“You received orders… Are you referring to Duke Michele’s words?”
“Yes. I will serve you wholeheartedly so that you will not face any inconvenience in the future.”
“Ha…”
A deep sigh escaped her lips. It seemed ridiculous to her that she would be given such a large house, even if it was just one floor, and that she would have to manage it all on her own. But it seemed that Enrico had already made up his mind to have her manage the house.
Enrico, who acted as if they were on equal footing but was trying to boss her around, already got on her nerves. However, she was in a position where she couldn’t refuse him for fear that he might throw a tantrum, so she was in a very awkward position.
Was he deliberately not telling me in advance? Was he trying to trick me into thinking he was going to manage the house to keep an eye on me? Or did he decide it wasn’t worth mentioning? After all, he must have thought I was just one of his self-absorbed works of art. Various thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.
“Shall I prepare your bath?”
Unlike Emilia’s complexity, Zaveta was simply calm. Emilia raised her hand and shook her head, dismissing her offer with a wave, as if she was simply asking what her duties were.
“That’s fine. But are you going to stay here?”
“Yes.”
It was a short and clear answer. It was obvious that she was a woman who had come under Enrico’s orders, so what was the point of asking her any more questions? Emilia closed her eyes tightly, then opened them and turned her head.
“The bedroom is this way.”
Zaveta quickly followed behind Emilia, her eyes sharp. As they walked through the living room and down the hallway, they came to two doors. Zaveta opened the left door and said:
“This room is the dressing room. Would you like to see it now?”
“…I don’t have enough dresses to fill this room.”
“Don’t worry about that. The Duke has already filled it all up.”
Of course he did. She had a feeling that was the case, so she hadn’t gone inside, but Zaveta’s words made her even more disgusted. Overwhelmed by a sudden wave of fatigue, Emilia raised her hand to her forehead and pointed to the room on the right.
“So this is the bedroom?”
“Yes. The bed was just warmed up. Shall I help you undress?”
“No. But where is the lady’s room?”
TL/N: Emilia is talking abt the maid’s room.
As she was opening the door, Emilia stopped and turned around.
“My room is this way.”
“But that room seems so cramped. Isn’t there another spare room? I think there’s one over there.”
“This room is enough for me. Thank you for your kindness, My lady.”
Zaveta’s expression softened into a warm smile. Emilia paused for a moment as she looked at the smile, then turned away. Instead of responding, she nodded slightly in response to the soft greeting she heard from behind her and entered the room.
The spacious room was illuminated by the soft glow of candles burning on all four walls. The unfamiliar yet nostalgic room filled her vision.
A white lace canopy over a bed that looked inviting, green curtains covering a large rectangular window on one wall, and a small fireplace in front of it, all evoked a lot of memories.
It was as if she had come back to her old home in Vacolta. The interior of the two-story house where she had lived with her family as a child was almost identical to the one she was in now. The hard wooden floors, the warm ivory bricks, the small fireplaces in each room. She could almost feel her mother’s hands smoothing the bedspread.
The warm Bacolta, which she had tried to forget as she fled to the capital, made her heart flutter. Emilia pressed the back of her hand against her trembling lips as if to calm them down and muttered as if to herself as if sighing,
“…This is not the time to get sentimental.”
She closed her eyes tightly as if to shut out the sight. But her chest, which was heaving heavily, showed no signs of calming down. As the warm bed grew cold.
* * *
Emilia, who arrived an hour earlier than her usual call time, stepped out of the practice room to the sound of commotion from the hallway. She noticed a group of people gathered in front of the bulletin board on the central staircase.
She quickly squeezed through the crowd. The casting list, which had been blank earlier, was now posted.
“Oh? Emilia…”
Juliana, who had arrived earlier and was looking at the casting list, turned awkwardly to her. Emilia looked at Juliana with a questioning expression and then turned her gaze back to the casting list.
She slowly read down the list, which included the names of the main characters and other important roles.
‘I got into Liz’s friends, but in the slipper… the slipper dance, there’s nothing?’
Emilia’s face hardened slightly. The main role, Liz, and the other important roles were Liz’s friends and the slipper dance. These were the two. The only other role was as one of the village women in a group dance, so she was shocked to find herself left out of the slipper dance, which she had naturally assumed she would be in.
