When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 37



Only Noblemtl

#37. Yellow Freesia
2024.02.06.

“I thought it would rain today, so I wouldn’t have to go out.”

In that short moment, rain was pouring down from the sky. The sound of raindrops hitting the glass like whips filled the room. Emilia looked at the wet window and turned her head to the side. Her eyes met Enrico’s purple eyes, who was looking at her.

The eyes of the man, who had a beautiful and wonderful appearance but whose insides were unknown, were strangely cold.

“A few days ago, you acted as if you knew your duty, but why did you act like that today?”

Emilia’s eyes trembled briefly. She had felt it before, but he knew her every move too well. She thought she was just receiving reports from Zaveta, but since he seemed to know everything more than that, she wondered if he had sent someone to do it.

“Is this because you met His Highness the Crown Prince?”

Enrico’s eyes narrowed. I don’t know if she was saying this because she didn’t know how to admit it right away, or because she didn’t like meeting Alessandro, but since she already knew everything, she just said it without hesitation.

“Your Majesty called me, so I couldn’t help it. I’m not in a position to refuse a royal call, am I?” Her

surprised heart calmed down, and her eyes looking up at him soon became quiet.

It didn’t really matter that she was curious about what Alessandro would say. He had asked to see her first at the party, and he had even sent her a letter this morning, so of course she had to go see him. There was no other way.

Now, as she was thinking about what Enrico would say, and whether he would ask what they talked about since no one could follow him into the restaurant, something she hadn’t thought of before suddenly came to mind.

‘Come to think of it, how did Your Majesty know my home address and send me a letter?’

Emilia’s eyes furrowed slightly. When they met, he said he hadn’t done any research on me, but that was just talk, and was this kind of background research basic for royals?

He pretended to be all good, but he didn’t seem much different from Enrico.

No, but what was Enrico telling me to be careful of? The only thing he could lie about was his parents’ death. But if he hadn’t investigated separately, there would have been no way of knowing more about this, so this didn’t seem right. Could it be that

he was worried that she might have feelings for him?

‘Me, this man… …?’

Emilia stared at Enrico as if it didn’t make sense. Enrico’s eyes, which had been quietly looking down at him since earlier, languidly curved. It seemed different from the smile he had seen before, and he gave off a somewhat erotic vibe.

“Don’t look away. How long do you think this is going to end as a warning?”

That’s ridiculous. There’s no way that could happen. Emilia furrowed her brows slightly at his possessive words.

“… … I’ve never looked away, so I don’t have to listen to warnings.”

“Really? Then give me a reason that I can understand. “The reason why the Crown Prince whispered to meet you and actually met you.”

I thought I didn’t hear it at the masked ball, but Enrico must have heard what Alessandro whispered as he passed by. Emilia blinked her eyes in surprise before finally sighing.

“He told me about Count Valermont. He said I seemed to be interested in him, so he wanted to tell you.”

“What?”

“The fact that Uncle Giorgio and Count Valermont met. Did you know, Your Majesty?”

“Not everything, but just suspicion?”

Enrico turned his body slightly toward her and crossed his legs. She glanced at her knees that were slightly touching, then looked up at him again.

“What suspicion?”

“Giorgio and Valermont’s subordinate met at the gambling house, so it’s not like they didn’t have any contact.”

Why the gambling house all of a sudden? It was the first time she had heard that Giorgio went to the gambling house, so Emilia opened her eyes wide as if wondering what he meant.

“That subordinate frequently meets with Giorgio at the casino. We should investigate what they talk about in detail. It’s just the two of them knowing each other, and I can give you that kind of information as much as I want. But you want something more certain.”

That kind of person gave me just a little bit of information about Count Vallemont last time and now he’s asking me to go to the ball? It was incredible. It was as if he was separating Alessandro and himself as if they were different.

“You said Vallemont was after the investment rights in the first place. Shouldn’t we find out if he approached Giorgio to get that or if it was before that?”

“… … Then when will the results of that investigation come out?”

“Well. We’ll have to wait and see. Oh, but I’ve revealed too much. I’m going to suffer a huge loss because of some lynx.”

