Annette couldn't remember how she got back to her bedroom.
She felt that Theodore's hand was still holding hers.
The moment he pressed his lips to hers, she forgot everything and almost buried herself in his arms, so she had to struggle to restrain herself from responding to him in that kiss.
But Theodore must have noticed Annette's agitated mind.
Of course, from that close distance, it was impossible not to feel the hesitant trembling of her lips.
Theodore was also troubled, but did not inquire further about her actions.
Neither Annette nor Theodore knew what each other's feelings were, although it was clear what the hidden feelings that arose between the two meant.
But those feelings were simply unacceptable.
These feelings weren't just a superficial, imperceptible attraction that would disappear with time, so Annette had to end them quickly before they escalated into something bigger.
Although feelings had already begun to blossom within their hearts, Annette wanted to end them before they got deeper.
Even if that gypsy woman had not suddenly appeared that day and warned her, Annette would have warned herself.
'The closer I got to that man, the further away I became from myself.'
'If I love him, I'll lose myself.'
‘Think about who is more important, Theodore or yourself.’
Annette wondered endlessly whether these feelings were something worth giving up her world for.
Since that day…
Since the day she saw Theodore approaching her on the hill next to the vineyard...
As Annette was petting Silver on the hill in the soft wind, she heard a horse pattering in the distance, and after a while Theodore appeared.
In fact, Annette knew he was coming, but she pretended not to notice him.
She pretended to be unaware of his approach until his shadow fell over her head.
That day she laughed out loud and purposely ignored his presence, pretending she was talking to the dog.
Then Theodore approached her and extended his hand to her...
“I'm here to pick you up.”
The place Theodore was going to take her was like a battlefield, but Annette held his hand even though she knew that if she jumped into that battle she would get hurt.
Because in that moment...
It seemed that Theodore would not allow any harm to touch her.
When Theodore looked at Annette and his shadow fell on her head, she could see the deep blue sky above the dark color of his shadow.
But what Annette looked at closely that day were Theodore's eyes.
Between the blue sky and gloomy shadows, she could see his deep blue eyes.
Annette saw it and thought his eyes looked like a piece of sea floating in the sky.
She didn't think at the time that he was a villain who had killed more people than he had saved.
She just thought there was something different in those clear eyes that were looking at her.
Annette didn't know what kind of attraction she felt for him that day, but for some reason, her place seemed to be at Theodore's side.
Did he ask her why she was angry?
Because that's the only thing she can do.
All poor Annette could do in this impossible relationship was cry or beg.
But she didn't want to do both, so she became angry.
Annette bit her lips and endured the pain as she wanted to hide her desire to be held tightly in Theodore's safe arms.
“This is wrong.
I don’t hate you, I hate myself.”
I hate myself for being helpless in front of you.
Annette couldn't bear to convey these feelings buried in her heart to Theodore.
Annette opened the door to her room and lay on the bed, suppressing her desire to go to Theodore.
If she wants to escape this world successfully, she doesn't have to get used to restrictions.
No more human feelings towards Theodore anymore.
Once Annette realized this, she decided to leave the Flores mansion.
She decided to stay away from Theodore, at least physically, and maybe that way she would keep him away from her heart and mind as well.
The next day, when Annette was about to ask the servants to pack her bags to go to Scheringen Palace, she realized that she had nothing in this world.
It is impossible for her to have items in a place that is not even her own world.
Even the body she was living inside wasn't her own, so how could the clothes she was wearing be hers?
She just put on the clothes she usually wore and the wedding ring on her hands along with the Marquis' eagle ring and then headed to Scheringen Palace without any additional luggage.
She left just as she came to the Flores Palace for the first time.
Many people were surprised by the news of her passing, but no one could stop her.
Theodore was the only one who could stop her, but he did not appear until after Annette had left in the carriage.
* * *
"Let's go-!"
The sound of the departing carriage was particularly loud that day.
Theodore watched his wife leave the palace from the window of the room where Annette's painting was being painted.
He could see Annette leaving the house even from the far hallway where people rarely came.
Theodore turned his head nervously as soon as she left.
That woman left the place, but she left her painting behind.
In the still unfinished painting, Annette was looking at Theodore with her light green eyes.
In the end, Annette left Theodore with her painting in this large palace and moved away from it.
There was no hesitation in her decision.
She didn't even think to turn to him and see how he was feeling as if she had no regrets from her decision.
When Theodore looked at the painting of Annette in a wedding dress, the feelings that had been buried in his heart for a long time exploded.
Resentment...the feeling of betrayal...the disappointment and disappointment resulting from the collapse of all the affection that once united them.
These were all feelings that Theodore tried to erase from his life.
Aren't these words the useless feelings one feels when giving affection to others?
If he didn't expect to receive affection from people, he shouldn't have had such feelings for someone.
