“Let’s have a meal first.”

As soon as Enrico finished speaking, the servants who had been waiting outside began bringing in the food. Emilia unfolded her napkin, placed it on her lap, and reached for the plate handed to her by the servant slicing the bread. There were quite a few dishes that she had never tasted before when she was young. As she had felt before, it seemed that there were quite a few dishes from other countries as well.

She silently ate the lobster bisque, beef tenderloin, and flounder with garnish in turn. Usually, she had ballet practice in the afternoon, so she ate a light lunch.

As a result, she tried to eat heartily at dinner, so even when she had no appetite, she still put the food in her mouth without a word.

She thought that she was eating the luxurious dishes she had only eaten when she was young more often than expected at the duke’s house.

Although he seemed like he would coldly send her away if she just looked at the stage like someone checking goods, she thought that perhaps he was trying to manage her in a way as part of taking care of the art pieces he said he paid attention to storing.

Even if he had something to say, he could have just briefly mentioned the matter and sent her off.

Although his inscrutable nature made her uncomfortable, Emilia still steadfastly emptied her plate. She left some because there was a lot, but it wasn’t too bad since she could eat a balanced meal.

“Your uncle has been bothering you, I heard.”

After a long while, only when the last course of macarons and ice cream accompanied by fruit came out did Enrico quietly open his mouth. As if he had little interest in sweet foods, he had only eaten a few fruits and had already put down his utensils.

“…Yes.”

Emilia opened her mouth after swallowing the bright red strawberry down her throat. Perhaps because it was an unexpected story about Giorgio, she felt like the food she had eaten so far was going to upset her stomach.

Does he already know everything and is asking? Or does he only know that we met? Emilia, who was agonizing over whether she should bring up that Giorgio had first mentioned terminating the contract, belatedly continued speaking upon sensing Enrico’s gaze calmly observing her.

“He told me to refuse the sponsorship.”

“Hmm…”

Enrico slowly swirled the glass of red wine and let out a laugh devoid of any emotion. His lukewarm attitude, which seemed to indicate he knew or that he had no interest, caused Emilia’s mouth to close tightly.

“But you’re not going to fawn over him and leave? You never know.”

However, at his languid voice that soon followed, her brows faintly furrowed.

“…Your Grace, did you wish to speak with me to insult me?”

“Of course not.”

“What you just said was rude. Please apologize.”

Emilia met his gaze with a stiffly hardened face. Although she tried to remain calm, her tightly clenched fist under the table was trembling so much that her entire arm was shaking visibly.

Enrico intently looked at her like that for a moment, then curved his long eyes.

“If you tell me to apologize, I must, since you are my important work of art…”

He lightly raised his wine glass in the air as if paying respects.

“Please forgive my rudeness.”

Emilia bit her lower lip as she watched him bring the glass to his lips while keeping his gaze fixed on her. Even after his slowly undulating throat stopped, his gaze did not waver.

“As a token of my apology, I’ll make it difficult for your uncle to visit for a while.”

“…Am I supposed to say thank you?”

“Well. If you’re not of the same mind as him, you should be grateful.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Why do you think he suddenly wants to cut off his sponsorship?”

Although it was a question, his face did not show any curiosity. The corners of his mouth, which had been wearing a loose smile out of courtesy, slowly turned downwards.

“Did some other good opportunity come up?”

Enrico asked in a flat tone. Emilia lightly moistened her lips that had already dried up at his ice-cold eyes, like a northern wind in the snow.

“But I wonder if there’s a better place than me. How dare he not know his place.”

“…”

“Do you want to do the same?”

“…I just need you to let me know about my parents. That’s the reason I made the contract.”

“Right. Just focus on ballet. Don’t get distracted by useless things.”

“…”

“Right now, it’s just your uncle who’s involved, so it ends with this much. But if there’s a problem with the contract due to your own fault, you’ll directly pay a price greater than this.”

His low, sunken voice somehow felt creepy. His warning, which seemed particularly ominous, as if obsessed with his possessions, made the back of her neck feel chilly.

“Don’t even think about running away. No matter where you go, there’s no way I won’t be able to catch you.”

Emilia slowly regulated her breath as if trying to endure that pressure, then opened her mouth.

“Don’t worry. As I said earlier, all I need is to uncover the truth about my parents’ case. I will certainly keep the contract, so please uphold your end now, Your Grace.”

Her violet eyes flashed briefly, but the dangerous energy quickly disappeared. Enrico loosened his expression again and leaned his upper body against the back of his chair.

