Seraphina had just talked about her mishaps and about how Blanche shouldn't worry since Theodore was at her side. That was rather odd to hear. Especially the part about Seraphina making mistakes.

Blanche couldn't even imagine that the perfect empress had dealt with such issues too, even if it made sense. She turned away and stared at the floor while trying to put her thoughts into words. It was hard when there was so much on her mind, but she gave her best. “But defending me burdens him. Theo is the most competent ruler you can imagine. His only issues are his brother and the dowager empress as well as my presence. People look down on him because he put me next to him. My background makes me his weak spot already. If I were to become empress, they would argue that his judgment is clouded, and he would lose supporters. And those who hate me would point out every single one of my mistakes. It was different for you, but my slightest error will be proof of me being unsuitable in their eyes.”

Seraphina hummed to herself. Despite the topic, she still had a little smile on her face and seemed so optimistic that it was strange. “Possibly. But you trust His Majesty, don't you? He said that there wouldn't be any problems. He will back you in any case and Marquess Astame will too. Duke Lamont will support you because he hates confrontations. Naturally, Count Ravillot would kill for you after you saved his daughter. My family will assist you too. You don't need to worry about it when my father treasures our nation and knows that His Majesty is the best possible ruler. So, Marquess Bellfaux and anyone else that is close to my father will agree as well. Most of the servants seem rather fond of you too.” She glanced at the group of maids and the two guards, which were standing a few steps away from them. “Some people even liked you a bit too much. It's good that that neutralized. In any case, you don't have to worry about winning people over. You are better at that than I ever was, but don't overdo it, or His Majesty will be jealous.”

Blanche doubted the last part, but the rest made sense. She was pretty sure that Seraphina was good at getting people on her side and could steer those around her easily. But Blanche didn't say that nor point out that she, in contrast to some other people, would never purposefully do something that would make her lover jealous. She glanced at the other woman before lowering her eyes again. “Even if enough people support me, that doesn't make me a suitable empress. As I said, I'm not confident and majestic nor can I persuade people with heartfelt speeches. I also can't act and pretend to like others when I absolutely despise them.”

“You might not have noticed it, but you got better at that. During your birthday, you hosted the party without any issues, did you not? You also stay composed while Her Majesty disrespected you, which ensured that everyone was on your side. Then you acted a bit pitiful, and immediately, her reputation was damaged. It was the perfect strategy. You won't be able to take on my image, and you shouldn't. How you act without instructions fits you much better. You don't have to become the frigid empress. Being the gentle saintess might be more beneficial.”

Blanche disliked that word. She vaguely remembered something unpleasant being connected with that but quickly pushed the thought away. She wasn't sure why she had an image of a group of soldiers kneeling in front of a grave in her mind, but she didn't want to think about that.

Seraphina happily continued in the meantime. “After all, people already know you as the person that melted the emperor's heart and saved an innocent little baby from the clutches of an evil witch. That you also came up with the law that improved His Majesty's situation a lot and allowed him to deal with other things will also boost your reputation. So, I wouldn't worry too much about your personality being fitting. That you are even thinking about whether you can help Artias and that you might make mistakes proves that you have the right attitude to rule a nation. Of course, that isn't enough, but you are eager to learn, so you will do just fine.”

The concubine was speechless now. Why was the former empress supporting her too? That didn't make any sense. Somehow, it seemed like everyone around her just told her that it would be alright. It made her think that she might worry too much about everything, but her doubts remained like a lingering cloud in the back of her mind. Maybe she wasn't too concerned about the nobles and her own personality being unsuitable. Maybe she was actually scared of something else.

She was scared of messing up and making other people suffer because of her. Gaining the right to rule a nation was the most important, and at the same time, the most intimidating part of becoming the empress.

Blanche was silent for a bit and chewed on the inside of her cheek before she slowly dared to whisper the truth. “I don't feel prepared for so much responsibility. I was sure that I would never even be able to marry Theo, and suddenly...I'm here.” She slowly lifted her head and looked at the other woman.

Seraphina was still smiling at her in that weirdly comforting manner. “I don't think that this will help you, but let me be honest. You never feel prepared. Even I, who knew that I would become empress since I was born, was happy about the wedding being delayed over and over again. Whenever His Majesty explained that he was too busy winning the nobles' trust, I was relieved. That is why my father didn't complain too much in the beginning. I was content with gaining a bit more time to go through all the things I learned. In the end, that was completely unnecessary though. Nothing can prepare you for the future. There will always be some unforeseeable changes. Do you remember that I told you something that seems a bit ridiculous now during the summer vacation? I told you that you would never be empress, and look where we are now.”

Blanche put her hands onto her lap and began fiddling with them. Surely, she remembered that. How couldn't she remember how intimidating the empress had been while saying that to her biggest rival? Since then, everything had changed, and all the things that had been true back then didn't necessarily need to be true anymore. Seraphina used to be ready to do everything she could to be empress, and now she had given up on that position.

