Chapter 29

Unexpectedly, Rafael said nothing. After making sure that Annette was awake, he got up to leave the bedroom. As he was about to cross the threshold, he randomly put the ring on the shelf, as if he had forgotten about it. Judging from his indifferent attitude, fortunately Rafael seemed to have no idea about the ring.

'Where did you find that?'

Annette's heart was pounding violently. Rafael probably found it by accident in Annette's room and started playing with it. This little play almost made Annette's heart stop beating.

When Rafael left the bedroom completely, Annette got up helplessly with her trembling legs and picked up the ring. As she stretched her right hand out, she saw there was a bandage wrapped around it. Annette, who was looking down at it eagerly, recalled the pain she felt in her sore hand the day before yesterday.

'Oh, no. I guess I really had a fracture."

Annette sighed deeply. She had boasted to Railin last time, saying, "I can do embroidery, translation, and ghostwriting." But now that she had hurt her hand like this, she felt a little dispirited. If the aftereffects of the fracture remained, it would be difficult to do any work.

Anyway, it would take at least a few more months to prepare for her smuggling. Annette picked up the ring with her left hand, hoping that her fingers would heal before that. And she then hid it carefully by pushing it into the deepest part of her jewelry box.

At this time, a sudden knock came from outside. Frightened, Annette quickly put the jewelry box in and asked,

"Who, who is it?"

"Madame, this is Ellie. I heard you're up.... so... do you need help?"

The cautious voice of the maid came from outside. Annette then realized that her body felt quite unpleasant. She didn't know how long she was unconscious, but it seemed like she had been sick for at least one day.

The Carnesis maids checked Annette's condition and immediately started preparing for the bath. They recommended her to eat a simple meal so that she wouldn't feel dizzy while taking a bath. Since she had to wait a little for the bath water to heat up anyway, Annette nodded and had the watery soup and fruit juice.

"How long have I been sick?"

"It's been two and a half days, madam."

"Oh no."

She had been unconscious longer than what she expected. The body that had lived in bed in the previous life seemed to have encountered trouble again. Annette became depressed, wondering if she might become bedridden again in this life.

Annette calmed herself down and quietly stirred the spoon in the soup. At that time, the maids exchanged meaningful gazes with each other and one of them laughed. Seeing Annette puzzled over their sudden behavior, the maid who just laughed, lowered her voice and whispered to Annette.

"While Madam was ill, Master stayed by your side all the time and took care of you. He adamantly nursed you for over two days without budging. You are lucky to have such a good husband."

Annette's spoon as she was moving around the soup bowI suddenly stopped. The maids covered their mouths and laughed with excitement when they saw Annette's surprised face, as if she couldn't believe her ears. The good relationship between the newlyweds made the young maids excited.

Meanwhile, the dizzy Annette was lost in her thoughts. When she opened her eyes, the first person she saw was Rafael, but at that time she just shrugged it off as a coincidence. She wondered how he would look as he stopped by her room to check her condition and see whether she had opened her eyes. But she didn't expect him to do that for two and a half days.

'Why did he do that?'

Annette believed that Rafael's care for her in her previous life was purely because of his affection. No matter how much he hated her, they had faced each other and even mixed their bodies for five years, so he must have some emotion towards her. Rafael had a rough personality, but his nature was not bad. So he remained a loyal husband to her until her last breath.

But after Annette died, she returned and they still ended up getting married. At the beginning of their marriage, Rafael hated her fiercely. It was even more so because there were not enough encounters to increase the intimacy and affection between the couple.

Nevertheless, Rafael still took care of her. A few days ago, he even said, 'I hate you.'

So, there was only one conclusion that Annette could make.

'I don't know if Rafael...I guess he has a weakness for sick people.'

Annette sighed and soaked herself in the bath. The maids helped her take a bath and took special care not to let her bandaged right hand touch the water. Truthfully, this fracture and the resulting fever were all caused by Rafael, but she could not blame him since he didn't do it deliberately and knew nothing about it.

