Emilia absentmindedly wiped her forehead. The sweat that had been gathering just moments ago had already dried up.

A chill ran through her body from the rapidly dropping body temperature.

‘…Let’s go first.’

Her motivation plummeted. Emilia gathered her belongings and left the practice room.

The empty corridor was quiet. It had always been like this since joining the company. But for Director Carlo to come down to the practice room at this hour… Emilia was about to open the dressing room door with a puzzled expression when,

“-pardon?”

The sound coming from somewhere made her hand stop with a start.

‘Where is that sound coming from?’

She quietly stopped and focused on the sound. The intermittent voices were flowing from the emergency staircase. Normally, she would have ignored it and left, but she felt uneasy due to Director Carlo’s appearance just before.

She cautiously approached the emergency staircase door. As expected, beyond the door, she could hear the voices of two people talking. Thanks to hearing Director Carlo’s voice earlier, she could immediately tell that the person inside was him.

‘It’s a woman’s voice… Who is it at this hour?’

After taking a look around, Emilia put her ear to the door.

“What did Emilia say?”

“What could she say? She apologized profusely.”

“Oh my, as expected of Director. You’re so cool. I should have seen that myself… What a shame.”

It was a familiar voice. Who was it again? Emilia furrowed her brows, trying to recall. But before she could remember, Director Carlo called out the woman’s name.

“I can show you separately how cool I am. Eva, how about now?”

…Eva? That Eva Fabera? Emilia’s eyes widened. It was someone she never expected.

“You don’t have to go home early today? Your wife is waiting for you.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. How could I want to go home when you’re right in front of me?”

As if revealing that Director Carlo and Eva had an unusual relationship, their voices were full of nasal tones and they were having an intimate conversation. Even if a dense person came and heard it, it would be suspicious enough to doubt their relationship.

‘This is crazy…’

It seemed qualitatively different from the sponsorship contract she had made. Moreover, sponsorship only forbids relationships with outsiders, but if the other party is an internal senior manager, the story changes. It’s the warning you hear as soon as you join the company that the theater director hates it the most, so there’s no way Eva wouldn’t know it too.

From beyond the door, the sound of giggling laughter could be heard. Immediately followed by the vulgar sound of kissing, Emilia took a startled step back with a pale face.

But at that moment, the belongings she was holding shook and hit the wall between the doors with a thud. It became quiet for a moment on the other side of the door.

A chilling silence settled. Emilia hesitated with a flustered face, wondering if she should run away like this or confront them.

Although she had no reason to avoid it, she had no evidence to immediately report their relationship, so there was no way the director, who already disliked her, would let it go.

“…What was that sound?”

“Wait and see.”

The sound of approaching footsteps could be heard. It seemed like the emergency door would open right away if she ran to escape. Emilia, who was instinctively backing away little by little, was about to scream at the sudden hand grasping her shoulder.

“…Hmph.”

As she spun around, she saw Assistant Director Silvia covering Emilia’s mouth and bringing the index finger of her other hand to her lips. Silvia, who briefly met Emilia’s trembling eyes, slowly removed her hand and approached the emergency door. At that moment, the sound of someone grabbing the doorknob could be heard from the other side.

“Who’s in there?”

At Silvia’s voice, the moving doorknob abruptly stopped. Silvia, who had asked in a casual tone, gestured to Emilia to get away as she grabbed the doorknob. Emilia quietly stood against the wall where she couldn’t be seen from the emergency door side.

Soon, the sound of someone running urgently could be heard from the other side. Clack, clack, as if someone was holding it from the inside, the door wouldn’t open. Silvia looked up and down as if glaring at the person holding the doorknob inside.

“…Is it broken? Why won’t it open?”

At the muttering voice as if to let them hear, the other side quickly became quiet. After a moment of silence, Assistant Director Silvia let go of the doorknob, and the door slowly began to open.

“Ah, this door is strange. We’ll have to get it checked.”

Director Carlo revealed himself with a brazen face.

“It was you, Director. But why are you here? Didn’t you leave work earlier?”

“I was just taking a look around. Ahem, what about you, Assistant Director? Why aren’t you leaving if you’re done with work?”

