♡ TL: Khadija SK
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The season has come when there are no grapes on the vine.
Winter has not yet reached its midpoint, but the temperature of the winds has already changed.
The workers, who endured the scorching heat of summer, happily harvested the new season’s grapes.
Soon, Anette would barely remember the summer that drained her energy, leaving her sprawled on the ground all day, and she would worry about warming her trembling, frozen mouth by boiling and drinking tea.
Time has passed quickly.
For Theodore, this summer will be remembered as the fastest summer of his life.
On the other hand, for Anette, this season has been the longest and driest summer she has ever experienced.
During the hot season, they met only twice.
The first time he brought her from the Elysia asylum, and the second when he gave her his mother’s wedding ring.
After that, all his knowledge about her revolved around ensuring she was still alive through Hans’s reports.
Even if they met today, it would be only their third encounter, yet it was not hard for Theodore to already imagine her appearance.
He remembered Anette’s frail form, left behind among the light green grapes last summer.
No one could forget her if they saw her determined, strong face filled with the will to live.
Moreover, if her face was beautiful, with sun-like blonde hair seemingly making grapes thrive even in winter, her character was even more impressive.
That’s why Theodore was puzzled by the fact that Anette was not at the villa when he arrived.
Hans had told him she was unwell, so where had she gone when the cold winds began to blow?
The Anette Theodore remembered was so weak that she had collapsed after a long journey in the carriage.
He could not imagine she would be strong enough to walk outside alone in such freezing weather.
The answer to his question came from the nurse.
“The Grand Duchess has gone for a walk at the foot of the hill now. These days, noon is the warmest time, so she takes Silver with her at this time of day for a stroll.”
“It’s very cold here. Is her health alright?”
“She has recovered a lot recently. These light walking exercises are very beneficial for her.”
Lisa informed him about Anette’s condition, but he never fully believed it.
However, even if the nurse was still untrustworthy, Anette’s vitality seemed reliable, so she indeed appeared to be alright.
Yet it did not seem possible to him that Anette could change completely in just a month or two.
He thought she had mysteriously survived death’s danger, making it hard to believe that the woman who had struggled to walk properly just months ago had suddenly become healthy.
So when he saw her sitting on the edge of a low hill, petting the dog’s fur, he was so astonished that he stopped in his tracks, unable to advance even a single step on his horse.
On the hill where the grass had lost its green hue and turned slightly yellow, Anette shone alone in the spot.
A gentle breeze brushed her blonde hair, swaying over her dark clothes.
She wore a wide-brimmed hat and a dark blue coat to shield herself from the sun, smiling at the dog with a calm face floating like sunlight on the hill.
At some point, Anette had naturally blended into the landscape of this world.
She had rejected this world, but this world wanted her.
What was she thinking now as she walked quietly with her dog?
What kind of expression would she have if she saw Theodore standing frozen in place like this?
This was only their third meeting.
If he asked her whether those three times he had met her were significant and beautiful…
Her answer would be no.
Instead, their meetings would be occasions for Anette to hate and resent Theodore from the depths of her heart.
Theodore did not see her as a woman he might be attracted to either.
It was a relationship where they had completely used each other, leaving no room for human emotions to penetrate between them.
No, there should never have been any room at all.
Anette had not seen his face even recently, and Theodore alone was receiving written reports about her from Hans.
Recently, every time Hans visited the villa, the news about Anette he brought to him came to mind one after another continuously.
He remembered the day she managed to get out of bed alone without the nurse’s help, the titles of the books she had asked to read, and the types and amounts of medications she took each day.
He also recalled all the benefits he had gained from the information Anette had provided him.
Thanks to her, Theodore recovered a weapon that a gamekeeper had secretly stolen and resolved some work issues.
They had met only three times, but there were many things that bound them together in an intricate web.
That mysterious woman had helped Theodore step by step as he slowly approached his goal.
Like his first victory over Hugo, strangely, and at an unexpected moment.
A strong wind blew through the area.
Anette held her hat tightly to prevent it from flying away, but the wind blew even harder, as if it wanted to take her with it stubbornly.
When the hat flew away, Silver quickly jumped and caught it skillfully.
However, due to his missing leg, he could not maintain his balance and rolled onto the ground, but even so, he never let go of the hat in his mouth.
Anette held her hat in one hand and petted the dog with the other, as if proud of him.
Silver leaped over her excitedly at her touch, causing Anette to fall backward, unable to withstand the weight of the large dog.
Her golden hair still swayed with the breeze, and something unexpected happened at that moment.
Theodore climbed to the top of the hill while watching her all along.
