to move when he began walking again. Then he muttered something to himself, but Blanche didn't understand it.

Not when Camille was yelling after them. “Cedar! Come back here this instant! Didn't you hear what I said? I said that I am disappointed in you. You will come back and apologize for ignoring me! Then I might tell you that I love you!” Her shrill voice got so loud that it pierced even Blanche's ears.

The prince stiffened even more, but he kept his eyes on the hallway in front of them. He was still smiling, but for once, it didn't seem convincing at all. Blanche had never seen him that dejected, angry and tired before. But it only stayed like this for a moment before Cedar's wide and bright smile returned as if it was a mechanism.

She could just watch that with worry as her mouth unwillingly opened. “Cedar, that...” Without knowing it, she had given up on hiding that she was staring at him. That proved to be a mistake.

Cedar's eyes wandered to her face, and he stopped moving immediately. “You're awake?”

Blanche couldn't quite deny that now. She used her own legs to keep herself upright and stepped away when Cedar let go of her. She couldn't keep herself from trembling at the sudden cool breeze that seemed to hit her and hugged herself. The situation was a bit strange, so she didn't even know what to say. “Well. We knew that Duke Vasquez wanted to poison me. I...got an antidote. We didn't guess that you would show up though.”

Blanche just stopped at that point because she had no idea how to finish. Should she thank Cedar for trying to help her? That seemed odd since he was actually just doing what every sane person should do. But he had intervened when she had been alone with Luciano, so it seemed like he had some kind of moral compass. Still, thanking him in general would be odd to her. Though, asking him whether he was fine seemed appropriate when she had just listened to his mother demanding such horrible things of him.

But Blanche didn't have the chance to make that choice when noises behind them revealed that other people were approaching.

The concubine spun around just in time to see Theodore say something to Camille, which made the dowager empress take a step backward as her face scrunched up. When the emperor turned around to face his lover, it was obvious why Camille had been so scared of him. He actually looked like the personification of wrath. Even Blanche was taken aback by that.

Cedar just stood there with his smile though even when his brother rushed toward them. “Ah. So, this was a plan of yours. I should have guessed that when you kept reacting to what we were saying. I thought you were twitching involuntarily. Hopefully, he saw the whole conversation, or he will kill me.”

“That... I'll make sure-” Blanche didn't get to reply.

The concubine almost expected Theodore to attack his brother as soon as he reached them and stepped between them, but her lover went toward her instead and pulled her into his arms. Theodore held her so tightly that he might actually crush her ribcage if he wasn't careful, but Blanche didn't complain even when he lifted her up and buried his face in her neck.

Even her whole body told her to accept his embrace. That stupid aphrodisiac had probably begun to set in properly now, but she managed to ban all thoughts about that to the back of her mind. She didn't have time for anything like that.

Blanche just lifted her arms and tried to hug Theodore back, which was impossible thanks to him clinging to her. So, she began whispering to him “Theo, I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me. Cedar refused. That woman suggested something horrible, but nothing happened.”

Her lover pressed his face closer to her and replied in a whisper. “If you don't hold me back, I will kill her right here.” His voice was shaking, and it sounded like he was serious about this.

Blanche understood why he was in such a bad mood, but she really didn't want him to murder Camille when there were witnesses. That would only cause him trouble. So, she struggled more than before to somehow hug him back. She barely managed to pat his back, but it was better than nothing. “Don't do it. We have witnesses, and you want her to continue living so that she can suffer because you are happy, right?”

Theodore tightened his hold on her. “I'm not sure if that is so important anymore. I won't let anyone get away with trying to hurt you... I...will tear out...” He didn't finish his sentence, but it sounded like he wished to harm his mother.

The concubine gently stroked over his back and tried to ignore that she still felt extremely warm and that the desire to crash her lips onto her lover's grew with every second. “You won't let her get away with this. You will make sure that she remembers this for the rest of her life. Right now, you won't be able to get rid of her in a trial because of her rank, but you can weaken her. And you can accuse Duke Vasquez of poisoning me. That will make it much easier to defeat her.”

Theodore nodded as well as he could while still holding her so tightly that it had to hurt. “I will defeat her. We will crush her together. She will never beg for forgiveness or apologize, but she can rot in confinement until the end of her days as the cockroaches eat her alive.” That sounded like the best option for everyone.

