When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 79



Only Krnovel

#79. The Waiting Guest
2024.03.19.

Emilia, wearing a dress the same color as the fresh leaves of early summer, entered the duke’s mansion with an indifferent face. She

was about to go home with Fabio, who was waiting in the carriage, but when he said that Enrico had called her today and that he would go to the duke’s mansion, her heart started beating fast.

Was it her heart beating from anxiety, or her heart beating for him, whom she would see in a few days? Emilia just tried to look calm.

The butler greeted her politely and guided her to where Enrico was waiting.

She wondered if he was asking her to stand on stage one last time before going into the [Cinderella] performance, but when he guided her to the reception room, she was momentarily puzzled. He

wasn’t asking her to eat or see the stage. Did he just call her for tea? Or did he have something else to say?

The thoughts that quickly passed by, wondering if they would continue the uncomfortable conversation from a few days ago, stopped as soon as they saw Enrico sitting on the sofa.

“Hello, Your Highness.”

Enrico’s eyebrows narrowed slightly at Emilia’s polite greeting and then disappeared.

“… … Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Enrico stared intently at Emilia as she walked across to him and sat down. It was a gaze that felt as persistent as when he saw her on stage.

Emilia sat down, placing her hand on her left side of her heart as if to press down her heart that was beating a little faster than usual. Then she slowly lowered herself down and clasped her hands on her legs to make it look natural.

“How’s practice going?”

“Yes.”

“My body.”

“I’m fine.”

Why was it so awkward? As the conversation was not continuing, Enrico reached for his cigarette case out of habit. His hand, which was about to reach for the gold case on the table and take out a cigarette, suddenly stopped.

“… … .”

Emilia’s gaze landed on him. Then her gaze met with his, who was staring at her.

“Tsk-.”

A short tongue click was heard from him. He put the cigarette case back on the table, twisted his body slightly, leaned his arm against the back of the sofa, and crossed one leg over the other.

‘Weren’t you going to smoke a cigarette?’

Emilia blinked her eyes in confusion and carefully picked up her teacup. His mouth, which had been staring at her slowly sipping the hot tea as if savoring it, suddenly opened.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Yes? I’m fine.”

She glanced at him once and shook her head slightly, putting down her teacup. Her worries, which had been growing, that she might bring up an uncomfortable topic, gradually subsided.

‘I guess I was worrying for nothing.’

On the other hand, her mood also sank as she thought that maybe he didn’t care about the past at all. Seeing him act as if nothing had happened after showing such an uncharacteristic expression that day, made her feel complicated.

‘No. This is better. It might be better to gradually distance yourself rather than suddenly changing.’

She tried to ignore the feeling of frustration in her heart, thinking that perhaps today’s meeting was one of those processes.

Then, naturally, she began to think that it would be better to just bring up the matter and end this meeting.

“I was thinking of having dinner first, but I didn’t know when the guest would arrive, so I said let’s meet here for now.”

She even had another appointment set. It seemed that she was planning to just say the matter briefly and leave.

“Then I should get up quickly. May I ask why you called me?”

One of his eyebrows twitched at her overly polite question. He stared at her quietly for a moment, then swallowed his irritation and let out a sigh.

“No. It’s your guest.”

“… My guest?”

“Yes. The lawyer is coming now.”

If it’s a lawyer, then it couldn’t be the lawyer she found in the north? He nodded once as if he had read Emilia’s mind, quietly watching her.

“He’ll be here in less than an hour.”

Emilia pursed her lips like an impatient person. What should she ask the lawyer when he comes? What on earth will he say? In an instant, the lawyer dominated her mind. So much so that she forgot about him, whom she had been paying attention to.

Enrico’s one eyebrow rose slightly, forming a curve. Even to him, it seemed that her mind was somewhere else.

He thought that breaking down the wall in his heart was a priority over changing his relationship with her right now, so he held back what he wanted to say, but his frustration was bubbling up as if it was going to explode.

