When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 115



Only Noblemtl

#115. Flower Buds Blossom
2024.04.24.

A gentle breeze blew between the two of them for a moment of silence. Enrico kept his gaze on Emilia, his chest puffing out and then calming down.

He blinked repeatedly as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing, barely catching his breath.

“Duke… … .”

Emilia whispered softly and slowly examined Enrico’s face, which she hadn’t seen in a long time. Although he seemed to have gained some weight, his complexion was still not good.

When I asked him in a letter how he was doing, he would only say that he missed me, and he never really talked about himself.

He vaguely felt that there was a lot of meaning in the words “I miss you.” That he wouldn’t be doing well until he returned to the duke’s residence. He

slowly stepped forward and closed the gap between Enrico and her.

Emilia lowered her eyebrows slightly and faintly raised the corners of her lips. As she carefully held one of his cheeks, his two eyes that had been staring down at her closed tightly.

She gently stroked his cheekbone with her thumb as if to calm his trembling eyelashes and opened her mouth softly.

“I’m sorry I’m late.”

Enrico tilted his head slightly and wrapped his hand around Emilia’s hand. His two eyes, which had been leaning on her palm as if he was relying on her palm for everything, slowly opened.

“I missed you.”

His purple eyes, filled with indescribable emotions, briefly swayed. Then, with a face filled with emotion, he kissed her palm and let out a trembling breath before rubbing her cheek again.

Seeing him trying not to let go as if he didn’t know what to do, she let out a pitiful sigh and reached out with her other hand to completely wrap both of his cheeks.

Then she offered her shoulder so that the man much larger than her could lean on her.

His sharp nose touched the hollow area between her neck and shoulder, and his long arms hugged her slender waist.

It was a sight that seemed to be looming over her, but instead, he tried to hug her tightly and barely exhaled. As if he could finally catch his breath.

***

Emilia looked at Enrico, who was sitting right next to her and trying not to leave her, with an awkward face.

Fabio, who had been watching the two of them hugging each other for a long time in front of the front door, cautiously stepped in as if he was worried about the increasingly stronger wind.

If he hadn’t done that, Enrico might have stayed like that all day, trying not to leave her for even a moment.

‘Well, I don’t have to go anywhere right now, so should I just wait?’

Still, seeing that he seemed to have calmed down a little more than before, she thought that it would be okay to stay like this for a little longer.

They were sitting next to each other on the sofa, but his body was already half-turned toward her.

He crossed his legs and rested one arm on the back of the sofa, which made others look relaxed, but his expression didn’t seem like there was any room for that.

His two eyes, examining Emilia one by one, were extremely persistent.

“There’s no need to go back there now?”

“Yes.”

“Without a single moment?”

“Yes, I’ve cleaned up everything.”

Suddenly, as he was about to finish up the ballet classroom and leave the village, the children who had been crying and making noises were on his mind, but he tried to console them, saying that if there’s a meeting, there’s a parting.

All he could say was that if he wanted to continue ballet, he should come to the Kingdom of Treano and find him.

Emilia unconsciously closed her eyes at his delicate hand that gently stroked her side hair and tucked it behind her ear.

“Then will you live here with me now?”

Enrico murmured, lightly touching her eyes.

“Ah, if it’s here… … .”

“Live with me in this mansion. Or should we go somewhere else?”

He added a little anxiously, afraid that she might say she was going to his house like before.

“I don’t care where. Wherever you are, I’ll follow you.”

“… … I don’t mind either.”

“Then?”

“I’ll stay here. Should I go to the room I used to stay in?”

“Yeah. “ But wait a little longer.”

Enrico brushed back the ends of her hair, which had gotten shorter than before, and lowered his head to kiss her. His head came closer, almost to her nose, and the familiar scent of his body gave her a strange feeling.

“Actually, I want you to share the same bedroom as me. I want to sleep in the same place.”

“Hmm, isn’t that a little early? Sometimes I don’t know, but every day… .”

