“While investing in car development from the beginning and proposing helpful legislation, working hard, that became poison. The excessive growth attracted attention from others, and at some point, many started eyeing the car investment rights. Among them, Count Valemont was said to be the most serious. As he kept pressuring and even threatening to hand over the investment rights, my parents looked for a way to safely manage this.”

Emilia frowned angrily and trembled her lower lip. Tears that had dried up could be seen welling up again.

“They could have just sold the investment rights, but feeling sorry that I couldn’t inherit the family due to being a woman, they wanted to give me as much as possible. So… so that all the investments made so far wouldn’t be tied to the family, they put them under mother’s name, but later it seemed even that was noticed, as Count Valemont’s pressure to hand them over intensified, and since he was aiming for more than just the car investment rights, they had no choice but to resort to other means…”

Emilia pressed her lips together once. As if trying to compose herself, she took a deep breath and struggled not to shed tears. Enrico just stared at her with a strange look.

He didn’t frown at the lengthening story, nor did he find her tear-stained voice annoying. If it were the usual him, he would have walked out without looking back in this situation.

“If I’ve seen this letter, it means they’re no longer in this world, and they’re sorry they can’t give a definite answer on whether that means was carried out successfully. Why… why are they sorry about that? They didn’t have to go that far…”

“…It seems that means was successful.”

At his low words, her tear-filled eyes widened.

“What?”

“There was an accident on the way home, and currently anonymous investment rights have been confirmed. It seems they used some method to evade the law, so finding the lawyer who handled it should be the priority.”

She blinked her eyes with a face that hadn’t thought of it. Having been immersed in emotion, she didn’t have time to assess the situation, but hearing his words, it seemed her reason was now returning.

“Ah… We might find something else if we keep looking. I think they left everything related to it here. If information about the lawyer comes up, we should ask if there were any suspicious people on the day they met, or if they said anything else separately.”

Enrico quietly stared at Emilia, who was rummaging through the box again. The letter didn’t seem to have any particularly noticeable content. It was more like information to refer to about the current situation before the incident occurred.

However, as he wasn’t curious about the incident, while recalling the commonalities between Emilia and the late Viscount Este, a word suddenly crossed his mind, causing one of his eyebrows to curve and slightly raise.

Sacrifice.

The image of giving everything for the other and being willing to jump into flames overlapped. His eyes fell on her as she now started to touch the high-stacked wooden boxes.

Her hands, rummaging through the dusty interior without hesitation, not minding at all that her dress was getting dirty, showed no hesitation.

‘Now I’m not even in her mind.’

When they were together, she at least paid attention to him, but since coming here, even a glance towards him had become slow. How did she think she could search this vast place alone? As Enrico watched her repeating this foolish act with displeasure, his gaze shifted slightly upward. His eyes widened and his feet moved before his words.

Bang−!

The box toppled over Emilia’s head. There was no time to dodge. Enrico quickly embraced Emilia, who was looking at the falling box with surprised eyes. And he threw his body sideways to avoid the wooden box.

Thud− He twisted his body as it fell sideways so that his back would hit the ground. Due to the recoil, his body slid straight until it finally stopped near the wall.

“Hah…”

A sigh of relief burst out.

Enrico dropped his head, which he had been holding to prevent it from hitting, onto the floor with a thud. Having fallen while tightly embracing, Emilia was lying on his chest, trembling, and even her rapidly beating heart could be felt through their pressed bodies.

“Are… are you alright?”

Emilia raised her head, pressing on his chest. Her trembling voice clearly showed how startled she was right now.

After briefly glancing down at her, he confirmed her face, which showed no signs of injury, and then comfortably rested his head on the ground again.

The box had hit his back and shoulders, but it didn’t hit his head, so it was just aching. Although he wasn’t seriously injured, he didn’t want to get up right away, his body slightly relaxing from the tension he was experiencing for the first time, wondering why he was so startled.

