Chapter 82 Tears of feigned reluctance lead to a fight! A fight breaks out! A fight begins…

Before Lilith could react, an arrow pierced the hem of her cloak, pinning her to a tree stump behind her. In a panic, she lowered her head, turned around, and tried to unfasten her cloak and flee into the depths of the woods, but was surrounded by several black hunting dogs amidst a fierce barking, which frightened her so much that she fell to the ground in the snow.

Immediately afterwards, a familiar voice came from behind her, speaking to her in low, cold German:

"If you try to escape again, the next arrow will pierce your heart."

"Then go ahead and shoot!" Lilith recognized Heinrich's voice and turned around to retort loudly, clearly displeased.

She looked up and saw him riding a tall black horse, a long, curved bow in his hand. He wore a very understated but exquisitely crafted riding outfit and no mask. Perhaps because of Isolde's medicine, the burn scars on his face had completely healed and disappeared, making him look exactly the same as when Lilith first saw him—still just as handsome.

Lilith didn't beam with joy at seeing such a handsome face. She felt wronged. She had traveled a long way, enduring countless hardships to find him, constantly worrying about his safety along the way. And here he was, leisurely hunting! Lilith pouted and turned her head away, waiting for Heinrich to comfort and coax her as before, but he remained silent for a long time.

"...Why are you here?" After a long while, Heinrich finally spoke his first words. Lilith looked up at him again and found that there was no joy on his face, only surprise and indifference, as if he did not want to see her at all.

"Don't you want me to come?" Lilith asked, puzzled. "I thought you would be happy to see me."

Heinrich pulled on the reins, looking down at Lilith lying in the snow, his brow furrowed. "You're not welcome here. Go back to where you came from."

"Heinrich!" Lilith stood up angrily and stomped on him. "Is this how you talk to me? You ungrateful bastard!"

"Ungrateful? You should be glad I'm 'ungrateful' enough. Otherwise, given what you've done to me, I wouldn't have let you off so easily. I'll say it again, this isn't a place for you. Get out of here."

"I came all the way from Venice to see you, and this is how you treat me...?"

"It's much friendlier than the way you greeted me. If you don't want to leave, I'll have to have someone take you away."

“Fine, I’ll leave! You’re awful… You don’t deserve my kindness at all…” Lilith stared incredulously at Heinrich’s haughty demeanor, completely unable to accept that this was the person she had once trusted, relied on, and longed for.

How could he have become like this...? Tears welled up uncontrollably. She lowered her head to hide the pain in her heart, forcefully pulled out the arrow that had pierced her cloak and embedded itself in the tree trunk, and threw it hard onto the snow in front of Heinrich.

Just then, she saw a group of people following Heinrich and his hounds in the snow. Leading them was a blonde, blue-eyed girl with fair skin and bright, piercing eyes, who was galloping towards Heinrich.

“So you’ve found someone new.” Lilith suddenly realized. “That explains it. Okay, Heinrich. I was overthinking it. I was just being presumptuous. I shouldn’t have come all this way to make a fool of myself. I’ll leave now, just pretend I was never here.”

“Sister Liliana!” The blonde, blue-eyed girl finally arrived before them. She quickly dismounted and ran forward to embrace Lilith. “I am Elizabeth Schmidl, you can call me Eliza. My brother always talks about you, saying you are the smartest, most beautiful, and most amazing woman in the world. It’s so good to see you! He’s been missing you terribly!”

“Eliza…?” Lilith then noticed the resemblance between her and Heinrich, realizing that this might be his sister.

“Elizabeth,” Heinrich called out to her sternly, “I have something to say to her. Please excuse me for a moment.”

“Let’s go home first! It’s so cold standing in the snow.” Elizabeth took Lilith’s hand, seemingly very excited about having a guest. “Sister, you’re so beautiful… I’m so envious of brother, he got to marry such a beautiful bride…”

"Elizabeth!" Heinrich sighed in exasperation as he saw his plans completely disrupted.

