Emilia looked at Juliana with a worried expression.
“Yeah, he’s waiting in the hallway. It looks like he’s on an errand.”
“What…”
Juliana tilted her head and headed towards the hallway she was pointing at. There, a little boy was holding his hat off his chest.
“Lady, this is for you…!”
It was a tiny flower. The ballerinas who were glancing around curiously nearby smiled cutely and soon lost interest. Emilia also thought it was fortunate and gave a slight smile.
But that smile hardened slightly as she felt a piece of paper being slipped into her palm by the boy.
“Then please do a great job performing in the future!”
Emilia watched the boy’s back as he bowed awkwardly and walked away, hiding the paper in her hand.
It seemed that he had hired a street boy to do this, and if that was the case, there was only one person she knew who would go to such lengths.
Enrico Michele, that’s right.
Emilia walked leisurely down the hallway towards the emergency staircase. There was a sound of a door closing, and Emilia leaned against the door. She looked down at her hand, where she could hear the rustle of paper.
– Come to the Duke’s mansion tomorrow.
Although he didn’t identify himself, the arrogant tone made it clear that it was Enrico. Emilia sighed and crumpled the paper, unable to feel the afterglow of the performance.
“Emilia?”
Then she looked up at the voice coming from across the way. Alessandro, who was coming down the stairs, came into view.
“Your Highness, what are you doing here?”
“Well…”
Alessandro, now standing in front of her, rolled his eyes with a troubled expression and then smiled sheepishly.
“I thought you might be here, so I came by. But, I didn’t expect to actually run into you.”
“Ah… May I ask why you came to see me?”
He said he wouldn’t come to see her separately. He had said he’d visit with flowers when she was the lead, so she thought he wouldn’t come separately for a while. She wondered what was going on.
Alessandro licked his lips a few times and then spoke carefully.
“Are you free tomorrow? You’ve been working hard, and I’d like to treat you to dinner somewhere nice.”
Emilia unknowingly let out a small sigh. She thought he was just being kind to her because of their childhood memories, but it seemed that he genuinely had feelings for her, separate from the past.
It was burdensome enough to avoid him when he was alone, but now that he had a fiancée, the awkwardness doubled.
TL/N: POOR FIANCÉE.
As she hesitated, he moistened his dry lips and waited quietly for her answer.
“……I’m sorry. I already have an appointment. But I appreciate the thought.”
For the first time, she was grateful for Enrico’s one-sided summons. It seemed better to lie about having an appointment than to reject him outright without a reason.
“It’s unfortunate, but it can’t be helped.”
“I apologize.”
“Oh, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable by saying this. I just wanted to have a meal with a childhood friend I haven’t seen in a long time.”
As if he could read her mind, he chose his words carefully. However, his attempt at an explanation didn’t quite reach her, as she was already feeling more uncomfortable around him than before. Still, she pretended not to notice and offered a slight smile.
“Thank you for remembering me for so long.”
“It’s nothing. Are you going straight home today?”
“We’ll probably have a small after-party.”
“I see. Well then, I hope you have a great time.”
Just as before, Alessandro withdrew gracefully. Though he was unpredictable, he wasn’t clingy, so she didn’t find him unpleasant. His gaze lingered on her hand for a moment. Perhaps due to the dim lighting of the emergency staircase, his eyes seemed somewhat subdued.
Feeling the need to hide it, Emilia brought her hand holding the paper behind her back and gently placed her right hand over her heart.
“Thank you so much for coming to the performance.”
It was the standard gesture of a ballerina greeting the audience. Even in that brief moment, her graceful demeanor shone through, and though a hint of regret crossed his eyes, Alessandro soon masked it with a casual smile.
“You’re very welcome.”
Her face showed relief at his polite farewell, unaware that his turned face bore a cold, subdued expression as he walked away.
TL/N: A CREEP AS ALWAYS.
* * *
Emilia was riding in a carriage heading towards the Duke’s mansion when she noticed people reading newspapers intently and tilted her head in curiosity. As she opened the window, a cold wind brushed her cheek and the cries of a newspaper boy wafted in.
“Morning edition of Liberta Record! Breaking news!”
Emilia, who had been observing the boy shouting the name of Treano’s largest newspaper, knocked on the front window. She stopped the carriage and handed out money through the opened window.
The boy, as if accustomed to it, stopped shouting and quickly approached the carriage. After receiving the money, the boy handed over the newspaper and returned to his original spot, shouting again, and the carriage started rolling again.
