The dining room in the Falcone mansion was even more luxurious than Ririko had imagined.
A long table stood in the center of the room, draped in a snow-white tablecloth and crowded with flowers of every color: deep red roses, pink peonies, purple lilies of the valley...
The butler pulled out a chair for Ririko halfway down the table.
Sofia appeared in an elegant black gown.
Her gaze swept over Ririko's outfit, likewise lingering on that dangerously low neckline, before she gave a faint smile of approval.
She silently took her seat at one end of the table, her skirt gliding gracefully over the chair, every movement radiating commanding confidence.
Ririko looked at the gleaming silverware before her and thought that, whatever kind of man Alberto was, she had dressed up so beautifully that she had to get a good meal out of tonight to make it worthwhile.
The dining room doors opened again.
A refined-looking man walked in.
It was Ririko's first time meeting the Falcone Family's heir.
Alberto Falcone had a thin, pale face that perfectly embodied the delicate frailty of an old-money young master who had never wanted for anything, left profoundly empty by a fortune he could never spend in a lifetime.
When he saw a stranger sitting in the dining room, his steps noticeably slowed.
He looked at Sofia.
"May I ask who this is...?"
"My best friend," Sofia said evenly. "You don't mind, do you?"
Alberto said nothing.
With his head lowered, he walked to the other end of the long table and sat down.
He stared at the plate in front of him as if waiting for something to grow out of it and save him.
Ririko thought it was astonishing that this man was the heir, yet so socially anxious that even