As per usual, the couple almost forgot the world around them as they were together.

When the kiss ended after a moment, Blanche turned her body sideways so that she could lean her side against her lover's chest and rested her head on his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and that gesture made her freeze. She did this very often without even paying special attention to it and only remembered something now. “Theo, what about your shoulder? It's been three months, but I didn't ask you how it was anymore. It didn't hurt much before, but I just touched you without being careful.” She had seen him bare often enough, so she sometimes noticed the scar, but she hadn't questioned whether it was still painful ever since the beginning of the vacation.

The emperor took her hand and pressed it down onto the part of his skin where the injury had been. “It barely hurt in the first place, so I don't feel anything anymore. The surrounding area isn't numb though. It's just in a different color and slightly rougher than the rest.”

“I know that. I touched you a few times, so that's obvious. I just worried about me always hugging you without paying attention.”

Theodore chuckled and put a hand on the back of her head to massage her scalp again, which made her relax her muscles and sigh in relief. “Don't worry. I'd say something if it hurt, believe me. I used to be quite the crybaby for whining about a little cut like this.”

Blanche glared at him, but she couldn't keep that expression for long, and her eyelids slowly dropped as she enjoyed his touch. Still, she felt that it was necessary to speak up about this matter. “First of all, a little cut is a paper cut. When someone slices your skin open with a sword while trying to kill you, which forces the royal doctor to sew the wound, that is not a little cut. Secondly, when did you ever complain? I don't think you ever said that it hurt. You only admitted that it stings a tiny bit when I asked whether it was painful. The only time you actually acted like someone that was in pain, which is perfectly normal with such an injury, was when you were sleeping right after your treatment. You called out my name then like I was about to disappear and couldn't calm down for longer than a minute after I told you that I was there. After that, you never even remotely complained about anything. It's somewhat disturbing if you ask me.”

Theodore continued to massage her and pressed a kiss onto her cheek. “Of course. Then I only complained because I was worried about you. I'm glad that I didn't whine because of the injury again since that didn't hurt at all.”

“I see that we're already having the same discussion again. I don't think we need to talk about the same things as we did after you got hurt. Anyway. I'm just glad that it's better now. Are you sure that I can hug you without holding back?”

Immediately, a playful smirk appeared on her lover's face. “I think we did other things that required much more physical exhaustion. So, don't worry about putting your arms around me now. I will not let you withhold my daily dosage of hugs from me.”

She didn't have any intention of doing that in the first place, which should be very obvious. After all, she was clinging to him right now too. “Don't burden yourself with such thoughts. I won't let go of you for longer than I have to.”

Theodore slowed the motions of his fingers before removing his hand from her scalp. Her skin was still tingling, so she would have liked to stay in her relaxed position for a while before raising her head, but his posture told her that he wanted to look into her eyes. So, she forced herself to sit up and gazed at him. Her lover gifted her a wonderful smile as he spoke. “That is very good. Now that we came to a mutual agreement in that regard, let us talk about something else. You already gave me a present today, so I naturally have to compensate you for that.” She wanted to speak up and tell him that that wasn't the case, but he didn't pause for her to speak. “There will be a special day in a little under two months. Our second anniversary. I want to give you a perfect gift on that day. Obviously, I will get a surprise too, but I wanted to use this chance to ask you. If there is anything you would like, no matter how big it might be, tell me, and I'll offer it to you. There are no restrictions.”

Blanche furrowed her brows slightly at that. “Theo, that's your birthday. I mean, you gave me a gift last year too, but it was one accessory, which I adore with every fiber of my being. There is no need to get anything else. After all, that is your day. If someone has to ponder about what to buy, it is me. I have no idea what to give you. It's our anniversary and your birthday, so it has to be good.”

Theodore tightened his hold on her and patted her head with the other hand. “Yes. My only wish is that you will stay by my side forever. Your whole life is a pretty big gift, isn't it? So, it's everything that I could ask for.”

The concubine pouted as she tapped against his chest with her index finger. “I could say the exact same thing to you, and you would still get me something else. So, I'll be stubborn as well. I will give my best to make you stare at my present in awe.”

