CH 15

After returning from Glenford, Annette had not seen Heiner for nearly a week.

It was no big deal. They had hardly encountered each other until she demanded a divorce.

The official residence was large and had a different radius of activity, so they each lived only their own lives unless one of them looked for the other first.

After the revolution, the role of finding a partner was mostly Annette’s. Though, things had changed a bit after the mention of divorce.

As far as Annette was concerned, there was no reason to seek him first unless it was about divorce.

Birds chirped loudly outside the window.

Annette put the documents summarizing the breakdown of the donations into the file binders and opened the safe in the closet.

After placing the files in the safe, she took out a jewelry box. Placing the jewelry she had stored in the box into a paper bag, she pressed the pager. Soon a servant entered the room.

“Miss Ritzburg, I have one favor to ask of you, go to the nearest jeweler………..”

“Yes, madam.”

“….”

“Tell me, madam.”

When Annette did not speak, the servant looked at her with puzzlement. After thinking about something for a moment, Annette smiled faintly and shook her head.

“No, I will go there myself.”

“If you want to buy jewelry, I have a catalog……..”

“I’m going to look at it in person at the store. Could you have a driver on standby?”

“All right.”

As soon as the servant left, the smile disappeared from Annette’s face. She changed into her outdoor clothes and put on her veiled hat.

With her gloves donned, Annette left the building with a paper bag. Naturally, an attendant followed and opened the back seat door. After getting into the car, Annette asked the driver.

“Are there any nearby jewelry stores that are unoccupied?”

“Oh….then how about Huffine Jewelers? But the store is in a back alley, so I have to park the car on the main street, so you’ll have to walk a bit.”

“No problem. Please go there.”

Since the driver was a knight who accompanied noble ladies, he was knowledgeable about jewelers. The man skillfully turned the steering wheel and 

turned down the street.

Before long, the car stopped on one side of the boulevard. Annette stepped into an alley lined with shops. When she arrived in front of Huffine Jewelers, the attendant said,

“I’ll be waiting outside. Madam.”

It was a pleasant sound to hear. Annette nodded her head slightly and went inside the store.

“Welcome.”

The jeweler greeted the customer in a somewhat insincere tone. Annette said as she placed a paper bag on the display stand.

“I want to get rid of everything.”

“Perhaps you have received an appraisal from another place first?”

“No.”

The jeweler glanced inside the paper bag and put on his glasses.

“Please wait a moment.”

The amount of jewelry was not much. All of the Rosenberg family’s property had been seized, and Annette, who belonged to Valdemar, was forced to semi-donate most of her possessions by public opinion.

The reason she suddenly disposed of her emergency fund or jewelry was simple: to prevent a situation in which, someday after her death, the jewelry would appear in the newspapers or be auctioned off under the name ‘Jewelry owned by Dietrich’s daughter.’

While the jeweler was appraising the gems, Annette looked at the jewelry on display.

She had always loved jewelry. Not because they were expensive, but simply because they sparkled.

Heiner knew Annette’s taste for such things. On every past date together, he would always buy something sparkly and put it in her hand. Jewelry, beads, glass crafts—

“Do you know that everything in my room is a gift from you? I’m going to die in them.” (A)

“It’s not that much.” (H)

“Could this be —your grand  plan to crush me to death?” (A)

“It’s similar. You will live surrounded by all kinds of shiny things.” (H)

“Haha, you don’t mean to propose?” (A)

“Let’s make the marriage proposal even cooler than this.” (H)

There was a time when she felt the world a little brighter when she was with him.

Annette placed her hand lightly on the display stand and peered inside with dry eyes. The whole place was dazzling and shining, but now she felt no excitement.

“We’re done, madam. Please check this ticket here.”

The jeweler who had finished the appraisal quickly presented the prices for each item.

“All in all, I can give you 2,300 pounds. Do you have any questions?”

“Please dispose of them as such.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

The jeweler’s voice was somewhat reluctant. Annette withdrew her gaze from the table with a look of disinterest.

It didn’t matter what the price was. In fact, the lower the price, the better.

Suddenly, the diamond ring on her ring finger caught her attention. The diamond was bigger and more beautiful than any of the gems on display. It was the wedding ring that Heiner had given her when he proposed.

Annette removed the ring and handed it to the jeweler.

