All in all, the last few days had been very enjoyable, but naturally, Blanche would rather be with her lover longer than for the short meals. After patiently giving him space for five days, she believed that she deserved to claim ten minutes of his time though. He had had enough time to work, right? This meant that she would go to him with a little gift.

Today she had baked a strawberry tart and decorated it with so much care that everyone had realized what her plan was.

“Will you give this to His Majesty?” Darlene crouched down to inspect the cake from the side while asking that.

Blanche crossed her arms. “Is it this obvious?”

All the servants nodded at her question.

Blanche looked at her creation once more while admitting the truth. “I do want to bring this to his office. Though I still have to cut it into smaller pieces before that. How big should I make it?” She held the knife above the icing and moved it around indecisively to figure out which size she should pick. After all, she didn't want Theodore to eat more than his stomach or his work allowed him to just because he didn't wish to hurt her by not finishing the piece. On the other hand, giving him something so small that it didn't satisfy his appetite fully would also make her feel bad.

Before she could touch the cake, Angelica took the knife from her hand with a swift motion. “I can do that for you if you tell me where I should cut.”

Blanche frowned slightly at that. During the past days, the servants had often cut the cake pieces, and normally, she didn't have a problem with receiving help. However, since this was her gift for Theodore, it seemed wrong to let others get involved. “Thank you, but you don't need to do it this time. I can do that myself.”

Angelica's face became apologetic as she responded in a soft tone. “I know. It's just that you aren't very skilled with a knife, so it's safer if I do it. We wouldn't want to ruin the icing because of a wrong slit, would we?”

Blanche's confusion only grew as Stella, George and Darlene nodded at their colleague's words. She looked around as her frown deepened. “Why wouldn't I be able to do it today? Didn't I already cut some of my cakes, and it worked just fine? ”

Clark was quick to say what the others were thinking in his usual direct way. “Yes. And you didn't make a single clean cut even once until now. All the pieces were inconsistent in size and shape with wobbly sides. That in itself might not be a problem if you didn't almost slice off your fingers in the process every second day.”

Had it been that bad? Of course, Blanche had noticed that the knife often didn't follow the lines she had imagined previously, and the servants also had intervened a few times when she had nearly hurt herself. But had she done this so regularly that they didn't even trust her to try it anymore?

The concubine wasn't sure, so she pointed that out. “Oh. I realized that I wasn't a genius with knives, but I don't think that I'm that clumsy.”

The others' grimaces proved that her assessment had been wrong.

With a sigh, Blanche handed the knife over to Angelica, who let out a deep breath in relief and thanked her. Then the concubine stared at her dessert for a while before deciding that the normal eight pieces might be too small. “I think six slices should have the right size.”

Angelica nodded at her and began to work on the cake. The maid cut the tart into six flawless slices and put two of them on plates, which persuaded the concubine that she should allow the servants to do this for her in the future.

The result was much better than anything Blanche had attempted before, so she was glad to have listened to the others. In fact, it looked like a professional had prepared this so that she wouldn't have to be ashamed to give this to Theodore.

“This is perfect, thank you. He will love this.” Blanche gazed at her creation a bit longer before she turned to Stella. “Could hand me the covers? I don't want the cake to fall off on the way.”

The maid followed her request and placed the plates on a tray while making sure that the cake slices weren't damaged.

As soon as that was done, Blanche struggled to keep herself from storming into the emperor's office. She had held herself back from visiting him for the last few days, and she was also extremely proud of her creation, so she couldn't wait. She anticipated Theodore's reaction so much that she walked towards the exit as soon as Stella finished. “I will bring Theo the cake now. We'll meet tomorrow again!” The words had barely left her mouth when she rushed out of the kitchen, with her maid trailing behind her.

Due to her excitement, she grinned from one ear to the other one the whole way and ended up arriving at the office faster than she normally did.

To her surprise, Owen stood in front of the door along with two other guards. If he wasn't at the emperor's side, it was mostly because Theodore had a guest and needed to discuss something in private or dealt with confidential matters.

Blanche pouted as saw this. Why did someone have to be here at this very moment when she wanted to see her lover? She hadn't visited him for five days, in which any outsiders could have met him, but for some reason, they had to arrive today. She already couldn't wait to present Theodore her gift, and now she would have to be patient until the other person left. That was annoying. She came to a halt next to Owen and forced herself to greet the knight instead of directly asking who the emperor was talking to. “Sir Maillont, how are you?”

