CH 192

Meal Service (3)

A feeling of pressure gripped Shylock’s neck. Sharp claws pierced his skin and reached his airway.

His instincts were first terrified, his muscles and spine numbed. Among the many hardships he had experienced in his life, this primal fear was the first.

Shylock realized once again that his opponent was not human. He was originally a predator above humans in the food chain.

He was doomed. A bright red warning light flashed in his head. He struggled through the feeling of helplessness gripping his stomach. He found and held on to the thin strands of reason.

He must not be swung around. As soon as he sat down, he couldn’t collapse.

There was always a solution to a problem.

Why does the Duke show such hostility…?

Shylock let out a thin breath. Little by little, as he regained his sanity, reasoning appeared.

He’s family, family…

He could now see why the duke was a hot topic as a member of his family. The disjointed pieces found their place at once, and a feeling of disappointment flooded in. A mild headache arose. It wasn’t funny. Even more so because it would have been much easier if he had noticed earlier.

“Am I asking a presumptuous question…” Shylock looked at the knife Vlad had inserted vertically. “Do you love my daughter?”

It wasn’t a question, it was a conviction. Vladislav de Winter. He was dealing with him, not as Shylock Isles’ son-in-law, but as Lily’s husband.

He was neither a monarch with the strongest knights on earth, nor a lord who ruled the great territories, nor a noble duke. All of that was secondary. He was just a man who used it all to avenge the pain his woman had suffered.

He didn’t know her eldest daughter would be able to win the heart of the cruel duke…

All of a sudden, the realization hit him.

She was pregnant.

That was one reason her man had such an absurd attachment to her. No matter how harsh a man he might be, he was tolerant of her as the bearer of his seed.

The reason she built a garden in Isles’ mansion was his wife, who was pregnant with Rocus. He wanted her. At that time, even Shylock was like that.

If it is a duke who has children now…

A slow, low-pitched sound flew in, breaking Shylock’s thoughts.

“There is no way I could have slipped into your hands and decided to marry her.”

Shylock took some time to understand what he was saying. He was belatedly realizing that it was the answer to the question of whether he loved her daughter, and he was stunned. It was a more shocking fact than he had imagined.

“From the purpose of sending the proposal… Are you really saying it was because of my eldest daughter…?”

Shylock put down the tableware. He was so startled that he almost ridiculed him.

Was it love from the beginning?

Love. The most irrational and unpredictable thing. It was what made humans the weakest.

There was no other race as easy to handle as a man in love. The bigger the love, the better.

It was like seeing someone clenching his fists behind his back and thinking he was holding strong poison to kill him. Yet, he failed.

Shylock put his elbows on his table and interlocked his hands. He felt the air that had been pressuring him helplessly fade. His breathing was getting easier. Victory was returning to him.

Meanwhile, a maid came in and collected the dishes. She took Vlad’s broken plate pieces and carefully placed them on the silver tray.

“I dare to guess that you’re announcing the death of my son in advance through a letter… You must have meant to make a deal.”

A new plate was placed on the table. It was a meat dish that did not stop with the sound of sizzling meat. Red blood pooled on the plate as only the outside was cooked. As Shylock cut the meat with the tip of his knife, the dish seemed to bleed to death.

“If I fail the deal, it means that Lily will lose her brother…”

“…”

“If the father and the husband took the life of her brother, that child’s heart would be a tragedy for the rest of her life.”

Had he fallen in love, he would not have known the character of her eldest daughter. Her eldest daughter was above all her brothers. She failed to be a woman, but she was ruined enough that there was no way she could turn back. Once she had been crumpled up like paper, no matter how many times he unfolded it, it would leave marks.

He put the piece of meat in his mouth and savored it for a moment.

Vlad was silent as Shylock cut the meat several times. Shylock glanced up, his eyebrows furrowing.

His son-in-law seemed too calm.

A faint feeling gently pulled the back of his neck. In fact, Vlad was relaxed.

“I have two of your sons in my hands. The eldest son and the second son.”

Shylock frowned slightly for a moment. The second son was also responsible for realizing that he was sitting on this land.

While he was belatedly aware of it, Vlad’s gloomy voice subsided.

“The eldest son Crocus Isles, the second son Dandelion Isles. And another son of yours is with you.”

Shylock stiffened. A low-pitched voice pierced his forehead, without even thinking back on what he had heard.