When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 78



Only Krnovel

#78. Not Just a Wish
2024.03.18.

“Then will Fabio accompany you?”

“Yes. I volunteered because I thought I would be the most familiar face to Miss Emilia.”

“That’s true, but… … .”

I sighed. Since we only go back and forth between home and the theater anyway, how could there be any chance of being exposed to danger? I was

distraught because I hoped Enrico’s whims would end, but if this interest suddenly disappeared, I would feel an indescribable sense of emptiness.

‘How did this happen?’

I certainly hated his arrogance at first. I really can’t understand people’s hearts.

“Understood. Please be careful not to be noticed by others.”

“Yes. And the investigation into Giorgio’s suicide is complete.”

Emilia’s eyes, which were about to turn their head outside the window, turned back to Fabio.

“The police quickly concluded it as suicide, but they confirmed it was definitely murder after a separate investigation.”

“Murder?”

“Yes. I couldn’t tell you before, but it was confirmed that he set fire to the room and hung himself, and the servant quickly put out the fire that was spreading, preventing the mansion from burning down completely.”

“Set fire to it… … . So you’re saying he did it on purpose?”

“It took a while because of the burns, but there were traces of torture on his body, and judging by the rigor mortis, it’s confirmed that he set fire to it before he died.” Set

fire to it while he was alive… … ? She felt like she was going to vomit. Emilia urgently stuck her head out the slightly open window.

“Are you okay?”

Fabio looked at Emilia with a helpless expression. Emilia waved her hand roughly as if she was okay and took a deep breath.

“I’m sorry. I should have told you only a part of it.”

“Whew-. No. If you’re going to know, then you should know everything. It’s just that he died more brutally than I thought… … . No matter how evil Giorgio may have been, I don’t feel that satisfied.”

Emilia’s forehead was slightly covered in cold sweat as she muttered softly with a pale face.

“I understand.”

“… … Thank you. Then do you know who the culprit is?”

“There is no definite evidence, but the police officer in charge who tried to cover up the murder case by fabricating it as suicide was occasionally meeting with Count Vallemont’s subordinates, so I suspect that Count Vallemont is behind it.”

“I thought he was in cahoots with Count Vallemont, but why did he suddenly kill Giorgio? He said he had been after the car investment rights for a long time.”

“I think he cut off the tail early because he didn’t get any results after wasting all that time.”

“Ah… … .”

Emilia blinked blankly and slowly rubbed her forehead.

Enrico had told me before that Count Vallemont and Alessandro were close, so maybe he knew about Giorgio too.

If that was the case, wouldn’t Alessandro have come to his house and worried even though he knew how Giorgio died?

Although she was actually surprised by how Giorgio died, she didn’t feel particularly sorry about his death. However, if he had known all of that and had acted like that to her, she would have been so creepy.

It’s not that

she felt betrayed because she trusted Alessandro. It’s just that when he came to see her in a hurry that day, he had a worried expression on his face, so if that was really fake, she would have been scared to death of how he would have tried to approach her by making up his mind.

‘Surely not… … .’

Emilia clenched her fists in a strange sense of anxiety. The hem of her skirt was rumpled in her hands.

***

Enrico looked up from his paperwork and looked at Fabio as he entered the office.

“I even checked to see how you entered the house.”

Fabio reported, bowing his head deeply. Then, Fabio glanced at Enrico’s expression and sighed inwardly as he looked at the pile of paperwork on his desk.

He wasn’t the type to pile up work, but recently, Enrico had been dragging on work that didn’t need to be done, so he had a lot of work to do.

His only hobby, collecting art, which he would often visit, had suddenly stopped, and Enrico’s only interest was in Emilia Este, which was confusing in many ways.

“Hmm.”

“It’s just that he seemed a bit shocked when he heard about Giorgio’s death.”

Since he could sense Enrico’s change more than anyone else, Fabio tried to be more thorough about Este.

“Are you shocked just by hearing it? And she was like an enemy to me.”

Enrico put down his quill and tilted his head slightly as if he still didn’t understand.

“I guess he was surprised because it was something he hadn’t thought of.”

“He didn’t say anything else?”

“Yes. There wasn’t any.”

