Chapter 20

The attendants working in the royal palace were trained vigorously. They always held themselves upright and were careful with everything they did. Not only one, but all four of them fell asleep during work. It was something beyond conceivable.

Feeling strange, Annette tested by shaking one of them awake. Then, just like Ludwig, the first attendant got up bewilderedly in a fit of surprise. He couldn’t believe he dozed off while serving a distinguished guest who visited the Crown Prince’s palace! There was nothing to say about this even if he was hit for lack of discipline.

“No, what kind of disrespect! I’m really sorry, Marchioness of Carnesis. I sincerely apologize for my misconduct.”

The attendant apologized politely to Annette, while covertly kicking his colleagues hard to awaken them. Shortly after, the other servants got up and then bowed their heads to apologize. Seeing them sway in the waves of drowsiness, Annette waved her hand and pardoned them, saying it was okay.

The attendants who knew nothing, looked at Annette with twinkling eyes. Annette, who didn’t get angry at them, smiled kindly and showed them mercy, was literally like an angel to them. It was a great pity that such a kind woman could not be the Crown Princess.

But Annette’s thoughts were a little different. As soon as she turned around, the smile disappeared from her face and was replaced by a grave expression. At this moment, there was only one thought in Annette’s mind.

‘In the book, it was clearly written that the regressors have one special ability that they did not possess before. Maybe my ability… Is putting people to sleep by singing. ‘ 

A strange thrill passed down Annette’s body, as she realised this. She had once put Rafael, who was suffering from insomnia and sleepwalking, to sleep.

At that time, she thought that it was the effect of a good lullaby. But now that she looked back, she wondered if it was true that she used the ‘ability‘ to put Rafael to sleep. She wasn’t sure of anything yet. Annette, who was cautious in everything, decided to try this theory if it was possible.

Although it was not a marvelous ability like spirit skill, it might be more useful in some cases.

Annette, who had thought so far, felt goosebumps erupt on her skin. This was because she finally felt more than ever before, that she had really returned back to the past. She was really living a new life. And her future was entirely in her hands.

* * *

The day passed away quickly and the sun had already set. Before she knew it, it was already dark. The carriage going back home through the dark was slower than usual. However, Annette, who was deep in her thoughts didn’t even realise this. She was contemplating how to test her new abilities. So, she didn’t even realise that they had arrived home.

“We’re here, madam.”

The coachman carefully announced their arrival to Annette. Annette stepped out of the carriage completely lost in her thoughts. But before her feet could touch the ground, suddenly her body was swept up into the air.

“Ahh!”

The unpleasant feeling of floating terribly surprised Annette. It was especially surprising because it happened while she was in the midst of her thoughts. Annette instinctively pulled whatever she could reach out to and clung on it. It unfortunately turned out to be Rafael’s pitch-black hair.

It was Rafael who caught Annette from the carriage. He looked very displeased when Annette grasped his hair. Annette became still as a silent growl slipped out from his slightly parted lips.

“Oh my, I’m sorry. I was so surprised that I…”

Annette quickly let go of Rafael’s hair and apologised tremblingly. She was gasping for breath as she could not calm down her surprised heart. Looking down at such Annette, Rafael, who was about to hurl out some abuses, took a deep breath while clenching his teeth. He looked very fierce as if he was bearing something.

‘Why are you so angry?’

Annette, who saw this, was overwhelmed with anxiety. Rafael’s anger had nothing to do with her pulling his hair. He had been waiting for Annette in anger for some reason. The cold air of the night that had seeped into Rafael’s collar proved this.

Annette bit her lip because she didn’t know  why he was doing this. The whimsical and violent temperament of Rafael was a very difficult mystery for Annette. With a hardened face, Rafael questioned her.

“Who did you meet at the palace today?”

“What? I went to see my sister-in-law, didn’t you see the letter I left?”

Annette, who responded in a daze, realized something was wrong and lamented at her stupidity. She didn’t know how, but Rafael seemed to know that she met Prince Ludwig today. Only then did Annette understand why Rafael was so angry.

In fact, it was natural for Rafael to be angry at her. His wife pretended to meet someone else, and had a secret meeting with her old fiance. Looking at Annette’s embarrassed expression, Rafael felt even more cold and empty.

“You said you’d be back in time. You must have had so much fun that you didn’t even realise so much time had passed, did you? Did he treat you so well?”

