Chapter 007
Only Theodore and Annette remained in the deserted living room.
Annette looked at Theodore with calm, empty eyes.
“If you have something to say to me, please finish it quickly. As you can see, I’m not well, and I want to rest.”
“Have you decided to stop talking after that outburst in the carriage?”
“I don’t feel comfortable speaking with people who don’t make me feel at ease.”
“You don’t even avert your gaze while boldly saying that talking to me is uncomfortable?”
“That’s because I’m not saying anything wrong. There’s no reason to avoid someone’s gaze when you’re in the right. If my eyes make you uncomfortable, it must be because Your Highness has wronged me.”
Annette calmly cut through Theodore’s words one by one without being sarcastic.
Her cold words stacked like bricks, forming a solid wall between them.
A clear barrier that openly declared she had no intention of building familiarity, friendship, affection, or any similar bond with him in the future.
“I’m a busy person too, so I’ll keep this brief. Are you sure the pills you took are the poison we’re looking for?”
“Those pills were the only medicine I took during my stay at the asylum. Normally, a nurse distributes medication to the other patients, but the hospital director’s son personally brought those pills to me and made sure I swallowed them.”
“Did you keep taking them even after you realized they were poison?”
“If I didn’t take them, they would have mixed it into my food and given it to me without my knowledge. Taking them and vomiting what I could afterward was the least logical thing I could do. So don’t look at me like I’m a fool.”
Annette knew well that if she refused the white pills given to her, a darker plot to kill her would emerge.
However, if she refused the medicine, she would have been forced to take it one way or another, just as when Theodore appeared, so she had no choice but to obediently take it.
Annette said this with firm resolve.
She said she took the poison and waited for the day she would die.
Her calm demeanor made Theodore wonder if the woman was talking about someone else, and suddenly, he felt satisfied.
Annette had swallowed the poison without hesitation and didn’t fear death.
People who don’t fear death usually place no limits on what they do.
Having such people on his side was beneficial in many ways.
How could he not be pleased when such a valuable, hard-to-obtain asset had fallen into his hands?
“When did you take the medicine?”
“When the hospital director came, and we started talking. Before you arrived, the doctor Your Highness struck was forcing me to swallow the medicine, so the poison was everywhere.”
“You didn’t know what I would propose at the time, yet you hid the poison anyway?”
“Of course, I had to take it. Even if I got out, if I couldn’t find an antidote for what I ingested, I’d die.”
While Theodore was threatening the hospital director, Annette had picked up the pills she could find in front of her and hidden them in her clothes.
She was thinking about surviving in that moment.
At this point, Theodore had no choice but to acknowledge her.
He didn’t know whether Annette was a holy spirit or just a fraud, but she was a woman who knew how to fiercely protect her life.
“If you want to use me, keep me alive first.”
“Of course, I will. I’ll try to find a new doctor, and then we’ll analyze the poison.”
“I don’t want another doctor. I’ll leave it to Lisa.”
“Do you think that nurse will save your life?”
“You should think so too.”
“Did that woman appear as a competent character in the novel you read?”
Theodore asked with a hint of anticipation.
Annette must have a reason to trust her nurse if she was willing to risk her life.
Theodore wondered if the trembling nurse was one of the main characters in the novel, as that could make her useful to him.
However, the answer that followed disappointed Theodore’s expectations.
“There was no nurse named Lisa among the characters I saw in the book.”
“Then why do you trust someone whose name you don’t know?”
“Because I can’t delay detoxifying my body any longer, and this nurse doesn’t seem like someone who plays with a patient’s life. Even if the options before me aren’t the best, I have no choice but to choose.”
“Is it just a hunch?”
Theodore quickly grew bored.
The type he hated most were optimistic, hopeful people who believed in others’ efforts and good intentions.
But he had no idea that a new chess piece would come with such ideas.
He was disappointed because he wanted Annette to be an interesting person, not an ordinary human.
“What about this? That nurse made a medical error and is unemployed. So you shouldn’t trust people based on hunches alone.”
“That’s not something I want to hear from someone who decided to stand by me based solely on his hunch and the words of a suspicious woman.”
“Do I seem suspicious to you too?”
“Should I trust Your Highness?”
“Isn’t it better to trust me a little? I’m the one holding your lifeline.”
When Theodore extended his hand and pretended to strangle Annette, she responded by opening her mouth without hesitation.
“I’ll trust you as much as you trust me, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”
That meant she didn’t trust him at all.
