Chapter 30 The Pros and Cons of Investment A man's money must be earned handsomely...

In the evening, after confirming that her employees had finished their work and arranged for William's new employee's onboarding for the next day, Lilith was finally able to take her subordinates home by boat. The exhausted bank president nearly collapsed onto the gondola's soft couch and fell asleep. When she finally arrived home, anticipating a sumptuous dinner prepared by Ivanka, she saw Elena sitting in her drawing room with a woman dressed as a nun.

Elena always liked to wear brightly colored clothes. Her bright yellow silk dress was impeccably tailored, and her golden-brown hair was tied up high, making her look radiant and in excellent health. In contrast, Lilith, still dressed in mourning for her husband, was dressed entirely in black. Exhausted from days of continuous high-pressure work, she exuded a chilling, deathly aura.

"Aunt Elena! Why didn't you let me know you were coming? I could have had my people prepare properly." Despite being exhausted and dizzy, Lilith still managed to flash a warm smile and open her arms to Elena the moment she saw her.

"Why are you being so polite with me? Come on, look who this is!" Elena pulled her niece into her arms and kissed her cheek, then put her hand on her shoulder and gestured for her to greet the nun beside her.

"You are...Ms. Clara!" Lilith exclaimed, her eyes widening in surprise. The nun before her was the arithmetic teacher at the convent school Lilith had attended, known for her strictness. Her long, ink-black hair was partially hidden beneath her headscarf, and she wore framed glasses on her high-bridged nose; she appeared to be only twenty-five or twenty-six years old.

She possessed a nobler birth than Lilith—the legitimate daughter of the Venetian family, one of the eight great families of Venice. To escape an arranged marriage, she entered a convent school to study theology, vowing to dedicate her soul to God's truth and, together with the will of angels and saints, nurture the beautiful young girls in the school. In doing so, she earned the right to remain unmarried and childless, allowing her to stay in a women's community and do what she loved.

It was precisely because of Elena and Clara's long-standing friendship that Lilith, as an illegitimate child, had the opportunity to be sent to this convent school, which had always only admitted daughters of noble families, to receive an education.

"Liliana, what's wrong? Don't you want to see me?" Clara smiled and gave Lilith a greeting hug.

“I still remember the pain of kneeling on the floor of your office, revising and correcting assignments…” Lilith murmured sobly. “But I’ve always been thinking of you! Did you receive the gift I sent to the monastery for Easter?”

"I received it, thank you for your kindness. If you hadn't stayed up all night doing shady deals with your classmates, you wouldn't have been so tired during the exam that you fell asleep," Clara scolded her jokingly, then added seriously, "But you've actually taken your business out into the open now, which is quite remarkable."

Because of her deep-seated fear of her math teacher, Lilith couldn't tell at first whether the other person was being sarcastic or genuinely praising her.

She couldn't help but recall her days living at the convent school. The nuns strictly forbade female students from bringing snacks into their luggage when returning to school after holidays, so strictly that everyone had to undergo a luggage inspection.

However, where there is discipline, there will inevitably be resistance. A group of girls, led by Lilith, quickly devised a smuggling strategy. They carefully wrapped sugar cubes, various nuts, and cookies in paper bags, rolled them into crumpled stockings, stuffed them into spare pencil cases, or placed them in file folders with hidden compartments. They then stored them at the bottom of wastebaskets, covered with crumpled clean tissues for concealment.

Soon, an underground snack trade developed within the monastery. Two sugar cubes could be exchanged for a bag of almonds, and a bag of almonds for a box of cookies. Every Tuesday after lights out, they would gather in the bathroom cubicles to conduct the trade, until they were discovered by Clara, the teacher on duty as the dormitory supervisor.

She immediately stopped this violation, which was explicitly prohibited by the monastery, and confiscated their "stolen goods," but did not impose any punishment.

"Instead of wasting your energy on satisfying your appetites, you'd be better off using those same tricks on your husbands later."

Lilith always remembered what Clara had said to her when she was fifteen. However, the methods she used to deal with her husband were far more radical than the petty squabbles she had during her school days.

“I invited Sister Clara here not just so you could catch up,” Elena said with a smile, bringing the conversation back to the main topic. “Lily, I heard about the unfortunate passing of your Jewish accountant. I know it won’t be easy to find a suitable replacement in the short term, so I specifically invited Sister Clara. She has worked in finance at the convent for a long time and was also your teacher, so she is the most suitable person to help you.”

"What!?"

“The monastery has granted me permission to spend a year away for further studies, and I will return to offer new accounting courses,” Clara explained. “It will be a pleasure working with you, Liliana.”

Lilith was stunned, unsure how to respond. Clara was indeed a teacher she greatly respected and trusted, diligent and pragmatic, with impeccable abilities. Moreover, she was of noble birth, on good terms with Elena, and affiliated with the Papacy; having her oversee the bank was tantamount to having the Church's endorsement.

It could even be said that Clara's joining was entirely beneficial to LC Schmidl Bank, but Lilith always felt something was amiss—it all happened too fast, too suddenly, as if she were being pushed along by an invisible hand, with no room for denial or resistance. Perhaps she was too tired, because she felt a buzzing dizziness in her forehead.

“It’s a pleasure working with you, Professor Clara,” Lilith said with a forced smile as she shook hands with Clara. “It’s getting late, let’s discuss the job responsibilities with you tomorrow.”

