The Broken Prince's Love

Cedar wasn't sure what that question was supposed to make him respond with. Was he fine at the moment? Definitely not. Surely, he could keep himself together, but his mind was still in a whirl. “I am truly fine. I mean, I broke my mother's arm three hours ago, so I'm a bit worried. But otherwise, it's fine.”

Camille had raised him to serve her and live for her. Now he had hurt her, ignored her cries for help and had left her all alone as she had been dragged away. Of course, that made him feel horrible. Especially since a part of him just dryly reminded him that it had been her fault. That wasn't getting better when everyone around him told him that it was fine too. No one here had any sympathy for Camille, so they justified his hasty actions. That made him feel even more guilty for ignoring her.

Theodore crossed his arms while he responded. “That woman doesn't deserve anyone's pity. Cedar, she attacked you. We have at least a dozen witnesses who can affirm that she pulled out a dagger to stab Lucille. And that you intervened is clear too. No one will blame you. You needed to act quickly, and you did just that. Lucille is safe, so you fulfilled your main goal, right?”

That was true. During that incident, Cedar had only been able to think about whether he had managed to save Lucille. He had been so relieved upon seeing that she wasn't hurt that he had ignored his wailing mother for a minute or so. Only then, he had noticed Camille, and that had made the difference in what he felt for those two people even more obvious. He cared more about Lucille than about his mother. That should be logical since Lucille was always kind to him and liked spending time with him. They were a couple, and she didn't hurt him nor did she try to use his weaknesses against him. Cedar's own mother was much too eager to see him in pain though, just because that had made him cling to her in the past.

Of course, he would favor the person who actually felt something like affection for him. But Camille had always expected him to see her as his priority. She had ensured that it was like this for two decades. Now that suddenly wasn't the case anymore. Knowing that her manipulation had failed had to be so frustrating to her.

But Cedar himself was confused too. He wasn't sure what his emotions told him right now. Was he happy that he had saved Lucille? Was he sad about hurting his mother and seeing her suffer? Both were true. In addition, it felt like his whole life was changed because he truly understood that Camille didn't matter to him that much anymore. So, he was quite irritated right now. Cedar showed his brother a bright smile as he responded. “Of course. Lucille was my priority. I had to protect her, and that is what I did. I merely believe that it would have been more clever to do so in a calmer manner. I should have held back with my strength a bit.” He could have hurt his mother just a little bit so that she would drop the knife. He didn't have to break her arm for that. But to be honest, he hadn't thought about that while seeing how Lucille had been threatened with a dagger.

Blanche inserted herself into the conversation again. “But you can't expect yourself to think about that when you need to act quickly. You just did what would guarantee that she wouldn't attack Lucille. And you are used to fighting much stronger people. You probably wouldn't have broken the arm of a trained fighter with that, right? An old noble is just much more fragile. But all in all, it's still her fault one way or the other. She should be glad that she didn't meet Leon or Owen while trying that. Both would have cut her hand off in a single motion.”

Cedar didn't doubt that. Maybe it was good that he had been the one to intervene. Still, he would have liked to do so more gently. But it wasn't like he could change that now, and he didn't need to discuss this with people who despised Camille either. “Well, then it's good that those two weren't there. At least we managed to get out of this unharmed. What will happen now?”

Theodore replied immediately. “Obviously, we're putting her on trial. Until then, she will stay in her cell, and I will finish off her last allies. I'm pretty sure that I can deal with enough to have the trial in just a few weeks. This will drag her down to her knees. After that, she will suffer a bit thanks to her hurt pride. Then it might be good to have a retrial for all of the offenses she committed. Maybe in three months or so, and then the capital will be completely clean. We will lay out all of her crimes and finally bring down the hammer of justice.”

So, Theodore planned on ending it within four months. By then, he would probably have driven Camille to the brink of utter insanity, and in the end, he would crush her.

Once again, Cedar hated himself for not thinking about stepping in. He would hold back nonetheless. After all, he knew that his mother was dangerous to everyone around her. There was no way a person like her could stay alive for long. And obviously, Theodore would get revenge for the death of his mother. “I understand. I can testify about anything I witnessed and even lie if it becomes necessary. But I would-” He didn't get to finish.

