Chapter 4 – Suspicion (Part 9)

Ronan knew that there hadn’t been any changes in the Grendel Ducal estate for a long time. A new Duchess would inevitably lead to extensive renovations inside and out. Considering the scale of the mansion and staff, she would likely choose to purchase necessary items in bulk through a major trading company rather than visiting small shops individually.

Finally, it seemed like there was an opportunity to recover the time and effort invested in the Duke’s estate. Continuing to trade at a loss for so long without seeing any profit was something Ronan’s pride would not allow.

Haas Trading Company happened to have an item perfectly suited to Tobias’s request. And Ronan Hass had no intention of missing the opportunity presented to him.

Haas Trading Company was a well-established trading family that had been trading with several neighboring countries for a long time, even though they were commoners. It was already a substantial company, but it merged with another trading company that primarily dealt with lower nobility when Ronan’s father married the daughter of that company. As a result, it became a leading trading company in Brunchia.

However, when the head of the company decided to retire early, the position passed to the still-young Ronan Hass. Many involved were concerned about this, and rival companies saw it as a golden opportunity. However, Ronan Hass, who inherited the company, combined his thorough education, innate talent as a merchant, and his unique asset to solidify Haas Trading Company’s position even further.

That asset was his attractive appearance, which drew the eyes of many.

As the son of a merchant, Ronan was quick-witted and observant, realizing from a young age that he could gain more by appropriately utilizing his appearance.

“I promise I won’t tell anyone that you gave me more cake, Irene. Can’t I have just one more piece, just one?”

Before he even turned five, Ronan would flutter his soft red-gold hair and blink his moist eyes like a deer at the maids. Even the sternest maid couldn’t resist his adorable appearance and would give him extra treats.

His angelic looks in childhood began to develop into a handsome boy’s charm as he entered his teens. Ronan easily noticed how the gazes directed at him changed as he grew.

One day, while helping with the company’s affairs without fully understanding what those gazes meant or what others wanted, a middle-aged noblewoman came to the special room, claiming to buy a birthday present for her husband.

The noblewoman, known for her strict personality, kept glancing at Ronan, who stood beside his father, from the moment she entered the special room. Nervous, Ronan accidentally slipped while placing an item in front of her, dropping a rather heavy ornament onto her knee.

“What is this!”

It was a mistake made while trying to read her expression for any potential criticism. The noblewoman, more upset by the perceived slight than the pain in her leg from the ornament, stood up in anger and raised her voice.

Ronan’s father quickly apologized, but the noblewoman couldn’t calm down and was about to leave. Ronan, thinking that letting her leave like that would harm both sales and his father, the head of the company, immediately knelt halfway in front of her. He gently held the hem of her skirt near her knee and put on a pitiful expression that had worked on the maids for years.

“Madam, I was momentarily entranced by your elegance and made a grave mistake. Please forgive me with your generous heart.”

When the noblewoman looked down, she saw a yet-to-mature but already beautiful young boy kneeling and begging for forgiveness. The slender boy showed signs of growing into a handsome young man. In that moment, the noblewoman felt something dangerous within her awaken, something she hadn’t known she possessed.

She struggled to suppress her face from flushing and her emotions, coughed lightly, and sat back down. Ronan Hass gently moved his hand toward the noblewoman’s knee, where the ornament had fallen, and asked,

“I’m concerned that your delicate skin might bruise. May I treat it to minimize any marks?”

The noblewoman nodded in agreement. Ronan signaled his father, who was looking at him in disbelief, to fetch some ointment. While his father was away, Ronan cozied up to the noblewoman like a fox, charming her.

When his father returned with the ointment, Ronan carefully lifted the hem of the noblewoman’s skirt and gently applied the ointment to her knee, as if handling the most precious thing in the world. He then tied it off with a clean silk cloth.

As Ronan Hass lowered the skirt again, the noblewoman exhaled a deep breath as if she had just experienced something intense. When his father politely asked if there was anything she liked, the noblewoman, startled by his presence, hastily pointed to about half the items on display, including the ornament that had hit her knee, and purchased them before quickly leaving the company.

