I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 93
Chapter 93. Snakes Do Not Shed Tears
The Dandolo family meeting room.
The seat at the head of the table belonged to the head of the house.
In other words, it belonged to Rico Dandolo.
But now, Tilda Pascal occupied that seat as if it were her natural right.
She carried herself with an air that suggested using this place was only to be expected.
“Where is Henri?”
“He said there were matters to attend to regarding a trade deal and will not return until tomorrow.”
“I know that much. He was acting so disgustingly clingy. What I mean is, there’s no chance he’ll barge in suddenly, right?”
“There is not.”
“Then this mansion is mine tonight?”
Tilda broke into a smile.
“Soon, this entire Dandolo estate will belong to you, Tilda-nim.”
“You will stand proudly over this house, not as a daughter-in-law, but as its head.”
The sycophants seized the moment to flatter her. These were the people cooperating with Tilda, each having been promised a share of the spoils.
“It shall be so. So, shouldn’t we focus on the work at hand?”
Tilda prepared the next steps to deepen the schemes she had sowed between Stefan and Murchit.
“Stefan is currently in a standoff with Herman. He’s trying to oust him over management rights, but it doesn’t seem to be easy.”
“And Murchit?”
“It would be accurate to say Murchit is sharpening his blade. He is preparing for a full-scale confrontation with Stefan.”
“Still, the sword is always closer than money. Wouldn’t it be better to intensify Murchit’s pressure?”
Tilda toyed with her lips before answering.
“No, just keep pushing Stefan. The most important thing is to knock him out of this game entirely.”
“Understood.”
“The groundwork on the other side is solid, isn’t it? If we leak evidence to the Empire that the mercenary company is actually a group of bandits, they’ll collapse in an instant.”
“That is correct.”
“Then we shall prepare as you commanded.”
The henchmen moved efficiently on their own.
Tilda wore a satisfied smile.
Everything was going smoothly.
It felt like watching puppets dancing on a small theater stage.
She was intoxicated by the ecstasy of feeling everything within her grasp.
‘Once I find the will, everything will be settled….’
The contents of the will stated that upon Rico Dandolo’s death, everything would be bequeathed to Henri.
It specified that until Henri’s child reached nineteen and could fend for themselves, no one else would be named successor, and all assets would be handed over to the Vice Chairman.
For Tilda, who wanted the Dandolo Company for herself, it was a fatal clause—and the reason she was going through all this trouble.
Everything would proceed like falling dominoes.
The start was small, but by the end, it would create ripples so large they would be impossible to stop.
She would become the master of it all.
Just then, a mansion servant hurriedly opened the door and whispered into Tilda’s ear.
“My lady, there is good news. We have information that the will has been secured.”
“Is that true?”
Could things really be going this well?
Tilda’s eyes sparkled, and the servant nodded.
“The servants delivering the will are waiting at the front gate right now.”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
It couldn’t have been more perfect.
Tilda walked toward the main entrance with a light step, accompanied by her attendants.
“What is this?”
However, there was no one at the front gate.
She even walked out to check the exterior, but there wasn’t a carriage in sight.
‘They said they came to deliver the will, so where are they?’
Just as Tilda’s irritation was about to boil over—
A sudden, violent gust of wind blew the windows open and extinguished every light on the chandelier.
“Oh my!”
“Where did this wind come from?”
“What are you doing? Call a mage! Relight the chandelier at once!”
The servants panicked, while the butlers calmly took command.
The mages belatedly began chanting to relight the candles with magic.
It was then.
The area swallowed by darkness was suddenly illuminated.
Or more accurately, only a portion of it.
It was like a spotlight on a stage.
The light shone upon the top of the central staircase, drawing everyone’s gaze.
A woman stood there.
A woman with pink hair wearing a mask.
Upon seeing her, people began to mutter.
“What is that ridiculous outfit?”
“Oh dear, how scandalous….”
She was dressed in a bunny girl outfit that revealed the curves of her body, something one might only see in Halim.
While she wore a swallowtail coat that prevented direct exposure of skin, it was a look that was hard to tolerate in the conservative Empire due to how it clung to her figure.
Wearing a white mask fit for a masquerade, she opened her mouth.
“Let all people fall silent!”
The woman shouted energetically, like a circus showman.
“Injustice has arrived and the world is in chaos!”
There was a hint of awkwardness, but she hid it by raising her voice.
“I descend here to uphold justice from within the shadows!”
The people, captivated by her appearance, threw out remarks.
“Who do you think you are?! Do you know where you are trespassing?!”
When a servant asked, the mysterious pink-haired masked woman laughed and shouted.
