When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 71



Only Krnovel

#71. Pain is only temporary
2024.03.11.

It seemed like there was no way to refuse anymore. The attending physician had already been brought here, so what could she say?

Emilia finally went to the bed with a face full of resignation.

“First, let’s check the injured area, and finally, let’s focus on the ankle area.”

Enrico, sitting on the chair next to the bed, was staring at her with an expression that made it impossible to tell what was going on. She glanced at him once and then looked at the attending physician again. She

was worried that the attending physician might notice something when examining her ankle. If he said anything, she would just say that it hurts sometimes, but it doesn’t really affect her ballet. It

’s not like she can’t do ballet right now, and if she says it’s not good, she can just say she’ll get treatment. Emilia tried to think positively, making all the delays she had made up until now seem meaningless.

“The wounds on my body have healed a lot. If this continues, it’ll be completely healed.”

“Thank goodness.”

“Then I’ll check your ankle.”

She felt the doctor’s hand trying to take off her shoe. Emilia quickly blocked his hand and tried to speak calmly.

“Aren’t you just checking the condition of your ankle anyway? I don’t want you to take off your shoe, is that possible?”

“Ah… … . I’ll check it out for now and let you know if it doesn’t work.”

“Thank you.”

The doctor carefully touched her ankle and checked its condition. It hurt sometimes when he pressed it, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“It seems like your ligament is a little damaged.”

“… … Really?”

It seems he wasn’t the doctor of the Duke’s house for nothing. He could tell the general situation just by examining it like this.

“It must have hurt to run at this level, but are you okay?”

“Yes. It hasn’t.”

“Really?”

Enrico, who had been quietly watching, suddenly opened his mouth. Emilia blinked quickly and looked at him.

“Yes… . It’s just that I sometimes get a little pain when I get up quickly, but that’s only recently. There was no problem when I jumped.”

“But didn’t the same ankle keep hurting? The right ankle.”

She was embarrassed that she remembered exactly where it was. Emilia slightly averted her eyes and moved her lips before barely managing to speak.

“If you’re going to be that picky, there’s no place that doesn’t hurt. I exercise every day, so there’s no way my body would be fine.”

“So tell me your symptoms exactly and get treatment.”

Right now, medicine hasn’t developed enough to completely treat internal parts like ligaments and joints, so ballerinas’ retirements are bound to be faster.

So Emilia knew that even if she told her doctor now, there would be no solution, so she didn’t want to tell him. And in front of Enrico.

Emilia just nodded, thinking she couldn’t reveal her weakness any further.

“My ankle only hurts a little when I overdo it. But it goes away right away when I apply a hot pack, so the symptoms don’t last long.”

“Hmm, you’re doing a good job. I recommend you try taking an anti-inflammatory, and I’ll prescribe you some painkillers if you’re really in pain. “I’m not telling you to take that painkiller and run more.”

“Ah… … Yes.”

“Don’t just do the steaming, do it every day.”

“Yes.”

While listening to the doctor who kept telling her various things, Emilia’s mind was focused on Enrico. He didn’t take his eyes off her for even a second.

“You’re really unpredictable.” He

had been sarcastically mocking her, and now he’s contacting her after such a long time to ask her to do a test. It was as if only her body was important, so she couldn’t express her feelings.

Finally, the doctor slowly got up while packing his bag. Emilia was trying to straighten her skirt, wondering if it was finally over, but stopped when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

“Just do the steaming and go.”

“I’ll tell you to get ready.”

When the doctor left the room, Enrico sat down on the chair the doctor had used. Emilia was in an ambiguous position, but when she saw the hand approaching her ankle, she pulled her foot closer to her.

“What’s wrong?”

“Because your ankle is too thin.”

Why thin? Emilia blinked and stayed still. Then Enrico stretched out his long arm and grabbed her ankle, which was slightly exposed by the hem of her skirt, and pulled it towards him.

“Ugh-.”

His large hand tickled her ankle. His hand, which was always hot, wrapped around her ankle as if warming it. He looked down at her ankle as if it was strange and asked softly.

“I think you hurt this ankle often.”

“Huh?”

Emilia’s face hardened slightly as she tried to pull away from him.