Theodore thought he had forgotten all the feelings of weak people.
He thought he had become a cruel person without feelings or emotions.
However, his human heart that he thought had died a long time ago seemed to have come back to life without him even realizing it.
Maybe he wasn't as serious about revenge as he thought?
Looking back, revenge wasn't the only reason he wanted to become emperor.
The main driver of this desire was his harsh childhood memories, memories that he thought he had buried with his heart in the past.
Of course, the people he wanted to show that he could become Emperor, which were his mother and father, were all dead now.
But despite this, Theodore had a more important reason to take revenge for the ridicule he had been subjected to throughout his life.
He was striving to become emperor because he believed that this was the only way he would be able to survive and not lose himself in the vortex of this cruel world.
There were also many things that he wanted to prove to the world as Emperor.
He wanted to prove how much talent the illegitimate mixed-blood second prince who everyone considered a nobody could have.
There was a time when revenge was everything to him even if he lacked the talent to do so, but Theodore believed that he truly deserved to be Emperor.
Is it because Annette was by his side and hoped that he would become a good emperor?
Theodore often dreamed of his mother Maria these days.
His mother brought with her memories that Theodore had painstakingly forgotten.
Memories of the moment his parents abandoned him.
Maria gave birth to Theodore, wanting Dominic not to abandon her.
The woman, who had nothing but beauty and wanted the former emperor to love her in return, had no choice but to have a child with him to bind him to her forever.
Theodore was born to a man and a woman who loved each other more than anyone else, but he was not blessed.
Theodore, who had unwittingly caused chaos by his birth, had to live under Maria's shadow.
It was considered only a shackle that bound Maria to the Emperor.
In other words, when the two are in a good relationship, Theodore is useless.
Theodore was a spoiled child who wished his parents would always fight because he wished his mother would come to him and pay a little attention to him.
But unfortunately, God was not on Theodore's side even in those days, and the relationship between his mother and father was good to death.
The moment had never come when Maria needed Theodore.
Thanks to this, Maria was able to live her short life as an empress and a good wife.
But in the end, she failed miserably as a mother.
In the days when she quarreled with the Emperor, Maria became a kind mother to her son.
She was only doing this to prove that she was in constant contact with the Emperor through his son, so she would take care of Theodore whenever she felt uneasy about her uneasy relationship with Dominic.
But again, when Dominic invites her into his decorated and shiny bedroom, Theodore becomes useless again and his mother leaves him alone behind as he waits when his parents will fight again to see his mother's face.
This had happened to him dozens or hundreds of times.
Theodore was merely an instrument of the love of others from the moment he was born.
His parents' love changed the meaning of his existence.
Are you like that too?
Do you consider Theodore to be someone you turn to only when you need him?
Are you going to give him up too?
Is this because it is no longer useful?
A vein of blood emerged from his tightly clenched fist.
He was angry with Annette because she was angry with him without telling him why.
He saw Annette in the painting again.
She was wearing a pure white dress and had a cute smile on her face.
Theodore angrily raised the unfinished painting in the air and was about to throw it to the ground and break it, but he stopped at the last moment.
"damn it."
No matter how angry he was, Theodore couldn't throw Annette's photo to the ground.
He couldn't bear to throw away the unfinished painting, so he just cursed it helplessly.
Theodore began to feel pain all over his body.
Theodore was experiencing psychological pain similar to the physical pain he felt the day his mother burned his back.
He felt that the broken-winged butterfly that was imprinted on his back began to burn with a real fire preventing it from flying again.
Then the past began to haunt him again.
The golden-haired woman left like a ray of sunshine.
Theodore felt as if he had fallen into an abyss as he walked into broad daylight.
Annette was a woman he had not loved from the beginning.
According to Annette's words, Theodore still didn't know what this feeling was that was burning in his heart now that she was gone.
But she is wrong.
Love was the one emotion that could destroy Theodore the most.
It was a feeling that made people weak, so Theodore did not consciously realize his love for Annette.
And no one had ever told Theodore what that feeling was or had anyone truly loved him.
Unexpectedly, affection resulted from learning from one's surroundings, and love was a human disposition to imitate others in the way they treated their loved ones.
But Theodore had never received this kind of emotion before, so he didn't know that what he was feeling was love.
No one told Theodore what it was about this feeling that made him want to cling to the other side even though it would only cause him pain and destruction.
He didn't know what this feeling was, but he felt that it would be a big problem if he realized what it was.
So he thought it would be best to ignore it and move on.
Because she will be gone soon anyway.
If the original Annette returned to that body, their relationship would end immediately.
However, even if he tried to brainwash himself with those words thousands of times, he was unable to stop the feeling of betrayal that came from him
Submerge him.
He thought it would be different from everyone else...
But that was not the case.