Suddenly, a voice that might have been an auditory hallucination was heard. Emilia was startled and tightly closed her eyes as she fell quickly towards the stairs.

‘……Duke?’

A chilling sound was heard – puk-. When she opened her eyes again in shock, the dagger Christina had been holding was now embedded in Enrico’s arm, who had suddenly appeared before her.

The problem was that Emilia was already about to fall down the stairs, so there was no time to worry about him.

Enrico, as if being stabbed with a knife was of no consequence, grabbed her shoulder and pulled her into his arms. But it was already too late to catch her, so he chose to fall together.

In an instant, the two of them fell onto the stairs and tumbled down. The dangerous sound of rolling down the stairs mixed with the fireworks still exploding outside.

“Ugh-!”

With a low groan, the force embracing her grew stronger. Feeling the large hand cradling the back of her head, Emilia briefly opened one eye even as they were rolling.

‘How are you here……’

Enrico’s sudden appearance seemed too dreamlike to believe. For a moment, she wondered if she was hallucinating from hitting her head.

Forgetting her current predicament and about to look up at him, her eyes squeezed shut at the impact of her back hitting something. The world spun round and round.

Bang-! Following the sound of a violent collision, there was another feeling of rolling downwards. Perhaps due to the excessive rebound from being pushed hard, what should have ended after rolling down one floor continued for two.

Finally, as her shaking body came to a stop, Emilia carefully opened her eyes within the arms tightly embracing her. A broad chest that had swelled up and then settled down, along with a bobbing Adam’s apple, came into view.

“Your Grace!”

Fabio’s voice calling from above could be heard. Christina’s scream was also audible, but that wasn’t important to Emilia.

Somehow, Enrico remaining still while holding her seemed ominous.

Emilia barely raised her aching upper body and took hold of one of his hands, lowering it.

“……Duke?”

Her whispering voice trembled at the end. After glancing at his arm that obediently lowered, Emilia’s gaze turned to Enrico’s face, still lying down.

“Duke!”

Enrico’s condition, frowning and gritting his teeth, looked quite serious. Emilia urgently reached out towards his cheek, trying to move her body, but gasped when she saw the bright red blood flowing in the hallway.

“Your Grace, are you alright?”

“Blood……”

A shaking finger pointed towards Enrico’s head. Fabio, who had rushed over urgently, widened his eyes slightly as if to ask what that meant, but soon hardened his expression upon seeing the blood flowing from the back of Enrico’s head.

Could that bang from earlier when they were coming down have been the sound of him hitting his head? Is that why he momentarily lost consciousness and they rolled this far?

Emilia held both of Enrico’s cheeks with a helpless expression.

But Enrico’s eyes didn’t open, and rather, the expression disappeared from his frowning face as his head tilted limply to the side.

Jade-colored eyes shook greatly, filled with shock.

Emilia stared blankly into space. Her face, having stayed awake all night, was covered in deep fatigue.

Too many things had happened in an instant. Before she could even savor the successful conclusion of the [Cinderella] performance, Christina’s sudden appearance had erased it all, as if to cover it with bloody memories.

Enrico’s arm, stabbed and bleeding, and the blood flowing from the back of his head as if to form a pool on the hallway floor. The image of Enrico, unconscious with his eyes closed, was still vivid, as if burned onto her retina.

‘Because of me……’

Even if it was a sudden accident, this was already the second time he had been hurt because of her.

In Bacorta, it wasn’t a serious injury so she soon forgot about it, but this time it wasn’t something to simply brush off. A concussion. She could have lost him so meaninglessly.

The doctor who rushed over immediately said that his head wound was just a cut in the skin that bled a lot.

When Enrico briefly regained consciousness, the examination confirmed there was no damage to his nerves or memory, which was somewhat relieving.

Though it wasn’t a major injury, the doctor prescribed him sleeping pills, saying he would experience dizziness for a while and needed rest. Then he immediately came to her to inform her of Enrico’s condition.

‘……Is it alright to tell me about the Duke’s situation?’