Ronan Hass felt a great sense of accomplishment, having not only made up for his mistake but also achieved significant sales. He turned, expecting praise from his father.

“Go home immediately.”

“Father?”

“I hope you didn’t know what you were doing today. No, whether you knew or not, it seems there was a problem with my upbringing. Go home and reflect.”

His father’s face, usually smiling, was now stern, leaving Ronan Hass unable to argue. He returned home and received a stern scolding from his father that evening.

His father told him that even though he was young, it was against the principles of commerce to charm women like a scoundrel to sell goods. He added that there was a line that should not be crossed, even for a company that sells anything.

“What is this line?”

“Are you really asking because you don’t know?”

“You always said, Father, that a true merchant should not hesitate to sell sand in the desert of Tran, ice in the snowy mountains of Hwiort, a landscape painting to the blind, and a flute to the deaf. But now you’re telling me not to cross a line, and I don’t understand what you mean.”

“I said you should be able to sell to anyone, but I never said to use chastity or conscience as the means! Do I really need to spell it out for you?”

Upon hearing this, Ronan Hass thought deeply. Combining the gaze the noblewoman had given him earlier, her subsequent reactions, and his father’s sudden mention of ‘chastity and conscience,’ he finally understood what had been unclear.

“Aha! That noblewoman was hiding her lustful feelings towards me and bought a lot of goods instead, right? But since she couldn’t buy the one thing she really wanted—me—she’ll come back to see me again, won’t she?”

“Ronan Hass!”

His father was appalled, yelling at his son for referring to himself as a ‘desirable item’ like a commodity. However, Ronan smiled, feeling he had solved the puzzle.

“Father, I’m not that thoughtless. I won’t recklessly use myself or cross any lines, so don’t worry.”

Ronan continued to reassure his skeptical father with words he knew would please him. However, his sharp mind and already limited conscience were calculating what assets he possessed and how best to utilize them.

‘Those who get what they want don’t return to the store. You have to keep them tantalizingly close to getting what they desire.’

Ronan Hass, while assisting with the company’s affairs over the years and avoiding his father’s gaze, as well as taking advantage of not yet being a full adult, honed his skills in charm and tailored seduction techniques according to the target. He mastered the art of subtly and thrillingly using his charm without crossing the line and converting it into sales.

The first thing he did after inheriting the company from his father was to leak information to the ‘Ladies’ Newsletter,’ branding himself as a playboy.

Among merchants, some, after earning a certain amount of money and living luxuriously, would mimic nobles, suddenly adopting refined manners. They particularly valued their reputation and avoided gossip as if they were old-fashioned nobles.

‘It’s stupid to act like a stuffy noble, damaging the company’s reputation, when it’s not a rumor that would hurt business.’

Ronan knew that being known as a handsome trading company head, frequently mentioned in the ‘Ladies’ Newsletter,’ would promote the company more effectively than anything else.

And although he spread such rumors, he never dated multiple women at once. He devoted himself to one woman at a time, treating her as if she were the most special woman during their relationship.

Especially when breaking up, he was so poignant and melancholic that the women he broke up with invariably believed his nonsense about ‘loving them too much to stay together.’ Even when Ronan quickly moved on to another woman, they were convinced he was trying to forget them.

The reason he took such care was that he was wary of the fact that if the follow-up actions regarding the women he had met were not good, their resentment could soon become a serious scandal. If a scandal that crossed the line spread, his father would never forgive him. It was the minimum conscience that his father had instilled and that Ronan himself held onto.

Ronan Hass’s eye smiles were effective even on men.

“Oh dear… I had no idea you had feelings for that lady. If I had known, I would never have engaged in such a relationship.”

When Ronan smiled innocently, as if enchanting people, or looked sad as if he bore all the world’s wounds, no one, regardless of gender, could easily get angry with him. Most problems could be smoothed over this way.