♡ TL: Khadija SK
✧✧✧✧✧
“H- her Highness, the Grand Duchess, left the p- palace early in the morning. S- she said she had s- something to do outside, but I think s-she went out because she c- couldn’t sleep last night. E- even at the villa, on days when she couldn’t s- sleep, she would go for a walk e- early in the morning.”
“She can’t sleep?”
“S- she suffers from severe insomnia. Even at the villa, she w- would toss and turn in her bed and walk a- around for a while before falling asleep while h- hugging the dog, Silver. She seemed fine recently, but it looks like the s- symptoms have returned.”
Theodore recalled the sight of Annette sleeping in the storage room while hugging Silver when he last visited the villa.
He had thought it was just an excuse to avoid meeting him, but it seemed she had been suffering from insomnia since then.
“S- should I inform Her Highness to come and s- see you when she returns to the p- palace?”
“………… No.”
Theodore gestured for the nurse to leave, so Lisa nodded and hurried out.
Theodore was left alone in the room, lost in a whirlpool of thoughts.
Annette’s inability to sleep had nothing to do with him.
As long as her insomnia didn’t interfere with his goal, why should he even care whether she woke up early in the morning or slept until late afternoon?
Annette wouldn’t dare stand against Theodore because he was the only one who could return her to her world, and she wouldn’t do anything foolish outside the palace because she was a rational woman.
It would be inappropriate to summon his wife, who had left early in the morning, as soon as she returned to the palace just to ask where she had gone alone.
Theodore had no desire to do something so trivial.
How would Annette perceive him if she was already planning to come to him as soon as she returned, ready to tell him everything that happened during her outing, only to find that he had impatiently requested to see her first, like a child who couldn’t be apart from his mother?
Theodore was thinking about this, determined not to ask her where she had gone until she told him herself, when he realized he hadn’t buttoned his shirt yet.
He began fastening the buttons so he could go have his late breakfast, but that was when he noticed the cleaned wound on his waist.
It was a minor wound, so it was supposed to heal within a few days, yet Annette had looked utterly terrified at the sight of all those bandages.
Theodore’s body bore far larger wounds everywhere, but that woman had been shocked by such a small injury as if it were the end of the world.
At that moment, Theodore realized just how different Annette was from him.
Her smooth and ordinary life must have been completely different from his own, where he was stabbed and strangled by others every day.
Just looking at the way she had innocently assumed he loved his mother immediately showed him how peaceful the world she lived in was.
It was almost laughable that he had gotten hurt trying to protect such a fragile woman.
He didn’t even know why he had done it.
Perhaps he wouldn’t figure it out until this wound on his body healed.
Was it possible that he had truly been trying to protect Annette from danger?
There was no reason to risk his life to save an unimportant chess piece that could be replaced.
But perhaps it was because Annette was in an important position…
Yes.
Exactly.
That must have been the reason for his actions.
Otherwise, why would he even put himself at risk of injury for a woman with no significance?
Even Theodore was closer to hating Annette than liking her.
To be precise, he often found himself in a bad mood when talking to her.
By Theodore’s standards, Annette’s ideology was completely irrational.
She was a woman who seemed unlikely to submit to anyone, yet she contradicted his dominant nature by trying to control him and place everything, including himself, beneath her feet.
So it had been a mistake to protect such an arrogant woman.
Theodore wouldn’t make the same mistake twice.
He would treat tools as nothing more than tools.
Getting injured while protecting a mere tool was proof that the one who did so was immature.
It wasn’t too late to change himself.
Theodore decided to forget past mistakes and become more mature and perfect.
He fastened the last button, vowing that if the same thing happened in the future, he would never protect Annette while risking his own life again.
***
Annette wandered through the empty alleys of Laider City.
After finishing her task, she aimlessly strolled through a secluded area in the middle of the city.
She continued wandering through the alley for more than an hour before leaving, but the shopping centers had not yet opened for business.
That was because she had left Flores Palace very early in the morning.
When Annette emerged from the side alley and stepped onto the main road, she removed the hood that had been covering her head to avoid revealing her identity.
The refreshing dawn breeze brushed against her face.
Although it was usually a crowded street, it was a commercial area filled with all kinds of shops rather than residential houses, so while it was bustling, it wasn’t exactly lively.
Or maybe it was just that Annette’s mind was so overwhelmed that she didn’t realize how lively it actually was.
She didn’t even remember that she was supposed to be by Theodore’s side while Lisa treated his wound.
But even if she had remembered, she wouldn’t have gone to be with him.
Theodore was one of the reasons for the noise in Annette’s head, so she didn’t want to run into him without a reason.
For a moment, she had almost forgotten who Theodore really was and what he had done to her.
He was the man who had dragged her into this hell—how could she simply forget everything?
She had sworn never to forget it for the rest of her life.
So it was time to remember the hatred in her heart for Theodore once again.
But…
She now knew so many things about him that it had become difficult to hate him blindly.
She was starting to see him as a victim, even though he was supposed to be the villain in this story.
