Chapter 17 A Letter from My Beloved: Is this maid outfit absolutely necessary...?

The weather in early April is always unpredictable. Lilith had thought this afternoon would be a nice day.

She had Ivanka prepare afternoon tea for them in the courtyard. The table was laden with a dazzling array of glassware filled with candies made from dried figs, raisins, and various nuts; the dessert plate featured slices of bread decorated with Parma ham and Parmesan cheese, along with deep-fried small fish and shrimp tossed in olive oil and apple cider vinegar.

Lilith loves these dishes. As a native Venetian, she grew up eating all kinds of seafood. However, her chef, Ivanka, is not a native Italian. To help her improve her culinary skills, Lilith sent Ivanka to Sofia's kitchen for two weeks of training. After returning, she gradually mastered how to cook authentic Venetian home-style dishes, and it's truly remarkable that she can now prepare such a large table of classic afternoon tea treats, both sweet and savory.

Lilith sat in a softly cushioned chair, enjoying her meal while playing with the little rabbit that had climbed onto her lap. When she was home alone, she didn't wear a veil; her red hair was casually draped over her shoulders, neatly combed and tousled by Cecilia. The litter of baby rabbits she had bought last time hadn't become a rabbit meat feast. She planned to fatten them up a bit before eating them. For this, she had specially asked Tata to go to the market to buy rabbit feed, daring not to feed them human food again.

Tata searched for quite a while before finding a merchant willing to sell her feed. Since there was no farmland or pastures on Venice Island, animal feed was only traded in bulk and only briefly; no one ever sold it retail. Tata had to pretend to be a rancher's assistant picking up samples, and ended up carrying a huge sack of samples home—enough to feed the rabbits forever.

After finishing her assigned tasks, Cecilia volunteered to go to the dock to look after the spice ship that had just arrived. This new shipment included some of Lilith's investment. Whether it was top-quality Ceylon cinnamon or cheap Indian cinnamon, pure black pepper or a fake mixed with juniper berries, the girl from the East could easily tell the difference with just a sniff.

Heinrich, the only one not assigned work, took on the heavy responsibility of keeping Lilith happy. At Lilith's request, he put on a faded, old maid's dress, a comical long, curly blonde wig, and knelt on the ground with the rabbit, looking up at their mistress.

"This outfit can't possibly be a gift you prepared for your fiancé, can it?" Heinrich reluctantly accepted the reality that he had to wear it. Lilith's capriciousness wasn't a recent development; he seemed to have grown accustomed to these unreasonable demands.

“I asked Tata to buy it for you at the flea market, so you’ll have your costume for next year’s carnival.” Lilith laughed, swinging her legs and kicking his arm. “Doesn’t Bishop Daluca’s male concubine dress like this too? What’s there to be shy about? I also saw rabbit ear and tail decorations at the market before, I’ll buy them for you next time, so you can sit among the little rabbits and be just as cute as them.”

Heinrich had to close his eyes to avoid rolling them at his mistress. If he hadn't happened to notice the blond, curly-haired young man who worked in the red-light district entering the cathedral through the back door as night fell, Lilith wouldn't be enjoying her snacks in the garden so leisurely. Since he couldn't directly bribe the high and mighty bishop, he had to start with those around him.

After much pleading and cajoling from her lover, the bishop finally relented and granted Lilith special permission. Lilith has also paid off Solomon's outstanding taxes within the timeframe promised to the guild. However, she still has approximately one thousand ducats in debt to settle.

"What are your plans next?" Heinrich tried to shake off the influence of the comical outfit and steer the conversation back to work. Although he now had a medical license to perform emergency surgeries on patients, it didn't mean the surgery was a success.

“I’m planning to have mascarpone cheese with figs next. Would you like some too?” Lilith pinched a small, pretty piece of bread.

"I mean your debts..."

"Well, the highest priority debts have been paid off. As for the lower priority debts, such as customer deposits and notes, we'll negotiate with the creditors through debt-to-asset conversions."

"Debt-to-asset products?"

"It depends on what they want. I can get Elena to provide me with wool and silk, and Sofia's tailors can even make haute couture."

"So you want to buy these goods from Miss Elena or Mrs. Sophia at a price lower than the market price, and then pay the creditors the market price to settle the debt?"

“This way, I can not only greatly reduce my expenses, but also help my relatives and friends make money. It’s a win-win situation.” Lilith stuffed the bread she had been holding for half a day into her mouth.

If Cecilia were next to her, she would scold her for not being elegant enough when she saw her eating like that. However, Heinrich did not have the privilege of pointing fingers at her, so she could eat to her heart's content without restraint. After finishing one piece, she took a fancy to another piece of bread filled with orange, onion and fried shrimp. Just as she was about to speak, she saw Cecilia walk up to her with a serious expression, carrying a stack of letters.

Lilith was startled and almost dropped the food onto her skirt.

“Madam,” Cecilia glanced disdainfully at Heinrich, who was dressed in outlandish clothes, and casually pushed aside the beautiful plate of pastries, placing the letters on Lilith’s dining table, “these letters are very important; you must look at them as soon as possible.”

"I was halfway through my meal..." Lilith said, sounding a little aggrieved. "It's not like the letter will fly away if I read it later."

"You can put the others aside for now, but the one on top is a letter from your father."

