“Received an order…? Are you talking about Duke Michele?”

“Yes. I will serve you with all my heart so that you will not face any inconvenience from now on.”

“Ha…”

A dumbfounded sigh escaped her lips. Somehow, even though it was a single-story house, it was so spacious that she found it ridiculous when they gave it to her, wondering how she was supposed to manage it. It seemed Enrico already had the idea of attaching someone to manage this house.

Although he pretended it was an equal contract, Enrico’s arbitrary manipulation of her already made her sick to her stomach. However, if she refused this, she was worried that he might throw a tantrum, and her situation was truly disheartening as she couldn’t say anything about it.

He could have at least given a heads-up. What kind of rudeness was this? Emilia slightly lowered her head and made a wry smile.

Did he deliberately not mention it? Was he trying to pull a trick to monitor her under the pretext of managing the house? Or did he judge that it wasn’t even worth mentioning? To him, she must be just one of the artworks without a sense of self. Various thoughts flashed through her mind in an instant.

“Shall I prepare the bath water?”

Zabeta was simply serene, separate from Emilia’s complexity. Emilia raised her head, dropping her hand at the attitude of the woman who asked as if she would only do her job.

“That’s alright. But are you going to keep staying here?”

“Yes.”

It was a short and clear answer. She thought there was no point in asking more here, as the woman must have come on Enrico’s orders in the first place. Emilia closed her eyes tightly and then opened them, turning her head.

“The bedroom is this way.”

Zabeta quickly followed behind Emilia. As they walked through the reception room and down the corridor, two rooms appeared. Zabeta opened the door on the left 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.”

As expected. She had a feeling it would be like this, so she didn’t go inside, but Zabeta’s words made her even more reluctant to see it. With the fatigue rushing in, Emilia pointed to the room on the right, propping her forehead with one hand.

“Then the bedroom is this way?”

“Yes. The bed has been warmed until just now. Shall I assist you in changing clothes?”

“It’s alright. But where is your room?”

Emilia, who was opening the door, paused and looked back.

“My room is over here.”

“That room seems too secluded. Isn’t there another vacant room? I think there’s one over there too.”

“That room is more than enough for me. Thank you for your kindness.”

Zabeta’s expressionless face softened, revealing a gentle smile. Emilia looked at that smile and hesitated for a moment, then turned around. She nodded slightly in response to the goodnight greeting coming from behind, instead of answering, and entered the room.

The spacious room was illuminated by the soft glow of candles burning on the four walls. The room, which felt unfamiliar yet nostalgic, filled her vision.

The white lace canopy hanging over the soft-looking bed, the green curtains covering the large rectangular window on one wall, and the table in front of it, along with the small fireplace on another wall, evoked a lot of nostalgia.

It was as if she had come to her old house in Bacorta. The interior of the two-story house where she lived with her family when she was young was almost identical to the present one. The solid wooden floor, the warm ivory-colored bricks, and the small fireplace in each room. She naturally recalled her mother’s touch as she tended to the bed.

The warm Bacorta, which she had tried to forget by fleeing to the capital, made her heart tremble. Emilia muttered as if sighing, pressing her trembling lips with the back of her hand as if trying to calm them down.

“…Now is not the time to be sentimental.”

She closed her eyes tightly as if to block her vision. However, her heaving chest showed no sign of calming down. While the warmth of the bed faded away.

Emilia, who had left an hour earlier than the time to go to work, was stretching her body when she heard a commotion coming from the corridor and left the practice room. She noticed people gathered in front of the bulletin board on the central staircase.

She quickly made her way through the crowd. The casting chart, which had not been posted earlier, was now up.

“Oh? Emilia…”

Juliana, who had come earlier and was looking at the casting chart, awkwardly turned to her. Emilia looked at Juliana with a face asking why she was acting like that, then turned her gaze to the casting chart.

She slowly read down the chart, which had names written from the lead roles to the major supporting roles.

‘I got into Lise’s friends, and in the Clogs… In the Clogs, I’m not there?’

Emilia’s face slightly stiffened. Apart from the protagonist Lise, the major roles were Lise’s friends and the Clog Dance. These two. Other than that, there were only group dances as the village women. She was internally shocked to be excluded from the Clog Dance, which she had expected to be in.

