When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 40



Only Krnovel

#40. Gentleman’s Virtue
2024.02.09.

Unlike her stuffy mind, the wide open space was filled with well-groomed flowers. She quietly observed the fragrant scent of the flowers and the beautifully colored petals, then closed her eyes tightly and looked at him again.

“That trust, wasn’t something that would never come to me anyway?”

Enrico blinked and chuckled. It was only a small smile, but strangely, the flowers in full bloom that made him forget the bleak winter seemed to merge with him.

“Why are you making up your mind so early? You’re more prejudiced than I thought.”

Emilia’s brow furrowed slightly. She leaned against the table as if she found this situation interesting, and instead, she leaned close to the back of the chair as if to avoid him.

“Do you think you don’t have prejudices?”

Now she knows that the reason he followed her in the first place was not because he was worried that she would run away, but simply out of curiosity. Who could trust him, who would flaunt his weaknesses and humiliate him whenever he had the chance?

Even if the world were to change completely, Enrico would never change. It was impossible to imagine that such an arrogant man would trust others and bend his opinions.

Emilia swallowed a sigh and took a sip of her sweet juice. She wasn’t angry anymore. Now, she had reached a point where it was easier to just give in to requests that weren’t really difficult.

“… … Then, can we meet at Barco?”

“No. At the train station.”

She was saying that she would take the train with him. She would take it easy. Enrico would have reserved the best VIP cabin at the very end of the train, so she should just think of it as a comfortable train ride to her hometown.

Emilia nodded indifferently as if she had suddenly been liberated, and fiddled with the glass she had placed on the table. The water droplets that had formed on the crystal surface slid onto the table.

He quietly watched her indifferent attitude, and leaned back against the backrest with a look of dissatisfaction. He crossed his legs slightly, and took the wine glass he had pushed aside again, and called the servant who had been waiting.

“To Mount Aneda.”

When he said it was a wine shop name, the servant brought a new bottle of wine and filled his glass with red wine.

“By the way, you seem close to the crown prince. Did you know each other?”

It was ambiguous whether he was asking because he didn’t know or because he knew. Enrico always seemed to know first, but when it came to the crown prince, he had only seen him a few times at the palace a long time ago, so he thought it might be hard to know even if he investigated separately.

“We met at the palace when I was young.”

“At the palace?”

“Yes. I came to Deshiro with my father. But we didn’t meet often, and we weren’t close.”

Enrico lowered his eyes and slowly swirled his wine glass.

“Well. For someone who doesn’t want to be noticed, he accepted it well. “Look at the chaos at the theater.”

“What kind of chaos are you talking about?”

“You said you came to see me with a bouquet of flowers. I brought that to give to you.”

His eyes looked at her again. The smile that had been hanging there a moment ago was nowhere to be seen.

“I didn’t accept it.”

He raised an eyebrow at her firm voice.

“But why do you keep coming to see me?”

“What can I do about you coming to see me? And you only came to the dressing room the first day.”

Emilia never understood why she had to make excuses like this, but since Enrico would continue to irritate people if he didn’t, Emilia answered with a sigh. Now, Enrico’s lips, which had completely lost their expression, slowly opened.

“… … Draw the line yourself. I have no intention of sharing what’s mine with others.”

Treating you like an object until the end. I knew that, but whenever he spoke like that, as if he was confirming something, the tip of my tongue felt suffocated.

Emilia impulsively opened her mouth.

“The Duke really… … .”

But when I tried to say something to him, I felt like the conversation would just drag on and I wouldn’t get anything out of it. Even if I added that it was nothing, I thought it would only cause me to feel pressured until I could speak.

The arrogant purple eyes stared at her indifferently. He slightly wiggled one eyebrow as if urging her to continue talking.

Without realizing it, his fist tightened.

“You always make people feel good.”

It sounded like a compliment, but it came out strangely sarcastic. I just wanted to say something nice, but I couldn’t stop my emotions from showing up. Emilia looked at him, who was languidly curling his lips, half-giving up on how the other person would react.

