🌷 Chapter Fifteen –
“Isn't it a bit funny that the emperor's qualifications only come from his mother's position?”
“Puzzled,” Annette muttered to herself.
She had quietly committed high treason in front of the potential future emperor, but since she was not aware of it, Theodore did not know how to react to her.
That's why he decided to leave things as they were.
“Logically, it is natural for someone who has the potential to become an emperor to become an emperor.
To be precise, the status system of emperors and nobles in this world is extremely ridiculous.”
The heart of Theodore - who is a member of the royal family - became extremely confused as he saw the new way of betrayal.
He loved the former Emperor Theodore as a child, but had no intention of handing the throne to him.
This was not strange because all emperors in the history of Odentia were the same.
The Odentia Empire was a country that rarely followed the principle of inheritance of the fittest and most efficient.
Given the 500-year long history, this was an absurd mysticism.
Because of the legitimate son's right to universal inheritance, there was no major conflict in imperial power.
However, as some of the heirs lacked talent, the empire slowly declined and deteriorated.
Whenever someone without qualifications - other than his blood that made him a legitimate heir - became emperor, the more the empire gradually lost its former prestige.
Even under these circumstances, people still believed that one could only become emperor if they were a legitimate heir.
“Do you really want to become emperor?”
“Do you think this is ridiculous too?”
“The idea of becoming emperor is not ridiculous.
I don’t know if it is more strange to say the word emperor or the word king but...”
“Is the word emperor strange to you?”
“Hmm...”
Annette closed her mouth for a moment and looked at the title of the history book on the desk.
The words “Emperor” and “Empire” were written here and there, it was one of the most beautiful words she had ever seen after learning the letters in this world.
Since Annette had the character of a Korean girl who grew up in a democratic government system, a ruling system such as an absolute monarchy was completely unfamiliar to her.
However, this was a society where status and power reigned supreme.
Ignoring the emperor or denying imperial authority was a high crime.
Regardless of the truth, the law here was like this.
Annette later realized that she had spoken and acted inappropriately with an inappropriate person, so she thought about apologizing or asking for forgiveness before opening her mouth with difficulty to explain herself.
“There was no emperor where I lived.”
“So what do you call the emperor over there?”
“No, there has never been a concept of an emperor.
There are people who take care of the country, but there is no one to rule it.”
Annette chose the best and most appropriate words and explained to Theodore the story of the disappearance of the Emperor from her country in her world.
It was difficult for her to explain words like revolution, betrayal, and coup because they were unfamiliar concepts to her as well.
Theodore initially thought she was joking, but the concrete and serious tone in her voice made him realize it was the truth.
“So… honestly, I don’t know the value of a throne.
But if you want to become an emperor, then you’re right.
At least in the world I lived in, it’s normal for anyone to have access to anything they want if they want it.”
When Annette carefully finished her words, Theodore's expression became extremely confused.
What she said was ridiculous and he didn't believe it at all.
But this.....
Maybe……
…..It was a bit like the world Theodore wanted.
Everyone here described Theodore's longing for the throne as vanity and greed.
Even Theodore himself only cared about the fact that he could not become emperor, but he never evaluated the value of the position of emperor and whether he really wanted it.
The son of a concubine couldn't have anything of value, so he thought it was a very valuable position just because he couldn't get it.
People treated his dreams as mere illusions.
But how could she deny his value so easily?
Emperor was his lifelong dream, but she rejected it as just an ordinary job.
He felt suffocated as if someone had slapped him on the cheek because she had destroyed the value of the throne with just one word.
Theodore clenched his fist.
Is Annette trying to insult him?
It was distasteful that her innocent laugh seemed to be mocking him for devoting his entire life to becoming Emperor.
However, he could not blindly accuse someone who did not have malicious inner intentions behind his words.
Theodore wondered if Annette would even understand why her words were a sin.
His mental state was complicated, but on the other hand, he felt relieved by her spontaneous behavior towards him.
If there were no emperors or empresses in her world, Theodore was not a lowly concubine child in her eyes.
It seemed that this woman would not treat Theodore as useless even if he did not become emperor.
Regardless of his origin and roots, she seemed to tell Theodore that he was simply his father's son.
“My illegitimate son who cannot become emperor.
Just stay alive.”
This woman was the opposite of his mother, who looked down upon her illegitimate son despite being merely a concubine.
Annette kept her mouth closed with a slightly tense expression, but Theodore could hear her voice echoing in his mind.
Blood ties were of no importance to her, even though he had been bound by his mixed blood all his life and couldn't even move freely.
The throne, nobility, and pride are worth nothing in her eyes.
Even if he didn't have the blood of the imperial family, he could obtain the throne in her opinion.
Her words were rather sweet, so he wanted to continue listening, but he couldn't accept it at the same time.
He felt relieved and insulted at the same time.
He couldn't tell whether he should laugh or get angry, so he decided to be annoyed as usual.
