♡ TL: Khadija SK
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“I kept wondering what mistake I had made to suffer this way in this world, but meeting the Grand Duke was the biggest mistake of my entire life.”
Anette closed the heavy door behind her.
Hans, who had been waiting outside, flinched in fear.
He was terrified as he drove away the passing servants to prevent them from overhearing the argument between the two.
Hans stole a glance at Anette’s calm face once more and at Theodore, who could be seen through the crack in the open door.
“Sir Hans.”
“Y-Yes?”
“You asked me earlier why I wrote the surname Müller on the altar decoration, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.”
When Hans had asked about the reason, Anette hadn’t given him an answer. But now, as she brought it up out of nowhere, Hans looked at her expectantly, wondering if she would answer this time.
“I thought that if His Highness wanted to become Emperor, he should be kind to all the commoners who bear the name Müller. Because if I were a Müller, I would want to grant the person who cared for me and gave me a good standing in society the right to sit on the throne.”
Müller was a surname that symbolized the abandoned.
Most people bore the name Müller, but they belonged nowhere, so Anette tried to unite them in support of Theodore.
For the first time, she wanted to give a sense of identity to those who didn’t belong to the same family, even if they shared the same surname, and provide them with a home under the roof of the cathedral.
She wanted to give Theodore the image of a benevolent ruler who cared for the people.
If Theodore later became Emperor, she hoped that the commoners would appreciate him for this achievement—that he had been kind to them even before he ascended the throne—and that they would serve him as their true emperor.
She knew he was a wicked scoundrel, yet she still wanted him to be praised if he became Emperor because of her presence beside him.
As he sat arrogantly like a ruler, Anette hoped that all those who bore the name Müller would serve the man who had cared for them, as the true sovereign of this empire.
But all of this was a futile illusion.
These were merely rosy dreams from Anette’s own naivety.
Anette looked at the person sitting behind the already closed door.
“But in reality, he wasn’t worth any of it. Respect is given to those who deserve it, and that man is not worthy of it at all!”
Anette flared up in anger and raised her voice.
Her clear and precise words slipped through the thick door and lodged themselves in the ears of the person behind it.
She abandoned her anger and left the place.
As soon as the hem of Anette’s dress disappeared at the end of the hallway, Hans opened the door and entered, finding Theodore still burying his body in the comfortable chair.
“What did you do to her?”
“Why are you so sure it was my fault?”
“If the Grand Duchess had made a mistake and raised her voice like that inside your office, you wouldn’t have allowed her to scream again in front of your desk because you would have cut her vocal cords before she even got the chance.”
Theodore’s forehead furrowed.
Hans’s answer was absolutely correct.
When it came to his office or his hunting grounds, Theodore never tolerated any disturbance.
Yet, he had been patient enough to let Anette enter his office, grab him by the collar, shout in his face, then speak to him rudely and leave unharmed.
“That woman is angry with me.”
“She has every right to be.”
“Why are you taking the Grand Duchess’s side?”
“I want to show you your mistake, Your Highness, not defend Her Highness.”
Hans let out a deep sigh.
“You clearly admire Her Highness the Grand Duchess, so why are you acting so childishly with her?”
“Who admires whom?”
“If you didn’t truly trust her and had doubts about her capabilities, you wouldn’t have given her a place in your house as Grand Duchess and kept her in the palace.”
Theodore didn’t refute Hans’s words.
Anette’s usefulness was satisfactory, so Theodore had shown exceptional mercy by not punishing her for her violent attitude when she raised her voice in his office.
The reason he admired Anette so much was that she was a rare person who hid her emotions well and acted rationally.
Frankly, the emotional outburst Anette had just displayed was entirely unexpected for Theodore.
“Why are you being so childish?”
“……Did I hear you wrong just now?”
“No. It seems Your Highness’s behavior is no different from that of an spoiled child.”
Theodore wondered for a moment if he had misheard Hans, but he quickly realized how unusual his behavior had truly been.
The sooner they resolved the issue of succession and inherited the Scheringen title, the better it would be for Theodore.
Of course, this should have been settled with just a small ring.
Yet, despite that, Theodore had hidden it in his desk drawer…
Why had he done that…?
He was definitely going to give it to her, along with Maria’s ring in the villa.
Theodore had thought of giving her the wedding ring first, then watching her be slightly satisfied with it, before placing the Scheringen family ring on her other hand.
However, when he gave her the emerald ring and saw those frightened pale green eyes, he immediately felt uneasy.
He should have given her the eagle ring then, but instead, he was overwhelmed by the urge to test her one last time.
“Isn’t it a bit ridiculous if an emperor’s qualifications come solely from his mother’s lineage?”
Perhaps that was why her cynical attitude toward the emperor—and her disregard for him, who so desperately coveted that position—made him feel foolish.
Yet, she knew how to handle new tasks effortlessly and move forward without incidents.
A furious argument was not the kind of reaction Theodore had expected from Anette.
He didn’t know why, but it seemed he had wounded her pride.
He had thought she enjoyed the relationship between them and these tests, but he had been mistaken.
“I hate to admit it, but she’s a normal and kind person. At first, I thought the Grand Duchess had somehow seduced Your Highness, but now I know her well. It must have been Your Highness who seduced Her Highness the Grand Duchess in a deceitful manner.”
Hans spoke bluntly, unaware of what Theodore was thinking.
It was the first time he had ever expressed his opinion in front of the man he considered his master.
