Chapter 25.5 – Frighten
It was already late into the night, but the Black Dragonriders' headquarters was not yet completely asleep. However, the lights that were still lit were primarily those on the sixth and seventh floor.
A small crack was opened between the door leading into Persephone's office. A forty something year old middle aged individual wearing a well-ironed suit walked out. His outer appearance seemed shrewd and experienced. He gracefully bowed and shook Persephone's hand within the doors. In an enthusiastic voice that was full of emotion, he said, "Respectful General Persephone, my conditions should already be quite favorable, so I hope will carefully consider it! You just need to speak the word, and my resources from my connections will do all they can to serve upon you!"
His words were passionate and enthusiastic, yet his hand gripped onto Persephone's without any intention of letting go. With this, there was already no respect to speak of. Moreover, his well-fitted trousers had a slight bulge in the middle, so it was clear that he was thinking of things that were extremely disrespectful to Persephone. Even though his body was slightly bent, expertly masking his body's changes, every single Black Dragonrider in this building was a combat specialist, so they could sense these types of abnormalities just from the other parties' response.
Persephone's face continued to maintain a reserved and refined smile, as if she didn't notice anything strange at all. It almost seemed like she didn't care much about the middle-aged man's indifference as she sent him out with a smile. However, the handsome face of the assistant that watched from the side discolored as he hatefully stared at this middle-aged man's back, not showing him even the most basic level of etiquette.
Behind the office table, Persephone extracted a towelette and slowly cleaned her right hand. Her brows were locked together, and it seemed like she was clearly thinking about many things. That middle-aged man was already the eighth batch of lenders she met today. They all seemed to have noticed Persephone's current dilemma, so the conditions they gave for lending money as well as the repayment process and interest were all rather lax. However, the only thing that remained consistent was that all of the conditions were related to Persephone herself. The ones that were more reserved asked for an interpersonal relationship, while the most direct one directly gave her a price for a night. Being able to settle the financial crisis of a general meant that all of these people had influential backgrounds. Even in the past with the Arthur family backing her, Persephone would at most be able to slap them a few times and leave them with a bloody nose and a swollen face. She wouldn't be able to take action and kill them.
However now, she didn't even have the qualifications to slap them a few times. She raised her head and then looked at the old clock on the wall. The dark hand pointed at the position of nine o'clock. In another hour, it would be time for Su's injection. She couldn't help but rub the corners of her eyes, feeling as if her headache was going to split her head apart. She knocked on the table, and a display screen was raised. The string of scarlet symbols was extremely terrifying.
Several days ago, Old Fabregas initiated a proposal during the Parliament's appropriation committee, stating that Persephone's overdraft state far surpassed the limit of a general's authority, and as such requested for a temporary freeze of her borrowing authority. Inside the appropriation committee, the Fabregas family's number of votes wasn't few to begin with. With three great families waiving their right to vote on this matter, this proposal passed smoothly. Between a lone general and a massive ancient family, most rational people would know which side to choose.
A minute passed… Persephone silently thought this inside. If she included the amount of time it took to prepare the injection, she in fact didn't have an hour already, and instead only had a brief twenty-five minutes. However, when she saw the long string of scarlet digits, as well as her trust account completely frozen, how else was she supposed to pay it back? The eight people that came today were in fact already all of the people who had the ability to lend her money. It wasn't that there weren't individuals with more money, or even more resources, but simply that it wasn't realistic. Borrowing from these eight and satisfying their additional condition would mean that she would just have to pay with her body for a brief period of time. If she tried to borrow from anyone else, the price would be too difficult to recover from.
Another minute passed.
Persephone felt like her head was going to explode from the headache. She had just returned to Dragon City early in the morning after fighting endlessly for seven days and seven nights without rest to complete six missions. When she returned to Dragon City, she only slightly freshened herself up before hurrying to the office and greeting the lenders that she had already contacted a while ago. It was as if these people had all made a secret clause, and not a single one of them did not involve her body in their conditions. Perhaps they might have not colluded, and it was just this era's deep-rooted, undisguised way of expressing male hormones.
Persephone sat there quietly. A ferocious blaze was burning within her, but it was suppressed and prevented from bursting forth. She brought out the missions list and gave the list a look only to find that the most dangerous missions that correspondingly brought the greatest contribution rewards already accepted by others. What remained were only trivial time-consuming tasks that obviously didn't contain many risks. Was this a coincidence or was it done deliberately?
She suddenly clenched her pencil, and a crazy blast of wind surged within the office! However, the wind then gradually stopped. She heavily leaned back into the chair in a decrepit manner. She softly released a sigh before gradually allowing the frost to overtake her mind again.
If she could transfer the Arthur family's resources, how could this insignificant amount of money be a problem? Even though her debt was slightly greater, it hadn't reached the point a the prestige of a Black Dragonrider general couldn't vouch for. However, most of her own private assets were mortgaged to the parliament, and according to regulations, that couldn't be touched. It was also type of situation where the supply was cut-off, making her sink into a liquidity crisis.
However… She couldn't help but think of that young and still somewhat tender little brother of hers that chased after an unrealistic dream. He still had the pureness she was quite fond of, and so during all this time, she always took good care of him. However now, was he really not aware of her situation? Persephone refused to believe that he who was now in charge of Poseidon's Trident would not have heard about anything. That troop was brought up under her meticulous care, and it had an independent and high efficiency information system that shouldn't be much inferior to the one Madeline possessed in the town of trials.
However… was he really going to just watch as she fell to the level of being men's playthings? In other words, could hatred really completely change a person?
Persephone silently grabbed the glass of strong alcohol on her desk and drained it in one gulp. The fiery alcohol burned through her body.
Su, it was all because of that Su! Maybe if she gave him to Madeline, the current predicament would be completely settled.
The office door was suddenly opened, and the handsome assistant walked in, still maintaining his respectful tone of voice as he spoke. "General, Doctor Connor has just sent news saying that he has yet to receive the medicine funds. He wants to remind you that the H2101 needs a fixed amount of time to activate, so there is only ten minutes at most to make the payment."
"I understand. You can leave." Persephone's reply was extremely calm, and her eyes rested on the leftover alcohol within the glass.
The assistant this time did not comply with her order and instead moved behind her office table. He looked at her with a rather impudent gaze, and his tone became somewhat ambiguous as well. "General, before the time comes, you should not be able to pay this sum, right? However, me and my family are quite willing to help you as long as you promise me a small, insignificant matter…"
Before Persephone gave her reply, he already couldn't hold back any longer. With a hu sound, he threw himself at her. One hand grabbed towards her chest, and the other grabbed towards her hair that was tied up. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, and it could be seen that he was going to act forcefully. He enjoyed acting violently, ravaging those delicate flowers like a storm. He had already restrained himself for many years and waited long enough to finally obtain this opportunity. His, as well as his family's power and resources were far less than those of the three rich and powerful families, nor was it on par with the ones that came in an endless stream today. However, he was young, handsome, and his body was vigorous, but what were those men that came today? The youngest one was already over forty! He always believed that a handsome appearance and young body could make up for the enormous difference in wealth and influence. Otherwise, why would the aloof and great Persephone pay so much for Su?
Sure enough, after hesitating for a moment, Persephone sat on the chair without moving. He was ecstatic and immediately latched sturdily onto her, opening his mouth to take a bite. Correct, he was going to bite down. He had already had countless delusions about biting her face until it was drenched in blood. Either way, with the Black Dragonriders' high level of technology, there wouldn't be any scars left behind.