The first sparks shot into the sky.
Sparks scattered throughout the dark night sky and sparkled like jewels.
The appearance of the scattered light was extremely beautiful.
This was the fireworks that Walter set off with great confidence.
However, what was attracting people's attention through the open curtains was not the fireworks exploding in the sky, but the kiss between Annette and Theodore.
“Are these two...?”
“Is that the Grand Duchess?”
“Woe to the world.
What are these two crazy people doing in front of everyone?”
People whispered behind them, but the two heard nothing.
Theodore grabbed Annette's head and kissed her harder.
Annette was pushed backwards by his force and felt as if she would fall through the air at any moment.
She pressed the railing with both hands and tried to withstand its force, but it wasn't enough.
His hands were relentlessly touching her face and there was nowhere to support herself.
The situation became even more dangerous than Theodore had said it was, as she was now floating in the air while holding on to the railing.
But Theodore was getting closer and closer to her.
Finally, Annette grabbed the back of Theodore's neck to protect herself from falling and pulled him towards her.
Then Theodore put his hand behind her back and pulled her into his arms.
The two looked like they were hugging each other.
The fireworks that were supposed to explode behind them continued to color the sky that served as their backdrop with beautiful colorful sparks.
Colorful fireworks soared in the air, and the orchestra played the most romantic tune you knew.
Annette was so surprised that she slowly closed her wide-open eyes.
Suddenly, Annette's hand began to grope Theodore's arm, which was holding her back tightly, and then began to caress his neck.
It seemed like she could hear Walter's screams from somewhere as well.
Everyone was watching, but Annette also indulged in the kiss and the two began licking and swallowing each other's lips without saying much to the people around them.
Theodore thought every time Annette's breath came close to the tip of his tongue that her mouth, which had only spoken annoying words, had become so sweet.
Truly, everything that came out of that mouth was sweet, even her venomous and ridiculous words.
The last fireworks shot their way into the sky to signal the end of the party, and then the crowd erupted in applause.
Only then did the two finally regain their senses.
The more Theodore's harsh breathing calmed down, the more confused his mind became.
He did what he wanted, but he didn't know why he did it or how to fix it.
The two just looked at each other with wide eyes under the now calm night sky.
"this…."
Annette opened her mouth to say something.
Her lips, which he had been kissing for a while, suddenly seemed unfamiliar.
Anxiety gripped Theodore's heart because no matter what she said now, he would never be able to deal with it or defend himself.
He was afraid of what his reckless actions might look like in her eyes.
Annette hated him, so he would never look good in her eyes.
Even if he thought about it himself, he deserved to be criticized and slapped by her now, but at least he hoped it wouldn't be today.
Even if he was insulted and cursed, even if he was beaten and hated because of this kiss, he wanted to cherish it at least until this heat in his body was gone.
Theodore was confused by his growing thoughts, then he ran his large hand over his neck and chin and took a step back...
Then he ran away.
Then Annette was left alone after their first kiss.
* * *
The morning after the costume party.
That is, the day after Theodore abandoned Annette after kissing her and ran away.
Theodore left the party on his horse and disappeared somewhere, not returning to the Floris palace until dawn.
Even after his return, he never left his room.
Thanks to this, the two were never able to meet, and Annette spent the morning with a guest who had visited her the night before, and not with her husband.
That guest was none other than Ernest.
Ernest looked at Annette, unable to hide his tense expression.
She was sitting in front of a large desk in her office, but she was very different from his first impression of her.
Only then did he realize that she was a woman of high status, and this was reflected in his attitude towards her.
The morning sunlight coming through the window wrapped around her soft hair, adding to the mysterious aura around her.
However, what flowed in such a beautiful atmosphere were Annette's frequent curses that came out of her mouth.
"damn it."
Annette was angry that Ernest was sitting in front of her.
Ernest was at least comforted by the fact that he was not the cause of her anger.
“What are you looking at so stupidly?”
"nothing."
“I told you that you don't need to be respectful in your behavior with me without respecting me internally.
Although it has been a long time since I gave you permission, that does not mean that you can disturb me in the middle of the night.”
“Yes, no, I mean no.
Huh?
Um.. yeah, you’re right.”
Ernest swallowed his dry saliva and regretted what he had done the previous night.
Ernest visited Annette blindly last night.
He had come to tell her that he was going to enter the Flores palace.
Of course, Ernest asked Annette to call him at any time, but that would not allow her to disturb him at dawn.
Ernest wasn't that ignorant, but he had no time to be polite.
Neither was Annette, who was in a state of tension, although he had no idea why.
Today they were both sensitive enough to rage at each other, so they continued to exchange sharp words and insults.