‘It’s fine. The Duke wouldn’t mind. Instead, Miss Emilia, please tell me about any injuries you have, without missing anything.’

The doctor seemed to focus more on her examination, as if he had received separate instructions. Emilia, knowing that her outward appearance alone showed she wasn’t fine, immediately nodded obediently.

However, the biggest problem was her ankle. Due to the shock of Enrico collapsing, she hadn’t noticed at the time, but now it seemed her ankle had twisted when Christina pushed her.

It was severely swollen, and even putting weight on it was becoming increasingly painful, so the condition looked quite serious.

‘……This injury has worsened the condition of your ankle, but overexertion from before also had an effect. Why didn’t you come to see me when it was hurting all this time?’

‘Because I need to do ballet right now.’

‘If you’re greedy now, you might never be able to do ballet again. You should have thought about resting and getting treatment for a while.’

‘I know. But that would just be delaying the inevitable, wouldn’t it? A complete cure is impossible.’

‘Miss Emilia.’

‘I know medicine has advanced a lot lately. But in a situation where treatment for internal tissue hasn’t been developed yet, I couldn’t just do nothing and wait.’

At Emilia’s resigned words, the doctor finally fell silent, as if at a loss for words.

Then, as the examination was ending, before leaving, the doctor said he would look into various cases from other countries and research treatment methods, repeatedly urging her not to use her ankle if possible. Even though he knew well that it would be difficult to reverse the condition of her ankle now.

Emilia briefly glanced at her bandaged ankle before tilting her head back. A deep sigh escaped her lips.

‘Why do you keep protecting me?’

Despite all the talk of sincerity, wasn’t she not the most important person?

Enrico, who always looked down on people arrogantly and seemed like he would never fall no matter what happened, kept breaking that image because of her.

Like the selfish man he was, he should have remained selfish to the end. It was unsettling that he kept crumbling in a way that wasn’t like him.

It hadn’t been long since she learned that her late parents had tried to sacrifice everything for her.

In that situation, Enrico’s actions felt like an extremely burdensome sacrifice, and it was inevitable that her heart fluttered yet trembled anxiously towards him.

‘……This can’t go on.’

It didn’t matter if it was called avoidance. The thoughts of trying to push him away while blaming his arrogance had disappeared without a trace.

‘It’s right for us to distance ourselves for each other’s sake.’

Her unstably shaken heart suppressed reason and built a solid wall. It was true that being by her side had continually caused bad things to happen to Enrico.

Moreover, she had been feeling nauseous at herself, like a leech clinging to his side to survive, so it was right to part ways now for Enrico’s sake.

His sacrifice of throwing himself away for her somehow overlapped with her parents. Like her father and mother who ended up leaving the world in vain.

“Yes. This is right.”

If Enrico was sincere, then she should leave for his sake. Emilia gnawed on her lower lip, trying to compose herself.

Knock knock, she blinked at the sudden sound of knocking.

“It’s Fabio.”

Before she could answer, the person outside identified himself. Though Fabio had been busy staying by Enrico’s side, she was momentarily confused as to why he came to her room.

‘Could it be……’

Emilia stared intently at the door, trying to remain calm.

“The Duke has woken up.”

But that calmness scattered in an instant.

She rushed to open the door without hesitation.

“How is he? Is he alright?”

“……Yes. He says he’s fine except for a slight headache. There’s no problem with his memory either.”

Fabio hesitated for a moment at Emilia’s intense reaction, as if seeing her for the first time, then slowly nodded.

“Ha……”

Emilia squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sigh of relief.

As she firmly pressed her right hand to the center of her chest as if extremely relieved, her face showed a mix of emotions – relief, but also anxiety and guilt that couldn’t be completely shaken off.

Fabio, who had been quietly looking down at her as she barely caught her breath with furrowed brows, carefully spoke up.

“Let’s go together. The Duke is asking for you.”

Her closed eyelids lifted, and her eyes shook briefly.

‘……Is it alright for me to go?’

Deep anguish suddenly took root.