Owen nodded in her direction before giving a curt reply. “Good afternoon, Lady Blanche. I'm doing well, thank you for your concern. I assume that you are here to meet His Majesty?”

“Yes, but I can wait for a little. Who's-”

Before she could question him about the guest, Owen knocked on the grand wooden door.

Theodore's loud voice sounded from the room almost immediately. “Come in.”

The knight complied with his command but only took one step before stopping to announce the guest. “Lady Blanche wishes to see you.”

The concubine's shock at his disregard for the visitor's presence was quickly replaced with joy when the response followed after a short pause.

“Tell her that she can come in.”

Owen turned back and held the door open for her.

Without thinking much about it, Blanche went into the office. If Theodore allowed her to enter immediately, he probably didn't have a guest at all, which raised her spirits after her initial disappointment and painted a grin onto her face.

She should have paid attention to the fact that the door was closed behind her and that Stella hadn't followed her, but she was too focused on the emperor for that.

Theodore was sitting at his desk and wearing his formal uniform, but his usual aura of authority was missing. Most likely, this was the case because of his expression. He gave his lover an uncertain smile, which made her slow her pace. Normally, he was always ecstatic when she surprised him, so there had to be a specific reason for this. Had she come at an unsuitable moment and interrupted his work? If so, she could simply leave and return later.

But when Blanche inspected his table, she saw nothing that would prove that he was absorbed in reading or writing anything. In fact, it was strange how empty his desk was. Instead of being covered by countless stacks of paper, the whole surface was visibly empty except for a tray with a pot and two cups.

Blanche wrinkled her forehead at this. Did he have a visitor after all? A motion in the corner of her eye made her turn to the figure that she previously hadn't noticed.

Her whole body stiffened upon realizing that the other person inside the room was Seraphina.

The empress stood a few steps in front of the desk with her typical flawless posture. Her expression hardened upon spotting the concubine, which only caused Blanche's tension to grow even more.

All the concubine's muscles completely refused to relax, and she froze in place. Suddenly, Theodore's reaction had become understandable. He knew that the women resented each other, so letting them meet would force him to deescalate any dispute that might develop between them. Naturally, he had been reluctant to allow his lover to enter, but sending the empress outside hadn't been an option either.

Blanche's eyes wandered to the emperor and back to Seraphina as she tried to hold back her resignation from showing on her face, but she was sure that she had failed from the very beginning. A hollow pain already spread in her chest at this scene. Theodore had met with his wife to drink tea in private. That could only mean that the spouses had gotten much closer in the last weeks than Blanche had realized. How much time had they spent together without her knowledge? Had they begun developing feelings for each other at this point? She balled her hands into fists to keep them from trembling but was unsuccessful. Her limps were still shivering against her will no matter how much she attempted to control them. This meant that even running away would be impossible in her current state, even if her only wish was to flee from this location.

Against her will, her gaze moved to the heroine, and they made eye contact.

Though the empress' expression remained rigid, her cold stare was more than enough to reveal her true feelings. The concubine hadn't even had the chance to trouble the other woman yet, but Seraphina looked at her like she was an annoying insect.

If it had been anyone else, this wouldn't be alarming as long as they kept their distance, but this was the heroine. Right now, Blanche was actually scared. Seeing that the novel had progressed so much that the main characters already started to meet reminded her how powerless she was. This wasn't just about being ridiculed at tea parties and unfair punishments. Should the heroine want her dead, she would die after everything that she loved was taken away from her. How should she compete with that when she didn't have a chance from the very beginning? She felt helpless.

Her legs threatened to give in and let her crash to the ground, which she only prevented by focusing all of her strength on her feet. Still, the floor didn't give her the footing that she needed to be safe. She loosened her fists to grasp her dress instead. This didn't actually give her any support, but it was better than having nothing to hold onto.

Despite her discomfort, which had to have been obvious to anyone that was able to see, Seraphina's expression didn't soften. On the contrary, it seemed like the empress grew more irritated with every passing second.

Blanche tried to evade this frosty stare and turned to her lover, who observed her shaking form with worry. He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, the heroine's voice cut through the air.

“You will begin your act now? I was already wondering why you waited so long this time.” The empress' tone made clear that she hadn't addressed her husband but his lover.

The concubine flinched at the hostility that was layered behind these words and forced herself to look at Seraphina again. If her body had obeyed, she would have asked what the other woman was calling an act. Though in all honesty, she probably wouldn't have dared to speak up anyway. She wasn't faking anything. She was truly frightened of the empress. In the past, she might have put on a fearful facade to coax Theodore into taking her side without questioning her first, but even then, her tears had been real.

