The Broken Prince's Love

Maybe Lucille was the only one who saw it.

Cedar was fuming. There was a huge amount of anger below his wide smile, and he just barely held back from snapping at the people around them.

She wasn't sure whether the royal couple didn't know or whether they just ignored it. Maybe she herself had just noticed it because she could feel how he tensed. Cedar was still holding her hand after all. He had probably forgotten that he hadn't ever pulled back.

Since Lucille didn't have the desire to push him away, she just kept holding him too. So, they had been like this for the past minutes despite her almost dying out of embarrassment when she had realized. But right now, she didn't want to let go either. Not when Cedar seemed to get angrier with each passing second. So, she just squeezed his hand tighter in an attempt to distract him.

When the prince noticed, he almost seemed to snap out of some sort of trance. He turned his head to stare at their hands for a moment. Then he looked at her face before giving her a little smile. He was still angry, of course he was. A small distraction couldn't keep him from fuming. But it seemed like he was a bit better now.

Lucille smiled back at him before she focused her attention on the royal couple again. She regretted that in an instant.

The emperor scanned them with skepticism while the empress hid a small smile behind her fingers.

This almost made Lucille want to let go, but that would make this even more embarrassing. So, she quickly averted her gaze.

A few seconds of silence followed before Blanche spoke up. “In any case, it seems like we are keeping you from eating. Since that is problematic when you are supposed to recover, we will take our leave now.” She slowly stood up, which caused her husband to jump up so that he could help her.

Lucille dared to meet the other woman's gaze and quietly replied. “Your Majesty could never disturb us. I need to thank you again. That we are allowed to reside here until the situation is calmer is extremely generous. I will be forever indebted to you.”

The empress gave her a bright smile before responding in a soft voice. “Helping others should be normal. You don't need to think about doing anything for us. If you want to see it differently, just remember this. You saved the life of a member of the royal family. The least we can do is help you.”

Upon hearing this, Cedar turned his head away and looked like he had to hold back from rolling his eyes. It seemed like he didn't enjoy hearing it when the royal couple asked him how he was doing or said that it was good that he was healthy.

Lucille squeezed his hand again before she spoke up. “I'm just happy that I managed to reach my goal by doing something so reckless.” But she didn't regret it. Even if Cedar told her that he would have dealt with the wound with fewer complications.

Theodore linked his arm with his wife's before responding. “It would be better to refrain from doing something like this in the future though, Lady Valerian. While I do admire your bravery, it was awfully dangerous. You were lucky that Cedar found the royal guards quickly. Otherwise, it might not have ended like this. I know that warning you now isn't helpful, but I wish to remind you that the dowager empress isn't a lenient person. If she thinks that you are close to Cedar, even if that was just a rumor, she will target you. For now, you should be safe here, but I would still ask you to be careful. Of course, we will investigate and do our best to cut off all ways for her to contact any dangerous people. You may need to give a testimony regarding the incident if a trial does happen.”

Cedar cut his brother off at that point. “You are right. She may do that at a later date. But not now. I think the reason is obvious. But I doubt that you will even be able to put on a trial. There won't be a single piece of evidence left. It's surprising that there wasn't a fire after that incident. You should probably send someone to search for unknown intruders who are spreading a strange flammable liquid.”

Theodore let out a huff of air. “I already did that. You may not believe me, but I pay attention to the things that woman does too. By now, I am very much capable of guessing what she wants to do next. There are enough people there to prevent a fire. And I am aware that there won't be evidence too. Why do you think we needed to wait for a revolt before arresting you? Anyway. We will take our leave now and give you some privacy.” He turned to Lucille and gave her a little smile. “Good afternoon, Lady Valerian. Please rest well and recover quickly. And do not hold back from scolding my brother if he does things you find odd. You have my permission.”

Lucille had no idea how to react to that. She quickly bowed her head and replied. “I wish you a wonderful evening, Your Majesty. I sincerely thank you for allowing me to stay here. Cedar doesn't act strangely though, so I doubt that I will need to scold him.” Even if she had already done so upon seeing him train despite his injury.

