Chapter 51 The threat lurking in the shadows is just the beginning...
When Lilith woke up, she found herself lying in an unfamiliar bedroom, with Heinrich sitting at a desk not far away. Seeing Lilith open her eyes, he immediately got up excitedly and went to her.
"You're finally awake. I'm so glad you're alright."
Lilith rubbed her eyes, feeling a throbbing pain at the back of her head. She saw sunlight streaming through the curtains and realized a whole night had passed. She suddenly jumped out of bed, remembering that she had last opened her eyes at the banquet the previous night.
“A masked man!” Lilith screamed in terror, throwing herself into Heinrich’s arms. “It was him! He attacked me! What did he do to me?”
“Madam.” Heinrich gently embraced her and patted her back. “Don’t be afraid, you are safe now. It’s all my fault. I will protect you from now on and stay by your side.”
“What happened?” Lilith sobbed helplessly against Heinrich’s chest. “Who was that person? What happened at the end of the banquet? My clients—”
Heinrich silently hugged her tighter, took a deep breath, and uttered the lie he had prepared beforehand: "Don't worry, Miss Elena's agent took over the socializing immediately after discovering you left, saying you had to leave early due to unforeseen circumstances. You may have drunk too much last night and fainted in the small garden, perhaps bumping your head a little. But the doctor has already checked on you and said it was just a common bump, nothing to worry about. You are in my hotel room now."
“No. I didn’t faint on my own,” Lilith insisted. “I saw a masked man, probably… about your height, or a little taller. He was wearing a black top hat, a black tuxedo, black gloves, and a black Baltahr mask! He attacked me!”
"Perhaps you should double-check with Miss Elena's agent. However, as far as I know, there wasn't a single masked man among the guests. But there was another gentleman..."
"who?"
“Mr. Muller, the translator you hired in Zurich. He is dead.” Heinrich frowned, adopting a worried demeanor.
"What!?" Lilith was shocked.
"It happened in an alley on her way home after the meeting. Someone slit her throat. Law enforcement officers received the report and are investigating the killer, but there are no clear leads yet. But don't worry, we've covered this up and it will definitely not reach our clients' ears."
Lilith gently pushed Heinrich away, wiped away her tears, and forced herself to calm down and analyze the situation carefully, thinking about what to do next.
"Assuming Dante really confessed everything beforehand, then perhaps we can rule out Lorenzo's suspicion for now. He's far away in Venice and has no way of knowing that we dealt with Dante here, so he can't give any further orders or instruct anyone to retaliate."
"Perhaps Dante, as a henchman, is just a decoy, and he actually has people under him monitoring our actions?" Heinrich deliberately steered the suspicion in the wrong direction.
“It’s not impossible,” Lilith blinked, frowning thoughtfully. “But I’m inclined to believe it wasn’t him. We can’t let our guard down with the others. Neither Pascal… nor Aunt Elena’s agent. We have no way of knowing what they’re thinking.”
“You’re right,” Heinrich agreed.
"I miscalculated. I shouldn't have taken you on this trip alone. I completely underestimated the safety risks of traveling alone."
As Lilith spoke, she trembled uncontrollably. Seeing this, Heinrich opened his arms to her, and Lilith once again threw herself into his embrace. He could feel the fear and anxiety making Lilith's heart pound in her chest, while he, Heinrich, the one who had caused Lilith's emotional turmoil, pretended to be nonchalant as he held her in his arms and comforted her.
Lilith's fingers gripped Heinrich's back through his shirt: "Next time we go on a trip, we have to hire more people. We can't let you do the accounting, nanny, translation, and security all at the same time... No, that's not right."
"What's wrong?"
“Müller kept me translating all night. I didn’t introduce his name to the guests, but I did mention that I have a capable subordinate named Heinrich.” Lilith analyzed blankly, “Don’t you think it’s possible… they mistook him for you? Otherwise, I can’t understand it. What’s the point of getting rid of a translator who is so easily replaceable, someone who even our confidential documents haven’t passed through his hands?”
“It’s not impossible.” Heinrich breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Lilith didn’t doubt him at all.
"What a pity. That translator named Muller was quite capable, a recent college graduate. I was thinking of at least giving him a job at the Zurich branch, or even taking him back to Venice... Who knew this would happen... We should comfort his family, since it happened after my banquet, we can't just sit idly by."
"Yes, ma'am."
“But we are really short-staffed, we must speed up recruitment when we get back.” Lilith held her head in her hands and wailed, “You’ll still be in charge. Sigh, it’s not good to think like this, but thankfully it wasn’t you who got into trouble, Heinrich.”
“Madam…” Heinrich pushed Lilith away slightly, “I am also very glad that you are safe and sound, but Zurich is really too dangerous. We have been attacked one after another, and this cannot go on.”
Lilith fell silent. There were still some final touches to be made in Zurich; while it wasn't impossible to leave early, but…
“Also, I received a letter this morning.” Heinrich picked Lilith up and put her back on the bed, then got up and went to his desk to get an already opened letter. Lilith didn’t notice the blurry wax seal on the envelope and eagerly pulled out the letter.
She saw the familiar cursive handwriting, exactly the same as the signature on the insurance policy issued by Condalini Bank. It was a letter from Lorenzo. Lilith rolled her eyes and continued reading.
Dear Mrs. Schmidl,
Greetings. I have heard about the caravan that traveled with you and was robbed in the forests of the Alps. Since you are currently using our insurance policy, we will process your claim according to the terms and conditions. Please come to our office in person on June 15th to discuss this matter. Failure to do so will prevent us from processing your claim as usual.
P.S. Of course, given our personal relationship, I can make an exception and offer you an extension. Also, please reconsider my previous proposal. My affection for you remains unchanged.
