"So you told him?"

"Yes. Are you against it?"

". . ."

". . ."

"No. He'll find out about it sooner or later. Knowing Asher, he might already have his own investigation."

"That's what we thought so too. He was not 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 the doctors' diagnoses were correct."

"Mm . . ."

Axel was uncomfortable with the topic, and 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. We have business dealings there that needed his presence, but I bet he'll secretly investigate that woman's identity. Else, why is he so eager to go once he knew that he was assigned 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, and removed his earpiece. He closed his eyes and pinched the center of his brows. He massaged his eyes to relieved the stress from working too much on his laptop.

After resting for a few minutes, he glanced at the snow barren lands outside the plane's window. The scenery was landscaped with snow mountains and glaciers covered with snowflakes and dead trees.

What a gloomy country.

----

Alvaro sipped his tea as his ashen blue eyes remained unmoved, locked on the lovely ice sculpted face of a woman, sitting opposite him. Deny as he might, his concentration was in a jumbled mess thanks to her.

A first in his surprise 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 glowed torques with the light.

Only, if she could be a lot warmer and smile more often, she would 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. And with her snowy white hair, she was almost ethereal and scary if not for her beautiful face.

Rozarria Rozienheim

CEO and founder 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 noble ladies and wealthy socialite owned at least a set of this expensive jewelry if they wanted their name carved on the list of wealthy aristocrats.

Even Royalties commissioned this prestigious new company to design pieces of jewelry for the King and Queen.

Aside from that, Rozienheim acquired almost all of the mining sites in Frizkiel, a country famed for its mountains of golds and precious stones.

But little was known about the aloof cold woman behind the gigantic new corporation.

Alvaro already investigated her.

Orphaned at young, climbing her way to riches.

A first generation wealthy woman.

He could only imagine what she had to go through to achieve the kind of success she had now.

Men like him, who were eating on a golden spoon since young, could only give her 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.

He snapped out from his thoughts when Rozarria brought out a customized pen with silvery diamond ink and signed her name on the beige colored parchment papers. He 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 him. From start to finished, she didn't say anything aside from the usual greetings which made him 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?" he said, attempting to start a conversation.

Cole enterprise wanted to expand their business in BlackPine country in line with jewelry making. But since BlackPine 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.

However, the real reason why they 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 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 it was a woman he was going to deal with.

But all those preparations of seduction went down the drain when Rozarria signed her name without even batting an eyelid.

Not looking at him, Rozarria 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 was bothered about her answer. Maybe because she had an inkling on what they were going to do with the stones, or . . . he found himself wanting to hear her soft, somewhat forlorn voice once more.

Shaking away the thoughts from his mind, he stared at her in silence.

He prided himself in accurately reading people with just the slight movement of their eyes, their body or from the contortion of their face. But oddly, 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 glass. Her paralyzed face was expressionless and indifferent like she was born with it, yet she was not exactly mean. Instead, she was rather . . . kind.

Her voice was soft and gentle, yet it conveyed power and command. She acted like money was everything, and yet she disliked power and riches.

She's full of contradictions!

He extended his hand at her, and smiled his charmest. "I guess this it then. I'm looking forward with working with you."

Rozarria stared at his extended hand and looked over at Alvaro himself.

Well-groomed hair alternating from black to dark brown. Thick lashes and brows. Well defined face and nose.

And those eyes.

Eyes that were 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 they would smile right back at him. Oblivious to his dark, diabolical side.

Handsome.

That was the only word she could think of. But she was not the type to fall into looks. If she did, she might have rooms of good-looking men filling her entire estate.

Alvaro was a little perplexed and somewhat uncomfortable when Rozarria just stared at him as if studying his face. He was about to retract his hand when she accepted it.

"Same here."