Blanche smiled at that before speaking up as well. “I see. That's how it is. I do have some questions about that later, but for now, we will leave you alone. Good evening.”

Lucille quickly lowered her head again. “I hope that you have a wonderful evening, Your Majesty. May you rest well.”

Cedar glanced at her as if he found her goodbye amusing before he replied as well. “Goodnight, Your Majesty. I hope that you will sleep well.” He didn't look at the royal couple for long and quickly averted his eyes again.

Apparently, that didn't bother them though. The emperor and the empress left the room along with their guards and shut the door behind them.

Lucille immediately relaxed, only to cringe at the numb pain coming from her stomach. It always returned when she had almost forgotten about it, which was quite frustrating.

Cedar only took a second to notice that Lucille was gritting her teeth again and quickly moved to help her lie down. “Is it that bad? You should have said something. I will tell the doctor to give you more medicine. You being a bit hazy is better than you being in pain.”

She shook her head. “It's actually not bad at all. It's just unfavorable when I move around too much. When I tense my muscles, it hurts. I was a bit stiff around His and Her Majesty, so relaxing now was painful.”

“It is obvious that you're very stiff around them. I'm glad that you don't insist on formalities around me anymore.” Cedar smiled as if this was a joke, but he was probably very serious about this. Then his smile widened a bit as he scanned her face. “Are you sure that you don't want more medicine? The doctor should be in the neighboring room. I only need to stand up and walk ten steps, and then you can get it in just a minute or so. I don't want you to lie around in pain because you won't admit that it hurts.”

A small smile grew on Lucille's lips as she met his gaze. “You are aware that you are a hypocrite, aren't you? You never took pain medicine in front of me either. But in contrast to you, I'm not lying when I say that I'm not in pain. It's really fine. I will need to be careful, but this is nothing problematic. I think there is something else that we need to talk about.” She forced herself to keep smiling as she said that, even though her stomach already churned. Just a second later, her smile died down though. “About the servants...”

Cedar quickly understood and cut her off. “Let us wait with that. I don't have all the information either. If you want to know soon, let's ask my brother tomorrow. But give yourself one more relaxed night.” It sounded like he didn't hope for good news.

That was all she needed to hear to be certain. Countless people had to have died that day.

Lucille balled one of her fists while tightening her hold on Cedar's hand. She could only pray that as many servants as possible had ignored the rules to sneak out and that her father had taken many along with him. Otherwise, those poor people would have ended up like Mathilda. Lucille remembered the maid's desperate screams and quickly closed her eyes. She didn't want to think about that yet. She knew that it was ridiculous to push facts away like this, but she didn't want to know this today. She wanted one more night in peace, as the prince had said.

So, she hurried to open her eyes and addressed a random topic to distract herself. “Are you really going to stay here in the neighboring room the whole night?” It would be odd to assume that he wanted to take care of her, but it had sounded like this.

Cedar smiled at her, and it seemed like he had calmed down a bit again. “Indeed. If I need to feed you, I can just sleep here too. After all, running around the whole time isn't efficient. I will borrow one of the beds here.”

Lucille almost coughed at that and quickly averted her eyes. She was still a bit embarrassed about Cedar feeding her, but showing that would only make it weird for the both of them. “I see. Thank you very much. But I would understand if you don't want to stay here for too long. After all, this isn't a place a prince should sleep in.” She seemed to be more concerned about that than he was though.

“I slept under a bridge just a few weeks ago. This is much better. Don't worry.” He smiled at her without any trace of the anger that he had previously shown.

Lucille held still for a moment and just stared at him. She contemplated speaking up but was a bit worried about what he might say. So, she stayed quiet and waited for Cedar to move.

