When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 93
Only Noblemtl
#93. Swamp
2024.04.02.
Right now, there are a lot of people coming
and going on the first floor and the basement because they are cleaning up, but the ground floor is empty because there is no one walking around. However, since they are going to drag her to the mansion anyway, Emilia didn’t understand why they wanted to meet her outside again, so she crumpled the paper in her hand and tilted her head slightly.
‘I haven’t even changed my clothes yet… … . Could it be that they are asking me to come now?’
Emilia slightly tilted her head as she scanned her body, frowning one eye. It seemed better to go quickly.
It seemed difficult to go to the stairs right away because it was obvious that people would catch her after washing up. It seemed better to go when there would be less attention from those around her because she was cleaning up.
Emilia immediately moved toward the emergency stairs. It was chilly outside at night, but the heat from the people made the inside of the concert hall feel slightly hot.
However, as she headed toward the emergency stairs, a strangely refreshing wind brushed against the back of her neck.
‘Did you leave the window open?’
She usually closes the window before evening, but she must have forgotten because she was busy preparing for today’s performance.
Thinking that she should close it while she was there, she went up the stairs, but for some reason, she frowned at the musty smell.
‘What is this smell?’
She covered her nose with the back of her hand and looked around.
She could hear someone talking from afar, whether it was from the basement or outside the door, but there seemed to be no one nearby. She slowly climbed the stairs, using the moonlight streaming in through the window as her guide.
“… … Huh?”
There was no one on the third floor when she arrived. Was she being told to come back later? Emilia frowned at the smell that had become stronger than before, as she tried to lower her hand to her nose.
“But what on earth is this smell?”
She had no idea why such an unpleasant smell could come out even though the window was open.
As Emilia walked toward the window, wondering if it was a smell coming from outside, she blinked her eyes when she suddenly saw fireworks shooting up into the sky.
‘Were there supposed to be fireworks?’
In the moonlit night sky, fireworks rose one by one, reflecting the light off the glass.
The loud noise of the fireworks exploding made her ears ring and her eyes were dazzled by the flashing lights. Her eyes opened dimly on their own.
But at that moment, something white was vaguely reflected on the glass.
‘What is that?’
As she approached the glass to get a closer look, her eyes widened. The unidentifiable object was not outside the window, but behind her.
“… …!”
Suddenly, the sound of footsteps running toward her struck her ears. Emilia immediately turned around and instinctively raised her hand to block the shadowy mass.
“Hello?”
The identity of the shadow that suddenly appeared was clearly revealed by the moonlight. Emilia’s eyes widened and her pupils dilated.
“… … Cri, Stina?”
The words came out in a slurred manner. She caught the arm reaching out to her, but her legs almost gave out at the sight of the unexpected face.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
With a huff, Christina stretched her neck out and brought her face toward her, raising the corners of her lips. Startled by that bizarre smile, Emilia jerked her head back.
Christina had always had her hair neatly tied up, no matter how hard she had worked in the workhouse, and her strict impression was nowhere to be found.
Now, her oily hair was disheveled and she gave off a strong odor that made her stomach churn, and she seemed like a different person than before. Her
mind felt frozen. She had escaped, but she had thought that she would naturally hate being taken to the workhouse again, so she would live in hiding.
However, she had not expected that she would appear in front of her like this, mocking her complacent thoughts.
‘Why on earth… … .’
Christina, who had been quietly looking down at Emilia, who was quivering her lips like a person who had lost her voice, tilted her head.
“Your face looks really nice.”
“… … .”
“I’ve been having a hard time because of someone.”
“… … Why are you here?”
She didn’t know that she would harbor such deep resentment toward herself that she would come back to find her. She just thought that Emilia had gotten jealous of her alone and that she had caused an accident because she couldn’t control her anger.
So she couldn’t understand why she had to come all the way here to cause more trouble.
“Why?”
Emilia’s dull, amber eyes sparkled with madness at her calm voice.
“Of course it would be too unfair for me to die alone.”
Her gaze was not in her right mind. Emilia’s face turned pale as she looked at Christina, who had even flashed blue eyes.
“What? What are you talking about now?”
“I’ll feel less lonely if I make at least one friend in the afterlife.”
“You escaped the labor camp with great difficulty, and now you want to die with me?”
“Yeah. The reason I escaped in the first place was because of you.”
