🌷 Chapter Forty-Three –
The moment her toes slowly rose to the ground, Annette stood upright, her warm lips attached to Theodore's forehead.
Has there ever been a time when her beautiful face was as close and prominent to him as it was at that moment?
Despite Annette's mischievous smile, Theodore couldn't help but smile at her.
He didn't even know how to react to Annette's antics.
He also didn't know why he couldn't respond to this small movement of hers.
If Annette hadn't opened her mouth first, Theodore probably wouldn't have come to his senses anytime soon.
“I will do my best to defeat you.”
“Are you going to cheat?”
“No, I’ve been training a lot.
So I will give my best to take down my prey.”
“Then I don't have to worry about myself.”
Theodore did not believe that Annette Scheringen would fail in her mission, but he was equally convinced that she would not defeat him.
***
The carriage carrying the Grand Duke and his wife headed towards the hunting festival grounds.
Only the dull sight of trees continued to appear outside the window.
Annette had been leaning against the window while looking boredly out of the carriage the entire time she was in the carriage.
Theodore on the other hand was reviewing papers related to the things Annette had said about this world.
How long did that last?
After entering a narrow path, a long twig hit the window.
Annette winced and raised her head, perhaps a little frightened by the crash she heard as sleep stole from her eyelids for a moment.
Then their eyes met for the first time after entering the carriage.
Theodore placed the papers on the chair.
“Is there anything fun out there?”
“A forest full of trees that I've never seen before, a road that I've never walked on before, or maybe a rattling cart that I can't get used to no matter how many times I ride it?
The last thing might seem a bit boring, but what's even more boring is motion sickness.”
Annette's frail body easily suffered from motion sickness.
“I can't even sleep comfortably because this stroller is so uncomfortable.”
Sometimes, when the cart was going hard, Annette would hit her head against the walls.
No matter how soft the cushions are, the feeling of solidity never goes away.
At the same time, when she hit her head on the ceiling three or four times, Annette began to look towards Theodore with eyes that resembled the eyes of angry evil spirits.
“Don’t worry, when we come back, we will ride a horse.”
“Don't pretend you don't know what I want.”
Annette looked at her husband dismissively.
Theodore knew what desire was hidden in that look, but he pretended not to know anything and opened the papers again and began to read them.
Annette hated that Theodore was ignoring her, so she got up and sat next to him, then snatched the papers away from his hand and threw them on the floor.
“How can you act so disrespectfully with your husband?”
"I don't want to respect a husband who ignores his wife's wishes.
Can't we just buy a car?"
"no."
“Why?!”
Eventually, Annette screamed at Theodore.
This was the first time Annette looked into Theodore's eyes after riding in the carriage, but even though she continued to stare stubbornly into his eyes, Theodore never answered her question.
“It's more convenient than this worn-out carriage, but I don't see why you don't want to buy it.
It's not that you don't have money to buy it.
Look at it this way, if you have a car, you don't have to take care of the horses and spend huge amounts of money to take care of it, and it's also easier and more convenient to move around.
If you don't want to pay the money, I can cash out the money from the Scheringen family treasury, what do you think?”
A few days ago, Annette discovered that there are cars in this world.
She thought the only means of transportation here were horse and cart, but she happened to see a car passing on the main street.
Of course, the cars here were a little steampunk and antique compared to the modern cars of her world, but they were of similar construction unlike the annoying horse carriages.
Annette, who was excited after seeing this, offered to buy a car, citing Scheringen's great wealth, but Theodor refused.
“Cars are not aristocratic at all.”
“That's not a good reason.”
Theodore sighed at Annette's pouting complaints.
“You don't want to own a car, you want to drive it yourself.”
“Why not?
I can’t ride in a car comfortably, so a car I can drive is much better than this farce.”
“What kind of lady drives a car or anything by herself?”
Annette raised her hand like a brilliant student in an important class.
Her facial expression was so serious that her eyes were firm and confident.
Theodore couldn't even laugh at the sight of her, so he rubbed his forehead tiredly.
“The road is going to get rougher in a little while, so sit still before you crack your head like a nut.”
Theodore pulled Annette closer to him and finally sat her on his lap.
It happened so quickly that it took Annette several moments to realize what had just happened when she was already in his arms like a little girl.
"What do you do?"
The matter did not end there.
Theodore grabbed her hair that was between their faces and moved it from above his chest to the other side of her neck and carefully arranged it over Annette's shoulders.
In an instant, Annette was engrossed and found her face buried directly above Theodore's chest, and his chest muscles appeared before her eyes.
“This way you won't hit your body or your head on the cart.
So close your eyes and sit quietly the rest of the way.”
"but..!"
“If you say another word, we will return in this same carriage to the Flores Palace.”
Annette stopped talking and quickly closed her mouth.
Unfortunately, his chest and arms were too comfortable.
Besides, if she raised her head, her shy face would show to Theodore.
