When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 46



Only Krnovel

#46. Niche
2024.02.15.

“I invested in automobile development from the beginning and proposed helpful bills and worked hard, but that was poison. Excessive growth attracted the attention of others, and at some point, many people started targeting automobile investment rights. Among them, Count Vallemont was the worst. He kept urging me to hand over the investment rights, and even threatened me, so my parents looked for a way to safely turn it around.”

Emilia frowned as if she was angry and trembled her lower lip. She could see her dried tears welling up again.

“I could have just sold the investment rights, but I felt so bad for a woman who couldn’t inherit the family, so I wanted to give her a lot. So… … So, all the investments I had made up to that point were in my mother’s name so that they wouldn’t be caught by the family, but later, Count Vallemont must have noticed that too, and the pressure to hand it over became more intense. He was after other things as well, so he had no choice but to find another way… … .”

Emilia shut her mouth tightly once. She took a deep breath as if trying to control her emotions, trying not to shed tears. Enrico just looked at her strangely.

He didn’t show any expression at the lengthy story, and he didn’t seem bothered by her tearful voice. It was a situation where he would have just left without looking back.

“If I had seen this letter, he would have disappeared from this world, but he said he was sorry for not being able to give a definitive answer as to whether or not he had successfully carried out that method. Why on earth… … . What’s he sorry about? He didn’t have to go that far… … .”

“… … It seems that the method was successful.”

Her eyes, which had been choking up, opened wide at his soft words.

“Huh?”

“There was an accident on the way home, and the anonymous investment rights have been confirmed. I think he must have used a trick to avoid the law, so I guess I should first find the lawyer who handled it.”

She blinked as if she hadn’t thought about it yet. He had been so immersed in his emotions that he had no time to judge the situation, but now that he heard him, it seemed like he was finally coming back to himself.

“Ah… … . If I search, something else might come up. I think he left all the related information here. If I find information about the lawyer, I should ask him if anyone was suspicious on the day I met him, and if he talked about anything else.”

Enrico stared at Emilia, who was going through the boxes again. There didn’t seem to be anything particularly noteworthy in the letters. They were just things that could be used as reference for the current situation before the incident.

However, since he wasn’t curious about the incident, he thought about the similarities between Emilia and the dead Viscount Este, and a word suddenly crossed his mind, and one eyebrow arched and rose slightly.

Sacrifice. He

could see her giving everything she had for the other person, ready to jump into the flames. Now, he could see her starting to reach for the wooden boxes that were stacked high.

Her hands, not caring at all about the dress getting dirty, searched through the dusty interior without hesitation.

‘I’m not even in your sight anymore.’

When we were together, she was still aware of my mood, but after coming here, she was slow to even look at me. How could she search this wide place all by herself? Enrico, who had been watching her foolish behavior repeatedly, looked up slightly. His two eyes widened and his feet moved before his words.

Boom!

A box fell over Emilia’s head. There was no time to dodge. Enrico quickly hugged Emilia, who was watching the falling box with surprised eyes. Then he dodged the wooden box by jumping to the side.

Boom! He twisted his body as it fell to the side, falling so that his back touched it. The recoil pushed his body forward and he stopped only when he reached the wall.

“Ha… … ”

A sigh of relief escaped him.

Enrico dropped his head, which he had been holding, to the floor so that it wouldn’t hit his head. As he fell while holding her tightly, Emilia was lying on his chest, shaking, and he could feel her heart beating fast through their bodies pressed against each other.

“… … Are you okay?”

Emilia lifted her head, placing her hand on his chest. Her trembling voice clearly showed how shocked she was.

He glanced down at her for a moment, confirmed that her face didn’t show any signs of injury, and then laid her head back down on the ground.

The box had hit her back and shoulder, but it hadn’t hit her head, so it was just throbbing. She wasn’t seriously injured, but why was she so shocked

? Her body relaxed slightly from the tension she felt for the first time, and she didn’t want to get up right away. “Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?”

She was startled by his action of lying down again without saying anything, and she raised her body even higher. Even the corners of his mouth twitched at her hands as she reached out and groped Enrico’s chest, shoulders, and face. She kept rustling around, and she didn’t seem to be aware of where she was lying.

Enrico grabbed Emilia’s wrist as if to stop her from lifting her head and touching the back of her head.

“Are you okay?”

When he responded, she slightly moved up as if she was trying to get a closer look at his face. A furrow formed between his beautiful eyebrows.

“Don’t provoke me.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t have any hobbies in places like this.”

“What are you doing…? ”

She blinked her eyes in confusion at his low voice. He placed one hand on the floor and raised his upper body.

“Don’t you realize where you’re standing?”

“… … Huh!” She

backed away in shock

, one beat slower. “I’m sorry.”

Even in the dim lighting, he could clearly see her face turning red. She, who had been sitting there with a helpless expression, suddenly got up. “Ugh-!” “Emilia?” However, Enrico quickly got up when he saw Emilia immediately slump down. He immediately sat down at her eye level. Her face looked painful as she held her left ankle with her eyes tightly shut. “Ah… … I guess I was surprised. It’s okay.” His face hardened. She barely opened her eyes and awkwardly raised the corners of her mouth, which did not look okay at all. Without asking any more questions, he immediately hugged her. He heard her gasp in surprise, but he quickly walked towards the stairs, even taking the lamp with him. “Duke, am I really okay! Duke?” “I’m not okay.” She flinched at his low voice. He noticed her reaction and hugged her tightly, holding her hands together in front of her chest. For a moment, he felt strangely hot, perhaps because of the hot body temperature touching his skin. He felt that her body in his arms was too light. It was as if she would fly out of his arms at any moment, to the point where he felt uneasy. *** Alessandro asked back as if he had doubted what he had just heard. Colorful light streamed into the room through the stained-glass windows. “Emilia and Enrico went to Barcorta together?” “Yes! I checked what their relationship was like, as Your Majesty instructed, and they left together on the train yesterday.” Count Vallemont said, seeming to explode with anger. Yesterday, Alessandro had instructed me to find out where Emilia had gone on vacation. I had done it because I wanted to pretend to meet her by chance and spend time with her at a vacation spot, but an unexpected situation was waiting for me. Alessandro’s eyes, which had taken off the mask of a caring crown prince, gleamed coldly. “I didn’t like it when we played the patronage game, but now… …” “You just said patronage? Are you saying that Emilia Este and Duke Michele are patrons?” The count’s wrinkled face distorted even more. Alessandro sneered at Count Vallemont’s face, which he had not expected at all. “Isn’t it too easy for you to talk about stealing the investment rights of the Viscount Este?” “T, that’s… . After all, since the head of the family is Giorgio, I thought I should manage him more intensively.” “I only put his name on it, but it hasn’t helped anything so far. Not your investment rights, not my Emilia.” “… … That’s true, but.” Looking at Count Valemont who was hesitating to answer, Alexandre clicked his tongue pitifully as if he was looking at something insignificant. A useless old man. An empty head but full of sexual desire. The circumstances were right and he had joined hands with Count Valemont, but seeing his every move made him want to just kill him. ‘Not yet.’ Right now, he would get tired of messing with those famous guys. Who knows where they might crawl out to try to get in his way while discussing the legitimacy of the throne. Once he sat on the throne, he could just blow off the heads of those he didn’t like. ‘I hope His Majesty the King’s life is short… … .’ He didn’t know how long his shallow patience would last, but he told himself to hold on just a little longer today and waited, hoping that the seat he was supposed to take would become empty soon.