“In Barcorta and during the performance accident, wasn’t it your right ankle that got hurt?”

“… … That’s true, but it’s not a big problem.”

“I’ve been wondering.”

His gaze, which had been looking down at her ankles, slowly rose. Her throat felt a little dry as they met her gaze, which was so slow that it was frustrating.

“Why are you so sensitive to your ankles?”

“Huh?”

“Whenever you talk about your ankles, you seem to want to change the subject.”

“Did I?”

Emilia pretended to look down at her ankles and avoided their gaze. His gaze lingered on her trembling long eyelashes.

“It’s just fine… … . Isn’t it because there’s nothing more to say?”

“Well. It seems to me that’s not all.”

Her mouth was tightly shut. No matter what she said, it would only end up as an excuse, so she had no choice but to wait for him to lose interest and take her hand away.

His hand, which was still holding onto her ankles, loosened, and his long fingers touched her calves. She thought that her breathing was trembling for some reason.

She shrugged her shoulders in case his hot hand would dig deeper, and she blinked her eyes slightly when she felt his hand withdraw.

“It seems like it would break if I just grabbed it lightly, but it’s amazing that you jumped so high and still look fine.”

He put his ankle down and got up from his seat.

“If anything seems strange, tell me. Don’t make a fuss later.”

He was treating her as if he had forgotten what happened a few days ago.

Enrico’s attitude, which seemed to be only interested in her ankle, made Emilia feel even more depressed, despite her worries about how to see him today.

It seemed like he had foolishly thought about himself for days. She

spent her days with a complicated mind, angry at him for being rude, blaming herself for being swayed by him, and even feeling a strange anxiety that he might not come looking for her again.

However, unlike her, he still had a clean face and didn’t care at all, acting like someone who was just checking the condition of an object as if it were an extension of that day.

Emilia thought that her heart that had been directed at him had now reached a point where it could no longer absorb anything, like water-soaked cotton.

“… … Yes.”

Please don’t waver anymore. In the first place, he was enjoying the pleasure of swinging himself around, but he shouldn’t keep giving him that excuse.

‘He just wants my body.’

Emilia calmly lowered her legs under the bed. Then, as if she was calming herself down, she closed her eyes tightly and opened them again, but her eyes had lost their light.

Her expressionless face, as if she was hiding her emotions, made her look like a calm lake.

Enrico narrowed his beautiful eyebrows and thought he wanted to make big ripples in that calm lake.

The sight of her quietly accepting his words with her emotionless doll-like face somehow aroused unpleasant feelings.

“Emilia.”

“Yes.”

“Look at me.”

Her eyes, which had been looking at the floor, looked up at him without saying anything. The way she looked at him as if she was telling him to say something made him hesitate for some reason.

A suffocating silence flowed, but he didn’t seem to have any intention of speaking first.

“If you’re done with your business, can I go back now? “I think it would be better to go home and rest while taking a jjimjil. I’ll take good care of my body so you don’t have to worry.”

Emilia, who didn’t want to stay here pointlessly, calmly told him. An unfamiliar hesitation crossed his face as he quietly looked down at her.

“… … Do you have anything to say to me?”

“What do you mean?”

Indifferent eyes that seemed to know nothing stared at him. He wiggled his straight eyebrows as if those eyes were annoying.

Those were the eyes he always showed when looking at others, but now they were looking at him. And they were from someone he didn’t want to see.

The current Emilia looked different from the way I’d seen her before. At first, I thought she was trying to be calm like before, but now that I thought about it, she seemed more indifferent and unmotivated.

I had unintentionally shown excitement at Emilia’s house, and I hesitated for a moment whether I should bring up that day again.

One thing he was saying was that she didn’t really understand his subtle question, or she understood and was pretending not to know, but she didn’t seem to have any intention of mentioning the day’s events, and he was at a loss for words.

Enrico’s head was blank for a moment, wondering what to say to her suddenly changed attitude.

This feeling of being so dumb seemed to be dragging him down to the floor, and if he held on to her any longer, she might say something strange.

“No. Go.”

He eventually turned away and muttered. He stared into space at the sound of her footsteps getting further and further behind him, and soon he heard the door close and let out a sigh.

Something felt seriously wrong.

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