Enrico licked his lips languidly, his face slightly flushed around his eyes from the fever. The hazy look in his eyes from earlier had quickly settled into a chilling one.

Should he grab her and bring her back like this? Should he remind her, who had dared to reject him, that not only the dance but she herself was part of the contract?

He couldn’t understand why he felt such regret over the lips that had just brushed past him. He wondered if his mind had gone astray because of the fever.

Although it was said to be a light wound, it felt as if poison had been applied, causing his whole body to heat up. Fortunately, he had built up some immunity to poison, so he would recover in about a day.

But in fact, the real problem was Emilia, who had been looking at him, rather than the wound. He had only approached her to satisfy his curiosity, but his body began to deny that that was all there was to it.

“Damn it…”

He looked down at his crotch with an irritated gaze. Soon after, as if feeling stifled, he tilted his head back. The veins on his chin and neck protruded starkly.

How could this be just a light interest? A deep sigh escaped him.

The atmosphere on the train to Deciro was bleak. Before the shock of the sudden attack last night could be settled, the unbelievable atmosphere that had formed with Enrico was too shocking.

Enrico was staring intently at her face, while Emilia was stubbornly averting her gaze from him. Quietly watching her side profile as she stared out the window, he slowly opened his mouth.

“When we return, we’ll resume the original schedule.”

Startled, her shoulders flinched.

“I think I gave you too much information in Bakorta. I don’t need to give you any for a while.”

What? Emilia looked at him in surprise.

“That’s…!”

“Now you’re finally looking at me. I guess you had no intention of even glancing at me if not for the contract?”

She placed one hand in the center of her chest and hunched her shoulders. Quietly watching her long eyelashes that briefly trembled, he soon turned his head and took out a cigarette.

“There was poison on the blade yesterday.”

“What? Poison? Ah, so that’s why you had a fever…”

“Yes. It’s not even summer yet, but I almost died from heatstroke.”

No, heatstroke was going too far. Emilia pouted her lips slightly and placed both hands on her thighs. Fiddling with her fingers, she hesitated before speaking.

“How are you feeling now? Did you detoxify it?”

“No.”

“You didn’t? What will you do if you don’t detoxify it!”

Forgetting the awkwardness from earlier, Emilia raised her voice in surprise. Quietly watching her reaction for a moment, he got up from his seat. Her gaze followed his back as he walked towards the balcony.

“Royals build immunity to poison from a young age, so they develop a tolerance to most poisons.”

He lit his cigarette and leaned against the railing on the balcony.

“Oh, then yesterday’s poison…”

“It means it was a poison I hadn’t been exposed to before. Well, I guess they didn’t expect me to have stronger immunity than they thought.”

“Do you have any idea who it might be?”

“Who knows. Judging from their knowledge of poisons, it seems to be someone familiar.”

Smoking lazily, he roughly brushed his hair back as if the wind was bothering him. His casually disheveled black hair and sharp jawline accentuated his nonchalant air.

Emilia watched the burning cigarette ash and then moved her eyes to the coral-colored lips holding it. The well-proportioned lips, neither too thick nor too thin, were unbelievable to have come so close.

‘That was really dangerous.’

Recalling the situation where she had almost accepted him as if under a spell, she felt her face burning up. She lowered her head and fiddled with her hands for no reason.

‘Unexpectedly simple.’

Enrico suppressed a laugh as he looked at Emilia, who had lowered her guard much more than when they departed.

Her attitude, acting as if she would ignore him for the rest of her life if left alone, was very displeasing, but her quickly worrying about him made his irritation dissipate too easily.

What did he want to do with her? Looking at the seat where Emilia had been sitting earlier, he turned his head and gazed at the large ducal residence in the distance. The path to the ducal house after dropping Emilia off at home first felt strangely long. It had only been a few days, but he felt as if being with her had already become familiar.

Before he knew it, the carriage slowly stopped in front of the ducal residence. Passing by the servants lined up on both sides in front of the mansion, he headed inside. Fabio, who had followed behind, took the coat draped over his shoulders.

“Your Grace, the culprit has been locked up in the basement. Would you like to go down and see for yourself?”

“Yes, I’ll go take a look now.”

“Understood.”

Enrico slowly descended the basement stairs decorated with antique wall ornaments. The underground prison, vastly different from the upper floors, was filled with dampness and the stench of blood. He walked past the rough walls that had not been renovated separately and headed to the cell at the back.

Cough, the sound of coughing was heard. Inside the black iron door where he stopped, a man with a swollen face and bleeding was tied up.

“This man seems to be the leader of the group.”

“Hmm… Open the door.”

“Yes.”

