For a few days, it was calm.

Too calm.

It felt like the dry, airy breeze carried a sense of doom with it even if nothing troublesome had surfaced in any way whatsoever. Or maybe that had been exactly why it felt like something had to happen soon. The atmosphere was buzzing as if the world wanted to scream about the future and warn everyone to be prepared.

But the only ones that seemed to notice that were Blanche, Theodore and their close confidants. Everyone that hadn't heard their guess about what would follow in a while wasn't affected. The servants chatted as much as always. Laughter echoed through the hallways, and one heard the superiors scolding the people that had skipped work. The guards dutifully patrolled the corridors, but they didn't seem to be scared or cautious, not more than usual at least.

That probably made it even tenser. The fact that everyone around them acted like nothing had changed almost made Blanche feel like she was imagining all of it. Maybe that was the case. Waiting for the enemy to strike was one of the most frustrating things that one could do, and it wouldn't be strange for her brain to make her worry more than necessary.

It felt like bad news would come even if there was no particular reason for her to be convinced of that. But in the end, she still had no choice but to wait for what would happen.

All she could do in the meantime was prepare to be a good empress. She worked in the office daily and continued her lessons with Leon. She still felt like she was clueless, but she might not really be that stupid. After all, she had few problems understanding even complicated issues.

Even her greatest sacrifice yet hadn't left Blanche with question marks in her head, even though she had expected it. After ignoring her unwillingness, which had remained despite her efforts, she had forced herself to read the constitution when she had time. Luckily, Theodore did it together with her, so it was slightly less boring. But in the end, the laws themselves were the interesting parts, and reading the unnecessarily long paragraphs that were full of fancy but unimportant words was more annoying.

Somehow, Blanche managed to bring herself to go through two more volumes over the course of a few days though. That might be connected to her lover always giving her a lot of hugs whenever she finished a chapter. She still didn't like reading the constitution, but she would be able to do it without too many issues. Yet, she was rather happy when she finished the third volume and could focus on contracts again. She read a few of those while making notes for a letter directed at the marquess that wished to trade with Travuan, about which she would ask him a few questions.

After finishing, Blanche put away the pen and stretched her arms while cuddling into the soft cushioned chair that had been placed next to Theodore's. The desk was big enough to have room for the both of them, so he had insisted on her being right next to him. Apparently, he paid more attention to her than to the documents though.

Her small movement was enough to make Theodore turn to her with a smile. “All done? You are quick for someone that just started this a little over two months ago.”

Blanche mirrored his smile and glanced over at his stack. Obviously, he had finished a long time ago and had already chosen some of the less important documents to take care of them until she was done. “You have some nerve. I can see that you already finished all of those. You truly are efficient. You are definitely too fast when it comes to this.” It was no wonder that Leon was always concerned when he saw how quick the emperor had been.

Theodore just grinned at that. “I had a long time to learn this. About twenty-seven years, I would assume. It's logical that I would be extremely good at this. Besides, I already read these once, so it's fine.”

The concubine looked at him for a while and tried to hold herself back. But in the end, she gave up and leaned forward to run her fingers through his hair. She truly couldn't make eye contact without wanting to cuddle. Maybe this was really a bit concerning, but she didn't care. “Theo, I doubt that you started reading when you were an infant. But you might have started learning when you were three. So, I'll give you twenty-four years. You are extremely good at this though. I should praise you much more, you genius.”

Her lover leaned his head to her and closed his eyes while she caressed his head. “If you praise me, my heart feels like it's about to burst. You should be careful with your words. You can't imagine how much of an influence they have on me.”

Blanche had a very clear picture of that. His words were also enough to fill her bliss until she felt like she was blessed by the gods. At the same time, he could easily break her with just a few sentences too. That was the price of love, and she had no issue paying it. She trusted her lover fully even if he had so much power over her. In the end, she had the same one over him, and she would happily use her power to make him as happy as possible. “If you are this excited to hear me say it, I need to do it more often. You are wonderful, Theo. You're the most intelligent person I know. I adore you and even your stubbornness. Because being with you fills me with more joy than I could gain from anything else. I just want to shower you with-”

A knock on the door cut her off.

Theodore looked slightly annoyed, but he gave in and spoke up. “Yes?”