He met her gaze for a while before looking at the nightstand. He shuffled around so that he sat closer to her again and lifted the tray. “Then we should eat a bit before the sun sets. I feared that the soup might get cold, but it should still be somewhat warm.” He picked up the spoon and brought it to her mouth.

Lucille wanted to say that she could probably eat alone by now, but she stopped herself at the last moment. She was still weak, so it would be better to move as little as possible, right? She definitely wasn't enjoying the fact that Cedar took care of her this much and just thought logically about that. To the prince, this didn't mean much either. He probably just felt bad because she had gotten hurt while protecting him, but she was still touched by him helping her with even simple tasks like these.

So, Lucille just opened her mouth and let him feed her. She would eat by herself starting from tomorrow, but she might as well give herself some rest for today.

The both of them spent the rest of the evening slowly eating some of the dishes that had been brought while chatting about lighthearted themes.

Lucille barely managed to finish even half of her meal, and Cedar didn't have enough room in his stomach to eat the rest either. But even though swallowing had been a little painful sometimes, she had gotten enough to be saturated. Now she was simply tired. Thus, she was happy when the sun set and she was able to lie down again.

The doctor gave her a dose of the stronger medicine, and only minutes later, Lucille's mind became hazy again. She didn't have an issue with that though. To her, this was a chance. While she was still somewhat conscious and Cedar sat next to her, she could finally address the issue. Now that she was getting more and more woozy, she gathered enough courage to speak about what she had noticed. “Cedar?” She looked at him through half-lidded eyes.

The prince looked up from the book he had picked up and replied in a quiet voice. “Yes?”

Lucille forced herself to keep her eyes open as she tried to read his expression. “Can I ask you a question?”

Cedar gazed at her for a moment. “Of course. I can't promise that I will answer it, but I will listen.”

She could just hope that he wouldn't be upset about this. “Don't get mad though. I noticed this during our conversation earlier. You dislike it when other people tell you that you aren't at fault. Did you notice that? You get angry when you are reminded that you're not as bad as you think yourself to be. Your smile widens. It took a while for me to notice, but by now, I can tell when you get upset. And you don't like it when your brother tells you that he wants to give you a second chance.” Lucille tried her best to say this without slurring her words too much. She hadn't expected a complicated answer to this question, but she had been worried about the prince becoming annoying.

Cedar didn't seem to be angry though nor did he intend to give her an explanation. He just reached over to her and brushed his fingers through her hair while being extremely careful. “You do pay a lot of attention to me. I don't think that you should do that. It might not be pleasant for you. I'm not a good person.”

Lucille felt her consciousness slipping away as she closed her eyes. She wanted to say one more thing before falling asleep. “But I like you...” She wasn't sure whether he had understood her. But when she tried to say it a second time, her tongue didn't work anymore. So, she had to admit defeat.

The only thing she felt while falling asleep was Cedar's hand on her head. It felt nice.

Lucille had imagined living in the palace as being exciting. But to be honest, she was already bored the next morning. Without moving around, there was only so much she could do. The only one that kept her from dying out of boredom was Cedar, who sat next to her almost the whole time.

Most of the day had been fine. But in the afternoon, the prince had left to meet with the emperor to discuss some things regarding him breaking out of confinement.

Now Lucille was all alone and lay in bed while looking around the room. She should have asked for some books. Then she would be able to do something useful instead of just waiting for Cedar to come back. But she didn't have time to worry about what to do for long.

A knock on the door pulled her out of her thoughts.

Lucille looked around for a moment before realizing that the doctor wasn't anywhere close to her. So, she raised her voice. “Yes?”

A second later, the door was opened, and a young woman looked inside with a bright smile. That was none other than Blanche Estien, the empress herself. “Good afternoon, Lady Valerian. I hope I'm not disturbing you. May I come inside for a moment?”

Lucille froze in place. “Your Majesty?” She took a few seconds before she processed the situation. She scolded herself for being so slow and hurried to reply. “Ah. I apologize. Of course. Good afternoon, Your Majesty. How can I be of assistance?”

