🌷 Chapter Thirty-Six –
“Her Highness the Grand Duchess left the palace early in the morning.
She said she had something to do outside, but I think she went out because she couldn’t sleep the night before.
Even in the villa, on days when she couldn’t sleep, she would go out for an early morning walk.”
“Can't sleep?”
“She suffers from severe insomnia.
Even in the villa, she would toss and turn in her bed and walk around for a while before falling asleep while cuddling the dog, Silver.
She seemed fine lately, but the symptoms seem to have resurfaced.”
Theodore remembered the look of Annette sleeping in the warehouse while hugging Silver when he last visited the villa.
He thought it was just an excuse to avoid meeting him, but it seemed like she had been suffering from insomnia ever since.
“Should I tell Her Highness to come and meet you when you return to the palace?”
"………… no."
Theodore motioned for the nurse to leave, so Lisa nodded and hurriedly left.
Theodore was left alone in the room while he was lost in a whirlpool of thoughts.
Theodore had nothing to do with that woman's inability to sleep.
As long as her insomnia didn't get in the way of achieving his goal, why would he even care whether she woke up early in the morning or slept until late in the afternoon?
Annette will not dare to stand against Theodore because he is the only one who can bring her back to her world, and she will not do anything stupid outside the palace because she is a sensible woman.
It would be impolite to call his wife who went out early in the morning as soon as she returned to the palace just to ask her where she had gone alone.
Theodore didn't want to do something so trivial.
How would Annette think of him if she was already planning to come and meet him as soon as she got back and tell him everything that had happened while she was out, but she found that he had asked to meet her first impatiently, as if he were a child who couldn't be away from his mother?
Theodore was thinking about this as if he was determined not to ask her where she had gone until she had told him herself, when he realized that he had not yet buttoned his shirt.
Theodore began to button up the buttons so he could go to his late breakfast, but then he saw the cleansing wound on his waist.
It was a minor wound, so it should heal in a few days, however, Annette looked absolutely horrified at the sight of all those bandages.
Theodore's body had bigger wounds everywhere, but this woman was surprised by this small wound as if it was the end of the world.
At that moment, Theodore realized how different Annette was from him.
Her smooth and normal life must have been very different from Theodore's life where he was stabbed and strangled by others every day.
Just looking at the way she innocently thought he loved his mother immediately showed him how peaceful the world she lived in was.
It was funny to see himself getting hurt while trying to protect such a weak woman.
He didn't even know why he did it.
Maybe he won't find out why until this wound on his body heals.
Is it possible that he was really trying to protect Annette from danger?
There was no reason to risk his life to save an unimportant, replaceable chess piece.
But maybe because Annette was somewhere important...
Yes.
exactly.
His behavior will be the result of his feeling that she is someone who must be defended in order to achieve his goal.
Although that woman was just an insignificant pawn, she could turn the whole tide if the enemy attacked her while placing her in an important position on the chessboard.
Okay.
completely.
This must be the reason.
Why else would he even put himself in danger of being injured by an unidentified woman?
Even Theodore was more likely to hate Annette than to love her.
To be precise, he was often in a bad mood when talking to her.
By Theodore's standards, Annette's ideology was completely illogical.
The woman, who seemed unlikely to submit to anyone, was at odds with Theodore's domineering nature and attempted to lord it over him and place everything, including himself, at her feet.
So it was wrong to protect that arrogant woman.
Theodore would never make the same mistake twice.
It will treat tools as tools only.
Being injured while protecting a tool is evidence that the person who did it is immature.
It's not too late to change himself yet.
Theodore decided to forget past mistakes and become more mature and idealistic.
He fastened the final button, vowing that if the same thing happened in the future, he would never protect Annette while risking his life.
***
Annette wandered through the empty alleys of Lider City.
After completing her mission, she wandered aimlessly into a secluded area downtown.
She continued to wander in the alley for more than an hour and then left, but the malls had not started work yet.
It was because she had left the Flores Palace very early in the morning.
When Annette left the side alley and entered the main road, she removed the hood covering her head so that her identity would not be revealed.
The fresh dawn air caressed her face.
Although it was usually a busy street, it was a square with all kinds of shops and not residential houses, so the atmosphere was crowded rather than lively.
Or maybe just because Annette's mind was so confused, she didn't realize that he was actually so energetic.
She didn't even remember that she had to be by Theodore's side while Lisa cleaned his wound.
But even if she had remembered, she would not have gone and been with him.
Theodore was one of the reasons for the noise in Annette's head, so she didn't want to bump into him for no reason.
For a moment she almost forgot who Theodore really was, and what he had done for her.
He was the man who dragged her into this hell, so how could she simply forget everything?
She swore she would never forget it as long as she lived.
So it was time for her to remember the hatred in her heart towards Theodore again.
But…
She had come to know so many things about him that it had become difficult for her to hate him blindly.
She now saw him with the face of the victim, even though he was the villain in this story.