Leon opened the door immediately. “It's me. I apologize for the intrusion, but there is something important that we need to talk about this instant.” The seriousness in his voice was undeniable. There was no trace of his usual smile and his kind greetings or the tea and the snacks that he normally brought whenever he came.

The emperor became uneasy within a single moment too. “Close the door behind you. What happened?”

Leonard did what he was told and then walked over to the desk with a grim expression. “News from the capital arrived. I just received them from one of the guards. Do you know what happened today?”

Theodore furrowed his brows and replied. “Claude Vasquez was allowed to go back to his mansion, wasn't he? There were about half a dozen knights with him. He didn't try to run away, did he?”

Leonard could have confirmed that, which would have made everyone slightly annoyed. But his expression just became grimmer as he claimed something even worse. “That man won't be running anywhere any time soon. He is dead. The mansion burned down, and there were seven charred corpses inside. Three couldn't be identified anymore, but some of the others had items on them that proved that they are royal guards. The last corpse wore Claude Vasquez's clothes.”

Blanche froze upon hearing that. She stared at Leon in disbelief while her love buried his face in his hands. She was stunned for a moment before she opened her mouth. “There is no way. That house didn't just accidentally catch fire while they were inside, even if it didn't rain for a few weeks. Such an accident can't happen. That's ridiculous.”

Leonard nodded while glaring at something that wasn't here. “It's obviously arson. The investigation didn't begin yet, but I am convinced that there will be the same clues that we found in the Bessetas' mansion. I would bet everything I own on that. This fire was also started with the help of that flammable substance, and we will find traces once we search. The cases are almost the exact same. A sudden fire in multiple places at the same time and dead people. The only difference was that people appeared earlier here and managed to put out the fire before everything was gone. Half of the building is in ruins, but the rest is fine. Because of this, a few corpses were still identifiable. And the first testimonies claim that there were external wounds on those people. That means that someone murdered them, and the fire was caused purposefully to get rid of the evidence. Coincidentally, the office that used to hold the evidence we used most also burned down completely. It was good to confiscate everything before all of this.”

Theodore lifted his head and showed a cold expression. “How many people died? Only those seven? Claude Vasquez and our guards, or did someone else get in the crossfire? What kind of witnesses were there?”

Leonard immediately began answering those questions. “Seven people dead. The fire didn't spread too much, so the servants' quarters weren't charred. That is the only good thing about this case. All of them are additional witnesses. But Luciano Vasquez should be the best one to ask. He accompanied his father to the mansion but left with his mother and sister when the guards told them to avoid that man. He came back earlier to make sure that everything was fine and ran right into the fire. It seems that he has some mild burns and is in shock, but he is the one that was closest to the incident. I will talk to him to make sure that he isn't involved with the perpetrators, but I think that he was truly lucky and barely survived because of that.”

This didn't make it less horrible, but Blanche was a bit relieved. “So, all servants, Luciano, his mother and Rebecca are safe? No injuries either?” She waited for a nod before breathing out. At least someone had been saved, but the fact that six royal guards had lost their lives was still tragic. There was no way that one could just forget about that. She couldn't bring herself to care about Claude though. He had deserved it, and she was only mad that he hadn't died by himself.

Theodore's eyes were filled with hatred as he spoke. “Send the Vasquez family a letter that offers our support along with some guards that will prevent further problems. Send letters to the knights' families too. They will receive a consolation fee, and some of the higher-ranking knights will bring them the news.” He paused and gritted his teeth. “You can tell them that the person that did this will be suffering until the end of their life. I will make sure of it. After you took care of that, begin the investigation. I need a detailed report of the wounds on the corpses and of the fire, where it started and what caused it. Question the people yourself to ensure that they aren't lying. If anyone seems suspicious, bring them here.”

Leonard bowed his head. “I will do so immediately. Please remember what this means in regard to our perpetrator. Their motive was quite obvious. I will do my best to find traces to condemn them, but...”

The emperor stared at his desk while replying. “Even if you don't, we will end this within two months. Don't focus on the snake's head. If we can cut out another part of the tail now, the head will lose even more balance. Focus on investigating and listening to the witnesses. Someone probably saw the perpetrators. If you find them, keep them alive and bring them here.”

