When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 39



Only Noblemtl

#39. Special Feature
2024.02.08.

Emilia looked at Juliana with an anxious face.

“Yeah, I’m waiting in the hallway. I think I’ve been sent on an errand.”

“What is it…?”

She tilted her head and headed toward the hallway Juliana pointed to. There, a small boy was holding his hat off in front of his chest.

“Lady, this…!”

It was a very small flower. The ballerinas who had been curiously glancing around smiled cutely and soon withdrew their interest. Emilia also felt relieved and smiled slightly.

However, her smile hardened slightly when she felt the piece of paper the boy secretly pushed between her palms.

“Then, I hope you continue to have great performances!”

Emilia watched the boy’s back as he awkwardly bowed politely and left, hiding the paper in his hand.

It seemed that he had hired a street boy to do it, but there was only one person she knew who would do such a thing.

Enrico Michele, that’s it.

Emilia leisurely walked down the hallway and headed toward the emergency stairs. Bang, the sound of the door closing was heard, and Emilia stood with her back against the door. She looked down at her hand, which was making the sound of rustling paper.

-Come to the duke’s house tomorrow.

He didn’t say who it was, but judging by his arrogant tone, it was definitely Enrico. Emilia sighed and crumpled the paper at his actions, calling her without giving her time to feel relieved after the performance.

“Emilia?”

Then she suddenly raised her head at the voice on the other side. Alessandro, who was coming down the stairs, came into view.

“Your Majesty, why are you here?”

“Um… … .”

Alessandro, who was standing in front of her, rolled his eyes with an embarrassed expression, then smiled bashfully.

“I came here just in case you were there, but I didn’t think we would actually meet.”

“Ah… … . May I ask why you were looking for me?”

Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t come to see me? He said he would come with flowers when he got the lead role, so I thought he wouldn’t come for a while, but I wondered what the situation was.

Alessandro moved his lips a few times and then carefully spoke.

“Is tomorrow free? You must have had a hard time, so I’d like to treat you to a nice meal.”

Emilia let out a small sigh without realizing it. She thought he was just being friendly to her because of memories from when they were young, but it seemed like he had feelings for her regardless of the past.

Even if he was alone, he would feel uncomfortable and not get close, but since he had a fiancé, she felt even more embarrassed.

Seeing her hesitating, he moistened his dry lips and quietly waited for an answer.

“… … I’m sorry. I have a prior engagement. I appreciate your kind words.”

For the first time, she was happy to hear Enrico’s one-sided promise. It seemed too obvious to just say no when there was nothing going on, so it seemed better to just say that he had an appointment.

Alessandro’s lips twitched. Disappointment flashed in her eyes. Emilia, who had been nervous that he might ask her if she could come back another day, was relieved to hear his relaxed expression and words.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t help it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh, I didn’t say that to make you uncomfortable. I just wanted to have a meal with a friend from my childhood that I haven’t seen in a long time.” As

if he had read Emilia’s mind, he came up with an appropriate answer. However, it was an excuse that didn’t really reach her, who was already starting to feel more uncomfortable than before, but she pretended not to know and smiled slightly.

“Thank you. For remembering me for so long.”

“No. Are you going home right away today?”

“I think we’ll have a small after-party.”

“I see. Then I hope you have a good time.”

Alessandro left cleanly like last time. Although he was an unpredictable person, he wasn’t sticky, so it wasn’t unpleasant. His gaze briefly touched her hand. Perhaps because of the dim lighting unique to the emergency stairs, his eyes seemed to have sunken for some reason.

Emilia felt like she had to hide it, so she pulled the hand holding the paper behind her back and gently placed her right hand on the center of her chest.

“Thank you very much for coming to the show.”

It was the standard posture for a ballerina to greet the audience on stage. Even in that brief moment, a feeling of regret crossed his eyes at her graceful appearance, but he soon smiled as if nothing had happened and hid his expression.

“No problem.”

Her face relaxed at his polite greeting. She didn’t notice that his face had cooled down as he turned away.

***

Emilia tilted her head as she rode in a carriage heading to the duke’s house, looking at people who were seriously reading newspapers. As she opened the window, a cold wind brushed her cheeks and the shout of a newspaper boy flowed in.

“This is the morning edition of Liberta Recorde! Breaking news!”

Emilia, who had been staring blankly at the boy shouting the name of Treano’s largest newspaper, knocked on the windshield. She stopped the carriage and opened the window, handing her money through the gap.

The boy stopped shouting as if he was used to it and quickly approached the carriage. After receiving the money, the boy stuck the newspaper through the gap, returned to his original spot, and shouted again, and the carriage started off again.