So what could she do? She could only pretend to be grateful towards him for his care. When she thought about meeting his bright blue eyes, her heart felt heavy, even after taking a bath in the warm fragrant water. Annette soaked herself in the water until her other unbandaged fingers became white. She barely managed to lift herself from the bath water.

* * *

Knock knock

Annette knocked on the door and carefully asked,

"Rafael, are you inside? If you don't mind, I would like to talk with you."

Annette habitually tried to hold her hands together in her nervousness, but stopped because of the bandage. She had no choice but to look at the floor and wait for Rafael's answer. After a while, a very low voice came from inside.

"Come in."

Before opening the door, Annette took one deep breath. It was to prepare her heart from getting hurt. Annette calmed herself down, opened the door and stepped inside.

It wasn't that hard to find Rafael in the big room. He seemed to have just come out of the bath. With a towel hanging loosely on his lower body, Rafael slowly sat on the sofa like a large black panther.

Rafael's eyes, under the thick dark eyelashes, were fierce and beautiful. Before he began to speak, his deep blue eyes stared tenaciously at Annette, as if searching for something.

"You look better now. I think you're going to live, right?"

As expected, a question filled with sarcasm came out. But Annette, who already knew that he nursed her during her illness, wasn't very upset. Annette opened her mouth, while carefully approaching Rafael, who was lying down on the sofa.

"I heard that you took care of me while I was sick. Thank you, Rafael."

Annette, who knew Rafael's personality very well, spoke in a roundabout way. If she had directly said, 'Thank you for taking care of me,' Rafael was more likely to dislike the idea that his actions were caught.

Annette was now learning how to communicate with Rafael. Although it was difficult to understand how Rafael was feeling when he twisted his words all the time, she now had a little idea about it. Annette, with a gentle face, expressed the gratitude that she could not convey in her previous life.

"Thank you very much."

After receiving Annette's thanks, Rafael was silent. His gaze fell on the bandage wrapped around Annette's right hand. Other than that annoying thing, Annette looked relatively fine. Perhaps maybe because she took a bath and had something to eat, her white pale face now looked quite lively.

Seeing this, Rafael felt a perverse whim. While he was nursing her, he suffered all kinds of anguish over his idiot-like appearance, but the person who made him suffer was sleeping well and now her face was shining. Rafael, while lying on the sofa, raised his head and asked in a languid tone.

"Are you going to just say thank you in words?"

"Huh? What do you..."

Annette, who knew nothing, tilted her head and asked. Then Rafael's low voice made his appearance look even more insidious. He stared at her as if he was going to eat her up.

"As you said, I took a lot of care of you. Do you think just saying thank you is enough?"

Frustrated by this, Annette remained silent for a moment. It was to think about why Rafael was doing this again and what he wanted by saying this to her. However, Annette couldn't get the right answer. Finally after much deliberation, she asked.

"Well, I'd like to give you a thank-you gift...if you want."

Only

"Gift? What are you going to give me? I already have a lot of wealth piled up underground."

Rafael had received numerous loot for his contribution to the war. So wealth didn't matter much to him. He laughed coldly, revealing his teeth like a wild beast. That face didn't seem to ask for a present. Then there was only one answer left. Annette, who had been struggling with her fingers for a while, nervously said,

"Then in return for the kindness you have shown me, I will grant you what you want. As far as it's within my ability."

Annette was feeling a little indebted to Rafael because of her parents. She was even preparing to leave here, so her heart was heavy looking at Rafael, who knew nothing about all this. If Rafael wanted anything from her, she wanted to grant it as much as she could before they broke up as a parting gift.

The moment he heard the words flowing from Annette's mouth, Rafael who was lying on the sofa, slowly raised himself. As he walked towards her, his torso ripped with muscles magnified in her sight and she felt a little suffocated because of his overbearing aura. Annette, unwittingly took a step back, trying to avoid the approaching hard body.

"Ra, Rafael?"

Annette's back hit the wall and she looked up at him with quivering eyes. Rafael slowly pushed Annette into a corner, and then put his hand on the wall and locked her tightly. Rafael bowed his head so that their eyes were at same level and whispered quietly,

"You want to grant me a favor? What the hell do you think I want?"