Only Theodore and Annette remained in the deserted living room.
Annette looked at Theodore with calm, blank eyes.
“If you have something to say to me, please finish it quickly.
You see, I’m not feeling well, so I want to rest.”
“Have you decided to stop talking after that tantrum in the car?”
“I don't feel comfortable talking to people who aren't comfortable with me.”
“You don't look away even when you rudely say that talking to me is uncomfortable?”
"It's because I'm not saying anything wrong.
There's no reason to avert one's gaze when you're right.
If my eyes are uncomfortable, it must be because Your Highness has wronged me."
Annette calmly cut off Theodore's words one by one without being sarcastic.
The cold, brick-like words piled up one after another, forming a harsh wall separating them.
A clear wall that frankly says that she does not want to build any acquaintance, friendship, affection or similar intimate relationship with him in the future.
"I'm a busy person too, so I'll keep it short.
Are you sure the pills I took earlier are the poison we're looking for?"
“Those pills were the only medication I took during my stay in the psychiatric hospital.
Normally, a nurse would distribute the medications to other patients, but it was the hospital director’s son who would personally bring those pills to me and make sure I swallowed them.”
“Did you keep taking it even after you knew it was poison?”
"If I hadn't eaten it, they would have mixed it with the food and given it to me without my knowledge.
Picking it up and throwing up what I could afterwards was the least logical thing I could have done.
So don't look at me like I'm an idiot."
Annette knew full well that if she refused the white pills she was given, a dark plot to kill her would emerge.
However, if she refused to take the medicine, she would have to take it one way or another, just like when Theodore appeared, so she had no choice but to take it obediently.
Annette said very firmly.
She said she took poison and waited for the day she would die.
Her calm attitude made Theodore suspect that the woman was talking about someone else, and then suddenly he felt satisfied.
Annette swallowed the poison without hesitation and was not afraid of death.
People who are not afraid of death usually do not put restrictions on what they do.
Having people like that at his side was beneficial in many ways.
How could he not be happy after a very good product, difficult to obtain compared to its usefulness, fell into his hands.
“When did you take the medicine?”
“When the hospital director came and you two started talking.
Before you came, the doctor that Your Highness had beaten was forcing me to swallow medicine, so the poison was spreading everywhere.”
“You didn't know what I might suggest at the time, but you still hid the poison?”
“Of course I had to take it.
Even if I got out, if I couldn’t find an antidote for what I ate, I would die.”
While Theodore was threatening the hospital director, Annette picked up the pills she could find in front of her in her hand and hid them in her clothes.
She was thinking about living in the moment.
At this point, Theodore had no choice but to confess.
He didn't know if Annette was a holy spirit or just an impostor, but she was a woman who knew how to defend her life well.
“If you want to use me, spare my life first.”
“Of course I will.
I will try to find a new doctor, and then she will analyze the poison.”
“I don't want another doctor.
I'll leave it to Lisa.”
“Do you think that nurse will save your life?”
“You should think so too.”
“Did that woman appear as a competent character in the novel you read?”
Theodore asked with a little anticipation.
Annette must have a reason to trust her nurse since she is willing to risk her life.
Theodore wondered if the nurse who was trembling before him was one of the main characters in the novel, because if she was, she might be useful to Theodore.
However, the answer that followed frustrated Theodore's expectations.
“There was no nurse named Lisa among the characters I saw in the book.”
“Then why would you trust someone whose name you don't know?”
“Because I can’t delay removing the poison from my body any longer, and this nurse doesn’t seem like someone who would play with a patient’s life.
Even if my options aren’t the best, I have no choice but to choose.”
“Is it just a hunch?”
Theodore quickly became bored.
The type he hates the most are people who are optimistic and full of hope and who believe in people's efforts and good intentions.
But he had no idea that a new chess piece would come up with this idea.
He was disappointed because he wanted Annette to be an interesting person and not an ordinary human being.
“How about this?
The nurse made a medical error and is unemployed.
So you shouldn’t just believe in people through intuition.”
“This is not something I want to hear from someone who decided to side with me based solely on a hunch and based on the words of a suspicious woman.”
“Do I look suspicious to you too?”
“Should I trust Your Highness?”
“Wouldn't you better trust me a little?
I'm the one who carries your lifeline.”
When Theodore reached out and pretended to strangle Annette, she responded by opening her mouth without hesitation.
