Chapter 70 – Suspicious
Lila decided to brush the thoughts away and stirred the conversation back to its track. “Let’s focus on the reason why we’re here, shall we?” She took a piece of paper and placed it in front of Senior. Lila’s terms were all written down in detail.
“Senior, regarding the Hiln family, you need to put some people in their places.”
“What do you mean?” Senior asked.
“What I meant was that you need to cut off some branches.” Lila smiled, words oozing with confidence.
“How.. you see, our family is conservative, and this would not be taken lightly by the opposition—“ Senior chewed her bottom lip, her face boring an unreadable expression.
Senior continued, “It’s not something I’d like to admit.. I cannot remove those who are already in position. Maybe Dawson—“
Lila shook her head at the latter’s response. “No, that will cement your position..”
“Do you have any ideas in mind?” Senior asked.
“Of course. I came fully prepared.” Lila said in a calculating voice.
Senior was drawn to Lila’s words, which came as a surprise even to her. Lila, noticing Senior intently waiting for her, continued. “Dawson would unknowingly lose his ground slowly but surely, and you will be at an advantage.”
Senior’s eyes brightened at Lila’s words.
“Look at this.” Lila flipped the document over and pointed, “Dawson Hiln is at the top, and the relatives are his allies.” Senior followed where Lila was pointing at and nodded. “Yes. This is correct.” Senior blinked, surprised at the knowledge Lila possessed. “How do you know all of this? While some of the information is known by the public, most of it was hidden in private.”
Lila only threw her knowing smile. It’s not like she could tell her that she read them in a book.
“Lila, it appears like you know everything. Is there something I need to do? Tell me.” Senior prodded as she scooted closer.
Lila nodded. “There’s something you could advise me on.”
“I’m all ears. What is it?”
Lila referred to a diagram, showing the relationships between the involved parties and pointed at Baron Blake’s name. “Why is he placed here?”
She saw him as a shabby middle-aged man, one that she found so suspicious. Lila was a little surprised that Dawson Hiln was connected to the Blake family. Even though Blake couldn’t be beneficial to Dawson because his own family was inefficient, Dawson still regarded him as someone important.
It was just strange, and Lila needed to know what cards Blake held. “Doug Blake. What is he dealing with?”
“Doug Blake?”
There was a slight confusion in Senior’s tone, and Lila figured that she did not know him well by the way she said his name. If Blake was Dawson’s close confidante, Senior would’ve known who he was, but she looked like she heard of him for the first time.
“He went to the Hiln’s party recently.” Lila added, hoping that Senior would remember who she was referring to.
“Baron Doug Blake?” Senior repeated the name once again. “No.. I don’t seem to recall him greeting me.”
“He didn’t? He was right next to me until Lacias arrived.”
Even with Lila’s prodding, Senior still appeared clueless. “When the Count arrived? I was there, but I did not see the Baron.”
Lila had no idea what’s going on, thinking that maybe Doug Blake intentionally ignored Senior during that party, but Lila realized that Doug himself was too distracted that day to actually make an effort.
‘Should I have focused more on Doug?’
What was it that connects Dawson and Doug Blake? The only thing she could think of was that Dawson had received something from Doug, and that the Baron was hiding something. What Blake had given to Dawson may work in Senior’s favor.
“The Baron was quite awkward during the party.” Lila continued.
“Well.. I heard some rumors about the Baron, and I don’t think he’s the type to be socially awkward.” Senior replied.
“Really? He was quite rude.”
Lila’s eyebrows furrowed as she took in Senior’s words. Her mind reeled, recalling the person she met that day who was not only awkward, but also someone who didn’t seem to have any manners. He breezed towards her and spoke nonsense, not even bothering to wait for her to acknowledge him first.
The important thing that Lila could get out of this was that he felt really familiar, and she wondered if it had anything to do with the original Madame Marshmell. But even with that said, she did not feel like this when she had seen Enrique. Various thoughts played out in her head and she was only snapped out of her thoughts when Senior spoke.
“He’s been dealing with Dawson secretly.. I’ll look into it.”
“Can you do that?”
“Yes. Trust me.” There was no hesitation in Senior’s words.
“All right then.” Lila nodded.
Senior looked like she was about to ransack Dawson’s room at any moment, and the determination made Lila smile.
*
Please read this TL’s note:
Rings are form of energies. It comes in different forms for each character, others may take creative forms such as butterfly. It’s called a Ring as it comes from the hand literally. Inexperienced ring users uses pistol to summon their rings. The more experienced they are, the more rings they are able to produce.
Shadows are people who uses distorted rings which are called “Holes.” Rings such as these are colorless. They attach to other people’s rings and sap its energy to gain power.
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