Chapter 90
The story continues off the page
The Last Dance Before Midnight
A masked dragon asks the lanternwright for one slow dance
Tilda, who had entered the Dandolo household as a daughter-in-law, was dissatisfied with everything.
The reason was simple.
The mansion did not belong to her.
Unable even to act as mistress in a house that was not hers, Tilda found everything about it irritating.
“Hmph~.”
Today, however, she sat on the sofa, humming merrily.
There was only one reason she was enjoying herself so much.
It was the ring on her finger.
It was a ring with a lustrous silver band and a large diamond set in the center.
It was no ordinary diamond.
It was a red diamond that could be mined only by miners who descended beneath the Boundary of Hell, one of the divine tombs in the western part of the continent.
It was called a blood diamond because it had claimed tens of thousands of lives, and it was the rarest of rare treasures, unobtainable with money alone.
Tilda was immensely delighted that a rarity others could not obtain was now on her finger.
But that pleasant smile lasted only a moment.
“My love, is something good happening?”
The moment she heard the voice, Tilda's happy mood vanished.
The one who had thrown cold water on it was Henri Dandolo, the young master of the Dandolo household.
He was her fiancé and the one who had given her this ring.
Tilda turned her head.
A theatrical smile hung on her face.
“I was thinking of you.”
“What a coincidence. I was thinking of you too.”
Henri smiled cheerfully, looking as though he knew nothing, and kissed Tilda's hand.
He forced his way in beside her and sat down.
Irritated even by the touch of him through their clothes, Tilda edged away and asked,
“How is business going these days?”
“Business? It's going great! I heard that the dwarves in the west discovered a rare-earth vein used in magical materials. Money is going to pour down from the sky, literally.”
Henri clapped his hands and swayed his body as if delighted.
But what sprang from Tilda's lips was a sigh.
Henri's smiling face filled with bewilderment.
“What's wrong? It's good news, isn't it?”
“It is. Of course it's good news right now. But why can't I see any future ahead of us?”
“You can't see a future? From where I'm standing, I can only think that we'll continue to prosper just fine as we are….”
“That's because you're optimistic. I don't see it that way. I'm at a loss even thinking about how we'll live in the future. Those beasts are still rushing at us, trying to gobble up what belongs to me, aren't they?”
“You mean my brothers-in-law?”
Tilda nodded.
“Those two are far more vicious than you can imagine. Do you know how much I suffered because of those two men when I was young?”
Emotion surged up inside Tilda.
Tilda continued in a voice seized by passion.
“Those beasts think I came into this family to use you. They want to turn me into the worst villain in the world and then make me into a fool who can't wield influence anywhere!”
Tears trickled down Tilda's cheeks.
That single tear made Henri's heart sink.
“Tilda, my love. Do not be anxious. Everything I do is for you and you alone.”
Henri gently took Tilda's hand.
“Now, look. This diamond. It is the jewel you like most, is it not?”
“…….”
“I swore when I put it on your finger that I would make you happier than anyone else in this world. So you will have no more reason to feel so anxious.”
“……Really?”
“Truly and without a doubt.”
Henri kissed the back of her hand again and spoke gently.
“My love, for you, I would even pluck the stars from that sky.”
Only then did Tilda smile, large tears still rolling down her cheeks.
‘This idiot is really that easy.’
They say every man becomes simple around a woman, but Henri was especially so.
That was simply the kind of person Henri was.
Unlike his father, who had pursued expansion through aggressive investments and methods, he was mild and favored a relaxed approach.
He lacked meticulousness and acted on impulse.
‘But he does have ability.’
It was thanks to his impulsive talent that he had been able to develop the western region.
He was ugly and old, but that one ability made him worth putting up with.
She needed to exploit him until he had taken care of every troublesome matter for her.
Just then, an employee approached and whispered in Tilda's ear.
“We succeeded in setting the fire.”
It was good news.
“Faster than I expected. All right.”
“What is?”
Henri asked.
“It's a secret.”
“Do you have to keep secrets from your fiancé?”
“It has to be a secret. I prepared a present for you.”
“Oh, for me?”
A smile spread across Henri Dandolo's lips.
