Both Blanche and Leonard, who opened the door with Owen behind him, were visibly confused by the emperor guessing who had knocked. The two men entered the doctor's office and moved over to the bed.

Leon spoke up first after scanning the emperor for a moment. “I'm glad that you are awake. Can you move your arm? Luckily, it's not your right shoulder, or you would have had trouble writing during the next weeks.” His expression was serious at first, but his lips quickly formed a smile.

The concubine didn't know how he could joke right now, but Theodore seemed to welcome these hoaxes and replied immediately. “Oh, how cruel you are. I could be paralyzed for life, and you make fun of me. I intended to scare you for a bit. What gave it away?”

Leon shrugged as he placed two books onto the nightstand. “I'm not sure. Maybe it was the fact that the both of you are already cuddling again and look like you have done so quite passionately.” He didn't even give the concubine enough time to be embarrassed and just continued without a pause. He pulled out a handful of pens and placed them onto the nightstand along with a jar of ink. “That should be all you need. Otherwise, there are enough replacements in the library. And just for your information, I already ordered the unharmed knights to guard the scene, so no one will meddle with it, and reported the incident to the supreme court. They can start securing evidence in the forest and eventually have a trial.”

Seemingly, this was about the attack already. Blanche immediately perked up to listen carefully.

Leonard straightened his posture again and continued to list everything important. “I also sent Duke Lamont a short letter explaining why you didn't attend his banquet. After that, I took care of a few duties that you don't necessarily have to deal with, so the only thing that is missing is your signature. The few knights that have been injured aren't hurt too badly and are resting until one of the doctor's assistants will tend to them. Other than them, everyone got away without being wounded. The empress is safely in her room and is being-”

Theodore stopped him with a wave of his hand. “You don't have to tell me about anyone who wasn't hurt. The less urgent things can wait. For now, I'll need you to do three things until tomorrow, or rather until this noon. I will write them down for you.”

The emperor leaned forward to grab a sheet of paper from the nightstand, but Blanche was faster than he was. She jumped up and handed him paper and a pen.

For that, Theodore gave her a bright smile and pressed a kiss onto her forehead. “Thank you.” He looked down and began scribbling down three points with a few sentences explaining the topic for each note.

She could recognize a few words, but the rest of the writing was hidden behind her lover's hand. She considered asking what it was about, but upon seeing his cold expression, she realized that the subject probably wasn't very pleasant, so she let him be.

When Theodore finished, he read it again and then gave the paper to his secretary. “These are my thoughts regarding the attack. As you can imagine, this is extremely confidential. This time, this means that not a single soul can ever hear about that. I'm only writing it down because it's important that you follow every single step on this list. Burn it when you are done.”

Leonard nodded and looked down to skim the paper. His reaction proved Blanche's assumption to be correct. With every second, the man became paler, and a disbelieving frown appeared on his face. “This is...” He raised his head to stare at the emperor.

Theodore met his gaze calmly. “I know. You may think that I'm beside myself because of the recent events. I can assure you that I'm not, but in any case, none of the things you will do would be irreversible. So, believe me for now and take care of this. I'll gladly explain some topics in more detail at a later time.”

Leon froze for a moment before his expression relaxed. “Of course. But you will definitely have to talk to me about this as soon as you can move around freely again. I won't let you evade this discussion.”

Theodore laughed a bit, which was already enough to make Blanche worry about his wound. “Naturally. If you finish that, you will have plenty to tend to in the office though. So, don't give yourself too much time. As I said, it would be best to handle these matters until noon.” His smile faded, and he exchanged a serious look with the secretary, who nodded in return.

Leonard then bowed and took a step back. “I'll take care of it immediately. If you excuse me, I'm going to leave now.” Theodore gave him permission with a small nod, and Leon hurried to the exit. He stopped there for a moment and turned around once. “Please recover quickly.”

