After Enya said that, Parit was clearly stunned.
Mary’s body also trembled.
She knew more than Parit did. Only she, as someone who had experienced it, truly knew what happened ten years ago.
When Enya came to her, she did not threaten her. Instead, she offered a condition almost impossible to refuse.
Mary turned away, avoiding Parit’s gaze.
Parit did not know what benefits Enya had promised Mary, but they were surely no worse than what she had now, perhaps even better.
He opened his mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out.
Then Parit lowered his head. ‘He bitterly regretted his momentary foolishness, thinking he could profit from the cracks.’ ‘He thought himself too clever and the matter too simple.’
The coldness on Enya’s face faded. She stopped looking at Parit’s pathetic figure, turned, and walked back into the room.
Mary showed no gratitude for Parit’s ten years of kindness. She also followed into the room, trailing behind Enya.
Katherine called some people to take Parit into custody.
Parit stumbled to his feet.
“I’ll do it myself.”
His slightly clouded eyes were now red and moist.
The guards who had been summoned never expected that the old butler would fall from grace like this.
Seeing these former subordinates looking confused about his fate, Parit let out a sorrowful sigh and spoke in a low voice.
“It’s my fault. It’s all my fault… I nearly made a grave mistake and let the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce be taken from my hands.”
After this ordeal, Parit finally understood some things. When he finished speaking, he looked at Katherine.
“Katherine, please tell Ms. Enya that the ones who truly want the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce dead are the Chamber of Commerce Union and the forces of the Northland States.”
The Chamber of Commerce Union was a local power in Lakeside City, but it was also manipulated behind the scenes by several other nations.
The Northland States had a treaty: if any one of them faced an external threat, the others must send troops to support it.
This was designed to counterbalance the increasingly powerful West Wind Empire.
In recent years, the West Wind Empire had no intention of starting a war.
However, while vigorously exporting advanced products, the West Wind Empire also promoted openness and freedom.
This greatly encouraged the wealthy and educated people in the Northland States to consider defecting.
Talent drain. Gold drain.
These were the two most troublesome problems for the Northland States.
Over time, the foundations of the Northland States would inevitably be hollowed out by the West Wind Empire.
They would be unable to fight even before a war began.
Therefore, the Northland States began banning the West Wind Empire’s novel products, hoping to curb the problem through such measures.
But they clearly underestimated the power of the West Wind blowing from the South, and how much people longed for it.
The bans led to great resistance, giving them even bigger headaches.
After the first failure, they turned their attention to assets. Since they couldn’t ban it, they would seize it!
The Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce, with its West Wind Empire background and run by locals from the Northland States, became their primary target.
Like wolves, they were already drooling over this fat sheep.
Katherine’s face was calm, showing neither joy nor sorrow.
“Madam already knew.”
“…”
Parit’s expression darkened. He laughed at himself bitterly.
It was just him, the old fool, whose vision had grown cloudy and now couldn’t see the situation clearly.
Parit asked again.
“Can Madam really do it?”
This time, Katherine did not answer.
“Can do it” referred to whether Enya could help Gro and Kalian get revenge.
That was the content of the deal.
Only after it was completed would the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce truly change hands to her.
Parit lowered his head and murmured.
“Will I live to see that day?”
“Let’s go.”
Katherine still did not answer, urging Parit to leave quickly.
Parit was helped into the carriage, escorted by six guards back to the Lily of the Valley Manor.
What punishment he would face would only be known after some time.
Enya sat on the sofa, and Mary was silently pouring tea for her.
Enya turned to glance at Mary and said.
“Hard work.”
“No, how could such a small thing be hard work?”
Mary smiled apologetically.
Enya gave a faint smile and shook her head.
“Mary, wouldn’t it be hard to raise a child alone for ten years?”
“There’s no shortage of money, and besides, there are servants to help.”
“That seems true…”
Hearing Mary say that, Enya felt that perhaps it wasn’t so hard.
But if none of that were available, raising a child would certainly be a very difficult thing.
Enya thought of her own childhood, locked away in a mountain castle.
Apart from the maids and the occasional visit from the Frennard Duke, there was no one else.
Back then, she could only manipulate dolls and play house with herself.
Mary glanced at Enya, then spoke cautiously.
“Madam, would you like to see my child?”
“No.”
Enya shook her head.
What was there to see? Her child wasn’t a girl.
She turned to look at the beautiful woman, narrowing her eyes and sizing her up.
Mary’s background was utterly transparent to Enya.
