Enrico was sitting beside the bed. She tried to call out to him, her lips parting slightly, but no voice came out, perhaps because she was in a deep sleep. When she coughed, revealing her discomfort, he picked up the pitcher on the bedside table and poured water into a cup.
Emilia briefly stared at Enrico, who quickly brought the cup to her lips, and then slowly let the water pass into her mouth. She saw his gaze linger on her neck as she swallowed the water, and she pulled the glass away.
“…What happened?”
Emilia asked softly after clearing her throat.
“You’ve hurt your shoulder and arm a bit. Your right ankle is swollen, and it’s said you’ll need to have it checked later.”
At his words, her gaze turned toward her foot. It seemed he had finally had her ankle checked, which she had sprained before the accident, perhaps because she had kept delaying the examination. He seemed to intend to confirm later whether the swelling was temporary. Feeling overwhelmed by the complicated emotions as soon as she opened her eyes, Emilia let out a sigh.
“There shouldn’t be any serious problems. Don’t worry too much.”
It was an unexpectedly kind reassurance. It wasn’t like him to be this sensitive to someone else’s physical condition, so Emilia’s eyes belatedly fixed on Enrico. She hadn’t noticed at first glance, but he was still wearing a suit. Moreover, his deep purple eyes seemed to ripple with an unusual emotion.
Had he stayed by her side all this time? Why? Question marks filled her eyes.
“I wanted to make sure you woke up,” he said, as if reading her thoughts. His voice, low and subdued, strangely sounded like a whisper, tickling her ears. Her heart began to pound strangely. She wasn’t sure if it was because of unease at his unfamiliar behavior or for another reason entirely.
‘Did he feel relieved after confirming I was okay? But this accident wasn’t even my fault to begin with. Ah… right, the accident.’
Her ankle wasn’t the main issue right now.
“The light fell, didn’t it?”
Blinking, Emilia opened her mouth a beat late.
“Yes. There was a problem with the wire connecting the small light. They’re investigating it now, and I’ll let you know when they figure it out.”
The falling light had surely turned the stage into chaos, forcing the performance to halt. The real problem was why the light had fallen in the first place.
Emilia thought of Christina, who had been looking up at the ceiling of the stage before the performance. The gloomy, clouded look in her eyes kept bothering her.
“…There was a staff member I asked to check the ceiling before the performance. I think it’s best to confirm with them first.”
“You asked them? Why so suddenly?”
“I just… had a bad feeling about it.”
His eyes flashed sharply for a moment.
“Why did you feel that way?”
“That’s…”
It might have been just her own intuition. Was it right to suspect someone over something so trivial? As she hesitated, he quietly looked down at her, gently brushing his thumb over the area around her wrist, which he was still holding, as if to soothe her.
“Even if it’s nothing, just tell me honestly. It’s okay.”
“…It’s just, there’s someone among the ballerinas who seems to dislike me, and she was looking at the ceiling before the performance.”
“Someone who dislikes you? Since when?”
“I thought it was because of rivalry over the lead role, but recently, she’s been openly showing hostility.”
“Then you should have told me. Why didn’t you say anything?”
“How could I say that? I’m not a child…”
“Exactly because you’re not a child, you should say it. Don’t you remember the woman who used to cling to the director? She also tried to drag you down out of malice.”
“…I know. But this isn’t a sure thing. It might not be related at all.”
Enrico inhaled deeply, suppressing a sudden surge of frustration. But when he saw her drooping her eyes sadly with a listless expression, he pressed his lips tightly together. A strange, tingling ache spread deep in his chest.
After trying to calm himself and suppress his agitation, he raised a hand and reached toward Emilia’s forehead. At that, she looked at him with a surprised face.
“I’m not blaming you. It’s just that I don’t want anything to happen to you. That’s why…That’s why I want you to be a little more cautious of those around you.”
As his hand gently brushed through her hair, her eyes blinked rapidly several times in quick succession.
“Tell me who that woman is. If I pass it on to the inspector in charge of the case, it might help with the investigation.”
“…Ah.”
What on earth could he be feeling that lead him to extend such a kind gesture? Could he truly be this concerned just because one of his possessions was damaged?
Emilia, who had been staring blankly at Enrico, looked like she had many questions to ask. She gently bit her lower lip. Now was not the time to be swayed by the man in front of her. She barely suppressed the complicated feelings that seemed about to burst out and slowly opened her mouth again.
