“……I’m sorry. But I still think it’s right to terminate the contract.”

“You want to say such things even in this situation?”

“Yes. Because of this situation, my thoughts have become more firm.”

“Emilia.”

A voice so low it sent chills down her spine called her name warningly. However, she paid no heed and instead tried to push his hand away.

“Duke, didn’t we make the contract for our mutual benefit?”

He released her wrist completely and turned to grab her right hand firmly, his face contorting. Confusion seeped into his purple eyes as he glared fiercely at her.

“You are causing great losses to the Duke because of me.”

“That’s for me to judge.”

Though the heat was rising more than usual due to his injury, her hand trapped in his felt piercingly cold today.

If it weren’t for her expressionless face, one might have thought she was extremely tense.

“And my ankle is not good. You’ve already heard from the physician.”

While Fabio had taken Emilia away, the physician had returned to the bedroom. He had heard everything as he checked on her condition one last time and told him about Emilia’s state.

But what did that matter? He had intended to confine her in his mansion from the start. Her ankle could be treated slowly in the meantime. Once it healed, she could take the stage at the Duke’s residence.

However, contrary to such thoughts, his mouth wouldn’t open immediately. She looked somehow unfamiliar, calmly looking down at him with inscrutable, expressionless eyes.

Though she had often demanded to terminate the contract and shown composure before, now, at this moment, it seemed qualitatively different from then.

“Now I have become useless as a work of art. Still, do you have no intention of letting me go?”

“……That’s right.”

Emilia was his. Now that he had acknowledged her as something precious beyond a work of art, how could he easily let her go? He had no intention of letting her go until these feelings ended.

“Duke, what exactly do you want to do with me?”

Yet that monotonous voice kept creating ripples in his heart. Enrico’s lips twitched.

“……Do I have to do something? Why are you trying to define everything?”

Enrico’s chest heaved greatly and then sank.

The pain stabbing his head continued, but he couldn’t end this conversation. The moment he sent her away claiming fatigue, anxiety overwhelmed him that she might disappear from his sight.

And he also felt the desire to stop repeating this tiresome conversation now.

Despite his complexion being paler than usual and even sitting seeming difficult, she did not back down.

In the past, she might have left to avoid the situation, but now she too showed clear signs of wanting to end this argument today.

“It’s important to me. If you want me to become a doll that just breathes quietly without doing anything, I can’t do that.”

The words he had said to her always held her back. Work of art, doll, what else did he say? When he found her words irritating, it turned out they were all things he had said.

He wondered why he had said such things then, and at first, he was annoyed that she kept bringing them up.

But now he was concerned about why she kept saying those words. Had they become a wound? Is that why she kept demanding to terminate the contract?

If he apologized for what happened then, would she not say she wanted to leave?

‘If so……Ugh.’

Suddenly, an indescribable pain like the tip of a knife carving into his right temple engulfed him. The hand holding her loosened involuntarily as one eye squinted.

Emilia’s fingertips twitched, but she quickly hid it by clenching her fist tightly. He took a deep breath while pressing his head.

“……I don’t need a doll anymore either.”

Enrico spoke through gritted teeth. He needed to lie down immediately, but he couldn’t let her go like this.

Before, she would have reached out with those delicate hands to worry about him and try to apply medicine, but now seeing her not even approach filled him with a strange sense of crisis.

“So, what should I do to make you stay quietly by my side?”

Emilia slowly raised her head. Though her face remained expressionless, perhaps due to the candlelight shadows, her jade-colored eyes seemed to sink gloomily.

“If I had wanted something in the first place, I wouldn’t have just demanded to terminate the contract.”

“Emilia.”

“Then let me ask. What do you want to keep me by your side as?”

……As what?

For a moment, he was at a loss for words. He had only thought about wanting her to be by his side, but he hadn’t specifically considered anything.

No, he had thought about this before. It wouldn’t be bad to go beyond a patronage relationship and be lovers, but he had stopped short of developing it into a serious relationship because he was reluctant.

