Chapter 95

Chapter 95: Master and Slave

Chapter 95. Master and Slave

Tilda Pascal is a villainess.
According to the testimony of Stefan and Merkat, who had lived under the same roof, she was merciless.
They said she was a woman who destroyed everything that annoyed her eyes.
A personality like that inevitably attracts resentment.
Ferda, who had reaped more resentment than anyone, knew this very well.
That is why he thought there would also be an obvious mastermind behind this incident.
The most likely candidate was Rico Dandolo, who had been poisoned.
Then there were Stefan or Merkat, or perhaps his wife.
He even suspected their father, Herman.
But there was exactly one person whom not even Ferda ever came to suspect.
That was the middle-aged, bland-looking man standing right there.
It was Henri.
“—Is it you who ordered Tilda to be investigated?”
Completely unable to believe it, Ferda asked directly.
“—That is correct.”
“—Did you request it hoping for her downfall?”
“—That is correct.”
“—Even knowing that this would be the outcome, you did such a thing?”
“—Of course. This was also within my calculations.”
Henri smiled faintly.
At first glance, it was an incredibly good-natured smile.
Like that of someone so good-natured that he was bland and incapable of hiding his inner thoughts.
“—Why?”
“—Because I truly love Tilda. For her, I would do anything.”
“—Is this what you mean by ‘anything’?”
Ruri, who had been listening, intervened to ask.
Disgust was written all over her face.
“—Of course.”
He answered with a smile, as if her reaction did not matter to him at all.
Upon hearing that answer, the reactions of those around them were similar to Ruri’s.
“—You can criticize me all you want. There have been countless women who whispered love to me while looking only at my money and my reputation. Can I not be the only one who loves the shell of a person?”
“—I have no intention of criticizing your actions. But I am curious about something.”
“—Please, speak.”
“—Is this woman worth handing over your company to me?”
Tilda was pretty, but she was not a matchless beauty.
She was not on the level of Olivia, who had a man sell his entire territory and offer her a million roses.
Henri answered as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.
“—Father treasured the company, but it was not so valuable to me. Rather, I wanted to get rid of it. So I used the woman I love.”
“—Tilda?”
“—Truly beautiful, but a manipulative woman. Who in the world would poison their father and plot to kill their own family?”
Henri had only been waiting for Rico to die.
He watched everything and controlled everything.
In a sense, the one spinning Tilda around in the palm of his hand was Henri.
Only then could Ferda understand a doubt he had relegated to the back of his mind.
“—They say that when the medium was destroyed, the head of the family, Rico Dandolo, suddenly lost his life.”
“—That is correct. Father passed away.”
“—Then that was not Tilda’s doing.”
Ferda’s eyes pierced Henri as if trying to see through him.
“—But it is something that certainly would appear to be so.”
Henri answered vaguely.
“—Father always wanted me to become a strategist. I became the son who fulfilled that wish.”
“—……”
Ferda could say nothing.
As silence fell, Henri moved to conclude the conversation.
“—As promised, I will hand over the Dandolo Company to you. If you grant the ownership rights to Regent Ferda and delegate the management representation rights to his brother-in-law, everything will be resolved smoothly.”
“—Understood.”
“—My entire company will end up in the Regent’s hands. So, would you grant this humble servant’s request for just one thing?”
“—What is it?”
“—I would like you to return my wife’s belongings that were taken.”
Ferda’s gaze turned toward Ruri.
She frowned with a subtly displeased expression.
“—I didn’t touch anything.”
That meant someone had taken them in secret.
Ferda was immediately able to identify the next person.
“—Why are you looking at me?”
Penelope.
“—Because there is no one else besides you.”
“—If you say such embarrassing things, it’s very annoying, ugh!”
“—Cut the nonsense! Where did you put it?! Spit it out quickly!”
“—Ugh! Ouch! On the… on the tail! I hung it on my tail!”
“—Typical of a demon bitch, do your guts twist if you don’t cause trouble even for a single day? Good grief!”
“—Hic, my diamond…!”
“—What do you mean ‘your diamond’, crazy bitch.”
Jed searched her body thoroughly and, just as she said, there was a ring stuck on her tail.
A ring made of Blood Diamond that could not be obtained with money.
Jed handed that ring to Ferda.
“—It’s a Blood Diamond. An engagement ring?”
“—That is correct. It is the only thing my wife loves.”
Henri accepted the ring and immediately approached Tilda.
“—Ggg…”
She was making a mournful sound like a vengeful spirit wandering the world of the living.
“—Tilda, my love. Look here. It’s the diamond ring you like.”
Tilda’s eyes, empty as if her soul had departed while drooling, turned toward the ring.
The aimlessly wandering eyes stared fixedly at that diamond.
