Chapter 71 Lilith's Ledger Heinrich, I'm not as...

It was a mid-October afternoon, and Venice was already in autumn. Lilith leaned lazily against Heinrich's strong, broad chest, listening to the steady rise and fall of his breath and heartbeat. The warm sunlight gently embraced her, making her feel cozy.

She slowly opened her eyes and sat up, seeing gondolas carrying passengers already sailing back and forth on the river outside the French windows. The lockdown was being gradually lifted, meaning trade routes could soon return to normal. Life was about to return to normal, and so was Lilith's.

The past two weeks had been too indulgent and decadent. Lilith never imagined she would one day be so hopelessly addicted to such unspeakable pleasure. The lockdown order due to the plague had locked her and Heinrich firmly in this house; time and space seemed to have frozen, and in these moments they frantically gave and took from each other. In the intervals of pleasure, they would go to the kitchen together to cook or sleep cuddling in the soft bed.

These days were too carefree, like a fleeting and illusory dream. Dreams always end, and Lilith knew this perfectly well. She could distinguish between dreams and reality, and she was proud of herself for maintaining a degree of clarity and upholding her principles even in her dreams. But even so, she still wished the dream could last a little longer, much longer…

Heinrich seemed exhausted. After all, he always put in more effort in the activities that brought Lilith wonderful experiences. Strands of his golden hair, which he had combed neatly every morning but which Lilith had ruffled during their kisses, were now scattered across his forehead.

He had almost made it a habit to press the burned half of his face against the pillow when he fell asleep, leaving only the side with a harmless knife scar for Lilith. "Does he really judge me by my appearance?" Lilith thought to herself, smiling as she admired Heinrich's handsome, straight nose and long, golden eyelashes.

She couldn't help but think again of that comical portrait. It was like a terrible curse that had struck Heinrich in the fire, truly disfiguring him. It was awful. Although Lilith was certain she didn't despise Heinrich because of this misfortune, she did feel genuinely sorry for his face. It was like having your favorite toy broken; you'd feel sad no matter what.

"If only I had asked an artist to paint a nice portrait of him earlier," Lilith thought to herself. Suddenly, she tiptoed out of bed, slipped to her desk, found a charcoal pencil and a blank sheet of paper, placed them on a thick ledger, sat down next to Heinrich, and began to copy his likeness.

Although she had not received formal art training, she grew up in Venice, immersed in the most advanced, trendy, and elegant art environment. She was confident in her artistic taste and could draw some simple sketches, knowing the proportions of the three sections of the face and the five eyes.

She roughly sketched Heinrich's facial features, first locating the positions of his features, then carefully depicting his eyebrows and eyes. His brow bone was so sharp, his eyebrows slightly pressing down on his eyes, but the shape of his eyes was soft, with slightly drooping corners, making them appear not sharp, but rather somewhat cute. His lips were thin, but very soft; kissing him felt wonderful… As she painted, Lilith suddenly became absorbed in her art and giggled foolishly. Suddenly, her model let out a muffled groan and opened his eyes, startling Lilith so much that she quickly hid the painting in her ledger.

"Madam...you're awake." Heinrich rubbed his eyes, clearly still half asleep, and addressed Lilith using his usual form of address. "Are you working?"

“Yes, I’m doing the accounts.” Lilith pretended to be serious as she closed the ledger and put it back on the desk. “I saw that the waterway has been reopened today. Get up and get ready. We need to visit Sister Clara at the convent before dark this afternoon. I need to know the current situation of the bank as soon as possible.”

"The waterway is open?" Heinrich sat up abruptly. He took a deep breath, quickly changed into his outdoor clothes behind the screen, combed his hair neatly in front of the mirror, and held a cloak, mask, and hat in his hands.

"I'm ready."

"Does Sister Clara know who you are?" Lilith sat in front of her vanity mirror, waiting for Heinrich to comb her hair.

“I don’t know. Actually, so far, besides William, only you know.” Heinrich skillfully braided two loose braids and used a comb to secure the buns at the back of Lilith’s head. Even though it was customary for women in Venice to wear their hair down, braiding was still more appropriate for formal occasions such as going to a monastery.

After getting ready, the two packed some freshly baked bread and some canned fish they had made earlier as souvenirs and quickly boarded a boat to Giudeca Island, not far from the main island of Venice. The girls' convent school where Lilith studied was located there, and according to Heinrich, the sanatorium where Ivanka was recuperating was also located there.

The journey had been smooth sailing; no more officials were stopping people. Venice was gradually returning to the water city Lilith knew, which meant Heinrich would soon be leaving. Neither of them tacitly mentioned it, though it was inevitable.

Since men were not allowed inside the convent, Heinrich waited for her on the dock, while Lilith went alone to knock on the door. A nun she didn't recognize invited her in after hearing her introduction. She glanced back. Heinrich had his back to her, gazing at St. Mark's Basilica across the sea.

Lilith was filled with trepidation. She had been away from the work environment for so long that she could hardly remember some of the work processes and numerical details. Walking down the corridor to her office reminded her of going to Sister Clara to have her homework corrected, but now the numbers in the ledgers were no longer meaningless; they were real money, gold. Lilith was responsible for that money.

She took a deep breath, gently knocked on the door, and Sister Clara came over to open it for her, then suddenly hugged her tightly.