To a brave and determined person like Seraphina, it wouldn't be comprehensible that Blanche actually cried whenever she was hurt. To the heroine, it probably seemed like the concubine evoked her wailing purposefully to be pitied, which had never been true.

Even right now, Blanche fought against the pricking in her eyes, and it was impressive that she had been able to hold them back. After all, she had just learned that the emperor was meeting his future lover in secret. Though it was unlikely that the royal couple would understand why it bothered her so much that they drank tea together.

Seraphina didn't seem like she had expected a response and turned to Theodore, whose expression had become serious. “I assume that you summoned me to discuss what happened at the tea party?” She spoke with a tone that indicated her annoyance.

This made the concubine's blood run cold as she understood what the heroine was referring to. In the past, there had been multiple instances at which the emperor had called them to the office to break up a fight and calm both parties. In all cases that she could remember, Blanche had demanded that he should force Seraphina to apologize, which he luckily had never done. Instead, he had asked them to describe the situation from their perspective and then attempted to find a diplomatic solution. That had mostly included distracting his sulking lover afterward.

But this time, she hadn't told him about the conflict at all. She had already been convinced that she moved past this incident without making the heroine even angrier by involving Theodore. Why did the empress have to bring it up now? If Seraphina had just listened like she normally did, the emperor would have continued to believe that nothing occurred at the event. Now he knew though.

“What?” Theodore's voice had a much sharper edge to it than it normally did, and a deep frown appeared on his face. None of both women replied immediately, so he turned to Blanche. “Didn't you say that everything was calm at the party?” He had already forced himself to use a softer tone, but she could still hear that he was upset.

“That...” Blanche spoke much quieter than she had originally intended to and was unable to find the right words to finish her sentence. She only had to explain that she hadn't wanted to trouble him with such irrelevant trivialities, but her vocal cords didn't comply. Quickly, his accusatory gaze began to feel like it gouged holes into her, and she automatically lowered her head to avoid meeting his eyes. Inwardly, she was screaming at herself for doing that. This would only make her appear like she felt guilty, even though she wasn't the one at fault.

For a moment, it was silent.

Then the empress' voice sounded. “You didn't tell him?” Seraphina's question made Blanche look up again. This was the first time that the concubine had ever seen the empress this surprised. The heroine's forehead was covered in wrinkles, and she stared at the concubine with narrowed eyes.

Was it really this strange that Blanche hadn't complained to the emperor minutes after the quarrel? Even she had to admit that it was. The thought of her staying quiet about anything related to a fight with her nemesis hadn't been imaginable before she gained the book's memories.

An unnerving silence followed, in which none of the present people moved from their position or uttered a single word. Blanche hadn't expected that the atmosphere could become even more strained, but it had. It felt like the air weighed on her back and had thickened so much that breathing was harder.

It took a while before Theodore raised his voice. “What happened at the tea party?” Still, the women didn't answer. Both of them didn't want to be the one to start narrating the story until he repeated his question again, this time in a more demanding tone. “I presume that something did happen at the tea party. What was it about?”

Seraphina gave in at that. She began to explain the events in a composed manner that neither matched her previous confusion nor her behavior at the party. Blanche was almost jealous of her level of emotional control if she hadn't been focused on listening to the biased version of the story and correcting the statements in her mind. “About halfway through the party, I heard that Lord Bellfaux' younger daughter was loudly complaining about someone destroying her late mother's dress. When I approached her, I was informed that Lady Blanche had bumped into her and thus caused her to spill her drink on the attire. I ordered some servants to clean it and calmed Lady Bellfaux before asking Lady Blanche to apologize. She followed my instruction, but then Lady Lemares stated that she had been insulted by her during the argument.”

Theodore's mouth twitched when he heard Evelyn's name, but he remained silent and listened.

The empress resumed without hesitation. “I asked Lady Blanche to apologize again, which she ignored. After that, she began to speak in a louder volume with no intention to put an end to the conflict. To not disrupt the other guests' stay, I requested for her to step away from the party. After a few objections and thoughtless remarks, Lady Blanche left.” If she explained it like this, of course it would sound like the concubine had been at fault.