“Perhaps you could tell me how much this diamond ring is worth? I’d like to get rid of it together.”

“Get rid of it?”

The jeweler examined the ring and asked in surprise.

“Huh. This one alone would cost 

over 7,000 pounds. I’m sorry, but we don’t have the capacity to pay for this. I’m afraid you’ll have to go to a larger jewelry store.”

“…I see.”

Receiving the ring, Annette put it in her bag after a few moments of thinking.

The owner counted the check and handed her an envelope containing the payment. Annette left the store without confirming the amount.

The attendant waiting at the door soon followed. Annette slowly exited the alley.

Twenty-three hundred pounds. It was not a small amount. The gems were not large, but they were all high quality so it was expected.

‘But this one ring is 7,000 pounds……….?’

Even in her single days, she had never had a jewel of this magnitude. Did Heiner think he could satisfy her only by proposing with an expensive ring?

It was an effortless portrayal of what he must have thought of her.

A foolish woman, born into a powerful family, who knew nothing about the world. A vain woman who grew up without lacking anything and enjoyed everything she wanted and desired.

‘That’s not wrong.’

Annette thought to herself, and turned onto the main street. Looking around, she saw a car parked on the side of the road. She turned her head again at a gaze she suddenly met.

A man was standing under a street lamp. The young man, who looked to be in his early twenties at most, was staring at her. His eyes met hers, but he didn’t avoid her gaze.

‘Is he looking at me?’

Annette wondered if he perhaps knew who she was, and hurriedly put on her hat. But the man’s eyes were still fixed on her. Something strange and intense flashed through them.

Those eyes.

It gave her chills.

Horrified, Annette involuntarily backed away. Her instincts were warning her to run. At that moment, the man pulled something from his waist.

In the sunlight, the silver color shimmered in the shape of a cross. The light was pointed at her.

The series of actions seemed very slow.

Annette instinctively turned to her attendant. Surprise spread across the attendant’s face. The man then raised his hand.

Bang!

A gunshot passed by. The attendant grabbed her shoulder.

Bang!

A burning sensation was felt in her side. Annette froze for a moment, breathing roughly. The attendant hid Annette behind him and pulled out a pistol.

Bang! Bang! 

Gunshots rang through the midday streets. The attendant, who had been exchanging gunfire with his opponent, pushed Annette in front of the vehicle. Her staggering gait collapsed.

“Stay hidden!”

Annette crouched in front of the car and gasped for breath. A cold chill rose from the floor. Her shoulders shook erratically.

“Madam! Are you all right?”

The driver got out of the car and hurried to check her condition. He looked down and opened his eyes wide.

“Oh my God, madam!”

Her lips quivered madly. Annette slowly lifted the hand that was holding her side. Red blood dripped from her palm.

A sharp pain surged from her lower abdomen. She felt as if she had been hit. Annette shuddered as she clutched her stomach.

“Madam…for now… to the hospital immediately…”

The driver’s voice rose and fell like a malfunctioning phonograph, breaking off from time to time. Annette gasped for breath. Her head was heavy and far away, as if immersed in water.

Annette backed up against the body of the car with the support of the driver. When she finally raised her head, the deep blue sky filled her field of vision.

It was dazzling.

The driver next to her said something, but it fell on deaf ears. Annette let out a thin breath and thought idly.

‘If I’m shot in the head….’

Then she could have gone at once without pain.

Her eyes flickered. It was strange. Surely the gunshot wound was in her side, but a terrible pain covered her entire lower chest. It was as if it had been shattered into pieces.

Was this what it was like to be shot by a gun? She didn’t know as she had never been injured like this in her entire life. Her fingers, hanging on the floor, twitched intermittently.

“……! Madam!”

Her eyelids felt heavy. Cold sweat ran down her temples. The sound of the gunfire was gradually fading from her ears.

Heiner said he was injured many times during the mission. Three of them were gunshot wounds. Was he in this much pain?

Had he experienced this kind of pain so many times that it made her pain seem like nothing?

Her pain was so much more than her……

The thought didn’t go any further. Annette gave up on holding onto her consciousness. The flashing lights in front of her eyes eventually turned black.

A scene emerged from the edge of her consciousness as if it were being filmed. It was the face of the man who had shot her. His eyes when he was aiming the gun at her without hesitation. The emotion that shone brightly.

It was clear hatred.