Chapter 74 Rebuilding Trust: Post-Breakup M-Sexual Explosion: Mo...

On the first morning Cecilia woke up in Lilith's new home, just as the morning sunlight was streaming through the curtains onto her bedside, she heard a clanging sound outside the door.

What happened? Is Lilith in danger? She quickly got up, grabbed a dagger, and rushed upstairs. She found Lilith's bedroom door wide open, the floor a mess, and two men working together to move the closets out of her room.

"What are you doing?!" Cecilia shouted sharply, her eyes quickly scanning the entire room for Lilith. She found her mistress dressed in tattered, obviously oversized men's clothing, sitting on the floor with her legs spread apart in a very ungraceful posture, furiously writing with a quill pen in front of a pile of parchment. Her long red hair was haphazardly tied back, her fingers were covered in greenish ink, and her eyes were swollen as if she had been crying, with thick dark circles under them.

"Good morning, Cecilia!" Seeing Cecilia arrive, Lilith smiled and looked up, greeting her while gesturing to the two workers not to worry about her and to continue their work. "How did you sleep last night? Are you ready to start work?"

"What is going on?" Cecilia stared in disbelief at the scene before her, momentarily unable to tell whether she was fully awake or not.

“Nothing much, just the first transaction this morning.” Lilith yawned. “I didn’t sleep a wink last night, so I thought I’d go to the market before dawn to check out the latest market information. I happened to run into a stranger who had been asked by his owner to buy furniture. He told me his owner was moving to Venice, but custom-made furniture was too expensive, so he sent him to find out if there was any good quality secondhand furniture available. I thought, ‘Don’t we have plenty of brand-new, good furniture?’ So I negotiated a price and agreed. Cash on delivery. I’ve got the money, and now I have to deliver the goods.”

"So you want to sell this furniture? Mr. Schmidl made it for you according to the layout of your old home..."

"Yeah. Since we'll never see him again anyway, let's just get rid of these pieces of furniture along with him. Out of sight, out of mind."

Cecilia stood frozen, dumbfounded. Although she had foreseen that their bank was experiencing a serious financial crisis, she hadn't expected it to escalate to the point where they had to empty their furniture and sell everything they owned. She saw Lilith shift her position and frantically scribbling something in front of another piece of paper, extremely agitated, as if she had drunk too much—only then did Cecilia notice the three or four empty wine bottles piled up behind Lilith.

“Don’t worry, we’re still a long way from bankruptcy. Although it’s not… uh… particularly far.” Lilith casually picked up a men’s white shirt that she had thrown on the ground and roughly smeared the ink stains from her hands on it. “Doing all this is to prepare for the work to come. If we’re going to put on an act, we have to go all the way.”

"What are you planning to do? Wait, you went to the market alone, didn't Hannah come with you?"

“I sent Hannah to pick up Ivanka. I’m dressed in these rags, penniless, so poor, who would do anything for me? The market’s getting busier these days; nothing will happen in broad daylight. Cecilia, our most important task right now isn’t just dealing with Lorenzo’s accusations and saving the bank from its financial crisis, but more importantly, regaining the market’s trust. And to gain trust, we need to influence public opinion. How can we control it if we don’t personally go into the market and understand public opinion? You agree, right?”

Cecilia frowned, unable to tell for a moment whether Lilith was drunk or sober. She carefully considered what Lilith had said; although it seemed somewhat incoherent, the logic didn't appear to be fundamentally flawed.

"So before we start making money, we still have to spend it first. You know what? We have to spend the money wisely. We have to let everyone know that I spent money! So I came up with two plans, one of which is already arranged. The other one, we have to start implementing immediately after they finish moving."

"Spend money?"

"This morning, I happened to be strolling around the harbor when I discovered three new ships carrying flour. Flour is great! I want to buy some, so I immediately compared prices among the three ships. Once I got the price down to the lowest possible level, I bought all three ships' worth of flour."

“Flour…? What do you need flour for?” Cecilia was a little overwhelmed by Lilith’s rambling. She confirmed once again that Lilith was definitely drunk, but she wasn’t sure how drunk she was.

"Due to food shortages and soaring flour prices during the pandemic, the people of Venice haven't had fresh bread for a long time. I bought flour and sent it to bakeries so they could make bread and distribute it to the citizens for free under the guise of sponsorship from the Cnarro Bank, so they would remember my kindness. Well, doing this once is enough. Once they belatedly realize that flour prices have come down, there will be no point in me giving them bread again. I have to give it to them now so they will appreciate it."

Cecilia was unsure whether Lilith's actions could truly be called generous. While Lilith was indeed engaging in charity, she was also capitalizing on the price information gap created by a key timing to maximize her profits at the lowest possible cost.

"But this is just for show. It's not the most crucial point. Our core customer base isn't just ordinary citizens who can't afford to eat. We still need to regain the trust of merchants, especially traveling merchants who trade far and wide. During the Padua War, two bridges on the territory of the Republic of Venice were destroyed by rebels. Now that the Republic has regained its territory, it naturally needs to raise money to rebuild the bridges."

Are you planning to donate?

“Yes. I’m going to set up a postwar reconstruction foundation in the name of the Knarro Bank. But it’s not a charitable foundation. After the bridge is completed, the government will have to take a cut of the toll fees as my return on investment. Then the businessmen will remember that it was Mrs. Schmidl… it was my investment that enabled them to get back to work. But this is just preliminary work. This is not our real focus.”

