When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 21



Only Noblemtl

#21. Emergency Stairs
2024.01.21.

Emilia absentmindedly rubbed her forehead. The sweat that had formed a moment ago had quickly dried.

The sudden drop in body temperature made her body chill.

‘… … Let’s go for now.’

Her motivation dropped sharply. Emilia packed her bags and left the practice room.

The empty hallway was quiet. It had always been like this since she joined. But Director Carlo had even come down to the practice room at this hour. Emilia was about to open the locker room door with a puzzled look.

“-What?”

Her hands flinched at the sound coming from somewhere.

‘Where is that sound coming from?’ She

stopped and focused on the sound. The occasional voices were coming from the emergency stairs. Normally, she would have ignored them, but because Director Carlo had appeared just before, her mind was on the line. She

cautiously approached the emergency stairs door. As expected, two voices could be heard talking beyond the door. Since she had heard the voice of the captain Carlo a little while ago, she could immediately tell that it was him inside.

‘It’s a woman’s voice… … Who could it be at this hour?’

Emilia looked around and put her ear to the door.

“What did Emilia say?”

“What should I say? She bowed and said sorry.”

“Oh my, as expected of the captain. You’re cool. I should have seen it myself… … What a pity.”

It was a familiar voice. Who was it? Emilia frowned and searched her memory. Before she could think of one, captain Carlo called the woman’s name.

“I can show you the cool ones separately. Eva, how are you now?”

… … Eva? That Eva Faberia? Emilia’s eyes widened. It was a person she had never expected.

“Can you not go home early today? Your wife is waiting for you.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. “You want to go home when you’re right in front of me?”

Director Carlo and Eva were having an intimate conversation, their voices full of nasal sounds, as if they were revealing an unusual relationship. It was a situation that even a dull person would suspect was suspicious.

‘This is crazy… … .’

It seemed qualitatively different from the sponsorship contract he had signed. Furthermore, sponsorship only touches relationships with outsiders, but if the other party was an internal senior manager, it was a different story. Since the theater director hated that the most, and it was a warning he received as soon as he joined, there was no way Eva wouldn’t know what he already knew. A

sly laugh could be heard from beyond the door. Emilia’s pale face faltered at the obscene sound of kissing that followed.

But at that moment, the luggage he was holding shook and hit the wall between the doors. The other side of the door became quiet for a moment.

A cold silence descended. Emilia was confused and thought about whether she should run away or confront him.

There was no reason for her to avoid it, but there was no evidence to immediately accuse the two of them of being together, so the captain, who was already displeased with her, couldn’t just leave it alone.

“… … What did you say?”

“Wait.”

The sound of footsteps getting closer was heard. It seemed like the emergency door would open right away if she ran away. Emilia, who had been instinctively stepping back, almost screamed when a hand suddenly grabbed her shoulder.

“… … Hmph.”

As she turned around, she saw Vice-Captain Sylvia covering Emilia’s mouth and putting her index finger on her lips. Sylvia stared at Emilia’s shaking eyes for a moment, then slowly pulled her hand away and approached the emergency door. At that moment, she heard the sound of a doorknob being grabbed from the other side.

“Who’s in there?”

The doorknob that had been moving suddenly stopped at Sylvia’s voice. Sylvia, who had been asking in a nonchalant voice, grabbed the doorknob as if gesturing for Emilia to get away. Emilia stood quietly against the wall that was out of sight from the emergency exit.

Soon, a sound of running was heard on the other side. Clank, clank, the door wouldn’t open as if it was being held from the inside. Sylvia looked up and down as if she was glaring at the person holding the doorknob from the inside.

“… … Is it broken? Why won’t it open?”

The other side quickly became quiet at the voice muttering as if to tell them to listen. A moment of silence passed, and when Vice-Chief Sylvia took her hand off the doorknob, the door slowly began to open.

“Oh, this door is weird. I should take a look.”

Captain Carlo appeared with a shameless face.

“You’re the captain. But why are you here? Didn’t you just get off work?”