“Yes, I have something more important to discuss with you today.” Elena skillfully thwarted Lilith’s attempt to see her out, and told her directly, “I’m here to tell you before I leave for Rome that I’ve decided to formally invest in your bank and help you start expanding your business as soon as possible.”

Lilith was stunned again, then quickly put on a happy expression: "Oh! My goodness, this is wonderful, Aunt Elena."

"Don't rush to flatter me. My willingness to invest comes with conditions. Listen to my proposal before you make a decision," Elena reminded her with a smile. "First, the bank needs to change its name, removing the prefix and suffix, and simply renaming it Knarro Bank."

Lilith frowned subconsciously. She was quite pleased with her current name. The Schmidl surname was her tool for escaping the control of the Knarro family. Even if it were Elena's wish, she didn't want to have that surname attached to her bank.

“This is entirely beneficial for you, avoiding many compliance risks,” Elena said. “The reason you can continue to use this name openly is because the Schmidl family is unaware of it. If the head of their family suddenly found out that a family member’s widow was using their name to run a lending business, what do you think they would think?”

“They don’t seem to mind. In fact, William of the Schmidl family just arrived in Venice and wants to join my bank internship.”

"Then you should keep the ownership of the bank's name firmly in your own hands, not in your husband's family's. I believe you can understand this. And I assure you, based on my position in the family, that neither Massimo nor Bruno will allow any man from the Knarro family to interfere in our business."

Lilith remained silent, waiting for Elena to continue.

"In return, I will help you expand your business and open new branches as quickly as possible."

"A new branch...? You mean, you're also officially registering the business you're handling for me in Florence as a new branch?"

“That’s right. But not just Florence.” Elena said solemnly, “I already have trusted subordinates, a stable customer base, and reliable channels in Florence. With your hard work in Venice, opening a branch only requires me to send someone to go through the guild’s procedures. What I really want to do is open branches in Rome and Zurich to open up trade and tribute funds from the Italian peninsula to Germany.”

“Rome and Zurich…” Lilith pondered Elena’s proposed plan. Rome was the seat of the Papal States, where the Vatican held supreme power and wealth throughout the Catholic world. Zurich, located in the Swiss Confederation north of the Italian peninsula and south of Germany, was the most important financial and commercial center linking the Alpine trade routes. Expanding banking services to these two commercial strongholds would allow for significant foreign exchange transactions, attracting a stable customer base along the trade routes.

However, Lilith had never left Venice since birth, and all her knowledge of Rome and Zurich was based on hearsay. Besides, she hadn't even established herself in Venice yet, so opening a bank in such a remote location seemed like a pipe dream.

“The Ducat gold coins minted and issued in Venice are the most valuable currencies in all of Europe.” Elena took a beautiful Ducat out of her pocket and played with it in her hand. “The Germans export steel, weapons, ores and dyes to us, and import spices, glass, medicines and silk from us. And as God’s children, we have to pay tribute to the Pope for every pot of gold we earn.”

"That's why we go to Rome..."

“That’s right. Our ultimate goal is to become the Pope’s agent bank, providing him with tax collection services. But before that, opening a branch is an urgent matter. I’ll be leaving for Rome next week.”

"next week??"

“That’s right. My dear Lily, finance is a race against time. The Condalini family in Venice has already officially entered the banking industry, and the Fugger family, the wealthiest merchants in the German region, is also eager to open their first bank branch in Venice. We must expand our scale and attract more customers before they do to avoid being eliminated by the market.”

"Do I really have to compete with them?" Lilith was still somewhat hesitant. "My initial intention in opening a bank was simply to be financially self-sufficient and to help my girlfriends manage their assets, but..."

Elena interrupted her: "To grow and become a major player, we can't just do business with girls; we have to make a fortune off men too. I'll be leaving for Rome next week, and you, the Schmidl widow, will go to German-speaking Zurich. That way, by June at the earliest, Cnarro Bank will have four branches in Venice, Florence, Rome, and Zurich. We must secure important merchant clients before the Condalini and Fugger families. That's why I brought Sister Clara for you; I need to borrow Cecilia from you to accompany me to Rome."

"What!?" Cecilia, who had been standing silently behind Lilith, was startled. "No, I absolutely cannot leave Madam. Madam cannot live without me."

“Don’t worry, Lily isn’t a child anymore.” Elena chuckled at her reaction, then looked earnestly into Cecilia’s eyes. “I value you highly, Cecilia. You are a very capable and loyal woman. But you should know that instead of constantly staying by Lily’s side to take care of her daily needs, you can provide greater value to your master. This is a very valuable experience, and you will gain unexpected growth. And—”

Elena turned her gaze back to Lilith: "Lilith, I believe you understand that this is a win-win deal. Time is of the essence, and I will visit you again in three days. I hope you can give me a clear answer then."

After Elena left, Lilith finally collapsed onto the sofa like a dead fish, closing her eyes and nearly fainting from exhaustion. Cecilia and Heinrich were unsure whether to break the silence. Ivanka's pasta was almost cold, and a pile of unread letters awaited her attention on the table. Just then, Tata tiptoed into the living room and cautiously said:

“...Just now, a messenger from the Condalini family knocked on the door. He said that Mr. Lorenzo had something important to discuss with our lady.”

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Author's Note: Clara is a hot, nerdy, abstinent math teacher... hehe.

The next update will be on Friday.