Her heated head cooled down. Although her mind was hazy from alcohol, for a moment she was dominated by the careless thought that she could just give her body over.

‘This shouldn’t happen…’

He was clearly just a temporary amusement. If she gave this too, she would be giving him everything.

Then it was obvious she would spend her whole life just staring at his shadow, trapped in his mansion, desperately waiting for him to glance at her.

‘Absolutely not.’

Tears welled up in Emilia’s eyes. The lingering intoxication drove her thoughts and emotions to extremes.

Not wanting to be hurt anymore, not wanting to be left alone anymore. Even knowing the future where she might be abandoned by him, she couldn’t entrust her whole self to these feelings.

“I don’t want this anymore.”

Her trembling voice mumbled softly.

She thought they had clearly connected, but his face hardened at her suddenly cold and rejecting attitude. It felt like the blood that had heated up throughout his body suddenly turned cold.

“Why.”

“…”

“You seemed to like it too.”

“…I think I made a mistake, because of the alcohol.”

His jaw clenched. The veins in his neck stood out.

“I’m sorry. We can’t go any further.”

“Ha.”

A sigh of disbelief escaped him at her stumbling words. Enrico raised his upper body, brushing back his disheveled hair as he languidly moved back.

The warmth of her arms around his neck from just moments ago still lingered.

Her moist lips clearly showed what they had been doing, yet her attitude of denying it was her own will seemed to reject the very act itself.

Enrico was always caught between wanting to cherish her and wanting to hurt her. As long as Emilia was trapped in his grasp, he felt he could do anything, even if it caused her pain.

“…Is that damned pride the only thing stopping you from giving your body, which is your only value?”

No, perhaps he wanted to trample her pride in return for his own being trampled. Sacrifice? Precious person? What did those things matter in the first place?

If she wouldn’t give her pure affection to the end, he didn’t want to beg for it. As long as she was before his eyes, what did the process matter?

“I must commend your willpower to protect your chastity even when drunk.”

His mind ruled by anger erased the fear of almost losing her in an instant, and he spat out words like someone desperate to cause pain.

Whatever happened in the past, she was before him now, and no matter how she acted, she couldn’t escape him anyway.

He rationalized that everything would be solved if he just prepared an even stronger and tighter cage to imprison her. Not realizing how despicable he was becoming.

Emilia tried to raise her upper body on her elbow, but swallowed a groan as she scraped the wound she had forgotten about. Seeing her like that, he reached out reflexively, but clenched his fist and turned away sharply.

She didn’t take her eyes off his receding back until the door closed.

The flames that had flared up and died down in an instant left only ashes. The wind blowing in from the window cooled things off, but her face took a long time to cool down.

Dark clouds covered the sky, bringing humid air as if heralding the full arrival of summer. Emilia slowly closed the window and rested her forehead against the glass with a soft thud.

Three days had already passed. Since that day when she did that ridiculous thing with him.

‘How long do I have to stay here?’

She felt as if she were trapped in an inescapable tower. Under surveillance that wouldn’t let her take a single step outside the mansion, Emilia could only sigh. Enrico hadn’t shown his face since that day.

If they met, they could at least talk, or could they? It was uncertain if she could bring it up right away even if they met. She hadn’t expected him to get so angry.

He seemed deeply hurt in his pride by her rejection. He spat out harsh words as if desperate to hurt Emilia.

His sarcasm made her chest feel tight, but thinking it was his true feelings that had been hidden for a while, she tried to steel her heart even more firmly now to show no weakness.

She knew she needed to humor him somewhat to get information from him, but… Not right now.

Her physical condition was like this anyway, so she decided not to be curious about whether the investigation results were out for now, since there would be no reason to bring up the contract for a while.

As time passed, both he and she would be able to treat each other strictly as just contractual partners like when they first met, and from then on, she could receive information while keeping the contract.

‘I need to go to the ballet company first, but this is a big problem. Even if La Sylphide was cancelled, the next performance will go on as scheduled.’

The next performance was even her starring role. It was her first time doing [Cinderella], so she was more than a little worried about having to practice harder than usual.