"Thank goodness you're still safe and sound." Clara hugged her for a while before letting go, looking at Lilith's thinner face with concern. She pulled her to sit down and asked her in detail about what had happened in the past two months.

Lilith was somewhat flattered. She had always regarded Sister Clara as a respectable elder and colleague, and had never imagined that the other would care about her so much. The feeling of being cared for warmed Lilith's heart. She casually told Clara the truth about what had happened in the past, but omitted the fact that Heinrich and her fiancé were the same person.

“Ms. Clara, thank you so much for your concern. I'm all set now and ready to get back to work anytime. I'm really curious to know if my bank is still doing well... Thank you so much for taking care of it all this time…”

“Lily, compared to what you’ve suffered, the bank, though also suffering losses due to the war and the pandemic, is not in such a bad way. After the fire at your house, the bank was in complete chaos. The junior staff couldn’t find you, couldn’t find Heinrich, and even Tata and William were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, a girl remembered my address and immediately found me to take over.”

“Lorenzo once tried to seize and forcibly auction off the bank's assets on the grounds that you had fled to escape punishment. He bribed the money changers' guild to carry out the auction. At this point, William came to me and told me that his brother, Mr. Schmidl, was willing to help out. If the bank's owner was not Liliana Knarro, then the auction could not be carried out under any circumstances. Although I couldn't completely trust him at the time, the situation was urgent, so…”

“Teacher, there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing. Besides, Mr. Schmidl really does want to help me.” Lilith suddenly realized that Clara was completely unaware of her attempt to murder her fiancé, which saved her a lot of trouble. “Actually, he’s waiting for me at the door right now. Once the pandemic is over and my legal crisis is resolved, he’ll accompany me to the Merchant Guild’s notary office to re-process the asset transfer.”

“This plague…” Clara lowered her eyes, made the sign of the cross on her chest, and prayed silently, “has taken many lives; it’s nothing short of a catastrophe. But… for your bank, it’s a savior. The spread of the plague has severely paralyzed not only the financial industry, but the entire commercial world of Venice. Debt defaults caused by the disruption of the exchange system in the past seem insignificant now. Even Lorenzo and his men abandoned their banking business and fled to their country estates for refuge long ago.”

“They fled voluntarily, while I disappeared involuntarily. In other words,” Lilith’s eyes gleamed, “if I can get my business back up and running before them, I have a chance to regain the market’s trust before they do.”

“Yes, Lily, I believe you can do it. But before that, I have a very important question I need to ask you.” Clara suddenly became serious.

"Please speak."

“I’ve discovered several discrepancies between the profits in the accounts and the bank drafts we’ve issued.” Clara opened the accounts and pointed out the unusual amounts. “What’s going on with these profits, Lily? I don’t want to know that the students I’m trying so hard to help and support are profiting through some illegal means.”

Lilith looked closely and immediately realized that this was about her issuing loans to the military group of the Duchy of Milan through black market channels. She took a deep breath; since she had already been exposed, there was no point in pretending anymore, so she had no choice but to tell Clara everything.

“I need you to promise me that you will never do anything so dangerous again. Actually, I've already changed the numbers on the bills you submitted to the money exchange to clear your name. But I've already done more than enough for you by doing this once for you, a crime against God's teachings. I will absolutely not do it a second time. Please, don't do it again.”

“This will not happen again, I promise you.” Lilith blinked and solemnly declared.

"It's getting late. Let me take you to the sanatorium to visit your maid. She's actually fully recovered, but she can't leave because of the lockdown, so she's been staying here. I'll have her pack her things and go back with you in a couple of days."

“Thank you, Professor Clara.” Lilith responded with a smile, taking all the ledgers belonging to Knarro Bank from Clara’s desk and putting them into her briefcase.

It was completely dark when Lilith emerged from the small door of the monastery. The wind was strong in the harbor, and as soon as Heinrich saw her, he immediately took off his cloak and draped it over her shoulders.

“You should wear it yourself.” Lilith laughed and tossed him the heavy briefcase. “Mr. Raven, you look like you have your wings clipped without a cloak, which is rather comical.”

“You’re criticizing me again.” Heinrich frowned, looking bewildered, though Lilith couldn’t see his frown.

“Sister Clara mentioned the war loan.” Lilith tiptoed and whispered in Heinrich’s ear, “Tell me the truth, when you proposed this, was it also to find something on me and try to hinder my career in the future?”

"Yes."

“No wonder they left evidence,” Lilith said through gritted teeth.

"What, did Sister Clara find out?"

"Yes, she covered it up for me and made me promise not to put myself in danger again. But to be honest, I don't think I did anything wrong. The only mistake I made was believing you when you said you would handle things cleanly."

"Why?"

"It's normal for Clara to offer me this advice from her perspective. She's a nun, a servant of God, and a teacher with a stable salary. But I'm different, and what I pursue is different. Finance is a game where once you win, you have to keep winning. I can't help but pursue high-risk, high-reward opportunities. If I want to become stronger, strong enough to change the rules of this game... then I have to fight them to the bitter end, no matter what."

What are you planning to do?

"I need to think of a way to deal with Lorenzo, who got me into this mess. Heinrich, I'm not as kind as you. I will never be merciful to my targets of revenge."

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Author's Note: More updates tomorrow.