Chapter 9 The Victim's Deception Heinrich: How could you eat rabbit...
Sofia arranged for Maria and Lilith to meet in the ground-floor drawing room. Lilith was still wearing the meticulously crafted mourning dress she had worn that morning, her makeup exquisite, and a veil on her head. She sat upright before Maria. A huge crystal chandelier stood between them, its flame flickering in the breeze outside the window, as if it might be extinguished at any moment.
Lilith and her sister-in-law were hardly close; their only common ground was Mauro—a demon who had caused them both immense suffering. However, Lilith had escaped her torment, while Maria remained trapped in her husband's abuse.
In the eyes of the Vatican, marriage is a sacred and inviolable contract, which cannot be dissolved once it is established. Lilith could think of no other way to escape the consequences of the wedding except to resolutely end it with a funeral.
Maria was a slender, petite woman with flaxen hair. Slightly older than Lilith, she was only in her early twenties and still quite young. She wore an old set of clothes that covered her entire body, but it couldn't hide the redness and bruises on her face from Mauro's beating. She carried a wooden box, seemingly a gift for Lilith.
"I'm so sorry about what happened at the funeral today," Maria said softly to Lilith, her head bowed, seemingly unable to look her in the eye.
"You have nothing to apologize for. You weren't the one who hit me. We all know that the person who should apologize to me is someone else," Lilith replied coldly.
"Thank you for stopping him... If he had continued fighting, I'm afraid I would have..."
"No need to thank me. If someone else had suffered such injustice, I wouldn't have stood by and done anything about it."
“You’re such a kind person.” Maria sensed the distance Lilith was deliberately creating between them. “I heard you run a property storage service?”
“Oh, no, no, that’s not true.” Lilith denied it vehemently. “I was just playing house with some classmates from the monastery school.”
"That's such a pity. I was thinking that it would be great if I could deposit my dowry with you as well," Maria said with a wry smile.
"terribly sorry."
“As you know, Mauro is in this state now, it’s hard for him to be a good father. I have to make plans for my unborn child.”
"You're pregnant?"
“Yes, after he hit me today, he called a doctor to bandage my wounds, and that’s when they found out I’m almost three months pregnant. The doctor said I’m physically weak, and if I had been hit more severely, I might not have been able to keep the baby. So thanks to your advice this morning, my baby is safe and sound.” Maria lowered her head, smiled bitterly, and touched her still-unshowing belly.
"……Congratulations."
"Hopefully, the birth of the child will lead him to a new life."
I doubt it.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” Maria sighed heavily. “But I still hope he can get better someday. After all, we’re all family. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you siblings could get along well? I know you’ve suffered a lot of injustices in the past. But I’m just a woman, and I can’t make up for anything for you. All I can do is bake. So I baked some almond cookies tonight. I hope you’ll like them.”
Maria opened the wooden box she carried with her, inside which was a plate of freshly baked almond cookies, garnished with a thick layer of icing.
"thank you."
“If you like it, I’ll make it for you again next time.” Maria smiled with a hint of regret when she saw that Lilith still maintained a distant attitude.
"Thank you for your kindness, sister. It's getting late, you should go back and rest. Would you like me to send someone to escort you?"
"No need, I can take the boat back myself."
Maria boarded the small boat and left. Lilith stared blankly at the box of almond cookies. Heinrich walked up to her and found that the mistress, whom he had just managed to calm down, was now burning with anger again.
Are you angry again?
Lilith glared at him fiercely. Without looking back, she walked towards the bedroom. Heinrich, unsure what to do with the box of almond cookies, simply put it away and followed Lilith back to her room.
"Take it away, throw it all in the river to feed the fish!" Lilith trembled with anger. "Isn't that couple just worried that I'll stay in Venice and take away their child's sole inheritance rights?"
"Perhaps she didn't think that much about it; she was just thanking you."
“How could that be? She would never have gone out alone at night, especially not first to my house, and then to Sophia’s.” Lilith grabbed a pillow from the bed, hugged it tightly, and rested her chin on the soft down. “She even wanted to deposit her money with me to earn interest? How could I dare take her money! If Mauro found out, he'd put me in a terrible position!”
“Your brother… Mr. Mauro, what kind of person is he?” Heinrich habitually knelt on one knee before Lilith, submissive and obedient, not letting Lilith feel any threat. He noticed that his mistress did not like looking up at others, so whenever he knelt down and looked up at her, her attitude would gradually soften.
“He’s short-tempered, ignorant, a bully who picks on the weak and fears the strong, and stupid and incompetent,” Lilith replied without hesitation. “But he is my father’s only legitimate son. In the future, all of my father’s property will definitely be inherited by him.”
"Will he become the future head of the Knarro family?"
"Definitely not. Although my uncle... lacks a bit of business acumen, at least he's not completely senile. The Knarro family is currently managed by my uncle, my father is the second oldest, my aunt Elena is the third oldest who runs her own business, my fourth aunt is married, and then there's my fifth uncle, who's also a good-for-nothing. Apart from my aunt Elena, who's still earning money, the others have almost squandered the family fortune."
