When Pride Falls at Your Feet - Chapter 62

Those who had been chatting looked at Juliana, who was sitting in a corner hugging her legs. Juliana shook her head weakly.

“Ah… They say someone who came with a doctor took her to be hospitalized that day. You don’t know where?”

“No. I checked the nearby hospital, but she wasn’t there. But the deputy director said not to worry, that she confirmed she was doing well…”

Juliana sighed, resting her chin on her knees.

“Are they hiding her to prevent reporters from finding her?”

That day, it was an unusually big accident, and if Duke Enrico Michele hadn’t quickly shot down the falling light and burst it in mid-air, it would have fallen right on Emilia’s head, potentially causing an even more dangerous situation.

But the problem was that some people started gossiping that they heard Enrico Michele calling out Emilia’s name as she fell. With rumors adding that the two might know each other, uncontrollable gossip spread rapidly throughout the theater.

“That might be the case.”

With reporters on high alert, it was understandable to avoid them, but she didn’t expect Emilia’s whereabouts to become so mysterious.

Deputy Director Silvia was busy urging everyone to keep quiet and surveying the scene with the police. Juliana, who wanted to secretly ask if Emilia was at home and if so, where that might be, felt just burning inside.

Soon people started chatting among themselves again, and Juliana looked dejectedly at the empty space beside her. Then she noticed feet at the edge of her vision and slowly raised her gaze.

‘…But why is that person like that when she wasn’t even on stage then.’

Christina Firdana had been in that state since the police barged in today.

Juliana was too distracted yesterday to notice how she was, but today Christina looked extremely anxious, as if she had experienced the accident firsthand.

At the time of the accident yesterday, it wasn’t time for Christina’s ‘Sylphide’ role to appear, so she would have been by the wing stage.

Yet, even the dancers who had been on stage during the accident weren’t shaking this much, so her excessively reactive behavior seemed odd. Perhaps it was because it contrasted so sharply with her usual calm demeanor.

“Christina Firdana?”

Christina, who had been biting her nails nervously and staring blankly into space, froze the moment the police called for her. Seeing her standing still as if time had stopped, the officer looked around the practice room and called for her again.

“Christina Firdana, is she not here?”

“Christina? She’s right there… Christina! It’s your turn.”

“She must be very shocked. She’s been like that the whole time.”

The dancers’ gazes fixed on Christina. Christina belatedly opened her eyes wide, looking around before shrinking her shoulders at the attention focused on her.

“We don’t have time. Come out quickly!”

The police officer gestured for Christina to come over quickly.

“…Yes.”

“We still have a long way to go to question everyone. If you want to go home quickly, please cooperate promptly.”

At the officer’s urging, the dancers gestured for Christina to go quickly. However, Christina rose from her seat sluggishly, showing an unprecedented slowness.

With the accident being so severe that the performance was canceled, and being stuck in the practice room all day for police questioning, the gaze towards Christina, who was acting so sluggishly, started to turn increasingly negative.

“Christina! Hurry up and go!”

“Why is she making such a fuss when she wasn’t even on stage then?”

“Exactly! Anyone would think she was close to Emilia or something.”

“Didn’t she apologize at the end?”

“Honestly, who knows if that was sincere. Ah, just go quickly already!”

Harsh words burst out due to extreme stress. While some tried to stop it, those in bad moods tended to be louder, so only the negative comments seemed to stand out.

The police officer, standing by the door watching Christina approach slowly for a long time, briefly considered just dragging her along when he heard someone running up beside him and turned his head.

“Ah, did you come because of Christina Firdana? Did they say to hurry up from above?”

“Huff, huff-. No. It’s not that…”

“If not that, then what? Did they say to bring someone else for questioning together?”

The officer who had run over busily, catching his breath for a moment while waving his hands side to side, put his disheveled hat back on and opened his mouth.

“They said to bring her in. In handcuffs.”

“Huh? Who?”

“Christina Firdana.”

The officer who had run over took out the handcuffs he had brought in his pocket and stepped into the practice room. Christina, who had stopped moving from the moment she heard her name, had turned as pale as if all the blood had drained from her body.

Shock filled people’s gazes. Some were seen gaping in surprise, while others stood up abruptly from their seats. Among them, Juliana was one of the latter, urgently asking the officer passing in front of her.

“Why, why are you arresting Christina? Is it related to yesterday’s accident?”

“I can’t give you details, but a crucial testimony came in related to the accident, so we decided on an emergency arrest. We judged there was a risk the suspect might flee.”

An icy silence descended. Christina, who had been unconsciously backing away, froze at the officer’s last words. The officer waiting at the door quickly approached and grabbed her wrist to help easily put on the handcuffs.

