When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 100



Only Noblemtl

#100. Liberation
2024.04.09.

The interior was smaller than expected. It looked like a log cabin, but the only things inside were a table, a chair, and a fireplace.

As Emilia’s gaze turned to the window with black curtains, Alessandro grabbed her chin and turned her to look at him.

“Do you know where it is? It’s a cabin in the forest.” In

the forest? A cabin like this would usually be in the outskirts, so could he really be trying to escape the kingdom like this? Her mind suddenly cleared and her heart pounded.

She may have kidnapped him because she wanted him, but since she told Enrico to cover up the murder of the blonde woman, it was highly likely that she had him for blackmail purposes.

She tried to take a deep breath as her anxiety grew rapidly. However, Alessandro, who was laughing unpleasantly right in front of her, was extremely annoying.

“… … That’s right. I don’t know where it is.”

Emilia swallowed dryly and lowered her eyes. Alessandro watched her actions as she fluttered her eyelashes and tried to avoid eye contact.

“But what are you going to do from now on? You don’t plan on staying here forever, do you?”

“Of course not.”

Alessandro’s fingertips traced her slender jawline and stopped at her forehead. Then he very slowly passed her forehead and stroked her hair, giggling softly.

“It depends on how my damn uncle reacts. Either go back to my place. Or leave this place with you.”

“… … Yes?”

“I sent another warning that I’ll let you go safely if you cover up the incident. Our paths will change depending on that answer.” He

felt suffocated. He had been threatening me. He had said he wanted to leave because he didn’t want to be manipulated by Enrico, but at some point, it was Enrico who was being manipulated, not him.

He was getting hurt because of him, and it seemed like he was becoming a burden. So I decided to distance myself from him, but I ended up getting involved in this kind of incident again today.

If it were before, I would have declared that Enrico would abandon me, but now I don’t know. I don’t know how long his feelings will last, but in any case, Enrico seemed to be deeply entangled in a swamp of emotions.

‘Why do things keep getting complicated?’

The determination to do something on his own was meaningless. In the end, he had done nothing right and was just becoming a burden.

Before he knew it, he was biting the inside of his lip, and as his teeth grew stronger, he tasted the pungent taste of blood.

“What a shame. If that uncle’s son had come a little later, you could have rested nicely in my private room… … .” She

felt Alessandro lift her upper body that she had been bending over. Emilia lifted her chin even higher, and followed Alessandro, who made her tilt her head back, and looked up.

“You’ve been suffering for nothing.”

“… … A private room?”

“I just made a space just for you so that you could rest comfortably. Wait a minute.”

What on earth did he do to believe that everything would go his way? She couldn’t understand where that certainty came from.

No matter how much Enrico chose her, he would have done something, and there was no way he would blindly listen to Alessandro’s wishes.

Emilia tightly shut her mouth and swallowed the blood again.

“I’ll show you as soon as I finish. You’ll like it too.”

Alessandro’s hand cupped one of her cheeks. Then he moved only his fingers to leisurely pat her cheek. His face, with its carefree attitude and bright smile on its lips, looked strangely bizarre.

Maybe it was because of those dark, shining eyes, but Emilia was speechless when she saw his extremely low face.

And when she saw those half-turned eyes, she had a feeling that she shouldn’t provoke him rashly anymore.

‘I can’t wait for someone to help me. I have to get out of here no matter what.’

Even though she was tied up, she didn’t want to give up. Emilia took a deep breath as if she was having a hard time, twisted her tied upper body slightly, and tilted her head. As

her body moved away from his hands, a corner that she hadn’t noticed before came into view.

“Does it hurt? I don’t think they tied it up that tightly… … Oh, I guess you were looking over there.”

Alessandro grabbed her hand that was floating in the air and then turned his eyes to follow her gaze. His eyes sparkled as if he had found something interesting, and he suddenly started to head toward that corner.

The first thought he had when he saw it was a black cloth covering piled up items. However, he couldn’t help but be shocked when he saw Alessandro walking to the corner and grabbing the black cloth and lifting it.

“Hello. Your replacement.”

There, Christina, who was tied to a chair just like him, was with her eyes closed.

***

The sky after the sun had set was bleak. Enrico stared out the window, where the stars were not visible today. Then he felt someone carefully placing a bottle of medicine on the table and turned his head.

“Please listen to me.”

“Yes?”

Fabio, who had been waiting, asked back, looking embarrassed. He hesitated again at the sight of Enrico taking out several pills with a pale face and putting them in his mouth.

