## Chapter 727 – #156_Fugitive(2)
#727
1.
Lydia’s office.
“You fucking idiot, are you brain-dead?”
The shout, laced with genuine frustration and a growling undertone, echoed loudly.
Randa Silfide, a money laundering expert, was generally treated with considerable respect while handling the accounting for the Solidus Trading Company.
This was because the larger the capital, the more crucial money laundering became.
Randa was the best expert in the field, and the Solidus Trading Company was the largest single company in Hexennacht, so their bond was quite strong.
While there was a hierarchical relationship in work matters, they seemed to have an equal relationship in private settings.
But now.
Randa was frozen like an opossum in front of Lydia, who was spewing curses.
“Why the hell did you go around blabbing? Huh? Tell me!”
Lydia slammed her hand on the table, unable to contain her anger, causing the surrounding air to tremble.
It was a stark contrast to her usual gentle and friendly demeanor when she treated Randa like a friend.
“I-I didn’t blab, I just… told a few people…”
“So why did you say anything at all, you moronic bitch!”
“Eek…!”
She was aware that she was being insulted.
But she had no time to worry about her pride or anything else.
The golden magical reflections scattered by the 23rd-tier witch, who had lost her composure, were too fierce for Randa, a 19th-tier witch, to face.
“Haa…”
Lydia grabbed a bottle of strong whiskey from the table and poured it into her mouth.
Not satisfied, she threw the empty bottle hard against the wall.
-Clang!
Randa didn’t even think about dodging the flying shards of glass, and stood at attention like a freshly enlisted private, tears welling up in her eyes.
Lydia suppressed the urge to turn the useless, air-headed woman into gold coins and waved her hand.
“Okay, get out. Go wait outside. Stay there until I call you.”
Strictly speaking, Randa and Lydia were equal collaborators, not a boss-employee relationship.
However, Randa bowed her head as if she had been waiting for those words, despite Lydia’s behavior, which was no different from a tantrum, and rushed out of the office.
“That, that, that, moronic bitch.”
Lydia, gritting her teeth and watching her leave, leaned back in her chair.
After the Grand Assembly, a secret pursuit team was to be formed.
The plan to pin Rosie’s disappearance on Linne later was also based on the premise that Shin Siwoo was in their possession.
The moment Linne’s deviation was revealed, she would become a common target of Hexennacht, and then Siwoo’s safety, who was under her protection, would naturally be compromised.
Therefore, Lydia had concealed the fact that Linne had attacked the workshop.
She also handed over her injured secretary to a trustworthy healing witch, asking her to keep it a secret.
However, Randa, who was initially attacked by Linne, had ruined all of those plans.
“She should have just died…”
Randa, who was unnecessarily robust and woke up in just two days, had revealed Linne’s criminal acts to no less than three witches while coming to the Solidus Trading Company for a report.
She even went out of her way to mention that Linne had inquired about the Solidus Trading Company’s event schedule and Lydia’s schedule.
Half of it was probably Randa trying to prove her friendship with Lydia after having spilled all the information to save her own life.
And half of it was probably revenge against Linne for putting her in such a terrible situation.
However, as a result of her careless blabbing, Linne’s criminal acts had reached the ears of the hardliners.
They had also been given a clue that there was some kind of connection between Linne and Lydia.
Naturally, Hexennacht had entered a state of high alert, which included the hardliners who had seized a good opportunity.
They were also looking for Shin Siwoo to trigger a war with Gehenna.
Now that things had come to this, Lydia had no choice but to step forward.
Also, even if she managed to obtain Shin Siwoo after all the twists and turns, it would be difficult to monopolize him as she had before.
The worst possible outcome had come from just one person’s loose lips…
It was impossible not to be angry.
“You seem to be in trouble.”
-Ting
At that moment, a clear bell sound rang, and an uninvited guest’s voice suddenly entered.
Lydia, who had bitten her lip once, turned her chair around, changing her expression as if she were putting on a mask.
“Ms. Psyche Teagarden, I didn’t hear that you were coming.”
There was a witch sitting leisurely on the window frame, as if she had been there from the beginning.
Curly golden bobbed hair like a sheep.
Languid, sleepy-looking green eyes.
A unique wand with a bell, like a shepherd’s staff.
At first glance, she seemed like a harmless girl, but one shouldn’t be fooled by her appearance.
This witch was the former head of the Qliphoth and a traitor.
She was the witch of Aries, who was currently in charge of one of the pillars of the moderates, excluding the Solidus Trading Company.
Moreover, she was someone Lydia didn’t want to meet at this time.
It was impossible for Lydia to see through all the schemes of an old monster who had lived for over a thousand years.
“How long have you been here?”
“Just now. I heard you shouting, so I came to see what was going on.”
Psyche jumped down from the window frame, leaned on her staff, and yawned, inappropriately for the situation.
The reason why Lydia was displeased by this sudden visit but didn’t rashly kick her out was simple.
Although the Solidus Trading Company had begun to prosper since the founding of Hexennacht, it lacked both the quantity and quality of power to confront the New Qliphoth head-on.
It was common for the voice of a force that was not united to be pushed back by the opposing force.
Therefore, the anti-war Grand Witches demanded the position of outside director in exchange for promoting the Solidus Trading Company as the face of the moderates.