He didn’t even realize he was watching Anette with all his senses, nor did he notice his heart racing from the jolting of the horse.
Theodore dismounted and slowly approached Anette.
The shadow of Theodore completely covered Anette’s body lying on the ground.
Anette felt that something large was covering her body besides the dog on top of her.
Theodore said briefly when Anette realized the identity of the strange shadow cast over her and looked up.
“I came to take you with me.”
Anette was still looking at him with a sad expression.
No matter how indifferent she was to Theodore, she had to leave this villa and the small village and become his wife, who adored him madly.
The moment had finally come for them to step into the stage they had been preparing for for so long.
***
In Odentia, there was a special significance to the tradition of naming a house instead of using numbers.
Only when the emperor presented a house as a gift to someone was it given a unique name instead of a plain address.
This had nothing to do with the size of the palace.
Even if a noble built a larger and better palace than the one gifted by the emperor, they could never name it.
There was no instance where the emperor granted a palace to someone without reason, so the mere fact of living in a named house meant that the owner held noble status among the nobility.
Theodore’s palace was attached to the name Floris.
To be precise, Floris was his mother Maria’s palace, not Theodore’s.
Floris was the home where Maria lived before she became empress.
Emperor Dominic had given a beautiful palace like a flower to his secret mistress who resembled a flower.
Since she could not enter the imperial palace, he built her a house resembling a palace.
Of course, at the time the palace was received, Maria was just a lowly concubine and was brought here with Theodore.
Their status was below the reputation of Floris.
The manner in which they were brought here was somewhat disrespectful, but as a result, living in Floris proved that Theodore’s birth was precious.
Aside from mocking Maria as a lowly concubine, everyone envied the prestigious house.
The essence of Floris Palace was its name, and the grand banquet hall with its massive chandelier and dozens of rooms were the additions that supported this name.
“So, what would he lose if he spared me from this tiring palace tour?”
Anette muttered irritably as she felt her body sinking from exhaustion.
She sat on a nice sofa, but her body gradually slumped toward the ground.
The sofa was very large and soft, but it was not enough to accommodate Anette’s great fatigue.
She had come to Theodore’s palace, yet she had not seen his face since descending from the carriage.
Just because they were under the same roof didn’t mean they lived together.
The house was far too large for her to encounter him by chance.
Anette was taken around Floris Palace by the head servant all day, and the tour ended just before sunset.
Going through more than 50 rooms one by one, learning the information, and familiarizing herself with the palace’s geography was harder than she had thought.
“It’s a disgustingly large palace. Really.”
The house was too big to accommodate just two people, so Anette felt as distant from Theodore as she felt the enormity of this grand palace.
She had never owned a branded apartment, let alone a prestigious palace.
She had lived the life of an ordinary petit bourgeois in a small studio and had never seen an average home with more than three rooms, so Theodore’s life was completely different from hers.
Anette closed her eyes and remembered the view of the kitchen and the hallway leading to the banquet hall, which were hard for her to forget.
Floris Palace also had another feature: there was no private servant passage.
Usually, in noble palaces, there are separate, invisible corridors for servants to move away from the eyes of the nobility.
But there was no place to hide behind walls in Floris Palace.
Such corridors had existed in the design phase, but after Theodore received the title of Grand Duke, he renovated the house and removed everything.
This was to prevent spies from eavesdropping.
Such occurrences among the nobility began with a servant secretly listening to his master behind a wall.
Theodore could not tolerate that happening to him.
He was not in the mood to allow his servants to hide behind his back and watch him, so everything had to be placed within his line of sight.
While Anette was thinking about him, someone opened the hallway door wide and entered.
“Hello.”
“….”
“Aren’t you going to greet me?”
“……”
“You didn’t even respond. Can’t you do that?”
“Did you expect me to welcome you? You really have no shame. Fine, I’ll congratulate you instead.”
“Congratulate me?”
“Because you’re my first guest in my living room.”
“Can’t you just greet me normally?”
“I have no desire to welcome you.”
“I heard what you said.”
Theodore was not at all bothered by Anette’s lukewarm response.
He had never thought he would receive a welcome in the first place, so her reaction seemed completely natural to him.
“Since you’re in my home, let me welcome you first. And congratulations to you as well.”
“Why are you congratulating me all of a sudden?”
“Because you’re still alive, despite becoming my wife. The woman who was supposed to marry me has died without even having the chance to see my house.”
“Did you forget that it’s just a play? I don’t date men who have past relationships with other women, so how did I become married to you like this?”
Anette frowned and slumped further on the sofa.
“So, how did it feel to see your husband’s house for the first time?”
Anette gave a very brief answer to Theodore’s question.
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