🌷 Chapter Fifty-One –
“What character are you wearing today, Grand Duchess?”
“I decided to disguise myself as Annette Scheringen today.”
“But this isn't considered a cosplay character?”
“Your Highness can never guess how wonderful and perfect Annette Scheringen is today.”
Annette smiled gloomily.
Hugo didn't fully understand what she said, but he didn't ask her any more questions.
In the first place, since he wasn't interested in Annette herself, he wasn't even interested in her cosplay persona.
He just wanted to observe Annette, who had recently changed so strangely, up close.
Annette was trying to figure out Hugo's intentions as well.
At every moment, Annette felt the touches of Hugo's strong arm pressing her waist uncomfortably, as if he were harassing her.
But she pretended not to notice, pretended not to notice, so she smiled faintly and naively.
By trying to discover why Hugo approached her first, Annette played the role of a reckless and naive girl like in the past.
But unlike the dance with Theodore, the moment when Hugo touches her is strangely disturbing and disgusting.
Unwittingly, Annette begins to compare other men to Theodore.
As soon as she realized this fact, she felt the gaze that had been looking at her so persistently for a long time.
It was a look so intense that she wondered why she hadn't noticed it until now.
* * *
Theodore struggled to maintain his patience as he watched Annette and Hugo dance together.
Theodore knew that Annette would never do anything rash with any man without a reason, but her dancing with Hugo was especially painful for him.
Given the long rivalry between Theodore and Hugo, and the long love history between Annette and Hugo, the sight of the two dancing together was perfect for gossiping about.
Annette was well aware of this fact, but she agreed to dance with him nonetheless.
There had to be a reason, so Theodore didn't go to bother Annette and stop her from what she was doing now.
Who is he to bother Annette or object to her actions in the first place?
But Theodore noticed that Annette was looking at him from time to time, so he continued to watch her just in order to see her if she called for him or go to her aid if she seemed uncomfortable or if Hugo disturbed her in any way.
After a very long wait, the dance was finally over and Annette came to meet Theodore.
……No, she didn’t come to meet him.
Annette passed Theodore and went to the balcony, probably not seeing Theodore in front of her in the first place.
How did Annette know the balcony!
The curtained balcony was a place for making love or secret experiments.
The main users were married men and married women who committed adultery out of sight of their partners.
A woman who couldn't dance until a few days ago, knew what a balcony was and was heading towards it now?
Theodore released his legs to the wind and opened the balcony curtain as Annette impulsively entered.
As a husband, it was his duty to protect his wife's innocence.
When he found Annette there...
“Hello.”
Was she alone?
Annette greeted him with a wide smile.
It was a very bright smile.
Theodore thought that Annette had become so happy because she danced with other men, so he was heartbroken without being able to figure out why.
Is her happiness because of Hugo?
This situation reminded him of the old days when Theodore would look at Hugo from behind without being able to overtake him or even catch up with him.
The same thing happened at tonight's party as well.
Theodore knew that the Annette he knew and the original Annette were completely different people, but his anger and resentment never subsided.
Whatever the case, nothing had changed from the past, and Annette was still attracted to Hugo.
Theodore barely suppressed his heart that was sinking into sadness and despair.
“You came really fast.”
Annette was sitting on the balcony railing, swinging her legs in the air like a child.
She looked like a dog wagging its tail after meeting its owner.
But she was so careless of gentlemanly etiquette that her shoes were actually rolling over the ground while her feet were bare.
“What are you doing leaving your feet bare like that?
This is not at all suitable for noble ladies.”
"Since I am a married woman, I can do whatever I want.
But if you are not satisfied, why don't you put the shoes on for me with your own hand, my dear husband?"
Annette became startlingly rude as the days went by.
But again, it was even funnier when Theodore picked up the shoe and obediently followed her words.
Theodore got down on one knee and grabbed her foot.
They were as white as her soft hands, and they were small.
Are women's feet originally that small?
When Theodore compared his shoe size to Annette's foot size by eye, the difference was clear.
Theodore dressed Annette in her shoes while noticing the obvious difference between them.
But Annette laughed lightly and threw the shoes he had put on her away on the floor again.
"What do you do?"
“My feet hurt.
I won’t ask you to dress me twice, so don’t get too angry.”
“Are you drunk?”
"Are you kidding me?
You forced me not to drink even a single drink.
Who do you think was following me around and pestering me throughout the party while not allowing the servants to give me any alcoholic beverages?"
Annette pursed her lips as she frowned.
Lisa insisted that Annette drink as little alcohol as possible, so she promised not to drink even a single drink.
But Theodore felt it was interesting to see Annette's cutely frowning expression when she was told that she couldn't have even one drink, so he willingly took on the role of observing her at the party.
He was just trying to tease her a little, but it was a very good choice, because something worse was going to happen tonight if she got really drunk.
Annette's green eyes shone as if they were shining under the sparkling rays of moonlight.
It was so strange.
Walter had chosen a moonless night for the costume party so that everyone could see the fireworks as best as possible, but this woman radiated a mysterious radiance as if she was the moon herself.
In the darkness of the night, her golden hair strands swayed in the breeze, and they seemed to shine clearly as if they were threads of gold that had just been plucked from the sky.
But her eyes looked much better.
“Do you know where you are sitting now?”
“Isn’t this the place where the history of love and love is made?
Before I entered, there was a young gentleman and a young gentleman kissing each other, but when I entered here and saw them with each other, they ran quickly in opposite directions.
They must have been very embarrassed.”