“If you wish to know who I am, I am Pepe of the Bunny Swallows! I have come to this place for the sake of the justice that everyone turns away from, and to stop the atrocities occurring in this mansion!”
“What?! How dare you spout such nonsense in this place?!”
“What place would that be? The whole world knows this is a den where all wealth and evil gather to hatch foul schemes!”
The mysterious masked woman gestured grandiosely, tapping the floor with a staff.
The servants, incensed, shouted back.
“Do you know how many people Master Dandolo has fed and clothed? How can you say such a thing!”
“Rico Dandolo! I did not know there were so many loyal to his children! But why do you only speak of loyalty with your mouths?”
“What kind of bullshit is that?! Do you take us for cowards who aren’t truly loyal to the Master?!”
“How truly lamentable! You are blind men with eyes open, and deaf men with ears clear! You have brought a Witch into this house, so how can you pretend not to see her?”
“A Witch? Who on earth is a Witch?!”
At the mention of a Witch, everyone looked around in confusion.
Tilda Pascal also looked around anxiously.
She hoped that damn phantom thief was barking up the wrong tree.
“Tilda Pascal!”
The woman called out her name with precision.
Immediately, another spotlight illuminated the spot where Tilda stood.
All eyes converged on her.
“You, the dog of this filthy Witch. Why are you acting like a frightened pup?”
Tilda was flustered by the sudden attention.
“You wicked snake who devoured your father-in-law, devoured your husband, and now seeks to devour even your own kin. Your evil deeds end here. I shall show everyone here exactly what reins you are using to hold this mansion!”
Just as the masked woman was about to pull something from inside her jacket—
Tilda’s pupils constricted the moment she saw the object.
“There she is! An intruder!”
At that moment, a swarm of soldiers burst through the doors.
Crossbows were gripped in their hands.
“Fire!”
Pshoo!
Crossbow bolts flew toward the pink-haired thief.
Pop! Pop!
Just before the bolts reached her, white smoke erupted from the mysterious thief’s body.
It completely obscured the vision of everyone in the area.
“Kyaak!”
“Cough, cough!”
“It’s an intruder! Don’t let her get away!”
The servants fled while the soldiers moved busily.
In the midst of the chaos, Tilda was staring up at the spot where the pink-haired thief had stood.
‘Where is she?’
She tried to track the woman’s movements through the white smoke.
‘Where could she be?’
She had to find her. She had to find that woman before anyone else.
“My lady!”
Just then, someone grabbed Tilda.
“Please evacuate this way!”
Thinking Tilda was dazed from the shock, a servant led her away.
She acted like a panicked victim and allowed herself to be led.
“I will take you to the shelter now. Over there—”
“No!”
Tilda cut him off.
“There’s no need to go all the way to the shelter. I’ll hide in my room.”
“Understood. Then, this way…!”
The servant escorted Tilda to her room.
“You must not come out! Please wait until the situation is stabilized.”
“I understand.”
The door closed.
Tilda paced around with an anxious face.
She tapped the door with her index finger.
In an instant, a crimson barrier spread out from her finger, completely covering the door.
Now, no one could pass through this door.
“What is with that crazy bitch?”
Tilda’s face contorted hideously.
Drawing attention with that scandalous outfit and calling herself Pepe.
“Bunny Swallows? What even is that? Who the hell is trying to screw with me?”
A phantom thief from an organization she had never heard of.
She considered who might be behind it.
Stefan? Murchit? Herman?
Or was it some scheme Rico Dandolo had set up long ago before she started poisoning him?
But that wasn’t the problem.
‘How does she know I contracted with a Witch?’
The Garden Contract has the advantage of being undetectable unless one uses magic right in front of someone.
Tilda had always used her magic with extreme caution.
With the utmost care, she had made this mansion hers.
There was no way anyone could know.
‘Even if they did find out….’
There was one thing she couldn’t understand.
How could they have noticed the medium?
The thing the thief calling herself Pepe was about to reveal.
She had been interrupted just as she was pulling it out, but Tilda had caught a glimpse of its silhouette.
An object thin and small enough to be hidden in one’s clothes, yet convenient.
And the medium Tilda had set up took exactly that form.
Could it be….
‘That’s impossible.’
Tilda wasn’t certain.
She wanted to dismiss it as a mere bluff to intimidate her, but it was hard to be sure.
She had to check.
Tilda moved.
She walked across her spacious room to a desk drawer.
It was the place where a painting of herself was kept.
She opened the drawer.
Inside was a framed painting, turned face down.
She reached out to flip the frame and check it.
“I figured it would be somewhere in the room, so it was there?”
A voice pierced the silence.
Startled, Tilda whirled around.
In the spot where no one should have been stood a man.
