“I spoke out of a desire to help, but… I’m worried that I might have taken up your time or made unnecessary interference.”

“Ah, no. It was helpful.”

Emilia quickly shook her head, as she hadn’t known that Giorgio was meeting separately with Count Valmont.

Alessandro smiled kindly, as if relieved. Looking at his smile, Emilia wondered if she had anything else to ask him. She had come out because he said he had something to tell her, but since she only wanted to know about her parents, she wasn’t sure how much he knew.

Just as her deliberation was about to drag on, there was a knock at the door. As the ordered dishes quickly filled the table, Alessandro made a polite gesture suggesting they eat first.

The meal proceeded quietly. Though her mind was so complicated she couldn’t tell if the food was going down her throat or her nose, she was glad to have some time to think.

‘Since he said I seemed more interested in Count Valmont at the party, I feel like I should explain why…’

Should she say it was because she found what he said about car investment rights interesting? According to Enrico, a large number of investors were anonymized, so she was a bit curious if he was going to find and receive those shares.

But was it right to ask Alessandro about that?

She wasn’t quite sure. However, doing nothing seemed even stranger than sending away someone who had appeared first to tell her something.

Emilia scooped up a spoonful of the fruit ice cream that came out last and observed Alessandro. She thought he wouldn’t be interested in dessert like Enrico, but surprisingly, he was eating it quite well.

“Um, may I ask you something?”

“By all means.”

“I hesitate to ask about someone else’s personal matters, but please let me know if it’s inconvenient.”

“Haha, alright.”

“At the party, Count Valmont said he was receiving a bond transfer. By any chance, do you know who agreed to transfer it? I heard that car investment rights are a promising business and not easily given up, so I found it a bit curious.”

“About that… I’m not sure since I haven’t had an exact conversation about it. Oh, has there been a problem with the car investment rights? I believe the viscount holds quite a few.”

Hmm, it seemed Alessandro didn’t know much about car investment rights. Emilia tilted her head slightly and slowly opened her mouth.

“I couldn’t confirm that far, so I just asked out of curiosity. After all, Uncle Giorgio manages all the assets.”

“Haven’t you come of age now? Some rights should be transferred to you.”

“Yes, I originally had no thoughts about it, but after hearing at the party, I wondered if I could now claim rights to the assets.”

“That’s a good decision. If you need my help, please let me know anytime.”

“I appreciate even the offer.”

Alessandro smiled as he slightly raised a glass containing a pink drink. Emilia also raised her glass slightly in response and took a small sip.

“…And there’s another reason I asked to see you today.”

“Ah, please tell me.”

Emilia nodded as she put down her glass.

“May I ask what kind of relationship you have with Duke Michele?”

It might have seemed unusual because the two of them stuck together at the party, but was this why he called her? Feeling frustrated, she had hastily accepted Alessandro’s invitation, but now she felt trapped because of it.

Emilia’s lips parted and then closed again. What on earth should she say? Just someone who happened to go to the party together? Or honestly say it was a sponsorship relationship? Would it really be okay to tell Alessandro everything without hiding anything? Was he a trustworthy person? In that brief moment, question marks followed one after another.

What on earth had she believed in to hastily come to meet Alessandro? She was surprised at herself for not hesitating at all, even though she knew it was an offer she couldn’t refuse, without even knowing the purpose of the meeting.

“Emilia, I didn’t intend to pry. I haven’t investigated you separately either. I just wanted to tell you in advance because I hope you won’t get hurt.”

“…Tell me what?”

Emilia looked at him with a puzzled expression. This time, Alessandro hesitated. As if he was somewhat troubled, but felt he should say it. Finally, his two eyes shone resolutely as he looked at her again with a determined face.

“Don’t trust Duke Michele too much.”

“…”

“Although he is my uncle, Duke Michele is a person whose true intentions are hard to know. He hides a lot even while knowing, and he’s also unexpectedly possessive.”

“Ah…”

She thought she knew better than anyone recently that he was a person whose true intentions were hard to know. But what did he mean by hiding a lot, had something happened between the two of them?

