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Chapter Fifty-Six –
Annette looked back and forth between her hand and her bat.
She gradually increased her blinking speed, as if she couldn't accept this reality.
Annette couldn't block any of Theodore's balls coming at her.
Her body itself was moving in the opposite direction to the ball in an incredible way, and this was the first time Annette had known that her reactions were so clumsy.
Theodore looked at her with a malicious smile as if he was mocking her.
His gaze held a mixture of sarcasm and amazement.
But it was Annette who was really surprised in this situation.
Originally, her movement skills were above the average level when she was in her original body.
She didn't even think she wouldn't be able to block tennis balls like that.
“You said you knew how to do this.”
"It's because of the clothes.
Tennis is not a sport."
It is practiced
While one wears long dresses
And loose
Like this.
No, but these are the clothes that...
I wear it
Not suitable for any type of sport.
Yes, clothes are the problem.
Clothes!!”
Uncharacteristically for Annette's indifferent personality, her speech was long.
She didn't even know she was repeating the same thing, and she started making strange excuses.
Then Theodore stood still and hit the balls at her as easily as possible so that she could block even one of them, but he concluded that Annette's motor skills and nervous reactions were seriously lacking.
They were both embarrassed by her slow, clumsy, child-like body movements, something Annette had never even known before.
“Let's stop here.
You are not
You have to be good at tennis.”
“Tennis is considered a cultural activity
He practices it
Many
Aristocrats
, so it must
Ali
That
I'm good at it
One way or another if I want to integrate into the social world.
So
I invested
Take my time trying to learn it, I'll
I'm getting better
Noticeably, he has become much better at playing.”
“But you don't have the nerve reflexes needed for that.”
“…Shut your mouth and keep playing.”
Annette was burning with competitive enthusiasm and fighting spirit.
The anger she felt at the beginning had completely disappeared and was nowhere to be seen.
The awkward atmosphere between them disappeared due to Annette's intense desire to compete and win against Theodore.
However, Annette couldn't win any points against Theodore and the balls kept sliding awkwardly off the racket she was swinging in the air in her hand.
Eventually, Annette lost her nerve and threw herself on the ground while lying on her back holding her racket.
Theodore sat next to her and handed her the water bottle.
Even his polite behavior now seemed to her like a way to mock her.
Annette's sharp eyes looked at Theodore in a way that expressed the displeasure she felt.
The light of the midday sun reflected on the tall green grass and penetrated Annette's jewel-like eyes, making Theodore smile unconsciously as he looked into her eyes, which seemed darker than usual.
Annette did not hate him or even despise him, so Theodore was happy to look into her eyes even though she was staring at him so sharply as if she were going to tear him to pieces to death.
He was right.
This woman was more responsive to stimuli than kind words.
When Theodore saw her pale green eyes, he felt as if the thirst that had been simmering within him for several days had finally been quenched.
He wanted to see those eyes.
He wanted those eyes to look at him.
Theodore felt his stomach begin to turn when he remembered the fact that he had been avoiding Annette for days, but at the same time, he couldn't look away and continued to look straight into her green eyes.
“Do you play tennis?”
Mostly
?
Please
Tell me yes.
Please tell me quickly that
Our tour
“Today, it’s not that I’m pathetically bad at playing, it’s just that you’re good at it.”
Theodore finally laughed out loud.
He couldn't help but laugh because Annette seemed so cute with her nonsense and stubborn insistence.
“Don't laugh...I didn't even know I couldn't do that.”
Annette's voice sank and her face flushed with embarrassment.
“Tell me quickly.
How many times do you play tennis a month?”
“I haven't picked up a racket even once in over ten years.”
“It's annoying.
It's not like I...
I play
Every day, but I don't
I lose
Absolutely
In anything in my world.”
“Will
You will cry
?
“I will never cry in front of you!”
Annette screamed angrily and turned to the other side while giving her back to Theodore.
Theodore watched her golden hair spread down her back, which was close to him.
