Chapter 48 A Torn Confession of Self-Perception! Lilith's Confession! ...

Heinrich was stunned. He frowned and looked at Lilith, feeling a sudden urge to cry for some reason.

Yes, of course he was hiding something from her. But he had promised her he wouldn't hide anything from her anymore. He lied again. And now, one lie requires hundreds of new lies to cover it up. They pile up haphazardly, and one day they will all be exposed.

“Madam…” Heinrich lowered his head sadly, placed Lilith on the edge of the bed, and knelt sincerely in front of her. “I really don’t want to hide it from you. The truth is, my former masters… are also in Zurich. I really don’t want to see them again, nor do I want them to see me with you… I… really don’t want to face those things.”

“Then why didn’t you just tell me the truth from the beginning?” Lilith raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't lie to you." In fact, I did lie. "I did feel unwell when I woke up this morning. But it wasn't a cold; it was just that I felt dizzy and lightheaded thinking about the humiliations I suffered in the past. It was something I didn't handle well, and I shouldn't have troubled you. You've already been so kind to me, rescuing me from that situation."

Yes. Lilith was ruthless and decisive, unwilling to let any enemy who posed a threat to her escape. But her fiancé, Heinrich, was an enemy, while her servant, Heinrich, was a comrade. She was cruel to her stranger husband, but she never harmed Heinrich, whom she knew well and who was her comrade.

“So that’s how it is.” Lilith solemnly grasped his trembling hands. “Heinrich, don’t worry. I also have a terrible past, and I know that the pain from those painful memories is hard to erase. But I will help you. You are now under my command, and I will not allow anyone to bully you or hurt you again. Don’t be afraid.”

"lady……"

“If you really don’t want to go out, then don’t. Anyway, I was in charge of the negotiations. You’d just be standing there, unable to say a word, so it’s more efficient to stay here and get the work done. Look, a lot of calculations are waiting for you. You’re best at calculations.” Lilith glanced at the documents Heinrich had taken earlier. “Give them to me by tomorrow morning.”

"Wait... tomorrow morning?"

“Didn’t you skip work and sleep in your room all day? You probably can’t sleep tonight either.” Lilith rolled over, sprawling on Heinrich’s blanket with a mischievous grin. “But I’ve been out working all day. Heinrich, I’m so good to you, you should at least feel sorry for me. Let me tell you about this amazing new thing I designed, a kind of tradable financial contract…”

Not long after Lilith finished speaking, she collapsed onto Heinrich's bed and fell asleep. Heinrich sat at the desk beside her, burning the midnight oil, his head throbbing with pain. Although the calculations were simple, the sheer volume was overwhelming. He had also been out all day without rest, and now felt utterly drained.

The more he calculated, the more he realized this woman was truly a genius. From initially engaging in shady lending through jewelry to now establishing a bank and gradually building her business into a powerful force, her exceptional intelligence often made people forget that she was just an eighteen-year-old girl, a very beautiful girl, as delicate and pretty as a porcelain doll. And this beautiful and intelligent doll was once Heinrich's fiancée.

He turned his head to look at Lilith, who was sleeping sprawled out on her back, sighed, gently picked her up and straightened her on the bed, then tucked her in. He heard Lilith mumbling something in her sleep. He leaned closer to listen and vaguely heard her calling his name.

"Heinrich..."

"Did she dream of her fiancé again?" Heinrich wondered what kind of ugly and frightening image he, as a husband, was in Lilith's imagination. However, Lilith's expression was peaceful, not like she was having a nightmare. "Could she be dreaming about me?" He quietly moved closer to Lilith's face again, holding his breath so she wouldn't notice.

"I like you..."

Is she saying... she likes me?

Heinrich felt his heart skip a beat, and he stood frozen in place, staring incredulously at the little girl smiling in her sleep. For a moment, he thought his burning, intense love had been reciprocated.

“The puppy…is so cute…” Lilith murmured with a smile, completely unaware of the turmoil in Heinrich’s heart, and rolled over, clutching the blanket. Heinrich suddenly realized. Lilith treated him like her dog, and the affection she expressed was simply the affection a master has for a dog.

