The Reason The Villain Covets Me

‌⁠♡⁩ TL: Khadija SK

 

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Annette felt confused about riding a horse for the first time.

 

The horse’s movement was unfamiliar, completely different from a carriage or a motorcycle.

 

She wasn’t scared, but the feeling of a foreign body touching her legs was strange.

 

She was puzzled and wanted to see Theodore’s reaction, but she couldn’t see his face over the galloping horse.

 

All she could see when she lifted her head was his beautiful silver hair.

 

The name Silver suited this man more than the black dog.

 

If he were as gentle as his soft hair, he would be a better person than he is now.

 

While admiring his silver hair, a strange thought suddenly crossed Annette’s mind.

 

She had walked with Theodore, chatting non-stop until they reached the horse, but she was still breathing regularly and didn’t feel tired at all.

 

If Theodore had walked at his normal pace with his long legs, it would have been natural for Annette to be unable to keep up and perhaps faint midway, gasping for air.

 

She thought it was impossible for what she was thinking to be true, but if it were, she would never be able to find an explanation for it.

 

“Straighten your back and hold the reins with your hands.”

 

“How can I straighten my back when the horse is moving like this!”

 

Theodore slowed his pace and taught her the basics of horseback riding, but Annette was too busy trying to keep her legs suspended in the air as much as possible to avoid slipping and falling.

 

“Horseback riding should be included in the school curriculum.”

 

Theodore let out a short sigh and moved away from the villa.

 

Annette’s pride was hurt by the fact that horseback riding was added to the list of things she couldn’t do, so she didn’t ask him about their destination. She just let Theodore take her wherever he wanted.

 

It wasn’t long before they arrived at their destination.

 

The place where the horse stopped was the village.

 

Since it was an area where grapes were grown and wine was made, the village center was also small.

 

The low buildings were lined up close together, with narrow streets scattered here and there.

 

It was an ugly village, but its appearance was so new from Annette’s perspective that she forgot Theodore was beside her and continued to steal curious glances.

 

“So, this is what villages looked like in ancient times.”

 

Theodore heard her vague monologue in a voice that resembled a whisper.

 

Annette briefly admired the surrounding scenery.

 

In her original world, Annette hated places where people gathered or where there was noise, so this village was an exception.

 

The first energy she felt after arriving in this world was tranquility, so being here didn’t bother her much.

 

It had been a long time since people waved at each other and called out to their friends with loud voices. It also wasn’t common in her world for customers and merchants to rush to lower the price of a coin or for restaurant owners to urge customers to eat quickly.

 

So Annette felt unsettled but not confused.

 

The cry of someone pierced through the quiet village, making her feel as if she were witnessing a story far removed from her reality.

 

She could sense it but couldn’t touch it, no matter what she did.

 

While Annette was lost in her thoughts, Theodore tied his horse nearby and returned to her side.

 

As Annette kept her eyes fixed on the street scene, Theodore discovered something new about her.

 

She didn’t seem interested in anything, but she appeared surprisingly curious.

 

Annette looked around and saw Theodore, then followed him.

 

After looking directly into her eyes and ensuring she was following, Theodore headed to a nearby restaurant without waiting.

 

“Come with me.”

 

Then a clicking sound followed.

 

Even without looking back, he could tell how close she was by the sound of her footsteps.

 

After sitting on an empty seat, Annette looked around the restaurant with interest.

 

It wasn’t a fancy restaurant because there weren’t any upscale places in a village with no aristocrats at all.

 

However, Annette never complained about the narrow, worn-out table.

 

Instead, she stared at the surrounding scenery as if it were interesting.

 

“If I had known we were going to a restaurant, I would have told Emma she didn’t need to prepare a meal.”

 

“Who’s Emma?”

 

“… Are you kidding me? Don’t you know the name of the maid who works at the Villa? Have you forgotten the woman who brought us food last night?”

 

Annette saw Theodore’s expression and opened her mouth wide in shock.

 

But no matter how surprised she was, it didn’t change the fact that he genuinely didn’t remember the maid’s name.

 

“It’s really shocking. How do you not know the name of the employee you hired yourself? If you came to the villa often, you would’ve run into Emma all the time, and you’d be calling her by name too.”

 

“I have only one maid. Why should I know her name?”

 

“That’s ridiculous. So you don’t know Lisa either?”

 

Theodore looked at Annette’s shocked expression and thought for a moment.

 

Annette must have met no more than ten people in the villa, so this Lisa must be another person living there.

 

“Do you mean the nurse? It seems you’ve become friends with the servants, but that’s a pointless friendship. They’re just people who stay by your side because you need them, and they need you.”

 

“I know that, but you should at least communicate with them. That way, I won’t have to eat alone with the Grand Duke.”

 

Theodore was speechless for a moment.

 

At first, he was confused about whether he had been treated like a servant, then he wondered if the table they gathered around to eat had been considered a useless inconvenience.

 

However, thinking about it, from Annette’s point of view, Theodore was lower than the servants.

 

They had only met twice and had never shared any pleasant memories.

