CH 2

Villain Annette.

It was the name she got from the world she possessed.

In the novel, Annette was to go through a steady phase of misdeeds and destruction to match her fame as a villain.

So, after being surprised by the beautiful face in the mirror, the possessed woman had to think of the plot of the novel and find a way to change her life so that the people around her would love her.

But she didn’t have the least amount of time to change her destiny. Because as soon as she found herself as Annette, she was locked up in an insane asylum.

It wasn’t that she had any real mental problems. Of course the mental state of the villain Annette was problematic, but at least the possessed Annette was normal.

However, Annette was imprisoned due to complicated circumstances, and the Audentian Empire was unfamiliar with the concept of a mental ward. Therefore there was no proper knowledge or treatment for mental illness.

Elysia was more aptly described as a concentration camp than a mental institution. Cold air wafted from the walls even in the middle of summer. Exposure to that cold air would cause even the sun to lose its shine, and illness to arise in the mind.

There was not much that could be done in such a place. All Annette did when she was confined to Elysia was staring at the ceiling, at the walls, and sleeping.

So today was going to be another day like yesterday. Perhaps if the man had not shown up.

Right before “he” showed up, Annette, as usual, was staring at the dimly lit walls in a constant effort to figure out that the moldy spreading shapes were constellations.

Creak. At that moment, the heavy iron door opened with a creepy sound. Annette closed her eyes as she searched for her friend in the mold.

“It’s time to take your pills.”

The voice was as hard as the hospital bed. It was rather softer than the crazy woman’s screams coming from the next room.

When Annette did not respond, the doctor finally forced her awake. Annoyance was evident between his thick hands.

When she was forced to open her eyes, Annette’s face was beautiful but without expression. If one had to look for emotions, lethargy was all to be found.

It was the face with the acceptance of death.

“Take it.”

“I am a Marquis, and you can’t be disrespectful. If my father, Marquis of Scheringen, is dead, aren’t I Marquis now?”

For the first time in days, a cracked voice came out of her open mouth. The doctor’s expression wrinkled.

“Did you kill your father with your own hands because you wanted to be called Marquis?”

“I did not kill him.”

“No one believes that. The major daily newspapers are still reporting the murder of the Marquis of Scheringen.”

“You don’t see my disappearance in the newspapers, do you? The abduction and confinement of a beautiful woman like me deserves  a knighthood.”

“You are not imprisoned; you are in custody because you are not mentally well. We’re saving a life that would be executed if you go to court.”

“They can’t send me to prison if there’s no evidence, so they treat me like a psychopath and lock me up in a place like this.”

Annette’s light green eyes flashed fiercely. The doctor blinked, almost believing her innocence.

‘She’s a witch.’

It was unclear whether she was a murderer, but it was certain that she had strange powers of manipulation.

As Annette said, there was no evidence that she had committed the murder. However, under the circumstances, she was the only culprit. Next to the dead Marquis, 

Annette was holding a gun. There were a few oddities, but all the clues pointed to Annette as the murderer.

“Your relatives have spoken and named you as the murderer.”

“They are after my title and fortune.”

Marquis Burhardt Scheringen exceptionally loved his daughter and promised that she would inherit all the titles and property. After Annette became his successor, there had been discontent in the Scheringen family. The reason was that they could not entrust the fate of the family to a woman.

They took this opportunity and acted like hyenas to take Annette’s position.

“What do they want so badly when the Scheringen family will be destroyed without leaving a single mark in this country anyway?” (Annette)

“The Scheringen family will run fine without you.” (Doctor)

“No, they will be named traitors and slaughtered.That is the end of a family that has produced an evil woman.” (Annette)

“Are you saying you are a prophet who knows the future?” (Doctor)

“You said you’re a doctor, how can you be so stupid? I don’t know the future, this is a world in a book and I know the ending of this book.” (Annette)

The doctor snickered. Annette said crazy things about this world being in a book and that she knew the ending. How could she say she was from another world when she couldn’t leave the asylum even if she was normal?

“If you keep saying things like that you will never get out of this place.”

Of course, Annette knew exactly how she looked talking about possession. She knew what she knew, but decided to give up talking and be a good patient.

She didn’t mean to ask for trust, so there was no earnestness in Annette’s attitude. There was something about the matter-of-fact way she spoke that turned people’s hearts upside down.