Christina continued to smile chillingly and suddenly applied strength to the hand she was holding. Emilia’s face twisted as she tried to push away the hand that was about to dig into her neck in an instant.
“Tch-!”
Emilia’s hand that was blocking her was trembling. Christina had lost so much weight that her cheekbones were bulging, and she had thinner arms than her.
Because of this, it seemed like she could easily shake off her pressure, but the hand that was actually holding her was so heavy that cold sweat ran down her forehead. She didn’t know
where the strength was coming from, but her eyes were wide open and her hand was pressing harder and harder, barely touching her neck.
“T-what did I do wrong to deserve this? What did I do to you to make you do this!”
Emilia shouted with all her might. Unlike the pretentious atmosphere surrounding her, fireworks were still beautifully exploding outside the window.
No matter how much she screamed, no one would notice, making a loud noise.
“Don’t pretend not to know. You stole my seat.”
“… … Ha.”
“The lead role was mine!”
“It was decided through a fair audition! I stole it-.”
“Shut up! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been pushed out, and if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have done this! It’s all your fault!”
It was pure coercion. She felt sick at the baseness of ignoring reality and simply blaming others for everything. Christina’s eyes, bloodshot as she glared at Emilia, seemed half-focused.
In the end, she was pushed back and her back hit the cold glass window. Emilia’s back of her head slightly caught the gap between the wide-open windows.
“Die!”
“Ugh… … .”
Christina’s two hands began to press down on her neck, applying pressure as if they were pressing down.
Emilia’s two hands, which were holding the other’s wrists, trembled and tried to hold on, but now it seemed useless as the two hands squeezed her neck tightly.
‘No. I can’t hold on like this anymore.’
Her eyes were blurry due to the suffocation, and her vision seemed to collapse. Emilia tightly shut her eyes and released the hands that were holding the other’s wrists, clenching them into fists.
Then, she struck the inside of Christina’s elbows, which were outstretched. Her arms, which had been flinching, began to shake after the third time, and one arm folded slightly.
‘Now!’
Emilia pushed away the arms with all her might and moved her body to the side. When Christina, who had been pushing forward, lost control of her strength and slammed her body into the window, Emilia’s body fell to the floor.
Bam, Christina had no time to recover before she slammed her forehead into the window and collapsed.
“Huh… … Huh, huh.”
Her vision became dizzy for a moment as her blocked breath suddenly cleared. Emilia gasped for breath and groped her way back, groping her way to the floor.
Then, she looked at the back of Christina, who was leaning against the window and holding her head, and barely managed to gather strength in her trembling legs. She
had to get out of here quickly. She had been taken to a labor camp for attempted murder, so there was no way she could communicate.
If she had escaped and returned here, her delusions of persecution must have been severe, but it was dangerous to stay in one place any longer.
Emilia barely managed to walk on her knees and grabbed the stair railing. Then, as she straightened her back to go downstairs, half-hanging, she heard a rustling sound behind her.
“… … Where are you going?”
Christina, squinting one eye, took her hand off her forehead and got up from her seat. Blood was dripping down from the corner of her forehead like tears, as if she had accidentally hit the window.
Emilia swallowed dry saliva and was on high alert at the bizarre sight. Thump, thump. Heavy footsteps were getting closer.
‘Should I run? But it would be more dangerous if I get caught or get pushed down the stairs.’
Emilia, who was trying to look calm as she stared at Christina, furrowed her brow. Suddenly, Christina stopped halfway and trembled like a madman with her eyes and mouth wide open.
“Where are you going?”
Christina put her right hand inside her clothes and immediately drew her dagger and rushed at her. Emilia was startled by the flashing blade and tried to dodge to the side.
However, Christina quickly grabbed her left arm and dug her long, black-stained nails into her skin, thrusting the knife in her right hand into Emilia’s face.
“I won’t let you go until I die.”
“Christina!”
“Die, die!”
“Let go of me!”
Emilia barely managed to block the wrist that was thrusting the knife without a moment’s hesitation as if she was going to stab her. She shook her right hand that was still being held violently.
I could feel the claws finally coming loose, but that wasn’t the important thing right now.
Emilia tried her best to shake off Christina’s body, as she had to stop her from continuing to run towards her.
But then, she heard footsteps running from somewhere. At the same time, a strong hand grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the stairs, and she was helplessly dragged there.
“Gyah!”
“Emilia!”