Read Novel Full Chapter 108
Chapter 108
Worries
“……..After crying so much, now I’m feeling hungry……..”
“Ahahahaha. Well, I’m glad to see you’re feeling refreshed now at least.”
After properly crying her eyes out for quite some time, Francesca wiped her tears inside the cave while still in Leonardo’s embrace.
If there was something that had changed, that’d be the fact that Leonardo was now sitting cross legged, and Francesca was sitting on his lap, with her back towards him as he hugged her from behind.
Leonardo had continued to gently pacify and calm down Francesca while also making sure that she didn’t tire herself out from crying too much.
“Leonardo, I must be heavy right? Just wait, I’ll get off your lap no…..w!?”
“Why?”
He quickly sent his arm around her waist and pulled her back close just as she was trying to get back up. Sticking close to Francesca, Leonardo peeked at her face from behind.
“We should be focusing on maintaining our body temperatures and stamina. And besides, you especially felt like your body was freezing all the way to your fingertips, no?”
“But, I don’t want to trouble Leonardo anymore.”
“If you stay here like this, it helps me stay warm as well though.”
Still embracing tightly, he said that, making her feel like a stuffed toy. But he was right, this current pose was really good for maintaining their body warmth.
“……..Am I not, heavy?”
“If anything you’re so light, it’s honestly a bit worrying.”
She knew that he was surely joking yet she ended up laughing.
“Thanks, Leonardo.”
Afterwards, she breathed out, seemingly in relief, and realized that she felt a lot more relaxed now than before.
“Best friends, really are so warm eh……..”
“…………right.”
“?”
It seemed for a moment like Leonardo wanted to say something but, even when she looked at him inquiringly, it didn’t seem like he intended to tell her what it was.
Looking towards the sky and seeing the rain beginning to slow down, Francesca spoke up again.
“I wonder if it’ll stop soon? The downpour seems to have passed, and the smoke signal you created might get noticed now!”
“Indeed. That said, I did order all the members to spread out and look all over the entire forest so even the skill users will take a while to show up I think.”
“The entire forest? But didn’t you already hear from the Ranieri’s lady that I fell down this cliff…….”
“You falling down is one thing, but I had to take into consideration that there might be another ambush down here and you may have gotten kidnapped as well, right?”
(I see……..unlike me who knew this was just an [ambush] thanks to the game, for others this may have seemed like a more serious incident like a [kidnapping] or something similar.)
She once again felt guilty for having made them all worry about her so much as Leonardo continued his explanation
“It’s not like everyone could get down the cliff right away either. So I ordered only the ones with usable skills to go down, and we decided on a signal beforehand as well. As for the ones who stayed up top, I gave them orders to be prepared to come get you as soon as they see the signal as well.”
“A-as expected of a proper leader…….! So how did you get down the cliff Leonardo?”
“Hm?”
(Ah. That’s the sound he makes when he doesn’t want me to ask any further questions.)
As always, Leonardo still stuck with the [even as best friends, we should not show each other our entire hand] policy that he had explained before.
Of course, Francesca did agree with it as well so she didn’t ask any further questions either.
(The [mastermind] can brainwash people. Even a person that I might deem extremely trustworthy could still get brainwashed and forcibly turned into my enemy after all.)
She was deathly afraid of that brainwashing ability, and just thinking about such a situation made her sad. It was a future she didn’t even want to think about.
(But..)
Francesca hung her head, and quietly muttered.
“Leonardo, we came to this forest to prevent the assassination of Marquis Savini, right?”
“Correct. Though I threw that stuff to the side the moment I found out that your life may be in danger.”
“You mustn’t do that! Also, we’ve worked so hard to come this far. We even figured out that there’s a high chance that the assassin is disguised as one of the esteemed guests that the Marquis himself invited here…….”
“…….Yes. but not just the guests, I even want to investigate all the members of the Ranieri family as well just to be sure.”
During their daily morning routine of exchanging info, they would talk about the status of their individual investigations. But right now, they hadn’t found anyone specific to be suspicious and neither did they have any decisive proof.
(In the game this assassin didn’t even get an illustration, and it was all told with just text. Even the scene you see when the info is told to you is one that is basically a imagined recreation in the protagonist’s head, and so even the people surrounding the Marquis’ body weren’t drawn distinctly…….)
And it seemed Leonardo had already sensed why Francesca had brought up this topic.
“Maybe, just maybe?……..what if all the people involved with this assassination plot have been already brainwashed by the mastermind……..”
“……..Francesca.”
“!”
Hearing her name called, Francesca suddenly raised her head back.
Under the sound of the stopping rain, she could hear the splashing sounds of someone running this way. And just as she realized who that must be, Leonardo also spoke.
“And the one I expected to arrive first, did indeed show up eh.”
“Yeah……..!”
Francesca quickly stood up, and ran towards the entrance of the cave at the same time as another figure appeared there as well.
“Graziano!”
“………!!”
Having finally found Francesca, Graziano, for a moment, looked at her with eyes wide with surprise.
He was drenched from top to bottom. He was breathing heavily, and his clothes were all muddy as he stared at Francesca with an expression as if he had just witnessed an unbelievable miracle.
“……….Young miss.”
Graziano muttered, and seemed to slowly stretch his hand out towards her.
But that right hand quickly stopped midway as he clenched it into a fist. He then pulled his fist back and touched his own forehead as he spoke in a quivering voice.
“Thank god, you’re safe…….”
“Graziano! What’s with those injuries!?”
“!”
But before Graziano could say anything further, Francesca jumped towards him instead.
Francesca had of course notice that he was hesitating over even touching her. She didn’t know why, but for her, there was no hesitation towards touching him on the other hand.
He had rolled up the sleeves of wet white shirt, and she could see bunch of scratches all over his arms.
“What happened?! Are you okay….!?”
“………!”
She asked in a panic, making Graziano blink in place.
“Your shirt is all muddy as well. Wait, did you use a body enhancement skill and then jumped down the cliff just for my sake!?”
“……….That’s…..”
“You definitely did, didn’t you!? Come here, and let me look, is there any other place that you’re hurt!?………hmm, doesn’t look like it. Thank god…….”
Francesca sighed in relief, as Graziano was completely lost for words as he hung his head.
Afterwards, he exhaled deeply, and then suddenly kneeled down on the wet ground.
“——–my deepest apologies, Lady Francesca.”
“eh……….?”