Rafael’s deep blue eyes looked colder than the ice in the North Sea. Even after returning, it was still painful to receive his hatred. Annette, with her eyes lowered pitifully, carefully reached out and grabbed Rafael’s collar.

“It’s not like that, Rafael. I just bumped into him on my way back from seeing my sister-in-law. The marriage was so suddenly broken off that we couldn’t even say goodbye to each other properly. That’s why I just wanted to finish that relationship well. Now we will never have to face Your Highness again. I promise.”

Annette raised her head and looked up at him with earnest eyes. Rafael looked back at her with a blank face without saying anything. Annette’s face looked so naive and gentle that anyone would fall for her lies.

However, Rafael was not fooled. He was in a very bad mood now. After reading Annette’s letter, he headed to the palace. Of course, he didn’t go to pick up Annette. He also had a business to visit the palace for.

Rafael intended to meet his father, King Selgratis, and ask him about Annette. It was because the rumors that the king told him before the wedding were somewhat different from the reality. Rafael felt that he needed to check where the hell this discrepancy had originated.

However, Selgratis did not meet Rafael. He acted as if he cared about Rafael in public, but in private, he avoided any exchange with him. It was all truly a pretense.

Because of this, Rafael had to return from the royal palace. Naturally, he felt terrible, and decided to go back home with Annette. However, it was an apparent mistake in Rafael’s judgment.

“What the hell are you doing in the Palace of the Crown Prince?”

When Rafael found out where Annette was, he was very angry. He wanted to see with his own eyes what the two lovers were doing, but the place was the crown prince’s palace. No one could enter the Crown Prince’s palace without Ludwig’s permission. It was also the same for Rafael.

As he turned his back and came out of the palace, he felt more terrible than before.  After returning to the mansion, Rafael gnashed his teeth and waited for Annette to return. Originally it didn’t matter to him where she was or what she did, but Rafael didn’t realize that his behavior was strange. As he looked at Annette trapped in his arms, he felt an anger that he could not understand.

“Rafael, I’m telling you. Nothing happened with His Highness. All we did was say goodbye. You can ask the servants of the Crown Prince’s palace. You’ll find out the truth.”

Annette, with her eyes lowered, pleaded innocently. However, it seemed that today, luck was not on Annette’s side. The coachman who was checking the carriage in the distance, came to her with something in his hand.

“Madam, this is what you left here.”

When Annette saw the gift box that the coachman had brought out, she gave up everything. A vain laugh escaped out from her mouth. God must have decided to abandon her today.

Rafael put her down on the floor, picked up the box and looked inside. He laughed sardonically after checking the contents of the box. The leather choker, held between his fingers, fluttered in the air. Rafael held it in front of Annette and spat out coldly.

“Yes, you’ll get a very interesting answer if you ask the palace servants.”

“No, Rafael! That’s Claire…Wait a minute.”

Embarrassed by the growing misunderstanding, Annette hurriedly reached out and took away the gift box. She searched inside with unusually urgent hands. Claire was the type who usually enclosed letters in gifts. Annette hoped that there would be a letter inside so that she could clear all the misunderstandings.

Fortunately, an envelope attached to the inside of the box came into her hands. Annette quickly gave it to Rafael without even checking the contents of the letter.

“Look, this is a gift from my new sister-in-law. I really have nothing to do with the Crown Prince!”

Rafael frowned as he pulled out the letter and read it. His deep blue eyes slowly skimmed the contents of the letter. It only took a few seconds, but for Annette it felt like an eternity.

Rafael with a sarcastic smile, brought the letter in front of her. There, in Claire’s unique sharp font, a concise sentence stood out. Annette didn’t know whether that was a good or a bad thing.

I hope you have an exciting night with him, Annette! Make him call out your name by putting on that tight leash! 

Yours lovingly,

Claire

‘Ah, Claire…‘ Annette covered her face with both hands without saying anything. She was frustrated. Her letter made it clear that it was a gift from Claire. But it wasn’t clear who Claire’s ‘him‘ in her letter referred to, whether it was Rafael or Ludwig.

The stark comments that Claire wrote and the leather choker in Rafael’s manly hands, together made Annette even more embarrassed. She couldn’t raise her head and prayed desperately to disappear from this world forever.

But this time again, Annette’s wish did not come true. “Okay. What an exhilarating farewell you had at the Crown Prince’s Palace. Let’s see how thrilling it was for you.”

Rafael smiled cruelly, revealing his teeth and grabbed her arm.