My frail seed, which I had to leave coldly in the rain.

But unlike then, Alejandro was now a full-grown man. Even though her gaze had lowered more than his, Alejandro’s eyes persistently caught up with Nerea as he looked up at her.

“You know better than anyone that I unconditionally follow the knight’s orders…”

His dark eyes flashed provocatively. Nerea knew that look.

The sparkling hope that once blindly looked at Nerea, believing it would remain unchanged forever.

“You, ‘Rosa Nerea’, know that better than anyone else.”

Her aquamarine eyes trembled continuously, as if unable to answer easily. Alejandro absorbed every moment of it intently.

Since when did she develop the habit of biting her lips? Since when did his knight, who used to react immediately without any hesitation, start to hesitate?

Alejandro, who had been solely focused on his knight, finally smiled faintly.

No matter when it started, all of her current reactions were because of him.

“I’ll go out first.”

With a barely perceptible nod of permission, Alejandro rose from his seat.

“Ask me anytime.”

This time, she didn’t nod.

This is the same as before.

Alejandro chuckled as he walked out the door, then frowned. Johnny, who seemed to have been waiting, grabbed his arm and led him out.

As the dim darkness approached, Johnny looked at Alejandro with a very bewildered face.

“What.”

“Wait, wait. Did you perhaps… to the Count…”

“What.”

Although he knew Alejandro was sensitive to the word ‘Count’, Johnny kept moving his lips repeatedly.

Johnny shook his head as if confused, but Alejandro didn’t have much time to deal with him.

That’s when it happened.

“Did you… receive Rosa to propose?”

“What?”

For a moment, his heart sank. Proposal? What nonsense…!

Alejandro’s eyes narrowed sharply. But Johnny continued as if he knew everything.

“But you said that earlier. To the Count.”

“…”

“That you want to call him Rosa! You’re Rosa!”

Ah. Alejandro laughed languidly.

“Were you eavesdropping?”

Ugh. Johnny made a choking sound. Regardless, Alejandro slowly leaned against the wall. The cool air, devoid of any sunlight, touched his back directly.

“The knight liked being called Rosa.”

The abbreviated statement translated to this:

Everything of Alejandro Rosa belongs to the Count, so even if it’s his surname, since the Count likes it, he’ll give it.

“…So you specifically asked for Rosa as your surname? Even after taking all that abuse?”

Johnny swallowed a slightly nauseating feeling.

All the moments flashed before his eyes like a kaleidoscope, from when Rosa was first established as the name of the trading company to when he officially received Rosa as a title from the Emperor.

Even the Emperor’s wrath at the arrogant trading company leader who dared to ask for the princess’s nickname. Even when all the nobles chewed out Alejandro like a snack.

Regardless, Alejandro clicked his tongue.

“And what proposal.”

How could one mistake this situation for a proposal when there was neither a ring nor flowers, even if he was offering his Rosa surname?

Alejandro looked at Johnny with disapproving eyes. Along with a faint worry that hopefully most people on the island didn’t think like this.

The guys on the island were mostly terrible anyway. Whether they received a knighthood or not, they were guys who didn’t know how to protest against injustice. Alejandro laughed coldly. At the same time, a layer of worry rose.

Judging coldly, the knight’s eye for men wasn’t particularly good.

How else could she have shown kindness even to the guy who carelessly grabbed her precious wrist?

Such a strong and infinitely wise person.

When the knight appeared as the door opened, Alejandro hesitated for a moment.

The lush red hair that paralyzed thoughts at first sight, and the indifferent face whose thoughts were unreadable. If those beautiful eyes slowly focusing would look at him…

“Johnny Hamilton. Come here.”

“Yes!”

Alejandro strained his distorting face. How could it not be him that the knight’s lips called for?

Feelings of disappointment and subtle emotions surged like a tide. So he spoke quietly, just loud enough for Johnny, who was excitedly trying to enter, to hear.

“Just try to say it.”

“Say what?”

Johnny asked teasingly. Alejandro grinned instead of answering.

As the corner of his red lips rose densely, the mischievous smile on Johnny’s face faded a little. Soon, Johnny shuddered once and went into the house.

Only then did Alejandro finally exhale the breath he had been holding back so heavily.

That’s enough. My strong and wise knight.

Alejandro, who had finally grasped the combination of words floating around in his head, looked back at the house. His lowered gaze held a faint light.

Somehow his heart was beating fast. It felt precarious, as if he had just had a very dangerous thought. So Alejandro decided to pretend not to know where his swallowed thought had been heading.

