Chapter 95
Master and Slave
Tilda Pascal was a villainess.
According to Stephan and Merchant, who had lived under the same roof as her, she possessed no mercy whatsoever.
They said she was the kind of woman who destroyed anything that displeased her.
A personality like that inevitably bred resentment.
Ferda understood that better than most, having earned more grudges than nearly anyone else.
That was why he had assumed there would be an obvious mastermind behind this affair as well.
The most likely candidate had been Rico Dandolo, the man who had been poisoned.
Next came Stephan, Merchant, or perhaps one of their wives.
Ferda had even suspected their father, Herman.
Yet there was one person he had never considered.
The dull-looking middle-aged man standing before him now.
Henri.
“Were you the one who ordered the investigation into Tilda?”
Unable to believe it, Ferda asked him directly.
“Yes.”
“You commissioned it because you wanted to see her downfall?”
“Yes.”
“You did all this while knowing it could end like this?”
“Of course. This outcome was also within my expectations.”
Henri smiled faintly.
At first glance, it was an extraordinarily good-natured smile.
So good-natured, in fact, that he appeared dull-witted and incapable of concealing his thoughts.
“Why?”
“Because I sincerely love Tilda. I would do anything for her.”
“And by ‘anything,’ you mean this?”
Luri, who had been listening, cut in.
Her face was filled with undisguised disgust.
“Of course.”
Henri smiled as though her reaction meant nothing to him.
The others responded much like Luri after hearing his answer.
“You may condemn me if you wish. Countless women have whispered words of love while looking only at my wealth and reputation. Am I not allowed to love someone for the shell she wears as well?”
“I have no intention of condemning your actions. But I am curious about something.”
“Please ask.”
“Is this woman truly worth surrendering your company to me?”
Tilda was beautiful, but she was no peerless beauty.
She was certainly not on Olivia’s level, for whom a man had sold everything in his territory and offered a million roses.
Henri answered as though the question were of little importance.
“My father cherished the company, but it never held that much value to me. If anything, I wanted to be rid of it. That is why I used the woman I love.”
“Tilda?”
“She is truly beautiful, but also devious. Who else in the world would poison my father and scheme to murder the rest of my family?”
Henri had been waiting for Rico to die.
He had watched everything.
He had controlled everything.
In a sense, the one who had truly been playing Tilda in the palm of his hand was Henri.
Only then did Ferda understand a question he had pushed to the back of his mind.
“I heard that the moment the medium was destroyed, the family head, Rico Dandolo, suddenly lost his life.”
“That is correct. My father has passed away.”
“That was not Tilda’s doing.”
Ferda’s gaze seemed to pierce straight through Henri.
“But it was something that could easily be made to look like her doing.”
Henri answered vaguely.
“My father always wanted me to become a schemer. I merely became the son who fulfilled his wishes.”
“...”
Ferda could find nothing to say.
As silence settled over them, Henri brought the conversation to a close.
“As promised, I will transfer the Dandolo Trading Company to you. If you assume ownership and delegate management authority to my brother-in-law, everything will proceed without difficulty.”
“Understood.”
“My entire company will fall into your hands. In return, may this humble man ask one favor?”
“What is it?”
“I would like you to return the belongings of my runaway wife.”
Ferda’s gaze turned toward Luri.
She frowned as though mildly offended.
“I did not touch anything.”
That meant someone else had secretly taken it.
Ferda immediately identified the next likely culprit.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Penelope.
“Because there is no one else.”
“You should not say something so embarrassingly romantic—Ack!”
“Stop talking nonsense! Where did you put it? Tell me!”
“Ghk! Ghk! O-On my tail! I hooked it onto my tail!”
“Can’t you go even one day without causing trouble? Do your insides twist themselves into knots if you behave like a normal person?”
“Sniff... my diamond...!”
“What do you mean, your diamond, you lunatic?”
Zed searched her thoroughly and, just as she had claimed, found a ring hanging from her tail.
It was made from a Blood Diamond, something money alone could never purchase.
Zed handed the ring to Ferda.
“A Blood Diamond. Is this an engagement ring?”
“That is correct. It is the only thing my wife truly loves.”
The moment Henri received the ring, he walked straight toward Tilda.
“Uuuuh...”
She let out a mournful sound like a restless ghost wandering the mortal world.
“Tilda, my love. Look here. It is the diamond ring you like.”
Tilda’s vacant eyes, her soul seemingly gone as drool ran from her mouth, shifted toward the ring.
Her unfocused gaze locked sharply onto the diamond.
“Hehe...”
She smiled as though she possessed the entire world.
Henri smiled back.
Henri had promised to disappear with Tilda.
His claim that he had anticipated this ending had not been a lie.
He had already purchased a house in the west and prepared enough money for them to live modestly.