 

Instead, there had been a lot of talk about threats and contracts.

 

Still, it didn’t make sense for her to treat him like a deaf maid or a nurse who had caused a medical error.

 

“You have no respect for your husband at all.”

 

“That’s because my husband doesn’t respect his wife.”

 

Annette shrugged indifferently.

 

She didn’t seem particularly upset or angry, which made Theodore feel very strange.

 

Why did Annette hide her claws so quietly instead of showing hostility towards him?

 

“Did you forget your anger toward me? You followed me earlier while grumbling just fine.”

 

“Remember the goal. I still hate you, but I need you.”

 

Annette gave him an elegant answer to his question.

 

This meant that she hadn’t forgotten what Theodore had done and had no intention of forgiving him.

 

It also meant she only felt the need for him, so she would tolerate seeing his face and dealing with him.

 

Knowing how to hide your anger is an advanced skill that requires more practice than one might think.

 

This skill is essential in many places, from small bets to large transactions.

 

Theodore realized once again that she was good at negotiating, though he didn’t know where she had learned it.

 

At that moment, the food they had ordered arrived.

 

A piece of roasted meat and a few crispy potato slices were brought to the table.

 

The two began their meal with the simple food commoners ate.

 

“Honestly, I’m really surprised. I didn’t expect His Grace, the Grand Duke, to come to such a shabby restaurant. If you had eaten at the villa, you would have had fine wine after the meal, but the food here is different.”

 

Annette placed a potato slice in her mouth.

 

Her chewing was casual, relaxed, and without hesitation.

 

Annette said she was surprised by Theodore, but from Theodore’s perspective, Annette was a miracle.

 

Perhaps she ate so easily here because she didn’t know how pampered and delicate real aristocratic ladies like the real Annette were.

 

One of the reasons Theodore had come to this rundown restaurant in town was his desire to check once again if the fake Annette could eat in such a place.

 

Of course, there was already plenty of evidence that she was from another world, even without her eating the crispy potatoes comfortably.

 

However, no matter how much he verified, his doubts never ended because it was still something hard to accept for any rational mind.

 

“The purpose of setting noble or commoners’ tables is to fill the stomach. I’m not foolish enough to wander around searching for a candlelit table with an empty belly.”

 

“I’m really confused. It’s very hard to figure out how to judge you.”

 

“What?”

 

“I don’t know if His Grace is biased or not. A deaf maid, a lame dog, a nurse who caused a medical error, and I, too… I, too, am not someone from this world. There are many people that most wouldn’t want to keep around because they’re flawed, yet the Grand Duke keeps them all close.”

 

Theodore wasn’t pointing out the flaws of the people around him or how they differed from others, nor did he intend to despise or mistreat them.

 

Rather, he treated them as though he thought their disabilities were normal, so he didn’t distinguish between those with issues and those without.

 

“They’re all beneath me anyway, so is there a need to establish a rank between them?”

 

It was a terribly arrogant thought.

 

He treated everyone equally.

 

“Besides, if you’re talking about flaws, I’m the most flawed of them all since I’m the son of a concubine.”

 

“I don’t see that as a flaw. Rather, it’s the fault of the man who left his wife and met another woman.”

 

“Do you realize you just committed a crime against the imperial family?”

 

“No one heard me anyway, so what does it matter? Besides, there’s only one person with half-imperial blood here, so my words wouldn’t be an issue.”

 

Annette was casually insulting the emperor and Theodore, but Theodore didn’t feel bad because she was so confident in her words.

 

She had a strange talent for making jokes.

 

She herself was strange.

 

Theodore had heard insults all his life, most of them mocking his lowly status as the illegitimate son of a disgraceful concubine.

 

However, not many were brave enough to openly humiliate the emperor’s favored son to his face.

 

He was used to contempt behind his back every now and then, or hearing vile words spoken in secret about him, and he still felt unsettled whenever that happened despite them flattering him to his face with praise and polite words.

 

But strangely, Annette’s direct insult, spoken right to his face, didn’t feel like an insult at all.

 

Maybe that was because her words didn’t carry malice or spite?

 

No.

 

Even a stone thrown into a river as a game could kill a frog if it hit by mistake.

 

Annette didn’t seem to care when she touched on Theodore’s incomplete identity because she was the only one who believed in his innocence.

 

She didn’t dwell on Theodore’s royal family, though she had mocked him when she mentioned his half-imperial blood; she hadn’t truly disregarded his existence.

 

She wasn’t just criticizing him; she fairly criticized all the other things she disliked here as well.

 

She had mocked the class system and treated the emperor’s noble son as equal to the deaf maid in the villa.

 

The fact that Theodore was the son of a concubine didn’t matter to her.

 

The beliefs that had bound him throughout his life seemed invisible in her eyes.

 

Did she really not hate the fact that he was a lowly person who hadn’t inherited his father’s noble blood properly?

 

Was she so skilled at hiding her feelings that she could conceal her disdain for him as well?

 

Theodore gripped the knife and easily cut through the slightly tough piece of meat.

 

He couldn’t say anything, and there was no further conversation during the meal.

 

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