Chapter 38

Annette, with a cold face, looked at Ludwig with clear, determined eyes. Her smooth rebuttal stabbed Ludwig in his heart.

"If you didn't want me to get married, then why did you run away at that time? You could have done something using your powers behind the scene to stop the formal marriage. If you had at least tried to get rid of my charges, I wouldn't be so angry right now."

Ludwig claimed that he loved her, yet he still hadn't noticed the bandage on her hand. Even Railin, who was nothing more than just a business partner, had noticed it.

Ludwig only complained and wailed about his pain every time, and Annette always listened and comforted him. It had always been like that for nearly ten years. So Ludwig seemed to have forgotten that she too could feel pain just like him. Annette said coldly, suppressing her surging emotions.

"I too can also get hurt, Your Highness. If you really wanted to marry me, you should have done something. So please admit your cowardice and let me go. I want to live a new life and start afresh."

It was only after hearing Annette that Ludwig realized it quite late, that he was being too immature with Annette. The Annette in Ludwig's memory always had a gentle smile and sincerely listened to his worries and anxieties. So from some point on, he started to take it for granted.

But now, the Annette in front of him was like a complete stranger. The cold eyes and indifferent face were something that didn't belong to the Annette he knew. She didn't even bat an eye when she saw Ludwig gasping in pain. Under her cold gaze Ludwig opened his mouth and desperately tried to make some excuses.

"Annette, I did my best. You don't know how many times I had begged my father not to do that, and that I couldn't be without you. But I couldn't convince him......"

"No, Your Highness."

Annette coldly cut off Ludwig's excuses. It was something that happened five years ago before her regression. She thought she had forgotten everything, but it seemed that she hadn't forgotten anything. Annette's voice slightly wavered as she refuted Ludwig's excuses.

"I think it would be more right to say that it wasn't the best that you could do, but it was something that you did just for pretense. If you want to save someone from drowning, shouldn't you either swim in or at least throw a lifeline? You say that you did your best, but all you've done is just watch everything from afar and throw a fit. Isn't that right?"

Annette had always thought that she would marry Ludwig since childhood. The young boy and girl who were matched earlier, only had each other. The betrayal that she felt when her expectations were broken, was so bitter that she wanted to vomit blood.

Annette, of course, knew it very well that Ludwig was very weak against his father. But no matter what, she never expected him to give up on her so easily. She never thought he would turn away from her so quickly. Ludwig easily accepted the new engagement. He only made a few weak protests and after that pretended to give in as if he couldn't win.

Nevertheless, Annette wasn't angry at him. It wasn't because Ludwig was a prince or anything. It was because she just knew nothing would change even if she got angry at him. By nature, Ludwig was indecisive and weak-minded. So there was no point in being angry with such a person, for not being on her side. It would only make the mouth of the speaker hurt.

So Annette somehow put up with it. Seeing that it was meaningless to hold on to such anger, she just silently let it go. But today, Ludwig's past feelings and his betrayal made that anger crawl out from her mouth. Strangely, she felt relieved as well as sick. Annette completely cut him off her life, by saying,

"And if you have any respect for me, please don't do this again. Please never talk about my husband like that again. Raphael is a good man, and despite my bad situation, he willingly welcomed me as his wife. Now he is my family. No one can ever criticise my family in front of me. Do you understand me?"

Ludwig was completely speechless. Annette's attitude of drawing a line between them by saying that Raphael was her family, was so painful that his fingers became numb. The woman who he once believed was the closest person to him was now the one who was the farthest. This broke his heart, and unwittingly tears rolled down his pallid cheeks.

Annette was right. He was really a coward. He had always taken her for granted and because of this, he lost Annette's hand forever. No matter how many tears he shed, they could now never go back to their old relationship. This fact made him feel as if he had plunged into a swamp. Annette said goodbye to Ludwig, who looked at her blankly in despair.

"I would be grateful if you could generously forgive me for my rude behavior today. Please, after today never visit me for your personal business again. Then I'll get going now."

After finishing what she had to say, Annette turned around. It was actually very disrespectful to show one's back to a member of the royal family without their permission. But today, she wanted to do something blasphemous. After all, it was all because they didn't do anything, that she was falsely framed and fell to the bottom.

Honestly, it was not that she didn't find the sight of Ludwig, with a distorted face and shedding tears heartbreaking. After all, she had been with Ludwig since her childhood. They were old childhood friends and she even sometimes treated him like her family. Ludwig, who suffered from the lack of acknowledgement from his father, was always sad. So she always had wanted to stay by his side to cheer him up.

However, it was Ludwig who let go of her hand first, and brought an end to their relationship.