Theodore felt relieved by her words, which surprised him.
Work was the law for success when dealing with people full of doubts.
Thus, Annette was a suitable partner for work.
“If we find the antidote, I’ll save your life this time.”
“You’ll benefit more by keeping me alive.”
“Let’s call it a deal. Isn’t that what you want?”
“That’s right. It’s a deal, and there’s one condition I want: save me and return me to my world. That’s the only deal I want, and nothing else tempts me.”
Annette was fed up with this world.
As soon as she opened her eyes in an unfamiliar body, she became a murderer and lived in confinement.
There was still a terrible psychological trauma within her.
No matter what good things could happen, she could never love this world.
No person, wealth, or fame could make her want to live in this book’s world.
“Now it’s my turn to set the conditions.”
“I’m listening.”
Theodore liked this conversation very much.
Exchanging goals without fuss meant the desired outcome was assured, and such transactions usually had a high success rate.
Theodore could tell that from just a few words of conversation.
He didn’t think Annette was a holy spirit from another world, but she could help him greatly.
This woman would have a significant impact on his life, one way or another.
He didn’t know whether the winds Annette brought were a gentle spring breeze or a destructive hurricane, but they were certainly winds that would alter the course of Theodore’s life.
“I want one thing only. Hugo. To drive out that fool and take the Emperor’s crown.”
Hugo was the only opponent Theodore couldn’t defeat.
Comparing Theodore and Hugo’s hunting skills, Theodore was far superior, but Hugo was the winner of the annual Imperial Hunting Festival.
Even if Theodore hunted more than ten deer all day, there was no way for him to win because a foolish bear would appear before Hugo, who had no intention of hunting, and fall dead on its own.
And Theodore would lose his clear victory to Hugo.
Sometimes, even those who stood by Hugo wondered why Theodore was defeated.
As incomprehensible losses continued to defy common sense, Theodore had no choice but to feel threatened.
And the most absurd thing that appeared before him was Annette.
Theodore considered entrusting part of his fate to this woman.
Thus, verification was naturally necessary.
Annette looked at Theodore, who was thinking this way.
“Is my safety guaranteed until you become Emperor?”
Safety was the most critical issue for Annette.
If she returned to Cheringen immediately, she would fall into the hands of her relatives who would kill her, so she desperately needed a way to save her life.
“No matter how powerful their position in Cheringen, they won’t be able to harm the Grand Duchess.”
“Did you mean it when you said you’d make me the Grand Duchess?”
“I’ve already prepared the legal documents. There’s a small problem, but it can be resolved if you just pretend to love me and not the Crown Prince.”
“But…”
Annette was the first to reveal her embarrassment with a strange expression.
Marriage was a way to secure Theodore’s assured protection, but it was too loud.
It was hard to believe that the marriage of the Grand Duke, who wasn’t a rural villager, could be settled with just a few papers.
Theodore answered as if he had read Annette’s concerns.
“If you prove useful to my plan, I can handle things to that extent.”
“Prove? You said earlier that you acknowledged me.”
Theodore was asking for proof after already pulling Annette out of the hospital and causing a major stir in aristocratic society.
She could be certain that rumors about the two were spreading across the empire.
It was reckless to do all this without trusting Annette.
So she wondered what he meant by proving something again.
“That means proving your value, not where you came from. How do I know if you’re a true holy spirit or a fake fraud?”
He was a despicable man who didn’t stop his suspicions even after bringing Annette and hiding her in his home.
If Annette didn’t prove her usefulness now, he wouldn’t hesitate to kill her immediately.
Annette bit her lip, realizing the depth of her predicament.
The most important thing in trading and commerce is not to fall into a trap and not to reveal your true desires.
But Annette had already lost.
Her desire to return to her original world had been fully exposed, and she had nothing to offer in return, but she had much to gain from Theodore.
Thus, no matter how unreasonable the conditions Theodore imposed, she had to follow them.
“Are you sure there’s a way to return me to my world?”
“If I say no, what will you do?”
Annette bit the inside of her cheek, tasting the sharp tang of blood in her torn mouth.
She stared intently at Theodore, but his gaze was filled with mockery.
“Thanks to that personality of yours, you won’t die easily.”
Her seriousness and pride were the subject of Theodore’s ridicule.
Annette clenched her fists tightly to remember the humiliation she had just endured, and her hatred, which she couldn’t hide, seeped out between her fingers.