“I will trust you as much as you trust me, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
This meant that she didn't trust him at all.
Theodore was relieved by her words, which surprised him.
Action was the law of success when it was with people who had a lot of doubts.
So Annette was a suitable partner for the business.
“If you find the antidote, I will save your life this time.”
“You'll benefit more by keeping me alive.”
"Let's call it a deal.
Isn't that what you want?"
“That's right.
This is a deal, and there is only one condition I want: rescue me and return me to my world.
This is the only deal I want, nothing else tempts me.”
Annette is tired of this world.
Once she opened her eyes in an unknown body, she became a murderer and lived in confinement.
There was still a terrible psychological trauma inside her.
No matter what good things might happen, she could never love this world.
No person, wealth, or fame could be the reason she wants to live in the world of this book.
“Now it's my turn to present the terms.”
“I hear.”
Theodore liked this conversation very much.
Exchanging targets without any fuss means that the desired outcome is certain, and such transactions usually have a high success rate.
Theodore was able to recognize this from a few conversational words.
He didn't think that Annette was a holy spirit from another world, but she could help him a lot.
This woman will have a huge impact on his life one way or another.
He did not know whether the wind carried by Annette was a gentle spring breeze or a devastating hurricane, but it was certainly the wind that would reverse the course of Theodore's life.
"I only want one thing.
Hugo.
To fire this idiot and take the Emperor's crown."
Hugo was the only opponent Theodore could not defeat.
Comparing Theodore and Hugo's hunting skills, Theodore was much better, but Hugo was the winner of the annual Imperial Hunting Festival.
Even if Theodore hunted more than 10 deer all day, there was no way for him to win because a foolish bear would appear in front of Hugo who had no intention of hunting, and he would fall to his death on his own.
Theodore will lose his clear victory to Hugo.
At times, even those who sided with Hugo wondered why Theodore was defeated.
As defeats continued that could not be understood by common sense, Theodore had no choice but to sense danger.
The most ridiculous thing that appeared before him was Annette.
Theodore thought about giving this woman a part of his destiny.
So of course, verification is necessary.
Annette looked at Theodore, who was thinking like this.
“Is my safety guaranteed until you become emperor?”
Safety was the most important issue for Annette.
If she returned to Scheringen immediately, she would fall into the hands of her relatives who would kill her, so she desperately needed a way to save her life.
“No matter how strong their position in Scheringen is, they will not be able to touch the Grand Duchess badly.”
“Did you mean it when you said you were going to make me Grand Duchess?”
“I have already prepared the legal documents.
There is a small problem, but it can be solved if you just pretend that you love me and not the Crown Prince.”
“But...”
Annette is the first to reveal her embarrassment with a strange expression.
The marriage was a way to secure Theodore's certain protection for her, but it was very tumultuous.
It was hard to believe that the marriage of the Grand Duke, who was not a rural villager, could be solved with just a few papers.
Theodore answered as if he had read Annette's fears.
“If you prove useful to my plan, I can work things out to that extent.”
“Proof?
You said earlier that you recognized me.”
Theodore was demanding proof after already dragging Annette out of the hospital and causing a great disturbance in the aristocratic society.
She could tell that rumors about the two were spreading throughout the empire.
It was reckless to do all this without trusting Annette.
So, I wondered what he meant by proving something else again.
“This means proving your worth, not where you come from.
How do I know if you are a true holy spirit or a fake impostor?”
He was a terrible man and did not stop his suspicions even when he brought Annette and hid her in his house.
If Annette didn't prove useful now, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her immediately.
Annette bit her lip and realized the extent of her predicament.
The most important thing in trading and trading is not to fall into the trap and not to reveal your true desires.
But Annette already lost.
Her desire to return to her original world was fully revealed, and she had nothing to offer in return, but she had a lot to gain from Theodore.
Therefore, no matter how unreasonable conditions Theodore would impose, she had to just follow them.
“Are you sure there is a way to return me to my world?”
“If I say no, what will you do?”
Annette bit the inner lining of her cheek, then tasted the acrid taste of blood in her torn mouth.
Annette stared intently at Theodore, but his gaze was filled with sarcasm.
“With your personality, you won't die easily.”
Her earnestness and pride were the subject of Theodore's ridicule.
Annette clenched her fists hard to remember the humiliation she had just endured, and the hatred she could not hide seeped out from between her fingers.