When Pride Fell At My Toes - Chapter 98



Only Krnovel

#98. Narak
2024.04.07.

… … A person related to the incident? What kind of evidence did you find? It was such a vague statement. Emilia slowly lowered her hands and looked at Alessandro.

Alessandro was still staring at Enrico with a stern face. Silence flowed for a moment, and Alessandro’s eyes trembled as he watched Enrico, who was closing the distance with an indifferent expression on his face, alone.

“You said he was injured, but it seems that my uncle is definitely not in good condition.”

His voice, gritting his teeth as if he wanted to chew Enrico up right away, was filled with a deep murderous intent.

“You’re talking strangely.”

Enrico, who had come within arm’s reach of Emilia, twisted one corner of his mouth and nodded toward the carriage.

“Well. If you tell me what our nephew was going to say first, I can judge whether it’s strange or not.”

“I don’t understand why you have to tell your uncle. Unfortunately, I said I would only tell Emilia.”

“That’s true. Well, then I would like you to take a look at this first.”

Immediately, a loud noise was heard from the carriage. Emilia’s gaze moved to the sound of something resisting. And her mouth fell open at the sight of a completely unexpected figure.

‘It’s Count Valermont?’

I wondered what on earth was going on. Why was Count Valermont coming out of the carriage, and why was he looking so messy, as if he had rolled around everywhere?

If it weren’t for the string covering his mouth, Count Valermont’s screams would have echoed everywhere, as if he was resisting with his whole body.

Emilia frowned and examined Count Valermont’s appearance. He was wearing a black cloak over his entire body, with only his face slightly exposed, but at first glance, his condition looked quite serious.

His face was so pale that I couldn’t tell if he was pale or if his skin had changed like that. His body was shaking so much that he looked so precarious that he could foam at the mouth and collapse at any moment.

Perhaps the fact that he had been tortured that much meant he had found out a lot.

Alessandro stared at Count Vallemont, who was getting closer to him, with a face at a loss for words.

His narrowing eyebrows and his neck with veins starting to stand out clearly showed that his temper had reached its limit.

“… … Duke Michele, you should handle the issue between nobles quietly. What are you doing in front of me right now?”

“I brought you here because it was too big to be dismissed as an issue between nobles. I also wanted to check with the person involved in the case.”

“What?”

The veins in the crown prince’s eyes could be seen standing out. He felt a large hand carefully grabbing Emilia’s wrist, who was staring blankly at Alessandro.

Her eyes flinched and turned downward. Enrico’s hand was gently pulling her hand as if telling her to come closer to him.

“What did you do? A carriage accident.”

He tightened his grip on her hand.

“You’ve been saying strange things since a while ago. Do you really know what you’re talking about?”

“Of course. I’ve seen the few pieces of evidence with my own two eyes, so I think I know better than anyone else.”

“… … Evidence?”

“Ugh- Ugh!”

Alessandro hesitated for a moment before his gaze turned to Count Vallemont, who was lying face down on the ground and subdued.

The way he was wriggling like a roadside earthworm was unpleasant, but Count Vallemont’s eyes, wide and dilated, looked more desperate than anyone else’s.

“Count Vallemont was kind enough to gather all the evidence. I think he hid the cards because he was worried that he would be abandoned first, but that was excessive even to me. To think that he would record even the trivial things he did with my nephew.”

Count Vallemont let out a suppressed groan and shook his head violently to both sides. Enrico’s subordinates restrained Count Vallemont’s body, which was trying to get up from his seat, even more strongly from both sides.

“I just wanted to know if my nephew was involved in the death of the Viscount Este couple.”

Alessandro froze as if his whole body had frozen. His eyelids, which had been staring at Enrico without blinking, closed and opened a couple of times after a long time.

Would he continue to pretend not to know, or would he get angry? Various thoughts crossed Emilia’s mind, but what was certain was that Alessandro’s expression before her eyes was numb.

For a moment, Alessandro smiled confidently, lifting the corners of his lips. As if he was just having fun.

Emilia’s thin shoulders trembled once at his appearance, which seemed to have regained composure as if his emotional turmoil a moment ago had been an illusion.

“My uncle, was there something that made you nervous?”

The smile on Enrico’s lips slowly disappeared. Unlike Enrico, whose expression disappeared, Alessandro’s eyes sparkled with joy.

