When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 83



Only Krnovel

#83. Trap (1)
2024.03.23.

It was a contract to receive information about the death of my parents from Enrico, but I never expected that I would be so restricted in my every move.

And I never dreamed that I would be swayed more and more by his whims.

‘It’s too dangerous to continue to rely on him.’

I had to not go against his will to receive information. However, I wasn’t sure how long I could continue this tightrope walk that was always precariously maintained.

Also, I wanted to stop worrying that I might suddenly lose my grip because of his whims.

‘First, I need to establish my own foundation. Everything is too much for him.’

Not only was I receiving information, but I was also relying on Enrico for my house and debt.

“Miss Emilia?”

Emilia belatedly opened her mouth softly to Fabio, who was carefully watching her.

“Then can I visit starting next week?”

“… … Yes.”

Fabio tilted his head slightly as if he was uncomfortable with Emilia’s appearance, which seemed to be unpleasant but quickly hid her expression and accepted it obediently.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

Emilia calmly closed her eyes, then opened them and looked out the window. Fabio awkwardly shut his mouth at her attitude, which seemed to block the conversation.

“You weren’t interested in money, were you? Don’t forget to stay by my side.”

Maybe Enrico was worried about this and warned her right away where Lani Leo was. He

must have said that because he was worried that she, who had to be under his feet and controlled, would do something that would bother his parents’ property.

“Then I should spend that money even more… … .”

In fact, at first, he didn’t even listen to the inheritance and only heard news from his parents. However,

after thinking about it carefully, he began to think that it would be better if he used it, since he could dig into the case more freely without worrying about his feelings.

In the current situation, Alessandro was the most likely suspect. So, it seemed like the best idea to approach him directly with this suspicion, which made me think more.

If I did this, the biggest obstacle would definitely be Enrico.

Also, since hiding the condition of my ankle was reaching its limit anyway, it would be better to prepare for before he kicked me out first.

‘I’m sorry to my parents, but even if I have to hand over all my assets to him, it’s more important to get out of here for now.’

I didn’t want to be interfered with any more in the future, to the point where I wanted to pay all the penalty for breach of contract that Enrico incurred.

Even if it was dangerous, I wanted to close the distance with Alessandro.

No matter how much I tried to pretend not to know, I knew that Alessandro was kind to me, so I wanted to use that to my advantage.

Of course, he wouldn’t tell me everything, but I wanted to find out even the smallest piece of information myself.

Emilia found a blue roof in the distance and clasped her hands together. When she made up her mind, she thought about going to Enrico right away.

But it seemed like an impulsive choice, and I thought that if I went to see him without any plan, he might laugh at me instead.

‘I’d better prepare some money first.’

He might not accept it right away, but I didn’t know. He might get tired of threatening or whining to scare me, so I thought it would be better to prepare in advance.

Of course, I could just go to a hotel for the house, but I still had a lot of debt. Even if it was a cowardly rationalization, I didn’t want to act hastily.

‘When I see him next week, I’ll tell you then.’

Until that day, I had to sort out my heart that was getting suffocated whenever I saw him for no reason, whether it was because I was angry or for some other reason.

“Fabio.”

“Yes?” ”

Can you tell the Duke? As you know, I’m really confused right now, so I’d like to rest alone on Sunday. I know you’re busy, so I know you won’t come, but I’m telling you just in case.”

“Ah… … . I know you’re busy, but I can’t guarantee you won’t come. First, I will tell the Duke. Please understand that it is difficult to give you a definite answer.”

“Yes. I would appreciate it if you could just tell me.”

“… … Yes, I understand.”

The carriage gradually slowed down. Fabio’s gaze trembled uneasily as he looked at Emilia, who was speaking so clearly that it felt resolute. For some reason, he had a bad feeling.

***

Thud, a dull sound echoed through the room. The head of the brown-haired man standing in front of Alessandro turned to the side.

He slapped his cheek with his palm, but it sounded like a fist, and the force was so strong that the man’s cheek instantly turned red and swollen.

“Is that how you handle things?!”

Alexandre raised his hand again, grumbling as if his anger was not relieved.

Thud, thud- Even as the situation became more intense, with sounds like something exploding, the brown-haired man endured Alexandre’s beating without a single groan.

“Damn things… …”

How long had passed? In the room that had suddenly become cold, only Alexandre’s heavy breathing and swearing could be heard.

