I Married the Dragon I Killed
Chapter 95
Tilda Pascal is a wicked woman.
According to the testimonies of Stefan and Murchit, who lived under the same roof as her, she possessed no mercy. They described her as a woman who would destroy anything that offended her sight.
Such a personality inevitably breeds resentment.
Ferda, who had incurred more enmity than anyone, knew this all too well. Therefore, he assumed there would be an obvious mastermind behind this incident.
The most likely candidate was Rico Dandolo, the one who had been poisoned. After him, Stefan, Murchit, or perhaps one of their wives. He had even considered their father, Herman.
Yet, there was one person Ferda never once suspected.
It was the dull-looking, middle-aged man standing right there.
Henri.
“Were you the one who ordered the investigation into Tilda?”
Unable to believe it, Ferda asked him directly.
“I was.”
“You made the request hoping for her downfall?”
“That is correct.”
“And you did this knowing it would lead to this exact end?”
“Of course. I took this possibility into account as well.”
Henri let out a faint smile.
At a glance, it was an incredibly kind smile—the kind belonging to someone so good-natured and dull that they couldn’t possibly hide a secret.
“Why?”
“Because I truly love Tilda. I would do anything for her.”
“And that ‘anything’ resulted in this mess?”
Ruri, who had been listening, interjected. Her face was etched with clear disgust.
“Indeed.”
He answered with a smile, as if her reaction didn’t matter in the least.
Upon hearing that answer, the reactions of those around him mirrored Ruri’s.
“You may condemn me if you wish. There were countless women who whispered words of love to me while looking only at my money and reputation. Is it so wrong for me to love someone for their shell alone?”
“I have no intention of condemning your actions. But I am curious about one thing.”
“Please, speak.”
“Is this woman worth handing over your company to me?”
Tilda was pretty, but she wasn’t a peerless beauty. She wasn’t on the level of Olivia, for whom a man had once sold everything in his territory just to offer her a million roses.
Henri replied to the question as if it were of no consequence.
“My father cherished the company, but it never held much value to me. In fact, I wanted to rid myself of it. So, I used the woman I love.”
“Tilda?”
“She is truly beautiful, yet a devious woman. Who else in this world would poison their father and plot to kill their own family?”
Henri had been waiting for Rico to die. He had watched everything and controlled everything. In a way, it was Henri who had been playing Tilda in the palm of his hand.
Only then did Ferda understand one of the questions he had pushed to the back of his mind.
“They said that when the medium was destroyed, the head of the family, Rico Dandolo, suddenly lost his life.”
“Yes. My father has passed away.”
“That wasn’t Tilda’s doing, then.”
Ferda’s eyes stared at Henri as if to pierce through him.
“But it certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?”
Henri gave a vague answer.
“My father always wanted me to be a strategist. I have become the son who fulfilled that wish.”
“…….”
Ferda found himself speechless.
As silence fell, Henri spoke to bring the conversation to a close.
“As promised, I shall hand over the Dandolo Company. If Regent Ferda takes ownership and delegates the management rights to my brother-in-law, everything will be resolved swiftly.”
“Understood.”
“My company will fall entirely into the Regent’s hands. So, would you grant this humble man one request?”
“What is it?”
“I would like you to return my wife’s belongings that were taken.”
Ferda’s gaze turned toward Ruri. She frowned, looking subtly offended.
“I didn’t touch a thing.”
That meant someone else had secretly made off with them. Ferda could immediately identify the next suspect.
“Why are you looking at me?”
Penelope.
“Because it could only be you.”
“It’s quite embarrassing when you say such things so bluntly—Ugyak!”
“Stop talking nonsense and tell me where you put it! Spit it out, now!”
“Ugek! Gek! It’s… it’s on my tail! I hung it on my tail!”
“Typical demon. Does your internal organs twist if you don’t cause trouble for a single day? Good grief!”
“Hic, my diamond……!”
“What do you mean ‘your’ diamond, you crazy bitch?”
Zed searched her body thoroughly and found a single ring hanging from her tail, just as she said. A ring made of a Blood Diamond, a gem that money could hardly buy.
Zed handed the ring to Ferda.
“A Blood Diamond. Is it an engagement ring?”
“It is. It’s the only thing my wife truly loves.”
As soon as Henri received the ring, he walked over to Tilda.
“Ooooh…….”
She was making a mournful sound, like a vengeful spirit wandering the afterlife.
“Tilda, my love. Look here. It’s the diamond ring you like.”
Tilda’s eyes, which had been vacant and drooling, turned toward the ring. Her aimlessly wandering gaze fixed clearly on the diamond.
“Hehe…….”
At her smile, which looked as if she had gained the entire world, Henri smiled back.
