Chapter 34

Annette remained silent. Diana stood in front of her, with an eager face, as if waiting for her response. She was well aware that Annette was once a very strong candidate for Crown Princess. Nevertheless, bringing up that story by mentioning Celestine could only be explained as sheer malice.

‘If she would have said this before my regression, I sure would have got hurt.’

Annette shrugged inwardly and looked at Diana. She used to be her childhood friend, but now she was Celestine’s best friend. The human relationships were really ironic.

Fortunately, Annette could now laugh it off casually. It was something that happened  five years ago, so she didn’t get hurt because of it anymore. Unless Celestine, who she suspected to be the mastermind behind her framed charges, came in front of her, she could easily laugh it off. So Annette smiled and retorted.

“Oh, really? That’s amazing. Is there any blue diamond tiara among the gifts that Lady Celestine received? I really want to see it in person, at least once. I hope she uses it for her coronation ceremony.”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Annette really seemed purely curious about the tiara. Seeing Diana tremble with a face having the expression of ‘It’s not like that.’, Annette ambushed her and affectionately put her hands together on Raphael’s arms. Looking up at him, she tilted her head and said affectionately.

“Honey, I think I’d rather have a blue diamond. What do you think? Will it look good on me?”

Raphael looked down at her silently. Seeing him not respond, Annette broke out in a cold sweat. She thought he would be on her side because they had a good time together just now. She wondered if she got too ahead of herself. She thought it would be sad if she got embarrassed in front of Diana.

Just then, Raphael pulled out his arm and removed Annette’s folded arms around him. As expected, he had no intention of getting involved in this troublesome altercation between two women. Annette bit her lips, feeling her heart sink. At that moment, Raphael gently hugged her shoulder.

“If you want a blue diamond……. feel free to buy whatever you want. As long as you’re happy, you can even empty the safe.”

Hearing the low and deep voice, Diana exclaimed, “Oh my!” and quickly covered her mouth. It was a strange and wonderful feeling to see a man be so affectionate to his wife. But Raphael didn’t just stop there. He lowered his head and gently caressed Annette’s face.

“But I think pink diamonds would be better. It would look better with your pretty pink eyes.”

After speaking, Raphael smiled and brushed his lips against Annette’s eyelid. The tender, affectionate gesture could melt the heart of the beholders. Thanks to Raphael’s active cooperation, Annette gained more courage.

“Thank you, Raphael. Marrying you was the best choice of my life.”

A woman who had never had a choice since she was born, laughed like a flower and lied. Both the speaker and the listener knew it was a lie. But Diana McClaire didn’t know this. As Celestine’s best friend, she just wanted to poke fun at Annette, but in the end it was she who became a joke.

“Then, Lady McClaire, it’s too late. We have to go now. Will you be okay with being all alone?”

Annette, hugging Raphael’s waist, smiled and took a jab at Diana, who had no fiance yet. Diana was a person who easily fell in love with someone, but unfortunately, the person with whom she fell in love never responded back to her. Due to this, she had never been embroiled in a scandal where she was linked with someone. Diana, who had been stabbed in her sore spot, raised her voice in a fit of rage.

“Of course, I would be okay! All of this area is a commercial district that is managed by my family. Do you know how popular iron tools are these days? Thanks to that, the business is going so well that I was just on my way home, after working until late at night!!”

“Oh, I see. I’m really jealous of that.”

Annette, who was from the richest family in Deltium, laughed leisurely. In response, Diana clenched her fists and trembled in anger. In addition, Raphael also joined her in the fun, which was like an icing on the cake.

“Come to think of it, among the things I was given, there was also an iron ore mine. Somehow, the income from there these days is quite good. Annette, if you want, I’ll put it in your name. Whether it’s blue or pink, buy all the diamonds you want.”

It’s amazing, really! Diana opened her mouth wide. Nowadays, with the knowledge of how to use the iron ore, it was quite a fad to use iron materials. Because of this, the nobles with iron ore mines and mining rights were having quite fun these days. But you want to give it whole to Annette? At that moment Diana felt humiliated and was very jealous of Annette.

Originally, iron was a material that was not well used because it was difficult to remove carbon from the cast iron. However, with new methods being discovered recently, ironware had become enormously popular in everyday life. From the iron tableware that Annette saw at the restaurant, it seemed that they had also jumped on this trend.