No wonder they made the decision to send their illegitimate daughter to Germany for a marriage alliance with a little-known, newly wealthy family. While the Schmidl family may not have a long history, they are certainly financially powerful. In this outwardly strong but inwardly weak old family, where everyone indulges in pleasure and lacks ambition, the emergence of such a clever and quick-witted illegitimate daughter seems more like a threat than an asset.
“Aunt Elena is the only relative I like in the Knarro family.” Lilith continued to speak to herself, “She is an exceptionally capable woman. At the age of fourteen, she disguised herself as a man and went to sea with merchant ships, fighting pirates in the high seas. Her footprints have covered the entire Mediterranean—Barcelona, Marseille, Alexandria, Crete, and even Constantinople.”
When talking about the female predecessors she admires, Lilith's eyes are full of longing, as if she were just a lively and cheerful girl.
"Ever since my mother's death, Mauro would beat me whenever he was in a bad mood. He would grab my hair and slam my head against the wall, often leaving me with bloodied heads. My father was always gambling in casinos or chasing after some famous socialite, completely disregarding the life or death of an illegitimate daughter. Only Aunt Elena would stand up for me. To protect me from the beatings, she sent me to a girls' school run by the convent, which gave me the opportunity to meet Sophia and the others."
“When I was a child, I hoped to become a woman as amazing as her. But my physical condition was too poor, and I couldn’t adapt to the harsh environment of sailors at sea, so I could only continue to stay in my small room in Venice and write account books.”
Lilith sighed and collapsed weakly onto the bed, as if the day's dramatic events had drained her of all her energy.
“But you are already the most amazing woman I have ever met,” Heinrich said very seriously.
"You just like to say nice things to flatter me."
"I'm serious."
Lilith got out of bed, frowning as she looked into Heinrich's clear blue eyes. His light blue pupils seemed to see right through her, as if they could see everything, yet also see nothing at all.
"You can go now. Go and bring Cecilia instead."
"Yes, ma'am. Should I take the rabbit back with me?"
“…I’d completely forgotten about the rabbit if you hadn’t mentioned it.” Lilith paused for a moment. “I’ll play with it for a while before bringing it back to you.”
She sat on the Persian rug, carrying the wire cage, and opened the cage door. A black and white rabbit hopped out of the cage. Lilith was immediately amused by the rabbit's adorable appearance.
"Little bunny, little bunny, when you grow up quickly and get a little fatter, I can eat you." Lilith chuckled mischievously, pinching the bunny's soft ears and gently stroking its smooth, oily fur.
Fortunately, the little rabbit didn't understand such cruel words and just hopped around the room exploring on its own. It soon discovered the almond biscuits in the food box on the table. Before Lilith could stop it, the little rabbit, which hadn't eaten all day, began to devour them.
"Can rabbits eat this?" Lilith turned to Heinrich and asked.
"Nuts, butter, milk, and sugar—a little bit shouldn't be a problem?" Heinrich wasn't entirely sure, but they didn't currently have any hay or other suitable food for rabbits. So the two of them watched intently as the cute little creature chewed on the almond cookies in its food box.
Not long after, the little rabbit suddenly shuddered violently, its limbs stiffening as if electrocuted, convulsing violently and emitting short, shrill cries. It quickly slumped motionless on the table. Such a rapid onset of poisoning could not possibly be due to ordinary accidental ingestion; someone must have deliberately poisoned its food.
“She wanted to kill me… Maria, and Mauro, they wanted to kill me…”
Lilith was so horrified by the rabbit's sudden death that her body went limp, and she almost collapsed. Heinrich caught her in time and helped her sit back on the edge of the bed. She grabbed his sleeve, clinging to him as if he were a lifeline. Her voice trembled uncontrollably, and tears welled up in her eyes again: "I didn't... I didn't do anything wrong. I just wanted to run away, I just didn't want to be beaten by him anymore..."
Heinrich was also taken aback. Although he had just heard Lilith share the family scandals and was fully prepared for the moral depravity of these people, he never expected that they would hate her so much that they would want to get rid of her as soon as possible.
His mistress—his fiancée—was lying helplessly on him, trembling violently, causing Heinrich's own heart to clench in waves of pain. Although Lilith was no good person—he knew that all too well—it was utterly depraved and utterly hateful that these direct heirs who held the family's power and wealth would be so cruel to a widowed, helpless little girl.
We absolutely cannot let such a vicious person succeed. We can put aside our revenge against Lilith for now; Heinrich has someone far more hateful to deal with.
“I’m sorry, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have brought that dirty box in.” Heinrich stretched out his arms and hugged Lilith, gently stroking her back. “I will never let this happen again. Do you remember what you bought me for? I will take care of anyone you don’t like, as long as you want me to. As long as I’m here, no one can hurt you. Don’t worry.”
“Killing him like this would be too easy on him.” Lilith wiped her tears on Heinrich’s shirt, then suddenly shoved him away. Her watery green eyes were like those of a venomous snake. “I want to make him lose everything he has first, to make him fall from the pinnacle of life into the abyss, and then crush him completely like an ant.”
A note from the author:
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Their current relationship status is:
Lilith actually liked Heinrich from the first time they met, but she was still wary of him and didn't really trust him.
Heinrich was completely smitten but refused to admit it. He was happily indulging in his lover's ways without even realizing it. ^_^
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