Theodore gave her a playful smirk. “Then you just have to greet me with a smile.”

Blanche was rendered speechless by that and leaned her forehead against his neck to hide her red cheeks. Her lover seemed to have made it his task to make her blush today. “You're unfair. Why don't you get embarrassed when I tell you that I love you?”

“Because I want to show the whole world that I'm yours and that you are mine. It's not something that I wish to hide or conceal in any way. I want everyone to know that they can do whatever they want but that it won't bring us apart. Maybe that will be clearer than me just telling them to stay away. Isn't that obvious? So, I'm basically claiming you as my partner for all eternity. Seeing you happy is my first priority. I would never put anyone or anything else above you.”

Blanche lifted her head at that. “As the emperor, you shouldn't say this to anyone but me. You promised that you would give your all to secure Artias' well-being during your coronation, didn't you? So, you should always state that the nation is the most important thing, just to please everyone.”

Theodore closed his eyes and shook his head. “That would be a lie, and I can't lie to my citizens. I told you, didn't I? I would set the world on fire with a smile on my lips and watch it burn until nothing but charred ash remains if it means that you stay safe. I will always put you above the nation. After all, I can still live if I leave Artias, but without you, I would wither like a plucked flower. We both know that. And at some point, we need to talk about it too.”

The concubine couldn't help but swallow at that. Her lover sounded so different from when he had been drowning in work and had apologized to her by saying that the country needed most of his attention during a crisis. In general, it felt like he was acting even more affectionate now and didn't hide their relationship as much as before. No matter how she thought about it, she had definitely changed him a bit too. Her actions had made him feel less worried about showing that he cared for her in public, and he was much more vocal about that too. It wasn't a bad development, but that was a rather sudden change, and she began to worry. “Theo... I obviously feel the same, but...don't you think that voicing this would cause serious trouble? You changed so suddenly, and I-”

Theodore suddenly put a hand onto her mouth and muffled her voice. She was about to complain when she saw his expression. A deep frown was etched into his features as he let his eyes roam across the glade. He was completely silent for a moment before slowly lifting his hand and crossing his fingers.

In an instant, all the servants were quiet as well, and the knights immediately changed their posture. They looked like they were prepared to fight but purposefully turned away while Owen disappeared into the forest.

Blanche tensed, but Theodore kept her from moving too much. He brought his mouth to her ear and began whispering. “There is someone behind us. I need you to go forward now. Pretend to pick flowers and don't turn around.” That didn't sound good.

The turmoil in Blanche's mind almost made it impossible to process what was happening, and Theodore's words barely reached her. She went limp as he guided her shoulders so that she was facing away from whatever was hiding behind the tree.

“Go.” Theodore muttered that little command and gave her a little push so that she didn't lean against him anymore.

Blanche was in an utter panic by now. Her heart beat so quickly and loudly that it hurt. That sound rang in her ear and drowned out everything else as she scrambled to her feet. It felt like her legs would give in any second, so she stumbled forward until she reached a patch of flowers.

She wanted to crouch down but fell onto her knees and stared at the ground in front of her. Her fear only grew here. The concubine definitely wouldn't be in as much danger as her lover, so it was almost impossible to keep herself from turning around. Her chest felt constricted, and with every time she exhaled, more air seemed to leave her lungs. She could swear that she would pass out every second due to a lack of oxygen, but somehow, she managed to pick a few flowers with her shaky hands despite the sweat clinging to her forehead.

She stayed on the ground like this for what seemed to be an eternity before lifting her head to see what the others were doing. For some reason, half of the guards had disappeared, and the servants were sitting on their blanket while stiffly staring into the opposite direction. So, everyone was trying to avoid letting the enemies know that they were aware of their presence. That could only mean that it was someone dangerous.

Blanche's stomach churned, and she covered her mouth out of fear that she would throw up. But she couldn't do anything that would raise the suspicion of her noticing the enemy. She forced herself to pluck another flower before crouching forward to reach the next patch with many colorful plants.

She extended her hand to grasp one of the more vibrant ones when a movement in the corner of her eye made her turn her head slowly.

