The Reason The Villain Covets Me

⁦⁠♡⁩ TL: Khadija SK

 

✧✧✧✧✧

 

A suffocating atmosphere filled the carriage.

 

“If you came to visit me and then asked who I am, what answer do you expect me to give you, for example?”

 

“You used to say that you loved me, with tears in your eyes, and that you knew I would come to find you, but now you act as if you don’t know me?”

 

“You threatened me, Your Grace, to pretend to love you, so I did what you told me so I could leave that asylum. Should I continue to act here as well and say that I know you?”

 

“You already know who I am. You reacted as soon as you heard my name before, and now you say you don’t know me?”

 

“Are there nobles who don’t know who the Grand Duke Theodore Cleist is?”

 

Annette’s expressions didn’t change at all.

 

Theodore watched her face carefully as she refuted his words.

 

“Who are you?”

 

“I am Annette Cheringen.”

 

“No, I’m not asking about something as trivial as your name. I know that this face is Annette’s.”

 

Theodore raised his finger and first pointed to Annette’s head, then lowered his finger towards her chest and pointed to her heart.

 

“I’m asking who you are inside.”

 

“I can’t understand you at all.”

 

Theodore moved from his seat, which was opposite Annette’s, and sat beside her, then he held her chin and forced her to look at his face.

 

“Listen. From now on, don’t continue this pretense in front of me. I’m not the one you need to deceive, you should only deceive others.”

 

“I have no idea what you mean.”

 

“Your identity. What is your true identity before you entered Annette Cheringen’s body?”

 

“What do you mean by entering my b … uh?”

 

Annette couldn’t finish her question.

 

That was because Theodore began to rotate her face from side to side to examine her features closely.

 

“You seem like a different person indeed, although you have the same face. Am I going crazy or what?”

 

Theodore remembered Annette, who came to meet him in the hunting grounds under the rain.

 

“Would you believe me, Your Grace, if I told you that this world is a world in a book?”

 

That girl who told him the secret of this world and suddenly vanished under the rainwater.

 

Annette disappeared since the day she visited Theodore, and she secluded herself without attending any parties or social gatherings.

 

Then…

 

A murder occurred in the Cheringen Palace.

 

“The next time you see me, I won’t be me.”

 

Indeed, Annette, whom Theodore met again, was different.

 

Her behaviors hadn’t changed much, as she still dared to open her eyes directly in front of him and stare into his eyes without fear, but the atmosphere around her had noticeably changed.

 

“Is it possible that you are twins? But I haven’t heard of the Marquis giving birth to an illegitimate girl.”

 

Theodore raised Annette’s chin.

 

Annette didn’t push his hand away, but she didn’t hide her clear displeasure at his touch without permission.

 

She seemed like a fierce cat revealing its claws and preparing to pounce.

 

“Or perhaps you have a split personality? Nowadays, people studying psychiatry, or something similar, say in newspapers that there is a strange mental illness called ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder.'”

 

In the end, Annette grabbed Theodore’s cheeky hand and pushed it away from her face with annoyance.

 

“I am Annette Cheringen. And I only have one personality. I am not comfortable discussing your doubts about my father’s life, so stop playing with words.”

 

“No, you are not Annette. You said it with your own mouth.”

 

“Did I say it with my own mouth?”

 

“The rain. The hunting grounds. The gun.”

 

Annette pondered the meaning of “rain,” “hunting grounds,” and “gun,” but she couldn’t remember anything.

 

It must have been something the original Annette said apart from the novel’s scenario she read, so she had no way of knowing its meaning.

 

“The fact that you show no reaction after hearing these words is evidence that you are not Annette.”

 

The fact that she thought about the words that should have come to her mind immediately was evidence that she wasn’t the Annette who came to the hunting grounds.

 

“Theu also said in the asylum that you kept telling them that you are from outside this world and that you know the future by reading the end of this book.”

 

Annette tightened her grip to suppress her annoyance.

 

Theodore had already investigated everything that happened to Annette in the asylum.

 

Furthermore, he somehow knew Annette’s true identity.

 

“They… they treated me as if I were a crazy person, so I made up this story according to that. Your Grace might not know this, but being locked in a room without sunlight is extremely boring.”

 

Annette continued to move her lips and searched for an excuse.

 

She wanted to deny his words at first, but she knew that lame excuses wouldn’t work.

 

Annette never thought that the words she said randomly, because she thought she would die anyway, would come back to her like this.

 

She never believed that any sane person would take seriously what she was trying to say to appear insane.

 

Of course, her words were true, but it was hard for anyone in this world to accept them as they were.

 

“You said that we – you and I – are the villains in this story.”

 

“The villains?”

 

“That’s what you said before you became someone else. You said that this world is just a novel and that the main characters in it are Hugo and Ivon.”

 

Every time Theodore spoke, Annette found it difficult to conceal her tension, so she tried to hide her astonishment by biting her lip.

 

What Annette said before becoming someone else?

 

If that was the case, then it meant that Annette in the book was aware of the current Annette reincarnating into her body beforehand.

 

How the hell could this happen?

