“Rose.”

“Hello, Miss Springs.”

Rose had gotten into her house and was sitting on her couch.

In front of her was Ninian’s perfume.

“This is my house. It’s not right for you to barge into my place like this,” Ninian said in a hostile tone as she stared at her.

She hated people who dropped by unannounced.

“Your house?” Rose smiled and twirled the keys in her hands. “If it’s your house, why do I have the keys?”

She got up and went over to Ninian. “Are you seriously telling me that you don’t know that this house was actually meant for me? I didn’t want it, so Conan gave it to you instead.”

Ninian’s breathing stuttered. As she stared at Rose, she pursed her lips and clenched her fists.

Even the house was for Rose?

“This perfume too.” Rose picked up the bottle on the table and spritzed it in the air.

“Do you have a habit of touching other people’s stuff?” Ninian reached out to grab the bottle.

Out of all his gifts, Conan had put the most effort into this one.

Rose easily avoided her and said coolly, “How would you know that this is for you and not for me? Do you know the name of the perfume? It’s called Stone Rose. Conan hired a perfumer to make this for me. It’s one-of-a-kind.

“Miss Springs, I’m being nice and giving you a reminder here. It’s time for you to accept reality.”

Rose left.

Ninian was the only one left in the house. At that moment, she felt as if the place was like a cage, and she was the bird being kept inside.

Rose was right. It was time for her to accept reality.

She threw away all of the gifts Conan had given her, aside from the handbags.

After she found a new house she liked online, she intended to move.

Once her ex-colleagues learned that she was leaving, they could not bear to see her go, so they invited her for a karaoke session as a farewell party for her.

The party was at Crimson. Ninian arrived at 8 p.m.

When she opened the door, Ninian immediately saw Conan. Rose was beside him. She immediately wanted to leave.

“Ninian, you’re here!”

But she was too late. Someone dragged her in.

“Ninian, look at how respected you are! Even Mr. Stone has come!”

Ninian frowned. If she had known that he would come, she would not have come here.

“Mr. Stone, who’s the person beside you? Why don’t you introduce us?”

One of the executives who had been working with Conan for years teased him. Ninian looked up and saw Conan holding Rose’s hand.

“I forgot. This is my girlfriend, Rose Charlemagne. She just came back.”

At that moment, Ninian could hear her heart shattering.

She had been looking forward to Conan admitting that she was his girlfriend for seven years, but he declared someone else as his girlfriend instead.

Things got awkward in the room. Everyone turned to look at Ninian.

Over the years, she was the one who had kept Conan company, and everyone saw all that she had done for Conan.

They had thought that she was the one who would marry him in the end. Even Ninian herself had thought so.

“Come, let’s toast to Mr. Stone’s girlfriend!”

The people started cheering. Conan looked at Ninian. “What about you? You’re about to leave the company. Aren’t you going to drink at least once?”

Ninian’s stomach was weak, and it was all because she worked too hard for Conan.

The doctor had told her that she could not drink.

“I can’t drink.” Ninian looked down and picked up the glass of water on the table. “I’ll toast you with water instead, Mrs. Stone.”

She practically hissed the last two words.

Despite drinking the glass of water, Rose was not satisfied with it.

“You’re not willing to give Rose a proper toast after resigning? You don’t respect her at all, Ninian.”

Her resignation letter was still in the car. At the thought of her throwing a tantrum with him, Conan felt frustrated.

“Conan, don’t be like that. We’re here to give Miss Springs a proper farewell. How about I toast to her instead?

“Miss Springs, thanks for taking care of Conan and the company for all these years.”

Just as Rose was about to drink, Conan stopped her.

“Why are you trying to drink? You have a weak stomach. If your stomach starts hurting at night, you won’t be able to sleep, and what are you going to do then?”

“That’s more than seven years ago! You still remember? My stomach is fine now,” Rose said sweetly, and Conan booped her nose.

“Be good. If Ninian is not willing to drink, why are you trying to drink, then?”

Conan’s words cut into Ninian’s heart like a sharp knife.

He did not know that her stomach was weak, but he remembered that Rose had a weak stomach seven years ago.

She did not want to look at them anymore. Ninian opened a can of beer and started drinking while sulking.

She drank a few cans, and her stomach hurt, but it did not hurt as much as her heart did.