The dream she had last night wasn't the only problem now, even the side of his true personality that Theodore showed her had become a problem as well.
“If he said something like that to me about his private life, how could I easily forget what he said and hate him like before...?”
Annette could not forget the expression on Theodore's face that said he hated his mother.
How will she be able to forget the look of those eyes, calm like the depths of the sea on still nights, even though he was revealing the ugliest old memories of his childhood?
When Annette was in the Flores mansion, she kept remembering the disgraceful tattoo on his back, so she decided to leave the house.
Of course she wasn't alone.
An attendant, whom she now knew, was watching her from afar.
It was to protect Annette from the dangers around her.
She wasn't used to the feeling of someone following her from behind.
This world full of dangers was still unfamiliar to her.
She couldn't keep wandering around the alleys like a madman forever, so she was about to return to the Flores Palace when she saw Yvonne entering a clothing store across the street.
Is she shopping for new clothes for the hunting festival too?
However, this was not Annette's concern.
Annette turned away to go on her way, but the nightmare of the previous night grabbed her ankle and held it tight.
If Annette's interpretation of the dream was correct, she would now have no room to get along with Yvonne.
She had to break up Hugo and Yvonne's romance, so it was impossible for her to become friends with her.
Although the spirit has changed, the fact that Annette must continue to play the villain remains the same.
Alternatively, the original Annette Scheringen may be better than the current Annette.
At the very least, Annette's vicious harassment of Yvonne was the result of her naive desire to have the man she loved.
On the other hand, what about current Annette?
Even though she knew what kind of person Theodore was, she was only trying to make him emperor out of her selfish desire to return to her world.
For a moment, Annette saw an illusion as if her white hands were beginning to become smeared with black slime.
It was as if the terrifying shadow that had been haunting her in the dream began to wrap itself around her entire body.
Annette shook her head vigorously to drive these illusions away.
According to the dream, from now on, she had to work hard to set a trap that would destroy Yvonne.
So she has to actually begin the process of destroying the happy ending of this novel.
Annette thought it would be more beneficial for her to carefully deal with Yvonne behind the scenes rather than up front.
But…
While ignoring Yvonne and turning to go on her way, Annette suddenly remembered a chapter about the dress Yvonne wore during the hunting festival.
So Annette eventually followed Yvonne to the clothing store.
She happened to see the heroine on the street, so she decided to follow her there as if their presence in the same store was just a coincidence.
When Annette entered, everyone in the dressing room was surprised.
This store was a place for women like Yvonne who were aristocratic but with low-income families.
It was natural for ordinary shopkeepers, who had no idea about Annette's current personality, to feel nervous when the Grand Duchess appeared on the scene.
Of course, Annette didn't know that, however, she was able to deduce the fact that she was not a regular customer at this shop based on the way the customers reacted and the staff's reactions.
Yvonne was the one who found this situation most shocking.
“Huh?
Miss… No, what are you doing here, Her Highness the Grand Duchess?”
“I was curious what you would wear, Miss Keppler.”
“Why would someone who wears clothes made from high-quality, personally made fabrics be curious about my modest clothes?”
Yvonne's eyes were filled with suspicion and hostility toward Annette.
Annette could understand her feelings, so she raised the corners of her mouth and smiled.
The air turned cold and everyone in attendance ran cold at the sight of her.
“I'm sorry, but I have to leave now.
I will come back next time.
You can deal with the distinguished guest first.”
Yvonne left the dressing room with a cold expression on her face as if Annette wasn't worth dealing with.
Despite her outright disregard, Annette calmly shrugged her shoulders and ordered the clerk to bring the store's clothing brochure.
“I want to buy everything from here to here.”
The clothing store workers' facial expressions were full of astonishment.
“Can I see the dress that Mrs.
Yvonne bought?”
After buying half the clothes in the clothing store, no one could tell her no.
***
A few hours later, Annette headed toward an ordinary house off the main street.
This was the house of one of Yvonne's relatives she lived with.
Of course, Annette did not introduce herself as Annette Scheringen so that her request to meet Yvonne would not be rejected.
Maybe that's why Yvonne's expression when she saw Annette was shaking with panic.
“I heard that one of the store employees brought the dress I bought, but why is Her Highness here?”
“That's because I came to deliver the dress to you.
Me myself.”
Behind Annette, employees were standing carrying dozens of dresses.
Annette pointed her finger to one of the employees, so the boy rushed to do his task and removed the covering of the dresses that Annette had pointed to.
“I went to the store to see what clothes you were going to buy, but it seemed to me that you left empty-handed because of me, so I brought you these dresses as a way of apologizing.”
“This is ridiculous, but anyway, I only asked for one dress, but why did you bring all of these with you?”
“Didn't you ask me to make up for spoiling your clothes with wine at the party before, Miss Yvonne?”
“Are you making fun of me now?”
“This is impossible.
I apologize to you.”