“—Hehe…”
At the smile that seemed to show she possessed the entire world, Henri also smiled.
Henri promised to disappear just like that, together with Tilda.
The words that he had predicted this ending were not a lie.
He had already bought a house in the West and prepared enough money to live modestly.
He decided to leave the Dandolo Mansion, taking only enough to spend his remaining years in tranquility before departing.
“—He truly is a terrible bastard,”
said Ruri.
Her tightly clenched fist was filled with the desire to snap Henri’s neck.
“—Are you just going to let someone like that go?”
Ferda nodded as if it were the most natural thing.
“—He fulfilled his promise, so shouldn’t I fulfill mine as well?”
“—Could that disgusting thing ruin our work too? Seeing how he played the witch from above, it’s very possible.”
Ferda looked down at Ruri and said:
“—Wanting to kill him is just your personal feeling.”
“—It’s disgusting. Killing family and destroying a loved one like that… can one even do that?”
Ruri, who did not meddle in human affairs, said that.
He used his wife to kill his father and made his own wife his.
For the lineage of dragons, whose familial love was deeper than anyone’s, it was an unforgivable act.
“—Tilda Pascal did the same. Although it ended in an attempt, that bitch sowed discord between brothers, tried to poison her sister-in-law, and turned her father-in-law into a vegetable. Isn’t it fitting that the end of such a villainess is to live trapped by that man?”
“—When you put it that way… I suppose it does seem to be so…”
Even Ruri, who had been upset, noticed her voice growing lower.
The act was disgusting, but on the other hand, she came to think that she received the proper punishment.
In the end, Ruri decided to dismiss her thoughts about them.
Either way, they would never cross paths again.
Ferda looked in silence toward the place where Henri had passed.
‘What a pity.’
He was a truly cunning man.
Even Ferda could not grasp his true intentions, so if he had possessed greed for commerce, he certainly would have surpassed even the Pascal Company and created the golden age of the Dandolo Company.
Yet he acted as if even such ability were unnecessary to him.
The last face he saw of Henri looked happier than anyone’s, despite having given up a fortune.
That face remained in Ferda’s mind as a lingering image.
Whether out of unease or out of envy.
There was no way to know for now.
Pascal Company Headquarters.
“—Is that so? The matter regarding my younger sister has concluded.”
He seemed surprised that the work had been carried out in secret, but it did not particularly matter to him.
Either way, the matter that had troubled his mind was resolved, so he was satisfied with that.
“—Understood. I will inform my older brother and explain the whole story to Father to conclude everything.”
Stefan, having cut the telepathic communication, felt a lingering aftertaste that would not fade.
There was admiration toward Ferda.
‘To think that he would end up with the Dandolo Company.’
It was an unexpected harvest.
Stefan had thought that if this matter deepened, in the end it would destroy that company.
He never thought he would be able to acquire it completely.
‘The Regent is truly an amazing person.’
He felt how pathetic his judgment had been, wanting to give up everything just a few days ago.
‘Now I have to clean up the aftermath.’
A sigh escaped naturally from Stefan’s mouth.
Since it was a matter in which he had conspired with Merkat, it would end when it had to end, but Herman was different.
Herman, not knowing the full story, genuinely kept Stefan in check, and Stefan had to respond in kind.
“—Director. The President…”
The secretary could not continue.
That showed how upset Herman was.
‘I want to run away.’
Instinct screamed that, but his head nodded calmly.
Shortly after, four escorts large enough to get stuck in the doorway and a small old man entered.
The large men who came with him were threatening enough, but those sharp eyes gleaming between dense wrinkles stimulated the depths of Stefan.
“—Why are you still here?”
The question of why he had not resigned and was still there.
“—Everything is over.”
“—What is over?”
Stefan explained everything.
That Tilda tried to sow discord between Stefan and Merkat using her husband’s company.
Even that she had plotted to kill Herman in the process.
He deliberately reduced the parts that could be seen as exaggeration to give weight to his persuasion.
Even so, his true thoughts could not be known.
Like a sword reforged in a dwarven smithy deep in the mountain, he could not break his expression.
“—So such a thing happened.”
“—That is correct.”
“—But you did not answer my question.”
“—What question…”
“—I asked why you are still here.”
It was a conversation unbefitting someone who had just heard the story.
Stefan answered:
“—Because I am the Director of the Pascal Company.”
“—I am the President. Stripping you of your position is nothing. I expected you to step aside yourself, but you do not.”
“—Do you still maintain that my judgment was a mistake?”
“—Of course. When one is convinced, what fool would bend his stance?”
“—The Grand Duchy will be ruined.”
Stefan spoke to him out of sheer rebelliousness.
