When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 29



Only Noblemtl

#29. Outburst
2024.01.29.

“I knew it would happen. It would have been absurd to drop you.”

“Ah… … . Thank you.”

“Look at this. There’s also a notice of dismissal of the director.”

Emilia looked at the names of the directors, Carlo and Eva Faberia, who had been dismissed for bringing the theater’s reputation into disrepute and violating company regulations. She read the sentence that the director’s position would be vacant for a while and then fell into thought.

I don’t know why they did that. Even if the director had a lot of casting authority, the absurd role assignment would have been controversial, and looking at the roles Eva had applied for so far, there wasn’t anything particularly controversial.

Did they try to use the director’s power slowly over time? Or was it just to harass her? If it was the latter, it seemed like she was getting worked up over something so useless. Emilia tilted her head and looked at her name written next to the role of Epi again.

She would only be on stage for five out of ten performances. Considering the consecutive performance dates, it was common to select two or three dancers for one role, so it seemed like they would schedule to go on stage every other day.

Emilia’s eyes sparkled and she turned her head at the sound of voices.

“Oh my, what is that? Isn’t that person Eva?”

… … Eva? Eva’s face, coming down the stairs from the upper floor, had completely changed in the past two days. Her face was pale, her lips were chapped white, and there were dark shadows under her eyes. She looked like she couldn’t breathe even without saying anything.

“You probably didn’t meet the theater director, but you met the vice director?”

Everyone in the hallway and those coming up the stairs all murmured when they saw Eva. I thought she would never come back since she was kicked out on Saturday, but who would have thought she would show up like this? She wasn’t usually shameless.

“Why did you come out? Where do you think this is?”

“Did you really think only the director would get fired? But she really is thick-skinned. If I were you, I would be too embarrassed to come out… … .”

“If I was in my right mind, I wouldn’t have done that with the director in the first place. Honestly, I don’t understand why it had to be the director. It would have been better to catch someone higher up. The director is just someone who gets a salary from the theater, and how much power does he have to do something like that with him… … . Ugh-.”

“Really love?”

“Oh my, I really don’t like it-! I think I’m going to throw up.”

The derisive and condescending words echoed through the hallway. Eva, who had always been so confident, blushed in shame, not knowing what to do with the people’s gazes. I saw Eva with tears in her eyes, but I didn’t feel a single bit of resentment. Of course, I felt pity.

Just don’t come. Why do you have any regrets that you came here and got cursed at like that? It was pathetic, but if I suddenly quit ballet, I thought I would be buried in regrets and do the same, so I couldn’t even laugh.

People kept coming up the central staircase, and the mockery got worse. Meanwhile, Eva, who was surrounded by people in the middle of the hallway, soon ran towards the emergency stairs as if she couldn’t bear it any longer.

The sound of the door closing was heard, and the people’s attention instantly dispersed. Emilia looked at the people looking at the bulletin board again as if nothing had happened, and then walked towards the locker room.

‘It’s taking too long. I need to warm up quickly.’

As soon as she entered, Emilia changed into her practice clothes and hurriedly left the locker room and walked towards the practice room.

However, at that moment, she suddenly felt a force pulling her from behind. Pulled in, Emilia didn’t have time to scream before checking who she was dealing with and frowning.

“Eva? What are you doing?”

“Don’t talk nonsense, just follow me!”

Emilia held onto the door and resisted the force pulling her towards the emergency stairs.

“Why are you doing this!”

“Whew- whow-. What the hell did you say?”

“… … What?”

“What did you say to the vice-captain!”

Eva, who was breathing heavily and her chest was pounding, shouted loudly as if she couldn’t calm down. Those who had been watching Emilia being dragged away from afar started to approach her, muttering.

“What did I say?”

“Don’t evade your words! You must have said something about the captain and me. If not, then why on earth! The vice-captain is convinced that the captain ordered you to harass him! Didn’t you go and tell him?”

“Don’t be stubborn. I could have easily guessed that from the way the captain treated me during the audition. Do you know what your expression was like that day?”

“How do you know that I told you to harass me just from that! The captain did it all by himself!”