“I was also looking around and we ran into each other.”

“Haha, I see. If we’re going to look around in the future, we should set an order to do it. Then I’ll be going now…”

“But were you alone? I heard another voice too.”

“Wh-what are you talking about?”

“I heard the sound of running.”

“You must have heard wrong! I was alone!”

As if there was a limit to pretending to be nonchalant, Director Carlo snapped with a face that anyone could see was suspicious. At that, Silvia smiled and nodded.

“Then I must have misheard. I’ve been tired lately, so I might be hearing things.”

“That’s right! You must be tired. So hurry up and leave work. Don’t stay here too late!”

“All right. Thank you for your concern.”

At her leisurely response, the director let out an unnecessary cough and quickly left the scene. As the sound grew distant, Emilia peeked her head out and awkwardly met eyes with Silvia, who was left alone in the corridor.

“Can you tell me what’s going on now?”

Silvia asked with a serious expression.

Time passed quickly. Although the cold wind persisted, it was already February, where trees occasionally sprouting very small buds could be seen.

Today marked the fifth time Emilia performed ballet in front of Enrico, and next week was the audition for the role in [La Sylphide]. The feeling was strange.

Soon, she could hear the second piece of information, but she was worried about how Director Carlo would act at the upcoming audition.

‘Since Assistant Director told me to watch for now, there’s no other choice, but…’

Emilia stretched her body in the empty practice room, recalling the day she learned about the affair between Eva and Director Carlo.

‘I briefly heard and thought it couldn’t be, but the two were having an affair.’

‘Yes. It seems so.’

‘How careless of them. To do such a thing even at the theater. The director may end up with just a few months of suspension, but Eva will be fired for disgracing the honor of the ballet company.’

‘…I heard the theater director is strict about internal disputes, but the director only gets suspended?’

‘As far as I know, yes. We’ll have to wait and see for the details.’

Assistant Director Silvia remained silent for a while. Staring into the void with a conflicted face, she threw her head back and let out a deep sigh, then suddenly met eyes again and opened her mouth.

‘For now, could you pretend you don’t know?’

‘Pardon?’

‘Perhaps, there might be a way. Although I’m reluctant, it seems now is the only chance to get rid of the director.’

What on earth was she talking about? In the end, she seemed to be muttering to herself, but as if reaching a conclusion on her own, her eyes turned resolute. Emilia, who merely guessed that the director and assistant director didn’t get along well, nodded in agreement since it wasn’t an unreasonable request to hide it.

“Ugh!”

Emilia, who was practicing the center moves, collapsed due to a sudden pain in her ankle. Her mind went blank. Despite diligently getting massages and heat therapy recently, she was worried about the abrupt ankle pain that hit her, wondering if she had overworked herself too much.

‘Sigh… This is no time to rest.’

Emilia grabbed her ankle tightly with an anxious face. She felt a burning sensation. Fortunately, it didn’t seem swollen, but that was already the worst condition, so she thought she should take a break from individual practice for a while before that happened. For the sake of the audition, at least.

Emilia sighed and took off her toe shoes completely. As her feet, which had been crushed by the shoes, were liberated, the suppressed sensations came back to life. It was a familiar pain. As she blankly stared at her ugly toes that had become bumpy, Enrico suddenly came to mind. If that aesthete saw these feet, he would probably frown.

‘He might even call this ruined. Because to his aesthetic sense, these feet would be a blemish.’

Emilia laughed weakly. Although it might not look good to others, these feet were the product of her efforts. It could be said to be the very time itself of how hard she had worked so far.

It wouldn’t matter anyway since she would never have to reveal her feet to him, right? She thought she was worrying about all sorts of things, but maintaining the contract with him was important, so it couldn’t be helped. He said he would continue to pay the price even if he changed his mind, but that was something she would only know when the time came, so it was better to prevent it in advance.

‘…But why does my body feel so heavy?’

Not only her ankle but her whole body felt a bit down. Emilia got up from her spot and put on a shawl. She had to make sure not to be in pain in the evening. She was already worried about the stage she would show him.