Next to them, someone moved around and stepped a bit closer to them.

Theodore immediately whipped his head around to his brother and glared at him. “What do you want?” He sounded so angry that it wouldn't have been strange for him to suddenly pull out his sword.

But Cedar didn't look like he was very scared. He smiled, but he just seemed tired. “Can I ask for something? I would like to borrow a carriage to get home since it would be unfitting to share one with Mother. Or will I get arrested now?”

The emperor stared at his brother with a murderous gaze. “You won't. I'll give you a carriage. You seem to have a bit of brain left. Depending on your answer, you might have been dead.”

Cedar shrugged. “Well, then I'm glad that I answered like this. I would like to ask for permission to leave.” He didn't even try to hide the exhaustion in his voice this time.

Theodore just nodded, and that was enough for the prince to bow to him before he turned away. For just a moment, Cedar had made eye contact with someone behind Blanche, but he didn't say anything to his mother. He just rushed down the hallway and disappeared at the end after rounding a corner.

Theodore looked after him before hiding his face in his lover's neck again. “At least he controls his breakdowns now. He didn't react to his trigger when that woman called after him.”

The concubine was pretty sure that he was referring to the sentence Camille had said about being disappointed. That had caused Cedar to freeze completely, and he had been reluctant to leave his mother afterward. If that was the case, that woman didn't hesitate to use her son's mental issues, which had probably just developed because of Camille in the first place, against him to obey her. Knowing that only made Blanche hate the dowager empress more. By now, Camille and Duke Vasquez were tied on the spot of the people she despised most. After all, it seemed like they both had messed their children up to the point at which the sons were forced to obey them in most situations.

And still, both Luciano and Cedar had refused to do what their parent had proposed.

Blanche had expected that she would need to explain that to her lover, but apparently, he had heard most things, for which she was thankful. That meant that he wouldn't attack the less dangerous people now. She probably still had to clarify that Luciano had wanted to help her though. After all, he had only whispered that he would keep her safe. “Theo, I know right now is a bad moment, but I need to tell you something. Lord Vasquez didn't want to hurt me either. He said that he would bring me to a guest room to help me.”

Theodore nodded. “I know. He ran into us on his way back, and we made him stay in the hallway to not alert his father. He already heard about Duke Vasquez not living for much longer too.” It definitely hadn't been pleasant for a son to hear that about his father, but at the same time, Luciano had most likely seen it coming.

Before Blanche could reply to that, another source of sound came closer to them. She lifted her head and glanced over her lover's shoulder.

In front of her, Seraphina and Harris stood. The empress had a deep frown etched into her features. She stared at the scene in front of her for a moment before speaking up. “What happened here? Is Lady Blanche unharmed?”

Harris, who had probably brought the empress after being unable to find Theodore, visibly relaxed upon seeing that the emperor had already resolved the situation, but Seraphina stayed on guard.

Theodore didn't respond to her and just addressed the servant without looking. “Harris. Get Duke Vasquez here. Now.” He was authoritarian enough to make Harris run off without a second hesitation and without thinking about why the emperor knew his name.

It quickly became clear that the empress wouldn't receive an answer like this, so Blanche spoke up to explain. “I'm fine. Duke Vasquez wanted to drug me, but we knew about it first, and I drank an antidote beforehand. So, we tried to find out what our enemies tried to do. Apparently-” She cut herself off when she went through the things Claude had said in her mind. “He said that he...” Blanche swallowed as she turned her head to Theodore. “That he wanted the Vasquez family to become the royal one.”

Claude wanted to rule the nation. That was obvious now, and it solved one of the mysteries they had worried about for a long time fully.

Theodore gritted his teeth and drew in some air while tightening his hold on her. “That's them. That's our third party. That bastard...” They had suspected that in the past before, and now it seemed like this proved that Duke Vasquez was actually ambitious enough to try to claim the emperor's seat for himself.

Blanche lifted her head and tried to look into her lover's face, but he still hid it. “Theo. Then we can get rid of the biggest issue today. You can arrest him and-”

At the same moment that she spoke, Leonard raised his voice behind them. “I told you to shut up. Are you deaf?” Blanche had never heard him so angry.

She could imagine whom he was talking to.