"Isn't that the point?" Lilith's words were a bit too much. Cecilia wished she could immediately squat down and grab a piece of paper that hadn't been scribbled on yet to use as a temporary memo.

“This is all to build hype for the new product launch. Oh, and these pieces of furniture too.” Lilith rolled over on the carpet, got up, then stumbled back onto the bed, and continued:

"I want to create an image of someone who, despite being penniless, still cares deeply about the public. 'Liliana, who survived the fire, didn't die; instead, she rose from the ashes and generously helped those suffering from natural disasters and man-made calamities.' Hahahaha! I need this message to be circulating throughout the market within a week."

"New product?"

"The new product is... actually, I haven't decided on a name yet. The last product was called 'Future Contract,' and that slightly abstract name seemed to be quite popular. So, this time, let's call it... Fair Securities! I had an appointment at the exchange this afternoon to complete the transfer, but my bank is either mine or someone else's, which doesn't really make sense. Aunt Elena also invested money, and although I calculate her dividends, I'm not very clear about the calculations. This is very unfair to her; I almost lost all her investment... Fair Securities, which are securities used to fairly distribute returns, would be ideal if they could be publicly issued..."

As Lilith spoke, she tossed and turned on the covers, then suddenly stopped and fell asleep.

Cecilia felt utterly helpless. She decided that from now on, she would lock the wine cabinet every night before going to bed. She couldn't be sure whether Lilith could be trusted with anything she said or did in such a drunken state, and could only pray that she would remain sober when making decisions.

Her mistress had never allowed herself to drink like this before. Could it be because... Cecilia remembered Lilith's parting with Heinrich last night.

She didn't know the specifics of what had happened, but she could imagine how heartbroken Lilith must be, both by Heinrich's long-standing deception and concealment, and by their inevitable separation. She knew that although Lilith appeared cheerful, approachable, and socially adept, she was fundamentally very difficult to build trust with others.

Lilith usually holds back, whether with friends, elders, or business partners. She only truly reveals her innermost thoughts when facing servants she believes she can completely control. Therefore, the successive "betrayals" of Tata and Heinrich must have dealt her a significant blow.

In fact, Cecilia was quite surprised that Lilith didn't try to kill Heinrich after discovering everything. Perhaps she had truly fallen for him but simply didn't know how to handle those feelings.

The black-haired maid closed the bedroom door and went to Lilith's bedside to change her soiled clothes. She noticed Lilith was still clutching the white shirt she had just used to wipe the ink stains, as if grasping at a lifeline. It was clearly Heinrich's shirt. Cecilia didn't know what to do, so she could only leave it for the time being, helping Lilith gather up the scattered papers on the floor and carefully read them, deciding to make a plan after Lilith woke up.

Lilith, who hadn't slept all night, finally drifted off to sleep with the help of alcohol. The world in her dream was like a murky paste violently shaking and churning in her mind, making her feel nauseous. All around was darkness, but she felt herself gripping a rope tightly in her hand—the rope used to raise the sails on a ship sailing at sea.

She really was drifting, drifting on the windswept sea. She struggled to lift her head and look at the sea ahead, and saw a small dot with a warm yellow light, like a morning star, floating in front of her. That was Venice, the direction of home. Soon she would be home, back to her warm and comfortable harbor.

"lady!"

Suddenly, Lilith heard someone calling her from behind. She saw Tata walking towards her with a lantern. She rushed forward and took Tata's hand. By the light of the lantern, she saw Cecilia and Ivanka on the boat as well. They were working together to hold onto the ropes and keep the small boat on course.

Lilith was Venetian, and seafaring was practically instinctive for her. No one knew better than her how to stabilize the ship—so she shouted commands in the storm. Soon, the ship gradually entered the harbor, and finally the sea calmed down. Lilith breathed a sigh of relief and turned around to reward her companions, but suddenly saw a group of people rushing onto their ship.

Clad in black cloaks and masked with black masks, they climbed up the deck like phantoms from hell. Lilith screamed and backed away. She saw her companions standing in front of her, fighting fiercely against the knife-wielding bandits. Silver blades danced in the night, and crimson blood splattered in the wind. Her companions were quickly outnumbered and overwhelmed, one by one falling before her, their hearts pierced by sharp swords.

Why? Why is this happening? Why attack me? Why kill my companions? I've already survived a devastating fire; why must even the ocean waves engulf me now?

Lilith's heart was filled with hatred and rage. She bent down to pick up a sword that had fallen on the deck and swung it forcefully at the black-clad man walking towards her. But the man merely swung his hand to block, knocking Lilith to the ground as easily as brushing away a speck of dust.

“Heinrich.” Lilith already knew the name of the nightmare that haunted her in her dreams. She looked up and stared directly at the face hidden beneath the hood of the cloak. At that moment, the air suddenly froze, because she saw her own face.

"Heinrich, is that your name? From today onwards, I am your master."

Standing before her was "Lilith," who elegantly lifted her hat, revealing hair as vibrant as blood. She smiled, scrutinizing the dream's inhabitant from head to toe with the gaze one would use to appraise a piece of merchandise. Suddenly, she leaned closer, pinching the loser's face, forcing Lilith to look into the other's grey-green eyes—in the reflection of the pupils, she saw Heinrich, the Heinrich who, upon arriving in Venice, was robbed by bandits, had all his confidants killed, and was enslaved on the verge of death.

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Author's Note: The next chapter will contain some scenes that I personally really enjoy [shy]. Happy National Day everyone! Although the author is abroad and doesn't have a holiday, sob sob...

Next update on Friday, love you all!