“Ha… … . Does that matter now? It’s all over anyway.”

“You’re causing internal conflict by using personal feelings right now, so it’s a bigger problem. If not for that, I could have continued working!”

Eva’s hand lost strength, but she didn’t let go of the wrist she was holding. Emilia placed the hand she was holding onto the wall on her forehead and closed her eyes with a tired face.

“Eva. Don’t lie.”

The eyes that were revealed again were shining resolutely.

“You should have controlled your expression when the captain said something to me.”

“T, that’s… … .”

“You just gave in to your inferiority complex. You didn’t think about working hard and were busy keeping me in check, so who would know?”

“What do you know! I worked hard. I really worked hard! Do you think I came here to listen to a lecture from you?!”

Eva threw away her wrist that she was holding and stomped her feet like a madman. Eva, who was jumping around in place as if she was going crazy, bit her nails and grew impatient.

“T, this can’t go on… I can’t go back to that dirty place… … .”

Emilia frowned slightly as she saw blood starting to show on her nails from how much she was tearing them off.

“Get out now before the security guards drag me out.”

She didn’t want to care anymore. Emilia wrapped her free wrist with her other hand and turned her back. I felt someone was there, but I didn’t know that people had come this far. The emergency staircase entrance was blocked so I couldn’t get out.

“Oh, no. Emilia. I was wrong. I’ll apologize, so you better talk to me. Okay?”

Before I could escape, I felt a hand grabbing my arm. Thump, Emilia quickly shook Eva’s hand off roughly and turned around.

“Why me?”

“You haven’t lost anything. You’ll be fine in the future! So please help me… … . Please… … .”

“You haven’t lost anything… … . What does that have to do with you? If you apologize, I have to accept it unconditionally?”

“T-That’s it. I’m only asking you to help me once! I’m asking you like this!”

“The attitude of asking is wrong. If you’re truly wrong, grit your teeth and start over from the bottom. Don’t rely on others.”

Emilia sent a look at the people blocking her way telling them to get out of the way. As she walked through the quickly moving crowd, Eva’s hysterical screams echoed behind her.

Just then, someone told her something and she noticed a security guard running from the stairs. The repeated sounds of screaming and crying echoed through the hallway for a while.

***

“Emilia. Eva came to see you. Are you okay?”

It was her first time in the vice-captain’s office. Emilia got up from her seat and nodded slightly to Vice-captain Sylvia who was approaching her.

“I’m okay.”

“I should have handled it more firmly, but I didn’t know you would do it all the way to the practice room.”

“Oh, did you stop by here first?”

“Yes. I told you a more concrete reason because you kept blurting out the issue and refused to accept your dismissal. But you came right away. It was my fault.”

“No. I was the one who found you on the emergency stairs first. But did you call me because of this?”

Sylvia hesitated for a moment and pointed to the sofa.

“Shall we sit down and talk for a moment?”

“Yes.”

“Would you like some tea?”

“No problem.”

“Okay. Um… … .”

Sylvia, sitting across from me, held her ten fingers together and trailed off. Emilia quietly looked at her cautiously.

“Actually, the reason I called you is because I thought I needed to talk to someone who helped me fix this.”

Someone who helped. But there was no need to tell me that. Emilia tilted her head slightly, puzzled.

“I would have liked to handle it on my own, but he was the one who suggested it in the first place. He said he would help me oust Director Carlo and become Director.” “… … .” “I thought I could easily rise to the top on my own if time passed, so of course I declined. However, after seeing what the Director did this time, I decided that it would be better for the future of the ballet company to get rid of him as soon as possible.” “

… … Oh, yes.” “I think it’s safe to say that Duke Michele has taken care of this case.” “Yes?” Did you just say Duke Michele? That Enrico Michele? Emilia blinked in disbelief. “This year, Duke Michele made a big donation to the ballet company and made a separate offer to me. He said that because I’m a woman and young, I wouldn’t be guaranteed a spot right away.” “Ah… … .” “He said he’d make the director’s position vacant. At the time, I didn’t know what he meant, and I thought that if I received help, I’d have to commit corruption like the Duke wanted, so I declined.”