“It’s not really a good idea to come all the way here to believe everything that man says. If you had solid evidence, you could have just accused me and arrested me, so why did you come all the way here to make a fuss?”

But why did Alessandro look more anxious the more he smiled leisurely? Emilia quietly stared at Alessandro, and then suddenly turned her head as a hand gently rubbed her wrist with her thumb. Not only did she see his

sharp nose shining in the clear sunlight, but his handsome profile came into view.

“You don’t know your place and keep nagging me.”

A soft mutter escaped. Enrico, who had a dry face as if he had lost all interest, slowly tilted his head to the side.

“I’ll just get rid of it right away, so why would you use such a simple method? I’m sorry I couldn’t live up to your expectations, but I’ve already written down every single one of your nephew’s crimes and sent a messenger to His Majesty the King. If I’m lucky, he’ll be judged by the law, but I think the King I know would want to handle it quietly.”

“How dare you… … . What on earth do you believe in to act so presumptuously? Even if you sit on the Duke’s throne, I’m the one who will become the master of this kingdom. What are you going to do if I sit on the throne! And what, a fatal accident? I don’t know what Vallemont did, but even if I was involved in something, I never killed them myself. Act like you have some kind of great evidence.”

Alessandro took a step forward with his eyes burning. Then he grabbed Emilia’s arm and tried to pull her towards him.

“Ugh-, Your Highness!”

Of course, Enrico quickly grabbed Alessandro’s wrist and stopped him, but the crown prince gritted his teeth and didn’t let go of his grip.

“You stayed still when that bastard grabbed you, but why are you reacting like this now? It’s disgusting.”

The mask he had been wearing precariously came off in an instant. Enrico, who was constantly getting on his nerves, and Emilia, who tried to avoid him whenever she had the chance.

And he was getting angry because he sent a messenger to the king, even though it was clearly nothing serious.

“If I grab you, you won’t be able to bow your head in gratitude, but how long do you have to keep doing it! “Don’t you understand the situation?”

The anger that he had barely held back because he felt sorry for all the effort he had put in exploded. Even if he had made a mistake, he could have just pretended to reflect for a while and then inherited the throne.

And Enrico seemed to want Emilia too, so he had to have her all the more. If he couldn’t have her, he would ruin her so that no one else could have her.

“You’re the one who doesn’t understand the situation.”

“What? You? How dare you be rude to the next king…!”

“Count Valermont was caught for manipulating the Giorgio family’s administration. When I questioned him about the incident involving the carriage accident involving the Viscount Este couple, he told me everything.”

“That idiot. You’re telling me that because you were just hit a little? You’re worse than a bug.”

“When you lose things from your body one by one, you have no choice but to talk. You’re the same.”

“… … I won’t ever do that again. Rather, that’s your future.”

Alessandro tried to pull away Enrico’s hand that was holding his wrist, as if he was crushing him.

“You’ll have to do a thorough investigation to count the women you’ve killed so far, right?”

His hand stopped in midair at the words he added.

Emilia felt the strength loosen momentarily and immediately shook off Alessandro’s grip on her arm.

As her breathing became rapid, she felt a creepy feeling as if bugs were crawling on the part where Alessandro had just grabbed her.

“Women you’ve killed?”

What on earth did he do? She didn’t know what was going on, but she could tell from Alessandro’s shaking expression that it was something out of the ordinary.

Emilia, who had escaped Alessandro’s grasp, glared at Enrico as if she was going to kill him.

“What are you talking about now?”

“Pretending not to know.”

Enrico clicked his tongue briefly as if he didn’t agree.

“You’ve sent assassins to my mansion more than once to kill the Viscountess of the Kingdom of Carent.”

“… … No way?”

“You’re right. Thanks to you, I opened my eyes safely. I even remembered everything clearly.”

Alessandro’s slightly open mouth wouldn’t close. He stared at Enrico with slightly unfocused eyes, blinked like someone who had woken up late, and let out a short laugh.

“Ha, haha… … . But, what was that?”

“Hmm?”

“How can you believe everything an injured woman says? She might have a strange memory, but you think you can frame me just because of that? Besides, I just had some minor trouble with that woman. Where on earth is the evidence that I’m the murderer?”