“Did you come here when you already knew what was going on in this place?”
When Theodore was about to question her about what kind of scoundrel she was waiting for here, Annette answered his question meekly.
“I came here because I thought you would follow me.”
……But he discovered that this scoundrel was Theodore himself.
Now that he took a closer look at Annette's face, it seemed to him that her beautiful cheeks were a little red from dancing for a long time and she looked a little tired.
There was no better place to relax than the balcony.
…But if she had not danced in the first place, she would not have needed to rest her body in such a disreputable place alone and become vulnerable to being preyed upon by other men.
Theodore taught her how to dance, but then she ended up dancing with the other scoundrels.
Theodore's mind became a wave of mixed emotions in a second.
But Annette seemed very excited.
“I was really good at dancing, wasn't I?”
She looked up at him with bright, puppy-like eyes searching for praise and praise.
Theodore could clearly sense her great enthusiasm and that she was looking forward to hearing his words of praise without adding or subtracting.
When Theodore remembered how she had smiled at Hugo while looking at him with those shining eyes as she stood hand in hand with those bastard men...
It was unbearable.
Theodore didn't know what was wrong with him or why he was angry, but he felt stifled and his mood became corrupt.
Annette yawned loudly and stretched her body backwards.
Her position now as she sat on the railing was very dangerous.
Unsurprisingly, her body slumped towards the ground as if she was about to fall from the balcony.
Theodore hurriedly pulled her and hugged her in his arms.
“Your Highness?”
“What are you doing stretching so dangerously?”
As his tone dropped, Annette raised her head in surprise to look him straight in the eye.
“I'm used to stretching regularly in my world.
In the old days, my body was flexible, so I wouldn't fall if I stretched a little like that.
Did I surprise you?”
“….”
"I'm sorry.
I thought nothing would happen.
Really."
Every time Annette opened her mouth, Theodore felt a slight vibration following the sound of her words.
The ringing echoed around her chest, scratching furiously at his nerves.
The closer he got to her, the more he felt everything in her body.
Those bastards must have felt this too.
He wanted to instantly take the breath away from those who felt the details of this body.
“What conversation did you have with those bastards?”
“Those bastards?”
She merely repeated his words, but Theodore felt a little better when Annette referred to the men as bastards.
But he was still angry.
“Those who fawned over you and tricked you into dancing with them.”
“Well, since there are a lot of people questioning our relationship, I spread some rumors that we get along and love each other very much, and I also tried to find out if there was someone we could attract to our side who could benefit us in the future.
But to be honest, I focused more on dancing than talking.”
The craziest thing was that Theodore couldn't figure out why he was angry.
The fire was boiling inside him, but he didn't know where it came from, so he didn't know how to extinguish it.
Sometimes his simple angry feelings would calm down at the sight of Annette, but on days like today, looking at her face made him angrier.
This was the first time he couldn't control his emotions.
This was the first time he realized how embarrassing it was that he couldn't control his heart.
Looking into Annette's eyes, who were innocent despite being the reason behind all the hideous feelings he was experiencing now, he said the words that came to his mind without thinking.
“Why are you doing something you weren’t asked to do?
All you have to do is go to bed with them and tell me that you were just playing with the pillows.”
“What in God’s name are you talking about?
I’ve been communicating with people like any other normal person, should I ask you for permission to talk to others or what?”
Annette's expression became terrifyingly cold.
Her eyes that were looking at him friendly quickly changed to angry eyes that were judging him.
“Didn’t I tell you that I was spreading rumors in the community that we love each other?
If you keep saying such ridiculous things, everything between us will be exposed in front of everyone.
Do you want me to cooperate with you or not?”
“Your approach is wrong.
What is the use of talking to other men to prove our relationship?”
“What’s wrong with that!
If I don’t do this, how will I prove that our relationship is good, Mr.
Fahman?”
Annette's angry mouth poured out many words of displeasure at Theodore.
Theodore couldn't take it any longer when he saw her little mouth moving non-stop.
“There is no better way than this for me to be able to prove that we are married and living happily with each other.
The others do not live with us in the palace until they see us performing your marital drama.”
"Just nonsense!
There are much better ways than this!!"
What should Theodore say now?
Annette should never know the truth.
He couldn't say he was angry at seeing her hanging out with other men while laughing and talking to them so comfortably.
He would rather die than say that.
In time, when the orchestra stopped playing and the surroundings became quiet, Theodore was able to hear Annette's harsh breathing more clearly.
Since they don't move on to playing the next song, it looks like the fireworks show will start soon.
As the music faded, Annette's angry breathing became more audible.
“If there is another way, as you clever one says, then try it yourself, Your Highness!”
The moment Annette shouted this, Theodore completely lost his mind.
He wanted to close that mouth that was only making annoying noises.
He was crazy again, no, he had already been crazy ever since he met this woman.
Given what he was going to do now, he had to admit it.
Theodore was an extremely mad man.
These same words kept roaming everywhere in his mind, but all he could see at that moment were her lips that continued to trap him in the corner and pressure him to say the thing that he did not want to admit in front of her.
It couldn't be like this unless he was crazy.
“You and I can show it ourselves...”
Theodore bowed his head toward Annette, who was sitting on the balcony railing.
"that way."
Then he kissed her lips.
It had happened so fast that Annette didn't even know what had happened to her.
At that moment, all the windows, doors and curtains in the vast hall were opened to watch the fireworks.
The curtains that hid the balcony where Annette was sitting with Theodore were opened in front of people's eyes and the music resumed again.
Then the fireworks started.