Chapter 47 Future Contracts Are Like Holes in Cheese

Lilith returned to the hotel late at night after finishing her day's work. She went to her room to shower and wash up, then changed into her nightgown and went downstairs to Heinrich's room.

She was eager to share what had happened that day with him, but when she knocked on the door and called Heinrich's name repeatedly, there was no response for a long time.

Perhaps he's just asleep...? She was a little worried. Although she wanted to check on Heinrich's condition, she had to convince herself that what the patient needed most was rest. Especially since she couldn't be sure if the disease was contagious, she shouldn't see him.

Lilith had no choice but to return to her bedroom alone and collapse onto the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling, feeling a sense of emptiness in her heart.

After a short rest, she immediately got up and sat at her desk, rummaging through her leather briefcase for paper, pen, and ink, and began frantically taking notes in her notebook. Usually, Heinrich or Cecilia would do these meeting minutes. Now that they weren't there, Lilith had to do it herself.

She recalled the most important points of her conversation with Pascal. They tentatively determined that the upcoming collaboration would revolve around two aspects.

First, the Schmidl family decided to take a small stake in the Zurich branch of the Knarro Bank to assist the bank's designated agent in its daily operations.

Secondly, and this was something Pascal was clearly more concerned about, was his hope that Lilith could provide the Schmidl family with steel sales business in Venice.

Pascal went on and on about the trivialities of the steel market in German-speaking regions. The most useful information, perhaps, was about the rise of the Fugger family.

Lilith had heard of this family while in Venice; they were said to send their children to Venice to study accounting in order to get involved in the financial industry. However, Italy's financial lifeline had always been controlled by local businessmen, and Lilith hadn't paid much attention to this matter before. It was said that the Fugger family had seized a large market share through the Deutsche-Italian steel trade route, putting considerable pressure on their competitors.

Lilith did not give Pascal a clear answer regarding the steel sales cooperation. She wasn't particularly interested in real industry at the moment. Her most pressing task was to quickly establish a comprehensive financial services network along the trade routes. However, it would be somewhat dishonest of Lilith to accept benefits from the other party in branch construction but not help them implement what they wanted.

Lilith pondered, aimlessly drawing circles on the paper with her pen in hand. Perhaps a new product contract could be designed, requiring a certain amount of deposit upfront, with the buyer and seller agreeing to deliver and make payment at a future date.

For businesses like the Schmidl family, which primarily deal in weapons and steel products, the process from mining to smelting is lengthy. A contract-first, delivery-later model can minimize transportation and warehousing costs. Lilith can help them secure orders in Venice, begin production only after the contracts are signed, and then ship the goods at the agreed-upon time.

However, this deposit-final payment model is disadvantageous to the seller. If the buyer wants to breach the contract, the seller will suffer substantial losses. Even if there are legal means to protect their rights, it will consume a lot of energy and time, making it a losing proposition.

As Lilith pondered, she took out a clean, brand-new Goulden coin, which she had just exchanged that day, from her purse and played with it in her hand. This was a coin issued by the Holy Roman Empire and widely used in Zurich. It was engraved with a saint holding a cross, and it gleamed brilliantly in the candlelight. If you didn't look closely, it actually looked very similar to a Ducat coin.

While the ducats are unusable here and must be exchanged for guldens, the exchange rate between the two currencies would differ slightly in Venice. After all, gold always shines. What is useless in the eyes of some can be valuable in the hands of others. This is why trade and markets came into being.

Lilith stared at the glittering gold coin and suddenly a new idea popped into her head.

If only the contracts she envisioned regarding future delivery could be traded and circulated in the market like currency and commodities. This would better protect the rights of both sellers and buyers, and allow market forces of supply and demand to automatically determine prices.

With this in mind, Lilith excitedly turned to a new page in her notebook and began furiously jotting down her thoughts, attempting some simple calculations to consider the feasibility of this contract product. Knarro Bank could provide advisory and market-making services during the transaction, along with its core foreign exchange services…

Lilith excitedly envisioned the future, listing all the calculations that would be needed, intending to give it to Heinrich for him to do. But before that, she needed to name this new financial product—since it was a contract about future transactions, how about calling it the Future Covenant?

Lilith excitedly grabbed a stack of draft papers and ran to Heinrich's room, eager to share the good news with him. She wondered if he was awake yet. She knocked on Heinrich's door again.

"Heinrich?"

Heinrich, who had just returned to his room, heard a knock on the door. He quickly took off the mask and hid it under the bed, coughed violently a few times, and went to the door.

“Madam,” Heinrich responded to her call in a weak voice.

"Are you awake? How are you feeling? Have you eaten anything?"

"I've already eaten. Thank you for your concern, I'm feeling a bit better." Heinrich thought to himself that the safest course of action to avoid being recognized by the Schmidl family was to simply feign illness and skip work from beginning to end. He would "recover" after Lilith prepared to leave for home.

But if he did that, it would mean leaving Lilith, a young girl, to wander around in an unfamiliar city, which wasn't very safe. As he pondered what to do next, Lilith continued talking to herself through the door.

"I've eaten too. Tonight I had stir-fried beef liver with Swiss-style fried potato pancakes. The potato shreds were cut very thinly and mixed with cheese to make a round pancake, which was actually quite delicious. I also tried the cheese fondue. Although I like creamy dishes, I still found it a bit too rich and didn't particularly like it. What did you eat?"