“Are you hurt? Did you hit your head?”

At his action of lying down again without saying anything, she panicked and raised her body more. His lips twitched at her touch as she even reached out to feel his chest, shoulders, and face. She seemed unaware of where she was lying right now, constantly rustling.

Enrico grabbed her wrist as if to stop her from trying to lift his head to touch the back of it.

“Are you alright?”

As he reacted, she came up slightly as if trying to check his face closely. A furrow appeared between his handsome brows.

“Don’t stimulate.”

“What?”

“I don’t have a hobby of doing this in a place like this.”

“What are you doing…”

At his low, husky voice, she blinked her eyes as if bewildered. He raised his upper body, propping one hand on the floor.

“Are you not aware of where you’re sitting?”

“…Gasp!”

A beat late, she gasped and retreated.

“I’m, I’m sorry.”

Even in the dim lighting, her face could be seen turning completely red. She stood up abruptly from her seat with a face that didn’t know what to do.

“Ugh−!”

“Emilia?”

But at the sight of Emilia immediately sitting back down, Enrico quickly got up. He sat down, immediately matching her eye level. Her face, with eyes tightly shut and clutching her left ankle, looked pained.

“Ah… I guess it’s because I was startled. I’m fine.”

His face hardened. The sight of her barely opening her eyes and awkwardly raising the corners of her mouth didn’t look fine at all.

Without asking further, he immediately picked her up. A sound of swallowing in surprise was heard, but he strode towards the stairs, even taking the lamp with him.

“Your Grace, I’m really fine! Your Grace?”

“I’m not fine.”

At his low voice, she stiffened. He pulled her in deeper, who was watching nervously with her hands clasped in front of her chest. For a moment, perhaps because of the hot body temperature touching his skin, he felt strangely heated.

He thought that her body in his arms was too light. To the point where it felt anxiously like she might fly away from his embrace at any moment.

Alessandro repeated the words he had just heard as if in disbelief. Through the stained glass decorated windows, light of various colors seeped into the room.

“You say Emilia and Enrico went to Bacorta together?”

“Yes! Whatever relationship they have, as per Your Highness’s instructions, I found out that they departed together by train yesterday.”

Count Valemont exclaimed as if bursting with indignation. What Alessandro had instructed yesterday was to find out where Emilia had gone on vacation. He had ordered it with the intention of pretending a chance encounter and spending time together at the vacation spot, but an unexpected situation was greeting him.

Alessandro’s eyes, having removed the mask of the gentle crown prince, glinted coldly.

“I didn’t like it from the time of the sponsorship game, but finally…”

“Did you just say sponsorship? Could it be that Emilia Este and Duke Michele are in a sponsorship relationship?”

The count’s wrinkled face contorted even more unpleasantly. Alessandro sneered at Count Valemont’s face, which showed he hadn’t expected this at all.

“Aren’t you being too complacent for someone who’s been clamoring about wanting to strip the Este viscount’s investment rights?”

“That, that is… I thought I should focus more on managing that Giorgio fellow, since he’s the head of the family after all.”

“He’s just the name, he hasn’t been of any help so far. Neither your investment rights, nor my Emilia.”

“…That is true.”

Watching Count Valemont fumbling for an answer, Alessandro clicked his tongue pitifully, as if looking at something worthless.

Useless old man. Empty-headed but with an overactive libido. Although circumstances had aligned for him to join hands with Count Valemont, every time he saw his actions, he felt like just killing him.

‘Not yet.’

It would be troublesome to mess with such well-known figures now.

Who knows where those arguing about the legitimacy of the throne might crawl out from and hold him back. Once he sat on the throne, that would be the time to blow off the heads of all those he disliked.

‘I hope our King’s life will be short…’

Not knowing how long his shallow patience would last, he once again told himself to endure just a little longer today, waiting and hoping that the seat he needed to ascend would be vacated soon.