She took what felt like a few seconds to realize that there was no one standing next to her, but she might just have had that impression because time seemed to stand still.

She didn't sense the breeze or hear the rustling of leaves.

Everything was just silent and calm, with only her moving around.

She lowered her gaze onto the ground next to her hand, and her brain desperately tried to process what she was looking at.

There was an arrow sticking out of the soil directly next to her hand.

Blanche's mouth fell open, and the standstill of the time was over. In an instant, the loud noises around her reached her ears, and she jumped to her feet. “Theo?” She whirled around with all the most awful scenarios running through her mind. He couldn't be hurt. He couldn't.

Her lover should have been by their blanket, but he wasn't there anymore. Instead, he was standing right behind her and pulled her into his arms. He wasn't as gentle as normally but just moved her away from the tree behind him with much more force. “Go forward. Don't look back.”

She didn't have any influence on that and just went along with what he said. They didn't come far. Behind them, a man was screaming out of the top of his lungs, which made it sound like a war cry.

Blanche didn't even have time to turn around. Before she knew what was happening, Theodore pushed her with enough force to make her stumble forward a few steps before falling to the ground. An ear-shattering clanging cut through the air, and she pressed her palms into the dirt to push herself up to turn around.

“Theo!”

Her lover was standing at the same spot that she had been at just now and was lifting his sword to parry an unknown man's attack.

The intruder wore a mask and dark clothes that hid his whole body. Along with how skillfully he wielded his sword, this made it obvious that he wasn't doing this for the first time.

Blanche wanted to do nothing else but run to her lover's side to protect him, but she would only get in the way. Still, she would have been with him in an instant if her legs were working. But she could only sit there and quiver as Theodore blocked attack after attack.

The other man was yelling the whole time, but her lover was perfectly calm.

The emperor stepped to the side or turned slightly while parrying the other sword without ever stumbling or losing his balance. His expression had become icy. It wasn't the face of pure rage that she had seen so often in her nightmares. It was just a blank one. But what made Blanche snap for real was the fact that there was blood on his clothes. The intruder wasn't hurt as far as she could tell, so whose was this?

Blanche attempted to jump to her feet, only to be held down by a pair of hands. She didn't even manage to turn around and could just stare at her lover, who was evading yet another attack with ease. A voice spoke to her, but she didn't listen.

Theodore took two steps to the side at what seemed to be an inhuman speed, and the other man rushed past him.

The intruder had expected that he would hit the target under any circumstances, so he had put all of his force into it and now stumbled forwards without anything giving him balance. It was only for a second before he stopped, but that was all the emperor had needed.

Theodore jumped towards the other man at the exact second that the intruder had lowered his sword. The emperor's blade dipped into the masked man's abdomen with barely any resistance.

The intruder's mouth opened, and he gasped for air. It looked like the only thing keeping him upright was the sword in his body since he collapsed as soon as Theodore withdrew it with the same freezing expression on his face. He fell to the ground and convulsed for a few seconds before becoming limp. There was blood pooling around the wound, and the liquid flowed out to stain the soil below him in a dark red.

Blanche was able to see that man's flesh and would probably see much more if she cared to focus on that, but she could just stare at the corpse in front of her. That person had lived just a second ago. They were going through their life like everyone else. They were born, grew up, left their parents and maybe had their own family. And upon dying, they ended up like this.

A motionless lump of flesh that would cool soon.

This wasn't the first time that Blanche had seen people get hurt. She had seen it countless times, but that didn't make it better. It was still horrible and felt much more real, much closer this time, not just like some ghostly vision that passed by her, the villainess. She didn't want to look, but she couldn't turn away.

Blanche was paralyzed and sat there on her knees with her hands pressing against the floor. She only snapped out of it when someone grabbed her chin and yanked her head up.

Theodore was directly in front of her and called her name. “Blanche! Are you alright? Answer me!”

She wanted to respond, but her tongue lay limp in her mouth. She let out some quiet noise that she hadn't even intended to make but couldn't do anything else. She wasn't even capable of turning her head on her own will. But then something warm dripped off her cheek and onto her hand and awoke her from her trance.