Perhaps because he thought it couldn’t be done, Enrico stood up, holding a gold cigarette case in his hand. Her gaze, which had been blankly staring into space, didn’t move at all. His usually leisurely steps quickly headed down the hallway.

Enrico, standing in front of a wide arched window, slowly lit a cigarette and inhaled.

He felt a languid energy flowing into his body. The stuffy feeling in his stomach didn’t go away right away, but he felt a little better.

“You’ve smoked more.”

He used to not smoke this much. But now he seemed to be refraining from smoking in front of her instead. No matter how you looked at it, it was because of her that he smoked more.

Anyway, everything became strange when it came to Emilia.

“… … We’re here already.”

Enrico muttered, white smoke leaking out from his lips. He could see a carriage speeding toward the mansion in the distance.

***

Emilia kept drinking tea because her mouth was dry, perhaps because of her nervousness.

Enrico, who had left the living room, came back in not alone, but with a strange man. The man looked younger than he had expected and had a large bear-like body.

Enrico, who was sitting next to Emilia, naturally smelled faint cigarette smoke and perfume. She glanced at his profile as if she was curious, then looked straight ahead again.

‘Your son?’

The bear-like man introduced himself as Lanileo, the son of lawyer Paolo Arturo. She blinked her eyes in confusion, as if she had naturally thought he would come.

“I should have explained the situation first, but I’m sorry. My father is currently in poor health, so he has no choice but to move, so I came instead.”

Lanileo crouched down and made an extremely apologetic face.

“Oh, if I had known, I could have come.”

“No. I should have come to see you earlier, but something came up and I ended up being late. I sincerely apologize.”

An apology… … Emilia tilted her head slightly at Lanileo’s excessive apology. She was a little surprised that he didn’t come, but it didn’t really matter as long as there was someone to explain it to him instead.

But as if to overturn Emilia’s thoughts, Lanileo said something unexpected.

“Actually, my father should have looked for Miss Este earlier this year.”

“… … Yes?”

“I should have sorted out and delivered the inheritance left by the late Viscount Este earlier, but it’s too late.”

“If it’s an inheritance, it would be family property, but I don’t really care because I know it was squandered before I became an adult anyway.”

“It’s not family property.”

If not, then maybe it’s investment rights? It was just a coincidence that Emilia met at the end, but her heart raced at the unexpected connection.

“My father and Viscount Este discussed and proceeded with the automobile investment rights. So they successfully changed the investment rights to anonymous, and in order to receive the assets, you have to go to the bank and provide the relevant documents and password.”

Lanileo took out papers one by one from his bag and placed them on the table. Emilia, who was looking down at the piled up papers, looked up at Lanileo.

“Then the last time we met was to process this document?”

“Yes. It was the final stage at that time. There were too many eyes watching at the Este Viscount’s house at the time, so the Viscount always came to see my father.”

“Ah… … .”

“Then, on the way back, the Viscount died in an accident, and some masked men barged into our house, and we barely managed to escape. However, my father collapsed and was unable to move for a long time because of the shock.”

My mouth fell open at the unexpected story. Emilia covered her mouth with both hands and stammered.

“… … Then, could it be that you are still doing that?”

“Yes. Still, he is better than before, and although he is slurred, he speaks a little. Thanks to that, I was able to find this document.”

It was ambiguous whether to call this a blessing. Emilia looked at Lanileo with a helpless expression, and he smiled brightly as if it was okay.

“It’s okay. My father’s condition is improving a lot thanks to the skilled doctor I met at Michele’s estate.”

“I’m really glad. If you need any help in the future, just let me know.”

“I’ll take care of that.”

A voice she had forgotten about suddenly pierced through her. Emilia turned her head to the side, and her eyes met with Enrico’s, who was looking at her.

“He’s from my domain. You don’t need to worry about him so much.”

“But it’s my job-.”

“Just listen to the rest of the explanation. We’ll talk about that later.”

“… … Yes.”

Lanileo cautiously but curiously looked at Emilia and Enrico, then quickly looked down when he met Enrico’s gaze.