She had been running around for a long time while swinging her bat in the air, so her fine hair was ruffled and tangled in a random mess.
Without realizing it, Theodore reached out and touched a few strands of her hair and began to caress them, trying to arrange and untangle them.
Annette flinched slightly when she felt his touch, but she never turned towards him.
“When I was...
Young
My father would come to the Flores Palace sometimes and...
By teaching me
Play tennis.
It was hunting activities
And dueling
And ride
Horse things
Aristocracy
I'm not allowed
You learn it
As me
Son
Concubine
Despicable, that's why
I had to
To learn it on my own in secret.
But it was my father who taught me tennis himself.
Those were the times
We spend it
On this tennis court are the only moments when my father is my father and not His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Did His Majesty the Emperor like tennis?”
"No.
But it was the only thing he could teach me.
That's because I can't kill people."
With tennis
.
It was
He tells me
Just things that won't
It helps me
In anything in the imperial palace that I will not be able to rebel against in the future.”
This was all the education allowed to the foundling child who was destined to become a slave to the imperial family.
The Emperor was exchanging balls with his young son on a tennis court secretly set up behind the palace he had given to his mistress.
Even reading a simple novel, let alone royal study, and expressing love in words and small actions like any father and son was not permissible for Theodore.
Every word that came out of the Emperor's mouth was in the tone of command and in the language of the ruler and master.
Maria, who said she would raise her son as nothing more than an ignorant fool, completely alienated her son from the imperial family.
The previous emperor, who knew the reason, also treated Theodore the same way.
He saw the slave tattoo that Maria had placed on her son's back in front of his son and grandson, but he did not move.
Dominic also agreed to bear her further actions if Maria could convince his legitimate son to be made second empress.
His love for Maria was greater than his compassion for his son, who was his own flesh and blood.
So the former emperor compensated for the guilt he felt by sending his son expensive gifts from time to time.
So Maria used the guilt the former emperor felt towards her son to her advantage.
“To protect this child, I must become
Empress
“
The child she gave birth to was the instrument that would ensure that.
She made it another excuse for the Emperor not to abandon her in case he had a change of heart and stopped loving her.
This was the kind of love Theodore had learned and seen throughout his life.
The two lovers were so important to each other that they would do anything and ignore anything else as long as they could stay together.
It didn't even matter whether her child, the fruit of their love, died or became a slave at the feet of others to achieve it.
Theodore never wanted to learn something like that.
He punished himself whenever he felt a feeling similar to love towards anything in this world.
He swore he would never feel anything like this.
Love was a terrible thing done by the monsters that destroyed his life and his childhood.
But when he met Annette...
Theodore continued to be distracted from this goal.
It was embarrassing for him that the feelings of those unclean beasts had suddenly invaded his heart.
Therefore…
“I have
I ran away
That day because
I was afraid
That
You hate me
After
I did it
“
Theodore finally revealed his true feelings.
Annette was still turning her back to Theodore as he confessed his inner thoughts.
“When
I see you
I feel
Strangely
Extremely
And you hate me
Unfamiliar feelings.
And my heart is what I should be
Attentive
And be careful
About him
It starts pounding inside my chest, but I keep going
Denial
That and trying to ignore what I'm feeling, and I end up falling apart
By hurting you
.
Because after all, the heart is something that should not be
He owns it
Never someone like me.”
It was now difficult for Annette to turn her back to see what kind of expression was on Theodore's face.
If he had a pitiful expression and Annette was moved by it and did something to comfort him, she thought his feelings would only grow and make matters worse, making it impossible for her to deal with it later.
Annette listened to Theodore quietly and did not answer him for a while.
Only after the light breeze shook the tennis court grass several times did Annette quietly and finally open her mouth to break the silence.
“Will
You heard
About what happened in the cathedral
Regence
?
Annette changed the subject while speaking in a very calm voice.
Then, in a low voice, she said the thing she didn't want to say.
“We must kill Cardinal Degrelle.”
After meeting Degrell, Annette came to only one conclusion.