He intended to leave the Dandolo estate with only enough to spend the remainder of their lives in peace.
“What a truly vile man.”
Luri spoke.
Her tightly clenched fist was filled with the desire to snap Henri’s neck.
“Are you really going to let someone like that leave?”
Ferda nodded as though it were obvious.
“He kept his promise. Should I not keep mine as well?”
“That disgusting creature could still ruin our work. Considering how he manipulated a witch while standing above her, he is more than capable of it.”
Ferda looked down at Luri.
“Wanting to kill him is merely your personal desire.”
“He disgusts me. I cannot understand how anyone could murder their own family and destroy the person they claim to love.”
Luri, who normally refused to interfere in human affairs, said those words openly.
Henri had used his wife to kill his father, then reduced that same wife to something he could possess completely.
To Dragon Spawns, who valued family bonds above nearly everything else, such an act was unforgivable.
“Tilda Pascal attempted the same things. She may have failed, but she drove her brothers against each other, tried to poison her sister-in-law, and reduced her father-in-law to a vegetative state. If the ending of that villainess is to spend the rest of her life trapped beside that man, does it not suit her?”
“When you put it that way... I suppose it does...”
Luri’s angry voice gradually softened.
Henri’s actions remained repulsive, but part of her began to feel that Tilda had received a fitting punishment.
In the end, Luri decided to stop thinking about the two of them.
They would never meet again anyway.
Ferda quietly stared at the place where Henri had disappeared.
What a pity.
He was an extraordinarily clever man.
Even Ferda had failed to see through his true intentions. Had Henri possessed any ambition for commerce, he would undoubtedly have surpassed even the Pascal Trading Company and ushered in a golden age for the Dandolo Trading Company.
Yet Henri had acted as though such talent meant nothing to him.
The last expression Ferda had seen on his face lingered in his mind.
Henri had abandoned a fortune, yet he had looked happier than anyone else.
Whether that lingering discomfort came from unease...
Or envy...
Ferda had no way of knowing for now.
***
The headquarters of the Pascal Trading Company.
“I see. So the matter involving my sister has been resolved.”
Stephan appeared surprised that everything had been carried out in secret, but he did not seem particularly bothered.
The affair that had been weighing on his mind had finally been settled.
That alone was enough.
“Understood. I will inform my elder brother and explain the entire situation to Father so we can bring this matter to a close.”
After ending the communication spell, Stephan remained lost in thought.
He felt a profound sense of awe toward Ferda.
To think he would actually acquire the Dandolo Trading Company.
It was an unexpected windfall.
If the conflict had continued to escalate, Stephan had intended to destroy the company in the end.
He had never imagined they would be able to acquire it intact.
The Regent truly is an extraordinary man.
Only a few days earlier, Stephan had nearly given up on everything.
Now he realized just how pathetic that decision had been.
Now I need to clean up the aftermath.
A sigh escaped his lips.
Since Merchant had been cooperating with him, ending their confrontation would be simple enough.
Herman, however, was another matter.
Unaware of the full truth, Herman had sincerely opposed Stephan.
And Stephan had been forced to respond with equal sincerity.
“Director... the chairman is...”
The secretary could not finish the sentence.
That alone was enough to reveal how furious Herman was.
Stephan wanted to run.
Every instinct screamed at him to escape.
Yet he merely nodded calmly.
A short while later, four guards so large that they nearly became wedged in the doorway entered the room, accompanied by a small, elderly man.
The hulking guards were intimidating enough.
But it was the sharp gaze gleaming between the old man’s deeply wrinkled features that struck something deep inside Stephan.
“Why are you still here?”
He was asking why Stephan had not resigned.
“Everything is over.”
“What exactly is over?”
Stephan explained everything.
Tilda had attempted to use her husband’s company to drive a wedge between Stephan and Merchant.
In the process, she had even conspired to kill Herman.
Stephan deliberately downplayed the parts that might sound exaggerated, lending greater credibility to his explanation.
Even then, Herman’s thoughts remained unreadable.
His expression was as unyielding as a blade forged in a dwarven smithy beneath the deepest mountain.
“So that is what happened.”
“Yes.”
“Yet you still have not answered my question.”
“What question...?”
“I asked why you are still here.”
It was difficult to believe he had listened to Stephan’s explanation at all.
Stephan answered.
“Because I am the director of the Pascal Trading Company.”
“I am the chairman. Stripping you of that position would be effortless. I had hoped you would step down of your own accord, but it appears you will not.”
“Do you still insist that my judgment was mistaken?”
“Of course. What kind of fool abandons a position he firmly believes to be correct?”
The principality would fall.
Stephan responded defiantly.
“The Principality of Valdrova will prosper.”
“It cannot prosper.”
Herman rejected the claim immediately.
“You seem to want to know why. Very well. I will tell you myself.”
His eyes widened like those of a tiger.
