"So you told him?""Yes. Are you against it?"
"…."
"…."
"No. He will find out sooner or later. Knowing Asher, he might already have his own investigation."
"Mm… that"s what we thought so too. He was not that surprised by the information on the folder."
"It"s just information. Not enough evidence. We even secretly dissected Aunt Emerald"s corpse, but only to find that she was not poisoned and that the doctors" diagnoses were correct."
"Mm…" The other voice in the line seemed uncomfortable on the topic, thus, decided to change it.
"Are you in Frizkiel yet?"
"Not yet. Where did you send Asher by the way?"
"In Apricot Country in the south. He will have some business dealings there, but I bet he will secretly investigate that woman"s ident.i.ty. Else, why would he be so eager to go once he found out that he would be going there? *sigh…. He"s so easy to read."
*chuckle
"Father, I have to go, the plane is about to land on Frizkiel."
"Mmm... alright."
Alvaro leaned on the leather couch as he removed his earpiece. He slightly pinched the center of his brows and closed his eyes to let them rest from working too much on his laptop.
He glanced at the snow barren lands from outside the plane"s window. The scenery was landscaped with snow mountains and glaciers covered with snowflakes and trees.
What a gloomy country.
----?----
Alvaro casually sipped his tea while his ashen blue eyes remained unmoved, locked on that lovely ice sculpted face of a woman, seating opposite him. His slender fingers, playing with his cup.
Deny as he might, his concentration was all jumbled up thanks to the woman.
A first in his surprised list.
Pale skin as white as snow and smooth as silk and almost breakable like porcelain. Oval shaped flawless face paired with a straight nose and thin pinkish lips.
And those eyes.
What incredibly amazing color of eyes, almost like emeralds, but it sometimes turned torques with the light.
Only, if she could be a lot warmer and smiled more, she would be rank top two on his list.
Top one always reserved for his darling Princess Evangeline.
But alas, the woman in front of him was colder than frozen water and sharper than icicle spikes. Coupled with her snowy white hair, she almost looked ethereal and scary if not for that beautiful face.
Rozarria Rozienheim
CEO of Rozienheim corporation that deals mostly with pieces of jewelry and precious stones.
Rozienheim is a top brand almost appearing every week in jewelry and fashion magazines. Every n.o.ble ladies and wealthy socialite owned at least a set of this expensive jewelry if they wanted their name to be carved in the list of wealthy aristocrats.
Even Royalties commissioned this prestigious new company to design pieces of jewelry for the Queen and King.
Aside from that, Rozienheim owned almost all of the mining site in Frizkiel. A country famed for its mountains of golds and precious stones.
But only little was known about the background of the aloof ice cold woman behind the gigantic new corporation.
Of course, Alvaro already had her investigated.
An orphaned at young, climbing her way to riches.
A first generation wealthy woman.
Alvaro could only imagine what she had to go through to achieve the kind of success she had now.
Men like him that was eating on a golden spoon since young could only give her his respect.
And for that, she would forever have his admiration.
Strong yet humble. Rich and powerful but not pompous nor overbearing for she knew what it was like to be poor.
Alvaro snapped out from his thoughts when Rozarria brought out a customized pen with a silvery diamond ink and signed her name on that beige colored parchment contract papers.
Alvaro had one of those too, customized pen and ink that could not be imitated elsewhere.
In their line of work, every effort to combat forgery was a must.
Rozarria handed the papers back to Alvaro. From start to finished, she didn"t say anything aside from the usual greeting which made Alvaro slightly vexed.
He was not accustomed to women brushing him off.
"Aren"t you going to ask me why I wanted to collaborate with your company?"
Cole enterprise wanted to expand their business in BlackPine country in line with jewelry making. But since BlackPine country was more famed for its fertile soil and not much for its precious stones, they had to collaborate with the number one stone mining company in the world.
Of course, the real reason why he wanted this venture was not entirely concerning jewelry but rather, produced new types of weapons that uses pieces of jewelry.
A first of its kind, if ever.
This was the line that the Cole was secretly famous for. Behind the unappealing harmless number one food corporation in the world, they secretly undergone operations and built laboratories to produced weapons and gadgets incorporating new technologies.
The reason why Alvaro personally flew towards the north to Frizkiel was because of this important collaboration. When all things fail, he could always use his charms, especially that he knew that it was a woman he was going to deal with.
But all those preparations of seduction went down the drain when the woman signed her name without even batting an eyelid.
Rozarria didn"t even look at the man in front of her as she gently sipped her tea before answering in a soft voice.
"No need. As long as my company benefited from this collaboration, I don"t care what you"ll do with the stones."
Alvaro"s heart beat more than usual, though his gentlemanly facade didn"t give anything away. He didn"t know why he suddenly felt somewhat bothered about the woman"s answer. Maybe because the woman had an inkling on what they would be using the stones for, or that – he just found himself wanting to hear that soft, somewhat forlorn voice once more.
Alvaro shook the thought off from his mind as he eyed the woman.
He prided himself in accurately reading people with just the slight movement of their eyes and their body or from the contortion of their face.
But somehow, he had troubled reading the stoic woman"s current thoughts and emotions.
Her eyes were sharp and clear, yet it somewhat covered in fog, appearing like frost gla.s.s. Her paralyzed face was expressionless and indifferent like she was born with it, yet she was not exactly mean. Instead, she was quite…. kind.
Her voice was soft and gentle, yet it conveyed power and command. She acted like money was everything, yet she seemed to dislike power and richness.
She"s full of contradictions!
"I guess this it then. I"ll be looking forward to working with you from now on." Alvaro extended his hand at the woman.
Rozarria raised her head and looked at the man"s extended hand and then looked at the man himself.
Well-groomed hair somewhat alternating from black to dark brown. Thick lashes and brows. Well defined face and nose.
And those eyes.
Eyes that seemed to be seducing everyone. Such an alluring pair of light blue eyes almost silvery.
Good looks and effortless charms. Suit and tie, covering well-trained muscles.
He was the kind of guy who could sweet talk anyone and would smile right back at him. Oblivious to his dark, diabolical side.
Handsome.
That was the only word Rozarria could think of. However, she was not the type to fall into looks. If she did, he might have rooms of good-looking men filling her entire estate.
Alvaro was a little perplexed and somewhat uncomfortable when Rozarria looked at him as if studying his face. He was about to retract his hand when the woman accepted it.
"Same here."