Chapter 93

Chapter 93: A snake does not shed tears

Chapter 93. A snake does not shed tears
Dandolo Mansion, Family Conference Room.
The chairman’s seat there belongs to the Head of the Family.
Which means it belongs to Rico Dandolo.
However, at this very moment, Tilda was sitting in that place as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
She used that space as if she had every right to do so.
“Henri?”
“He said there is a business matter he must attend to, so he won’t return until tomorrow.”
“I know that too. How persistently he clings. What I mean is, aren’t there any chances he might burst in suddenly?”
“There are none.”
“Then tonight this mansion is mine?”
Tilda smiled.
“Very soon, this Dandolo Mansion will become Lady Tilda’s property.”
“You will be able to stand proudly at the top of this mansion, not as a daughter-in-law, but as the Head of the Family.”
Flatterers seizing the moment to curry favor.
They were all people cooperating with Tilda after receiving the promise of a cut.
“So it shall be. Then we must focus on the work, isn’t that right?”
Tilda prepared to deepen, one by one, the schemes she had set in motion between Stefan and Merkat.
“Stefan is currently at a standstill with Herman. He’s trying to oust him for the management rights, but it doesn’t seem like an easy task.”
“What about Merkat?”
“Sharpening his knife would be the right expression. He is preparing to clash head-on against Stefan.”
“Even so, a sword is closer than money. Wouldn’t it be better to intensify the pressure on Merkat?”
Tilda toyed with her lips before responding.
“No, I only need to pressure Stefan. Kicking that bastard out of this game is the most important thing.”
“Understood.”
“The other side’s foundations are solid right now, right? If we scatter evidence all over the Empire that the mercenary company is actually a group of bandits, they will collapse in an instant.”
“Correct.”
“Then we will prepare as you say.”
Minions moving smoothly on their own.
Tilda drew a smile of satisfaction.
Everything is running smoothly.
It was like watching the dance of marionettes placed on the stage of a small theater.
She was intoxicated by the ecstasy that soon everything would be within her reach.
“If only I find the will soon, everything will turn out fine…”
The contents of the will stipulated that, after Rico Dandolo’s death, everything would pass into Henri’s hands.
Until Henri’s son turned 19 and could fend for himself, no one else would be named successor, and all assets would be handed over to the Vice President.
To Tilda, who coveted the Dandolo Company, it was the most nefarious will, and for that reason, she was going to such great lengths.
Everything will unfold like dominoes.
The beginning is small, but in the end, it will summon a shockwave so massive that no one will dare to stop it.
She will become the master of everything.
At that moment, a mansion servant hurriedly opened the door, entered, and whispered in Tilda’s ear.
“My lady, there is good news. We have received information that the will has been obtained.”
“Is that truly certain?”
Could things really be going so well?
Tilda’s eyes gleamed, and the servant nodded.
“The servants delivering the will are waiting at the main entrance.”
“I understand. Let’s go.”
A situation that couldn’t be more perfect.
Tilda walked toward the main entrance with light steps, leading the servants.
“What on…?”
However, there was no one at the main entrance.
Just in case, she walked to the gate and inspected the outside, but not even the snout of a carriage was in sight.
“They said they came to deliver the will, so where the hell are they?”
Just as Tilda’s irritation was about to explode,
a fierce gust of wind suddenly blew, throwing the windows wide open and blowing out all the flames of the chandelier.
“Whoa!”
“Where did this gust come from?”
“What are you doing? Call a mage! Relight the chandelier right now!”
The servants panicked, and the butlers ordered calmly.
The mages belatedly began to chant to light the chandelier’s candles with magic.
It was at that very moment.
The place that had plunged into darkness lit up in a second.
No, to be precise, only a part lit up.
It was just like a stage spotlight.
That light illuminated the top of the central staircase, drawing everyone’s attention.
Standing there was a woman.
A pink-haired woman wearing a mask.
Looking at her, people let out words one by one.
“What is that disgusting outfit?”
“Goodness, how shameful…”
She wore a bunny suit that revealed the curves of her body, the kind you’d see in Halim.
She wore a tailcoat so her skin wouldn’t be exposed, but in the conservative Empire, the fact that her body lines were revealed made it an intolerable appearance.
Sporting a white mask suitable for a ball, she opened her mouth.
“Everyone, be silent!”
The woman shouted vigorously like a circus ringmaster.
“Injustice arrives, and the world falls into chaos!”
A certain awkwardness could be perceived, but she hid it by raising her voice.
“I descend here from the shadows to deliver justice!”
At her appearance, the people whose gazes had been captured spat out words one by one.
“Who the hell are you?! Do you even know where you are to barge in like this?!”