Had she become arrogant without realizing it? Why had she assumed she would definitely be cast?

Was this what Enrico meant yesterday when he said she wouldn’t be able to play as many roles as he wanted?

She thought she would be in both Lise’s friends and the Clog Dance…

“Emilia, among the new members, you’re the only one who got into two group dances.”

Juliana must have also expected her to be cast in the Clog Dance as well. That’s why she must have turned to her awkwardly. Even so, she hugged one of her own arms, trying to console her.

“Hmph, what’s so special about that?”

“Sigh… Eva, don’t pick a fight and just go.”

“Oh my? Juliana. Picking a fight? I’m just worried about her. If she received benefits for being the top graduate, shouldn’t the results have been better?”

Eva’s lips curled into an arrogant sneer as she looked at Juliana and Emilia in turn. She had been overwhelmed by Emilia and never stood on the lead role position, so seeing her stand in the same position as herself in the ballet company seemed quite satisfying.

“Anyway, cheer up. Come to think of it, we’re going on stage on the same day. Emilia, let’s do our best?”

“Yeah. We’ll have to work hard.”

“That’s right. We’ll have to work hard.”

“You.”

“…What?”

Eva answered a beat late at Emilia’s indifferent remark.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s exactly what I said. Since we’re going on stage together, I’m just worrying about you and telling you to work hard.”

Emilia, who had been looking at the casting chart the whole time she was talking, turned around as if she had finished what she had to say, without giving Eva a single glance until the end.

“Ha? Now that we’re face to face. What kind of worry is that!”

“Eva! Stop it.”

At that moment, another colleague hurriedly stopped Eva, who was about to approach with a surging face. The colleague gestured with her eyes as if telling Eva to look around. Eva, who was frowning and rolling her eyes at the gesture, flinched back at the various gazes staring at her with an uncomfortable face.

“Let’s go. Okay?”

Eva glared at Emilia’s back, which was getting farther and farther away, with a face that had hurt her pride. It should have been refreshing, but she felt strangely uncomfortable, as if she had left only an irritating feeling. She soon turned around and quickly left the place, kicking her feet nervously.

“Emilia, are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

“…There might be some mistake in the casting chart. Everyone was only looking at you on the audition day, so there’s no way the results could be like that.”

Juliana fidgeted next to Emilia, who was returning to the practice room. She spoke passionately with a face that truly looked like it made no sense, as if she herself was the one being treated unfairly.

“No. I’m just… trying to be satisfied with dancing for now.”

“Really?”

Emilia, who entered the practice room with a calmer face than before, went close to the wall and started stretching again.

Didn’t she refrain from getting attention from the beginning and not even audition for the lead role? It wasn’t bad to think of slowly rising up this time.

“Well… To be honest, I am a bit surprised. But where in the world is there anything expected? I just need to work harder from now on.”

It would be unsatisfactory for Enrico, who hoped for her value to rise, but what could she do? She had made a contract with him to just dance well on the promised day. Of course, if he made arbitrary demands, she wouldn’t be able to refuse as of now, but that would be a matter for later, so she didn’t want to think deeply about it.

Emilia spoke calmly and stretched. At the sight of her, Juliana chuckled and started stretching next to her. She had already stretched her body earlier, so by the time Emilia was about to hold the barre and lift her leg, people from the corridor also started returning to the practice room one by one.

“…What do you think the next production will be?”

“You’re already thinking about the next production?”

Although most people were stretching individually, there were quite a few people gathered here and there, chatting. Since Emilia was in the corner, there were only two people who came near her, but they started whispering constantly as if their purpose was to talk rather than stretch.

“They said they’re going to increase the number of productions this season. Then there will be more roles to take on.”

“Well, we have to go on stage to receive additional fees… It’s a bit disappointing that it’s still ambiguous even though I started this job to make money.”

“That’s why everyone is looking for sponsorships. You know, secretly getting invitations and joining gatherings and stuff.”

“But isn’t that kind of place a bit dangerous? Most of the sponsorships they get there are a bit…”

“I know what you mean. Clariche, who left the company last year, left because of that sponsorship. I heard she somehow got connected with Viscount Ballemon and even became his concubine?”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah. I heard that although it was called a sponsorship, they were almost lovers. She kept singing about wanting to quit ballet and rest comfortably, well, she got her wish.”