Emilia entered the duke’s mansion with a composed expression, wearing a dress the color of fresh early summer leaves.

Her heart raced violently when Fabio, who had been waiting in the carriage, said they would go to the duke’s mansion as Enrico had summoned her today, instead of returning home.

Whether it was her heart pounding from anxiety or for him whom she would see after a few days, Emilia just tried to appear calm.

The butler greeted her politely and guided her to where Enrico was waiting.

Wondering if perhaps she was being asked to perform on stage one last time before entering the [Cinderella] production, she was momentarily puzzled when she was led to the reception room.

It wasn’t to have a meal, nor to see the stage. Was he calling her just to have tea? Or did he have something else to say?

If he had something to say, hopefully it wouldn’t be to continue the uncomfortable topic from a few days ago. Her various thoughts that were quickly passing by stopped abruptly when she saw Enrico sitting on the sofa.

“I greet you, Your Grace.”

Enrico’s brow furrowed slightly and then disappeared at Emilia’s polite greeting.

“…Sit down.”

“Yes.”

Enrico stared intently at Emilia as she walked over and sat across from him. It felt like a persistent gaze, similar to when he watched her on stage.

Emilia placed her hand near her left chest as if to suppress her heart that was beating faster than usual as she sat down. Then she slowly lowered her hands and clasped them together on her lap, trying to appear natural.

“Is practice going well?”

“Yes.”

“Your health?”

“It’s fine.”

Why was it so awkward? As the conversation struggled to continue, Enrico habitually reached for his cigarette case. His hand, which was about to pull out a cigarette from the gold case placed on the table, suddenly stopped.

“…”

Emilia’s gaze fell upon him. Then their eyes met as he was looking at her.

“Tsk-”

A short clicking of the tongue was heard from him. Putting the cigarette case back on the table, he twisted his body slightly, resting his arm on the back of the sofa and crossing one leg over the other.

‘Wasn’t he going to smoke?’

Emilia blinked in confusion, then carefully picked up her teacup. As she slowly sipped the hot tea as if savoring it, his mouth suddenly opened while staring at her.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Pardon? I’m fine.”

She glanced at him once and shook her head slightly as she put down her teacup. Her worry about him possibly bringing up an uncomfortable topic began to subside.

‘I guess I was worried for nothing.’

But on the other hand, she felt deflated wondering if he wasn’t concerned at all about the previous incident. Seeing him act as if nothing had happened after showing such an uncharacteristic expression that day, her feelings were complicated.

‘No. This is better. It’s probably better to slowly distance ourselves rather than him suddenly changing.’

Thinking that perhaps today’s meeting was part of that process, she deliberately ignored the tightness in her chest.

As a result, she naturally began to wish he would get to the point and end this meeting.

“I was going to have dinner first, but since I didn’t know when the guest would arrive, I asked to meet here for now.”

Even the next appointment was set. It seems he intended to just briefly state his business and part ways.

“Then I should get up soon. May I ask why you called me?”

His eyebrow twitched at her overly formal question. After silently staring at her for a moment, he exhaled words mixed with a sigh, swallowing his irritation.

“No. It’s your guest.”

“…My guest?”

“Yes. A lawyer is coming now.”

A lawyer, could it be the one he said he found from the north? Enrico nodded once as if reading her thoughts while quietly observing Emilia.

“He should be here within an hour.”

Emilia moistened her lips nervously. What should she ask the lawyer first, what would he say? In an instant, thoughts of the lawyer dominated her mind. To the point of momentarily forgetting about him whom she had been concerned about until now.

One of Enrico’s eyebrows curved and rose slightly. Even to him, it seemed her mind was elsewhere at the moment.

Thinking it was more important to break down the walls in her heart rather than immediately changing their relationship, he was holding back what he wanted to say, but his frustration was swelling to the point of bursting.

Perhaps feeling he couldn’t take it anymore, Enrico stood up with the gold cigarette case. Her gaze, blankly staring into space, didn’t move at all. His usually leisurely steps quickly headed towards the hallway.