The doctor was offended at the thought of being played and hatefully placed the pills in Annette’s hand.

“Take it. You deserve to go to jail for killing the Marquis, but luckily for you, you got admitted into a mental institution.”

Annette stared at her hand with the drug. It was paler than the white tablets. Her otherwise blemish white skin was thinner and more transparent. Her bones might be visible in the sun, she thought.

Annette looked at the pills and tossed them into her mouth.

The doctor grinned and watched Annette’s docile face. It was a face too good to die in a place like this.

She was now shabbily dressed, but the woman who once dressed up and decorated was so beautiful that the word ‘flower’ was not sufficient enough to describe her beauty.

If it were not for the complicated situation, he would try to touch her.

The doctor’s persistent gaze reached Annette. For a moment, a different light drifted into Annette’s eyes, which had been vacant.

Ptz. Annette spit the medicine at the doctor. Her spit and the pills stuck to the doctor’s eyes. 

“I told her not to look at me with those dirty eyes.”

The doctor hastily wiped his face with antiseptic. Then he grabbed Annette’s face and forced her mouth open.

“Ugh!”

“Damn bitch, how dare you spit in my face! Take it. Take the medicine!”

“Uhmmm…”

The doctor poured the entire pill bottle into Annette’s mouth.

Annette tried to cover her mouth with both hands. But her weak body, which had been lacking food, could not withstand the man’s strong grip.

The doctor was now strangling Annette. Unable to breathe, Annette struggled jerkily. His anger had gone too far.

Eventually the tightly closed mouth was pried open and the pills went in.

The doctor dropped the bottle with a clank and retreated.

Annette coughed heavily as her choked breath was released. A friction sound, duller than the sound of Annette’s cough, came from next door.

“How dare you do something like this to the Grand Duchess?”

A tall man was beating the doctor randomly. The doctor shook helplessly as each quick, hard-looking fist flew at him mercilessly.

“You kept my missing wife locked up in a place like this.”

His missing wife?

The man who appeared like a monster rather than a hero seemed to be trying to imitate a husband who punished the wicked man who had assaulted his dear wife. Under the circumstances, that wife was Annette, but Annette did not know who he was.

Since Annette was destined to die young after harassing the heroine, she didn’t have time to get married and have a husband.

As she was wondering if Annette in the book had a hidden lover, she watched the doctor beaten to a pulp. Fists flew in every which way.

‘I think stabbing him with a knife would be more merciful.’

The man was rough, like someone born to inflict pain on others. Perhaps it was his silver hair that shook with each time he swung his fists, but Annette strangely recalled someone’s name over and over again.

Several onlookers crowded the door, but no one dared to stop him.

The doctor soon fainted, and around that point Annette’s coughing stopped.

The man threw the limp doctor against the wall and approached Annette.

He also reminded her of someone with a sharp jawline contrasted with hair as fine and soft as a bird’s feather.

‘No way…could it be that man?’

When the man approached and got down on one knee, Annette instinctively avoided him, but he was faster and hugged her. It was a sudden action.

“My dear Annette.”

His voice was calm and gentle. The tone was unbelievable coming from the mouth of someone with blood on his knuckles.

“Who…”

“It’s me. Your husband, Theodore. I have finally found you.”

Theodore. Annette’s body stiffened at the mention of that name.

If he really was Theodore, the bubbling, collapsed doctor should be thankful for the fact that there was no knife in his hand. If Theodore had even a small weapon, he would have surely killed him.

When the name she imagined matched the one the man had introduced, Annette felt herself choking again.

Perhaps reading Annette’s nervousness, Theodore came closer.

A sharp voice, completely different from the gentle one he had just used, pierced Annette’s ear.

“A being from out of this world. If you want to get out of here, pretend to love me.”

A threat masquerading as a clearly audible suggestion. He knew Annette was a possessor.

“Did you understand what I was talking about?”

Annette nodded involuntarily.

Who was this man? How did he know who she was?

He wanted her to pretend to love him if she wanted to get out? Did he mean get out of here? Was he her savior?

If he was the villain of this novel, she should immediately push him away and not even breathe.

But Annette had no choice. She had to hold his hand in order to survive in this cold asylum.

“You’re here at last. I have been waiting for you to find me.”

Annette smiled brightly as she wrapped her arms around the neck of the husband she had just met.

She decided to become the Devil’s wife in order to live.