Alexandre’s appearance, which had always been neat and tidy, was terribly disheveled, and the red blood dripping from his hand stained the luxurious white carpet.

Alexandre closed his eyes tightly and opened them as if his anger was not relieved even after being hit like that.

Usually, he tries to suppress his cruel nature as much as possible, but sometimes, when he reaches his limit, his uncontrolled temper explodes out of nowhere and he commits an act.

The woman he had taken away because of Emilia, who he had been angry at, was a noble from the Kingdom of Carent. He was so unlucky that he couldn’t let

her go because she had already seen his face, and he couldn’t kill her right away, so he waited for a while, but things got too much.

He had even heard that Princess Vivian had gone to see Enrico, so he ordered her to be killed, but those fools missed that timing and ran away.

He felt hot to the tips of his hair because of things that he could not feel even if he chewed them all up right away.

“I’m sorry.”

The brown-haired man didn’t even feel the pain in his bruised cheeks and lips, so he immediately took out a handkerchief and wrapped Alessandro’s hand.

In spite of his actions of carefully examining the nobleman’s hand to see if there was a wound, Alexandre nervously pushed him away and wiped his bloody hand. Alexandre

threw the handkerchief stained with red blood on the floor as if it was dirty, and his hand was slightly red, but there was no wound.

“Ha… … . Can’t you even handle a woman properly? What kind of shadow are you?”

The brown-haired man lowered his head after confirming that Alexandre had no wounds. Alexandre rolled his eyes and snickered at the sight of him not even making excuses, as if he would die if he was told to.

“Let some nonsense leak out into the world. Not only you, but everyone below you will die.”

“… … I apologize. I have placed a surveillance on Duke Michele’s mansion. The target seems to be unconscious at the moment. I will quickly enter the interior and deal with him before he wakes up.”

“You call that a lie? Go and kill him tonight!”

“We can try, but the current dukedom is under tighter security than before. In the worst case scenario, we could be caught and our identities could be exposed.”

Since we had to clean up Alessandro’s secret hobby, we couldn’t just use any mercenaries.

So the shadow unit, known as the Byun-gyeon, provided by the royal family, had no choice but to handle this, and if they were caught, Enrico, a member of the royal family, would be able to find the symbol mark hidden in his teeth.

“One of the shadow agents was taken away from Barcorta, so they might already be watching us.”

“… … Don’t I know that?”

Alessandro said, cursing between his teeth.

Back in Barcorta, Enrico didn’t often have the chance to be alone in such a shabby environment, so he sent out assassins with the shadow agent, but he didn’t know that the monster would be able to deal with it so easily.

I knew that he usually exercised, but I didn’t know that he was that good at fighting, so if it hadn’t been for someone who had watched the situation from afar and come to report, I wouldn’t have believed it.

‘I have to kill him no matter what. He’ll ruin my future somehow.’ Who

would have thought he’d find the place he’d hidden so easily? Enrico, whose information power seemed better than he’d imagined, felt even more desperate.

“Did you definitely take care of the witness?”

“Yes.”

He knew, but he wanted to check one more time just in case. Alessandro brushed his disheveled hair back and turned toward the window. The window was covered with blackout curtains, not letting in a single ray of light.

If Emilia hadn’t pushed him away that day, he wouldn’t have had the urge to kidnap the Carent noble. Strictly speaking, it was right to see that woman as the cause of the incident.

He was enduring it because he didn’t want to throw away his old toy, but it was starting to bother him now.

‘You can’t do it because you have a fiancée? Then you can do it because that bastard is alone?’

Alessandro thought he should stop putting up with Emilia’s teasing with a calm face.

After staring at the dark curtains for a while, he slowly put his hand through the gap in the curtains. The blazing sunset shimmered through the slightly open gap.

“Find Enrico Michele’s weakness again.”

“I will do as you command.”

Even if he is crazy about art, there is no way he will never have weaknesses. Recently, Enrico has been keeping Emilia Este close by and watching her, but he was the one who had her in mind in the first place.

“I guess I should give her a sense of crisis.”

He lost his turn to Enrico during the last performance incident, but what if he showed up and helped Emilia when she was in danger again? He should use the crisis as an opportunity to tighten his leash.

“The slave criminal I told you to keep an eye on before… .”