Enrico rested one arm on the back of the sofa and rested his chin on it. His laid-back attitude made him feel annoyed for some reason. He was angry because it seemed like he was teasing him by taking advantage of his weakness.

Enrico didn’t pay any attention to Emilia’s cold expression.

“Surely you wouldn’t forget your duty and run to that lynx again.

Rather, he was so upset about meeting Alessandro that he sneered again in a slow tone. If he had acted like a back-alley thug, I would have laughed at him and let it go, but he was a natural at making sarcasm seem arrogant.

Emilia clenched her teeth at his languid yet arrogant gaze. Her two hands on her thighs tightened.

“… … I had something to tell you anyway.”

“Tell me.”

“I think I should visit the mansion until next week. The performance is not far away, so I need to focus on practicing for a while to fulfill my duty.”

Enrico’s mouth closed. His gaze, which had been staring intently at her, slowly turned downward. His gaze stopped at her hand, which was clenching her fist so tightly that it was impossible for blood to flow.

“I hope the investigation will make a lot of progress by the time the performance is over.”

Her purple eyes were deeply locked under her delicate, half-lowered eyelashes. Her fist tightened in anxiety about how he would react and what he would say.

But at that moment, she felt a hand wrapping around the back of her hand. His right hand turned her fist the other way and put his fingers through the gap, opening them one by one so that her palm was visible.

A faint electric current flowed through her hand. The sound of heavy rain could still be heard outside. Emilia raised her eyes that had been closed and looked at him again. Her

eyes met with his, who was already staring at her face. His mouth, without a hint of a smile, opened.

“Let’s do that.”

A surprisingly innocent answer mixed with the sound of the rain.

***

Enrico’s investigation progressed faster than expected. What he received after spending the remaining week on stage at the ducal palace was information about Giorgio. It is

said that the Count of Vallemont and Giorgio had been interacting at the gambling house, and that their relationship began a long time ago. It is said that the reason Giorgio was able to quickly reach the viscount’s house right after his parents died was because of the Count of Vallemont’s words.

Perhaps the reason why we have to keep in touch is that the car investment authority that I mentioned earlier has become anonymous, so it is impossible to confirm who it belongs to.

The lawyer who holds the power of attorney needs to step forward and release it, but since they couldn’t find the lawyer who was in charge at the time, they told me that the investigation would take a while.

“Why haven’t they shown up yet?”

It seems that Giorgio and Count Vallemont have been looking for that lawyer for a long time, but since they haven’t found him yet, it seems like it’s really hard to find him.

As we get closer to my parents’ accident, it becomes clear that Count Vallemont definitely has a motive. If I were to suspect more, Giorgio would be the same.

If those people were the culprits, what should I do? Even if I reported them, they would probably get away with it, so I wasn’t sure if I could punish them. Days passed with increasing anger and sadness.

However, since she couldn’t do anything and just feel helpless and sad, Emilia vowed to suppress her anger until it was clearly revealed, and just immersed herself in ballet.

Fortunately, since the performance was imminent, no one could say anything to Emilia, who had become a practice bug again.

As the practice to forget her anger passed by every day, the curtain rose on the ballet performance of [Stubborn Daughter].

The morning of the performance dawned. The practice room, which had finished the morning briefing, was very busy. Although the performance was to start late in the afternoon, everyone waited diligently for the stage because there was so much to prepare.

Emilia, like everyone else, changed into her performance costume and waited in the dressing room. Juliana was already in the lead, so she was getting her makeup done, and the others were waiting in the practice room like her.

Important roles are given their own dressing rooms, but the corps de ballet shared a large dressing room, so a lot of time was spent on makeup.

Emilia realized that it would be her turn soon and slowly went out into the hallway. But then she saw someone carrying a large flower basket coming from the other side of the hallway.

The official entered the group dressing room, carrying a flower basket in his hands. The dancers followed him, chattering away.

“Wow, what kind of flowers are these?”

“Who are they for? Doesn’t it say anything?”

Emilia looked at the flowers with uneasy eyes. The gorgeous flower basket, a combination of yellow freesias and white baby’s breath, was so large that it covered the official’s upper body.

“Hmm… … . To a ballerina who hasn’t forgotten her duty? What does that mean?”