“Is it true that you will return Yvonne to me when I enter this damned palace?”
“It's normal for me to do that since I said it with my mouth.”
“How the hell are you going to make her fall in love with me?”
"I didn't say I'd make her fall in love with you.
But I can bring her back to Dillberg.
I can't give you a heart that wasn't yours in the first place."
"Your words are complete nonsense.
What's the point if Yvonne comes back to my side when she loves another man?
Or worse, what if Yvonne starts hating me?"
“Yvonne already left you and that's why you came to me, so why do you still wish for something as trivial as for me to fall in love with you?”
Annette already knew that.
Ernest had told her what had happened to him at Yvonne's house and how miserable he had been in front of her.
Ernest said that he had already given up on his pure love and would no longer try to win Yvonne's heart and that he had become an ugly person who would try to hold on to even the slightest remaining memories in order to continue to survive.
“If you had been more useful, your mistress would not have abandoned you.”
“Stop saying that nonsense.”
“If she had needed you, Yvonne would have already summoned you when she came to Lider and made you one of her assistants or servants.”
“I told you to stop!”
Everything Annette said was true, but it hurt Ernest's pride.
Ernest remembered the despair he felt after realizing that he was someone who could easily be erased from Yvonne's life.
Annette also made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
“I will be your new master.
So please do your best not to abandon you, even if Yvonne abandons you, at least I want you to be the person I need.”
Annette's suggestion, which he heard when he thought he had become useless, a nobody without an identity and not worth living, was very sweet.
So Ernest could not refuse.
However, Ernest wanted to protect the last remnants of his pride from Annette, who seemed to know everything that was going on inside him.
“But I have conditions.”
"Tell me."
“I will not talk to you with respect or use names with you.
Don’t even expect me to respect you in front of others.”
“As long as you show great skill, I will forgive you even if you act rudely.”
This was the last of Ernest's pride.
Ernest wanted to feel that he was not a toy between Annette's fingers, so he set such an outrageous condition.
But Annette readily agreed.
Specifically, it seemed like she was distracted by something and wasn't paying attention to what Ernest was saying.
However, the regret and remorse were Ernest's, not hers'.
As dawn came and he came to his senses, Ernest realized how great a sin he had committed.
It was literally high treason to the imperial family.
It was fortunate for Ernest that he was on the same page as Annette and that she would not be able to bring him to the police.
But looking back now, it seems like it wasn't luck, but bad luck.
Annette was looking a little...
...No, she looked completely crazy.
Annette returned to the Flores mansion after the masquerade ball, wondering who the person who had come to meet her so late at night was, and in a state of physical and mental exhaustion, she spent the night looking over the documents that would be delivered to Ernest for him to begin working on.
Then, early in the morning before the birds had even woken up, she called for Ernest, who had not yet finished his breakfast.
Ernest was startled when he saw Annette's desk.
The table was so piled with papers that the sturdy wooden legs were about to break.
“I've been searching all night for this...”
Eventually, Annette dropped the stack of papers on the floor and the place became a mess.
I accidentally dropped it when I tried to pull an envelope from the papers.
"Haaa...
I've been arranging it all night, but now I have to do it again.
What a bad day this has started!!"
Annette pulled her hair nervously.
She was still in a bad mood from last night, but when she saw the papers in disarray, her anger tripled further.
Annette wiped her face with both hands, but that did nothing to ease her tired look.
Ernest had heard what happened at the masquerade through the morning paper and the maids' stories.
He wondered if the woman, who looked like she wouldn't even care if a bomb went off in front of her, was really angry over something like that.
He thought he shouldn't ask her, but he couldn't contain his curiosity.
“I'm just asking in case… so don't be angry okay?
Are you upset because you couldn't sleep because of what happened with the Grand Duke at the party last night?”
“Did you see that too?”
“I didn't see it, but everyone at last night's party is talking about it.”
“….”
Annette gave strength to her tightly pursed lips.
The kiss between the two had already become widely known through rumors last night and became a national scandal.
Reporters and photographers who had come to cover the unprecedented spectacular fireworks display on the front page of the Al-Sabah newspaper, and who Walter had brought in for publicity, also saw the two of them together, and while they were kissing passionately, the reporters took a picture of them and published it on the front page of the article.
As a result, everyone who was in Lider saw the two kiss.
The advantage gained from this incident was that fewer people became suspicious of the two's relationship, but the disadvantage was that this became an excuse for someone like Ernest to harass and mock Annette.
It was kind of embarrassing, but Annette wasn't ashamed of the incident at all.
Her anger at Theodore overcame all her other feelings.