A woman like that, left to live on her own, would definitely starve, or else she would have no choice but to resort to selling her body.
She had been kept and spoiled into uselessness…
Letting out a light sigh, Enya said.
“Don’t worry. What I give you will be no worse than what you have now. Just live your life comfortably.”
“Thank you, Madam.”
After receiving the second affirmation, Mary was still somewhat excited. Her wealthy life would not end—it might even get better!
Enya arranged for Mary to move to the West Wind Empire, with double the pay she had before.
Where would the money come from…
Cut costs and increase efficiency! Fire Parit and use his pay to fill the gap!
After staying at Mary’s house for another hour and not seeing any stupid assassin, Enya found it boring.
She thought that the Hall of Shadows would be persistent, but it seemed Zeta had stirred up too much trouble.
They had probably all gone after Zeta and had no time to bother Enya.
Zeta had killed the assassin sent after Madam Einfel, taken his identity, come to Lakeside City, made a deal with Enya, and then used that identity to infiltrate the Hall of Shadows, likely causing a huge mess.
Enya drank tea until she almost needed to pee before finally getting up from the sofa.
“Well, forget it. Time to go back.”
“Madam, are you leaving?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’ll see you off.”
Mary’s face was hard to read—whether it was happiness or some other emotion. She seemed to be holding back a smile, looking very strained.
Enya did not refuse her farewell.
On the way to the carriage, Katherine sat opposite Enya.
“Madam, are you going to keep her?”
“…”
Enya was choked by that remark.
After taking a moment to recover, Enya squinted at Katherine.
She chuckled lightly and teased.
“What, are you jealous of her?”
“……”
Now it was Katherine’s turn to be speechless.
Enya gave a light snort.
“I could cold-heartedly let her fend for herself, or even order you to kill her and her child. But since I’m a single mother like her, and that amount of money is nothing but a tiny crumb to the Lily of the Valley Chamber of Commerce, why wouldn’t I give it, since I can afford it?”
“Do you really have a child?”
Katherine was somewhat shocked.
Even though she looked like a mature older sister and was over thirty, she had never experienced the act of a man and a woman.
But Enya looked only a little over twenty!
Enya was quite speechless. She had said so much, but what Katherine cared about most was that she had a daughter.
She gave Katherine a glare and said.
“Don’t I look like someone who has a child?”
“No.”
Katherine looked up at Enya’s very young face, then shook her head, even more certain of her words.
Enya couldn’t be bothered to explain.
She took a box of potions from the Library of the Sea of Consciousness.
They were the same kind she had given to Lucia before, but these were diluted three times.
“These are special potions. They can give a person a trace of the Dark Night Bloodline. Take them and train a batch of people.”
Katherine received the wooden box and carefully examined the potions.
Potions that could grant a bloodline were unheard of!
One such bottle, if put up for auction, could definitely sell for tens of thousands of gold coins and cause a bloody storm.
There had been similar potions before, but they were all one-time skill potions, equivalent to scrolls.
Even so, their prices were in the tens of thousands of gold.
Katherine absolutely believed that what Enya presented and described was real.
Enya also gave her a book.
The Night Shadow Spell Collection.
She had given one to Lucia before—it was a secret art used by the Hall of Shadows.
Once learned, one could hide their form and aura in the shadows, enter the Shadow Realm for spatial displacement, and higher-level spells had various attack skills.
“I will not disappoint Madam’s expectations!”
Katherine said firmly.
Enya looked away.
She didn’t really need these people for much; mainly, having them would make it easier to control Lakeside City.
Lucia knelt on one knee, relying on her hands gripping her longsword to keep from falling.
She was panting heavily, her pretty face covered in sweat, and her somewhat hollow eyes stared at the blade.
Wendy sheathed her longsword and, seeing Lucia like this, couldn’t help but purse her lips.
She didn’t want to beat Lucia like this.
But Lucia insisted she use full force. Even though Wendy wasn’t skilled in swordsmanship, she was still at the Fifth Tier.
After acquiring the bloodline, Lucia’s body had changed, and her Magic Core had advanced from Second Tier to Third Tier.
But she still had a massive gap with Wendy, like heaven and earth.
Lucia stumbled to her feet, about to ask Wendy to continue sparring, when a young maid rushed out.
“Sister Lucia, the Head Maid requests that you and Miss Wendy come over. Madam has something to say to both of you.”
Wendy understood and was very happy—after all, she wouldn’t have to beat up Lucia anymore.
Lucia, on the other hand, looked a bit nervous.
Some intuition told her that something might have happened today.