“I was just taking a look. Ahem, what are you doing here, Vice-Chief? If you’re done with work, why don’t you hurry and take a look?”

“I was just looking around, and it worked.”

“Haha, that’s right. If we’re going to look around from now on, we should set a order. Then I’ll take my leave… … .”

“But were you alone? I heard other voices, too.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“I heard the sound of running.”

“You must have misheard! I was alone!”

It seemed that there was a limit to how casually he acted, as the captain Carlo flared up with a suspicious expression on his face. Sylvia nodded with a grin.

“Then I must have misheard. I’m so tired these days that I’m hallucinating.”

“That’s right! I must be tired. So hurry up and get off work. Don’t stay here so late!”

“Of course. Thank you for your concern.”

“Ahem… …”

The captain coughed in vain at her leisurely answer and quickly walked away. Emilia, who had poked her head out at the sound of the voice getting further away, awkwardly made eye contact with Sylvia, who was left alone in the hallway.

“Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Sylvia asked with a serious expression.

***

Time passed quickly. The cold wind was still there, but February, when you could occasionally see trees sprouting tiny new buds, had already arrived.

Today was already the fifth time performing a ballet in front of Enrico, and next week was the week of the audition for [La Sylphide]. It felt strange.

She would soon hear the second information, but she was worried about how Director Carlo would react at the upcoming audition.

‘The vice director told me to watch, so there’s nothing I can do about it…’

Emilia thought back to the day she found out about Eva and Director Carlo’s affair as she warmed up in the empty practice room.

‘At first, I didn’t think it was possible, but they were having an affair.’

‘Yes. I think so.’

‘How reckless. Doing something like that even in the theater. The director would probably get away with a few months of suspension, but Eva would be fired for bringing shame to the ballet company’s reputation.’ ‘

… I heard that the theater director is strict about internal conflicts, but will the director only end up with a suspension?’

‘As far as I know, yes. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.’

Vice director Sylvia didn’t say anything for a while. She stared into space with a conflicted expression, then tilted her head back and sighed deeply. Then, she suddenly met his eyes again and opened her mouth.

‘Can you pretend not to know for now?’

‘Yes?’

‘Maybe there’s a way. I don’t feel like it, but I think this is my only chance to get rid of the captain.’

She muttered to herself in the end, wondering what on earth she was talking about, but her eyes were firm as if she had come to a conclusion on her own. Emilia, who had guessed that the captain and vice-captain were not on good terms, nodded as if agreeing that she wasn’t just asking him to hide her.

“Ugh!”

Emilia, who was practicing the center movement, suddenly fell to the ground due to the pain in her ankle. Her mind went blank. She had been getting massages and steaming a lot lately, but she was worried that she had overdone it and was suddenly experiencing ankle pain.

‘Ha… … It’s not time to rest.’

Emilia tightly wrapped her ankle with an anxious expression. She could feel the hot heat. Fortunately, it didn’t seem to be swollen, but that was already the worst, so I thought I should take a break from individual practice for a while before that. At least for the audition.

Emilia sighed and took off her pointe shoes. As her feet, which had been crushed by the shoes, were freed, the suppressed sensations came back to life. It was a familiar pain. As she stared blankly at her ugly toes that had become bumpy, Enrico came to mind for a moment. She thought that the aesthete would frown if he saw these feet.

‘Maybe he’d call these broken. These feet would be a stain on his aesthetic sense.’

Emilia smiled weakly. It might not look good to others, but these feet were the result of my efforts. It was the very evidence of how hard I had worked. Since

I wouldn’t show my feet to him anyway, it didn’t matter. I thought I would worry about it every now and then, but I couldn’t help it because maintaining my contract with him was important. If you change your mind, you will still be given the price, but since that is something you will only know when it happens, it is better to prevent it in advance.

‘… … But why is my body so heavy?’

Not just my ankles, but my whole body felt a little sagging. Emilia got up from her seat and put on a shawl. She shouldn’t be sick in the evening. She was already worried about the stage she would show him.