The secretary nodded. “I will do my best.” With that, he turned around and left the room.

Almost immediately, Theodore let out a stifled noise and lowered his head. Blanche took that as her sign to stand up to climb onto his lap. As expected, he immediately put his arms around her and pulled her against him. Only a moment later, he began speaking with a pained expression. “I thought that I got used to this, but that isn't true. I saw so many people die, and still, every single time one of my men has to suffer, it fills me with rage and burning fury and grief at the same time. All of this is so useless. Why does she have to kill others? Does she want to gain power that much? Or does she just hate me enough that she would gladly destroy the lives of hundreds for that? I don't get it. I know that she's like this. And still, I didn't manage to protect them. Even if I tried my best, I still failed. Once I don't know what will happen, I'm useless. What if I can't protect you either?” Hearing him say that hurt.

Blanche put her hands on his cheeks and forced him to look at her. “You are not useless in any way. You grant the nation and everyone around you such a wonderful world with your presence and your skills as the ruler. You protected our country from wars, and you also protected me on countless occasions. Now one tragedy occurred, and there was no way that we could have known. Don't you dare blame yourself. The person that is at fault for all of this is Camille Estien. No one else except for maybe the people that help her. But you, who are trying to save everyone, aren't responsible. How could you have expected that someone would want to kill Claude? He had already lost, and he would have spent the rest of his life in prison. He might have testified against the dowager at some point, but I'm sure that you already made him write that down so that you could still use it in the future. And you took the documents out of the house in advance, right?”

She waited for her lover to nod weakly, which Theodore promptly did.

Blanche gave him a short kiss before resuming. “You already prepared for a horrible case. The fact that something happened could not have been foreseen. We're only human. We're not supposed to know what the future will bring.” Even if they maybe did. “Of course, it is tragic whenever someone loses their life, but you are not to blame. The murderer is. You will take them down and bring them to justice, right?”

Theodore nodded again. His hold on her tightened, and it seemed like he finally regained his confidence at least a little. “I will. I won't execute that woman, not yet. She deserves to feel the misery she caused first. I will use her as bait to gather every single person that worked below her. They will get their punishment first so that she can slowly wait for the day that hers finally comes. She will regret this. She will regret ever trying to hurt someone because of her own selfish interests. I won't even need to be anywhere close to her for that. From afar, we will show her how happy we are while she is rotting in a dark and dusty cellar. She can forget the south palace.”

Blanche gave him another kiss. “See? You will do it. Because we are right before the finale. And that will give us a chance to attack her, right? We will win and stand here in victory while she is sitting on the floor and yelling until her throat becomes sore. That woman will be left with nothing, and at the moment that she accepts that, her world will crumble around her.”

The emperor stared straight ahead for a moment before his expression softened. “Yes. Everything will be fine.” He turned to his lover and cupped her face to kiss her back. When he pulled back, he held her head still to look into her eyes. “We will be with one another and reach our happy future together. It will be different from last time. Because I have a reason to fight now.” He was silent for a few seconds and lowered his voice before continuing. “You can trust that I will survive for you. There may be a point in time during which I have to act like I am injured or dead, but you need to remember that I won't give in. I will return to you no matter what. You know that. But our enemies won't. So, if that time comes, distract them as much as possible. Keep them from hurting you by saying anything necessary and stall for time. I will come to save you as soon as I can. Remember that.”

It wasn't like Blanche would have been able to accept it if Theodore got wounded anyway. She would probably be in denial for the rest of her life. And if she noticed that he wasn't with her anymore, she wasn't sure whether she would continue. She might force herself to move on just to get revenge, but she doubted that she would be strong enough. She might just throw herself into the murderer's sword to die by her lover's side. But of course, Theodore and her dying had never been part of her plan for their happy end.

“I will remember that. Thank you for your promise. You need to keep it. You need to come back for me.” Blanche brushed through his hair and leaned her head against his chest. “And don't take any risks. I want you to use the safest route even if it's boring or you think that it's cowardly and treacherous.”