Blanche stepped inside and instructed someone to wait there with a hand gesture before she came in, accompanied by a maid with ginger hair. “No, I have to apologize for the intrusion. I merely wished to ask whether you would like to join me for a cup of tea since I assumed that you would be bored while sitting around here. Waiting for your recovery is always annoying.” The fact that she even asked was ridiculous in itself. No person in this nation could refuse the empress' request except for the emperor, who adored his wife more than anything else. There was just one possible answer here.

“I would be honored to be allowed to join you for a cup of tea.” Lucille quickly looked down to confirm whether she was somewhat presentable in her current state. As expected, she was lacking in all regards. She couldn't curtsy to the empress, didn't wear anything but a nightgown and could barely sit upright. “Uhm. I apologize for my current-”

Blanche cut her off before she could finish. “You are injured. Do not act like you are required to bow as you normally would.” She came toward the bed and wanted to sit down on the chair Cedar usually used.

However, she was stopped by her maid, who hurriedly intervened. “Your Majesty! Please wait a moment. I will get you an armchair. It will only take a minute.” The maid ignored her mistress' frustrated sigh and rushed over to the corner of the room to begin shoving an armchair toward the bed. She took a short while before finally finishing and speaking up while trying to calm her breathing again. “There...you go. A comfortable chair.”

The empress gazed at her for a moment before giving up and sitting down. “Thank you very much. But that was unnecessary, and you know it. I'm pregnant and not sick.” She made herself comfortable before gazing at Lucille and showing her a soft smile. “I apologize for the wait. May I introduce you? This is my closest friend and personal maid, who has been by my side ever since I came here. Her name is Stella.” Then she gestured toward the noble lady while looking at her maid. “This is Lucille Valerian, the only daughter of Viscount Valerian. I think you know her though.” She turned to Lucille again. “Stella remembers all nobles in the capital, which is rather helpful at times.”

That wasn't calming at all. Not when Stella stared at Lucille as if she was pondering something. The maid was quiet for a little moment before realization crossed her face, and her expression darkened. “I...remember you. During the hunting festival last year, you started a fight with My Lady.”

Lucille wanted to sink into the floor at that. Why did the maid have to remember that?

The hunting festival had been one of the most humiliating events she had ever been through. That day, her father had decided that she should provoke Blanche, who had been the emperor's concubine back then, to instigate a fight. This had been supposed to cause the emperor to feel apologetic toward their family. Lucille didn't know the rest of that plan, but she knew that it had ended with her obeying because she had been scared.

The result had been miserable. As expected, upsetting Blanche and the present children of influential families hadn't helped. Lucille had just been forced to apologize after fearing that she might be dragged in front of a court for slandering others. Thankfully, the concerned people had refrained from doing that, but the son of Duke Duremont and the daughter of Marquess Bellfaux still seemed to despise her. It had been pure luck that the emperor hadn't noticed what was going on so that Lucille hadn't been ruined completely.

But when she had told her father that this plan had been stupid afterward, she had regretted it deeply. She didn't want to remember that evening at all. Just a little comment about that day made her remember though. Even if she tried to push these thoughts away, she wasn't able to ban them from her mind.

Lucille shuddered for a moment before whispering her response. “Ah. I sincerely apologize.” That didn't help much at all. Maybe it would be better to stay quiet to avoid upsetting the others more, but she didn't want to let them believe that she was at fault. “I know that it...sounds like an excuse, but I didn't want to say any of that. I had to do that because...” Because her father made her do it? That wouldn't help her family's reputation either. “Someone forced me to...” Saying it without naming anyone just made it sound like a lie. So, Lucille cut herself off and just let her head hang forward.

“Please raise your head. I already heard a little bit about that.”

Lucille barely dared to comply, but she was greeted with a soft smile on Blanche's side.