Yours,
Lorenzo
Almost the instant she finished reading it, Lilith instinctively crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it away like trash.
"June 15th? Even if I set off immediately tomorrow morning, I might not make it. He's convinced I won't make it back in time and wants to extort a huge sum of money from me, isn't he?"
"So what do you plan to do?"
“Since we won’t make it by tomorrow morning, let’s leave tonight.” Lilith sprang out of bed. “Pack your things, prepare your travel luggage, provisions, cash, drafts, and horses. I have some errands to run. Meet here at six tonight. Is that enough time?”
"As long as it's your order, we'll definitely be there in time."
"good."
Lilith opened the wardrobe and took out a long dress hanging inside. Heinrich obediently left the room to avoid her. He closed the hotel room door and stood in the corridor, his whole body trembling uncontrollably with excitement.
He actually fooled Lilith with ease, successfully eliminating a thorny threat and achieving his goal of getting Lilith to head home as soon as possible. Although he had done his fair share of sabotaging her and giving bad advice in the past, this was the first time he had openly attacked Lilith.
He knocked Lilith's head unconscious in the heat of the moment before her mask was removed, he slit Muller's throat, and he even forged Lorenzo's letter by mimicking the handwriting in Dante's correspondence with Lorenzo. Yet Lilith never suspected him, still regarding his embrace as a safe and warm haven, grateful for his safety.
A dark and sinful pleasure surged through his chest. His clever and cunning mistress, Lilith, had been so easily deceived, only because she had placed such unwavering trust in him.
Heinrich knew what he was doing. It was fraud, murder, forgery, a baseless conspiracy and harm. All thanks to Lilith; under her coercion, he crossed the line of morality, under her careful tutelage learned the means to harm others, and step by step began to use the same methods she instructed him to use against others against himself.
And this is just the beginning.
"You can come in now."
Heinrich pushed open the door and saw that Lilith had already changed into her dress. She asked him to help tie the ribbon on the sash at the back of her dress. Heinrich gave it a hard tug, and Lilith fell backward, her waist swaying like a puppet held by strings. She looked in the mirror, carefully observing her own face, completely oblivious to the amusing expression on Heinrich's face as he tried to suppress his dark, ecstatic joy.
After putting on her dress, she began to do her hair and makeup, while Heinrich sat down at his desk to continue working. He had received the new report from Elena's agent yesterday, but hadn't had time to look at it while busy weaving lies. Now, he pulled the document out of the paper bag, trying to calm himself down through work, but was truly shocked by the numbers on it.
In just one week, Lilith attracted nearly 100,000 Ducatiers in funding, a full twenty times more than the initial 5,000 Ducatiers they had scraped together from friends and family during their early days.
This money isn't profit; it's capital they've absorbed. In other words, Lilith needs to keep this money circulating, whether through currency exchange, loans, or investments, to generate profits, pay interest, and collect fees. 100,000 ducats, at a 1% annual profit, would amount to a full 1,000 ducats, equivalent to the annual living expenses of 15 average Italian families.
Leveraging the renowned reputations of the Schmidl and Knarro families, and avoiding those in Venice who knew the Knarro family's true nature—a facade of wealth masking underlying corruption—Lilith thrived in Zurich, which explains her desire to stay longer. However, Heinrich didn't want to continue this shady life confined to a small, dark room. Besides, his mission here was complete, and to keep up with his revenge plans, he needed to return to Venice first.
In the evening, Lilith arrived as promised and met with Heinrich in front of the hotel where he was staying. After a long day of work, she looked exhausted. To allow her to rest properly on the way back, he hired a carriage and a driver, so that they could travel day and night without Lilith having to ride herself.
Besides the horse-drawn carriages, they were accompanied by three mule carts carrying the steel and weapons they had acquired in Zurich, mostly samples given to them by the Schmidl family for sale. Pascal also gave a positive reply regarding future contracts, indicating his willingness to try. If this deal went through, it would be another huge source of income in the future, with a bright future ahead.
Before leaving, Lilith slipped several handwritten letters into the mailbox. Some were addressed to Elena and Cecilia, some to Clara, and others to Sophia and Isolde. She had originally planned to make a detour to visit Isolde on her return journey, but due to this situation, she couldn't, so she wrote to explain and again invited her to meet in Venice. If Isolde were to sell her beauty potion, which she had been diligently developing, to the ladies of Venetian high society, it would likely be a considerable fortune.
After boarding the carriage, she drew back the curtains and leaned against the window to admire the beautiful little town one last time. Compared to the dire situation she had faced on her journey, with all her goods damaged and unable to even afford a hotel room, her financial situation had indeed improved significantly, even though she now had to travel through the night, proving that the trip had not been in vain.
Time was accelerating, relentlessly pushing Lilith forward. She had to adapt to this pace lest she be crushed by the ever-rolling wheels of time.
On their way back, they passed the Schmidl family's villa, where the roses in the garden were in full bloom. Sitting opposite Lilith in the carriage, besides Heinrich, was a portrait of her fiancé covered with a white cloth. After much deliberation, she decided to take the painting home with her.
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Author's Note: This week's featured work is being recommended on the channel, so I'll still be updating with four chapters.
Xiao Yin is really bad, and she'll get even worse in the future (but not too bad).
But actually, I feel quite emotional as I write this. When I first met Xiaoli, he was still a kind and innocent child. The moral constraints and hesitation he felt when he was first assigned to kill someone have now been almost completely worn away by Lilith.
However, Lilith cannot be entirely blamed. His downfall was a choice he made to possess Lilith, and he will ultimately pay a heavy price for the evil he committed.
And being their translator must be a high-risk job. Two people died in just two chapters, the husband and wife each killing one.
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