Read Novel Full Chapter 116
Chapter 116
The Enemy’s Objective
Soon after, Francesca continued her words to Leonardo to tell him her thoughts.
“You know, I can tell you are trying to protect me.”
Amongst everything they talked about, there shouldn’t have been anything that she should have found suspicious. But that’s precisely why she felt this strange sense of discomfort, like something was wrong.
“I just can’t help but feel like you are lying to me, that too for my own sake, Leonardo……..”
“……..”
And she had a feeling that her gut instinct was indeed telling the truth.
Because the very next moment, Leonardo let go of his embrace of Francesca and raised his body back up from the bed.
“Leonardo?”
“Do you…”
He was basically leaning his body above hers while she lay on the bed. Leonardo’s smile disappeared from his face, and she faced with his calm gaze.
And he slowly closed his eyes before speaking.
“–hate being protected by me?”
“……..”
Leonardo opened his eyes again and quietly gazed directly into Francesca’s own eyes.
Francesca could only blink for a while but then reached out her hand unhesitatingly towards him. She had a feeling she totally understood just what kind of emotions were swirling inside Leonardo’s head right now.
“!”
With both her hands, she began to sweetly caress and pat Leonardo’s head.
And while looking at him, she questioned back.
“Could it be, Leonardo, that you’re feeling a bit lonely right now?”
“…………….”
She was sure that right now, Leonardo was indeed not in his usual normal condition.
After all, if it was the usual him, he would have burst into a bold laugh by now. But that didn’t happen and instead, he remained as expressionless as he was and simply hugged Francesca again without trying to put up any appearances.
“I’m not lonely, my dearest friend.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
She had a feeling this was lie too as she put her arms around Leonardo as well.
(I really need to make sure to never make the mistake of not doubting Leonardo ever again. Even he could get brainwashed and get turned into my enemy after all. Also, I should have been more considerate about him from the start as well.)
While reproaching herself, she continued to caress Leonardo’s head.
(Both in regards to the role Leonardo had in the game, as well as his relationship with this world at large.)
Why was Leonardo treated like the game’s mastermind in the first place?
Conversely speaking, you could say that the game scenario’s real mastermind was actually taking very similar actions to Leonardo making it seem that way.
“Leonardo, tell me what all you’ve been thinking about. You too must have come to the realization that the one who was targeted during the ambush was in fact not actually Graziano but in truth, genuinely me, right?”
“……..”
“And, the reason why I got targeted was…….”
The carriage ambush event happened in the game as well.
In the game, the event was detailed as [the last boss Leonardo attacked Francesca to take her life].
But in this world, Francesca knows that Leonardo wouldn’t do something like that.
That’s why, she unconsciously deemed the entire event to be completely unrelated to Leonardo at first.
(but I think, both in the game as well as this world, the real reason behind the attack actually hasn’t changed.)
Francesca tightened her embrace with Leonardo who was now completely leaning down on her and had buried his head beside her own, and then spoke.
“Because the mastermind is actually aiming directly for you, Leonardo.”
“——-….”
When she thought of it that way, a lot more things suddenly connected and made sense.
(In the game, Leonardo was trying to kill the protagonist Francesca. That was probably so that Leonardo could steal my skills with his own.)
Leonardo’s skill allowed him to steal a skill by touching someone’s corpse, and the strength of the skill was dependant on how well he knew them when they were alive.
So his goal being wanting to steal her skills made sense. On the other hand, if he truly wanted her life, he could have done it at any time.
The reason he didn’t instantly kill her was because, in a twisted way, by constantly attacking and cornering her, he was basically getting to know her better, or at least that was what she believed could be the truth.
(While her life was being aimed by Leonardo, the protagonist was a girl that was basically dancing on the palm of his hand. In a way, from an outside perspective, you could still see it as the girl being [special] to Leonardo even in the game.)
And of course, in this world, that very connection and relation was far, far more simpler.
(In this world, we are friends, and Leonardo makes it a habit to show just how well we get along all the time. The fact that I am [special] to Leonardo isn’t me being conceited, it is a fact I am confident in.)
Meaning in both worlds, Francesca was basically the perfect [bait] for Leonardo.
“And I can also easily figure out why someone from the mastermind’s side saved me during the ambush as well. This was just a test. To figure out just how important I am to you, Leonardo. I think that was the real aim for the ambush, I think.”
“……..”
There will be many more chances to ‘use’ Francesca like this in the future, she was sure that they would see it that way. For the sake of this plan, the mastermind just wanted to confirm if they could use her against Leonardo, or at least that was her hypothesis.
“To save me, you might have revealed a bunch of your skills to them as well……..my very existence may become a weakness for you that they could exploit………”
“……..Francesca.”
She finally understood why Graziano apologized to her so much yesterday in the cave as well.
To know that you had become a burden on someone you care for was a truly horrible feeling.
“Leonardo, I’m sorr…….”
“Forgive me. My lovely Francesca.”
“!”
Their words of apology coincided, making Francesca blink from surprise.
Leonardo released his embrace to get back up and then looked down from above at her again. The orange light of sunset coming from the window had mostly dimmed into darkness.
“Unlike him……….I simply can’t make vow to stay away from you in the future.”
“……..Leonardo…….”