Even Blanche herself had changed a lot too. She had to admit that she was more confident when it came to appearing in public now since she wasn't scared of being condemned as the villainess anymore. Instead, she feared completely different things. Aside from her lover's issues, she worried about her future role as well. She was slowly but surely losing arguments, but her brain still refused to give in. “But...me being empress is...” It was too strange.

Seraphina watched the other woman for a while before looking into the distance. “I think that you might not fear the role itself that much. Maybe the title is just a bit scary. After all, everyone always acts like the emperor and the empress are gods when you mention their titles. But just like you didn't have a problem running up to His Majesty and hugging his arm while calling him by a nickname, you shouldn't have an issue accepting your place by his side.” She turned to the concubine, and her face lit up with a bright smile. “In the past, you didn't care much for titles. I'm not telling you to return to your original state, but you can be a little less cautious. Once you are the empress, you don't have to be on edge the whole time. Be kind to those that are kind to you and scold the ones that disrespect others. You can be that honest.”

Blanche had barely listened to the second half. Her mind was still in the middle of processing what the other woman had said about titles. It was true that the emperor and the empress had seemed like people from another world when she had been a child. Back then, the royal family had been something out of a fairy tale for her.

When she had heard about Theodore first, Sefare had made him seem like some sort of god too. So, she hadn't been able to imagine how he would be as a person before meeting him. When she had met Theodore, she had forgotten about all of that after a single conversation with him. She had just seen him as a kind person, whom she was completely smitten with, someone who generously helped her. She had only had some occasional worries about why he was so kind to a commoner. But in the end, she had never questioned whether he was a normal human being like anyone else.

After only a few days, Theodore hadn't been the emperor in her mind anymore but her lover. Similarly, she hadn't seen Seraphina as the empress but as her rival, as the person that had married the man Blanche loved.

After living in luxury for so long, the concubine hadn't been surprised to see the royal couple with crowns and ignored how carefully others addressed them. That was probably why she had ignored their ranks and had even claimed to wish to be empress, just because she liked being wealthy, lazy and being Theodore's wife.

That had only changed after she gained the novel's memories. Since then, she had been overly cautious to avoid her death as the villainess. Was that why she was so reluctant to accept her new situation now? She had done her best not to ask for much in the past year and had still steadily grown to desire more. Maybe that was the reason why she didn't dare to accept the position of the empress when it was offered to her. If so, that was a stupid reason. She already knew that this story wasn't the novel's one anymore. And her becoming empress would be better than having no one on that throne, right?

Blanche was pulled out of her thoughts.

Seraphina watched the concubine with a smile on her lips. When she made eye contact with Blanche, she spoke up. “Maybe you should regain a bit of your confidence. During the wedding, you managed to rush into the ballroom to pull out His Majesty without caring for others. I can't get used to seeing you this worried about social ranks.”

Blanche snorted at that. “I still can't get used to you smiling at me. It still feels weird in some way. But I guess everyone changed over time. I just hope that our nation changes for the better and not the worse. Theo has many good ideas, but he will have to fight to make the nobles accept them. He wants women to be able to lead their households, and he said that he would like to give the empress an equal standing. But for now, he has to deal with his enemies first. Hopefully, this trial will help us so that his brother's faction is weakened afterward.” She was well aware that she was changing the topic, but her head was spinning, and she needed a break. So, she would rather discuss the trial. But after addressing that topic, Blanche remembered something important that they still had to mention. She whipped her head around to the other woman. “I don't know if you heard it yet. Duke Vasquez was the third party that tried to become emperor. He unintentionally admitted to having falsified the letters to Ocrea, trying to kill Linden and Sefare as well as poisoning me.”

Seraphina didn't seem surprised to hear that. She just nodded slightly before gazing at the terrace. She confirmed that they were alone and that their companions were still a few steps away before she began speaking. “You said that while I was there. And to be honest, I had guessed so. He was the only person that had enough power and arrogance to become so delusional to think that he could become emperor. I assume that he believed that his wealth and his distant relation to the royal family would have been enough to enable him to ascend to the throne. I researched this Midnight Sleep poison for a while and found something similar. There was a case in which an uncle was brought into the palace to take over after his nephew had become sick, so Duke Vasquez might have believed that he could do the same. I was trying my best to investigate, but His Majesty had already sent men to infiltrate the Vasquez household.”

The concubine should have guessed that Theodore would spy on Duke Vasquez. Maybe he had known about the plan for the ball because of that. Blanche was extremely glad to know that her lover had been able to find a way to get information from their enemies. And she was glad that they had found the third party that had posed a great danger to the nation in general. Still, she was a bit worried. “This doesn't get rid of the dowager empress and the second prince, but at least we managed to defeat one problem. I still don't understand why Duke Vasquez believed that he would be able to win against the royal family though.”

