When Pride Falls at Your Feet - Chapter 48

At his low voice, Emilia inwardly thought it was indeed like that. She was briefly a bit puzzled by how he had excessively protected her, but it seemed his standards were firm.

‘Since I’m still a valuable item, he must think it’s worth saving me for now.’

Her ankle that had gotten better somehow felt throbbing with pain.

The moment this was discovered, she would fall to the far bottom without anything to call value, and he wouldn’t even bother to glance at her. The soft light in her eyes as she quietly looked up at him disappeared smoothly like being covered by a curtain.

“May I go down to the basement today?”

It was her own residence, but she felt she had to ask him. Emilia waited for his reply with a calm expression.

“The things in the basement will be moved to the duke’s house. You don’t need to go down.”

“To the duke’s house? Why…”

Emilia, who was questioning it, trailed off.

In the first place, they were things her father had hidden in the basement to make them hard to find. They still didn’t even know who had done this, and if she took these back home, in the worst case the perpetrators could target her.

Revealing who the culprit was was important, but since he wouldn’t come directly in the first place and would have his subordinates do it, there seemed to be no need to recklessly take the risk.

“…Then I’ll entrust it to you.”

He slowly opened his mouth while looking down at her as she promptly accepted and greeted him.

“The circumstances all point to Count Valmont, but there’s no evidence. And Giorgio will surely be entangled in it too.”

“I also suspect that.”

“When I looked into Giorgio’s whereabouts before he came to the marquis’ house, it was spotless as if someone had intentionally erased it.”

He casually spilled the information and moved his steps again. Worried that he might act on a whim and shut his mouth, she quickly followed and struck up a conversation.

“Ah… But could it possibly be someone not from my family? They said it was a matter verified by the administrative office.”

From the position of Emilia, who had suddenly lost her family at a young age, there wasn’t much she could find out. She could only inquire with the administrative office, and there they proved he was a distant relative, so they only said the position of head of the family would be transferred through legal procedures.

“Well, in a case where there’s this little trace, it’s suspicious.”

“Even though the administrative office confirmed it?”

“Either the documents were perfect, or it was an order from someone with the power to turn a blind eye to forged documents.”

“…Goodness.”

Emilia sighed as if dumbfounded and pressed a hand to her forehead. She had been too naive. No matter what, since the country had also proven it, she had thought he must definitely be her uncle, but listening to this now, she felt he might be someone truly not related to her by blood.

Enrico gestured. Seeing that, Zabeta who had come close was ordered to bring something to drink, and he sat on the living room sofa.

“I’m looking for the person in charge at the time, so wait and see.”

“…You’re looking for them? They’re not at the administrative office?”

“That’s right. They submitted a retirement request and suddenly disappeared.”

How, how had she lived without suspecting this at all? Someone’s hand was felt grabbing hers as she stood there blankly reproaching herself. Startled, she raised her eyes that had been staring at the floor and he pulled her hand towards the sofa.

Just then, Zabeta set down a crystal glass filled with water on the table.

“Drink. Standing there like that won’t solve anything.”

Emilia’s eyes trembled. As he took out a cigarette and lit it, he pointed to the crystal glass with his chin. With a confused expression, she sat down and held the water glass in her hand for now, but only blankly looked down at the table.

“And I’ll warn you…”

Enrico inhaled the cigarette, making his cheek slightly hollow, and slowly exhaled between his lips. White smoke slowly spread as if covering his expression.

“Be wary of Alessandro Treano.”

Emilia’s eyes opened in puzzlement. Before, Alessandro had told her to be careful, and now Enrico was saying the same thing.

“Valmont and that guy have been sticking together since they were young.”

“…But why would he tell me about Count Valmont? Even if they were together, wouldn’t they not be close?”

“Not at all. Count Valmont handles things for Alessandro that he can’t come forward for on the surface, so how could that be?”

“Ah…”

“So I’m telling you to be careful. Of him approaching you like that.”

Sparkling violet eyes were revealed as the smoke cleared. Their gazes collided in midair and didn’t leave each other for a long time.

I can’t believe I already have to go to Deshiro tomorrow. I don’t know where the time has gone.