The dream she had last night was no longer the only problem—now, even the side of Theodore’s true self that he had shown her had become an issue as well.
‘If he told me something like that about his personal life, how can I easily forget his words and hate him like before…?’
Annette couldn’t forget the expression on Theodore’s face when he said he hated his mother.
How could she possibly forget the look in those calm eyes, deep like the sea on quiet nights, even as he was revealing the ugliest memories of his childhood?
When she was at Flores Palace, she kept recalling the sight of the mark branded on his back, so she preferred to leave the house.
Of course, she wasn’t alone.
One of the escorts, whom she had come to recognize, was guarding her from afar.
That was to protect Annette from the dangers surrounding her.
She wasn’t used to the feeling of someone following her from behind.
But this world, filled with threats, was still unfamiliar to her.
She couldn’t keep wandering through alleys like a madwoman forever, so she was about to return to Flores Palace when she saw Yvonne entering a clothing store across the street.
‘Was she shopping for new clothes for the hunting festival as well?’
However, that wasn’t Annette’s concern.
She turned her face away and continued on her way, but the nightmare from the previous night grabbed her by the ankle and held her down.
If Annette’s interpretation of the dream was correct, then there was no room for harmony between her and Yvonne now.
She was obligated to shatter Hugo and Yvonne’s love story, so it was impossible for them to become friends.
Even though the soul had changed, the fact that Annette had to continue playing the role of the villainess remained the same.
In fact, perhaps the original Annette Scheringen was better than the current Annette.
At the very least, the original Annette’s harassment of Yvonne had stemmed from her naïve desire to win the man she loved.
But what about the current Annette?
Even though she knew exactly what kind of person Theodore was, she was still trying to make him emperor just because of her selfish desire to return to her world.
For a brief moment, Annette saw an illusion—as if her pale hands were beginning to be stained with a thick, black sludge.
It felt as though the terrifying shadow that had been chasing her in her dream had started to wrap around her entire body.
Annette shook her head forcefully to drive these illusions away.
According to the dream, from now on, she had to work hard to set a trap that would destroy Yvonne.
So she needed to start the process of ruining this novel’s happy ending.
Annette thought that it would be more beneficial for her to handle Yvonne discreetly from behind the scenes rather than standing at the forefront.
But…
As she ignored Yvonne and turned away to continue on her path, Annette suddenly recalled a chapter that mentioned the dress Yvonne wore during the hunting festival.
So, in the end, Annette followed Yvonne into the clothing store.
She happened to see the female lead on the street, so she decided to follow her inside, as if their presence in the same store was purely a coincidence.
When Annette entered, everyone in the dressing room was shocked.
This store was a place for women like Yvonne—aristocrats from lower-ranked noble families.
It was only natural that ordinary shop owners, who had no idea about Annette’s current character, would feel tense upon seeing the Grand Duchess appear in their shop.
Of course, Annette didn’t know that, but she was able to deduce that she wasn’t a regular customer in this shop based on the reactions of the customers and employees.
The most shocked person in the room, however, was Yvonne.
“Huh? Lady… No, what are you doing here, Your Highness the Grand Duchess?”
“I was curious about what you would be wearing, Miss Kepler.”
“Why would someone who wears high-quality fabrics tailored specifically for her be curious about my modest clothes?”
Yvonne’s eyes were filled with suspicion and hostility toward Annette.
Annette understood her feelings, so she curled the corners of her lips into a smile.
The atmosphere instantly turned cold, sending chills down the spines of everyone present.
“I’m sorry, but I have to leave now. I’ll come back next time. You can attend to the esteemed guest first.”
Yvonne left the dressing room with a cold expression on her face, as if Annette wasn’t even worth dealing with.
Despite being blatantly ignored, Annette simply shrugged her shoulders calmly and ordered an employee to bring her the store’s clothing catalog.
“I want to buy everything from here to here.”
The employees at the clothing store were utterly stunned.
“Can I see the dress Miss Yvonne bought?”
After purchasing half of the clothes in the store, no one could refuse her request.
***
A few hours later, Annette headed toward an ordinary house far from the main street.
This was the home of one of Yvonne’s relatives, with whom she was staying.
Of course, Annette did not introduce herself as Annette Scheringen to avoid having her request to meet Yvonne rejected.
Perhaps that was why Yvonne’s expression trembled with terror when she saw Annette.
“I heard that a store employee delivered the dress I bought, but why is Your Highness here?”
“That’s because I came to deliver the dress to you myself.”
Behind Annette, several employees stood carrying dozens of dresses.
Annette pointed her finger at one of the employees, and the boy quickly rushed to fulfill his task, uncovering the dresses Annette had indicated.
“I went to the store to see what clothes you were buying, but it seemed to me that you left empty-handed because of me, so I brought these dresses as a way to apologize.”
“That’s ridiculous. In any case, I only ordered one dress—so why did you bring all these?”
“Didn’t you ask me to compensate you for ruining your dress with wine at the party before, Miss Yvonne?”
“Are you mocking me right now?”
“That’s impossible. I sincerely apologize to you.”
✧✧✧✧✧