Theodore already replied. “I will try to keep you from having to say too much. You will mostly just affirm our theory if the nobles question some things. You won't be the main person in the trial, believe me.” Either he feared that his brother would change his mind and lie to twist the facts in front of a judge, or he truly wanted to keep Cedar from needing to condemn his mother. Both would be understandable.

To be honest, Cedar didn't care about the reason either. He was just happy if he could go without blaming himself for causing his mother's execution for the rest of his life. “Thank you. Of course, I will help if it ever becomes necessary and will do my all to support you, but I shall let you deal with most of it. Even if I worry about your reputation a bit.”

Theodore kept his eyes on his brother, but he was already in the middle of pulling his wife into his arms again. Apparently, he couldn't even let go of her for five minutes, but at least he still talked to the prince. “What do you mean?”

Cedar smiled at him while fighting the urge to hug Lucille. “That you are leading a trial involving Mother. Everyone will know that you are biased. That you even allow me to stay here despite what happened is enough to make some people worry a lot. If you do this now, it might cause even more trouble. You remember the tyrant emperor rumors, right? That is the only thing your enemies can use against you. Thanks to your new rather harsh methods, which are helpful but still problematic, that rumor might grow again. We don't need the citizens to think that you are defending the insane prince that broke his own mother's arm. And the fact that you are trying to get your biological mother executed will damage your reputation too.”

That was a valid concern, and still, Theodore just put on a confident smile. “You don't have to worry about anything, especially not the public opinion, as long as the emperor is on your side. I could be a psychopath who clings to a ghost or a soft man who is completely dependent on his wife's love. Either way, no one will dare to complain. Except for the dowager empress. But as I said, she won't cause issues for much longer. Trust me.”

Cedar wasn't sure whether he could do that. He still found it strange that he was on Theodore's side like this, and even if he accepted that, disregarding that the emperor's reputation was important did not seem too clever. “Well, even if that is the case. Don't I need to worry about my reputation still? If I suddenly appear in a trial and want my mother to be punished, that would make it seem like I am trying to silence her so that she can't reveal my secrets and tell you about some crimes I committed.” His mother truly knew about one secret that he didn't want to be spread. But Theodore already knew, so it was fine. “And this incident here will only remind them how cruel and dangerous I am. I doubt that noble society will be a pleasant place for me after this.”

He hadn't expected Lucille to reply, but she chimed in as soon as he finished. “But no one here could be angry at you. You only defended yourself. Your mother's reputation will be damaged because she came to the royal palace with a weapon. But that you pushed her away won't harm your reputation. It was self-defense!” She seemed like she was a bit too upset about that.

Cedar would have liked to clarify why his concerns were logical, but he wasn't able to tell her about how Camille would twist the story.

Theodore spoke first. “To be honest, this event can only help your reputation. The nobles will see that as proof that you are on my side. And the staff's opinion of you will benefit as well.”

Cedar didn't like hearing that. He knew that his brother had played some strange games to ruin the former empress' reputation among the staff, which had led to some rather unpleasant situations for that woman. He himself had experienced the staff's disdain too. In the first weeks after he had come here, it had been pretty bad. But with time, it had gotten better, and now most people seemed to view him as a neutral person. That made it seem like Theodore had already gotten involved and changed the rumors into more positive ones. Cedar crossed his arms. “What do you mean?”

“The knights saw that you defended Lucille from your mother. They know that you are serious about taking our side since you didn't hold back. And they also saw how hysteric the dowager empress is. From now on, no one will doubt that you are not as bad as they thought you were. You remember what she announced in front of everyone today, right? She effectively proved that she is completely insane and that you were the poor child who had to endure her tantrums and her horrible treatment for years.” So, Theodore wanted to bait people with pity.