'I have to kill him.'
She thought about logic and emotion alternately, but no matter how much she thought about it, the result was the same.
The presence of Degrelle and the hunting ground guard posed a threat to them.
Cardinal Degrelle would definitely try to exploit their weakness and blackmail them again in the future.
“Why are you saying such a very obvious thing?”
Theodore wondered why Annette was having a hard time saying this?
This was a natural decision given the current circumstances.
But he did not know that this was the first time Annette had been involved in a killing.
Annette blamed herself for having fallen so low that she had to kill someone in order to live even if she didn't pick up the knife herself.
However, she tried to convince herself that what would happen was not the death of a human being, but merely ink on the pages of a book.
Annette had muttered this to herself hundreds of times.
She wanted to believe it but...
'This is not possible.'
How not to shed tears after you decide to kill someone?
She dared to decide to end someone's life, and steadily began to turn into a monster.
“Why
You made me
Like you
?
I...I just want to live a normal life.
I don't want to carry such a heavy burden above
My shoulder
For the rest
“My life.”
Annette's voice faded gradually and choked with tears.
Theodore carefully turned Annette's body and made her look at him.
“I have
I was taken
I've made up my mind about this already.
I was thinking of getting rid of it before
You tell me
With this, so this is not
Your mistake
At all.
I have
I reached out
I came to the same conclusion when I heard what had happened from Hans.
It's not
A decision
I never took it because of you.
Since I'm the person in charge of everything here, it's my responsibility to handle this incident as well, so there's no need for you to blame me
Yourself
So,
Okay
?
No matter what Theodore said, Annette felt guilty.
“You're the one who made me like this.”
“That's right, it's all my fault.”
The criminal who had turned Annette into an ugly monster cradled her in his arms.
Theodore was the one who made her live in a world where she had to get blood on her hands, but she couldn't hate him and hugged him desperately.
She should have been angry with him, but she ended up feeling comfortable in his arms.
Being with him was strangely comforting for her, so she begged him not to leave her at such critical times.
“
Please
Get up
With my sympathy
.
I
I mean
...You are the only one who can do this.
I
I mean
…I don't feel comfortable with anyone but you here.
I
I mean
...Don't leave me alone and don't let me
I worry
I carry this burden on my own.”
Annette could bear the fact that she would become a monster, but she could not bear to be alone in such an ugly, hideous, and lonely process.
Annette did not want to wait alone with a lonely and frightened heart to die like when she was confined in the Elysia Mental Asylum.
“This is my fault.
So
Hate me
With everything you have
Leave
In your heart there is no place for sadness or sadness
Sorrow
“
Theodore hugged her gently.
He felt like his heart was being squeezed by his remorse over the past days when he had run away and left this woman alone while she was experiencing all this grief alone.
* * *
There was a gurgling sound as Annette played with her legs in the bathtub.
Apparently, Annette will have muscle pain tomorrow.
Annette resented Theodore for angering her and bringing her to this point.
As she lay on the cold floor and cried in his embrace, Annette developed a cramp in her legs.
When she tried to get up, she stumbled, so Theodore picked her up in his arms and brought her to the palace.
Annette had her maid prepare water for her bath, and after soaking her legs for a while, she felt sleepy.
The moment she almost fell asleep and her head fell to the side, she came back to her senses.
Annette got out of the bathtub and put on a thin nightgown.
The thin cloth became wet in places because she had not dried her body from the water.
“I'm so sleepy...”
She was so tired that she could only think of throwing her body on the bed and falling into a deep sleep.
Annette didn't dry her hair at all, so her back became very wet.
Annette thought that she should spread a towel first so as not to get the mattress wet and catch a cold, so she began to feel around the bed with her hands to look for the towel she had thrown on it earlier while her eyes were already closed.
But her hand touched something very strange.
It had the feel of something that could never be a towel.
Annette half-opened her eyes, which were closed and heavy with sleep, and looked at the identity of the object she was touching with her hand.
“…why are you here?”