He lightly placed a hand on Tilda's shoulder and said,
“Could you just give me a tiny peek at this present… for me?”
Tilda smiled innocently along with him.
“No. I'll tell you later, so be patient for now.”
“Aw, you can't even show your fiancé a little?”
“I love surprises. If Mr. Henri figures it out, I'd be sad that all my effort had gone to waste.”
She turned down the corners of her mouth and puffed out her cheeks.
Henri looked at that face and grinned.
“All right. I'll pretend not to notice, even if I see it as clearly as a man with his eyes wide open.”
“If you're pretending not to know, that means you already do know.”
“I may look like this, but I'm a good actor.”
“What are you saying? Ho ho ho!”
Tilda cackled.
Seeing how thoroughly her mood had improved, Henri looked relieved.
“I'll get up now. It is time for you to eat, Father-in-law, isn't it?”
“You could simply leave it to a maid. Isn't it a bother?”
“I did neglect him while I was sightseeing in Hallim, and he is your father, after all.”
“Ho ho, this is too much. Any father with a daughter-in-law like you—or me, for having one—is far too blessed!”
Henri scratched his head and smiled foolishly.
He hummed about what a happy man he was, and Tilda laughed merrily as she watched him.
That laughter lasted precisely until she stepped outside and the door closed.
Tilda's face turned cold.
She walked along the red carpet toward the head of the household's room.
As she walked, a maid quietly came up beside her.
“How is he?”
“As usual.”
“Is that so? All right. Everything is properly prepared, yes?”
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
Tilda took the tray, and the door opened.
“Father, it's Tilda. I am coming in.”
Tilda entered the head's room.
Inside, wallpaper bearing the history of the Dandolo family and a deep-rooted family tree immediately stood out.
Having maintained its lineage for more than two hundred years, the family possessed formidable pride as well.
The man who expressed that pride most of all was Henri's father, Rico Dandolo.
Rico Dandolo was the most aggressive merchant in the history of the Dandolo family.
To counter Herman Pascal, who continued his aggressive expansion, he ventured into high-risk, high-return businesses.
Yet with fortune accompanying his ability, Rico Dandolo's business steadily grew, enabling him to build the reputation he had today.
But no matter how much he earned, no merchant was free from the passage of time.
Rico had become an old man with little of that time left.
He was an old man on the verge of death, unable to muster the strength to lift a spoon, barely capable of breathing.
“Good morning, Father. How are you feeling today?”
Tilda asked him.
She knew no answer would come.
Tilda continued speaking to herself.
“The weather is lovely today. It might be nice to go outside for a short outing.”
“…….”
“Of course, in your condition, it must be difficult even to sit anywhere. What a shame.”
“…….”
“Still, doesn't it give you some strength when this daughter-in-law talks to you?”
Tilda pushed gruel into Rico's mouth.
“I heard that the place Mr. Henri contracted with discovered a rare-earth vein this time. They say its excellent mana conductivity will make us rich?”
“…….”
“Isn't it truly remarkable? Just a few years ago, that son who was cursed as a worthless piece of trash and made everyone lament that the Dandolo Trading Company would go under if a man like him became chairman is now trying to bring another golden age to the company.”
“…….”
“Who do you think turned that worthless son of yours into this?”
“…….”
“No one other than me. It was my achievement.”
Tilda wore a deep smile, intoxicated by her own greatness.
“I am an extraordinary woman.”
She put the wooden spoon into his mouth.
“I am not some woman you can treat like a demon who will bring down this company.”
She stirred it around inside his mouth.
“Everything belongs to me. The Pascal Trading Company, the Dandolo Trading Company, this mansion….”
A little more roughly.
She shoved the wooden spoon into his mouth.
She pushed it in so deeply that one might wonder whether it could go any farther.
“And even your life, though you are no different from a plant.”
Gurgle, gurgle—.
Rico's complexion grew paler as his throat became blocked.
Tilda looked delighted.
Just before he suffocated, Tilda pulled out the spoon.
The breath that had been blocked returned.
“You must stay alive, though. It benefits me more for you to live a little longer than to die right now.”
“…….”
“I heard you have to stay alive first if I am to alter that will you hid away. Why create a pointless secret and put me through all this trouble?”