He had said he disliked Theodore’s childish behavior, but in truth, his heart was gradually leaning toward Anette, and without realizing it, he had begun to take her side.
It hadn’t been long since he had met her, but she wasn’t someone who acted without reason.
If she was that angry, there had to be a cause.
“I don’t know what you did to her, but it seems she’s grown tired of your childish stubbornness. If you want to be emperor, you need to learn how to be responsible. Especially toward your wife.”
For the first time in his life, Hans dared to leave the room without permission after giving Theodore advice.
***
Anette stared at the shop window.
The dazzling jewels were arranged side by side on the other side of the glass.
However, Anette’s eyes were far too fierce to belong to a woman admiring beautiful jewelry.
A little girl selling flowers on the street saw Anette as a beautiful lady and eagerly approached her, but when she noticed the terrifying expression on her face, she got scared and quickly ran away.
Anette’s expression resembled that of a hawk in battle, yet she was merely out shopping.
Preparations for the upcoming autumn hunting festival were underway.
Of course, it seemed as if Anette was about to go hunting instead of shopping for the festival, but this was the safest and most prestigious district in the center of Laider city— so there were no beasts for her to slay here.
“Do you want to go inside?”
Lisa looked at her and asked, but Anette continued to glare at the glass in front of her, her gaze as sharp as bullets. Not long after, she finally answered.
“Lisa.”
“Yes, Your Highness?”
“I’m so furious with His Highness that I want to spend all of his wealth.”
“Pardon?”
“I want revenge by robbing him of all his assets and emptying his treasury, but that man has so much useless money that it wouldn’t even be a problem for him. He could buy this entire jewelry store building instead of just the diamond necklace in front of me.”
“I’m sorry, but what do you mean…?”
“I’m so angry because I feel like I’ve been deceived. That man has enraged me, but since I am more desperate than he is to get what I want, I can never leave his side. Our relationship has truly been like that of a master and servant, so I had no right to complain about his actions. But knowing that, and still being furious—how do I release my anger and find peace?”
In response to Anette’s unexpected question, Lisa smiled awkwardly.
“Hmph. It seems that my husband was raised so well that his wealth has become a problem for my revenge plan.”
At first glance, Lisa felt that something unusual was happening between the Grand Duke and his wife.
Anette had always seemed more sorrowful than happy, but today, she looked far worse.
Unlike the other servants, Lisa knew that the two were in a false marriage, so she carefully guessed that their current fight was not just a petty lover’s quarrel.
She was in no position to offer advice or help Anette, but even if she wanted to, she wouldn’t know what to say.
“That son of ****. F**** b*astard”
Anette added a few vulgar words to her angry rant. At that moment, Lisa was so shocked that she stepped back as if she had been struck by a hammer.
Just then, a massive shadow was reflected in the glass Anette had been staring at, and the shining jewel lost its brilliance in an instant as the shadow fell over it.
“There you are.”
A beast had appeared in the middle of the city.
Lisa finally realized what kind of game Anette had been playing.
“Y- Your Highness, the G- Grand Duke.”
Lisa slightly bowed her head and greeted Theodore.
Anette didn’t look back, Even Though She Knew Who Had Arrived
“I heard you went out to prepare for the hunting festival.”
Anette didn’t shift her gaze from the jewel display toward Theodore until he addressed her directly.
“You must have business here.”
“No. I came to ask you out on a date. You’ve been out for a long time, and I missed you, so I came to invite you to have a nice dinner with me tonight.”
His words were so affectionate that it was hard to believe this was the same man who had threatened her like an annoying child the night before.
The noble and charming flirtations he spoke so naturally were embarrassing and absurd even to Anette.
He wasn’t stupid enough to have forgotten what had happened the previous day, which meant they had to do what they did best.
From the moment they first met, they had pretended to be a loving couple at every moment.
While Theodore was considering Anette’s reaction, he suddenly reached out toward her.
He hadn’t come empty-handed.
He was holding a rose he had bought from the girl who had fled earlier when she saw Anette’s frightening expression.
“I bought this because I thought of you when I saw it. Will you accept it?”
Theodore smiled charmingly.
The sight of the tall, handsome man holding a bright red rose in front of a beautiful lady caught the attention of passersby.
More and more people began recognizing that the man was none other than Grand Duke Theodore, the notorious figure of rumors.
Anette looked at the display window again.
Yes, the display window.
They were a couple on display, and so they had to act like the sparkling jewels in the glass showcase.
Even though there was no genuine affection between them, Anette was forced to pretend they were lovers who adored each other.
She accepted the flower while biting the inside of her cheek.
There was a high chance that the inside of her mouth would tear and bleed from the force of her bite, but it was a necessary sacrifice to make her face flush red with “shyness.”
“Since we’re going on a date, can your maid return to the palace first?”
Theodore spoke softly, and Lisa’s face flushed at his words.
No matter how terrifying he was, Theodore looked exceptionally handsome and alluring today.
Lisa nodded quickly and left the scene, and just like that, Anette lost her only companion in an instant.
“I’m amazed. Truly.”
Anette summed up her thoughts in a single word.
What had just happened was beyond astonishing.
There was a limit to shamelessness, but she couldn’t even begin to describe how utterly brazen Theodore was now.
“What am I supposed to do?”
“I told you—I’m taking you on a date.”
But in Anette’s ears, the word date twisted into a hellish time of reprimand.
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