Lilith paused, wiped her hands clean, gently picked up the envelope, and used an unused silver knife to scrape off the sealing wax, taking out the letter. A raindrop fell onto the letter. Lilith looked up and realized that dark clouds had gathered in the sky, and it had started to rain. The little rabbits were quick, rushing to take shelter under the table and the eaves.

"Tonight I'm going to the main palace for a family dinner... No, I absolutely won't go." Lilith slammed the letter on the table and ran into the house without looking back. Cecilia followed her in with some worry. Heinrich slowly got up from the floor, glanced at the stack of letters, and saw a letter from Helmut Schmidl tucked among them.

Why would he send a letter to Lilith...?

Helmut was Heinrich's father's younger brother, making him his uncle. If Heinrich's father was the patriarch of the household, Helmut was his right-hand man, tirelessly traveling and securing business. He was a humble and easy-going man who had traveled extensively and was fluent in several languages. It was this uncle who facilitated the marriage between the Schmidl and Knarro families, essentially acting as matchmaker between Heinrich and Lilith.

However, for important matters like marriage, communication usually only exists between elders, and younger generations have no right to know. This is why Heinrich and Lilith had never had any contact before their "marriage." He was too curious about the contents of the letter. But opening it rashly would probably only bring trouble. Heinrich could only pretend he hadn't seen anything, gather the letters together, and take them all under the eaves. Then he took the time to change out of his ridiculously over-the-top clothes.

Seeing that it was raining, Ivanka quickly came over to help, carrying away the uneaten food, tablecloths, and cushions that were left outside. The raindrops grew heavier, pattering loudly into the lagoon's channels.

As evening approached, a gondola pulled up in front of the main gate. Lilith slumped listlessly on the sofa, and through the glass window, she could see the crest of the Knarro family emblazoned on the high-raised prow.

"It's raining so hard outside, and my wife isn't feeling well, so she can't come," Cecilia said demurely as she stood at the door, ready to see her off.

“We have received orders from the head of the family to bring Miss Liliana there at all times.”

The newcomer lifted his cloak to identify himself to Cecilia. She recognized him; he was indeed the butler to Massimo, the current head of the Knarlo family. A simple family gathering wouldn't warrant such a high-ranking servant coming to fetch her. Cecilia cautiously half-closed the door, leaving Heinrich to watch it, and went upstairs to report to Lilith, who was hiding in her bedroom and refusing to come out.

“Looks like I have no choice but to go.” Lilith sighed. The fireplace in the bedroom had just been lit, and the room wasn’t warm yet. “Go tell him I’ll be there on time. Then call everyone over for a meeting.”

Cecilia, along with Tata, Ivanka, and Heinrich, gathered in Lilith's bedroom. The red-haired mistress sat at her dressing table, solemnly combing her hair.

“Tonight’s family dinner… I have a bad feeling.” Lilith turned to face everyone, her brows furrowed. “The poisoning accusation against Mauro didn’t come to fruition last time, and he’s definitely holding a grudge and eager to get revenge. And right now, my biggest weakness… is that I operated a gray-area lending business without formal permission from the Exchange Merchants Guild. Although I’ve now obtained a temporary license, I’m still worried they’ll question the legality of my operations… Physical evidence alone might not be enough; if it really comes down to a debate, witness testimony is much more convincing.”

Lilith pulled her hair up high with a black lace headband and inserted a black velvet rose into the bun.

“Cecilia will accompany me to the banquet, while Ivanka will stay home. Also, Tata will contact Solomon Goldstein after I leave, and Heinrich will contact Bishop Daluca. Find any excuse to have them wait outside the main palace. If the bishop can't come, the family priest will do.”

Lilith opened the dressing case, put on the emerald necklace her husband had given her, and then handed two silver rings bearing the family crest to Tata and Heinrich as tokens.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Hopefully it's just a false alarm." Lilith sighed. "Alright, you can all go out now. Cecilia, stay here and help me change my clothes."

The boatman had already fitted Lilith's gondola with a black wooden-framed cabin called "Felzer" to prevent the velvet seats and carpets inside from getting wet. Lilith carefully settled into the cabin, sheltering under the umbrella Cecilia had opened for her. The rainy sea wind howled, whipping up waves, and the small boat rocked violently in the storm. The enclosed, black wooden boat, with its upturned prows and sterns, resembled a coffin, carrying its passengers to an unknown shore. By the time they arrived at the Knarro family palace, Lilith was utterly exhausted.

She took Cecilia's hand and walked confidently into this place where she had grown up yet felt utterly unfamiliar. Unlike her last visit, this time candles were lit everywhere, illuminating the magnificent corridors and the portraits of her ancestors in the frames on the walls, making it as bright as a stage for a play about to begin.

The silent maid led Lilith to the familiar drawing room. Pushing open the door, she saw Massimo sitting in the main seat opposite her, surrounded by Lilith's father Bruno, her brother Mauro and sister-in-law Maria, and her uncle Francisco—the exact same lineup as the last conflict. The only difference was that Lilith had gone from plaintiff to defendant, and the witnesses kneeling on the ground were the three prostitutes she had bribed in Castro's red-light district.

“Yes, that’s right, it’s her.” The woman in the lead looked up at Lilith, then immediately knelt down and accused Massimo, “She’s our top courtesan, the red-haired Lillian!”

A note from the author:

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I get so excited every time I write about Italian food; the food in Venice is just so delicious!

Next update on Wednesday~