Seraphina replied immediately. “He wanted to use both factions against each other, we can be sure of that. He proved that he wished to worsen the relationship between His Majesty and His Royal Highness on multiple occasions. For example when he appeared at the tea party. He knew that His Majesty would be angry and argue with Her Majesty since she brought Duke Vasquez there against the emperor's will. I believe that his fight with you might also have been staged to some extent. After all, he could be sure that His Majesty would defend you and that one could use the rumors about the emperor listening to a baroness instead of a duke against the royal family.” That sounded more logical than Claude losing his temper for no reason. But Seraphina didn't even give the concubine a chance to think and just continued. “And if His Majesty and the dowager empress fought, the chances of their conflict escalating would be bigger. Duke Vasquez could have used that or a war with Northern Ocrea. In the end, he just wanted the Estien family to lose power and hoped that the factions would destroy each other so that he could step in and take over. It was a foolish plan, but he must have believed that it would work. It's astonishing how delusional power-hungry people can become.”

That alone wasn't what bothered Blanche the most. Duke Vasquez was certainly arrogant enough that it was imaginable that he had wanted the crown for himself. But something didn't make sense. During the ball, Claude had tried to get Luciano to bring Blanche into a guest room and told him that this was necessary for them to become the royal family. What did harming a concubine have to do with becoming the ruler of Artias? There shouldn't be a relation here. The most that could have happened was Theodore massacring Luciano, which would have worsened the emperor's reputation and the Vasquez family's too.

Claude had to have had some kind of reasoning for why that part of his plan was crucial for him to be able to become emperor. Just angering Theodore wouldn't allow him to do that, so there had to be something else behind it too.

Blanche pondered that for a while before she thought about Luciano's warning. He had told her not to drink anything during the party, but he had also sent some other clues first. The note in her birthday present had hinted at his family being responsible for the poisoning, but there had also been something else on that note. Hadn't there been a story about some count losing his son and the cousin taking over instead? That had probably been supposed to hint at his father's ambitious goals. But the fact that this story hadn't ended with the uncle being the new count but with the cousin taking over could show that there might be a bit more to it.

Maybe Claude didn't want to become emperor himself. He had never said that. During their fight, he also hadn't threatened others by speaking about him having the crown. No, he had mentioned that everyone would regret offending him when some other man had become emperor. The concubine remembered that scene well because she had actually believed that Claude was insane during that discussion. He had seemed so convinced that he would win while threatening them.

Back then, everyone had believed that he had been referring to Cedar becoming the next ruler. But maybe he had been referring to Luciano instead.

Blanche's mouth opened, but she didn't dare to voice her theory. Though, this was enough for Seraphina to notice and turn to her. That didn't leave the concubine with another choice. She took a moment to phrase her explanation better before speaking up. “Maybe Duke Vasquez hoped for his son to become emperor. After all, Lord Vasquez is related to the dowager empress while the duke has only married her sister. So theoretically, his son is closer to the royal family even if he isn't blood-related to the main heir-line either. Duke Vasquez mentioned someone else becoming emperor at some point, so maybe this is his true goal.”

Seraphina stroked over her chin with her fingers. “I considered that option too. But then I thought that the duke is far too greedy to hand over his position to anyone else. He surely wishes to rule the nation himself, just because of his huge ego. Being called the most powerful man in Artias would definitely make him happy.”

“That's true, but as long as he controls his son, he can still rule without holding the official title. From what I heard, he often tells his family what to do, and refusing him is hard. He threatened Lord Vasquez with throwing him and his sister out. It's ridiculous, but he has absolute power in his house. It isn't unlikely that he could continue this even if his son happened to become emperor.” Blanche spoke as if she was convinced of this now, and she had to admit that she trusted that theory despite having no proof. She could only reason with what she knew.

Everything from her experience hinted at the fact that Duke Vasquez wanted to make someone else, who was probably a cousin of the ruler like the story from the vase had hinted at, emperor.

Even the novel made it seem like that option was possible.

In the book, Luciano had tried to curry favor with the empress, which made sense if one wanted to gain power. Maybe Claude had hoped that his son could marry the widow of the previous emperor to legitimize his reign. But then it didn't make sense that Luciano hadn't done it this time.

The concubine pondered for a moment before adding a question. “Did Lord Vasquez ever try to approach you? Did he try to chat with you or impress you?”

Seraphina's expression became a bit colder as she remembered the past. “No. He started a fight with me during my birthday and tried to make me condone His Majesty after he caught you when you fainted. I wasn't happy about that, and we only exchanged taunts that evening. Afterward, there has been some tension between us. He was with you much more frequently.”