She only liked an obedient, capable, and handsome slave, not the real Heinrich. As for what the real Heinrich was like, even he himself couldn't figure it out anymore.

His feelings for Lilith were so complex that the two extremes of love and hate were constantly intertwined, tormenting and piercing him, almost tearing his soul apart.

The will for revenge echoed in his mind. He could never forget. In the original plan, he would have her, control her, dominate her, and become her lifelong support. They would live together in Germany, have one or more lovely children, and build a happy family—but all of this was shattered by Lilith.

Therefore, he believed he should hate her and not fall into the trap of love, because love would cause him to lose his will. Didn't Lilith always think so?

"Don't let your emotions affect your pursuit of your career," that's what she taught Heinrich, yet at the same time she constantly teased and played with him, using all sorts of seemingly oblivious physical contact to get closer to him, liking him like a toy, unwilling to give him any love.

So Heinrich wanted revenge, wanted to control Lilith like a slave, wanted to possess her completely, to make her his wife, to make her endure his filthy and depraved desires, to make her his own. But it was also because of love that he wanted to protect her, respect her, and want her to be happy, unwilling to do anything that would make her sad.

But there was no other way; it was a necessary sacrifice. He couldn't be Lilith's dog forever. One day he would reclaim his family business, get life back on track, and Heinrich, as Lilith's slave, would be taken to his grave forever, while Heinrich Schmidl would be reborn. He wanted to return to Lilith as her husband, which meant going against her wishes—but what did that matter compared to the evil Lilith had done to him, his father, and his confidants? She had wanted him dead, and he had only wanted to marry her.

He believed he would be a good husband, but only if his wife was Lilith. He knew Lilith loved Prosecco white wine, knew she favored rose perfume, and knew that besides black dresses, her wardrobe was filled with red and white gowns. He would make her countless gorgeous new dresses, commission the most dazzling jewels for her, and do everything in his power to provide her with everything she wanted. Most importantly, he would support Lilith's career. He was willing to stay in Venice for her.

Only in this way can they be together forever. Because Lilith's feelings for him are unstable, they can be withdrawn at any time, and they might vanish immediately upon discovering his true identity. But Heinrich is different.

Although the will for revenge and the will to protect tore him apart, clashing and causing him immense pain, there was only one point on which the two conflicting personalities reached a consensus—his love, hate, and possessiveness towards Lilith were so deeply ingrained in his soul that they were an incurable disease. He couldn't live without Lilith; no matter what, he needed Lilith by his side.

The next morning, Heinrich, who had worked all night and was mentally exhausted from calculations, woke up on the floor and found Lilith yawning on his chest, covered by a blanket.

"lady……?"

"Good morning, Heinrich. Since there's only one blanket here, I was worried you'd be cold, so I came down to sleep with you. Aren't I good to you?" Lilith smiled and rubbed her eyes. "So, are you done with everything? I have some new work for you today."

"besides……?"

“Of course. I also need to go out and continue working. Today I have to continue liaising with Aunt Elena’s agent. Although I trust the person she chose, there are still many details that need to be aligned.” Lilith, supporting herself on Heinrich’s shoulder, got up and went to her desk to review the calculations and results. Heinrich’s handwriting was very neat, making it easy for Lilith to follow his train of thought and recalculate to ensure accuracy.

Heinrich watched as Lilith, without washing or combing her hair, immediately began working, meticulously reviewing his work with great interest. She truly loved her job. Heinrich had no choice but to take a spare comb from his bag and gently tidy Lilith's messy hair before going out to order her favorite cream and egg toast for breakfast.

After breakfast, the two continued working according to their agreed-upon division of labor from the previous day. Lilith dressed and went out alone, while Heinrich had another task to follow up on behind the scenes. After watching Lilith walk away through the window, he found the mask he had hidden under the bed, put it back on, and left the hotel through another door.