“I have heard rumors that this man Ferda practices dark magic.”
“I have ears of my own. I know the rumors. But he saved countless people in Halim.”
“Being hailed as a hero lasts only a moment. Saving them is irrelevant. The mere fact that he uses dark magic is a weakness. What will you do when people claim that the Pascal Trading Company supports a man obsessed with forbidden magic?”
“That is...”
“If you continue supporting Regent Ferda and later try to withdraw, it will already be too late. Do you intend to cast the countless employees of this company out onto the streets?”
Stephan could not answer.
“And you have invested in the technology known as magitech. What will happen if this Burnell dies?”
Herman continued pressing him.
“The entire investment will vanish, and we will gain nothing. And is there any guarantee that this man Burnell will never betray us? What about his master, Ferda?”
“They would never abandon me.”
Although Ferda had initially spoken as though Stephan were unnecessary, he had offered both material and personal support when Stephan was struggling.
That was why Stephan could make the claim with confidence.
To Herman, however, such words were far from reassuring.
“Do you know why no cities are built in the Far East?”
“Because the territory is constantly shrinking.”
“Correct. Because there is no hope. Human strength could not stop it. Even the power of immortals failed. Must you be corrupted by demonic energy in such a place before you regain your senses?”
“Very well. Let us assume, optimistically, that the region prospers. How do you think that prosperity will benefit us? Money? Honor? Connections?”
“No.”
“The Empire will scour every speck of dust searching for an excuse to suppress us. Do you know why? Because ours is a trading company based in the Imperial capital. It will appear as though the capital’s wealth and influence are flowing elsewhere.”
“That young regent may possess trust and spirit, but all politics are governed by old men. Do you know what kind of creatures old men are?”
Herman’s voice grew forceful.
“They may lack the strength to stand, yet they still tremble while clinging desperately to their own bowls of rice. It is easy for a frugal man to grow accustomed to luxury, but difficult for one accustomed to luxury to become frugal again.”
“Power is no different.”
“Old men preserve what belongs to them by sending the young into battle, forcing them to fight and exploiting them. Do you truly believe mayflies like us can resist such people and endure?”
Stephan had no response.
Herman’s words contained the wisdom of countless years, and that wisdom was logical.
From a broader perspective, nothing Herman had said was wrong.
There were simply too many risks for Stephan to bear.
“Abandon the Far East. Otherwise, abandon this company. That is my decision.”
Herman rose from his seat.
Just as he was about to leave, Stephan spoke.
“Father, you are no different from those old men.”
“What... did you just say?”
Herman’s eyes widened as he asked again.
The words might have been spoken in the heat of the moment.
But venom shone in Stephan’s eyes.
“You also refuse to accept anything new and insist solely upon your own will.”
“Are you accusing me of being a stubborn old fool?”
Stephan gave a short, unmistakable affirmation.
Herman erupted in anger.
“You ungrateful wretch! What right do you have to say such a thing?”
“I have every right.”
The words poured from Stephan as though something blocked inside his throat had finally burst open.
They were the emotions and convictions he had suppressed for years.
“For the past three years, I have operated and led your company. Its steady growth and stabilization were my achievements.”
“You may have planted the seed, Father, but I was the one who cultivated it.”
“A man does not become a farmer merely by scattering seeds. In the same way, those accomplishments cannot be called yours.”
“That is why I have the right to speak.”
“You have the right? You?”
“Yes!”
His voice rose as his emotions intensified.
“While you stood with your hands behind your back like an old man locked in a private room, clicking your tongue and placing blades in the hands of your children so you could watch us fight, I devoted everything to this company without ever looking away!”
Herman stared up at Stephan without saying a word.
Stephan continued, carried forward by his own momentum.
“Did I not tell you before?”
“When you asked me what kind of person Regent Ferda was, I answered that he was a man capable of solving anything.”
“That was not a mistake.”
“I meant every word.”
“Do you know why?”
“Because I believed that even if I handed this company to him, we would gain far more than everything you had ever built.”
“No matter how you plead your case, all I hear is that you have been consumed by emotion.”
“I do not care.”
“When I was struggling, he identified what was happening as sabotage against the principality and responded immediately.”
“He did not call it sabotage against the Pascal Trading Company.”
“He called it sabotage against the principality.”
“He accepted me as part of the principality and helped me.”
Ferda had once cast him aside with ruthless decisiveness.
Yet that ruthlessness had also contained mercy.
At that moment, Stephan had made his decision.
Everything depended on the resolve he himself chose to hold.
“So let me make myself perfectly clear.”
He presented the final choice from which there could be no return.
“I will not step down from this position.”
“I am the one who operates this company, and I will take responsibility for every decision I make.”
“So if you intend to interfere with my judgment—”
Bang!
“You had better be prepared to sever all ties with me and fight!”