"I asked the hotel staff to bring me some milk and bread."

“You need to eat healthier so you can get better faster. Otherwise, I'm the only one working, and I'm exhausted. This afternoon I met with Pascal, the Schmidl family's representative, and tonight I had dinner with Hannah, Aunt Elena's representative. I thought Germans would be more straightforward, but Pascal is quite a cunning old fox. He even asked me a very offensive question before we started negotiating.”

"What's the problem?"

“He asked me why a noblewoman like me, who could have everything without doing anything, still had to work so hard. These men who are born with inheritance rights have no idea how much effort I put in to get everything I have now,” Lilith complained indignantly. “What’s more, since we got married, has the Schmidl family ever considered how I, as a widow, am supposed to live? They haven’t given me a single penny in alimony, and when they were negotiating business with me, they presented me with a huge problem.”

"Thank you for your hard work." Heinrich couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy, yet he still couldn't resist making an concession. "Although... I'm not fully recovered and probably can't go out, if there's anything I can do to help you..."

"Heinrich, I want to see you."

"I... I look awful right now." Actually, it was because he had just come back from outside, still wearing his clothes, and his hair was neatly combed back. He quickly took off his coat, ruffled his hair, and pretended to have just woken up.

"No, Heinrich, you are not ugly at all, you are very beautiful, extremely beautiful, at least much more beautiful than my husband..."

"...Your husband?"

“Yes, Pascal showed me a portrait of my husband. He’s so ugly! You should see that painting too. Sigh… I’m such a pathetic woman, being betrothed to such an unattractive man…!”

Heinrich immediately guessed which of his portraits they had shown to Lilith. Germany didn't have as many excellent painters as Italy, and canvases and paints were extremely expensive. In fact, before he received Lilith's portrait and witnessed how breathtaking Italian art had become, he had always been quite satisfied with the only portrait he had painted as an adult.

"Heinrich, let me see you. It won't be contagious to just look at you."

Heinrich couldn't persuade her otherwise, so he messed up his hair a little more and opened the door.

Lilith looked up and saw Heinrich's handsome face beneath his disheveled blond hair, the scar on his eyebrow, and the crystal-clear blue eyes hidden in his deep-set eyes. He was so handsome, just as handsome as she remembered him. She couldn't help but smile.

“You look pretty good, Heinrich. You’re not faking illness to skip work, are you?” She handed him a document with a to-do list. “This is your work. Take a look at it later, and ask me if you don’t understand anything.”

“How could I possibly fake being sick? Cough cough cough cough…” Heinrich quickly put on a series of rapid coughs. “I just took the medicine you gave me and slept for a while, and I feel better now. It was just a common cold anyway, and I was mainly afraid of infecting you.”

“I’m not afraid. I’m healthy, and stronger than you think.” Seeing that Heinrich’s illness wasn’t serious, Lilith became even more unrestrained. Taking advantage of Heinrich’s inattention while he was looking at documents, she suddenly grinned mischievously and pounced into his arms, wrapping her arms around his neck. Heinrich was startled, but still reflexively hugged her back.

“My Heinrich, how can you be so handsome?” Lilith sat in Heinrich’s arms, smiling as she played with the stray hairs on his forehead. “And I really like this scar on your brow bone. It’s like… a hole in cheese, making the cheese look delicious and tempting.”

"Cough cough cough..."

Heinrich's face was as red as a ripe apple. Faced with Lilith's blatant flirting and the warmth of her against his chest, he was unable to remain calm. His mind and eyes were filled only with the magical green eyes beneath Lilith's red hair.

At times like these, he began to lose sight of who he truly was. Where was the line between the man beneath the mask and the man on the mask? The one wearing the black mask should be the real Heinrich Schmidl, so who was this man who, outwardly without a mask, was even more hypocritical and insidious than the one wearing one?

He was embracing the woman he loved most, genuinely enjoying their intimacy, but his other identity told him: your purpose is revenge; your actions have begun, and there is no turning back. You can't turn back now. You swore to make her suffer for everything you've endured because of her.

"Do you remember how you got this scar?" Lilith, completely unaware of the complex emotions swirling within the person in front of her, reached out and gently stroked Heinrich's eyebrows. With her other hand, she gently pushed Heinrich's shoulder, making him hold her as they sat on the bed.

"It was when I was a slave... that someone cut it."

Heinrich immediately realized his mistake as soon as he finished speaking. In his previous account of his life, he had been a slave since childhood. However, when he first met Lilith, that scar had not yet healed.

"Poor child..." Lilith carefully poked the wound that had already healed, "Does it still hurt?"

“It’s long gone.” Heinrich looked away, not daring to meet Lilith’s eyes. “That… is all in the past.”

“Heinrich,” Lilith called his name softly, observing his expression with keen eyes. For a moment, her smile froze, and she asked coldly:

"You're hiding something from me, aren't you? You're not actually sick at all. Tell me, what are you hiding from me? Didn't you promise me you'd never hide anything from me again?"

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Author's Note: Future Contracts are essentially futures contracts. I've adjusted the update frequency, so the next update will still be on Sunday.

I've been feeling a bit down these past couple of days [sad face], but seeing everyone's comments and nutrient solutions makes me very happy...

I'm working hard on writing this article, and I hope you all enjoy reading it!