Enrico drank all the water in his glass and furrowed his brow. The painkiller was not working well even after taking it, and now it was not working well from the beginning.

If it weren’t for this injury, he wouldn’t have let Emilia go so pointlessly. Gritting his teeth, he reached for the cigarette he had placed on the side of the table.

“You shouldn’t keep taking painkillers like this. Taking too much can cause side effects. Also, the reason why you have constant headaches now is because you lost consciousness after hitting your head. You should definitely rest for the time being.”

The attending physician, who had been watching him restlessly, uttered a trembling voice with a face filled with anxiety and worry.

How surprised I had been to see Enrico return to the mansion earlier. At first, I had tried to prescribe a drug to induce deep sleep and an appropriate amount of painkillers to Enrico, who had been brought in on the verge of losing consciousness.

However, I was so terrified when I saw him struggling to get up, telling him to bring me a stimulant or a strong painkiller that would help him move right away. I couldn’t possibly disobey the order.

But as if that wasn’t enough, Enrico kept taking painkillers like water whenever the pain came, and his condition was getting worse.

He even lit a cigarette and inhaled deeply.

He looked like someone who would get into trouble soon, so I couldn’t just sit still, afraid that he might storm out.

“Yes. Please take a rest for a moment. I’ll find Miss Emilia somehow… .”

Fabio, who had been staring blankly at Enrico for a moment, blinked his eyes quickly and agreed with the doctor.

Enrico, who was smoking a cigarette while leaning back on the chair, muttered softly, closing his eyes tightly as if he had no intention of listening to anyone else.

“Stop. Just do what that bastard wants.”

“Are you really telling me to cover up the incident? His Majesty the King already knows everything. If I come now and get you out, he might definitely hold you responsible!”

Enrico slowly opened his eyes and his gaze was sharply fixed on Fabio for a moment. Fabio’s shoulders trembled at the sight of his purple eyes.

“I’ll handle it myself, so stop and do as I say. Don’t make me repeat the same thing.”

Gradually, a headache continued to come to him for no reason, whether it was from the head injury or the shock of losing Emilia right in front of him.

Seeing that the medicine he took countless times didn’t work, he wondered if the latter had caused him mental shock.

Enrico nervously put out his cigarette and straightened his upper body. His always relaxed and easygoing appearance was nowhere to be found, and his face was full of a sinister aura.

As if Alessandro had sensed something, he left his shadow waiting and threatened Emilia with a gun before leaving. It

seemed that he had ignored Alessandro too much. I thought he was a helpless scoundrel, but he seemed to be quite good at smelling danger like a young animal.

In particular, I didn’t know that he would send a shadow to threaten her. Alessandro had sent countless shadows to kill the young daughter of the Viscount of Carent Kingdom. He

would have gradually reduced the number of shadows by imprisoning them in the underground prison as soon as he caught them, but he would have used them as a tactic to throw them away when he was in a situation where he was sorry about each shadow.

He had pressured the shadows he had captured to ask about their hiding places, but they all seemed to genuinely not know. It seemed that there was no other way to find out unless the leader of the Shadow Clan showed up.

So he thought about pretending to listen to Alessandro’s request and searching for Emilia separately. However, since he still couldn’t find even the slightest trace, it seemed better not to gamble and create a dangerous situation.

“Finding Emilia safely is the priority. Rule out everything else.”

He had revealed the face of the Crown Prince, a serial killer, to the King, but if that was a threat to Emilia, he had to cover it up as if it never happened, no matter what harm he suffered.

Of course, Emilia kept pushing him away, saying she would leave, and only said bad things. However, he felt that he had to bring her first to relieve his suffocated breathing.

“Right now… … .”

He brought Emilia in front of him, and the words he was about to say were drowned out by someone who suddenly appeared.

The black masked man who had been walking inside with his hands raised and the guards from the Michele mansion around him slowly took off his mask.

“… … I have come to make a deal.”

It was the leader of Alessandro’s shadow group that he had just thought of. Enrico slowly raised one hand and let his guard down.

“Is this a different deal from the shadow I sent earlier?”

He had a feeling that the incident was about to take a new turn. Enrico placed his hand, with blue veins protruding, on the table and began to tap it at a steady rhythm.

The shadow chief’s gaze met the tip of his index finger, but it was only for a moment. The shadow chief, who had been looking down at Enrico with a blank expression as if all emotions had disappeared, opened his mouth without hesitation.

“Yes. I will tell you where to hide.”

“… … What are the conditions?”

“I want the liberation of the shadows held captive in the duke’s mansion.”

Enrico soon clenched his fists.