Henri promised to disappear with Tilda.
His claim that he had predicted this outcome was no lie. He had already secured a house in the West and prepared enough money for them to live modestly. He decided to leave the Dandolo Mansion, taking only enough to spend the rest of his days in peace.
“What a truly dreadful man.”
Ruri remarked. Her clenched fists were filled with the urge to snap Henri’s neck.
“Are you really going to just let someone like that go?”
Ferda nodded as if it were obvious.
“He kept his promise, so I must keep mine, shouldn’t I?”
“Something that disgusting could ruin our work. Looking at how he toyed with a Witch from above, it’s entirely possible.”
Ferda looked down at Ruri and spoke.
“Your desire to kill him is merely your personal feeling.”
“It’s revolting. How could he kill his family and ruin the person he loves like that?”
Ruri, who usually refrained from interfering in human affairs, spoke with conviction. He had used his wife to kill his father and then made his wife his own possession. To the dragon spawn, who valued familial love above all else, such actions were unforgivable.
“Tilda Pascal did the same. Though she failed, she was a wicked woman who drove a wedge between brothers, tried to poison her sister-in-law, and turned her father-in-law into a vegetable. If the end for such a woman is to be held captive by that man, is it not fitting?”
“When you put it that way…… I suppose it might be…….”
Ruri’s voice gradually lost its edge of anger. While the actions were disgusting, she began to think that Tilda had received a fitting punishment. Ultimately, Ruri decided to push thoughts of them aside. They would likely never cross paths again anyway.
Ferda quietly looked down at the spot where Henri had been.
A pity.
He was a remarkably clever man. Since even Ferda hadn’t grasped his true intentions, Henri surely would have surpassed even the Pascal Company and brought about a golden age for the Dandolo Company had he possessed any ambition for commerce.
Yet, Henri acted as if such talent was unnecessary to him. The last look on Henri’s face was one of someone who had given up a fortune but looked happier than anyone.
That face lingered in Ferda’s mind like an afterimage. Whether it was due to a sense of unease or envy, he had no way of knowing for now.
Pascal Company Headquarters.
“Is that so? Then the matter regarding my sister is finished.”
Stefan seemed surprised that the work had been carried out in secret, but he didn’t mind much. Regardless, he was satisfied that the matter which had troubled his heart was settled.
“I understand. I will speak to my brother and explain the situation to my father to wrap things up.”
Cutting the transmission, Stefan felt a lingering sense of awe. He felt a profound admiration for Ferda.
To think he would actually take possession of the Dandolo Company.
It was an unexpected boon. Stefan had thought that if this situation escalated, he would eventually have to destroy that company. He hadn’t imagined it could be acquired so completely.
The Regent is truly a remarkable man.
He felt how pathetic his own judgment had been just a few days ago when he was ready to give up everything.
Now, I have to clean up the mess.
A sigh escaped Stefan’s lips. Since it was a matter he had plotted with Murchit, saying it was over would make it so between them, but Herman was a different story. Herman, who didn’t know the full truth, had sincerely tried to suppress Stefan, and Stefan had been forced to respond in kind.
“General Manager. The Chairman is…….”
The secretary couldn’t finish the sentence. It was enough to tell how angry Herman was.
He wanted to run away. His instincts screamed at him to do so, but he nodded calmly.
A moment later, four bodyguards large enough to fill the doorway and one frail old man entered. The hulking men who came in were threatening enough, but those sharp eyes shining through the deep wrinkles were what pierced into Stefan’s core.
“Why are you still here?”
A question asking why he hadn’t resigned yet.
“Everything is over.”
“What exactly is over?”
Stefan explained everything. How Tilda had used her husband’s company to try and drive a wedge between Stefan and Murchit. And how, in the process, she had even plotted to kill Herman. He intentionally downplayed parts that might seem exaggerated to add weight to his persuasion.
Yet, he still couldn’t read Herman’s thoughts. Stefan couldn’t break the old man’s expression, which was like a sword forged in a dwarf smithy deep beneath a mountain.
“So that’s what happened.”
“Yes.”
“But you haven’t answered my question.”
“What question……?”
“I asked why you are still here.”
It was a conversation that felt as if he hadn’t heard a word of the previous explanation.
Stefan replied.
“Because I am the General Manager of the Pascal Company.”
“I am the Chairman. Stripping you of your position is a simple matter. I hoped you would step down on your own, but you refuse.”
“Are you still insisting that my judgment was a mistake?”
“Of course. Who but a fool would bend their conviction when they are certain?”
The Principality will fall.
Out of defiance, Stefan said to him.
“The Valdrova Principality will prosper.”
“It cannot prosper.”
Herman said flatly.
“You seem curious as to why. Fine, I shall answer you myself.”