A man with brown hair tied in a ponytail.
He was looking at her, wearing a mask similar to that scandalous thief.
“Wh-who are you? How did you get in here…?”
“How do you think? While that pink thief was drawing everyone’s attention? Or maybe from the moment I grabbed your wrist and led you here?”
Only then could Tilda grasp the outline of this absurd situation.
The woman talking like a showman was nothing more than a decoy.
The true goal was to make her come here and check the medium herself.
The brown-haired man gestured with his chin and asked.
“I guess that thing in your hand really is the medium for the Garden Contract?”
Reflexively, Tilda hugged the frame to her chest and screamed.
“Die!!”
At that moment, a magic circle was drawn, and a snake’s head burst out from within it.
The snake, with white scales and golden eyes, was the classic form recorded in literature.
“Wow, you really did contract with Yor Filiaz. Black Bandana’s intelligence is the real deal.”
The snake of Yor Filiaz.
It possessed a dangerous, lethal venom that would dissolve anything it bit without leaving a trace.
The snake flicked its tongue and coiled around Tilda, threatening the intruder.
“Cute.”
Zed was of the Red Eye Tribe.
The Red Eye Tribe possessed the ability to disperse mana and nullify magic circles.
Even so, Zed did not reveal his eyes.
The reason was simple.
There was no need to use a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken.
He leaned forward and lunged like a released spring.
“Kill him! Snakes! Kill that man right now!”
Dozens of snakes moved frantically, chasing the man’s figure.
But they couldn’t catch up to him.
This man was an acrobat who had easily evaded the attacks of two wolf monsters.
Swish—.
Aura, sliced thin, moved while leaving behind faint afterimages.
Every time a line of Aura was drawn, the heads and bodies of Yor’s snakes were severed, rolling across the floor.
It didn’t take long for dozens of snakes to become dozens of pieces of meat.
“Ugh!!”
Tilda’s expression changed.
She intended to transform into a snake’s face and spray venom.
But by the time she made her decision, the brown-haired man was already right in front of her.
“Bad girl!”
“Kyaak!”
He struck the back of her hand hard with the hilt of his dagger.
Tilda’s grip on the medium instantly failed.
The brown-haired man nimbly snatched it and stepped back.
“Let’s see. The medium our heartless aspiring Witch chose is….”
Flipping the frame over, the brown-haired man let out a whistle of surprise.
“Wow, I didn’t see this coming….”
“G-give it back!! Right now!”
Tilda shrieked.
But it didn’t work on the man.
He pulled the painting out of the frame and grabbed it with both hands.
“Nothing personal. It’s just a job.”
Riiip—!
He tore the object apart with force.
The paper tore as easily as a cheap flyer in a marketplace.
“Ah…!”
Immediately, a crimson energy began to surge from the two pieces of paper.
The power grew stronger and condensed, causing a rupture in the air.
Boom!
“Whoa!?”
Zed’s body was pushed back.
Tilda, who had been standing far away, lunged like a beast and picked up the scraps of paper.
“No…!”
Tilda tried to force the pieces of paper back together.
“Ahhh…! No…!! This can’t be!”
Spilled water cannot be gathered back, and a broken medium cannot be restored.
At that moment, an eerie aura began to envelop the surroundings.
She felt an ill omen.
“Time for my exit. Later!”
The brown-haired man quickly left the scene to avoid getting caught up in it.
Tilda was incapable of such remarkable movements.
She remained on her knees, trembling violently.
It was coming.
It was coming.
Ssssss—.
What echoed in her ears was the sound of a snake’s tongue.
Something long and damp licked her earlobe sweetly.
—Ufufu….
And then, an eerie laughter.
She couldn’t bring herself to look back and remained frozen.
Tilda’s face turned deathly pale.
—Poor Tilda. Pitiful Tilda. Your contract is broken.
“N-no, it isn’t.”
Tilda replied, trembling.
“I can fix this, Yor-nim! Please…!”
—No, you have failed. Did I not tell you to protect the medium of our contract by any means necessary? But you failed to protect it.
The voice laughed as if amused.
Tilda pleaded with her once more.
“I will kill that man! I will prove my ability!”
—There is no need for that, child. Your ruin was already foreseen from the moment you harbored greed that did not suit your station.
A long piece of skin brushed past her cheek.
What followed was a mocking laugh.
Tilda begged, tears streaming down her face.
“Please do not abandon me. I will be your loyal dog. Please, just one more chance….”
She begged and begged.
The answer she received was this:
—Snakes do not shed tears, you incompetent thing.
As the presence vanished, she felt a change.
The something that had enveloped the mansion disappeared in a flash.
The spell that had defined Tilda Pascal was undone.
