True Motives

(One of the skills the Marquis has is the same as Graziano’s, one of Body enhancement. Even after restraining him and locking him up, I knew he’d be able to get out and escape but……)

The red eyes that resembled Graziano’s own, were staring directly towards them.

There couldn’t be many reasons why he’d willingly come to the very place he was supposed to be assassinated.

“Seriously………even though this was supposed to be a blissful day, the day I would be able to just end it all.”

His eyes that glared at Graziano were so cold that Francesca almost wanted to move and stand in front of him to protect him.

The Marquis moved his eyes away from his son, and then looked at Leonardo with disappointment.

“Lord Aldini. I believed you to have accepted my request back then, and yet?”

“Hahaha! Unfortunately you see, I don’t believe in making business deals with people unfit to make clear and conscious decisions. And trust me, I tend to deal with your kind a lot in my day to day, so it’s just a persona rule of mine that I tend to follow. Consider it the secret recipe to my successes.”

Hearing Leonardo’s words, the Marquis looked quite annoyed.

“………after that person ordered me to die, I ended up taking a lot of time to [prepare] for it all. And now finally, the time had come for me to put it into action, and yet it would seem I will first have to get rid of all the pests that would dare interfere with my plan.”

(preparations……..??)

While a certain words stuck out to Francesca, she also once again confirmed that the Marquis had indeed been brainwashed.

In fact, Francesca had been wondering if that was indeed the case for many days now. That’s why, back then, when she was stuck with Leonardo in the cave as the heavy rain fell, she had asked him.

[Hey, what if?………what if the people involved with the assassination plot were also brainwashed by the mastermind………]

And of course, the most problematic person who could have been brainwashed in relation to this entire incident would be the target, Marquis Savini himself.

(The Marquis had requested his own assassination to Leonardo as well. He had asked Leonardo to [Please Kill], not Graziano, but himself…..)

Indeed, Leonardo hadn’t lied to her. He simply spoke in a intentionally misleading manner that would make Francesca to misunderstand the situation, and tried to hide the truth.

Graziano slowly walked towards here and glared at his father as he spoke.

“Wanting to kill himself so much, I guess he really got completely brainwashed by the mastermind huh?”

“………probably, it’s a lot worse than that I think. But if I told Francesca that, I had feeling she would end up crying after realizing the futility of the situation so I did what I did.”

“Leonardo, please, tell what you’re thinking right now.”

Leonardo shrugged his shoulders, and then walked forward as if protecting Francesca.

“When he came to me to request his own assassination, the Marquis seemed entirely in his own senses.”

“Wha…….”

It was Graziano who exclaimed in shock but, he quickly took a battle stance and got ready as well.

Because the mass brainwashed prostitutes moved to kneel beside the collapsed men on the ground.

For a moment it seemed like they were soothing the men, but soon their hands slipped inside the inside pockets of the coats of the men.

And then, out came the guns, gripped in their hands.

The prostitutes all turned towards here and then took aim before firing it at Leonardo and the rest. But regardless, Leonardo showed no signs of panic as he spoke in his usual tone.

“I believe, your hunch is probably correct.”

Graziano stretched out his arms, and then covered Francesca to defend her, and at the same time, a light flashed.

Leonardo’s skill activated and earth rose to create a wall. As the bullets hit and earth wall began to dissolve to dirt again, Leonardo kicked it away, as if it was a hindrance as he continued to speak.

“I believe, Savini really does want his death. Not because of the mastermind’s brainwashing, but by his own will.

“Wha……..?”

“But at least on the surface, he needed to make it seem like he had been killed by someone. Do you know why?”

Graziano who was bewildered was one thing, even Francesca was unable to answer. Expecting that, Leonardo showed a frivolous smile as he spoke.

“———Because he was the head of a family that, he too believed, deserved to be killed.”

“!!”

A second round of gunshots echoed, but all the bullets went wayward, completely missing their mark. Because a bunch of vines had grown out and wrapped around their hands and twisted them away right when they pulled the trigger. Of course, this too was another one of Leonardo’s skills.

“Simply wishing for death wasn’t enough for Savini, he needed to die by someone else’s hands. If he could show just how hated his family was, and how much people wanted him dead, he would make sure that a bunch of people with faint relations to their blood won’t come back hoping to be the next head and get a hand on the inheritance,—–that, was one his main motives.”

The prostitutes groaned and screamed, and then began to tear off the vines wrapped around their hand with pure strength.

While holding aloft his right hand that had the light of a skill being activated shining upon it, Leonardo looked back to turn towards Graziano.

“And after his death, when his own son might get dragged back to succeed the family………perhaps after seeing how miserable the death he got was, his son would realize the abnormality of his family, and help him in run away from that fate. That was the second reason.”

“………What are you,…. saying………..”

Still protecting Francesca with his body, Graziano spoke in a dumbfounded voice.

(I had a feeling, that maybe, just maybe…..)

She recalled the [old tales], the story she head from Sofia.

(Could it be that, Graziano’s father was actually……..)

Leonardo quickly turned his gaze back to the front, and then exhaled again.

“Now then. I need that guy to quickly show up now, otherwise I might be left with no choice but to kill everyone here to solve this situation.”

Even with the skills stolen from others, the limitation of not being able to use them consecutively was still applied.

Since Leonardo’s skill would always steal [The best skill the dead person] had, most of them happened to be high class extremely offensive skills, or so he had told her a while back. Suddenly Francesca shouted.

“Watch out, Leonardo!!”

“Oops.”

The prostitutes had escaped the vines, and put their fingers on the trigger again.

But without even looking towards them, he simply looked in the direction of the hall’s entrance instead.

“Speak of the devil, looks like he’s finally here.”

“Oi, are you guys alright!?”

“………!!?”

Seeing Ricardo rush out towards them, Francesca  quickly shouted loudly and clearly.

“Everyone here is our ally!! Ricardo please, use your wide range-Abnormality effect healing skill!!”

“!!”

Ricardo eyes widened with surprise but, he still followed her instruction and activated his skill.

Just before the girls could pull the trigger, short screams rose inside the hall.

“kyaa…….!”

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