Emilia glanced at the front page of the newspaper and slightly frowned. She had bought the newspaper just in case there was another article about searching for ballerinas today, but fortunately there wasn’t, but the content wasn’t very good.
The headline was too provocative.
<Appearance of the Blonde Serial Killer?>
The entire front page of the newspaper was filled with this story, as if it was being treated as a major scoop. Blonde women had been going missing lately, and the newspaper criticized the assumption that it was just them running away.
The body of one of the missing women had been found, and the newspaper detailed that this was not the first time a blonde woman’s body had been found.
Come to think of it, Emilia recalled Juliana showing her an article about a body floating down the river earlier this year, which seemed related to this case.
Alessandro’s words from a while ago crossed her mind. He had been worried about the world being in chaos and told her not to go out alone.
‘It wasn’t a simple disappearance.’
Emilia continued to read the newspaper with a complicated expression. The newspaper, which was calling for a clear investigation regardless of class, was saying the right thing for a change.
Just yesterday, she had been thinking that they were wasting paper by writing about searching for women all the time, but it had completely changed overnight. Before she knew it, the carriage was reaching the front gate of the Duke’s mansion. New shoots were seen climbing the bare branches, and the large fountain between the mansion and the gate was showing off its sophistication today as well.
‘Although I’m relieved my story isn’t in the headlines, the content isn’t exactly heartwarming.’
With a small sigh, Emilia neatly folded the newspaper and set it aside on the seat, preparing to disembark. Wearing a beige blouse with red floral embroidery around the neck and chest and a wine-colored coat, she smoothed her red skirt before stepping down from the carriage.
Wondering if they would guide her to the dining room again, she followed the butler who greeted her at the entrance. However, contrary to her expectations, the butler guided her to a warm greenhouse.
It was a place she had visited once before, but it was her first time in a long time. The door opened and Enrico, who was sitting at a large table in the center of the greenhouse, caught her eye.
Still with his beautiful and arrogant gaze, he met her eyes with a picture-perfect smile.
“It’s been a while.”
Emilia bowed her head slightly towards him, who was nodding from his seat, and curtsied before heading to the seat opposite him. She sat down on the chair that the butler had pulled out for her and looked at the food that the servants had brought in, thinking to herself.
I guess we’ll eat first before discussing anything. Today’s meal seems simpler compared to the previous luxurious courses. Emilia, who had been worried about the burden of extravagant food, was relieved and chewed her food slowly.
The potato soup with flowers was the first time she had tried it, and it was quite good. It was only slightly fragrant and had flower petals on top, but it was mostly potato flavored. Emilia then ate duck with thinly sliced truffles and gratin scallops, and finally, she carefully put down her fork after taking a bite of the apple tart that came out last.
As expected, Enrico was drinking white wine, seemingly uninterested in dessert. His thick neck bulged as he gulped down the grape wine.
“What are you going to do for Easter?”
It was a question that naturally implied that the ballet company would be taking a break. Emilia took a sip of water, thinking that he had already seen her schedule.
Since Easter is an official national holiday, the ballet company enjoys a long break of five days in April.
“I plan to visit Vacorta for a bit.”
Next week was already April, and with Easter just two weeks away, she thought it was time to buy train tickets in advance. While there would be plenty of seats in the VIP section, the cheaper seats were likely to sell out, so it was safer to buy tickets ahead of the holiday period.
“Vacorta? Going to visit your family home?”
Enrico set down his wine glass and tilted his head slightly.
“Yes. I heard my uncle isn’t staying at the estate for long and will be heading to the capital soon. I wanted to see if there’s anything my parents left behind.”
“Do you think there’s a place where something could be hidden? Giorgio must have already gone through most of it.”
“That’s why I want to check for myself.”
His eyes narrowed at her calm words. Staring at her intently like someone displeased, he eventually gave a crooked smile and spoke.
“Then I must go with you.”
“What?”
She looked as if she had misheard.
“How can I trust you to go alone?”
Emilia’s eyes widened in surprise at his unexpected words. He continued, enjoying her reaction.
“If you run away, I’m the one who loses. I’ve given you a lot of information, but haven’t gained much in return.”
TL/N: OH…HE’S TEASING HER >-<
“That’s not true. Why would I run away when nothing is fully revealed yet?”
“I don’t know. Maybe because I still don’t trust you.”
“Sigh…”
“So, try to earn my trust.”
It was pure stubbornness. She knew there would never come a day when he truly trusted her.
Emilia blinked and then turned her gaze aside in exasperation.
* * * *
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