Annette lightly walked away from him, like a butterfly leaving a flower. Ludwig, now couldn't dare to catch her or force her.

He couldn't do anything, just like the day when Annette was framed. He again had no choice but to look at her distant back,as she went away from him. He stood there until his last tear scattered and dried away.

* * *

"I'm home, honey."

After returning home, Annette ran into Raphael, who was wandering around the front door. She habitually smiled and greeted him affectionately. Raphael's broad shoulders suddenly flinched as if he was startled, and he turned towards her in a strangely awkward movement.

"You're here."

Raphael's expression on seeing Annette became very strange. He was looking at her, but somehow couldn't make eye contact with her. All of these actions made him feel very clumsy. In the first place, Raphael had never been a self-conscious person, so it was very awkward.

Annette wondered why he was being like this. He looked at her as if he had something to say, but his firm lips were tightly shut. Annette tilted her head a little and finally asked.

"What's wrong, Raphael? Is there something on my face?"

"No. You must be tired, so go in and rest."

Raphael furtively avoided Annette's gaze and bolted upstairs. Annette, who was left alone on the porch, looked at his fleeting back with puzzled eyes. Seeing Raphael's strange behavior, she wondered if he knew that she had ran into Ludwig again. But if that was the case, Raphael would have been angry at her, as he was the type of person who couldn't contain his displeasure.

'Good thing! I guess he doesn't know that I ran into Prince Ludwig.'

Annette was relieved and decided to be more careful in the future. In her previous life, because of being falsely framed, her mind became unstable, so she started having a little aversion to socializing. Because of this, she didn't go out much often. And on top of that, her body was very sick and weak, making it almost impossible to socialize with others.

Because of this, Annette had never ran into Prince Ludwig after her marriage in her previous life. However, now she was very anxious about encountering him again. What changes will these little variables bring in the future? Annette was worried about that.

'I should have listened to Mr. Railin's advice.'

Annette recalled Railin's words telling her to go out from the back door to avoid any nuisance. Indeed, he really had amazing intelligence and gut instincts. No matter how big a figure he was in the underworld, it was quite daring of him to dismiss Ludwig, the crown prince of Deltium, as a mere 'nuisance'. Unlike his beautiful appearance, Railin sure was a man with great capabilities.

Annette vowed to take Railin's words seriously in the future. She trudged up to her bedroom, dragging her tired body. After saying out everything she held against Ludwig in her heart, she felt relieved as well as exhausted.

Annette, after taking a warm bath, soon fell into a deep sleep. So again she didn't notice Raphael sneaking into her bed.

'You really sleep as if you are dead.'

Lying obliquely, Raphael looked down at the sleeping Annette with his head in one arm. Even after seeing her like this countless times, he still strangely did not get tired of seeing Annette's face. Raphael, who had been looking down at Annette with a strange look, muttered suddenly.

"I'm your family...."

Raphael had earlier questioned Annette's maid, Mary, and roughly dug out all her whereabouts. Of course, Annette did not reveal the exact location to anyone. But with Raphael's beastly senses, he somehow managed to track her down.

Fortunately, today the fate was on Annette's side. Raphael did not see the 'Secret' guild. It was because he arrived a little late at the scene, as he was searching for the ambiguous place that he had heard from the maid. Thanks to that, when Raphael found Annette, she had already left Secret.

However, the problem was that there was another man standing next to her. And that man was none other than Crown Prince Ludwig.

Only

'What's going on here?

At first, Raphael had almost misunderstood that Annette was secretly meeting Ludwig. In fact, it was a very convincing scene. As soon as he saw Annette facing Ludwig, Raphael literally felt all the blood in his body become cold. However the conversation between them was far from that of a secret meeting.

"Tell me, Annette. Do you also think Raphael is more capable than me? Is that why... you're cold-heartedly pushing me away? Compared to that great Raphael Carnesis, I am now not even a man in your eyes!"

The moment he heard Ludwig's wails from afar, Raphael felt relieved. Annette wasn't cheating on him, rather she was rejecting the clingy Ludwig. Raphael couldn't understand why he felt so happy about this.

But it didn't just end there. Raphael squinted his eyes and waited for Annette's next reaction. He was nervous as he couldn't see her expression as she stared at Ludwig.

Why isn't she answering anything? Raphael's heart was beating strangely and there was a numb ringing sensation in his ears. It was a physical abnormality that was unlikely to belong to a Sword Master.

'Should I just rather leave now?'

Raphael couldn't stand it as he was afraid to hear Annette's reply. What if she really changed her mind? What if everything she told him was a lie? What if it was a lie when she said it was better to marry him than be a princess? What if she abandoned him and chose Ludwig, who had pure noble blood?