Read Novel Full Chapter 78
Chapter 78
The Reason behind the Duel
Under the trees swaying from the summer winds, as they waited for the horses of the carriage to finish drinking their water, Francesca muttered to herself.
“What do I do? Graziano really has entered his rebellious phase after all……..”
“Who has huh? Can you stop treating me like a child already please?”
Standing at the royal castle’s rotary, her father Ewald and Leonardo were currently nowhere to be seen here.
As the family heads, they also had other things to talk about with King Luka, so Francesca and him had been sent back early by themselves.
“What are you saying? If this isn’t a rebellious phase, what is?!”
Francesca raised her head, and looked at Graziano with both hands on her waist.
“I never thought you’d say something like that, Graziano. Especially in front of Luka-sama and Papa!”
“It seemed like the King was enjoying it though. And the Boss, well, as long as the young miss isn’t directly involved, he doesn’t care how things go as long as the final result is achieved so…….you were basically the only one that found it to be a problem, young miss.”
“A-aren’t you normally supposed to be the one that sticks to common-sense though……..!? Do you even understand? This incident involves your father Graziano and…”
“I–“
Cutting Francesca’s words, Graziano spoke up.
“–don’t care a single bit about by father. At this point anyway.”
“……..Graziano.”
His straightforward look right now was quite different from that young boy that was crying back then.
That’s why, Francesca also spoke up.
“——-Of course you don’t!”
“!”
Graziano looked shocked.
Francesca, hoping he understood where she stood on the matter, quickly continued to speak.
“There is absolutely no reason for you, the son, to save that man who did so many terrible things to you just because he’s your father.—–Absolutely none!”
“……..young miss.”
She felt like she saw his eyes flicker for just a moment.
Francesca continued to speak to him, just like she did when they were kids, even if if her little bro had grown a lot bigger now.
“But that’s precisely why! If you are trying to make a reason for yourself to face said father, even though you don’t actually want to, by staging a [Duel with Leonardo] and make yourself work hard, you should stop that right now, okay?”
“………”
When she said that, Graziano simply narrowed his eyes and smiled.
“………You know me so well it’s honestly laughable.”
“Eh?”
Francesca tilted her head in confusion, as Graziano also returned to his usual calm self.
“Like I said, I don’t care even a bit about my father anymore. And by that I mean, I have no strong feeling towards any of this, whether it be protecting him or not wanting to meet him. I simply don’t feel anything.”
“But..”
“More than that, what’s more important to me is the young miss’ future.”
Graziano’s red eyes seemed to look behind Francesca.
The bright sun rays of July were shining on the rotary’s pavement.
And yet the jet black clothes of the man walking on it seemed to absorb it all and made it disappear into a dark abyss.
(Leonardo.)
The black haired beautiful young man was currently walking towards them.
His eyes met Francesca’s and he smiled happily and waved his hand towards her. Seeing that, Graziano glared at Leonardo again.
“………I still have my doubts on whether that man can be fully trusted enough to be considered your fiancé.”
(Well he doesn’t know that Leonardo and me are actually friends after all……..)
“That’s why I wanted to [Duel] him. Even if you call this my ‘rebellious phase’, please allow me to worry about you that way.”
And then, Graziano simply spoke as a matter of fact.
“………I am your little brother after all, right?”
(Ah.)
Hearing his slightly sulky tone, Francesca was now convinced.
(Now that I think about it, I have completely left Graziano alone by himself just so I can go to school with Leonardo, and have ice cream alone with him………….of course, he’d get a bit lonely huh.)
She felt apologetic for that, making her hang her head.
“Sorry, Graziano. I must have made you feel very lonely right.”
“Ha? No, that wasn’t really what I meant……..”
“Francesca.”
Leonardo stood in front of her and then held his hand slightly above her head. Just when she was wondering what he was doing, she could feel the blazing summer heat around her slowly disappear.
“If you keep standing in a place like this, your pretty skin will get sunburnt, you know? We can’t have you be in such pain so come over here instead.”
“Wait, did you actually create a shadow just for me? Fufu, thank you!”
Just as she was laughing at his overly considerate actions, Graziano also quickly stepped up.
“I can do that much as well though?”
“haha, what happened watchdog. You should leave Francesca to me, and focus more on the mission don’t you think?”
(It’s as Leonardo said. Even if Graziano said all that, this incident wasn’t something that would be settled with a mere [mock duel] and will quickly become a lot more serious.)
Francesca, who knew where the scenario was going to, stood beside Leonardo while he messing around and slipped into her thoughts.
(While Leonardo being my ally now, and Graziano being a childhood friend were two big changes from the original story, the overall general details of this incident are still the same. But during the Second Chapter’s [Assassinatio Plot] incident……)
She pursed her lips, and recalled her emotions when she played through this part of the story for the first time.
(Graziano’s father was……….definitely going to get killed in the events of the main story.)
That death was of course a forced event.
No matter what choices the protagonist may make, and no matter how much the player may grind and raise their playable characters, that death was completely unavoidable.
(The second chapter was all about slowly getting closer with the unsociable caretaker of the protagonist, Graziano. And in the climax, with the death event of his father, finally a bond would be forged between Graziano and the protagonist but…….)
But, Francesca had already made a decision.
(I will definitely avoid that death. Graziano doesn’t need to get forced into getting involved with his father, and doesn’t need to save him either but, even so, I will….)
She simply could not let a person she knew was going to die, face that cruel fate without doing anything.
(To achieve my peaceful and normal life, I simply can’t [leave someone to die a miserable death] either. To not lose my normal way of living as well!)
And besides, this time the details of this scenario were a bit different from the first chapter where she was able to completely avoid all the danger.
(We can’t have things go according to the scenario so, I can’t just depend on my game’s knowledge. To be able to borrow Leonardo’s strength was a stroke of good luck…….or, so, I, thought……….)
Suddenly pulled strongly by Leonardo, Francesca suddenly regained her senses.
“You can return now watchdog. Us two betrothed will work together from now on, and quickly stop the assassination plot.”
“Whaaa!? Leonardo!?”
Graziano frowned, and tried to separate Leonardo from Francesca by pulling her as well.
“Can you stop casually touching our young miss so casually? You aren’t married yet. If the Boss saw you, he’ll completely lose his temper.”
“Graziano, not you too……!”
“Unfortunately, your boss personally told me [take care of my daughter] directly you see. If anything, such intimacy building even before the actual marriage will be something that would actually calm a father down, no?”
“In the first place, the young miss herself hasn’t agreed to this engagement yet.”
“Haha! But, she hasn’t rejected it either, has she?”
“………..tsk.”
Trapped between the heated argument, Francesca took in a deep breath and shouted.
“——-YOU TWO! STOP FIGHTING OVER SOMETHING SO STUPID INSIDE THE ROYAL PALACE!!”
Seriously, there were only worries towards the upcoming investigation inside her head.
—————-(End of Act 1)————