“—The Grand Duchy of Valdrova will prosper.”
“—It cannot prosper.”
Herman interrupted him bluntly.
“—You seem curious to know the reason. Fine, I will answer personally.”
Herman stared at him with tiger eyes and spoke:
“—I hear rumors that that fellow, Ferda, is using black magic.”
“—I also have ears, so I know. But he saved many people in Halim.”
“—Being treated like a hero lasts only a moment. Saving them is not the problem. The simple fact that he uses black magic is a weakness. What will you do if they say the Pascal Company is helping someone obsessed with black magic?”
“—That is…”
“—If you keep helping Regent Ferda and then try to withdraw, it will already be too late. Do you plan to drive the families of countless companies onto the street?”
Stefan could not answer.
“—And you are investing in magical technology, but what will you do if that fellow, Vernel, dies?”
Herman continued pressing.
“—Then this investment turns to smoke and we won’t be able to obtain anything either. And is there a chance that this Vernel doesn’t have other intentions? What about Ferda, his master?”
“—Those people would never abandon me.”
Although at first he spoke as if he did not need Stefan, when times were difficult, he helped in every way.
That was why he could state it strongly.
Yet to Herman, even those words were not trustworthy.
“—Do you know why they don’t build cities in the Far East?”
“—Because the territory keeps shrinking.”
“—Correct. Because there is no hope. Human power could not stop it, nor could immortal power. Do you need to suffer the erosion of demonic energy in that nearby place to come to your senses?”
“—……”
“—Fine. Let us say optimistically that it prospers, how would that prosperity return to us? Money? Honor? Connections? No. The Empire will keep us in check and inspect even the smallest speck of dust. Why? We are a company from the Imperial Capital. It means the capital’s power appears to be flowing out.”
“—……”
“—Even if that young regent has confidence and spirit, all politics comes from the elders. Do you know what elders are?”
Strength entered Herman’s neck.
“—They are beings who tremble while maintaining just enough strength to hold their food bowls, even if they lack strength. It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality. Power is the same. Old things push the young onto battlefields to fight and exploit them to secure their own. Do you think mayflies like us can resist and endure that?”
Stefan could not answer.
Herman’s words contained the wisdom accumulated through the years, and that wisdom was logical.
Macroscopically, there was nothing wrong with what Herman said.
The risks Stefan had to assume were too many.
“—Give up on the Far East. Otherwise, give up on this company. That is my will.”
Herman rose from his seat.
The moment he tried to leave, Stefan opened his mouth.
“—Father, you are just like those elders.”
“—What… did you say?”
Herman’s eyes widened as he asked again.
Words spoken in the heat of anger.
Yet what entered Stefan’s eyes was venom.
“—Father, you cannot accept new things either and only insist on your own will, isn’t that right?”
“—Are you saying I am being stubborn?”
“—Yes.”
Stefan acknowledged it briefly and clearly.
Herman was infuriated.
“—Ungrateful. By what right do you spout such nonsense?”
“—I have the right.”
He poured out the words as if breaking through an obstruction in his throat.
They were emotions and a self-affirmation that had built up over a long time.
“—I have been directing and leading Father’s company for 3 years. That steady growth and stabilization, I achieved them. If Father sowed the seeds in this company, I am the one who cultivated them. Just as someone who only sows seeds cannot be called a farmer, it is not something that can be called Father’s achievement. So I have the right to raise my voice.”
“—Right? You?”
“—Yes!”
With rising emotion, his voice grew louder.
“—While Father stayed with his hands behind his back like an elder in seclusion, clicking his tongue and handing knives to us brothers to watch, I dedicated everything to this company without a single distraction!”
Herman said nothing, only looked up at Stefan.
Stefan seized the momentum and spat out more accumulated words.
“—Didn’t I tell you before? When you asked what kind of person Regent Ferda is, I answered: a person who can give everything.”
“—……”
“—That was not a mistake. It is sincere. Do you know why? Because I thought that even if I handed the company over to that man, we would gain far more than what Father built.”
“—Whatever your claim, to me it only sounds as if you have been devoured by your emotions.”
“—It doesn’t matter. When I was going through difficulties, he framed it as sabotage against the Grand Duchy and responded. He said it was the Grand Duchy, not the Pascal Company. He accepted me as part of the Grand Duchy and helped me.”
Although he once tried to expel me cruelly, he was as merciful as he was cruel.
At that moment, Stefan made up his mind.
That all of this depended on how he made his decision.
“—So let me say it clearly.”
He cast a final and irreversible choice.
“—I will not take a step back from this position. This company is run by me, and I will take responsibility for the choice. So if you intend to interfere with my decision!”
Kwang!
“—You will have to fight with the resolve to sever ties with me!”