Maybe that would be fine for everyone else. But Cedar hated pity. “Theodore, I doubt that me breaking-”

His brother cut him off there. “Don't worry. You defended Lucille, so you are in the right. I will deal with everything and make sure that it ends favorably. You don't have to waste your time with that, alright? Everything is under my control. We will be done with this in just a little while. Then you won't ever have to think about that woman again. But I doubt that we will be able to do much for you now at this very moment. So, how about you stay here and just relax with Lucille? I can give you a week of vacation, so you don't have to come to the office if you don't want to. See that as a small reward for working so earnestly. Maybe it would be good if Lucille could sleep in your room for a while.”

Lucille blinked at that. She stared at the emperor for a moment before blood came rushing to her face. She averted her eyes. “That... I don't...” She still didn't know how to deal with this, even if they had shared a room often enough.

In reality, there was more to this though. The emperor wanted to make sure that Lucille was close to Cedar because he knew that his brother would have some issues forgetting this incident. He wanted to let Lucille deal with that so that the prince wouldn't get too upset.

Cedar was half thankful and half annoyed. He could have talked about this with Lucille alone.

But before he could say anything, Blanche resumed. “You know, if you need to change your scenery a bit, you could also move rooms for a while. Just a day ago, a room in the corridor with our room was...prepared. Coincidentally.” That was a lie. “You could move there to make it feel like a vacation. Only if you want to, of course. Then you would have much more space and would need to walk a shorter way to our room to eat breakfast, and the way to the office from there is shorter too. You could finally have a bigger dressing room there as well.”

They were trying to bind the prince here, weren't they? Both Theodore and Blanche seemed to insist on Cedar taking a room for himself instead of staying in a guest room. And they even told him to share it with Lucille. That made him believe that they were already sure that he would live here even after Camille was gone and that he would marry Lucille. He wouldn't complain about the second part, but the first one confused him a little. After all, Cedar had done enough to make the royal couple hate him. They should be eager to throw him out, but apparently, that wasn't the case here.

Cedar was irritated by that, but he obviously didn't show that.

Lucille's face became completely red though. She was probably already overthinking about what a man and a woman sharing a bedroom would indicate. If others heard about that, she would never be able to marry any noble from the capital. But she might not be too averse to that decision. She was still too shy to admit that though. So, she held up her hands to her cheeks and tried to cover her blushing. Obviously, she didn't manage to hide her reaction.

Blanche already grinned at her. “You don't have to be so bashful. We won't force you. But you sleep in each other's room every night anyway, so it should be fine. Just remember that we have a room prepared for you.”

Cedar watched how Lucille stammered around a bit. She was so adorable that he almost wanted to watch her get embarrassed a bit more, but he decided to save her quickly. “Well, not everyone can rush it like you two did. We will take our time. Regarding the room, we will discuss that later. But for now, we won't be able to make a decision that quickly. Please give us some time.”

Theodore patted his wife, who was still beaming. “Of course. The offer will remain. The room won't disappear after all. Just tell us when you are ready. I think that is all we will say for now. Everything else is...” He became a bit more serious and did his best to hide that with a smile. “Not important right now. I will deal with it. For now, you two probably want a calm afternoon. We asked the cooks to prepare something nice for dinner so that you don't have to go out again. We will be in our room or the office, and if you need help or want to talk about something, you can visit or send a servant. Alright?” So, he was trying to give Cedar space to get over what had happened while also offering help.

Cedar would have liked to say that everything was fine already, but that would be a lie. Whenever it was quiet, his mind returned to the moment in which he had heard that sickening crunch and felt how Camille's arm gave in under his hands. That almost made him shudder. “It's perfectly fine. We will call for a servant if there is an issue, but I doubt that there will be one. I probably won't go out today anymore, so I wish you a nice afternoon. I can also wish you a wonderful night already, right?”

Blanche replied with a little smile on her lips. “Of course. We are very thankful for that. We would like to wish you a pleasant afternoon and night too. Don't worry about everything the whole night. And don't forget that we are here to help in whatever way necessary.” Apparently, Blanche had understood that Cedar wouldn't ask for help, so she prepared to leave. She tugged at her husband's arm, and that slight motion was enough to make him walk to the door.