Theodore didn't seem too worried about that. “I can promise you that I will. I need to vent my anger about this presumptuous attack after all. There are many people that still deserve my thanks, so I won't die that quickly.” He smiled at the other man in a way that showed that there was anger boiling inside him directly under the surface.

That determination seemed to be sufficient to please Leon. “Good. I don't want to take over your workload for long. Hurry up with getting better.” With these words, the secretary left.

Apparently, Owen took that as an example. “I will return to my position in the neighboring room to not disturb you. If you require my assistance, speak up, and I will be there within a few seconds.” Theodore dismissed him with a nod, and the head knight disappeared in the doorway.

As soon as they were alone, Blanche was pulled into her lover's arms again. Normally, they were touch-starved already, but right now, Theodore seemed to be even more reluctant to let go of her. It was almost like he was scared that she would run away if he did so. Considering that he had just survived an ambush and had been forced to fight for his survival despite not being a good warrior, it was only natural for him to be in this state of shock though, even if he covered it up.

Blanche wasn't averse to being cuddled against him, so she didn't mind that at all. She was just so glad that he was here in her arms and not motionlessly lying on the muddy ground of the forest. Theodore hadn't died, and he had promised to stay with her the whole day. He wouldn't go see Seraphina and kiss the heroine. With this, the main characters' romance would be prevented in the best case or at least slowed down significantly without harming him.

That gave Blanche enough time to find out more about how her intervening changed the novel's development and how crucial the singular scenes were for the ending. She wouldn't be able to intervene in some of the story's key elements, but if keeping Theodore from visiting his wife stopped the plot's progress, she could do that. She would have to be a little more careful and not make it obvious what she was trying though. That should be enough to make sure that her lover wouldn't fall for the heroine. Unless some people viewed her meddling as a reason to present her as an antagonist of course.

“What are you thinking about?” Theodore's voice pulled her back into reality. “You seem so distracted. Is something bothering you?”

In fact, it was the opposite right now. Blanche was overjoyed. The result of this day couldn't have been better, except maybe if her lover hadn't been injured at all. “No, I'm just glad that you are safe. And I'm glad that you are here with me and not...running around.” She barely corrected herself in time. Reminding him of her jealousy now was completely unnecessary. He already had enough problems with his wound, so she didn't need to trouble him even more.

But it seemed like he had already understood.

Theodore moved his arms closer to his body and pressed her against his chest with that. “There is no other place where I would rather be right now. I won't hurt myself by being careless either. I want to be by your side no matter what. From now until the day I die, and even after that, I will be yours.” That was romantic but also unsettling.

“Don't talk about dying, please. You were in danger yesterday, and that was already enough for a whole lifetime. I don't want to think about you being hurt again. Promise me that you will take care of yourself so that the wound heals quickly and that you will be more careful from now on.” She lifted her head off his chest to make eye contact and linked their pinkie fingers.

Theodore squeezed her finger with his before replying. “I promise that you don't have to worry. I'll be extremely cautious in the future so that I can always return home safely to fall into your arms. I have no intention of missing out on a single second with the person that I love most in the entire world.” With that, he kissed her again.

By now, Blanche was sure that they would set a new record for the times that their lips touched during the day. It was shortly after six o'clock, and they were already clinging to each other. When her lover eventually released her, she began grinning. “You are awfully romantic today. I won't complain. Still, I can't help but notice that you have been kissing me very often during the past hour.”

Theodore's smile faded at those words and left behind a serious expression. “I want to make you understand how I feel. There can't be room for doubts about whether I love you anymore. When I was sleeping, the only thing I dreamed about was you. I saw you over and over again in countless memories, and I was so scared that I...couldn't return to you. When I finally opened my eyes, I still thought that I was dreaming but...” He paused to swallow and cup her cheeks with his hands. “I'm not. You're here, and I can hug you, kiss you and tell you how much I love you. I won't let you go any time soon.”

