The Cost of Playing Favorites

Giulia started crying again.

"Madre, I didn't mean to. I thought Ms. Leone said she liked caviar. I only added a little bit..."

A little bit. Those words nearly made me laugh out loud.

Angela shoved her hard. "You've lived at the Santoro estate for so many years and yet you can't understand something this simple?”

"If this happens again, you can forget about keeping those ears of yours!"

I watched them tear into each other. It was so amusing.

In my previous life, after I barely survived the allergic reaction, Angela had held my hand and told me Giulia meant no harm and that she was just a bit careless.

It turned out when the victim was her own son, she cared plenty about assigning blame.

Just then, Dante woke up and said weakly, "Don't blame Giulia. It was my fault. I didn't explain clearly."

Even though he was groggy and was still wearing an oxygen tube, he protected her. My gaze turned colder.

In the end, Giulia promised she would take full care of Dante. Only then did Angela stop being angry.

...

The next morning, Dante forced himself to come home, his face still pale. While I was selecting accessories for him, Giulia rushed over on her own.

"Matilde, let me handle these small tasks. Today is too important."

I was about to refuse when Dante cut in directly.

"Just let her do it. If she doesn't do something, she'll feel guilty for the rest of her life."

Hearing Dante say that, I smiled.

"Of course."

Of course, I would let her help.

She opened my suitcase and picked up jewelry box after jewelry box.

"Ms. Leone, which items are especially important to you? I'll be extra careful not to damage them."

I narrowed my eyes slightly and pointed at the black velvet box on the table.

"The others don't matter, but whatever you do, don't touch that box. What's inside is extremely important."

The box contained the Santoro family signet ring. Dante's father, Don Lorenzo Santoro, had given it to him after he ruthlessly crushed a rival family.

Dante laughed and teased, "That's right. It's extremely important. This concerns Matilde's wealth and glory for the rest of her life."

Giulia's eyes flickered. My smile deepened.

In my previous life, I had warned her repeatedly not to touch my ring, but when it came time to announce the engagement, the servants could not find it anywhere.

I asked Giulia where the ring was, and her eyes immediately turned red.

"I thought the ring was so beautiful. I really liked it and couldn't help trying it on."

"So where is it?" I demanded sharply. "Give it back to me."

She sobbed while bowing repeatedly. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault! While I was wearing it, a servant called me to the kitchen. It slipped from my hand and fell down the drain... It got flushed away..."

Dante, who had rushed over at the commotion, stood protectively in front of Giulia like a knight. "Giulia just liked the ring too much. It wasn't done on purpose.

"If we can't announce the engagement today, we'll do it at next year's birthday banquet. We can just buy another ring."

This time, I wanted to see if Dante would still be so generous after Giulia destroyed his family signet ring.

When I went to the bathroom, I ran into Giulia. She was acting suspicious, and when she saw me, she immediately hid something behind her back.

I had already glimpsed a corner of the velvet ring box, but I pretended not to notice and turned to leave.

The banquet was about to start. Nearly every core family member had arrived. Dante wore a perfectly tailored suit and stood in the center of the hall that hummed with power.

Though his face was still somewhat pale, the ambition in his eyes burned more fiercely than ever before.

Several people surrounded him, pouring out praise.

"I heard you closed the family's biggest arms deal? Well done!"

"Like father, like son. I heard the Don already gave you the family signet ring."

"None of us have ever seen what the family signet ring looks like. Why don't you show us?"