Herman’s eyes flared like a tiger’s.
“I hear whispers that this man named Ferda is using dark magic.”
“I have ears as well, so I am aware. However, he saved many people in Halim.”
“Being treated like a hero is only momentary. Saving people isn’t the issue. The mere fact that he uses dark magic is a weakness. What will you do if the Pascal Company is accused of aiding a practitioner of the dark arts?”
“That is…….”
“If you continue to help Regent Ferda and then try to pull out, it will already be too late. Do you intend to throw the countless families of this company out onto the streets?”
Stefan couldn’t answer.
“And you must be investing in this technology called magical engineering. What will you do if this man named Bernel dies?”
Herman continued to press him.
“Then this investment will vanish like bubbles, and we will gain nothing. And is there any guarantee that this Bernel won’t have a change of heart? Or his master, Ferda?”
“They would never abandon me.”
Even though Ferda had initially spoken as if he didn’t need Stefan, he had helped him with everything when times were tough. Thus, Stefan could argue his point strongly.
However, to Herman, such words were unreliable.
“Do you know why no cities are built in the Far East?”
“Because the territory is constantly shrinking.”
“Exactly. Because there is no hope. Human strength couldn’t stop it, and even the power of immortals couldn’t stop it. Do you need to be corrupted by demonic energy in that nearby place before you come to your senses?”
“…….”
“Fine. Let’s look at it optimistically and say it does prosper. How do you think that prosperity will return to us? Money? Fame? Connections? No. The Empire will search every speck of dust to suppress it. Why? Because we are a company based in the Imperial Capital. It will look as though the power of the Capital is flowing out.”
“…….”
“Even if that fledgling Regent has trust and ambition, all politics are conducted by old men. Do you know what kind of beings old men are?”
The strength in Herman’s voice increased.
“They are creatures who tremble with age, lacking the strength to even stand, yet they cling to their rice bowls with all their might. It is easy to go from frugal to luxurious, but difficult to go from luxury back to frugality. Power is the same. The old push the young onto the battlefield to fight and be exploited just to protect what is theirs. Do you think mayflies like us can resist and endure that?”
Stefan was unable to say a word in response.
Herman’s words held the wisdom accumulated through years, and that wisdom was logical. Looking at it from a macro perspective, nothing Herman said was wrong. There were far too many risks Stefan had to shoulder.
“Give up the Far East. Otherwise, give up this company. That is my will.”
Herman stood up from his seat. At the moment he was about to leave, Stefan spoke.
“You are just like those old men, Father.”
“What…… did you say?”
Herman’s eyes widened as he asked again. It was a remark that seemed made in the heat of the moment. However, what was in Stefan’s eyes was venom.
“Are you not also unable to accept anything new, stubbornly clinging only to your own views, Father?”
“Are you saying I am being pigheaded?”
“Yes.”
Stefan affirmed shortly and clearly. Herman flew into a rage.
“Ungrateful wretch. By what right do you spout such nonsense?”
“I have the right.”
Words poured out as if a blockage in his throat had been cleared. They were emotions and self-assertions that had been building up for a long time.
“I have operated and led your company for the past three years. That steady growth and stabilization were achieved by me. If you are the one who sowed the seeds of this company, Father, then I am the one who nurtured them. Just as one cannot be called a farmer simply for sowing seeds, this cannot be called your achievement alone. Therefore, I have the right to have a voice.”
“The right? You?”
“Yes!”
His voice grew louder as his emotions intensified.
“While you sat back like an old man in a back room, clicking your tongue and watching while handing swords to us siblings, I never looked away and dedicated everything to this company!”
Herman looked up at Stefan without saying a word. Stefan took the momentum to let out more of his pent-up thoughts.
“Didn’t I tell you before? When you asked what kind of person Regent Ferda was, I replied like this: He is a man to whom I can give everything.”
“…….”
“That wasn’t a mistake then. I meant it. Do you know why? Because I believed that even if I handed the company over to him, I could gain far more than what you built, Father.”
“No matter how you appeal to me, it only sounds like you’ve been consumed by your emotions.”
“I don’t care. When I was struggling, he commanded it to be an act of sabotage against the Principality and responded. He didn’t say the Pascal Company; he said the Principality. He accepted me as part of the Principality and helped me.”
Though Ferda had tried to cast him aside cruelly once, he was as merciful as he was cruel. At that time, Stefan had made a vow. That everything depended on how he set his mind.
“So I will state this clearly.”
He threw down the final, irreversible choice.
“I will not step down from this position. This company is run by me, and I will take responsibility for my choices. So, if you intend to interfere with my decision!”
Bang!
“You will have to fight me with the resolve to sever our ties!”