Blanche put her arms around his neck and slowly guided him backward so that they were lying next to each other with their heads on the pillow. “That's good. Because I don't want you to let go either. I love you. I was so scared when I heard that you left without telling me. Then the guard came in and said that you were attacked. My heart was about to splinter into a thousand pieces. And when they carried you in through the front door...” She pressed her face into the cushion to hide the tears that were starting to well in her eyes. But it was useless.

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

In the end, it wasn't Theodore's fault for not informing Blanche about the outing but hers for not remembering the scene earlier. Still, she was more than grateful about him promising that he would inform her. After all, there might be other dangers that she had forgotten, and if he told her, she might be able to warn him before he got injured next time. At least until they reached the end of the novel. She barely had vague hints of what would happen then after all.

Blanche managed to choke out a “Thank you.” Then she had to stay quiet to keep herself from sobbing.

Theodore continued to shush her gently for a while before he spoke up. “I assume that you barely slept last night. How about we rest now? It's still early in the morning, so we should have more than enough time to close our eyes for a bit.”

She hadn't thought about that before, but now that he said it, it sounded like a very good idea. She felt drained, and since her lover was safe, she might be able to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time. “Please.”

As soon as the word left her mouth, Theodore grabbed the blanket from the bottom end of the bed and covered their bodies with it. “Then let's take a nap until someone is careless enough to disturb us. If we're lucky, the doctor will manage to leave quietly when he sees us, but I can't be sure.”

All of a sudden, Blanche felt rather tired. Her eyelids were heavy, so she closed them and muttered her response with a small nod. “Alright. Goodnight.”

“That's not quite the right word. But I wish you a good night too.” After Theodore finished speaking, the room was silent.

For the next few minutes, Blanche became drowsier with each second but, surprisingly, didn't fall asleep yet. Maybe that had been good. Just when she was about to lose consciousness, she felt Theodore move. Her first thought immediately made her panic.

What if he went to Seraphina now that he thought that his lover was asleep? What if he experienced the novel's kiss scene now? That thought was too horrible to bear.

Blanche had probably tensed since Theodore stopped and brushed his fingers through her hair instead. Apparently, her reaction had revealed what was going inside her head too since her lover immediately did what she needed.

Theodore began to whisper how much he loved her and that he wouldn't leave so that she could calm down. That was enough to make Blanche relax.

At some point a few minutes later, Theodore stirred again. He was much more careful this time. He propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over her for a moment before returning to his original decision. Then the sound of paper rustling filled the room, and shortly after that, Blanche heard the noise of a pen scribbling on something.

Seemingly, her lover was writing. His posture had to be uncomfortable, with how he held her in his arms while moving his hand in a way that she didn't notice. Still, he kept on doing that for a long time. Was he trying to make up for the day that he hadn't worked by doing it now? If so, that was a stupid idea.

Blanche was about to open her eyes and tell him to stop exhausting himself when he was clearly in a bad condition already as Theodore pressed his face into her neck. It took all of her self-control to not move as she felt wet stains on her skin.

He was crying again.

Theodore had done that already directly after waking up but had collected himself quickly. He hadn't allowed himself to vent during the whole time that she was there at all. Because of that, Blanche dismissed her thought of comforting him and pretended to be asleep. She couldn't interrupt him once more. Now that he finally stopped hiding his emotions, she had to let him be until he was done. Otherwise, he would force himself to choke down his feelings again.

Despite that heartbreaking realization, Blanche fell asleep at some point.

By then, Theodore hadn't put down his pen once.

When Blanche awoke, her lover's arms were wrapped around her tightly. As soon as she stirred a bit, he opened his eyes, which proved that he couldn't have been asleep.

Theodore spoke to her with a bright smile. “Good afternoon.”

She yawned and rubbed over her face before stretching and noticing that the muscles in her back were strained. Apparently, she hadn't moved during the whole nap, and now her body was complaining about that. Judging by Theodore's tight hold on her, he might be at fault as well. “Good afternoon. Is it that late already?” Her words only came out as a drowsy mutter.