Conan sneered. “Look. You can drink, can’t you? Why were you unwilling to toast to Rose, then? Ninian, when did you become so petty?”

Her stomach churned, and Ninian wanted to puke.

She rushed out of the room and ran into the washroom before puking like her life depended on it.

After puking, a few burly men came in and blocked her way.

“Oh? To think there’s such a beautiful lady here!”

Ninian frowned and wanted to bypass them, but her path was blocked. “What’s this?”

“What’s this, you say? What do you think?”

The leader waved his hand, and the other men came over to pin her down.

Ninian started panicking. Just when she wanted to scream for help, Rose walked over.

She gave Ninian a confused look. Before she could say anything, the men grabbed her as well.

“Another one dropped by! We’re going to have fun tonight, boys! Bring them in!”

“No! Help me!” Rose screamed in panic. “Help! Don’t touch me! Conan, save me!”

“Rose!”

Conan charged in at the sound of Rose’s cries for help and punched one of the men. “How dare you touch my girlfriend?! I’ll kill you!”

He kicked the man, and he fell to his knees to beg for mercy.

Rose was so terrified that she buried her face in his embrace while she trembled. “Conan, I’m so scared!”

Conan held her tightly. “Don’t be. I’m right here.”

“What the hell?! Miss Springs, one of my men is injured! I want extra for this!”

In the chaos, Ninian managed to break free, and she was rubbing her red wrists when she heard this. In her confusion, she asked, “What extra?”

“You told us that you’d pay us if we kidnapped Rose Charlemagne! Are you trying to deny this now?!”

When Conan heard this, he became livid. “Ninian, how could you ask someone to kidnap Rose?! Have you lost your mind?!”

Ninian just stared at Conan and sneered. “Can’t you see that they also grabbed me? Also, am I that sort of person to you?”

“I don’t know whether you’d kidnap other people, but I do know that you’d kidnap Rose.”

Right after Conan finished speaking, Rose started crying. “Conan, why would Miss Springs do this to me?”

Only Ninian saw the glee and provocation that appeared briefly in Rose’s eyes.

And Ninian immediately understood that Rose was the one who hired these people.

“Rose, why would you set me up?! I don’t know these people at all!”

“That’s enough!” Conan furiously interrupted her. “Ninian, you’re hopeless!”

“Conan, my head hurts!”

In the next second, Rose fainted in his arms.

“Rose! I’ll take you to the hospital! Don’t worry!”

In his panic, Conan picked Rose up and left.

“Drag the woman in now! We have to finish this soon. We get money from this and even get to sleep with a beautiful woman. I suppose we can work with Miss Charlemagne next time as well.”

Miss Charlemagne?

Ninian almost laughed. She was right. Rose had indeed orchestrated this entire thing.

Her acting was horrible, but Conan would never see through it.

The men blocked Ninian’s path and wanted to drag her into a room. Ninian could only watch as Conan left and call out for help as she still refused to give up. But Conan was unmoved, and the last shred of hope in her heart died.

“Strip her naked! We need to have fun with such a beautiful woman!”

They charged over and tore Ninian’s clothes to shreds.

The light before her eyes grew dimmer. Ninian looked around and saw a bottle of beer on the table. Despair flickered in her eyes.

…

Despite being unconscious, Rose was still trapped in a nightmare.

“Ah! Don’t!”

At the sight of her panicking, Conan’s heart went out to her, and he held her.

“It’s okay, Rose. You’re fine now.”

“Conan, I’m so scared. Why would Ninian do this to me? Does she blame me for taking you from her?”

Conan’s expression turned cold. “She has no right to blame you. Don’t worry. I’ll be sure to make her apologize to you.”

Once he calmed Rose down, Conan stormed over to Ninian’s house.

But she was not there, so he called his assistant. “Find out where Ninian is.”

While he waited, Conan’s anger burned even greater.

How dare she stay out overnight?!

“Mr. Stone, Ninian is—”

“Is what? Tell her to come back right now! I want her to give me an explanation for what happened yesterday!”

“Mr. Stone, we found Ninian’s belongings in Crimson, but she’s nowhere to be found.

“There was also a fierce fight in Crimson yesterday. The police have come over and locked down the place for an investigation. They found blood all over the floor in a room. I heard that someone died.”

“What?” When he heard what his assistant said, Conan trembled. “Say that again.”

“The police said that it’s highly likely that the one who died from the altercation is Ninian.”