When a servant inquired, the mysterious pink-haired mask laughed heartily and exclaimed:
“As for me, I am Pepe of the Swallow Bunnies! For the justice that everyone turns away from, to stop the atrocities committed in this mansion, I have come to this place!”
“What?! How dare you spout such nonsense in a place like this?!”
“Where else would it be?! Everyone knows this is a place where all wealth and evil congregate to weave malevolent schemes!”
The mysterious masked woman made exaggerated gestures while striking her cane against the floor.
The servants threw words with indignation.
“Lord Dandolo has fed so many people, how can you say such things?!”
“Rico Dandolo! I didn’t know there were so many loyal to his children! But why do you only expel loyalty from your mouths?”
“What nonsense?! Do we look like insignificant bastards who don’t even serve the Lord?!”
“Truly pitiful beyond measure! You are blind with open eyes, deaf mutes with hearing! You let a witch into your home, and yet, how do you not see that witch?”
“Witch? Who the hell is the witch?”
At the word witch, everyone became bewildered and looked around.
Tilda Pascal also looked around anxiously.
She hoped that damn phantom thief had made a misstep.
“Tilda Pascal!”
The woman pronounced her name precisely.
Then, another spotlight illuminated the spot where Tilda was standing.
All eyes focused on her.
“You, dirty bitch of a witch. Why are you pretending to be a scared bitch?”
Tilda, receiving all the glares, became flustered.
“You ate your father-in-law, you ate your husband, and now you are trying to eat your own blood, evil snake. Your nefarious deeds end here. I will show you all clearly right here what the reins you hold over this mansion are!”
Just as the masked woman tried to pull something out from inside her jacket,
upon seeing that object, Tilda’s pupils contracted.
“There she is! The intruder!”
In that instant, countless soldiers burst through the door.
They held crossbows in their hands.
“Fire!”
Psh!
The crossbow bolts flew toward the pink-haired phantom thief.
Poof-poof-poof!
Just before the bolts touched her body,
pure white smoke erupted from the mysterious phantom thief’s body.
It completely blocked the vision of the surroundings.
“Kyaak!”
“Cough, cough!”
“Intruder! Don’t let her escape!”
The maids evacuated, and the soldiers moved hurriedly.
Amidst that, Tilda looked toward the spot where the pink-haired phantom thief had been standing.
“Where.”
To monitor that woman’s movements within the pure white smoke.
“Where is she?”
She had to find her.
She had to find that woman before anyone else.
“My lady!”
At that moment, someone grabbed Tilda’s body and pulled her.
“Evacuate this way!”
Thinking Tilda had momentarily gone blank from shock, the servant guided her away.
She acted like a bewildered person and let herself be led by that hand.
“We will escort you to the shelter right now. Over there…”
“No!”
Tilda cut those words off.
“There is no need to go to the shelter. I will hide in my room.”
“Understood. Then this way…!”
The servant escorted Tilda and guided her to her room.
“You must not come out! Please wait for the situation to calm down.”
“I understand.”
The door closed.
Tilda paced back and forth with an anxious face.
She poked the door with her index finger.
In that instant, a crimson membrane extended from her finger and completely covered the door.
Now no one can cross this door.
“What the hell is wrong with that deranged bitch?”
Tilda’s face distorted viciously.
Drawing attention with that shameful outfit, calling herself Pepe.
“Swallow Bunnies? What the hell is that? Which bastard tried to screw me over like that?”
An organization she had never heard of and a phantom thief.
She also wondered who was behind it.
Stefan? Merkat? Herman?
Or some dirty trick Rico Dandolo prepared a long time ago, before she poisoned him?
But that’s not the problem.
“How did she know I made a contract with a witch?”
The Garden Contract has the advantage of not being detected unless you use magic right in someone’s face.
Tilda had always used magic cautiously.
With caution upon caution, she had taken over this mansion.
There was no way they could know.
“Even assuming that was exposed…”
There was one thing she couldn’t understand.
How did they notice the catalyst?
What the phantom thief who introduced herself as Pepe tried to expose.
Her action was interrupted the moment she tried to take it out, but Tilda managed to make out its outline.
Something thin and small enough to conveniently hide in one’s chest.
And the catalyst Tilda had established also had that shape.
Perhaps…
“No way.”
Tilda couldn’t be sure.
Even if she wanted to dismiss it as simple intimidation, it was hard to be certain if that was really the case.
She had to check it.
Tilda moved.
In her spacious room, the place she headed to was the desk drawer,
where the calligraphic painting capturing her effigy was placed.
She opened the drawer.
Inside was a single calligraphic painting frame turned face down.
She tried to flip the frame to check it.
“I was wondering if it would be somewhere in the room, and there it was?”
A voice pierced the silence.
Tilda startled and turned around.
At that spot where no one should have been, a man was standing.