So Annette looked down to hide her face, but suddenly she saw his waist…
“Wait a minute, but Your Highness is still injured...”
“Do I take this as an expression of your desire to return to the palace in this carriage?”
"Don't mix things up.
You're hurt.
Lisa said you had to move very carefully, but I'm sitting on top of you now with my full weight."
He still had stab scars on his body.
Annette had no intention of sitting comfortably on the lap of a sick person.
However, Theodore held on tightly to Annette, who was struggling to get off his embrace, and hugged her tightly.
Annette had no choice but to sit as carefully and quietly as possible.
This stubborn man was not willing to let her return to her seat, so she had to be as careful as possible so as not to irritate the wounds on his body.
“I will sit quietly now.”
Theodore raised a corner of his mouth in satisfaction when Annette became so docile.
After peace was barely restored between them, the carriage hurriedly stopped moving.
As Theodore said, the wheel of the cart shook violently due to a rock and Annette's body jumped into the air.
However, thanks to the force of the fist that pressed down on her body for a moment, Annette did not hit the ceiling as usual.
It wasn't like the way she fluttered in the stroller like a paper doll when she was sitting alone.
Annette looked out the window carefully.
This was not a place for a carriage to stop.
“We're not in danger, are we?”
Annette hugged Theodore's neck tightly and looked at his waist.
Could the real killer have come this time?
The deserted forest road was a perfect place to commit a murder.
Theodore looked at Annette and said:
“I promised you before.
I will show you all the cards I have up my sleeve.
So now I will introduce you to the most important chess piece I have hidden and plan to use in the future.”
“In a place like this?”
Theodore got off the cart first and helped Annette down.
There was another cart outside.
The pattern on the cart was familiar.
"this …."
The door of the other carriage opened and a man got out.
He was a grey-haired, middle-aged gentleman, but he was still in a decent physique.
Annette used the knowledge she gathered from the aristocratic calendar books she read to find out who he was.
Annette, who had finally remembered the family pattern, looked at Theodore with eyes wide open in astonishment.
It seemed to her that the slightly raised corners of his lips were shouting that her guess was correct.
Annette greeted the man who approached them, confident in her own conclusions.
“Hello, Lord Wilhelm Stadler.
I did not expect to meet you in a place like this.”
(M.M.: Lord = Noble Lord)
It was Wilhelm Stadler, the man who was to be Theodor's father-in-law.
He is the father of Paula Stadler, who died on her wedding day.
“Just call me Wilhelm.
There is no need for the person I will serve in the future to use fancy titles.”
“Serve me?”
Annette looked at Theodore and demanded an explanation.
“I guess you didn't tell her anything about me.”
“If I had told her anything about you without her having met you with her own eyes, she would not have believed me.”
“Doubt is a good advantage to take precautions and avoid being deceived.
She seems to be a wise woman.”
Theodor smiled widely when he heard Wilhelm's words of praise about the Grand Duchess, but Wilhelm's face was still expressionless.
“I have decided to stand by His Highness Duke Theodore and become the person who secretly supports him.
Now that you are the Grand Duchess who will accompany him on this trip, I will serve you as well.”
“I...I don't understand what's going on a little bit.
This...”
"Feel free to ask me anything.
You're probably wondering now if I didn't blame His Highness Duke Theodore for my daughter's death, right?"
"…Yes."
Wilhelm knew what Annette was afraid to ask him and answered her first.
“Yes, everyone thinks we are enemies.
So we have to meet secretly in places like this in order to communicate without attracting attention to ourselves.
If there is an accident where we hit each other's vehicles, we have no choice but to get down and have a conversation on the road so we can make an excuse if someone sees us.”
After the terrible wedding, the Stadler family closed their doors and did not communicate with anyone again.
Of course, Wilhelm and Theodor never met either.
It is known to people that the two were enemies.
But that's an official position anyway.
The reality was very different.
“You are preparing for revenge with... my husband?”
Annette made her voice as confident as possible, but even so, she couldn't hide the shock in her tone.
Wilhelm chose the path of betrayal to avenge his daughter's death.
“The criminal who killed Miss Paola is a member of the imperial family.”
“And this person from the imperial family is a scoundrel who calls me the emperor and treats me exactly like a dog.”
There was disgust in Wilhelm's voice.
He was filled with the hatred of a father who had lost his daughter.
The current emperor, Paula Stadler, was killed.
This was because she was going to marry his half-brother Theodore.
The death of Wilhelm's beloved daughter was the price he paid for his lifelong devotion to the imperial family and his acceptance of his daughter's marriage at the request of the former Emperor Dominic.
Everyone at the wedding watched his flower-like daughter die from the poison hidden in the bouquet.
His daughter's real death was a warning for no one to side with Theodore.
Emperor Philibert, Theodor's brother, considered Wilhelm a mere dog who would not do anything even in the face of the death of his dear daughter.
So Wilhelm decided to side with Theodor to show the Emperor that dogs could bite their masters.