Lilith was a little embarrassed by the compliment and could only awkwardly smile in response to the exceptionally enthusiastic little girl. She glanced out of the corner of her eye at Heinrich, who was still on horseback and seemed equally bewildered.

Just as she was about to find an excuse to refuse Elizabeth, a sudden gust of wind arose. She looked up at the overcast sky, sensing an impending blizzard. Leaving with Hannah now might be dangerous. Should she really go back with Heinrich and the others under these circumstances...?

“Sister, come ride a horse with me.” Elizabeth gracefully mounted her pony and reached out to pull Lilith onto her own horse to ride with her, when she suddenly noticed tears that were almost frozen in the corners of Lilith’s eyes.

"What's wrong?" She quickly took out her handkerchief and gently wiped away Lilith's tears. "Did your brother upset you?"

“It’s nothing, just some snow in my eyes, it’s alright.” Lilith gratefully took Elizabeth’s hand, gave Heinrich a cold glance, and decided to save face for his sister. “Let’s go back and talk. My maid is waiting for me with my horse up ahead. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Eliza.”

So everyone returned to the villa before it started snowing. Hannah took off Lilith's tattered cloak and carried the few pieces of luggage into the house. Elizabeth was about to show Lilith around when Heinrich coldly stopped her.

“Elizabeth, there’s a limit to being willful. Liliana and I have important business to discuss, so let’s not bother her for now.”

“Alright.” Elizabeth reluctantly let go of Lilith’s hand, but her gaze remained fixed on Lilith’s face. “You two chat first, I’ll wait for you to have dinner together.”

"Um."

With that, Heinrich grabbed Lilith's wrist rather roughly, pulled her through the corridor toward his bedroom, and then slammed the door shut.

"You've been back for so long and haven't made a move yet?" Lilith sat down on the sofa and asked coldly, "You even have time to take your sister hunting."

“Helmut has handled the affairs of the territory very well.” Heinrich sat opposite her, quietly looking out the window at the dense, goose-feather-like snowflakes falling in the darkening sky. “My father’s former subordinates all thought I was dead, and those who refused to submit to the new master have long been cleaned up by him. Now the entire Schmidl family is under his control. Outnumbered, if we act rashly, there will be a lot of bloodshed.”

"What, you've softened your heart again? Just because you don't want to see bloodshed, you're not planning to seek revenge?" Lilith mocked mercilessly. "In Venice, we usually call this kind of person a coward."

“Therefore, I must make a meticulous plan, seize the best opportunity to carry out the surprise attack, and avoid unnecessary casualties as much as possible. Instead of being like some vicious people who indiscriminately drag innocent people down with them to kill those they want to kill.” Heinrich politely retorted to her sarcasm, his gaze cold and serious. “Until the time comes, I can only wait. I haven’t spent time with Eliza in a long time. After this is all over, I may not even see her alive. She will also have to learn how to protect herself.”

Lilith recalled the innocent and carefree little girl she had just met. She felt she hadn't encountered such a sincere person in a long time. In those bright, big eyes, she seemed to see a reflection of Tata.

"Didn't you tell her that we were going to break off the engagement?" Lilith asked.

"Not yet." Heinrich turned his face away, seemingly unable to face her. "What difference does it make whether I say it or not? It's all over anyway."

“So, you’ve thought it through.” Lilith looked up at him, staring straight at him. “It’s over between us, isn’t it?”

"Isn't this what you said to me? You said we shouldn't see each other again, that we should cut ties with everything. Didn't you say all that yourself? So why are you here looking for me now? To give me a glimmer of hope, only to crush it all again?"

Lilith suddenly stood up angrily, walked up to him, grabbed his chin from above, and forced him to look at her.

"Let go." Heinrich grabbed her wrist and glared at her fiercely.

"I won't loosen it."

Heinrich gently pinched Lilith, who screamed in pain and flinched away, incredulous that Heinrich would hurt her. Growing increasingly enraged, she rushed up to Heinrich and slapped him hard across the face. The next second, the tall, muscular blond man grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up.

"let go!"