Lost in thought, she stared blankly out the window when she saw raindrops starting to hit the glass one by one.

And at the same time, she heard a brief knock from behind. Figuring it would just be Zabeta anyway, she kept her gaze on the window, thinking they would come in on their own.

“Miss Emilia, it’s Fabio Federico.”

“Ah… Come in.”

She spoke towards Fabio beyond the door as she slowly turned around. The door opened and Fabio entered with a polite bow.

“I’ve come because I have something to tell you.”

Enrico wasn’t even here, so why her specifically? Emilia blinked her eyes in confusion a couple times.

“It’s about the letter you mentioned before. The investigation is complete, so I’ve come to inform you.”

“Is it alright to tell me right away?”

“Pardon? What do you mean?”

“I’m not fulfilling the contract right now, so I was wondering if it’s okay to give me the information first.”

“Ah- It’s fine. The Duke has given permission.”

Enrico gave permission? It was very unexpected. She thought he would act petulant and not let her even mention the contract for a while, but to give the information first – what was going on?

‘Or maybe… He doesn’t intend to continue the contract?’

She recalled his words from before, saying he would keep providing information even if he broke the contract first. Her heart beat fast with needless anxiety.

Before she had been anxious that he might not keep this promise, but now her heart was restless at the thought that he might really feel no need to continue the contract.

“Miss Emilia?”

“Ah… Yes. Thank you.”

“The address written on the paper is for one of the three people. The other two said they hadn’t received a reply after sending the letter and hadn’t met. So when asked what the urgent matter to discuss was, they said there was something to say about a new bill.”

“A bill to my father?”

“Yes. It seems the late Viscount Este was pushing to propose a bill during his lifetime, and they probably wanted to work on that together.”

“Ah… Could it be about patent rights?”

“That’s right.”

So her previous guess was correct. Then perhaps while discussing that bill, they naturally also dealt with anonymizing investment rights?

She had thought he was just a modest nobleman living quietly in a small town, but the more she dug, the more her father seemed to have been involved in things beyond her imagination.

“So is the person written here the one who met my father?”

“We couldn’t confirm that far. We went to the address listed since we couldn’t make contact, but no one was there, as if they had moved.”

“Ah…”

“But as we traced them, we were able to confirm which region they went to.”

“Where is that?”

“It’s Leviso in the north. We only have a rough idea that it’s near the Michele territory, so we’ll have to search that area.”

“If it’s there, isn’t that the place? You said before that my father had an accident on his way back from Leviso. Could he have met that lawyer?”

“It’s difficult to give a definite answer yet, but it looks that way based on the circumstances.”

“Ah… But is that region very large? How long might it take to find them?”

She was worried it might be really hard to find, seeing as there was still no news even though they said they would look for that lawyer last time.

“If it’s an area belonging to the Michele territory, we could investigate more quickly under their control, but since it’s outside their jurisdiction, the speed is somewhat slower. Especially in that area, there are more cases of individuals living in forests rather than villages, so the progress is being further delayed.”

“…It must be a lot of work. Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. We’ll move quickly.”

Emilia fiddled with the paper in her hand, then carefully called out to Fabio as he was about to withdraw with a polite bow.

“Um, Fabio.”

“Yes.”

“Has the Duke been busy lately?”

Fabio’s answer hesitated for a moment. Since he always spoke fluently without pausing, Emilia looked at him curiously.

“…He has a lot of work these days. To the point where he can hardly sleep.”

“Sleep? Is he alright?”

“Yes. I believe he’ll be fine someday.”

Someday? Something about the wording was strange. She tilted her head slightly, licked her dry lips, and glanced around. The raindrops that had been falling one by one had grown heavier, and she could hear the sound of rain pounding on the window behind her.

“Then, could you ask when I can leave the mansion? My ankle has healed completely, and the wound on my arm just needs proper application of medicine at home. I think I need to go to the ballet company soon, but the Duke is busy so I haven’t been able to ask him directly.”

Emilia said with an awkward smile at the corners of her mouth. Fabio looked at her for a moment, then slowly nodded.

“I’ll try to convey the message.”