“…It’s Christina Firdana.”
“Okay. I’ll look into it. For now, rest. It’s still early morning.”
Early morning? Since she was lying down and couldn’t see outside, she couldn’t judge the time. Does that mean he had been staying by her side until this hour? Emilia felt her eyes sting for some reason.
It felt like emotions, carried by the rolling waves, were crashing over her. Feeling that she couldn’t take it anymore, she pulled the blanket up to her nose and murmured.
“…Thank you.”
Then, as if avoiding his touch, she covered her entire head with the blanket.
“I want to be alone right now. You should rest too, Your Grace.”
His hand, which had been pushed away, was still near her head and remained still, like a stiffened person. At her words, he didn’t say anything for a moment. In the uncomfortable silence, she tightly shut her eyes and didn’t move the blanket, then soon the sound of him getting up from his seat was heard.
“I’ll come by in the morning.”
His soft voice was followed by the sound of his footsteps fading away. When the door quietly closed, Emilia slowly pulled the blanket down and opened her eyes.
The only thing left, as if to confirm he had been there until just now, was the faint, heavy scent that she occasionally picked up from him. Silence enveloped the room. Her hand, which had been clutching the edge of the blanket, fell limply.
“Could this also be just a simple whim?”
Enrico, who had always treated her as a mere work of art, would sometimes show strange kindness. However, since that kindness came from Enrico, she couldn’t let her guard down.
She tried to dismiss it each time, thinking that it might just be an attachment to something he cherished, not giving it any deeper meaning. But kindness that digs in when a person is vulnerable was nothing less than a deadly poison.
‘If I keep doing this, He’ll just throw me away without even looking back…
When she first worried that he was a poisoned chalice, she shouldn’t have accepted it. Although she had no choice from the start, whenever she felt her heart waver towards him, regret would come crashing down on her like a tidal wave.
It was a relationship that should always make her anxious, fearing she would become useless, but she couldn’t just live crying and laughing, swayed by his whims. The effort to suppress and turn away from her wavering heart seemed to have reached its limit, and it was showing signs of breaking out.
It wasn’t the time to comfortably fall into emotions, but her heart, flowing differently than she thought, even made her resentful. She twisted her body in frustration, felt pain in her arm, and jerked her left foot.
She belatedly realized she was barefoot from the feeling of the sheets in the blanket.
‘…Did he see them?’
It felt as though the blood in her body was turning cold. The part of her that she didn’t want to be discovered the most, was exposed, making her anxious.
‘He didn’t react, right? After all, the doctor must have been the one to look at it, so he probably didn’t have time to notice.’
She didn’t think he had seen her foot being treated. No, she desperately hoped that he hadn’t. Emilia gazed up at the ornate ceiling with desperate eyes. She always had to be beautiful on his stage.
The moments of kindness that appeared now and then, like giving small offerings, would end once he was no longer satisfied. No. He wouldn’t even glance at her in the first place.
Emilia didn’t even realize she was more worried about her meetings with him ending than about her contract being broken, and she continued to wait for morning, her heart full of turmoil. Like someone hoping Enrico would come again.
* * *
In just one day, the ballet company was turned upside down. It was shocking enough that a ballerina got injured in yesterday’s sudden accident, but today, the police barged in, suspecting a deliberate accident, and as a result, all schedules were suspended for the time being.
The dancers were perplexed as they watched the police interrogating each of them one by one about the situation from that day. They had assumed that if there were an investigation, it would involve only the internal staff, but no matter how they looked at it, the police were including the dancers as suspects. The dancers whispered to each other, wondering if there was something they didn’t know.
“Who do you think did it? It seems like they’re suspicious of us too, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like they’re just asking questions. They’re asking if there was anything suspicious that day, what the relationships between the dancers have been like within the company.”
“Wait, does that even make sense? If they intentionally caused the light to fall, then the dancers would have been the first to be at risk first, right? But the culprit did that while taking that risk?”
“Exactly. It doesn’t make sense, but if there’s a dancer among us who’s the culprit… then that person is seriously insane. How could they do something that might put themselves in danger too?”
“Then, did Emilia just accidentally fall into the trap? Or was she targeted on purpose?”
“I don’t know about that. But if the police are asking about our relationship with Emilia, maybe it was on purpose…? Ugh, I don’t know. By the way, how’s Emilia? Juliana, have you heard anything?”
* * * *
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