Alessandro lowered the ends of his eyebrows and carefully added:

“I sincerely hope you won’t get hurt.”

His light purple eyes shone transparently. She met his gaze and slowly nodded.

She hadn’t really opened her heart to Enrico in the first place, and his worry seemed excessive, but since Alessandro didn’t seem to be speaking with bad intentions, she accepted it docilely. As she moved her head, her hair naturally flowed forward.

‘Is the business finished now?’

Having finished even the dessert, she hoped they would soon get up from their seats. Emilia looked at him as she brushed her hair back.

‘What is he looking at like that? My hair?’

Alessandro was looking at her with a somewhat dazed expression. Following his gaze, she looked at the platinum blonde hair draped over her hand and looked back at him just in case.

Perhaps sensing Emilia’s puzzled gaze, focus returned to his lavender eyes.

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing. I was just wondering if something was on it.”

Emilia brushed her hair down once and then swept it back. Alessandro’s gaze touched that hand and then moved to her face.

“It’s not that, I just thought it was beautiful hair.”

“Oh… Thank you.”

“And there have been some unsettling incidents recently, so that was on my mind as I was looking.”

“Unsettling incidents?”

“Yes. It might be a coincidence, but there have been quite a few disappearances of blonde women, which is worrying.”

She felt like she had heard about that somewhere before, but couldn’t remember the details. Emilia just nodded and listened attentively to his words.

“After all, you are noticeably beautiful, aren’t you? I hope you won’t go out alone as much as possible, and not too late at night either. The world is quite unsettled these days.”

Alessandro spoke almost like someone making a request, with a serious face. Seeing him speak with an even more worried expression than earlier with Enrico, she could only nod quietly again.

Soon, a sigh of relief escaped at her docile agreement, and a pleasant smile spread across his face. It was a face as bright as could be, in stark contrast to the gloomy weather outside.

It felt like a meeting that only raised more questions. Emilia recalled what Alessandro had said earlier as she got off the carriage.

‘Be careful of Duke Michele…’

But it was too late now to not trust the duke, with so many things intertwined. The truth about her parents’ deaths and the sponsorship. Could Alessandro know something about her parents’ deaths too? No, if he knew, he would have said that as well. Emilia shook her head left and right as if to shake off various thoughts and opened the front door.

The house was quiet. Zabeta’s voice couldn’t be heard either, perhaps she was resting in her room. Rumble− The sky seemed to be crying as if it was about to rain, which was expected to come only in the evening.

Thinking it was fortunate to have arrived home before the rain started, she was passing through the hallway towards the living room when it happened. Flash− Enrico Michele sitting on the sofa was illuminated by the light.

“Gasp…!”

She was too startled to even scream. Emilia clutched her heart and sat down right there. Belatedly, a boom− of thunder split the sky.

“Why are you so surprised.”

Enrico slowly got up from his seat and approached her. Emilia couldn’t even think of getting up right away and just looked at him as he came closer.

He held out his hand as if telling her to take it. Normally, she would have gotten up on her own and told Enrico she was startled, but perhaps because of the backlighting flashing outside the window, his atmosphere seemed unusual.

Emilia hesitantly reached out her hand. As the distance became ambiguous, about to touch or not, Enrico suddenly grabbed her wrist. Emilia’s body was abruptly lifted up by an tremendous force, as if picking up a small child.

“…Thank you. It was so quiet, I didn’t know anyone was here.”

“Ah− I gave Zabeta some time to go out and take care of some errands.”

Enrico didn’t let go of her wrist and led her towards the sofa.

“But why are you here without any notice?”

“I think I came without notice before too.”

“That’s why you should give notice. I was surprised last time too.”

“I thought you’d naturally be at home.”

“I could go out on my day off.”

“That’s true. I was surprised you weren’t here.”

Is there any reason to be surprised? Emilia muttered inwardly as she sat on the sofa. Enrico, sitting next to her, finally let go of the wrist he had been holding.