🌷
Chapter Fifty-Four –
While Annette spent all her time working, Theodore tried to do the same to keep himself busy.
He was having meetings one after another with people he didn't have to meet, going to clubs he wouldn't normally go to and drinking alcohol.
In the morning, he would wake up before everyone else and come home after everyone had gone to sleep.
Theodore did not want to bump into Annette by chance or even catch a glimpse of her from afar for a brief moment.
The feelings he felt at the party continued to torture his heart without stopping.
It was an unfamiliar feeling that he had never felt in his life.
“What a crazy man I am!”
He had even cursed himself thousands of times already.
This was the first time he felt like such a stupid and insignificant person.
As he picked up a cigarette, which he had never smoked in his life, Hans, who was worse off than Theodor, said:
“If you care
A lot
With what happened that night, go.”
"To where?"
“Where to
In your opinion?
?
Go to Her Highness the Grand Duchess
And he apologized
From her
And explain
"It happened to her."
“Did I do something I should apologize for?”
“First of all, that
It's morning
In this miserable situation, while you do not think that you have...
You committed
An error is considered an order
Dangerous
Very much, Your Highness.
There seems to be no
In you
No hope, so no matter what Her Highness says, it would be best for you to apologize to her first and say that you were...
Wrong
“
Hans touched his forehead tiredly at his master's skills in dealing with women, which were pitifully terrible.
This seems to be the reason why Theodore had lived his whole life without having a girlfriend yet, and even after he became married, he could not get close to his wife like any other normal man.
“What idiot in this world would kiss a woman and then run away?”
Hans clearly told his master that he was an idiot and felt a sense of joy at having accomplished this, but Theodor did not even realize that he had been cursed.
Theodore's head only heard the word kiss and repeated it incessantly.
“Did I really kiss her that day?”
Theodore asked stupidly.
"Are you kidding me?
That kiss has become known throughout the empire.
Now, it has to be."
Your picture
It is also in the magazine of the neighboring country.”
Hans forcefully showed the newspaper page that held a picture of Theodor and Annette kissing.
What would the world say if they discovered that two people who were so passionately embracing had been avoiding each other for days without saying a word?
“You are already hated by Her Highness the Grand Duchess.
What will change then?”
You ran away
This way?
Only upon hearing this did Theodor feel frightened by Hans' fleeting words.
He was afraid that Annette had come to hate him.
Of course she hated him before too, so he shouldn't care about this too much.
But despite that...
The thought that Annette would turn away from him because of what he had done made his heart ache as if a dagger had been stuck in it.
What if those light green eyes refused to look at him in the future?
What if Annette decides to leave too far and refuses to help him become emperor?
This was a strange feeling.
He lived a life where everyone in this empire reviled him, but he didn't care about them at all.
However, when he thought that Annette might hate him, his mood deteriorated and he felt like he wanted to cry.
But he couldn't talk to her.
He could not reveal to her that he was afraid to meet her because of the feelings that bloomed inside his heart so desperately after kissing her.
Theodore lost control of himself that day and couldn't stop kissing her.
He wanted to hold her, suck her lips and swallow her sweet scent whole.
The moment Theodore touched the bare skin of her back due to her revealing dress, it seemed that he was unable to control his desire unless Annette rejected him or pushed him away.
When will he meet her again after what happened that night...
He didn't even know what he was going to say to him.
Maybe he might want to repeat what he did at that party again.
He might want to kiss Annette's pale neck, lick her little lips, then pull her into his arms before she could blink her startled eyes and suck it all in.
This was the first time he had ever wanted a woman in his life.
Theodore had never wanted things like this before.
All he wanted was to become emperor.
But why did he feel this way about Annette?
Annette was really harmful to his psyche.
But his effect on Annette was worse than Annette's danger to him.
If Theodore expressed everything in his heart that was beating in her name only, Annette's delicate body would collapse.
If Annette knew what he was thinking, she would abandon him forever.
She was someone who would leave one day, but he didn't want her to leave him sooner just because of this kind of feeling burning in his heart.
Theodore couldn't look at her from afar because he didn't want to get away from her and wanted to get closer and closer to her.
Annette was the one who was going to leave this world, and Theodore was the one who hated love.
Theodore could not imagine what would happen in their first meeting after that kiss that brought them together.
* * *
This happened when Annette was in her office looking at the report on the Favoritin Hospital takeover plan and the budget strategies of Scheringen Palace.
“Arrrgh.”
The headaches continued to plague her head relentlessly.
Annette had been unable to sleep for the past few days because the thing that was causing her stress had not been resolved.
Theodore hasn't come to meet her until today.
Because of her pride, she couldn't go and talk to him first.
Annette pretended not to worry and focused on her work.