Christina, suddenly handcuffed in an instant, seemed too shocked to say anything. People’s eyes filled with contempt as they watched her, her eyes shaking greatly and her lips trembling as if not knowing what to say.

“…What on earth is going on?”

“Are they saying Christina is connected to yesterday’s accident?”

“This is crazy.”

Juliana grabbed Christina’s arm as she was being urgently led away.

“Is it true? Did you really do it?”

“…”

“Huh? I’m asking if you really did it! Don’t tell me you really targeted Emilia?”

As Juliana approached looking like she would devour her, the officer moved to stop her. However, Christina, who had been staring at the floor with a dazed expression, suddenly raised her head and abruptly shook off the arm holding her.

“…I didn’t do it.”

“What?”

It was almost a look of madness, too late to say she had come to her senses. Christina, so agitated she was spitting as she spoke, began to pour out a tirade.

“I said I didn’t do it. I was at the wing stage then, how could I have done anything! Are you sure about this? Can you just drag someone away like this without being certain?”

Everyone was left speechless at the sight of Christina resisting, even shaking off the officers’ hands. The police approached Christina again, who was suddenly causing a scene as if she had become a different person, and grabbed her thin arm. Ugh, Christina let out a groan at the tight grip.

“Your accomplice confessed everything. Shut up and come with us before we tell you everything here.”

The officer’s low, scolding voice was clearly heard by everyone. Christina’s lips trembled. No, her whole body trembled. Whether it was a last struggle or not, tears poured down from her bright red eyes filled with despair.

Tap, tap.

The sound of tapping on the table echoed in the interrogation room. Christina was hanging her head low, looking like she might collapse at any moment.

‘…Why on earth did it turn out like this?’

Earlier, Detective Reid, who said he was in charge of this case, only briefly confirmed her identity before suddenly bringing in a man in a black suit and disappearing.

Even the shadow looming over her head seemed threatening, and she was strangely afraid of the man sitting across from her who had been continuously tapping his fingers on the table since sitting down, unable to even raise her head and only barely seeing his legs.

Though he wasn’t doing anything in particular, she felt an uneasy feeling that she might suddenly be grabbed by the neck with those large hands.

“Why did you try to kill Emilia?”

“I, I didn’t do that!”

Christina raised her head, whimpering. Gasp, she suddenly drew in a breath. She recognized who he was at a glance, but more than that, as soon as she saw the other person’s eyes, a vague sense of pressure weighed down on her entire body.

‘Why is that person here…’

The handsome man exuding a chilling atmosphere was well-known for his beauty, but his appearance didn’t even register with her now. She just felt confused by the situation and like she might suffocate from the ominous aura emanating from him.

“Don’t waste your energy. I already know everything, so your confession isn’t necessary.”

“…What?”

“If you answer the questions well, I’ll at least make sure you avoid the death penalty.”

“D-death penalty? She didn’t even die, it was just an accident.”

“So, you admit you tried to kill her?”

“No! I wasn’t trying to kill her!”

Christina, who had unconsciously blurted out a denial, belatedly realized her mistake and squeezed her eyes shut. What should I do, should I keep insisting? The thought flashed through her mind for a moment. But the ominous aura that made her feel like she would be sent to the gallows right away turned her mind blank.

“I… I just wanted to scare her.”

Finally, with a face tinged with resignation, she barely opened her eyes and squeezed out words between her ragged lips. As if afraid to meet the man’s eyes again, Christina hung her head low, her shoulders shaking.

“It’s true…”

Her trembling voice continued intermittently. This really wasn’t it. She had no intention at all of causing an accident that would ruin her own life too. She only meant to scare Emilia so she couldn’t perform on stage, but she couldn’t understand at all why it had turned out like this.

She had deliberately tampered with just a few small lights to inflict trauma so Emilia would never go on stage again, or if lucky, to injure Emilia so she would have difficulty doing ballet in the future, but she never intended to cause such a big accident.

But that stupid Peter ended up doing something much bigger than what she had said.

‘I shouldn’t have entrusted it to such a guy.’

But who else could she ask for such a favor? It would be too obvious if she did it herself, and looking for someone who wouldn’t stand out even if they went near there, she inevitably settled on Peter the janitor who had been following her around for years.

But she had no idea Peter would get so excited and do something like this.

“Peter Fureto said you wanted to get rid of Emilia.”

But she couldn’t understand why the guy who had acted like he would do anything for her had mentioned her name.

“What? That was just me muttering because she was annoying. I didn’t really mean for him to do it! I really just wanted to scare her… Sob.”

“Who are you to try and scare someone? You’re not even worth a rat scurrying around Cornille.”