Was she being arrogant without realizing it? Why had she assumed she would be chosen?
Was this what Enrico meant yesterday when he said she wouldn’t be able to play as many roles as she wanted?
She thought she would be in two, Liz’s friends and the slipper dance…
“Emilia, you’re the only one from the new group who got into two group dances.”
Juliana too had probably expected her to be cast in the slipper dance as well. That’s why she must have looked at her awkwardly. But she tried to comfort her by wrapping one arm around her.
“Oh, what’s so special about that?”
“Well… Eva, don’t be petty and just go.”
“Oh? Juliana. Petty? I’m worried about her. Don’t you think you should have had better results if she had the advantage of being a top student?”
A smirk of arrogant mockery played on Eva’s lips as she looked at Juliana and Emilia in turn. She had never been able to stand on the main stage because she had been overshadowed by the overwhelming Emilia, but now that she saw Emilia standing on the same stage as her, she felt a sense of satisfaction.
“Anyway, good luck. Come to think of it, we’re going on stage the same day. Emilia, let’s do our best, shall we?”
“Yes. I’ll have to work hard.”
“That’s right. You have to work hard.”
“You too.”
“…What?”
Eva responded a beat late to Emilia’s casual remark.
“What do you mean by that?”
Emilia, who had been looking at the casting list the whole time she was talking, turned away without even giving Eva a glance, as if she had said all she had to say.
“Huh? This is getting interesting. What kind of worry is that!”
“Eva! Stop it.”
Just then, another colleague quickly stopped Eva, who was about to approach with a flushed face. The colleague gestured to Eva to look around. Eva, scowling and rolling her eyes at the gesture, flinched back at the many stares that were watching her with an uncomfortable expression.
“Let’s go. Okay?”
Eva watched Emilia’s retreating back with a hurt pride. It was supposed to be refreshing, but she felt a strange sense of unease instead. She kicked her feet nervously and quickly turned back and left.
“Emilia, are you okay?”
“Yeah.”
“……There might be a mistake in the casting list. Everyone was only looking at you on the audition day, so there’s no way the result could be like that.”
Juliana fidgeted next to Emilia as she walked back to the practice room. She spoke passionately, her face as if she was being wronged, as if she was saying something that was obviously not true.
No, it’s just that……. I’m just going to focus on dancing for now.”
“Really?”
Emilia, her face calmer than before, entered the practice room and went near the wall to start stretching again.
From the beginning, she had tried to avoid being in the spotlight by not even auditioning for the lead role. She thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take things slowly from now on.
“Um……. I was a little surprised, actually. But where is there anything fair in this world? I just need to work harder in the future.”
Enrico, who wanted her to be worth her weight in gold, would be unhappy, but what could she do? She had a contract with him to just dance well on the day they agreed to meet. Of course, if he demanded it on his own whim, she couldn’t refuse for now, but that would be later, and she didn’t want to think about it too deeply.
Emilia stretched calmly as she spoke. At the sight of her, Juliana giggled and started stretching next to her. Since she had just stretched before, when Emilia was about to grab the bar and raise her leg, people in the hallway started to come back to the practice room one by one.
“……What are you going to do for the next work?”
“Are you already thinking about the next work?”
Most people were stretching, but there were a few groups of people talking here and there. Since Emilia was in a corner, there were only two people who came near her, but they seemed to be more interested in talking than stretching, and they started chatting incessantly.
“They said they’re increasing the number of works this season. So there will be more roles to take on.”
“Well, you have to go on stage to get extra pay……. It’s a bit frustrating to start something for money and still be ambiguous about it.”
“That’s why everyone is trying to find sponsors. I mean, they sneakily get invitations to gatherings and stuff like that.”
“But aren’t those places a bit dangerous? Most of the sponsors there are a bit….”
“You know what you’re talking about. Clarice, who retired last year, went out with that sponsor. I heard she somehow got connected to the Count of Valmont and became his mistress.”
“What? Really?”
“Yeah. I heard they were practically lovers, even though he was called her sponsor. She kept saying she wanted to quit ballet, take a break, and sing. Well, she got her wish.”
* * * *
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