Blanche gritted her teeth to hold back before she faced her lover, who was staring at his desk, in expectation. At first, she had been uncertain how he would react, but since Evelyn was involved, he would definitely take her side, right? He would allow her to tell the other half of the story and then criticize the empress' rash action before declaring that the whole situation was based on a misunderstanding. She would only have to explain how it had really been, and then everything would be fine.

The emperor let out a sigh and massaged his temples. He was quiet for a moment and then turned his head to Seraphina. “I apologize for the fact that your party was interrupted. There has been a string of inconvenient events that followed right after each other. I will order the tailor to take a look at Lady Bellfaux's dress. Naturally, I'll provide the money that is needed to clean or replace it. As usual, the situation was very heated, so I would encourage if you were understanding enough to forget about this incident.”

Seraphina affirmed that with a nod. “Thank you, Your Majesty. I didn't plan on mentioning this again in the first place.”

Theodore's expression relaxed upon hearing this, and he put on a polite smile. “Good. Then we don't need to concern ourselves with this any further.”

This was it?

He really thought that the problem was solved with this? Blanche had been the one who was wronged, and he still apologized to Seraphina? In fact, he couldn't even know that his lover was innocent since he hadn't even asked for her opinion on the fight. Either he didn't care about the truth and just wanted them to reconcile so that he could stop thinking about this matter, or he didn't consider that the empress was giving a one-sided version of the story.

This had to be a joke. Blanche stared at him speechlessly while waiting for him to open his mouth once more.

But he didn't do that.

Theodore truly didn't allow his lover to explain herself and didn't ask about how she felt when she had been sent away by Seraphina. Was he this sure that she deserved to be humiliated in front of all the tea party's guests that he didn't even question it at all? Was he so convinced that she was the one who had to have caused trouble that he didn't feel the need to hear a second version of the story? Even though Blanche had been responsible for each of the last conflicts, previously he had never stayed quiet when the empress had ordered his concubine to do anything. He always insisted that Seraphina had no authority over his lover and that he was the only one who could arrange a punishment, which he hadn't done once until now.

But that was different now. Theodore suddenly believed the empress without a second thought.

A terrible realization made an icy shiver run across Blanche's back. Theodore saw the empress as a righteous and composed woman, which was already influencing his judgment. This was exactly what would happen in the novel. The closer he got to his wife, the more he would trust her. At first, he would still believe that his concubine was innocent, but that belief would weaken with every incident during which his lover had provoked a fight on purpose. In the end, he would always side with Seraphina, no matter what the topic was.

This change was already noticeable now. Even though he had only met the heroine to chat with her over a cup of tea, he was beginning to back her decisions without questioning them. Because of a few of the empress' words, he believed that his concubine had had vile intentions and that his wife had only defended herself.

Trust between the spouses and distrust between Theodore and his concubine had been the foundation of the main characters' quickly growing romance. If those were already there, that meant that the novel was progressing faster than Blanche could have imagined.

This wasn't about the tea party. It was about the fact that the villainess was already declared the guilty one, whose judgment mattered less than the empress'. Once that impression had been made, it was over anyway.

Flashes of her dreams of being arrested and executed filled her mind. In those scenes, Blanche had attempted to appeal to her lover too, only for him to ignore it. Would he begin to treat her with the contempt he had shown in these nightmares soon? This possibility cut through her heart like a newly refined sword.

She had known that this moment, in which he would side with his wife and render her completely powerless, would come. She just hadn't expected it so soon.

Her blurry gaze landed on Theodore, who actually had the audacity to smile at her. His expression changed upon seeing her, but she didn't stay to wait for him to speak up.

“Excuse me.” That was the only thing Blanche managed to force out. If she said any more words than that, her voice would crack, and she would begin crying. She didn't need Seraphina to see her break down now when this would certainly happen a few times in the future. She spun around on her heel and hurried to the entrance. She just wanted to be alone.

“Blanche!”

Theodore called her name, but she ignored him in favor of opening the door. She let go of her dress to do that and realized that her fingers were numb because she had dug them into the fabric for so long. Along with her cloudy sight, this didn't make it easy to grab the handle and push it down, but she succeeded after two attempts before running out of the room.

Behind her, the emperor called after her once more, but she didn't stop.

She passed two figures that had to have been Stella and Owen. She couldn't bring herself to care enough to check, not that she would have been able to through the veil of tears. Oh, how much she hated crying, and still, she started every single time despite her attempts to control it. It was no wonder that the readers had been as annoyed about this as Seraphina if even Blanche found it infuriating herself.

Though being angry at herself only fueled her desire to weep.