“Emilia! Where have you been?”

Emilia glanced sideways as if avoiding Juliana, who was anxiously approaching her.

“Ah… Are you done with your makeup?”

“I finished it a long time ago. Are you ready? You’re the lead, but you’re wandering around so much.”

“I had something to take care of for a moment.”

“…Are you okay? Why do you look so pale?”

“I’m fine. I’ll just fix my floral crown and be right back.”

“Huh? Uh…”

Emilia passed by Juliana, who stepped aside, and took off the brown shawl that was draped over her shoulders. She approached the mirror and slowly looked over her appearance.

The poofy skirt and the top that tightly hugged her slender figure, revealing her physique. And the small wings attached to her lower back made her look like a fairy who had just popped out of a fairy tale.

After checking her ballet outfit and arranging the white floral crown placed on her neatly tied blonde hair, she slowly lowered her eyes at her own dream-like appearance that was becoming more and more perfect.

‘Just prepare to get married.’

Giorgio, whom she met after a long time, was still rude. His belly, which had grown bigger than before, and his greatly curled mustache were still unpleasant to look at, and the wrinkles that had increased as much as his greed made his impression even more villainous.

‘…It’s the day of the performance. I’ll come to see you next time, so let’s talk then.’

‘I came because it’s the day of the performance! Now that I’ve endured you shamelessly flaunting your body while doing that lowly ballet that only commoners do, it’s time for you to follow what I say. If you hadn’t stabbed me in the back and ran away to that place, I would have never let you do ballet in the first place. You ungrateful thing.’

‘It’s the last day anyway. I just need to get through today, so what’s the rush? It’s not the first time I’m performing today.’

‘Today’s scale is different, isn’t it? I heard quite a few high-ranking people are coming, so what if your value drops after flaunting your body in a place like this!’

‘Hah… My value?’

‘In a few days, you’ll be an adult too. You won’t be able to run away anymore, using your dead parents’ signatures like before. You lived as you wished for those few years, so now live for the family. Your so-called great parents were only rumored to have a lot of money, but it was just a facade. Do you know how hard I worked to do business with that measly amount of money?!’

Although she lost her parents at a young age, there wasn’t much time to grieve. Because a distant uncle, whose existence she didn’t even know about, suddenly appeared and turned the family upside down even more.

Giorgio’s appearance when he came running in a hurry was truly pathetic.

As if he had memorized only this, he repeated the same words over and over again like a parrot, saying that there is a system where the inheritance goes only to the eldest son, but if there is no eldest son, it goes to the closest male relative of the family, and that it was him.

Emilia couldn’t refute anything to that.

Because it was true that such a beggar-like system existed. In a country where even a male successor who has not yet become an adult must receive thorough protection from a sponsor, how strict would it be for women who are considered accessories to men? Even if the perception is changing little by little, the reality is that it is difficult to escape from the sponsor even after becoming an adult.

However, what was more frightening than the invisible future was the appearance of the man who called himself her uncle, who reached out to her with nothing but greedy eyes from the very first meeting.

It was enough to awaken a young child’s survival instinct. It made her quickly escape to the Royal Academy of Arts.

It was difficult to find a place for her to go as someone who was not yet an adult, and it was dangerous anywhere with that young body. The Royal Academy of Arts, which could legally protect her and especially adhered to the rule of no outside visitors, including family, was like a safe fortress more than anywhere else.

In a way, it could be said to be her parents’ last gift.

Because if it weren’t for the Royal Academy of Arts enrollment papers that her parents had signed for her when she was young to comfort her, who loved ballet so much but had to leave it as a noble’s hobby, it would have been something she couldn’t even dream of.

But he said it was hard? After taking away everything that was hers?

There was a gold tooth in Giorgio’s teeth that she saw for the first time as he gritted his teeth as if he was truly resentful. His hair that was greased and combed back, his excessively luxurious-looking suit, and his heavy-looking gold rings. His appearance didn’t look difficult at all, and she almost let out a sneer.

Slowly, the strength drained from her two fists that were trembling. The inside that had heated up with anger also quickly became calm as if cold water had been poured over it.

‘I’ll find a suitable place for you right away, so stay at home as quiet as a dead mouse until then. The sight of a girl shamelessly showing her legs without knowing shame, tsk tsk. I have nothing more to say. Come with me when I’m telling you nicely.’