Her lover nodded at her. “Of course. I would do anything to be with you. I mean that when I say it. I don't care how low I have to sink if it means that I can come back to see you. So, you can trust that I would do the most cowardly thing you can imagine if it gives me a chance to fall into your arms. I promise you that. That is why I also want you to use dirty methods if necessary. You can act all you want and say horrible things about me if it means that some of our enemies might believe that you would help them. If that keeps them from hurting you, do whatever it takes.”

Blanche swallowed at that. Surely, she would do everything in her power to return to her lover. But actually claiming not to care about him might break her own heart in the process. She would do it to see Theodore's smile again, but she would hate herself for it at the same time. Especially if she had to speak to the people that she despised most. “I...I will do my best to survive. I can't act that well, but it will be fine. Because the odds that I am in danger without you there are low. You will protect me after all, right? You will stay by my side at all times.”

Theodore hesitated a bit too long. “Of course, I will never leave you. But...if that attack happened again like last time... If it did, that would be wonderful. Because then I would have a chance to use the plan that I came up with. For that, I would have to get rid of all of my enemies one after the other. I would use the most underhanded methods imaginable and attack them from behind until everyone is gone. Like that, we would be able to win with less bloodshed. We could avoid any causalities on our side. Surely, how many people on the other side die would depend on how cruel they are. But it would be the best choice. Still...” He reached over to her cheek and caressed her skin. “I would have to leave you for a few moments to realize that plan. I know that all of this must sound abstract to you, but you can believe me. I know what I am doing.”

That thought was enough to make Blanche's stomach churn. She didn't trust this at all. Not when her lover basically told her that the dowager empress' attack would be a physical one, a revolt. And then he would leave her side during that? She would die out of dread while she imagined what could go wrong. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen. She pressed her head against her lover's chest while trying to push that thought away. “We'll hope that you don't have to leave my side. I would die on the inside if I wasn't with you while you were in danger.” She didn't say anything else, and there wasn't much she could add to this either.

Thankfully, Theodore noticed how uncomfortable she was with this topic and didn't insist on talking about it. Instead, he patted her head and moved the documents aside. “I think we worked enough for today. We will just sort these in the storage room, and then we will go outside. We could have tea in the winter garden for a change. Does that sound good?”

Blanche nodded. That would be perfected to keep her from overthinking the things she had heard during their conversation now. But refusing to think about the dangers that were waiting for them didn't make them go away, and she knew that.

A few days passed, and the results of the investigation of the fire in the Vasquez mansion began to paint a clearer picture. Every single person among the deceased ones had been killed with swords, ones that weren't supposed to be of high quality. Such a sword was just supposed to do its job until it was replaced. Apparently, it was a type of sword that mercenaries often used, and Theodore said that he recognized it. He had also claimed that they would meet the people that had committed that crime soon if everything progressed like they had expected it to.

Luciano had testified about seeing a group of men in dark coats with masks, but aside from those clues, nothing much was known. The whole investigation had been like a dead end, and still, everyone knew who the responsible one was.

The rumors in the capital surfaced quickly. All it had taken were a few words about how Claude had wished to testify against the dowager empress, only to find his sudden death after the attack by mercenaries. Within a few days, the whole city had been talking about Camille being responsible.

The emperor had been content with that development and made sure to not utter a single word to defend his mother. But he also didn't say anything against her to ensure that the dowager empress wouldn't be able to blame him for what the people were talking about.

Even this petty method seemed to work out perfectly. Camille's reputation had been stained from the very beginning, and her attempt to condemn the poor, young future empress had only worsened it. Now that woman's support base was in shackles, and she was deemed a criminal that had tried to kill her own son. It was known that she wished to get rid of witnesses while risking the death of over fifty people, who had been in the Vasquez mansion at the time of the fire. She didn't have anything to rely on now. She was cornered. Camille couldn't be arrested at this point in time, but she wouldn't be able to delay the trial much longer. And once that happened, she would be convicted for sure. Her missing backing would ensure that she didn't have any chance to complain either.

Theodore had been right when he had said that he was sure that his mother's revenge would follow soon. The air seemed to get thicker around them every day. The longer nothing happened, the more Blanche expected something.

But once again, every day had been quiet, which almost drove her insane. It felt like the seal would soon break and open the gates to allow a flood into their lives. The only remaining question was whether that would give their plants water so that they could grow stronger or whether it would drown all of them.