Then she heard a knock on the door while her focus was distracted somewhere.
"Mr.
Hans?
You're just in time.
I have things I need to discuss with you about the hospital."
“I will do anything you wish, ma'am, but before that I have something
I inform you
With it.
This is the Regence Cathedral report I mentioned
Previously
“
“Do you mean the church to which we donated to be completed under the name of Cardinal Degrelle?”
“You're right.”
“What happened to her?”
Hans was about to say something, but he closed his mouth again.
Annette looked at him in surprise.
“Mr.
Hans?
Is there a problem with the construction?”
Hans thought about whether he should bring Annette into this matter or not, but in the end he saw no other choice.
Hans was very sorry, but he did not want Theodor to become angry after hearing this news and would prefer that Annette try to solve this problem with her intelligence and wit.
“There was an accident at the construction site.”
If it had been a minor incident, it would not have created a dangerous atmosphere and there would have been no reason to report it.
Because after all, the Regency Cathedral is being built in the name of Cardinal Degrelle who bears all responsibility for anything that happens during it.
He certified the marriage of Annette and Theodore and received that cathedral in return.
So even if there were victims, Annette and Theodore would not be affected because they were far from the topic.
However, the fact that Hans spoke hesitantly about this incident occurring meant that it would affect the Grand Duke and his wife in some way.
“…Are there human casualties?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“How many victims?”
“There are three deaths
Overall
“
Hans continued his report as he stood next to Annette.
When construction of Regence Cathedral was halted due to lack of funds, homeless people gathered in the vacant building.
The cathedral, with its roof and walls, was without an owner, so it became a home for them.
Then, with Annette bearing the cost, construction resumed.
The homeless had to be sent away, but they did not give up that house, which was more comfortable than the street.
“They are not
Stupid people
, so usually pay a few coins and wait a few days for it to go away
Homeless people
On their own
“
“But the impatient Cardinal couldn't wait, could he?”
"This is correct."
Degrelle wanted to complete the construction of the cathedral as soon as possible, which is why he was not the least bit impatient.
So he went ahead with the construction, saying he couldn't waste even a moment of time with vagrants who refused to leave.
Even the vagrants did not intend to cling to the cathedral to the end.
They just wanted Degrelle to pay them for food and alcohol, so they mustered up their courage and stood up to him.
However, when they were forcefully expelled, they became more determined, and instead of leaving, they hid in a deep corner of the construction site.
Without knowing it, the construction process was resumed, and those displaced were crushed to death by a pile of building materials.
“There is a protest in the city because of it.”
"protest?"
“There are some people who are asking for an investigation
Saying
That there
A trick
In building the cathedral.
They said they needed to hear a report about the construction and that someone had deliberately killed those homeless people.
“One of the protesters may be a family member of one of the victims.”
Annette raised her finger and rubbed her chin.
It was common for traumatic things like this to happen on construction sites.
When she closed her eyes and listened to Hans' report, she noticed something very strange about the process of events.
The public is not usually concerned with the actions of those in power and most of the time does not care about the victims.
Annette could not say so for herself, but in the Cardinal's view those vagabonds were lower creatures than vermin.
So, usually, ordinary people are less angry about such incidents.
Those who were accustomed to submission often did not know when to get angry or where to vent their anger, and they did not even know how to do it.
However, the fact that there was a protest among people clearly meant that there was someone behind this or perhaps Degrelle intentionally killed those people and left evidence behind.
“If they investigate it, I'm sure it will be done
Implicate me
The Grand Duke and I are in this matter in the end.”
An investigation into Degrelle's background will show that the Duke and Grand Duchess Kleist, who decided to donate to the Regence Cathedral, were involved in this incident even if they had no hand in the matter.
They will then be accused of being the mastermind behind all of this, and in the end they will be asked why, and the credibility of their marriage vows may finally be called into question.
Degrell's stupid actions threatened to ruin their marriage.
Also the biggest problem was how to deal with him, but no matter how much Annette thought about it, it didn't seem to her that Degrell would handle this situation properly.
Annette made a very bad decision when she chose a foolish and greedy man like him.
“What did His Highness the Grand Duke say about this matter?”
“I haven't told him this yet because he's in a meeting with...
My investors
Mining right now.
This incident happened yesterday
And I stay
The protest is around noon today.”
"I need to get ready to go out.
Where is Degrell now?
That bastard can't even control his actions properly in front of the world, so I need to...
To meet him
“
Annette jumped from her seat.
No matter how angry she was at Theodore kissing her and then disappearing, and no matter how much she hated her husband and wanted to return to her world as quickly as possible, maintaining this marital relationship between them was one of her responsibilities that she must bear throughout her time in this world.