Some liquid from Theodore's hand that was still cupping her cheeks had stained her skin. She knew what this was.

Her lover's expression turned into one of pure dread as he saw that. Why was he worried about a bit of blood on her now? They had seen worse. He had been the one to almost die.

That thought was enough to make Blanche move again. “Theo.” She barely managed to say his name before her voice broke. She fully expected to cry, but somehow, she couldn't. Still, she didn't know how to breathe properly in the first seconds. All she could think about was Theodore almost getting hurt. “Theo...” This time, she whined his name and jumped off the floor to throw her arms around him. She collided with his body with full force and caused him to stumble back, but he kept them upright and wrapped his arms around her.

Slowly, reality caught up with her. Someone had tried to kill Theodore. She had heard about events like this a few times and had known that it was horrifying. But now that she had witnessed an assassination attempt from up close, it was overwhelming. How was her lover so calm? He had just fought for his life and protected her, and he was barely sniffling a bit while she was paralyzed and could barely breathe. He was the one cradling her head and telling her that they were safe. She had to console him now, so why was it the other way around?

But naturally, Blanche didn't manage to say any of that in her trance. The only words that she kept repeating whenever the barely existent oxygen in her lungs allowed her were ‘Theo’ and a slurred version of ‘I love you’. She wanted to tell him that she was here for him, that he could show her his vulnerable side after going through something disturbing, but she didn't get out anything. She just clung to him with all her force and said his name over and over again, her body taking a bit too long to realize that he was fine.

In the meantime, Theodore was patting her head and said that everything was fine and that he was here to protect her. She should have been telling him that.

Blanche barely noticed what happened around them, but she did take note of the warm stains on her lover's clothes that would definitely dirty her dress too. It was one of her favorite ones, so that was a bit dejecting. As soon as she thought that, she wanted to cry even more, even though she couldn't get out a single tear. This was a serious situation, so why was her brain pondering about such trivial matters?

Someone had just attempted to murder Theodore in front of her eyes, and her lover had killed that person. The corpse was still lying a few steps away from them. But as much as she thought that it was terrible of her, she didn't care for the dead man. He had wished for her lover's death, so she didn't have any pity left. If people attacked others, they should always expect that person to fight back, and then they shouldn't complain.

Hopefully, the emperor felt the same way. It would be horrible if he blamed himself for this now. She wanted to tell him that this was self-defense, but like all the other words she wished to say, these didn't leave her mouth either.

In the next minutes, breathing got easier, but her body was still shaking even as people moved all around them.

It felt like clinging to Theodore was the only thing that kept her sane right now. Her mouth was dry, and her throat ached for some reason. To be honest, everything hurt, but she didn't care about that. She needed to tell her lover that she was with him. She lifted her face off his chest, and he slowly let go of her head.

When she saw his expression, she felt her stomach drop. She had wanted to speak up, but the words died in her throat.

Theodore was gazing at her with teary eyes and a look of total despair. He needed two attempts to speak with a hoarse voice and still didn't finish. “I'm so sorry. You shouldn't have to see that. Please don't hate me for-” He cut himself off before trying to speak again. “Don't look at me with fear. Please don't. I won't be able to take that.”

Hearing him like this broke her heart. It physically made her ache that he still worried more about what she was thinking in such a situation than about him barely escaping death. Blanche didn't know what enabled her to speak now, but while her voice was even shakier than his, she managed to convey what she wanted to say. Even if the sentences were curt and barely sounded like they belonged together. “It's not your fault. You had to...do it. He deserved this for attacking you. I love you. Are you...hurt?”

It was a miracle that Theodore even understood her slurred speech, but he immediately reacted. He squeezed his eyes shut and pressed his face into her neck. “I love you, I love you, I love you. You're too good for me. I love you so much.”

This time, she was the one to cradle his head and give her best to calm him, but her damned body still didn't trust that it was fine and filled her veins with adrenaline so much that she shook. So, the couple just held onto each other as if the rest of the world wasn't able to give them any safety. They stayed like this for a long time, and it felt like there was nothing aside from them.