She felt it was too early, since they weren’t even married. Of course, it wasn’t that he had to marry her unconditionally, she just remembered him proposing to her out of the blue before.

“Should we hurry up and get married?”

At the time, I thought he had said it impulsively because the situation was so urgent, but judging from what he was saying now, Enrico seemed to be quite serious about getting married.

He had already brought his face right up to her nose and was staring at her intently. Her face, blinking, was reflected in his unwavering, confident purple eyes. They

just stared at each other for a moment. If he hadn’t stretched out one arm and wrapped it around her waist, that eye contact would have continued.

“Huh?”

“I should have sat down like this earlier.”

She was lifted up by his arm and sat on his firm thigh. He positioned himself so that he could put his arm around her neck and pulled her into his arms with a very satisfied expression.

She leaned her cheek against his broad chest and was somewhat surprised by the sound of his heart beating rapidly. His heart was so busy that she thought she wouldn’t have any left if it kept beating like this.

Enrico repeatedly kissed Emilia’s head, then soon whispered languidly with his lips pressed firmly against her head.

“… … This makes me want to get married even more.”

“Well, since it’s been a long time since we last met, let’s talk about it slowly. It’s been less than an hour since we last met.”

“We’ve been talking about marriage for three years.”

It was a little absurd. Back then, he hadn’t even thought about marrying her, but was busy thinking about how he could leave her side.

But now that he was alone, he was trying to imagine a future that might never come, and it was a really funny situation.

Emilia smiled and hugged Enrico’s neck with both arms.

He paused for a moment at her attitude of just laughing without saying anything, then he closed his mouth and held her more deeply in his arms.

Anyway, since she was in his arms now, he decided to enjoy the moment for now, so he closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath of the faint floral scent that always wafted from her.

With the thought that perhaps spring was already in his arms.

***

The mansion, with sunlight streaming in through the glass windows, was so peaceful. Sicily, who had been slowly walking down the hallway alone, stopped for a moment.

‘Should I have just stayed by your side?’

She turned around and looked toward the room, her eyes filled with concern. Enrico, who had definitely been pushing himself too hard, fell into a listless sleep as if he had let go of his tension after holding Emilia in his arms for a short while. The soft

sound of his breathing told him how deeply he had slept. He didn’t even open his eyes once until Fabio laid him down on the sofa so that he could sleep comfortably.

Fabio must have been so surprised to see Enrico in such a deep sleep. Fabio’s face, which was filled with tears as he simply thanked Emilia for her comfort and tried to leave, had the hardships of the past clearly written on it.

‘… … Let’s just take a quick look around. You won’t wake up until then, right?’

Emilia walked again and observed the inside of the mansion that she had not been able to properly examine earlier.

‘Why are they all covered in white cloth?’

Are they managing it to prevent dust from gathering? But it was strange, considering that it had been neatly maintained and exposed before.

She tilted her head and glanced at Fabio, who was following her while standing against one wall.

“Fabio, why did you cover everything?”

“The Duke didn’t want to see it.”

“… … The artwork?”

“Yes. Because ornaments that lose interest are just annoying.”

Losing interest? It was a strangely unfamiliar situation, considering that art had always followed him.

“It seems that the Duke has only Emilia in art. At some point, he stopped paying attention to other art.”

Fabio slowly approached Emilia, who was blinking, and walked ahead of her down the hallway with a pitiful smile. She quietly followed him as he politely gestured for her to follow him.

“You were like that before you left. You didn’t even pay attention to the art side of the contract, so didn’t you know?”

“… … Yes. I didn’t know at all.”

“Not the exhibition, not the other performances. You didn’t pay attention to any of them and only looked at Emilia. I don’t think His Majesty realized it either.”

The middle of the contract was sooner than I thought. I thought he became more interested in me right before we broke up, but it seems his interest was deeper than I thought.

Fabio stood in front of the office and looked back at Emilia.