Infinitely beautiful person.

That was just praise from a seed to his knight, nothing more.

“You want me to tell you what I know about Alejandro Rosa?”

“Yes.”

Although the answer was clear, Johnny tilted his head. What exactly should he say about what he knew?

Was there anyone living in Castarty who didn’t know about Alejandro Rosa?

A joke-like saying that once circulated in the islands came to mind. Whether they liked it or not, Alejandro was an appetizing topic of interest in itself. No wonder both weekly magazines and tabloids constantly mentioned Alejandro.

The difference was that weekly magazines used slightly packaged words, while tabloids evaluated Alejandro’s appearance as it was, raw.

Surely you wouldn’t want to know about that.

Just as Johnny was about to open his mouth to narrow down the range of information, Alejandro entered the house with a bright smile.

“What interesting conversation are you having? Leaving me out.”

In an instant, Johnny closed his mouth. And avoided the Count’s gaze.

I’m sorry, Count. But he doesn’t cut me any slack at all.

Under Alejandro’s piercing gaze, Johnny chose his words. Words that would give no information to the Count while saying exactly what needed to be said to Alejandro.

“I’ll start by saying that a lot of work has piled up because Count Alejandro Rosa hasn’t returned to the trading company for a long time, and that the vice-leader, Lady Grace Lancaster, is extremely angry because of it.”

Nerea couldn’t glean much information from Johnny’s words. If he’s still here despite the vice-leader being angry, maybe he holds quite a high position in the trading company.

That was about it. Just as she was about to ask for more details, Johnny spoke to Alejandro, perhaps to avoid her question.

“By the way, when are you going back to the trading company? It was just a few days ago that Grace was making a fuss about destroying the leader’s office, so when you go back, your office might really be burnt down.”

“Leader’s office?”

Could it mean that Alejandro is actually the leader of the trading company?

Nerea swallowed her question and looked at Johnny.

At the questioning look in her eyes, Johnny’s eyes widened. He had clearly heard Alejandro say earlier that he was Rosa, but could it be…?

“Don’t you know our trading company? We’ve been in the newspapers all the time since we expanded into coffee houses and hotels two years ago.”

“The young lady doesn’t read newspapers.”

Heather answered instead. Johnny made a dumbfounded face as if he couldn’t believe it, but Nerea just shrugged her shoulders, having no answer to give.

The last news she had heard from the islands was five years ago, that Brianna had become the Crown Princess.

“Well, even if we put aside newspapers. Ah, right! Haven’t you heard of Rosa Trading Company?”

“Rosa Trading Company?”

“Johnny.”

A low voice interrupted the flow. The voice, thick with affection, spoke to Johnny.

“Are you going to keep chattering about this and that? What if the knight ends up having nothing left to be curious about me?”

It was a dagger coated with honey on the surface.

As Johnny playfully pretended to zip his mouth shut, Nerea looked at Alejandro with resentful eyes.

Should I just kick him out?

When their eyes met, Nerea deliberately put on a scary expression. But Alejandro just lowered his eyes gently and smiled. In the end, even Nerea couldn’t help but smile.

Observing this entire situation from a third-party perspective, Johnny swallowed his admiration.

At first, he wanted to run away from the nauseating scene. But seeing Alejandro act like a gentle lamb in front of the Count, as a friend, it was strangely reassuring.

Then a spark flashed in Johnny’s mind.

Wait a minute. In terms of cutting people down, Nerea was overwhelmingly superior. That guy would never be able to beat Nerea anyway. So then…!

Johnny glanced at Alejandro’s demeanor. If he was going to switch sides, he had to be quick.

That’s when it happened.

“But young lady, I know. Rosa Shop.”

Everyone’s gaze turned to Heather. Flustered, Heather quickly added, keeping her gaze fixed on Nerea.

“The hat and pin I gifted you. I bought both of them there.”

Hat and pin. A strange shop that sells precious items cheaply.

“The hint came from an unexpected place, but I do run a trading company.”

Alejandro smiled slowly.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

“No…”

Nerea, who was about to say no outright, closed her mouth.

.

.

.

But in the end, curiosity won.

In a room lit only by a dim night light, Nerea looked at the pile of newspapers with her arms crossed.

Four piles of newspapers as tall as Nerea.

“These are thirteen years’ worth of weekly magazines. I’ve included almost all the extra editions and tabloids too. Whatever information you’re looking for, most of it should be in there.”