Chapter 284: One Day with Maggie Riddle
A week passed, and the discussion of the Golden Egg Project gradually died down. Another piece of news entered the public eye. Rita Skeeter's class action lawsuit had not yet come to a conclusion, but law enforcement officers discovered that she had transformed into a beetle and was trying to escape. As an illegal Animagus, she would definitely be sent to Azkaban.
"Idiot." In a high-rise studio apartment a few blocks away from Mayfair, Maggie, who was sitting in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and swiping her banknotes, sneered. A class action lawsuit without clear evidence would not necessarily put Rita Skeeter in jail. At most, it would make her socially dead. But now she was caught with a serious violation of the law and would have to suffer physical torture.
"It seems that Miss Skeeter will have to wait for her verdict in Azkaban." Maggie put down the silver letter, picked up a piece of raw beef from the plate on the coffee table next to him and put it into his mouth. If he was in front of others, he would drink a cup of coffee elegantly, but when he was alone or with Della, he would choose to eat meat with a little bloody smell.
Now that Rita Skeeter has completely fallen, public opinion will be more favorable to Lytia Abate. A few more reports can be published, and then she can apply for a retrial and overturn her case. The Insight can also take advantage of the most difficult moment of the Daily Prophet to fill the media gap that has appeared with great difficulty, and let the wizards of Country Y get used to it.
On Voldemort's side...
The only thing that didn't go well made Maggie lower her eyes and think. Trevor Ewing showed up in front of Voldemort, and the time she spent with him increased, but there was no substantial progress in the relationship. Maggie suspected that the longer time spent together was deliberately created by Voldemort in order to make him suspect Trevor.
If you are so cautious, why do you want to be resurrected? Wouldn't it be better to just be a stink bug in the gutter forever?
As for Voldemort, who once took away her happiness, Maggie actually had a longing for Voldemort because of that small drop of soul that was completely integrated with his. However, after he became a human and entered a new stage, that longing was strangled in an instant. Once he achieved the goal he had set with Voldemort, he immediately and completely hated this person.
Yes, dark, double standards, and ungrateful, these are all negative labels beneath Maggie's gentle and elegant appearance.
Maggie ate his bright red breakfast for a while, wiped her mouth with a napkin, picked up the silver letter and walked to the study. In the heated room, he was only wearing a dark red nightgown. His collarbone was extremely sexy across the open neckline, and his appearance was eye-catching enough to add some inexplicable charm to him.
He wore it like this not because the robe was comfortable. Maggie was transformed from a snake, and the constraints of clothes did not suit his nature. It was just that after becoming an adult, he could not be naked except for bathing. Now the most comfortable state was to wear less.
After turning on the eye-protecting warm light, Maggie began to read the book he hadn't finished last night. His desk and bookshelf were very tidy, but upon closer inspection, he found that wizard books and Muggle books were randomly mixed together. He didn't care much about this, as he felt that knowledge made no difference.
He was originally Jimena's snake, and Jimena was a Muggle. Later he became Bronte's snake. Bronte had been wandering in the Muggle world for hundreds of years, so Maggie did not discriminate against Muggles. After all, denying the past is denying oneself.
Maggie, who has been a snake for a longer time, has not actually read many books, but he knows the importance of knowledge. Della's study habits have been cultivated by him since she was a child. Now that his physical condition allows, he has started his own study and reading.
Like Della, Maggie is relatively idle. Such huge benefits are not distributed in vain. There are enough people working for him wholeheartedly. He only needs to control the progress and decide on emergencies in the rear.
He read leisurely until noon. When it was time for lunch, Maggie finally took off her nightgown, put on winter trousers and a windbreaker, wrapped herself in a scarf, and went out to a restaurant near the casino.
Wizard food was just so-so to him, and Muggle food didn't appeal to him either, as it was all just the most basic raw meat, just something to fill his stomach. He had to go out to eat at noon in order to attract the attention of the Piazza family.
There are many ways to cooperate with others, including deterrence, coercion and benefits. Different methods lead to different results. For that group of wizards, Maggie used deterrence and benefits. As for how that group of wizards relied on forcing others to complete the orders he issued, it was not within his consideration.
As for Muggles, to be honest, it is very simple to give them orders, just a matter of casting the Imperius Curse. However, the Muggle network is as chaotic as the complicated network in wizarding society. They are all shrewd people, and abnormal orders issued under the Imperius Curse may not be executed.
This is also one of the reasons why Maggie doesn't want to contact politicians. Even if she takes full control of the parliament and passes a bill, people will protest and go on strike. Can she cast the Imperius Curse on everyone in Country Y?
Maggie wants to take more power and paths into her own hands, but not in a thankless way.
Therefore, he also planned to use deterrence and benefits to win over Muggles. Considering that his main base is in the wizarding world, he could give up more interests on the Muggle side and they would fully cooperate with him in special circumstances such as influencing the gold price.
In order to show his sincerity and to put himself in an equal and superior position in future conversations, Maggie rejected Leah's proposal to introduce him. In his opinion, only unqualified people need an intermediary to introduce them.
For more than half a month, relying on the perspective transmitted by the group of snakes, Maggie accurately passed by Condra Barrios, another cadre of the Piazza family, at every transaction location, and occasionally nodded slightly as a greeting.
Barrios is nominally a cadre of the same level as Leah, but he was promoted by Piazza Sr. when he was young. Leah, who was promoted suddenly to encourage newcomers to make progress, cannot be compared with him at all. Moreover, Barrios was arranged to be next to the future successor Piazza Jr., which shows his importance.
If Maggie encounters you at any trading location, it will definitely drive him crazy and he dare not act rashly, because it means that your every move is under the eyes of others. You can't be sure whether there is a traitor around you or the other party's intelligence network is too powerful. You can't be sure whether the other party's appearance is for provocation or cooperation.
Although we are seeking cooperation, we still have to give the necessary warning.
Maggie sat in a window seat in the restaurant where she could be clearly seen by the casino. People who came to gamble kept coming into the casino, and people who lost money kept walking out or being thrown out of the casino. Maggie finished her simple lunch amid the background of people coming and going, madness and despair.
His schedule afterwards was also fixed. First he would go to a cafe a few blocks away, then to the library a little further away. In the evening he would have dinner at another restaurant here, and then return to his bachelor apartment which was now under surveillance.
In Maggie's estimation, the deterrence was actually enough, and the invitation from the Piazza family could arrive at any time.
Sure enough, when he was sitting in another high-end restaurant cutting steak that evening, a casino's senior membership card was brought to his table sandwiched in the menu.
"Crystal Crown Casino welcomes you at any time."
Maggie whispered the welcome words embossed in gold on the membership card, a satisfied smile on his handsome face, causing the women who had been secretly observing him to whisper and talk again. Some of them had already started to fix their hair and makeup in a less obvious way, and they were ready to come over and chat with him.
Unfortunately, Maggie had been waiting for this invitation for a long time, and he planned to go there now, so he couldn't politely reject every woman who was attracted by his appearance as he did before.