Despite her tiredness, she forced herself to lift her head. One glance at the clock showed that her lover hadn't been exaggerating.

Blanche didn't care though. She let her head plop onto the cushion again and moved her limps to a more comfortable position. In contrast to her, Theodore was fully awake already, which seemed odd considering the fact that he had written for so long before resting. She scanned his soft beam with half-opened eyelids before brushing her fingertips over his face. “You aren't tired at all, are you? Did you sleep at all, or did you continue to write until now?”

Theodore caught her hand and pressed a few kisses onto her fingertips before releasing her. “I had already guessed that you were still awake while I began. I'm sorry if I disturbed your sleep. It won't happen again. I just needed to get some things off my mind first. I wrote a summary of the attack so that I won't forget anything for the investigation and took a few notes regarding other urgent matters.” That he avoided directly answering her question of whether he had slept made her believe that he hadn't closed his eyes once.

With a sigh, Blanche rested her palm on his cheek. “Theo... You need to rest, or the wound won't heal. Did it hurt while I was sleeping?”

“Not more than before. It's the same constant but very faint pain, so I can manage. That's odd but pretty helpful. After all, I have to make a short trip to my office to take care of some things.”

Blanche shot in an upright position at that. “What? Do you really need to move around so early? There is no way that you don't understand that this wound is deep. It won't heal overnight. You are lucky enough, so it doesn't hurt, but recovering will still exhaust your body. You need to take a break, at least for half a week, before walking around or thinking about working. Even then I wouldn't be happy about it, but four days would be the smallest amount I can agree with. So please, don't leave the room for the next three days.”

Theodore sat up as well and cupped her chin to keep her eyes on him. “It might sound weird for me to say this, but I know how much my body can take. I wouldn't do anything that would endanger me unnecessarily. I will only go to my office, sit down there for an hour to prepare an official letter about the attack, visit my room to change into a less bloody attire and then I'll come back. If my wound didn't reopen while I hugged you with all of my strength, it also won't open while I walk. I won't take any detours or hurry but go very slowly. I promise you that it won't harm me. The servants need to see that I'm fine, or problematic rumors will appear. We don't need our enemies to think I'm helpless, which would encourage them to try something.”

No matter how much Blanche wanted to object, the expression on his face already told her that he wouldn't reconsider. He was as stubborn as always, if not even more so. Blanche clenched her fists as she tried to calm the concern that was rising in her. “You're a fool.”

“A fool for you.” Her lover gave her a determined smile, which made her want to roll her eyes, but her stomach was churning too much to allow her to do anything but frown. Theodore kissed her to make her relax, but when he moved to the edge of the bed and stood up, her heart still began beating faster. She was scared of him suddenly collapsing or the pain setting in while he was in the middle of the corridors.

But it didn't seem like that would happen.

Theodore took one step before turning around and grabbing her hand to pull her with him. He was standing upright, and none of his muscles were tensed. Apart from that, there were also no other indications of him being in pain and hiding it either. Apparently, he had unbelievable luck that protected him from feeling the agony a normal person would experience when they had a flesh wound. That, or being the main character of a novel protected him.

Blanche was a bit relieved but still reluctant to let him run around, and she wasn't the only one to feel like this.

When Theodore led her to a chair, on which his bloody uniform from yesterday hung, the doctor entered the room and almost seemed to have a heart attack. “Your Majesty, you can't stand up! The wound-”

Theodore interrupted him with a shrug but didn't even look at the man. “I know. I'll be careful.” He let go of his lover's hand to put on the jacket to cover his torso without paying attention to hold his shoulder still. Then he immediately interlocked his fingers with Blanche's again. Even that little movement was enough to show that he wouldn't be careful at all, and everyone noticed.