The empress seemed as if she wasn't angry at all and spoke in a soft voice. “Of course, I don't know much about your circumstances. But I already thought that it was odd when you reacted so timidly about being scolded back then. You were way too uncertain after delivering your speech. And that isn't the only time that I found it strange when you acted out of character. Your difference in personality is astonishing regularly. You sometimes appear extremely confident, and then you get shy from one second to the other. Until now, I didn't get why that was the case, but it seems to have something to do with your father, doesn't it? Theo mentioned that you compared your parents to Cedar's.” Her smile became sadder as she continued. “I haven't spent a lot of time with your father, but if you think that he is similar to the dowager empress, you have my condolences. From now on, you will be safe though. You are under the protection of the royal family.”

Lucille didn't know what to say about all of this. She could just meet the other woman's gaze with confusion. Why did everyone around her already know what she had told Cedar? It was good that she didn't need to explain too much about her situation, but it was still odd. “I... Thank you.” Even though she wouldn't be protected from her father for long. After all, she had to leave after the dowager empress had forgotten about her.

Blanche quickly seemed to notice what was going on inside the other's head. She waved to her maid, who brought a tray and pot of tea, before speaking up. “I apologize if you are uncomfortable with me knowing about that. I promise that I do not have much more information. I also won't pry. I just wanted to explain that I don't blame you. That incident happened over a year ago, and I'm not mad in the slightest. You apologized multiple times by now, so it truly is fine. So, please feel free to relax in my presence. It will only be exhausting if we are tense the whole time.”

Lucille was skeptical, but she didn't dare speak.

The empress smiled at her maid when the other woman poured her a cup of tea before resuming. “As you may have guessed, I do not care much for formalities. You also don't need to call me by my title while we are alone. It doesn't feel right to be addressed so distantly when we aren't even in public. You may call me by my name or my old title if you feel more comfortable with that.”

Lucille definitely couldn't do that. There was no way that she could speak to the empress without using formalities. That should be obvious too. But the other's expectant smile made it hard to say no. She just forced herself to smile and nodded.

Blanche seemed content with that and happily accepted the cup of tea from her maid. Then she waited until Stella had given Lucille a cup too and spoke up after that. “Then I would like to invite you to drink with me. This is apricot tea, which is my favorite flavor. I'm sure that it will be to your liking as well.”

Lucille quickly nodded while trying to keep the cup as still as possible. She didn't want to embarrass herself by spilling hot tea over herself while the empress was watching. So, she stabilized the cup for a moment before replying. “I am certain that it will be delicious. After all, this tea was brewed in the royal palace. It has to be special.” She tried to read the other's expression while saying that and was once again surprised by how kind Blanche was when she was met with nothing but politeness.

In the past, Lucille hadn't seen her often and had only caused trouble for the other woman once or twice. So, it was odd for the empress to be this nice to a viscount's daughter. But Blanche truly seemed like she was just happy to sip her tea here while giving Lucille an encouraging smile.

Lucille stared at her tea for a moment before carefully drinking it too. It had the perfect temperature, and it was heavenly, as expected. Though, she still didn't dare to swallow too much at once and was relieved when her stomach didn't hurt too much as she drank. So, she relaxed a bit but still worried about dropping the cup. For a moment, it was quiet before Lucille forced herself to speak up. “The tea is truly divine. I am thankful for being able to try it. It is as wonderful as one would have expected and even better.”

Blanche grinned at that as she put her cup onto the nightstand. “It's good to hear that. It seems like my taste buds aren't confused. I take that you were happy about the food you received then? Or let us be more general. Have you been content with your life in the palace for now? I understand that it's frustrating not to be able to move around, but once you have recovered, you can take as many walks as you want to. Is there anything we can do for you right now?”

Lucille shook her head. She would like to read some books to fight against her boredom, but she surely wouldn't annoy the empress with such wishes. She could maybe ask Cedar later. “No. I thank you for your offer, Your-” She interrupted herself at the other's cough and quickly continued without the title. “I thank you for your offer, but I don't require anything. I cannot do much right now, but I am content with everything. The doctor takes care of me without ever complaining, and everyone else is extremely kind too. I will be eternally grateful for your assistance.”