‘Iron can make money….. that’s interesting.’

Annette blinked and was in a state of awe. She decided to learn more about Raphael’s iron ore mine. Of course, it wasn’t because she coveted his iron ore mine. Annette speculated that her father might be after Raphael’s iron ore mine.

Annette, who was lost in her thoughts, was lovingly embraced by Raphael. He then kissed her little head. With a flushed face, Annette said goodbye to Diana, who was enviously looking at them.

“Then Lady McClaire. My wife is tired, so we’ll take our leave. Please excuse us.”

Diana turned around in humiliation and looked at the backs of the man and the woman. Just like the loving couples in the pictures, they hugged each other’s shoulders and waist and headed for the carriage together. In particular, the appearance of Raphael with a sturdy built, bowing down towards the slender Annette was a scene that made even the viewers blush.

‘You’ll see, I’ll also get into a relationship this year!’

With a firm resolution in her mind, Diana turned around. At that moment, her eyes teared up as she thought that she could never be completely happy, even if the ironware business of her family went well. If the iron sells well, Raphael’s iron ore mine will also become profitable, and he would buy Annette a lot of diamonds with that money.

Diana was so envious that she shed tears in her heart. Even if Annette couldn’t become the Crown Princess, it didn’t really matter. She now had such a hot and loving husband! At that moment, she envied Annette ten times more than Celestine. For her, seeing Annette walk affectionately with her husband was more hurtful than seeing Celestine receiving wedding gifts from the royal family.

Meanwhile, Annette, riding in the carriage after leaving Diana, breathed a sigh of relief. She carefully opened her mouth, blushing with shame.

“That …. Thank you very much for that, Raphael…. For being on my side.”

When Annette expressed her heartfelt gratitude, Raphael felt awkward for no reason. He actually started to hate Diana, who was acting like a fox. Although seeing that her husband was standing next to her, she still indirectly asked Annette, ‘Isn’t it sad that you couldn’t marry another man?’ It felt as if someone was pricking his body with thousands of needles. So he wanted to prove that Annette’s marriage with him was not something to be disappointed about. That was all.

However, he couldn’t be honest about this childish feeling. In the first place, Raphael was a very stubborn man, so he always spoke very frankly. Because of this, he replied bluntly to Annette’s ‘thank you’.

“If you’re grateful, just make sure your hand gets well soon.”

He didn’t remember how Annette’s hand got injured, but he knew it was probably his  fault. Whenever Raphael saw her bandaged hand, he felt uncomfortable. He thought it would have been better, if it was his hand that had gotten injured.

“I’ll get better soon. Thank you for today.”

Annette replied with an idiotic smile. Though they encountered a little bump in the middle, her first outing with Raphael was much better than what she expected. She not only went to Robert’s cemetery, which she didn’t even know about in her previous life, but also dined with Raphael and drank alcohol. Although she hated Diana’s interruption, she was able to deal with her, thanks to Raphael’s help.

‘Come to think of it, Miss Diana… She didn’t seem to know anything about my false charges.’

Annette recalled Diana’s expression and tone as she looked at her. If she had known about Annette’s false charges, she would have taunted her with it right away. Considering how Diana was Celestine’s best friend, she was surprised by how perfect Bavaria’s ‘silencing of the matter’ was. Although Annette didn’t like her family very much, she felt comfortable because of it.

While Annette was lost in thought, the carriage quietly headed home. The town they stopped by was not much far away, so they soon arrived at the mansion. Before entering her room, Annette turned towards Raphael in the hallway.

“Good night, Raphael. I really enjoyed going out with you.”

Raphael nodded without much response. Annette was actually now much more familiar with Raphael’s blunt responses. As soon as she turned around, Raphael’s low voice came from behind.

“Annette.”

“Yeah?”

As she turned her head, she saw Raphael  standing stiffly in the dark corridor, looking up at her. Raphael’s white face, which did not get tanned even after all the rigorous training in the sun, was as immaculate as a marble sculpture. His red lips hesitated for a while. And soon Annette was asked a question that she had never expected.

“That.. What you said….Was it true?”

“What do you mean?”

“That, you don’t regret…….”

Raphael couldn’t directly ask her, “Was marrying me really the best option?” Annette, who had never thought he would ask such a question, opened her eyes wide.