"How did you just reply to me? You wouldn't let go." Heinrich, with a bright red handprint on his face, chuckled coldly. Lilith then tried to kick him, but he easily grabbed her ankle, causing her to lose her balance and fall to the ground. Heinrich simply rolled down with her, pinning her down and restraining her arms. Lilith struggled frantically to break free, but was held firmly, unable to move an inch.

"I used to kneel in front of you and let you hit me. You didn't really think you could beat me, did you?"

“Heinrich… let go…” Lilith’s brows furrowed tightly, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re pressing on my hair… Waaah… It hurts so much…”

Heinrich instinctively raised his hand to avoid Lilith's long hair scattered on the ground, but Lilith seized the opportunity and suddenly attacked his abdomen with her knee. Just as she was about to get up from the ground, Heinrich once again firmly pressed down on her wrist.

"Now your hair isn't being trampled. Haven't you had enough? What do you want?" Heinrich looked impatient.

"What do I want? I came all this way to find you, wanting to make up with you, and this is how you treat me...you bully me..." Seeing that she couldn't fight back, Lilith simply gave up and started crying, large tears streaming down her cheeks. "First you threatened to kill me in the snow, and now you're hitting me...how could you do this to me..."

"I didn't hit you, and you started it first." Heinrich couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Lilith when he saw her crying so heartbreakingly.

"If you hate me so much, I'll leave... Stop bullying me... I've met so many people since I was little, and they all wanted to hurt me. Now even you are doing this to me..."

“Lilith, I didn’t mean to bully you. Don’t be sad… I didn’t mean it that way.” Heinrich then realized that Lilith seemed to be genuinely crying. Sigh, even if it was fake, what did it matter? She released her grip and stepped back, keeping her distance. “I’m just afraid… afraid that if you stay here, and I fail in my revenge, you’ll be implicated too… Lilith, I’d rather you hate me, I’d rather never have you again, than have you suffer because of me…”

Before he could finish speaking, Lilith suddenly pounced on him, straddling his waist and mimicking his earlier actions by gripping his arms. This time, Heinrich didn't resist, simply letting her take the lead. He figured she might retaliate, slap him, kick him—let her vent her anger. He simply couldn't bear to see her cry in front of him.

Lilith did not retaliate. Instead, she lowered her head and gently covered Heinrich's lips with hers. She had thought it would be a light kiss, a symbol of reconciliation, but she suddenly felt Heinrich press the back of her head hard and kiss her wildly and forcefully. His canine teeth repeatedly grazed her lips, as if he wanted to devour her alive.

Then, the world suddenly spun around her, and Heinrich swept her up in his arms and threw her onto the bed, pressing down on her and kissing her fiercely once more. His tongue forcefully invaded her mouth and intertwined with hers, kissing her until she could barely breathe.

She felt warm tears dripping onto her cheeks. After one wet kiss after another, her chest heaved violently, and she realized that some emotion beyond anger and sorrow had been ignited between her and Heinrich.

"Heinrich, do you still love me?" Lilith whispered in his ear in a suggestive voice. Seeing Heinrich's frantic demands, she knew she had the upper hand again. "If you don't love me anymore, I'll leave first thing tomorrow morning and never come back to see you."

“I love you…don’t go…no…my Lilith…I love you…don’t leave me…” Heinrich cried uncontrollably, his whole body trembling.

"But weren't you just trying to get rid of me not long ago?" Lilith smiled wickedly, raising her hand to wipe away his tears, feeling both pleasure and heartache for some reason.

“You’re so mean…” Heinrich lowered his head and buried it in Lilith’s chest, feeling wronged. “I know you’re toying with me, I know you don’t love me at all, I know you just treat me like a dog… but I still can’t refuse you, I still can’t bear to see you sad… Lilith… my Lilith… my master… I’m in so much pain… help me… what should I do?”

"Sweetie, I'll slowly tell you what to do next... But before that, I need you to make up for what you said and did earlier, I need you to make me happy. My Heinrich, my good boy, you know what to do next..."

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Author's note: Sigh, I really love watching young couples argue... Hahaha...

More updates tomorrow!