“Let’s eat first.”
As soon as Enrico finished speaking, the servants waiting outside began to bring out the food. Emilia unfolded a napkin and placed it on her lap, then reached out for the plate handed to her by the servant spreading bread. There were many dishes she had never tasted before. She had felt this before, but there seemed to be quite a variety of dishes from different countries.
She quietly ate the lobster bisque, beef sirloin, and turbot with garnishes. Usually, she had simple lunches because she practiced ballet in the afternoons.
So, she tried to eat steadily, even though she didn’t have much of an appetite, knowing she would eat heartily in the evening.
She realized that they ate more luxurious dishes at the mansion than she had thought when she was young.
She thought that he would dismiss her like a mere object if he only looked at her on stage, but she heard that he took care of the artworks with great care, so she wondered if he was trying to manage her in his own way.
Even if he had something to say, he could have just quickly said it and sent her away.
Although she felt uncomfortable not being able to understand his intentions, Emilia still finished her plate stoically. The portion was large, so she left some, but it wasn’t too bad as she was able to eat everything evenly.
“I heard that your uncle was being a nuisance.”
After a long silence, Enrico finally opened his mouth just as the last course of fruit-accompanied macarons and ice cream was served. He seemed to have no interest in sweet food, so he only ate a few fruits and put down his utensils early.
“……Yes.”
Emilia opened her mouth after swallowing a bright red strawberry. Perhaps because it was an unexpected topic about Giorgio, she felt like she was going to throw up all the food she had eaten so far.
Was he asking because he already knew? Or did he only know what he had heard? Emilia, who was wondering if she should bring up the fact that Giorgio had mentioned the contract cancellation first, felt Enrico’s gaze silently fixed on her and belatedly continued.
“I heard that he told you to refuse the sponsorship.”
“Pft…”
Enrico swirled the glass of red wine slowly and let out an uninterested laugh. Emilia’s lips tightened at his lukewarm attitude, which seemed to be knowing or uninterested.
“But are you really leaving, young lady? Just in case.”
Her eyebrows furrowed slightly at his languid voice.
“……Your Grace, are you trying to have this conversation to insult me?”
“Of course not.”
“What you just said was rude. Please apologize.”
Emilia met his gaze with a hard face. Trying to stay calm, she could see that her clenched fist under the table was trembling and her whole arm was shaking.
Enrico stared at her like that and flicked his long eyelashes.
“I should apologize if you ask me to, since you are my precious artwork…”
He raised his wine glass in the air as if to give a light toast.
“Please forgive my rudeness.”
Emilia bit her lower lip as she watched him bring the glass to his lips while keeping his eyes fixed on her. His Adam’s apple, which had been moving slowly, stopped, but his eyes did not waver.
“As a token of apology, I will make it difficult for your uncle to visit you for a while.”
“……Should I be grateful?”
“Well, you should be grateful unless it’s not what you intend.”
“What does that mean?”
“Why do you think he wants to suddenly cut off the sponsorship?”
It was a question, but his face didn’t show any curiosity. The corners of his mouth, which had been holding a loose smile out of courtesy, slowly turned down.
“Has another better opportunity come up?”
Enrico asked casually. Emilia pursed her dry lips slightly at the sight of his icy blue eyes, like a cold north wind and snow.
“But I wonder if there’s a better place than me. He doesn’t even know the subject well.”
“…….”
“Do you want to do that too?”
“……I just want to know about my parents. That’s why I signed the contract.”
“Right. Focus on ballet. Don’t waste your energy on useless things.”
“…….”
“Right now, it’s only your uncle who’s involved, so it ends here, but if you make a mistake and there’s a problem with the contract, you’ll have to pay the price yourself.”
His low voice was somehow creepy. Was it his obsession with his possessions, or was it his warning that sounded particularly ominous, that made the back of her neck feel cold?
“Don’t even think about running away. There’s nothing I can’t catch, no matter where you go.”
Emilia took a slow breath as if trying to withstand the pressure and opened her mouth.
“Don’t worry. As I said before, all I need is to uncover the truth about my parents’ case. I will definitely keep my part of the contract, so please keep your part too.”