Brown hair tied in a high bun.
Wearing a mask like that shameful phantom thief, he was looking this way.
“You, what are you? How did you get in here…?”
“How do you think? When that pink phantom thief drew attention? Or since I grabbed your wrist and guided you?”
Only then could Tilda understand the outline of this absurd situation.
The woman speaking like a show host was nothing more than bait.
The real purpose was to make her approach the catalyst and check it.
The brown-haired man gestured with his chin and inquired:
“That thing you have in your hand, is it the true catalyst of the Garden Contract?”
Tilda reflexively hugged the frame to her chest and screamed:
“Die!!”
In that instant, a magic circle formed, and a snake’s head sprouted from within it.
The snake with white scales and golden eyes was the classic form recorded in literature.
“Wow, she really made a contract with Yor Philias. As expected of the Black Bandana’s intelligence.”
The Snake of Yor Philias.
It possessed a deadly poison that would melt the victim without a trace the moment it bit.
That snake flicked its tongue, circling Tilda and threatening the intruder.
“Cute.”
Jed belongs to the Red Eye Tribe.
The Red Eye Tribe possesses the ability to disperse a magic circle’s mana and nullify it.
Even so, Jed didn’t reveal those eyes.
The reason was simple.
There is no need to use a knife to kill cows when catching a chicken.
He leaned his body forward and launched himself like a spring.
“Kill! Snakes! Hurry up and kill that bastard!”
Dozens of snakes moved with a rumble, chasing the man’s silhouette.
But they couldn’t reach that silhouette.
That man was an acrobat who easily dodged the attacks of two wolf monsters.
Seu-seu-seuk—.
A subtly slicing aura left a whitish trail as it moved.
Every time the aura’s line was drawn, Yor’s snakes saw their heads and bodies separated, rolling on the floor.
It didn’t take long for dozens of snakes to turn into dozens of pieces of meat.
“Eut!!”
Tilda’s face changes.
She resolved to transform the snakes’ faces and spray venom.
But by the time she finished her judgment, the brown hair was already right in front of her.
“Tteok!”
“Kyaak!”
He forcefully struck the back of her hand with the dagger’s hilt.
Tilda’s hand holding the catalyst simply let go.
The brown-haired one caught it nimbly and stepped back.
“Let’s see. The catalyst our ruthless witch prospect established is…”
The brown-haired one flipped the frame, extracted the calligraphic painting, held it with both hands, and exclaimed:
“Wow, this is something I never imagined…”
“G-give it back!! Right now!”
Tilda shouted as if she were shrieking.
But it didn’t work on the brown-haired one.
The brown-haired one tore it with strength and vigor.
Jji-jjik—!
The paper tore easily, like a cheap flyer on a market floor.
“Ah…!”
Then, a crimson energy began to rise from the torn paper.
That power grew stronger, condensed, and caused a rupture in the air.
Kuung!
“Uwat?!”
Jed’s body was pushed back.
Tilda, who was far away, jumped like a beast and gathered the pieces of paper.
“No…”
Tilda held the pieces of paper and tried to glue them back together by force.
“Aaa…! No…!! This can’t be happening!”
Spilled water cannot be gathered, and a broken catalyst cannot be restored.
In that instant, an ominous energy began to envelop the surroundings.
She feels a bad omen.
“Time to leave, I suppose. Well then!”
The brown-haired one quickly left the place to avoid getting caught in it.
Tilda couldn’t execute such surprising movements.
She knelt on the spot, trembling.
It’s coming.
He’s coming.
Seu-reu-reu-reu—.
What echoed in her ears was the sound of a snake’s tongue.
Something long and wet sweetly licked her earlobe.
“Uhuhu…”
And an ominous laugh.
Unable to even look back, she froze on the spot.
Tilda’s complexion turned pale.
“Poor Tilda. Pity for Tilda. The contract has been broken.”
“N-no, it’s not like that.”
Tilda replied trembling.
“I can fix it, Lord Yor! Please…!”
“No, you failed, child. Didn’t I tell you to protect our contract’s catalyst by any means? But you failed to protect it.”
The voice laughed as if enjoying it.
Tilda pleaded with him again:
“I will kill that man! I will prove my capability!”
“There is no need, child. From the moment you harbored desires improper to your position, your ruin was already foretold.”
A long flesh brushing her cheek.
What followed was mockery.
Tilda shed tears drop by drop and begged:
“Please, do not abandon me. I will become your loyal bitch. Please, just one more chance…”
She begged and begged again.
The answer that returned was this:
“Snakes do not shed tears, incompetent creature.”
As that energy disappeared, she felt a change.
Something that had enveloped the mansion vanished all at once.
The sorcery composing Tilda Pascal unraveled.