The doctor's eyes widened in panic as he began complaining in a loud voice. “Your Majesty, as the ruler of Artias, you are responsible for the whole nation. You can't just risk ruining your own health like that! You have to stay in bed for at least a week.”

Theodore finally turned around to the doctor and stared at him for a moment before speaking up. “So, you are forbidding me from leaving?”

The doctor was startled by that. He began stuttering without giving an answer until the emperor intervened.

“I don't think that you are in the position to keep me from doing anything.” Theodore didn't seem angry but still insistent and authoritarian.

The doctor realized that he didn't have a chance to argue and turned to the concubine. “Lady Blanche, please tell-”

This time, Theodore cut him off immediately. “She already tried that, and I refused. I won't repeat everything I already said, but it should be easy to understand. If you trust me enough to govern the country, then you should also believe that I know how far I can go with my own body. I'll lie down again in two hours. I would like you to move all the necessary utensils for my treatment to my chambers as I will stay there afterward.”

The doctor remained silent for a moment before he muttered a small response. “Yes, Your Majesty. Please be careful.”

Theodore nodded and took one of the books from the nightstand before leading his lover to the door. Blanche followed him with concern.

As soon as they stepped into the hallway, all chattering died down. There was still a small group of guards and servants gathered in front of the doctor's office. Upon seeing the emperor, all of them bowed down, and many of them were smiling, but their concern regarding the emperor's bloodied jacket was still obvious.

That only reminded Blanche how respected her lover was. Most of Theodore's subjects admired his way of handling state affairs and viewed him as a good person. Despite this, some people still opposed him or envied his power, but they naturally didn't have a chance to get rid of him directly. So, they would have to use underhanded schemes like an ambush to harm him. Blanche had the advantage of knowing what would happen for the next few months, at least if her stupid brain played along this time. She could only hope that she wouldn't forget anything important like this again. She didn't have the time to scold herself for her mistake now though.

Theodore held himself upright and had returned to the stoic expression that he always showed in public, seemingly without any pain. He turned to the group of servants and gestured to the door behind him. “Five of you will help the doctor transport a few things to my room.”

The addressed people nodded immediately and looked like they were prepared to rush to do their work as soon as the emperor was gone.

Blanche let her gaze roam across the corridor until it landed on Stella, who breathed out in relief and gave her mistress a soft smile. She lifted her hand to wave shortly, but her mood was quickly ruined. She could see that Theodore stirred in the corner of her eyes, and her maid's expression fell at that. Immediately, panic rose in Blanche, and she whipped her head to the side, but nothing seemed to be wrong with her lover.

Theodore nodded towards her and then began moving down the hallway without pausing for even a short moment while he gently pulled her with him.

When they had put a little distance between them and the crowd, Blanche spoke up. “Am I supposed to accompany you to your office?”

Theodore shook his head and glanced over at her. “No, I would appreciate it if you waited in my room for me. I won't stay in the office long, and during that time, you could change into fresh clothes with fewer tear stains and take a relaxing bath. You deserve to calm down a bit after all of that trouble. After that, you can simply sit down in my chambers, and then I should be there within a few minutes.”

Blanche was reluctant to let him walk around alone, but she doubted that he would behave less recklessly when she was with him. She let out a sigh and squeezed his hand. “Promise me that you won't overdo it. If the pain gets worse, even if it's just a little bit, you have to lay down immediately.”

Theodore gave her a soft smile before stopping and leaning down to caress her cheek. “I promise. I will return as soon as I finished the most important matters.”

They shared another short kiss before climbing up the stairs, which made Blanche's heart race in fear for her lover. But he didn't seem to be affected at all, and they safely arrived on the second floor. There, Theodore bid her farewell and wished her a refreshing bath before separating from her.

Blanche's eyes stayed on his back the whole time until he rounded a corner, but he didn't flinch once nor did he move in an unusual pattern. Did his wound really not hurt? If so, this was a miracle. Blanche wasn't sure how to feel about this. This was a bit too convenient.