Giulia's eyes gleamed with provocation as she stared at me intently.

"I spent the entire afternoon supervising the kitchen to prepare these dishes. You two had better eat up."

Dante's brow furrowed as if he wanted to say something. I caught his wrist under the table and said softly, "Preparing so many dishes must have taken a lot of effort. We can't disappoint her."

Dante nodded and turned to Giulia with pity in his eyes. "Giulia, thank you for all your hard work tonight."

She smiled, humble and polite, though she could not quite hide her smugness. Dante took a sip of wine but did not touch any of the food.

That was until his mother, Angela Romano, brought out a specially made mousse cake with a rich, irresistible aroma.

He carefully cut a slice, saw no sign of caviar, and ate three pieces in quick succession. I barely touched anything.

Giulia suddenly leaned close and pushed a slice of cake in front of me.

"Ms. Leone, this is a handmade cake. I made it with a special mousse base. You have to try it."

I hesitated, remembering my previous life. I did not want to touch anything that passed through her hands.

"I'm not very hungry..." Her eyes instantly turned red.

"Ms. Leone, do you not like me?" Her voice trembled. "I made this especially for you!"

Dante's gaze sharpened. "It's just a piece of cake. What's the big deal? Don't make Giulia feel like she's being rejected."

Angela glared at me as well.

"Giulia spent the whole afternoon preparing this, and you haven't even said thank you.”

"You've probably never even had quality handmade cake before, have you? It’s no wonder you have no taste."

I did not argue back. I just took a small bite, keeping my face calm.

Giulia's tears turned to laughter. "Matilde, I crushed the caviar and mixed it into the mousse base. The flavors blend together so well, don't they?"

Before I could speak, Dante gasped and pointed at the cake. "You put caviar in the cake?"

Giulia nodded. "Yes. It's a new flavor I'm trying. It makes the texture more savory."

Dante slammed his plate to the floor. Mousse splattered everywhere.

"Matilde said she's allergic to caviar!" he shouted. "Why would you still add it?"

Giulia froze, tears immediately welling up.

"I thought Matilde said she liked caviar... Besides, she's fine, isn't she?"

I was indeed fine, but Dante was not. He tried to speak but suddenly clutched his throat and collapsed to the floor.

Panic flashed across Giulia's face. "Dante, what's wrong? Don't scare me!"

I also put on an urgent expression and knelt beside him.

"This is anaphylactic shock. His airway is closing. Get a doctor! He could suffocate to death!"

By the time the private doctor arrived, Dante had lost consciousness completely.

After several hours of emergency treatment, his condition finally stabilized. The doctor walked out of the treatment room and shook his head.

"He has a severe allergy to caviar. You let him eat that much?”

"One more minute without treatment and he would have died."

Giulia froze. Then she whirled around and lunged at me, screaming. "Dante is allergic to caviar. Why didn't you warn me?"

I stepped back, my face full of distress. "I clearly told you not to use caviar. Dante heard me say it too."

I turned to Angela. "Madre, you were there too. Do you want to check the security footage?"

Angela glared daggers at Giulia. "Giulia! Dante never looked down on you for being the housekeeper's daughter. He always protected you, yet you tried to kill him!”

"Matilde told you not to use caviar, but you still put it in the cake. Was this done on purpose?"

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?"

Dante basked in the praise, lifting his chin with arrogance.

"Don't worry. From now on, there's no negotiation I can't handle.”

"As for the family signet ring? It's just a ring with a seal on it. I left it at the bottom of my suitcase. Nothing special about it."

I sneered inwardly. When he first heard that he would represent the family in that negotiation, he went several nights without sleep.

At three in the morning, he was still on the balcony smoking, cold sweat soaking his palms. I was the one who sat at the desk until dawn.

I helped him sort through the rival family's cash flow, mapped out their power structure, and traced the money hidden in offshore accounts.

I was also the one who wrote his speech.

I even planned out which sentences he should pause after, and which moments he should apply pressure with his gaze.

I told him not to bring the family signet ring and to keep it in the safe instead, but he just laughed carelessly.

"If I don't bring the signet ring, they'll still think I'm that useless playboy who only knows how to drink and throw money around.”

"It's just a banquet. Nothing will happen."

Thinking of what Dante had said before, my gaze drifted toward the kitchen. Giulia had better not disappoint me.

Just as the others were about to continue flattering Dante, a Soldato suddenly burst in looking panicked.

"Don Santoro, we have a problem! There's trouble at the docks. The shipment we were supposed to hand over tonight has been seized by the Russo family. They're demanding we re-sign an emergency authorization agreement within half an hour! Otherwise they'll tear up the ceasefire terms..."

The air suddenly turned several degrees colder. That shipment of arms was the family's biggest deal this year.

It was also the result that Dante had just negotiated "all on his own." If something went wrong, all his glory tonight would become a joke.

Don Santoro strode over, his expression darkening. "Then we'll sign again. Bring it here."

The Soldato shook his head and said through gritted teeth, "They're demanding it must be stamped with the official family seal!"

The room erupted in chaos. Right now all the core family members were at the banquet. Where would they find the seal?

Their opponents had chosen the perfect moment.

"Wait." I stepped forward as if suddenly remembering something.

"Darling, doesn't the family signet ring have the official seal on it? Why don't you go get it?"

Relief flooded his face.

"Right, I brought the family signet ring! Papa, I'll go get it right now!"

A few minutes later, he stormed back in a fit of rage.

"Matilde! Where did you put the family signet ring? Why can't I find it?"

I blinked, opening my mouth in confusion.

"Giulia organized the jewelry today. Let me go ask her."

I found her on the terrace.

"Where did you put that black velvet ring box?" I asked urgently. "The ring inside is very important."

Triumph flashed in Giulia's eyes. "I thought the ring looked so pretty earlier, so I liked it and tried it on. Then my hand slipped and it fell down the drain and got flushed away."

I deliberately raised my voice. "Giulia, do you know how important that ring is? You actually lost it?"

Giulia burst into tears pitifully. "I'm sorry, I just liked that ring so much! I couldn't help imagining what it would look like if I wore it!"

Dante heard the crying and walked over, speaking to me impatiently.

"Matilde, do you even understand what's urgent and what's not? I told you to find the signet ring, not to take the opportunity to bully Giulia!"

I was about to speak when Giulia beat me to it.

"It's my fault. It's all because I carelessly lost Matilde's things."

Dante frowned at me.

"Giulia didn't do it on purpose. If you had taken better care of your own things, would this have even happened?"

Then he turned to her, his tone softening. "Stop crying. This isn't your fault. It's okay."

She nodded and leaned against his chest, looking at me with provocation in her eyes.

"Dante, you're the best. Not like Matilde who always makes a big deal out of nothing.”

"That ring I just flushed away was old and shabby. It even had a weird lion head pattern carved on it. You could tell right away it wasn't worth anything..."

Hearing this, Dante's expression froze on his face. "You... What did you say was carved on it?"

Giulia said with a smile, "A lion head carved on it. Honestly, it looked pretty ugly."

Dante's eyes widened in shock.

I gasped and helpfully added, "Oh my god... wasn't that the family signet ring?"