Fabio immediately unlocked the door and went inside.

“Check if there’s an engraved pattern on the second molar from the back.”

A disgusting smell pricked his sense of smell. Enrico put a cigarette to his lips and watched as Fabio forcibly opened the man’s mouth. The culprit wanted to say something, but it was useless as he had been given a drug to make him docile in advance. Fabio slowly examined the inside of his mouth.

“There is a pattern. It’s a long, snake-like image.”

“I think I know who it is. Come out now.”

“Yes. Oh?”

“What, is he foaming at the mouth?”

Enrico asked indifferently as he turned around and inhaled the cigarette.

“Yes. He just died after touching his molar. There must have been poison in the tooth.”

“Stupid guy, doing one last helpful thing before leaving. Making it obvious to this extent, there’s no way to misunderstand now.”

“It seems he couldn’t swallow it all at once. I immediately twisted his neck.”

“Then search inside his mouth. There might be a device.”

“Understood.”

The corner of Enrico’s mouth curved up in satisfaction. Did they think it would be easy once they were out of the ducal house? Sending only that level of person, how disappointing of Alessandro Treano.

Moreover, did he think he would definitely die, to send someone with a device implanted for the royal family’s shadow? It was deplorable to think that such a person would be responsible for this country in the future.

It seems the young prince is too idle and going crazy, so I should personally send him a gift to keep him busy.

Enrico lightly spoke to Fabio, who had quickly followed behind.

“Call the second prince.”

Fabio’s eyes widened.

Emilia entered the practice room feeling as if she had returned after a long time, even though she had only been away for a few days. She stretched her body for a long time, as much as she had rested, and waited for people to arrive.

“Emilia, did you submit the audition application?”

Juliana came to the practice room first instead of the dressing room as soon as she arrived. Emilia couldn’t help but laugh at her behavior, as if it was natural for Emilia to be there the moment she opened the door.

“No. Doesn’t it start tomorrow?”

“No! They said they’re accepting them starting today.”

“Really? Then I’ll have to fill it out now.”

“Yeah. Let’s go together.”

Emilia got up from her seat and draped a shawl over her shoulders.

“Did you see the newspaper today?”

“No, why?”

“There was another murder case.”

“What? Was it a blonde person again?”

“Yes! They said it was another blonde. But it’s someone we know too.”

“Someone we know? Who?”

“Remember how people were talking about the girl who used to clean here suddenly not showing up? They said she had a rare, pretty blonde hair, though darker than yours.”

“Ah…”

She remembered who it was. Even the words that her height was too short to be a dancer. Everyone had lightly assumed she had given up ballet and found a job elsewhere. Emilia’s face turned grim.

“Isn’t it really creepy? What’s happening all of a sudden? It must be a serial killer.”

Juliana clung tightly to Emilia’s arm, saying it was scary.

Emilia gently held Juliana’s hand and nodded. Considering the common factor of blonde hair and the previous articles, it seemed correct that the killer was deliberately targeting the lower class. After all, crimes targeting the lower class often surfaced belatedly like this, as they didn’t become major issues.

“Emilia, is the house you live in now okay? It’s not a place with too few people around, right?”

“Huh? Uh.”

Emilia nodded awkwardly, avoiding Juliana’s gaze as she widened her eyes and shook her arm.

“I’m a bit relieved since you said it’s on Inizhio Street, but you never know if it’s too much on the outskirts.”

The two, who had already reached the 4th floor, naturally separated their arms and walked towards the office with the reception desk.

“Mm, it’s okay. As long as I don’t wander around alone, it should be fine, right?”

“At first, when you said it was near Inizhio Street, I thought it would be too expensive to live there, but after seeing the incident, it seems you made a good choice. Ah, but when are you going to invite me over? I want to visit once.”

“Ah… Right. I don’t think I’ll have time right away because of the performance, maybe during the vacation?”

“Hmm, I guess so. We have to rest on Sundays.”

“We might have a summer vacation, so let’s talk then depending on the situation.”

“Okay. Anyway, be really careful.”

Standing in front of the office door, Juliana grabbed the handle but then turned around slightly and pointed at her with her index finger, warning her. Emilia smiled and nodded at her actions, then slowly erased her smile after Juliana disappeared.

It was already unsettling that it had been confirmed to be a serial murder case, but why did it have to target blondes of all things? She recalled Alessandro telling her to be careful before. Were the higher-ups keeping an eye on this case?

If so, she hoped the culprit would be caught soon…

Emilia suppressed the uneasy murmurs in her heart and took the [Cinderella] application form. She checked the lead role among the audition roles and pressed her lips tightly together.