Blanche quickly chimed in at that. “As I said, you do not need to thank us. It's an honor. We are just happy that you liked it until now. Depending on the situation, you may need to stay here for longer after all. But there is still one little issue that we will take care of in a moment. We will need an excuse in that case. You cannot publicly say that you came here because the dowager empress tried to kill you after all.”

Lucille hadn't thought about this yet. She wasn't sure what reason they could specify, but it was obvious that they needed one. It wouldn't make much sense for a viscount's daughter to stay in the palace. She couldn't just reveal the truth, so she would have to find some kind of explanation in case rumors spread. “I see. Unfortunately, I have no idea what would justify my stay here.”

Blanche gave her a bright smile and replied. “I do have an idea. I thought about claiming that I hired you to be my lady-in-waiting for the time being. We could say that you wished to learn more about etiquette and that we talked about this as a result. Then the time you can stay here isn't limited, and we can always send you home after saying that you were content with what you learned.”

That wouldn't be a bad excuse if Lucille was someone from a powerful family, but a viscount's daughter wouldn't get picked for this position. Aside from that, she also wouldn't say that she was a suitable person when her manners and etiquette were lacking. She tightened her grip around her cup a little. “But is that excuse truly fitting? If you were to take in a lady-in-waiting, you would most likely choose someone with a much higher rank. Or you would invite Lady Ravillot.” Countess Ravillot was the noble lady the empress was closest with after all.

But Blanche quickly shook her head. “Lady Ravillot has a young child at home. I would never ask her to leave her daughter for me. And due to my origin, I doubt that someone will believe that I care much for ranks. I don't see much of a difference.” Since the current empress had been born as a commoner before becoming a noble, it was obvious that she wouldn't worry about things like this. But to everyone else, it probably still looked odd. However, Lucille had no chance to talk back as Blanche already continued with a small grin. “Besides, your relationship with Cedar would be enough to give us an additional reason.”

Why would being friends with a prince give you a right to become the empress' lady-in-waiting? That didn't make much sense. Of course, being acquainted with a member of the royal family was always good, but due to the strained relationship between Cedar and the emperor, this didn't help much here.

Lucille was silent for a moment before she decided to ask. “My relationship? What exactly are you referring to?” She received a knowing smile in response. That made her worry even more about what this was about. Did the empress perhaps think that Lucille and Cedar were a couple too? Lucille felt her heart skip a beat at that thought, and she hurried to refute that. “Please wait. No, no. You got that wrong! We aren't...like that.”

Blanche drank another sip of her tea before replying with a bright smile. “I understand. You're still in denial.” She chuckled at the other woman's expression and quickly resumed. “Please do not get angry. I was merely joking around. Your reaction proves that I'm onto something though.” She drank a bit again before returning to the original topic. “Anyway. You can rest assured that you will not gain any disadvantages if you have the position of being my lady-in-waiting. You will get a steady income, boost your status and learn a lot about lifesaving topics like etiquette.” She made it sound like the last aspect didn't really seem important to her.

Lucille opened her mouth to voice her concern, but she had no chance to speak when the empress already continued.

“Since I have three maids, with whom I get along well, I don't need much help. I spend most of my time with Theodore anyway. That means that you would have no tasks aside from appearing next to me during events. Doing that for a while should be fine. After all, it's supposed to protect your life and keep us from revealing how serious all of this is. Would you be alright with us using that excuse? As I said, you will formally gain all of a lady-in-waiting's privileges, so you only have advantages because of this.”

Lucille obviously couldn't refuse that offer. The benefits were tempting, and having an excuse was a good idea. Besides, she could never say no when the empress was asking her. She quickly bowed her head to reply. “It would be an honor, Your Majesty. I sincerely thank you for this chance. I will do my best to serve you. It will probably take a few days until I can walk around again though.”