Standing in front of the wide arched window, Enrico put a cigarette in his mouth and slowly lit it, inhaling.

He felt a languid energy flowing into his body. Though the tightness in his chest didn’t immediately dissipate, he felt he could breathe a little easier.

‘I’m smoking more.’

He didn’t used to smoke this much before. But now it seems he’s trying to refrain from smoking in front of her instead. No matter how you look at it, the increased smoking is because of her.

In any case, everything becomes strange when it’s related to Emilia.

“…Has he arrived already?”

Enrico muttered, exhaling white smoke through his lips. He caught sight of a carriage approaching the front of the mansion in the distance.

Emilia kept drinking tea, her mouth drying from her anxious mood.

Enrico, who had left the reception room, returned with an unfamiliar man. The man had a rather youthful impression and a large, bear-like build.

As Enrico naturally sat down next to Emilia, she caught a faint scent of cigarettes and cologne. She glanced at his profile curiously before looking straight ahead again.

‘His son?’

The bear-like man introduced himself as Lanileo, son of lawyer Paolo Arturo. Emilia blinked in confusion, her face showing she had naturally assumed the father would come.

“I should have explained the situation first, I apologize. Currently, my father’s health is poor, making travel impossible, so I came in his place.”

Lanileo bowed his large frame, looking extremely apologetic.

“Oh, if I had known, I could have gone to visit.”

“Not at all. We should have come to see you much earlier, but circumstances arose and we were delayed. I sincerely apologize.”

Apologizing to this extent… Emilia tilted her head slightly at Lanileo’s excessively apologetic attitude. While it was a bit surprising that the father himself didn’t come, it didn’t really matter as long as someone could explain.

However, contrary to Emilia’s thoughts, Lanileo brought up something unexpected.

“Actually, my father should have sought out Miss Este earlier this year.”

“…Pardon?”

“We should have settled and delivered the inheritance left by the late Viscount Este much sooner. I deeply regret the delay.”

“If you’re talking about the family’s assets, I thought they had been squandered before I came of age, so I didn’t pay much attention.”

“It’s not the family’s assets.”

If not that, could it be investment rights? Her heart raced at this unexpected connection, thinking it was just a matter of finding the last person her father met.

“My father and Viscount Este discussed and proceeded with the automobile investment rights together. They succeeded in changing those rights to be anonymous, and to receive that asset, one must go to the bank with the relevant documents and password.”

Lanileo took out papers from his bag and placed them on the table. Emilia looked down at the neatly stacked papers, then raised her gaze to Lanileo.

“Then was the last meeting to process these documents?”

“Yes. It was the final stage at that time. There were too many watching eyes for it to be done at the Este viscounty, so the viscount always came to meet my father.”

“Ah…”

“Then on his way back after the viscount passed away in an accident, some masked men barged into our house and we barely managed to escape. However, my father collapsed from the shock at that time and was unable to move for a long time.”

Emilia’s mouth fell open at this unexpected story. She covered her mouth with both hands and stammered.

“…Then perhaps even now?”

“Yes. But he’s better than before and can speak a little, albeit haltingly. Thanks to that, we were able to find these documents.”

It was unclear whether this should be considered fortunate. As Emilia looked at Lanileo with a helpless expression, he laughed casually as if it was alright.

“It’s fine. We met a skilled doctor in Michele territory and my father’s condition is improving greatly.”

“I’m so glad. Please feel free to let me know if you need any help in the future.”

“I’ll take care of that.”

Suddenly, a voice she had forgotten interjected. Emilia turned her head abruptly to the side and met Enrico’s eyes as he was looking at her.

“They’re people from my territory. You don’t need to concern yourself so much.”

“But it’s my business-”

“Just listen to the rest of the explanation. We can talk about that later.”

“…Yes.”

Lanileo looked at Emilia and Enrico with cautious but curious eyes, then quickly lowered his gaze when he met Enrico’s eyes.