It was beneficial for the Grand Witches who were not part of the Solidus Trading Company to be able to intervene in the overall actions of the moderates or the decisions on major issues through the board of directors.
For Lydia, it was beneficial to be able to increase her power while nominally holding the position of representative of the moderates.
In this political relationship, the old witch Psyche was also proudly wearing her golden badge.
“Be careful.”
Even if they had the same goal, it was idealistic to believe that a relationship based on calculation would proceed smoothly.
Just as there was a fierce power struggle within the Qliphoth, the board of directors of the Solidus Trading Company was also a battleground for power struggles, far from harmonious.
“What do you mean by be careful?”
“I, Psyche Teagarden, am watching you like a wary sheepdog. I know what you’re thinking.”
With that, Psyche held out her palm to Lydia.
“But as always, if you show a little sincerity, I’ll keep my mouth shut and prove our friendship.”
It meant she wanted a bribe.
Lydia sighed and rummaged through a box carefully kept in her drawer.
Inside, chocolates wrapped in gold foil were neatly stacked.
At first glance, they looked like simple chocolates, but they were not.
They were made with the finest ingredients, such as Belgian chocolate, Tahitian vanilla beans, Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee, and Piedmont hazelnuts.
They were also a recreation of the recipe of the Deermond Company, which was once the best chocolate company in England with a Royal Warrant, but went bankrupt due to the Great Depression and a major fire.
Customized bribes and lobbying were also a major driving force that allowed Lydia to maintain her company.
In Psyche’s case, it was this chocolate.
Psyche unwrapped one of the three chocolates and immediately put it in her mouth.
“Deermond’s chocolate is the best. Other companies’ products don’t taste the same.”
“Will you keep it a secret this time too, with this?”
“You’ve done me a favor. It’s my duty to repay you.”
“……”
“Now I don’t know anything. I’ve forgotten everything. But if I remember something, I’ll come visit again.”
Of course, chocolate was a very, very cheap price to pay for Psyche’s silence and support.
But it was strange that she was over a thousand years old and was so happy with the chocolate she got a couple of times a month…
It was hard to tell if she was pretending or if she was being genuine.
“I hate old hags like that.”
Lydia shuddered and prepared for what was to come.
The Grand Assembly would probably be convened soon.
It was important to reconcile the differences with the board of directors before that.
To calm the situation, which had become more complicated because of one moron, Lydia picked up the phone.
2.
Zlata Justitia, the witch of freedom, was in a good mood.
No, she had been in a good mood.
That was until she picked up a flyer that was fluttering in every alley for some reason.
“Wow. This is a big problem.”
Linne had paid a mountain of gold coins in exchange for taking care of the two witches.
Zlata had thought that it was just so that she could spend some happy time with a male witch.
In fact, hadn’t she given him a lot of gold coins not long ago, saying that she was going to learn a good recipe from a man?
However, she should have been suspicious from the moment that Zlata’s three years’ worth of entertainment expenses were given as a one-night childcare fee.
The flyer was a wanted poster for the ‘Sword Witch’.
Along with Linne’s criminal acts, a photo, magic pattern, and bounty were printed.
In short, Zlata was terribly entangled with Linne, who had caused the first bloodshed in Hexennacht.
“This is a big problem.”
Zlata, who had entered the city of witches like Gehenna with a romantic notion and without much vigilance, was an exile, not a public figure.
She wasn’t a witch who was bold enough to be unfazed by carrying such a huge bomb.
Zlata was pacing back and forth, repeating the words “This is a big problem” more than 50 times.
The reason why Linne had entrusted the witch slaves to Zlata before causing the accident was obvious.
Although she hadn’t said it, it meant that she was going to use this apothecary as a hideout.
“Should I rat her out now?”
It was a seemingly reasonable option.
To claim to be an innocent victim and report Linne’s location now.
Perhaps she could get some leniency.
“No, I’m screwed. This life is ruined.”
However, even in the present day, where humanism is relatively important, cash collectors and drug traffickers in voice phishing scams are punished as accomplices, regardless of the circumstances.
Would the Qliphoth and the Solidus Trading Company let Zlata, who had no proper backing, get away with begging, ‘I didn’t know! It’s true! I just took care of them for a while because it was good money!’?
It was reasonable to hang even the accomplices in the square to restore the broken rules.
Linne probably knew that, which was why she had made her an accomplice so violently.
“Damn it… Lord… why are you giving me this trial…”
While agonizing in inner conflict, the door of the apothecary opened.
Zlata, who thought that it was a house search, sobbed and raised her hand.
“I really didn’t know anything, sob…!”
However, what appeared were three witches she had never seen before, a girl who seemed to be an apprentice witch, and Linne and Siwoo.
How were they going to hide in this small workshop with such a large family?
Zlata, who was about to curse at Linne, who was being carried on her boyfriend’s back as if she was trying to rub salt in the wound, hesitated.
“You crazy bitch! What the hell did I do wrong! I even taught you how to cook…”
Linne was originally pale, but now her complexion was beyond pale, reminding her of a corpse.
Moreover, a faint breath, on the verge of breaking, flowed from her colorless lips.
“Is Yebin inside? Please call her right away.”