Emilia frowned slightly at the front of the newspaper. She had bought the newspaper in case they were looking for a ballerina again, but fortunately that wasn’t the case, but the content wasn’t very good.

The headline was too provocative.

The front page of the newspaper was full of the story, as if it was a major story. It was about a blonde woman who had recently started disappearing, and how it was a mistake to think of it as a simple escape. It was

written in detail that the body of one of the missing women had been found, and that it wasn’t the first time a blonde woman had been found dead.

Now that I think about it, I think it was part of an article that Juliana had shown me earlier this year about a body floating down the river.

Alessandro’s words of concern flashed through my mind. The words he had told me not to go out alone because the world was in turmoil.

‘It wasn’t a simple disappearance.’

Emilia continued reading the newspaper with a complicated expression. The newspaper, which had been raising its voice about the need for a clear investigation regardless of class, was finally saying the right thing for the first time in a long time.

Until yesterday, I had thought it was a waste of paper because they kept writing about finding women, but everything had completely changed in one night. The carriage had already arrived at the main gate of the duke’s residence. The bare tree branches were starting to sprout new buds, and the large fountain between the mansion and the main gate was still showing off its exquisiteness today.

“It’s nice that my story is buried… … . But it’s not good that it has to be about this.”

Emilia let out a small sigh and quickly folded the newspaper neatly and placed it on one side of the chair, preparing to get off. She wore a wine-colored coat over a beige blouse with red flower embroidery around the neck and center of the chest, and before getting off, she straightened her red skirt once and slowly got off the carriage. She

followed the butler who greeted her at the entrance, wondering if he would guide her to the dining room again. However, contrary to her expectations, the place the butler guided her to was a warm greenhouse.

It was the first time she had visited there in a long time since she had been there once before. The door opened and Enrico, sitting at the large table in the center of the greenhouse, caught her eye.

He still had beautiful and arrogant eyes, and made eye contact with her with a picturesque smile.

“It’s been a while.”

Emilia bowed slightly to him, who nodded while sitting on the chair, and headed to the seat opposite her. She sat on the chair the butler had given her and thought to herself as she looked at the dishes prepared by the servants who came in after her. She

was going to eat first and then open her mouth. Today, he didn’t serve a fancy course meal like before, perhaps because he was planning to eat simply. Emilia, who was already worried that the food would be too much, slowly chewed her food in relief.

The flower potage was my first time eating it and it was pretty good. It had a slight fragrance and flower petals, but it tasted almost like potatoes. Emilia then ate duck meat topped with thinly sliced ​​truffles and gratinized oysters, and took a bite of the apple tart that came out last, then carefully put her fork down.

As expected, Enrico was drinking white wine, seemingly uninterested in dessert. She could indirectly see the wine going down as his thick throat swayed.

“What are you going to do for Easter?”

It was a question that naturally assumed that the ballet company would be taking a break. Emilia moistened her mouth with water, thinking that she had already received the schedule.

Easter was an official holiday designated by the government, so April was also a month when the ballet company could enjoy a long five-day vacation.

“I’m planning to visit Barcota for a while then.”

Next week was already April, and since Easter was in two weeks, it seemed like it was time to buy train tickets in advance. The VIP section would be full, but the cheaper seats were more likely to be sold out, so it was safer to buy them in advance during the holiday period.

“Barcota? To visit my parents?”

Enrico put down his wine glass and tilted his head slightly.

“Yes. I heard that my uncle was staying at the mansion for a while and went up to the capital. I wanted to see if my parents left anything behind.”

“I wonder if there’s a place where they could be hidden? Giorgio would have searched through most of them and taken them.”

“That’s why I’m planning to go and see for myself.”

His eyes narrowed at her indifferent words. He stared at her intently as if he didn’t like something, then he finally smiled askance and opened his mouth.

“I guess we should go together.”

“… … Yes?” He

looked as if he had misheard.

“What made me believe in sending you away alone?”

Emilia opened her eyes wide as if she had heard something she had never expected. He continued speaking, strangely enjoying the way her previously calm expression cracked.

“If I run away, wouldn’t I be the only one who loses? I just gave him a lot of information, but I didn’t gain anything in return.”

“That can’t be true. It’s not even all revealed yet, so why would I run away?”

“I don’t know either. I guess it’s because I don’t trust him yet.”

“Ha… … .”

“So try to trust me.”

It was pure force. It was clear that he would never trust her in his entire life.

Emilia blinked and looked to the side as if she was dumbfounded.