 

Although she was preoccupied with surprise, her lips continued to invent excuses as if she were still trying to hide her identity from Theodore.

 

“I don’t know who told you that, but I didn’t expect Your Grace to believe such nonsense.”

 

“Annette Cheringen herself told me this. If you ask me if I believe her words or not … I honestly didn’t believe anything she said, but I thought it would be fun to see her deceived by her own words.”

 

Theodore was a man skeptical even of his own feelings.

 

He wasn’t someone who easily believed every word Annette said; especially that she had a bad reputation in social circles.

 

So when Annette came to the hunting grounds to meet him while the sky was raining, Theodore assumed she was just a crazy woman wandering around.

 

However, the series of events that followed was not logical enough for him to simply ignore it and consider that she was just babbling nonsense.

 

The Marquis Cheringen was murdered, and his daughter was accused of the crime.

 

A trial was supposed to take place, but the suspect, who was supposed to be interrogated, disappeared.

 

“She expected that she’ll leave this world, and that her soul will vanish, so she made me play the role of a mediator to find you.”

 

Theodore was not interested in people, but Annette’s nonsense was quite plausible to the point that his curiosity aroused his anger.

 

Furthermore, even if he tried to ignore it, he had no choice but to participate.

 

The gun used to kill the Marquis was found at the crime scene; it was the same gun Annette took from Theodore in the hunting grounds.

 

Annette set a trap to involve Theodore in this case somehow, so he had no choice but to summon Hans.

 

“Go and find that woman.”

 

When Theodore ordered his assistant to find her, he seemed crazier than the woman who was babbling nonsense, but Hans had no other way.

 

After that, Pandora’s box was opened, and Theodore eventually found traces of Annette.

 

“There’s a mad woman in the Alicia asylum claiming to know the end of this world.”

 

Theodore never thought that this woman could speak direct evidence to find her with her mouth, then he felt disappointed after hearing about her life in the asylum.

 

It seemed that this woman, who didn’t even know how to hide her identity, didn’t have any special abilities.

 

However, the reason he came here was that he couldn’t forget the look in Annette’s eyes in the hunting grounds.

 

Her stubborn personality piqued his annoying curiosity.

 

“I didn’t expect her to disappear like this when she asked me to find her.”

 

Annette opened her mouth in despair.

 

“What difference will it make if I really come from another world?”

 

“Your usefulness and value will increase.”

 

“I’ve been accused of being a murderer, and my reputation in social circles was worse even before that happened. And logically, since I came from another world and know all this, it’s reasonable, Your Grace, that you already know the general situation here better than me. So, where do you plan to use me like this?”

 

“In the Imperial Palace.”

 

Theodore’s eyes smiled.

 

His eyes were like those of a beast preying on its prey, and it was clear what he aimed for.

 

“Annette Cheringen.”

 

Theodore looked at her cunningly, putting on an expression resembling that of a satisfied predatory animal.

 

“Use the future you know to put me in the position of Emperor.”

 

“What will I get in return for that?”

 

“Are you daring to make a deal with me?”

 

“It’s a tough task to make an emperor, so I also have to gain something.”

 

Annette’s pronunciation was so clear that it echoed in Theodore’s ears.

 

This was the first time a woman dared to demand anything from Theodore in return.

 

“Isn’t it true that I rescued you from that hell enough as compensation?”

 

“If you save someone who was supposed to die, you have to take responsibility for that.”

 

“I’ll return you to your original world.”

 

“What did you just say …”

 

“I know how to return you to where you were.”

 

Annette looked at Theodore without blinking.

 

For the first time, the woman who maintained an indifferent stance before him couldn’t hide her confusion.

 

It never crossed her mind that there was a way to return.

 

Annette’s heart pounded in her chest as she confronted Theodore.

 

She couldn’t understand how he, as the villain destined to be destroyed, could possess the knowledge and power to send her back to her original world.

 

“I know how to send you back, and you know how to make me an emperor. Seems like a fair deal to move forward with the bargain, doesn’t it?”

 

Theodore’s voice echoed in the carriage.

 

Annette remained silent, her fingers trembling as she clenched them tightly.

 

The only sound that could be heard was the creaking of the moving carriage.

 

After a while, Annette took a deep breath as if she had made up her mind.

 

She suppressed her trembling fingers and slowly opened her dry lips.

 

“I’ll ask you one thing only.”

 

“What is it?”

 

If this man truly knew how to return her to her world, then she could only consider this possibility.

 

“Do you have any involvement in my coming to this world?”

 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

 

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You yourself said that you know whether my words are lies or not, but I’m the one who knows your future and your death.”

 

With each word Annette uttered, Theodore’s mouth grew drier and drier.

 

In this state, he yearned to hear more from this mouth that responded to every word he said, just as he looked forward to seeing it spew lies and wickedness before the Crown Prince.

 

“Answer me. I’m asking if you are the one who summoned me to this world!”

 

After Annette’s fierce interrogation, the answer finally came.

 

“Well, it’s me.”

 

“You as*h*le.”

 

The vile words flowed freely from Annette’s mouth without hesitation.

 

She did this to fight back her tears.

 

✧✧✧✧✧