Theodore smiled coldly and walked towards Yvonne.
When Theodore approached the host who was holding the award, Yvonne thought he was heading towards her so she grabbed Hugo and hid behind his back.
Hugo, also surprised by Theodore's behavior in front of people, looked coldly at Theodore as he dropped the gentle smile that had been on his face all along and covered Yvonne with his arm.
But what Theodore was aiming for was the festival queen crown that was behind Yvonne.
Theodore grabbed the crown and walked towards Annette even before announcing who was the victor in today's contest.
Annette saw this and sighed in relief.
She was worried, without realizing it, about Theodore who had gone into the forest again.
Theodore was her husband at the moment, so she was naturally relieved to see him safe.
Theodore approached Annette and placed the crown on her head.
Thus Theodore made sure that he showed everyone who his precious treasure was and that he would protect it at all costs.
But to Annette, nothing seemed real today.
Not only the bear and the assassination attempt, but even this whole hunting game seemed like a terrifying nightmare.
Annette smelled the flowers that wafted from the crown.
Its smell was strong enough to cover the smell of blood in the place.
Theodore's warm hand was caressing the cheeks of her soft face, making her feel comfortable.
Annette quietly removed Theodore's hand, raised her toes, and kissed his cheek.
"I should have done this earlier, but I forgot.
It's late now, but consider this kiss a congratulations on your victory."
Theodore was still the devil who dragged Annette to the bottom of hell.
But there was no one who could protect her except him in this dark world.
“That's because I'm your precious treasure.”
So let's get out of this hell together.
***
It was after the hunting festival had ended.
The astonished Ernest and the charming Annette came face to face in the living room of the Flores mansion.
Ernest wanted to deny the reality in front of him.
How in the world did he end up in a place like the Flores Palace?
The palace that Annette had brought her to was incomparably more magnificent than Lord Delberg's.
Ernest had never even seen a palace with a name in his life.
But as he sat in the living room of this dazzling palace, Ernest felt an ominous feeling.
Of course, the source of this feeling was the woman, similar to a witch, who had brought him to the Flores Palace.
Annette, who felt that she was more charming today than the day before, raised her teacup in a relaxed position.
“Why don't you stop making such a stupid face in front of me?”
“……?”
“Whenever I look at you, I feel like you are a dull, foolish man with saliva dripping from his mouth.
I believed in your abilities and brought you here, but won’t I regret it if you continue to act so stupid in front of me?”
Annette, who was smiling brightly in front of his master earlier, disappeared.
Now, he had in front of his eyes none other than his new mistress, who was looking at Ernest with eyes that were confident and full of pity for him.
Lord Delbergh has sold Ernest to Annette.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“Why do you keep repeating the same question when you are already a smart person?
I told you that I want you to work in the Flores Mansion.
Just do what you have been doing in the Dillberg area so far.
Take care of tax evasion, illegal money creation, and things like that.”
Ernest couldn't know what to do.
He was really angry, but the most urgent thing was to calm his heart, which was beginning to beat faster with fear.
It was because Annette spoke as if she knew Ernest well.
“In Dillberg, you pretended to follow the word of the lord there, but you were collecting evidence about his illegal actions behind his back, right?”
“How could you...!!”
Ernest hurriedly covered his mouth.
Annette knew why the talented Ernest remained in charge of the finances under the eccentric lord.
“I know why you worked under the lord even though you were internally cursing him and calling him a bastard until now.”
“How do you know I was calling him...”
“Does this matter now?
You are trying to compile a record of all the crimes and injustices of the new lord to create evidence and pave the way for his removal from office and the return of Yvonne as the new lady of Dillburg.”
Ernest never imagined that Yvonne's name would suddenly be mentioned in this place.
It was not enough to mention the name of his first love, but Annette also knew why Ernest had become such a subservient dog to the new lord of the district, and she even knew the nickname he had given him in secret, which he had never uttered before any creature before.
Yvonne's father, a former lord of Dillberg, died without the protection of the land or the family.
And the current lord took the castle as an excuse to pay off debts.
Yvonne was deprived of all rights and disappeared as if she were a criminal.
As for the new master, he plundered the villagers' wealth.
Rebellion against him was impossible, but Ernest wanted to alleviate the suffering of the villagers at least a little.
Fortunately, Ernest was smart enough and knew how to please both parties, so he caught the Lord's attention and gave him a key assignment in the palace by managing the finances.
Ernest secretly gathered evidence against the lord's illegal actions by doing illegal things with his own hands and gaining his lord's trust.
But it was not because of his sense of justice.
'That village was dear to Yvonne.
That's why I wanted her to have a place to come back to.'
Memories and sadness crossed Ernest's face.
The strange thing is that his true inner thoughts clearly appeared on his face in front of Annette.
Ernest didn't even wonder how Annette knew about Yvonne.
Annette was not at all friendly towards him, but Ernest felt strangely friendly in her words.
She was a very rare woman.
“You came to Lider because you wanted to meet Yvonne, right?
But Yvonne won’t be happy to meet you.”
“It's impossible.”
“Your friend forgot you and found a new boyfriend.
No.
You were never her boyfriend before, so he is not considered a new boyfriend.
The Crown Prince is Yvonne’s first love.
You know what a person’s first love means, right?”
Ernest's face frowned painfully as if he had eaten something very sour.
Annette's confidence in her words bothered him.
Ernest knew very well that Yvonne did not see him as a man she could be attracted to.