Lying on the bed and blankly gazing at the ceiling shimmering in the moonlight, Emilia abruptly sat up as if stifled. She brought her knees to her chest. Emilia’s cheek was slightly squished against her rounded knees as she rested her head on them.

‘It doesn’t seem like he’s lying.’

At first, after hearing Alessandro’s warning, she had doubts if Enrico was also somehow involved in this. But judging from the contents of the letter alone, the one most closely entangled with this family was Count Valmont, and Count Valmont seemed to be close with Alessandro, so somehow she couldn’t completely trust the crown prince.

In contrast, since Enrico gave her information and helped her, suspicion didn’t easily go to him. He had even previously tracked down all the servants who used to work at this residence to find out information about where her parents had departed to in the past.

‘I heard them talking about how long it takes to get to Leviso.’

‘Where is Leviso?’

‘The north. Near the Michele territory.’

The problem was that the place her parents said they were going to was close to his territory though.

Anyway, on top of Alessandro’s warning, she had gotten information she didn’t know about her parents, so she wondered why he was telling her so many things today, but even if she was suspicious, she had to accept it for now given her position.

The butler at the time had said her parents didn’t exactly tell him where they were going, so she thought no one would know, but unexpectedly the boy managing the horses had happened to hear them talking, so fortunately she was able to find out.

‘…I’ve gotten a lot of information at once.’

Originally, it would have been three dances for one piece of information. Unintentionally coming to Valcorta with him, she had obtained various information.

After watching here, it seemed there was less and less need to doubt the information he gave. It was just that his fickle attitude kept nagging at her, so even when she wanted to fully trust him, sometimes she felt like keeping her distance.

No, perhaps it was because being with him made her uncharacteristically caught up in strange urges and her heart waver that she felt confused.

She should be able to cleanly just trust his information, so why did she keep trying to accept him himself?

‘I sure am fast. Even while being treated like an object…’

Emilia gave a self-mocking laugh and put her feet down from the bed. Her complicated mind showed no signs of improving.

Since it was the last night, should she take a walk with the moonlight as her companion? After briefly agonizing, she moved her steps towards the window.

But that’s when it happened.

Thud-! The sound of hitting a wall was heard from far away. Emilia stopped in place for a moment, thinking she had misheard. Thud, the sound was heard again, though smaller than before. Rather than hitting, it sounded like something colliding.

Hesitating, Emilia put on the robe she had taken off and carefully opened the bedroom door. The hallway was so quiet it felt chilly.

‘It felt like it came from far away, but where? The opposite side?’

She stood still and looked around, then turned to go back into the room. Bang, the sound rang out again.

‘…This is His Grace’s room.’

Emilia blinked rapidly. The sound was irregular for him to be doing something, and since it could be heard this much from outside a well-soundproofed room, it also meant the inside was very chaotic. Biting her lower lip tightly, she soon moved her steps slowly with a determined face.

As she got close to the door, the sound of something colliding was clearly heard. She lowered the hand that was going to knock to the doorknob and opened the door.

“Gasp…!”

Emilia covered her mouth with one hand. The room was a mess. Furniture was sprawled on the floor and the bed looked like it had been violently torn, with stuffing bursting and flying in the air.

She hurriedly entered the room. The first thing she saw was black-masked people collapsed on the floor, and in front of them was Enrico’s back. Enrico was facing a person wearing a pitch-black mask standing in the left corner of the wall.

“What, what on earth is this…”

At her dumbfounded murmur, Enrico turned around. Not knowing it was her who had come in, his face that had looked at ease instantly hardened.

“Get out!”

But before Emilia could react to that shout, the black-masked person quickly approached her. They had moved while Enrico was turning around.

Enrico’s face distorted. He also quickly followed the black-masked person, and startled by the black-masked person suddenly approaching, she let out a loud scream.

Aaaah- At the scream that seemed to pierce the sky, the lights of the residence switched on in an instant.

“Ugh…”

Screaming, Emilia pushed the chair next to her, and Enrico took advantage of the opening as the black-masked person avoided it to slip between them. The blade they were holding slashed towards Emilia, but Enrico blocked it and the tip of the blade grazed his forearm.