Blanche remembered how confused she had been upon hearing that after the ball.

When the love interest suddenly offended the heroine, something had gone wrong. The start of their relationship had been bad, so they hadn't gotten closer either, which made sense. So, Seraphina hadn't been showered in compliments and received gifts at every chance. Luciano hadn't approached her during every event either. They hadn't unsuccessfully tried to make Theodore jealous. Seraphina hadn't tried to test Luciano with the help of her brother either. None of that had happened. In fact, those two had barely interacted, which didn't make much sense if that man had been sent to impress the empress.

Hadn't Luciano instead focused his attention on Blanche?

Now that the concubine thought about it, she herself had been forced to interact with Luciano much more now. In the original storyline, there barely had been conversations between her and him. At least she didn't remember too many. She had heard someone else speak about him much more often than she had talked to Luciano in person.

But in this life, Luciano had insisted on bringing her home after she had gone out and gifted her an expensive necklace afterward. He had danced with her at the ball and pulled her away at the hunting festival. In “To Be Empress”, he had done similar things with the heroine, but now he had approached the concubine. For what reason exactly?

Had Duke Vasquez predicted that Theodore would try to make his lover empress? Surely not. Claude had always been so surprised to see Blanche being defended, and her gaining more power had annoyed him a lot. So, he definitely hadn't expected this. That meant that he had to have some other benefit in making his son get close to her. In the end, he had even tried to force Luciano to bring her to bed, which for some reason had seemed like an important part of his plan to him.

But no matter how long Blanche thought about how sleeping with a concubine could give Luciano any chance to win power, she didn't come to a conclusion. Maybe Claude had hoped that Theodore would throw her out because of this, but that still wouldn't increase Luciano's odds of becoming the emperor in any way. Blanche didn't manage to progress, so she decided to discuss this with Theodore later and turned to the other woman again.

Seraphina was already staring at her. “Are you going to keep quiet, or will you tell me what you were thinking about?”

Blanche felt like her theory didn't make much sense without the novel's knowledge, but she still replied. “I was asking myself why Lord Vasquez was supposed to get close to me. I received a gift from him, and he also made me dance with him. I assume that his father was the one that told him to approach me, but I don't know why. You already heard what happened at the party too. I'm not quite sure what benefit it would give any to...you know...to do something that horrible while I was drugged.”

The other woman's expression darkened at that. “That does not make any sense to me either. It only proved that both Duke Vasquez and the dowager empress are despicable beings that deserve to be eliminated.” She glared into the distance before taking a deep breath and resuming a voice that was less tense. “At the first glance, I cannot see an advantage either. Maybe he wished to blackmail you into doing things for him in exchange for keeping that secret. Then he could have had a person within the palace that listened to his words. That might have helped him tremendously. But at the same time, I don't understand how he didn't think about what would happen if His Majesty found out about that. I can assure you that the whole Vasquez family would have already been burned down to the ground if something had happened. So, it was quite a risky gamble for him. I don't understand what caused him to try that.”

Surely, Duke Vasquez had to have had a reason for that, right? His pride couldn't have been so hurt that he risked losing his everything just because he wanted to have revenge. At least Blanche hoped that. If they could figure out his goal, they would have another advantage in the trial. But it wouldn't help to ponder that more. Asking a person that knew was much easier.

Blanche proposed the idea without thinking about it much. “Maybe we could talk to Lord Vasquez during the next ball. He will tell us what he knows, and we can use that against his father. He feels indebted to Theo because his family can keep their rank, so he will definitely answer if we ask.”

Seraphina listened until the end before replying with a skeptical look. “I am unsure whether a ball is a good opportunity to talk about confidential topics, but I believe that you will be able to make that judgment.” A little smile returned to her face. “You only need to be patient. You can rely on His Majesty. I heard that Lord Astame has convincing methods of making people speak. Duke Vasquez won't keep quiet for long. Then you only need to wait for the trial, and everything will go well. Don't worry too much when you put your enemies in checkmate. I heard that your performance that evening was breathtaking. You managed to make everyone think that you were completely drugged while actually being fully awake.”

In reality, most of Blanche's acting had consisted of relaxing her muscles and letting others drag her around. There wasn't anything special about that when the aphrodisiac had done enough to make her drowsy. But she didn't say that. “Thank you, Your Maje...” She cut herself off and almost signed. “I will need a while to get used to that.”

Seraphina let out a small huff before smiling at the concubine. “Believe me, it will be much worse to get used to being called by such a title. You will feel the need to offer your friends and family to address you normally in public, but they can't do that. That rule doesn't seem to apply to you though, so I wouldn't concern myself with that. You have enough other worries right now. Clear your head first before you think about anything new.”

Blanche would have liked to do that, but it was hard to flip a switch. “I will try my best.” She returned the smile before she turned her gaze to the sky again.