To avoid being discovered by Lilith, he deliberately returned to the hotel earlier in the afternoon. Unexpectedly, shortly after his return, before he had even finished the task Lilith had assigned him, he received a message from her, inviting him to meet at 7 PM in the square by the Limmat River. Enclosed with the message was a black umbrella decorated with lace. Heinrich guessed that this was a prop Lilith had sent to help him conceal his identity, so he accepted it.

With new plans for the evening, Heinrich had no choice but to work even harder, finally arriving at the Limette River just as the church bells rang. A bright red hue shone in the deep blue of the evening sky, and the shimmering river reflected the orange candlelight of the city. Lilith, dressed in a black dress, sat on the stone steps by the river, crumbling half a piece of dry bread to feed a flock of white swans gathered nearby.

"Guess what I'm thinking?" Lilith knew it was Heinrich, but without turning around, she continued to observe the swans intently.

"You're probably thinking about how to cook this goose meat," Heinrich said with a smile, sitting down next to Lilith. He knew all too well what Lilith was thinking. A refreshing evening breeze brushed against his cheek, making him feel quite comfortable.

“Isolde told me that there’s a way of raising geese in Alsace where they force-feed large amounts of food into their esophagus to make them grow very fat. I’ve heard that the liver of these geese is thick and delicious. I really want to try it.” Lilith said, swallowing hard.

"So that's why you fed these geese so much breadcrumbs?" Heinrich tilted his head and noticed a large bag of bread next to Lilith. "Looks like I was right."

"Actually, I was thinking that food and investing have a lot in common." Lilith was a little annoyed that her thoughts had been guessed, so she began to talk nonsense in a serious tone. "What's the most important thing in cooking? It's the ingredients and the heat. The ingredients are like the investment targets, and the heat is like the timing of buying and selling. Both have to be just right. If you take them out of the pot too early, they won't be cooked. If you take them out too late, they'll either burn or become too dry and tough. However, some ingredients are suitable for slow simmering over low heat for long-term investment; others need to be stir-fried over high heat for short-term investment... By the way, Heinrich, what do you like to eat?"

“I…” Heinrich thought carefully. He wasn’t particularly interested in food; it seemed like everything was pretty much the same to him, and he didn’t have any particular favorites. If he had to say, there was one thing he hadn’t had in a long time and did miss. So he decided to say it to tease her.

Have you ever heard of a pork hedgehog?

"Hedgehog? You can eat that? It doesn't sound like there's much meat in it."

“It’s not a hedgehog, it’s seasoned minced pork shaped like a hedgehog. You insert chopped white onions into a round mound of minced pork to make it look like a hedgehog. It’s delicious.” Heinrich explained earnestly with a straight face, while watching with interest as Lilith’s brows furrowed more and more tightly.

"...Is it because the slaves didn't have the means to cook, so they could only eat raw food?"

"Of course not. Pork dishes require pigs slaughtered that day and are considered high-end dishes that rely heavily on the freshness of the ingredients. Even nobles don't eat them every day; they only have the opportunity to eat them during festivals and celebrations."

"...Thank goodness I didn't marry into a German family." Lilith's face turned deathly pale. After a long pause, she spoke again, "But if you really want to eat it...when we get back to Venice, I'll have Tata ask if anyone in the German market knows how to make it, as a celebration of our safe return...By the way, speaking of celebrations, when is your birthday?"

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Author's Note: I recently commissioned new character illustrations!!! Please check them out on xhs!!!

Xiao Yin was practically falling apart in this chapter. You can actually sense that his character is very different from how he was in the first volume. The male and female protagonists undergo significant changes and growth throughout the story, making it difficult to summarize them with a single label…

Lilith and Heinrich are not yet in their final, complete forms; they still have a long (but not an extremely long) road ahead. Writing this has been very enjoyable, and I hope you all enjoyed reading it too!

It's worth mentioning that the pork hedgehog design is a relatively recent invention, but eating raw pork mett is a long-standing tradition.

More tomorrow [poor thing] I love you all.