Atonement

Above anything, she had been together with him since they were very little.

“Now quickly get in here away from the rain already………..come here, Graziano!!”

“Uwwahh……!!”

Suddenly Graziano lost his balance and was about to fall, but she managed to pull him back up just in time.

Soon after, the strength in body returned again, and he finally walked inside the cave as well making Francesca breathe a sigh in relief.

“hey………are you really okay now?”

“…………..”

Looking up towards Graziano who looked like a soaked puppy, Francesca smiled as she spoke.

“I know it’s really hard to forget what kind of blood runs through your veins in this world……….but, me, Papa, and everyone else, we all want you to live a long and happy life Graziano.”

In fact, that was a big part of the reason why all the talk of Graziano being adopted into the Calvino family came from.

“Just stay where you truly want to belong. And let go of the place you don’t want to be at. That’s why…”

Francesca spoke to her little bro who was a lot taller than her.

“Please don’t something like you don’t want to stay with me while making such a sad face, okay?”

“………young miss……..”

Graziano hung his head, and his ruby red eyes became unable to be seen.

“…….You really haven’t changed at all since we were kids huh……..”

“Hehe.”

She rubbed and ruffled Graziano hair scattering the rain water away from his head. Afterwards, Francesca turned to look at Leonardo who was quietly observing them from the side until now.

“Leonardo, I…….”

“I will follow your judgement.”

“!”

She hadn’t even said anything and yet, Leonardo simply smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“You want share all the current info you have and your thoughts about it with your watchdog right?”

“……..yeah. While we have no idea who all may already be brainwashed by the mastermind, I understand that it might not be prudent to show our hand to too many people like you said but……”

But even so, Francesca turned and looked back up towards Graziano.

“I want to tell Graziano everything. Will you listen to my story?”

“your story……..?”

And then inside the cave, Francesca began telling him about everything she knew about the [mastermind].

And the fact that she believes that the person behind the drugs incident as well as the assassination plot this time around may even be the same person. And even the fact that whoever attacked her may be someone on the mastermind’s faction as well.

Even if it really was Graziano who was their real aim, her theory still checks out. And while they were talking about all these things, she finally also revealed one more secret that she had kept from Graziano for all these years.

“……..And there’s one more thing. The truth is that I, in fact, do possess skills as well…….”

“……….”

This was the one thing she felt the most guilty about.

“I-I’m really sorry okay? You can get angry if you want though? On top lying and acting like I never had any skills, I even ended up revealing it to Leonardo and Ricardo before you…….”

“……………”

Francesca was full of guilt, as she slowly and nervously looked up to face Graziano. But when their eyes met, his reaction turned out to be a lot weaker than she had feared.

“Um, yeah, I kind of already figured it out that the young miss was hiding her skills though?”

“EH!?”

She was so shocked by his statement that her eyes turned completely round.

“Wh-wha whwahowhwha HOW!?”

“I mean, mostly from how the family head reacted, really. If it was true that you really didn’t have any skills, and all the gossips of you being called a [skill-less] failure among the noble circles came to the boss’ ears, you realize he would have instantly gone out to erase those entire families from existence normally right?”

“Th-that’s….”

Unfortunately it was indeed as Graziano had said.

Even with all the somewhat ridiculing gossips floating around regarding his daughter, her father never really bothered to go out and crush those gossips ever.

“The only reason that the Head was able to keep his cool, even if barely, had to be because there was a good reason for it. So, I figured your skills must be some really rare ones, and to avoid the risk of getting kidnapped, you two probably decided to go out with the story that you were skill-less, or that’s how I saw it.”

“A-as expected of Graziano…….!!”

His read was basically perfectly accurate making Francesca lost for words.

“Also, as for these other two ‘finding out’ before me………Did the young miss tell them about it herself?”

Graziano looked towards Leonardo as he asked, making him lightly chuckle as he answered.

“Not really? I was being targeted by a bunch of killers, and she ended up using it in an attempt to save me, that’s how I found out. Ricardo also found out in a somewhat similar manner I’d say.”

“Well, with Ricardo, I needed to help him end the incident at the night party so…….”

Hearing their explanations, Graziano then simply spoke with a composed look.

“Pretty much what I imagined. Basically, it was basically just a coincidence that they ended up finding it out right?’

“Hmm, well, I guess you could say that……..”

“And the only reason you told the family head was because well, you can’t exactly hide this from your own father can you? Doesn’t that mean that I’m really the only one that you revealed this to out of your own free will?”

Hearing that question, Francesca gave a clear nod.

“Yeah, Just Graziano.”

“pfft.”

For some reason, Graziano laughed at that point sounding satisfied.

“Then that’s that………let’s call it even for keeping it a secret with that.”

“………?”

While Francesca tilted her head a little confused, Leonardo walked to her side, and then drew her shoulder towards him.

“——-now then. I think that’s enough no?”

“Leonardo..”

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