‘……’

‘You’re flaunting your things to those high-ranking people anyway, aren’t you? You don’t have to do that, I can connect you well enough, so don’t do anything unnecessary.’

‘…What if one of those high-ranking people takes a liking to me?’

‘What?’

It was too bitter to utter those humiliating words herself.

‘Someone higher than the person Uncle found. Then you don’t really need to look for anyone, do you? They’ll approach me and set a price on their own, so I might be able to get better treatment.’

However, in order to seize the last chance, she had to avoid this situation by any means necessary. With each word she uttered, an unpleasant sensation, as if she had stuffed her mouth full of astringent fruit, dominated her whole body.

She saw Giorgio’s deeply furrowed brow slowly unfurrow. The way he rolled his eyes and shut his mouth looked like he was secretly tempted, so Emilia suppressed the urge to spit in his face right away and killed her emotions.

‘It’s only for today anyway. The nobles who have come to watch the academy performances have been consistently present, so even if I don’t take the stage, my past as a ballerina won’t disappear. So take this opportunity today.’

Giorgio, who had been lost in thought for a moment while staring into the void, moved his eyes slowly. In his moss-colored eyes, which were now blatantly glimmering with desire, Emilia with an indifferent expression was reflected. Giorgio’s lips curled up disgustingly at her face, which seemed to be filled with resignation.

It was truly the last chance. The last chance for her to escape.

Emilia, who had awakened from her thoughts, took a deep breath and slightly rolled her feet on the floor. The sound of her toe shoes hitting the wooden floor rang out sharply.

‘I was greedy to try to get a job in another country with ballet anyway. I didn’t know if it would work out in the first place, and there was no guarantee that I wouldn’t get caught… It would be best to just go far away and live quietly.’

It’s not rationalization, it’s facing reality. She tried to comfort herself and slightly moistened her dry lips with her tongue.

“Are you crazy! Do you know what I just heard?”

“Why? What did you hear?”

The faces of the dancers before the stage were filled with tension, but on the other hand, anticipation was twinkling. While some were stretching alone, others gathered in groups of three or five, stretching and chatting, their voices filling the waiting room.

“The Duke has arrived!”

“The Duke, you mean Duke Polenta?!”

“No.”

“No way, don’t tell me…”

“Yes! Duke Michele has arrived!”

Emilia’s arm, which was relaxing her body while gathering her thoughts, flinched to a stop.

“He came to watch our performance? No, I know he’s very interested in the arts, but has he even come to a place like this?”

“I know, right? Did he come because it’s our first big performance? But anyway, it’s really surprising. He’s famous for being a generous patron, isn’t he!”

“That’s right. I heard that if he takes a liking to you, he provides generous sponsorship… But there aren’t any ballerinas who have received it yet, right?”

“That could be us!”

“But there aren’t many rumors about what you do if you receive sponsorship. I think I heard that he calls you to his mansion separately…”

Emilia, who had stopped for a moment, bent down and rubbed her ankle.

She had forgotten about it for a moment because of Giorgio, but she was relieved that she hadn’t gotten hurt when she almost fell earlier. The physique was so sturdy that if she had hit her face, she would have definitely bled, but Enrico Michele, who had never even looked at the person he had collided with despite the lack of impact, came to mind again.

Such an indifferent person is providing a lot of sponsorship to the art world. There are some known mass collectors who simply place importance on collecting, but despite his immense fame, information about him is not spread in much detail.

Even in newspapers that write about high society gossip at every opportunity, it was only mentioned that Enrico Michele had won a large number of something at auction.

“Well, there are a lot of people who impose strange conditions, but it’s okay if it’s the Duke, right? Honestly, he’s the most wonderful in our kingdom. He’s not only young and wealthy, but also beautiful, so what’s a strange condition or two.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Bella, please be quiet.”

“What’s the big deal? Honestly, there are people who do this for opportunities like this.”

“What do you mean? I think the intention is impure.”

“Gasp−, Professor!”

“It’s amazing that you have the mind to pay attention to other things when you’re about to go on stage soon. Especially on the day of an important graduation performance.”

“…I’m sorry.”