“Good. Now, shall we have some time for rewards?”

His response to her resolute words was far too light. As she watched Enrico rise from his seat, Emilia secretly let out a sigh.

Her chest was growing increasingly stuffy. She must have upset her stomach after all.

Emilia set down the teacup with rising steam and looked straight ahead. Enrico, who had moved and was sitting across from her at the tea table, was receiving documents from his aide while comfortably crossing his legs.

“It’s late at night, wouldn’t it be better for you to sleep over and leave in the morning?”

“It’s alright.”

“Hmm, make sure to take good care of your condition. If anything hurts, be sure to tell me.”

As if comforting her, his voice was gentle, as though giving medicine after inflicting a wound. Or maybe he was doing that because he was worried his ‘work of art,’ as he often called her, would be damaged. Instead of answering, she nodded her head once and placed her hands on the table.

“Please tell me now.”

Enrico glanced down at her small hands once, then obediently placed the documents in his hands on the table. Emilia, who had been looking down at the documents slowly being pushed forward with trembling eyes, hastily grabbed them as soon as the edge of the paper touched her hand.

The documents contained a detailed account of the situation at the time of the accident. The place where Emilia’s parents had the accident was Mount Belfna, a mountain that had to be crossed before reaching Bacorta, and the issue was that it was a carriage road with few people.

Although she had doubts as to why her parents, who did not usually take that road, had an accident there, at the time, there was no room to delve deeper into it, so she had let it go. Only now did that part catch her eye.

“…Is this real?”

“Yes. It’s evidence of what I told you before. Since these are records that were taken out when trying to cover up the incident at the time, they can be notarized as well.”

Emilia slowly looked over the accident scene records from that time and the data showing that the carriage wheel was intentionally damaged, not defective. The white hands gripping the paper were trembling.

Enrico, who had been quietly observing the slightly crumpling paper, tapped the table at a steady pace with the tip of his index finger and turned his gaze outside the window. The thick fog had largely lifted, but the moon hidden behind the clouds could not reveal its light.

“We are inquiring about the servants who were at the mansion at the time and also checking if there was anyone who approached the carriage. Once the investigation is done, I will hand that over as compensation.”

“…So it really was an intentional accident? My parents’ deaths.”

Her thin voice trembled with moisture. Enrico’s gaze turned back to her. A transparent teardrop that had clung to the tip of her long lashes fell onto her cheek with a plop. Enrico’s fingertips abruptly stopped at the sight of her shedding tears like a pitiful forget-me-not.

“How… How could… Who on earth…!”

The woman who had been trying to maintain her composure until then crumbled in an instant. Although it was only an extremely partial truth, even though he had already informed her before that it was an intentional accident, even though she knew, it seemed she was only now feeling the impact.

A voice mixed with sorrowful cries thinly seeped out.

He thought that she, who had only seemed like a lavishly blooming daffodil, was like a deep lake. Enrico gazed at her with a peculiar look in his eyes, beyond her clear emerald-colored eyes whose depths could not be known.

He had thought a crying face would be an act that ruins one’s appearance, so it wouldn’t be much. But when he actually saw her shedding tears right in front of his eyes, it was surprisingly quite alright. No, it was more than alright – he liked it. To the point that it felt like an artwork that was alive even off the stage, with emotions abundantly imbued.

Enrico did not hide his intrigued gaze. It was pleasing enough to look at that he was reluctant to immediately take out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and hand it to her. The tip of her nose turning pink, her peach-like cheeks wet with tears, her delicate lashes fluttering like a butterfly in the rain. Truly, everything seemed to be in harmony.

He wanted to see himself reflected in those moist eyes.

“…Since it’s your first time, I’ll tell you one more thing.”

In the end, he impulsively opened his mouth. The lake-like eyes looked at him.

“When I looked into the car investment at the time, it turned out that Viscount Este had been investing from the early stages. So I was keeping an eye on the situation in case he might withdraw his investment, and then the carriage accident happened.”

“…So that’s how you found out?”

Only Enrico was contained within Emilia’s trembling eyes. Without considering the meaning behind her question, he gave a clean nod.

“To think you knew…”

“The case was abruptly concluded, so I couldn’t investigate anything, and I just kept this record just in case. The problem is, when I looked into it in detail recently, it turned out that Viscount Este had invested in multiple places. He was someone with quite a lot of assets. But then why were the assets left to the viscount family so little? As if only a portion remained.”