He also knew that he, a commoner, should not covet the love of Yvonne, who was a nobleman.
But as the days passed...
Ernest thought that if he stayed by Yvonne's side for the rest of her life, she might look at him as a man at least for once.
And even if she didn't, if he was next to her while she smiled at him like before even once, he would try to be content with that and live the rest of his life on that moment.
But to be with another man?
If another man can win her heart, why can't he?
Did Ernest have something wrong with him that made him less than other men?
“But if you work for me, I will give you back Yvonne.”
“You'll give it back to me?”
“Perhaps she will be able to use the evidence she has gathered about the lord's illegal actions like a dog.
She may also convince Yvonne to return to her hometown and become the new mistress of the district, but...”
Annette whispered the plan Ernest had long been planning and left him stunned in place as he opened his eyes wide in shock.
“As it stands, Yvonne will never return to Dillberg with you even if you do all of these things perfectly.
It has been a long time since she gave up her interest in her hometown and found happiness in this city.”
The thing that made Ernest endure his master's treatment of him like a dog was his thought of when one day Yvonne would return to her normal place.
But Yvonne has already abandoned him and Dillberg.
Ernest thought there was a reason why Yvonne had forgotten about him and had not been in contact with him for years, but that was not the case.
On his way from the hunting grounds to the Flores Palace, Ernest thought about everything that had happened that day.
At first Ernest thought that Annette was lying to him, but Yvonne, whom he saw at the hunting ground, never left his mind for a moment.
She was a completely different lady from the pink-haired tomboy from Dillberg.
Ernest slowly began to fall into the trap that Annette had set for him.
It only took a moment for her to distort his pure heart again.
Ernest was not originally a good person.
He was hiding his true nature in order to look good in the eyes of Yvonne, who was in his life like a ray of sunshine penetrating a sea of darkness.
So what could be easier than manipulating the heart of a naive man who has pure and true love for his childhood friend?
A childhood friend of Yvonne who can approach her normally would be very helpful.
Therefore, Annette was determined to plant a spark of doubt in Ernest's mind and use it to her advantage.
“If she needed you, Yvonne would have taken you by her side long ago.”
"Stop it.
I'll only believe what I hear from Yvonne's mouth personally."
“Okay.
It seems that you need some time to be able to verify and accept my words.
I will provide you with a place to stay for a few days.
Come to the Flores Palace once you have settled matters with Yvonne.”
Annette stood gracefully, then left the living room, leaving Ernest alone and confused.
***
As the noisy hunting festival passed, there was a similar social event just around the corner.
It was the costume party.
Annette was sitting on the sofa in Theodore's office, staring at the invitations addressed to her.
"Mr.
Hans.
Is there any news from Ernst yet?"
“Yes.
I booked a room for him in a hostel, but they said he never lives in that room.
I think he went back to his hometown and already rejected your offer.”
Annette thought about Hans' words for a moment, then wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to him.
“Please give this to Ernest.”
Then Annette opened a new invitation card.
The texture of the paper and the elegant calligraphy of the invitation card she opened smelt of money.
“I can see why everyone loves costume parties so much.”
“Why?”
“Because if you attended a party of a rich person who could send such an invitation, things would become very interesting.
If the invitations alone were this luxurious, I can imagine what a luxurious ballroom would look like.”
“You say the same thing as him.”
Theodore frowned slightly as if he remembered something unpleasant.
"Like him?
Who is he?"
"That guy.
Stupid guy."
“He means Mr.
Walter Nordark.
The person who sent the invitation you have in your hands now.
He is also the youngest son of the richest business family in Lieder.”
Hans explained, meaning Theodor instead.
“The most important thing is that he is a friend of His Highness the Grand Duke.”
“Does this man sitting in front of us now have any friends?”
“He only has one friend.”
“Master Walter must have a very kind and patient personality!”
“Hahahahaha.. my stomach!”
Hans burst out laughing at Annette's sincere words of admiration.
When Theodor stared at him with cold eyes, Hans coughed and left the room while carrying Annette's budget plan for managing the palace.
However, Hans couldn't take Annette's curiosity away with him.
“Are you two really friends?”
“He's just a crazy dancer.
Don't mind him because he's just a pathetic rich man who spends money throwing parties like this for fun.”
Annette, who was accustomed to Theodore's way of speaking, guessed that Walter was a very kind and close friend of his.
The fact that a character word like “dancer” came out of Theodore’s mouth before any other evaluation meant that he was close enough to this Walter to know his hobbies.
Attending a party hosted by such a person means that it is not just an ordinary party, but a very important social event.
Theodore didn't go into more detail, so Annette's curiosity grew more and more.
"So this friend of yours is someone who likes to sing and dance.
Oh, come to think of it, if it's a concert, I should dance too, right?
It'll be a bit hard to keep still in such an enthusiastic atmosphere."
“Don't you want to dance at the party?
If you don't like it, dance to one or two songs just so you don't arouse suspicion and then step back.”
“It's not that I don't want to dance, but I don't know how to do it.
I was wondering if I should learn to dance before the party, but I guess we won't have enough time for that.”
“...You can't dance at all?”
“That's because I've never been to a concert before.”
Theodore placed the papers he was looking at on the desk.
The way he looked at Annette was very unusual.
Annette noticed the heavy atmosphere in the place, so she immediately buried herself in the sofa and started giving Theodore cute puppy-dog looks to arouse his sympathy.