Tilda stroked the old man's chin with her finger.
The pleasure of being in control lasted only a moment.
Tilda's finger stopped.
“Oh?”
The smile on her face turned cold.
Rico Dandolo, who could not move even a finger, had moved.
His eyes rolled toward Tilda.
Both eyes were trembling violently.
They were so bloodshot from trembling that he looked like he might turn into a ghost.
Murderous intent.
Hatred directed at Tilda, impossible to imagine from an old man who could not even speak, filled his eyes.
Tilda looked down into those eyes and muttered coldly.
“Perhaps the medicine was a little weak….”
Tilda quietly took a small vial from inside her clothes and let one more drop fall into the gruel.
Without mixing it, she scooped it up and put it straight into Rico Dandolo's mouth.
The strength returned to Rico Dandolo's eyes drained away again.
Once more, he became a frail old man capable only of breathing.
“Rest, Father. You don't have much time left now.”
Tilda smiled brightly again and spoke into the ear of Rico Dandolo, who had become a plant.
“When you die, I will send your son along with you, so you won't be lonely.”
Tilda carried the emptied bowl of gruel outside.
The household employees were waiting in front of her.
“Are you sure the Murchit Mercenary Company has been properly framed?”
Tilda asked as she handed over the tray of gruel.
“Yes. Murchit went to Waldrova Castle late at night to speak with Stephan, but returned two hours later.”
“He was sent back late at night… It seems the conversation certainly did not go well.”
Tilda smiled as if she were delighted.
“Now we just have to set them off one by one. One by one.”
“Yes.”
“Proceed. Let's take everything for ourselves.”
“Yes.”
The employee hurried into action.
The plan had begun.
‘Now everything will fall into my hands.’
Murchit Pascal and Stephan Pascal.
They were related by blood, but to Tilda, who wanted the Pascal Trading Company, they were nothing more or less than obstacles.
Tilda raised her hand and held it up to the light.
The elegantly cut blood diamond shone beautifully.
“It would be perfect if it weren't an engagement ring.”
Even as she voiced that regret, she was delighted.
An engagement would last only a moment, while the beauty of the diamond would last forever.
* * *
Murchit left that very day.
Although it was late at night, not giving him a place to stay was tantamount to turning him away at the door.
From that, people could infer that the discord between Murchit and Stephan had deepened.
Murchit subsequently showed signs of separating and becoming independent.
He transferred all the businesses he had established to the mercenary company and prepared to split off.
The intention had been to make him move openly, and he had taken the bait exactly as intended.
Herman Pascal made his move.
Knowing that power must not be divided, he tried to stop Murchit's attempt at independence, while simultaneously trying once again to be reinstated as a director and drive Stephan out.
‘So this was Stephan's expected scenario.’
Herman had no idea what was happening.
He knew only that the two brothers had quarreled and that this had caused a split.
The best actor was one who barged in knowing nothing.
Herman thus became an important player in erasing everyone's suspicions.
His father, Herman Pascal.
His older brother, Murchit Pascal.
Himself, Stephan Pascal.
A three-way struggle among the three men had begun under the name of the Pascal Trading Company.
It made Tilda believe that everything was moving according to her plan.
Just as she was thinking that,
“Your Excellency the Regent.”
Isabella entered Ferda's study.
In her hand was not the usual mountain of documents, but a single thin handkerchief.
“A carpenter says he found it while organizing the construction materials. He said he couldn't read the writing, so he brought it to me, but….”
What Isabella handed over was a neatly folded black scarf.
When she unfolded it, there were words written on it in an ominous red that looked like blood.
‘No, not blood. Dye.’
If it were blood, it would not have remained this bright red.
It did not matter whether it was blood or dye.
As far as Ferda knew, there was only one group that wrote on black scarves using red dye.
‘Black Bandana.’
A secret organization that extended across the entire continent of Cerdes.
It was an underground organization with the provocative slogan, ‘There is nothing that cannot be found, and nothing that cannot be obtained.’
True to its nature as an information organization, the message written on it was equally provocative.
-Lord Ferda Waldrova.
-I am aware of what has been happening with the Pascal Trading Company recently.
-I will come see you soon.