“That’s the virtue of a gentleman.”

Enrico then shamelessly answered with something that was impossible to grasp. In the end, a short, empty laugh escaped Emilia’s lips.

***

Time flowed like water, and the season of laurel blossoms had arrived.

As the fresh scent of flowers lingered in the air and the green leaves filled the empty trees, the disappearance of the blonde woman, which had been in a new phase due to a murder case, had quietly died down without any significant progress in the investigation.

Juliana, who had been looking up the case recently, folded the newspaper she was reading and let out her anger.

“Oh, it’s frustrating. What are you going to do if another incident happens?”

“That’s right.”

Emilia sat down next to her and responded, stretching her body. Juliana threw the newspaper aside and turned to Emilia, glaring.

“Emilia, be careful just in case.”

“Huh?”

“You seem to be targeting only blondes. You’re the prettiest of all blondes, so you have to be careful.”

“I only go to my house or the practice studio. I ride a carriage every time.”

“But it’s Easter soon.”

“Why Easter?”

“Aren’t you home alone during the holidays? It’s good to rest, but I feel a little uneasy because of that incident.”

“Ah- It’s okay. I won’t be in Desiro during the holidays.”

The problem is that he’s with Enrico. She didn’t know that she would go to Barco with him, despite Alessandro’s previous warning to be careful of the Duke.

Could she trust him completely? The man who approached her out of the blue, mentioning her parents’ deaths?

“Huh? Are you going on a trip?”

“Oh, yeah. It’s similar.”

Emilia blinked and answered weakly. Even if she was suspicious now, she had shared too much with him.

If he was connected to her parents’ case, she believed that no matter how hard he tried to cover his eyes, what had to be revealed would come to light, and if it was true that he had approached her out of simple interest, he would just be someone who had watched the scene of the incident.

‘Whatever it was, it’s not good… … .’

Emilia felt a gloomy feeling and touched her ankle.

“What’s similar? Where are you going? Ah! You’re here.”

Perhaps frustrated by the ambiguous answer, Juliana, who had been urging them, quickly stood up from her seat as she watched the door suddenly open. Emilia followed suit and turned her back to see Vice Director Sylvia coming in with the chief

choreographer. When the dancers stood in the middle of the practice room, the two of them and the coaches went to the front and stood. Vice Director Sylvia took a step forward and slowly looked around the dancers.

“Everyone did a great job with the performance. I’m very satisfied that the first performance of the season was a success. The regrets can be improved upon during practice, so don’t dwell on them too much and just think about the next performance, us.”

“Yes.”

“And I came because I have something to announce about the upcoming schedule. As I said before, there will be an opera ball at the end of April. We’ll invite sponsors and perform a simple gala performance and a group waltz. You can think of it as a schedule where you mainly practice [La Sylphide] and also practice for the opera ball in between.”

Vice-principal Sylvia glanced down at the paper in her hand and looked around at the dancers again.

“This is an announcement regarding the next performance. [Cinderella] in September and [Giselle] in December. First, the Cinderella audition will be held in May, so please apply for the audition for the role you want after Easter.”

Until last year, there were only two or three ballet performances a year, but this year, they were definitely investing actively. Sylvia left after telling them to check the detailed schedule that would be posted on the bulletin board. Her gaze lingered on Emilia for a moment, but no one noticed.

The dancers pulled Bard to the center at the coach’s words that they would begin rehearsal right away. Emilia grabbed Bard and her eyes lit up. Cinderella, it was a piece she had always wanted to do at least once, so she became greedy.

‘I felt somewhat burdened by the leading role, but now I don’t have to… . . ’

When she thought about the lucky lady search that used to decorate the newspaper during the performance, it seemed reasonable to take on an important role if she was going to be noticed anyway.

Thanks to Enrico pushing her to take the lead role, she made up her mind right away without any further hesitation. The sound of the piano resonated through the practice room. She thought that it would be nice if the audition came soon, as she slowly started to walk the bar.