How tenderhearted. But why was he being so rude to himself? Enrico furrowed his brow slightly

as if he was displeased. They had broken up on bad terms, but now that the blonde woman had gone missing again, he had sent Fabio to her out of needless anxiety, but didn’t she care about him?

No matter how hellish it was, if she had been so considerate, he would have at least asked how she was doing. She was truly heartless.

“Go out.”

Enrico clicked his tongue internally and picked up his pen again.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but I have more to report.”

“What?”

“News about the missing Lady Decap.”

His eyes, which had raised their heads again as if it were about Emilia, quickly became dull.

“Go on.”

“A witness came forward who said he saw Lady Decap passing by with a man before she disappeared, and the problem is that the man’s appearance is exactly like His Highness the Crown Prince.”

The story changed again. Enrico’s eyes narrowed as he listened to the story as if it were someone else’s.

“His Highness the Crown Prince said that all he did was exchange a quick greeting. However, it is said that within the police, they judged that the current heir to the throne could be involved in unnecessary gossip if the incident was mentioned even a little, so they are hiding the fact in advance to prevent it.”

“Then what about the witness?”

“They say they locked him up for now to keep him quiet. Since the investigation into the disappearance of Lady Decap is being conducted in such a secret way, only a few people know about it, but the problem is that the police intentionally leaked information to the reporter who wrote the article.”

“Why is that? It would have been fine if they had just stalled for as long as possible and then let him go… … . After drawing attention to the newspaper, are they trying to bring up the main topic in the next article?”

Fabio’s eyes widened as if he had not expected Enrico’s calm but sharp analysis.

“I think so! They said that reporter kept visiting the police station.”

“If it’s really hard to find, then you’re just going to put out a reasonable fabricated article. Or you’re just saying you don’t intend to find it in the first place.”

“Huh? No matter what, how could you do that when you’re a noble accompanying Princess Carent?”

“You just have to make up the circumstances so that it doesn’t spread into a diplomatic issue, so that shouldn’t be a big problem. Rather, if the crown prince had met him just before, that would be more likely to be a problem.”

Enrico got up from his seat and slowly walked toward the window. His bored face quickly became interested.

“Even more so if the crown prince’s words about briefly greeting him aren’t true.”

The darkness had settled down, and outside the window, only the moon could be seen, but Enrico’s lips curled up softly as if he was particularly pleased with the scenery today.

“The crown prince will look for that witness. In any case, he’s involved in something annoying because of that.”

“I’ll find him right away and bring him first.”

Fabio bowed politely and quickly left the office. Silence fell in an instant, and Enrico, who was left alone in the office, suddenly frowned.

I hadn’t noticed it before because I was so focused on work, but when I was just sitting around, the silence felt so obvious and annoying. I

think I used to turn on music whenever I wanted, but at some point, that frequency had decreased, and now, just hearing the sound of the clock’s second hand didn’t calm me down as easily as before.

Yes, it seemed like this happened because I took off my watch in front of Emilia. It wasn’t like this the first time I took it off, but starting the second time, he started to feel anxious for the first time.

‘Maybe this was an emotion I had always had.’

Enrico tried to look at it from a new perspective as coolly as possible. He knew that it wasn’t normal to be so obsessed with the sound of the clock in the first place.

It’s not that he doesn’t like being alone, but he hates the silence. Isn’t that ironic?

Enrico walked over to the desk and picked up the gold cigarette case that he had left lying around. He took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, and a burning light flickered on his face for a moment.

“Huh… … .”

Soon, white smoke spread faintly from his lips. His long eyelashes, languidly lowered, created long shadows. His neat eyebrows,

which had been deeply inhaling as if to fill something empty, furrowed slightly. As if this was not enough, Enrico suddenly stood tall as he headed toward the table in an emptiness that could not be filled. He

wondered if drinking alcohol like this would really fill it.

“Damn it… …”

Soon, he frowned as if he was in trouble and slowly tilted his head back. Suddenly, the starlight that caught his eye as he looked out the window made his mind completely blank.

In the end, both of his eyes closed tightly. It seemed that without realizing it, his lack was turning into her.

/20240318163314927339_EC98A4EBA78CEC9DB4+EBB09CEB819DEC9790+EB96A8EC96B4ECA1.png alt=””>