“You cannot distinguish between words of courtesy and words that you cannot say to the imperial family.
It seems to me that teaching you proper etiquette is the most urgent matter now.”
“Well, in my world, we didn't bother with both...”
Annette's voice was interrupted by the sound of footsteps walking on the ground.
Emma entered the library room, not realizing that they were both here.
Only after seeing the two did Emma notice the unusual atmosphere, but she said what she was going to say to Annette.
“Do you want me to set the dining table?”
Theodore suddenly looked outside and saw that the night sky had become dyed a darker black than the ripe grapes before he knew it.
“Let's eat.”
The two went to the table, forgetting the hot summer atmosphere, and then Emma served the food she had prepared in front of the two.
“What about Lisa?”
Annette faced Emma face to face and said while moving her lips slowly.
“She finished her meal first.”
Emma read Annette's mouth movements and told her where Lisa was.
Lisa ate with Annette all the time.
As a nurse, she had to monitor Annette while she ate and manage her nutrition.
“She also wants you to take this.”
Emma held out some familiar pills.
It was a pill that Lisa gave to Annette after meals.
It was clear that the poor nurse had skipped dinner because Theodore was there.
Emma also looked Annette in the eyes, searching for any signs of her fear of Theodore.
"Thank you."
Annette had to have a meal with a man whom everyone avoided.
The dining table in the small villa was small, so the two had to sit so close to each other that they could clearly see each other's expressions.
This was a realm that Lisa, who feared Theodore, would never be able to enter.
Along with the food, wine and fresh grapes were placed on their table.
All the wine made from the small vineyard was given to Theodore.
When the grapes were ripe, Theodor would always visit the villa to drink wine made from fresh grapes harvested the previous year.
Even today, Theodore picked up the wine glass and smelled its fragrance before even touching the food.
As he expressed his satisfaction with the sweet scent, he could feel Annette's gaze from the other side.
It was the most disgusting look Annette had ever given him.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because the color of the wine is so beautiful.
Not only is it red, it seems to have a strange glow.
Is it because of the dim light of the candle?”
“It was mixed with the brandy during the pouring process.”
Theodore wine is made from still wine and brandy mixed during fermentation.
His wine was more fragrant than regular wine and had a higher alcohol content.
This was a method of producing wine in Cordoba, not in Odentia.
"Light drinking is not fun at all.
All of Lider's common alcoholic beverages are light as if they were diluted."
Annette was still watching the cup he was holding, and her lips changed tentatively several times before opening her mouth.
Finally she said the words she had been hiding inside.
“Can I just have one small cup?”
She made a sincere request in direct words, but Theodore immediately thought that he had heard her wrong.
Did she want to drink alcohol?
It wasn't difficult to offer her a cup of the alcohol accumulated in the wine cellar, but he somehow didn't want to give it to her when he saw her eager and bright eyes.
"No.
It's made just for me."
“Don't be so selfish.”
“I don't think this is the situation of someone politely asking for something.”
“It's just a sip of wine.”
Theodore was shocked the first time he heard about this trivial request, and was shocked again by Annette's subsequent behavior.
With a disappointed look on her face, she picked up a piece of cheese that had been placed on Theodore's plate for him to eat and put it in her mouth.
It was both an act of mockery of table manners and disrespect towards Theodore.
“You don't use eating utensils in your world, right?
It's polite to eat with a fork here, so I ask you to eat according to etiquette from now on.”
“We can eat cheese with our hands too.
In my world, people who don’t listen to serious requests are called ruthless.”
“Haven't you given up yet?”
"How about you give me some?
You seem pretty drunk right now.
I'm not someone you want to respect to the point where you have to be polite to under any circumstances."
“But I haven't drunk anything yet.”
“Alcohol is so strong that just smelling it makes you feel intoxicated.”
Annette said sarcastically, then grabbed another piece of cheese in her hand and put it in her mouth.
Theodore was puzzled by her free-spirited attitude that he had never seen before, but it seemed better than not responding to him because she was so stubborn.
Thinking about it, Annette wasn't afraid of him, nor was she avoiding him.
This was the first time someone had treated him so uncontrollably as a member of the royal family, even if only in name.
It was an interesting position, but not one Theodore wanted to agree to.
So he decided to give the naughty Annette a little warning.
✨General culture:
*Wine (French: vin) is an alcoholic beverage produced by fermenting grapes.
Although wine can be produced by fermenting other fruits, the most popular types are from grapes.
The alcohol content ranges from 5.5% to 20.5%.
*Brandy (from brandy wine) is an alcoholic beverage extracted from the distillation of grapes.
Brandy usually contains 35-60% alcohol and is a drink that is usually consumed before or after a meal.
Some types of brandy are aged in wooden barrels, while others are caramelized to give them an aged appearance.
(📍All types of wines and alcohol are forbidden by Islamic religion because they dull the mind and contain more harm than benefits.)