But now it was clear that to keep Emilia, he would have to clarify the relationship. The only question was whether he needed to lie by bringing up marriage right away to appease her…..

“……”

Emilia’s eyes, looking down at Enrico who suddenly fell silent like someone at a loss for words, were filled with a mixture of resignation and anguish.

As even the faintest expectation disappeared like dust, she thought, ‘Well, that’s how it is,’ and slowly took a step back.

‘……No. Why would it be a lie?’

As soon as he saw Emilia moving away, Enrico thought there was nothing stopping him from marrying her. Rather, if he wanted to keep her by his side, what could be more perfect than the institution of marriage?

A relationship where they would see each other every morning and be together until falling asleep, without needing to forcibly keep her in the mansion.

Although it somewhat bothered him that he would have to lower his position to marry her, it seemed better than the worst case of losing her like this.

He would thoroughly crush the bugs who dared to wag their tongues so they would never speak again, and he would raise Emilia to a noble position himself.

If her previous occupation was a problem, he could change the perception of that occupation.

‘A lowly ballerina? What’s the big deal about that.’

In the past, he had thought that if necessary, he would just keep her in a cage by his side. But as if mocking that thought, now he deeply agonized, wishing only for her gaze to remain on him.

He continued to rationalize in his mind, following his desire to keep her by his side, even while having thoughts he would never have had before.

“Get well soon.”

At that moment, Emilia’s calm voice interrupted his ongoing thoughts.

“I meant it when I said I hope you won’t be in pain.”

Enrico’s eyes widened and his lips quivered as if anxious about Emilia who seemed about to leave at any moment.

“……I’ll marry you. Will that do?”

Though it should have been a sweet word, it became charity buried in Enrico’s arrogant tone. It seemed very like him. At those knife-like words, Emilia finally squinted one eye and smiled slightly.

At that strange smile that somehow looked painful, he hesitantly stood up.

“……!”

But a wave of dizziness swept over him as his head spun. He staggered and barely managed to grasp the side table while dropping to one knee. Seeing this, she shook her head very slowly from side to side.

“Don’t do something you’ll regret.”

“What regret, ugh……”

“Thank you for everything until now.”

“Emilia.”

He urgently grabbed her hand. But as he blinked several times at his blurry vision, that hand was hopelessly released.

“……Don’t go.”

Enrico barely muttered in a cracked voice as he waved his hand in the air. Cold sweat was now soaking the bandage around his forehead, and sweat flowing down the back of his neck was making his shoulders and collarbone damp.

“Don’t go, stay by my side.”

The headache he thought had subsided came on strongly, making his mind hazy. Muttering through gritted teeth like someone half out of his mind, his appearance looked uncharacteristically wretched.

Sweat ran down the bridge of his nose and dropped from the tip onto the floor. Emilia’s eyes, watching that moisture spread like tears, were utterly dry.

Her face, looking so desolate as if she had killed her emotions, was etched clearly amidst his wavering vision. His lips moved a couple of times.

What should he say? It felt like no words would make her stay.

For some reason, his chest ached more than the pain tearing through his head.

Her emotionless face, showing not a trace of feeling like sand slipping through his fingers, somehow seemed like looking at his own face from long ago, making him feel nauseous. Had he looked at her with such eyes?

“E, kuk……”

He wanted to call out to her as she turned away, but it was his limit. As if weights had been tied to his whole body, he gradually slumped down and his eyelids grew unbearably heavy.

Are you really going to leave like this? Leaving me like this?

Enrico barely managed to reach out a hand towards her. But not even her gaze, devoid of the slightest emotion, touched his trembling fingertips.

He thought he glimpsed moisture where she had passed, but that became impossible to discern as his vision crumbled.

‘Don’t, go.’

Enrico could only keep the hem of Emilia’s skirt in his sight as she moved away. Just before collapsing to the floor, he heard Fabio running into the bedroom, and then the world went dark.