His violet eyes flashed briefly, but the dangerous aura quickly disappeared. Enrico leaned back against the backrest, his lips relaxed again.
“Alright then. So, shall we have a moment to discuss the reward?”
The response to his determined words was too light. Watching Enrico get up, Emilia let out a sigh without realizing it.
She was getting more and more suffocated. It looks like her limit is coming.
* * *
Emilia looked down at the steaming teacup and then looked up straight ahead. Enrico, who had moved to the opposite side of the tea table, was comfortably crossing his legs and receiving the documents handed over by his aide.
“It’s late at night, wouldn’t it be better to go to bed?”
“It’s okay.”
“Well, take care of your condition. If you’re not feeling well, please tell me.”
His voice was soft, as if soothing her, or maybe because he was worried that the artwork he often talked about would be ruined. Instead of answering, she nodded once and placed her hand on the table.
“Now, please tell me.”
Enrico looked down at her small hand and gently placed the documents in his hand on the table. Emilia, who was looking down at the documents slowly sliding forward with trembling eyes, grabbed them as soon as her fingertips touched the end of the paper.
The documents described the situation at the time of the accident in detail. The place where her parents had an accident was Mount Belfna, which they had to pass before Varcota, and the problem was that it was a sparsely populated carriage road.
Although she had wondered why her parents, who did not usually take that road, had an accident there, she had overlooked it at the time because there was no room to delve into it.
“…… Is this real?”
“Yes. It’s evidence of what I told you before. I took the records that they were trying to cover up at the time, and they’re going to be notarized.”
Emilia slowly looked through the accident scene records at the time and the data on the carriage wheels that were not defective but intentionally damaged. The white hands holding the paper trembled.
Enrico, who had been quietly watching the paper crumpled slightly, tapped the table with his index finger regularly and turned his gaze out the window. The thick fog had lifted a lot, but the moon hidden in the clouds was unable to reveal its light.
“We are questioning the servants who were in the mansion at the time and checking to see if anyone had access to the carriage. I’ll give you that as reward if the investigation is done.”
“…… So, you mean it was an intentional accident? My parents’ death?”
Her voice, mixed with moisture, trembled thinly. Enrico’s gaze turned back to her. A transparent tear drop that had been hanging on the tip of her long eyelashes rolled down her cheek. Enrico’s fingertips stopped abruptly at the sight of her shedding tears like a pitiful forget-me-not.
“How…… How, why. Who on earth……!”
The woman who had been trying to stay calm suddenly collapsed in an instant. It was only a part of the truth, and he had already told her that it was an intentional accident, but it seemed that she was only now realizing it.
A thin voice mixed with a mournful cry escaped her lips.
She had only looked like a narcissus blooming in the rain, but now she seemed like a deep lake. Enrico stared at her with a strange gaze, behind her eyes, which were a clear emerald color but whose depth he could not fathom.
He thought that crying was an act that would ruin her beauty, so he didn’t think it was a big deal. But when he actually saw her crying in front of him, he found it to be more pleasant than he thought. No, it was more than pleasant, he liked it. He felt like she was like a living piece of art, full of emotion, even on the stage.
Enrico did not hide his intriguing gaze. He thought it was so good to look at that he couldn’t be bothered to take out a handkerchief from his pocket right away. Her pink nose, her peach cheeks wet with tears, her delicate eyelashes fluttering like a butterfly in the rain. Everything seemed to be in harmony.
He wanted to see himself reflected in her wet eyes.
“…… This is the first time, so I’ll tell you one more thing.”
He finally opened his mouth impulsively. Her eyes like a lake looked at him.
“Back then, when I was looking into automobile investments, I found out that Viscount Este had been investing in them from the start. So, I was keeping an eye on the situation in case he decided to withdraw his investment, but then the carriage accident happened.”
“……So, you knew about it?”
Emilia’s trembling eyes only contained Enrico. He nodded neatly without thinking about the meaning of her question.
“You knew about it….”
“The case was suddenly closed, so I couldn’t investigate anything, and I just left these records in case. The problem is, I’ve been digging around lately and it turns out that Viscount Este was investing in multiple places. He had a lot of money. But why is there so little property left in the Viscountcy? It seems like only a part of it is left.”
* * * *
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