Lucille bid them farewell too, her mind being focused on something else already. When the door fell shut, she still stared at it and refused to look toward her lover.

Cedar considered teasing her and quickly decided to do just that. He didn't want to think about what had happened, so he would rather busy himself a little. That was his favorite thing to do anyway. He walked over to Lucille and positioned himself in front of her.

Lucille lifted her head to glance at him, not being sure what he would address.

Cedar took that as his cue to step forward. He put his hand under her chin and gently tilted her head to make eye contact with her. “Why are you so red? You don't have a cold, right? You look like you might be pretty hot.” He brought his other hand to her forehead and leaned closer than he had to.

Lucille's blush actually wasn't as dark as normal. In fact, she only seemed to be red because of the excitement of today. But the way that she looked up at him made it obvious that she was embarrassed now that he had asked. “That's...not it.” She alternated between staring at him and quickly glancing down. “I...I'm just thinking about...”

Cedar began playing with Lucille's hair and carefully moved it around a bit while letting his hand run down the side of her face. He smiled down at her and could barely hold back from kissing her when she gave him such an expectant look. But he forced himself to stop for now to push her a bit farther. “Is it about the room? Is sharing a room with me that bad? I promise that it won't be too bothersome. I would make sure that you are in a good mood all the time. After all, falling asleep with me and waking up next to me would be nice, wouldn't it?” He hadn't expected Lucille to nod, but she did it without hesitation.

Lucille averted her eyes again, but she even replied. “I mean...it would be nice. But I'm...worried about...you know. If we really do share a room, that's...like an official statement.” Regarding their future.

To be honest, sleeping in each other's room was bad enough. Officially doing it wouldn't make it much worse. But even if it did, there most likely wouldn't be much of an issue.

Cedar stroked his thumb over Lucille's cheek before slowly letting it roam over her bottom lip. “Well, we already slept in the same bed quite a few times. The servants know, so this wouldn't change much. It would merely...add the indication that you will stay in the royal palace longer. Assigning you a room here hints that you will not move out like a guest. And you know what that would mean.” Everyone would assume that Cedar would finally make her his fiancée. To him, that didn't sound too bad.

Lucille squirmed around a bit while looking to the side before she met his gaze. She seemed so uncertain while she swallowed. Still, she spoke up. “If that is...” Her voice gave in. “If that is...the case...then we could...actually do it. Right?” That response came as a surprise.

Cedar hadn't quite expected her to jump at the offer and had believed that they would delay it for a few more weeks. But now that she had said this... Why not? That was the first question that came to his mind. Even if it came to the point at which Lucille would not be able to marry anyone else, there wouldn't be much of an issue. Cedar could easily take care of her, whether she would be his wife or not.

Of course, her affirmation would be more pleasant. As long as Cedar stayed in the palace and got along with the emperor, his position would be secured. He was the prince of Artias and had an impressive amount of personal funds, so he was rather powerful. After Camille and her last supporters disappeared, few people would threaten the royal family. So, Lucille would be safe here.

The only problems remaining were Cedar's difficult circumstances. That meant that he just needed to make sure that his past wouldn't trouble Lucille. As long as he tried to be a good husband, that would be fine, right? Maybe it wouldn't be too bad for him to say that with conviction now.

Cedar watched Lucille for a moment while he could see how tense she was. That already made him answer before he could think about his words. He leaned forward and gently covered her lips with hers.

Lucille seemed to have expected it since she immediately relaxed and put her arms around his neck.

He was careful not to move too fast while he took a step back and then another one. He didn't take long before he managed to bring her to the bed and sat down there. In the process, he pulled Lucille onto his lap and still didn't stop kissing her. Apparently, she didn't mind the new position and just returned his kiss eagerly. She was normally so shy when it came to things like this, and yet, she was passionate now.

Cedar had to admit that he loved both her shyness and this passion. He couldn't even say what he favored. He probably just liked every reaction Lucille could give him. When she kissed him, it already felt like that was enough of a reward. And the fact that she felt safe enough to make herself comfortable in his lap while they did this only made it even cuter. He could seriously get used to this.