The empress responded immediately. “You don't have to use my title. But you are right about what you said. Don't think about moving when you are still injured. I forbid you from attempting to work for at least the next month. You won't have to do anything later either though. As I said, my maids already have little to do, so I doubt that they will share work with you. And since there are enough other servants here, your main task might just be staying safe. I'm happy as long as you aren't in danger. We will take care of the formalities regarding this matter later when you are feeling better, so you don't need to think about it more.” Blanche took a sip of her tea before a smile came onto her lips. When she continued, her tone was much more cheerful than before. “So. Now that we dealt with the serious things, it would be fine to chat about other topics, right? Please allow me to ask a question. What do you like about him?”

Lucille was completely taken aback by that. She blinked at the other woman and couldn't hold back a small noise of confusion. “Huh?” She paused for a moment before catching herself. “Pardon me. I am not quite sure what you mean.”

Blanche's grin widened as she set down the cup to rest her hands in her lap. “I'm referring to Cedar. You two obviously like each other. I was asking about what you like about him. I was wondering how the two of you got to know each other. He usually isn't this open with anyone.”

Lucille's eyes widened, and she only took a second to shrink in herself in shame. She felt how her cheeks were burning and quickly averted her eyes. She wasn't even able to reply properly and just stammered around while attempting not to sound too much like a liar. “That's not... He and I aren't...that close. I found him after...he was hurt and took him in. Nothing else happened. He's really kind and nice and considerate. But we're just...” What exactly were they? Friends or acquaintances or something completely different? She wasn't sure what they even were. So, she could just stare at the floor without knowing how to explain.

The empress laughed at that. “I see. So, it's like this. We'll see how things develop in the future then.” She paused and waited until the other woman slowly lifted her gaze before continuing in a serious tone. “I truly hope that you two can be happy together. But I still have to warn you. Cedar does have some issues. You should keep in mind that there are things that can trigger him. He won't even hurt you if you say all of them to his face though. He can control himself easily. But he might get upset about some things without you knowing why. Give him some space and allow him to explain it to you then. He seems to trust you. That is good, but even then, he will be reluctant to show you his vulnerable side. It will take a while. Don't pressure him, but talk to him when you feel like he wants to talk. Such chances are over quickly, so you have to use them.”

Lucille once again didn't know what to make out of this. Why was Blanche telling her all of this? Did it really seem like she was close to Cedar? But even if that was the case, why did the empress care?

In the past, it had looked like Cedar and his brother's wife got along as well as fire and water. After all, he disliked the emperor, so why would he like the empress? But Blanche spoke as if she knew what she was talking about. It was odd.

Lucille was quiet for a moment before she couldn't hold back her question anymore. “I...thank you for telling me this. But I would like to ask you something in return. What is your relationship with Cedar? Of course, I will not force you to tell me. It's just that I thought that you didn't know him well, and still, you said some things an outsider wouldn't know about.”

Blanche gave her a smile in response. “It's hard to explain. You could say that I know him well while knowing nothing at the same time. Most things I am aware of came from Theo. I am not certain that the rest is still true, but I can guess some other things from the past. But I am almost sure that you already know more than I do. That's why I would like it if you could stay by his side. Cedar deserves happiness too. We've always said that he just needs someone to lead him there. Whether you may be his friend or something else, it doesn't matter. As long as you keep him company, it will do him good. And since you like him, this is a good deal for everyone.”

Lucille couldn't help but be embarrassed upon hearing that. She wasn't anything special, so she wasn't fitting for such a wonderful person as Cedar, and she knew that they hadn't known each other for very long. But the fact that a third party saw that they liked each other made her happy. Especially if the empress thought that Lucille might be able to accompany Cedar to make him feel better.

Lucille would definitely stay by the prince's side for a bit longer if she had the chance. Right now, she wasn't sure what she and Cedar were, but she liked him. So, she would try to spend as much time with him as possible.