AkuMana Ch70

12-15 minutes 24.05.2023

Beloved One

[Epilogue]

In this world, June really was a month of continuous rain.

A week had passed since the incident at the mansion but the rain continued to fall. But finally at the end of the month, on a certain Saturday, finally it seemed like the skies were going to be clear today.

A slightly dressed up Francesca, with a basket of sweets and flowers in hand, had arrived at a certain residence.

“Leonardo, hello!”

When she knocked on the massive oak-made doors, a nice sound rung from it.

The estate of the Aldini family had apparently been rebuilt only a few years ago and was quite new looking. And right now she was at the fourth and top floor of the building, the room where Leonardo lived in.

This must be the study or office where Leonardo probably works as the head of the family, she assumed.

While pondering such things, she called out to him who was most certainly currently inside this room.

“It’s me Francesca. I came to visit, can I come in?”

“——…….”

When she did, after a while, the door was opened from the inside.

Leonardo who opened the door was currently wearing a shirt that was open down to his chest. He seemed a bit surprised, as he looked down towards Francesca.

“Francesca………how did you get to this room?”

“When I said [I’m here for a visit.] the members of your family pointed me to this room. That this was where you were, and that I could do whatever I want.”

“Those guys……..”

“?”

Leonardo pressed down on his forehead, as he seemed to be making a rare bitter face. Normally he’d have this cool and composed smile so it was kind of fresh to see him his mildly frowning look.

“All that aside, Leonardo, have you been resting well? You need to properly sleep okay? I have been saying this to Papa as well but, even he too lost so much blood, he simply refuses to just sit down and take a long rest.”

“Haha, having you worry about me certainly improved my mood. So, are these souvenirs for me?”

“Yep! I baked some cookies, so let’s eat them together!”

Hearing that Leonardo, opened the door wide to let Francesca inside the room.

“Come on in inside. And take a seat and relax.”

“Pardon the intrusion! I’m kinda nervous you know? It’s my first time entering someone else’s study——……..wait……”

“[Study]??”

Leonardo chuckled, and looked at her teasingly.

Meanwhile, Francesca was frozen in place.

She had entered the room without any hesitation but, no matter how you looked at it, this was not his study or office.

“This is……..”

On top of the chic wooden floor, a deep blue sofa had been placed.

It was probably one to lie down on, as a bunch of cushions could also be seen kept on it, and were also similarly coloured in a mature and stylish manner.

The windows were many, and most had been covered by the curtains, making the interior of the room have just the right amount of dimness. On top of the low table, seemed to be lying a bunch of playing cards.

And among all this, the thing that made Francesca gasp the most was the giant bed located at the back of the room.

The bed had a large black coloured canopy, that was currently fully open.

As a result, the dishevelled bed sheets were quite visible, and Francesca cheeks flushed red.

“Wait, this wasn’t your study but your bedroom !?”

“fufu.”

With his shirt buttons open down below his collarbone, Leonardo looked quite defenceless as he narrowed his eyes and looked down on Francesca.

His current look clearly held a certain eroticism to it, as Francesca deeply breathed in from the sight in front of her eyes.

“This is my first time letting someone inside this room as well you know, I’m a bit nervous too.”

(That [nervousness] definitely a lie…….!!)

Since they were friends, she didn’t need to have her heart beat like this. She kept on repeating that to herself as Francesca quickly entered the room.

“I will sit here! If you don’t mind!!”

“Haha, take it easy, and feel at home.”

She exhaled deeply, and wiped the sweat appearing on her forehead with the back of her hand. Looking up towards Leonardo’s face who sat beside her, it seemed his complexion had become a lot better from before.

(A lot of things happened since then but, I’m glad everyone is doing alright again………)

One week ago, after the incident with the Serranova family head Gerard, the five families had fallen into chaos.

Among the five family heads, 3 had taken life threatening injuries, and one of them had even broken a blood signed oath.

The situation was unprecedented, and on top of that, it wouldn’t be strange if the two other houses made a move during this to try and crush one of these houses.

She had heard that the only reason why this didn’t happen is because the royal family had decided to intervene.

***

[A notice has been sent to all the family heads from his majesty, the king himself.]

After getting the treatment done  at the hospital, Francesca’s father said so while lying on the sickbed.

[The reason why Serranova was able to bring in a gun was because the supervisor had been bribed after all apparently. The king was extremely displeased, and at least until the next head of the Serranova family is inaugurated, it’s unlikely that any family will make any major moves.]

[Thank god……..this means both you, Papa, and Leonardo won’t need to work while so severely weakened.——And, Uncle as well.]

[Serranova has been imprisoned with the help of a person that can use restraining skills apparently. And the king’s personal healer used his skills, to at least make sure to bring him back from the verge of death………from here onwards, they’ll now begin to work on finding out who it was that brainwashed him it seems.]

Francesca nodded while hanging her head, as her father took a breath as well.

[………Serranova was a man that always had a strong sense of responsibility. To think that some mysterious person was able to take advantage and brainwash him, and even make him break a blood signed oath.]

Her father and Gerard were old school mates.

She hadn’t asked the details of their past so she didn’t know how close they were back then. Were they on good terms or not? She had no idea.

But, seeing the side of his face as her father stared outside the window made him look a bit sad and lonely.

[……..what a fool.]

[………]

She had no words to reply with, but soon her father returned to his usual expressionless look, as he spoke to Francesca again.

[That said, looks like he at least did well educating his own son. I’m sure his son will be able to rebuild the Serranova family back again.]

[……..I trust him to do so too. If it’s Ricardo, even while protecting their belief in their traditions, he should be able to make his family flourish again.]

When she met Ricardo the other day, Francesca was worried for him but he simply said this in response.

[As a proud member of the Serranova family that is rich in traditions, I will think of what I can do myself, while also atoning for the sins of my father.] he said

[As for your fiancé………the Aldini greenhorn, looks like I have ended in his debt this time as well. That brat not only took the wound I had onto his own body, he even faced Serranova head on just to protect you as well after all.]

[…….Yeah…….]

At that moment, she was really afraid.

But seeing as how her father had also been saved thanks to that, Francesca could only smile while feeling a bit complicated.

[Both me and Papa, were saved by Leonardo.]

[While it does annoy me to admit it………I have also made my resolve as well. Tell him that when you see him next.]

[Resolve?]

Her father simply patted her head with his large hands.

[—–that I leave my daughter, to him, that is.]

[………Papa……..]

He would often do this when she was still small.

But recently he had stopped patting her head like this.

Because of that, it felt a lot more nostalgic, experiencing this again.

[geez Papa! I’m fine, I told you. I’ll show you I can live without depending on anyone else, and I’ll grow up to be a great person! Just you watch!]

[You’re right. I’ll look forward to it.]

His gaze watching over Francesca, as she wiped the corners of her eyes, hadn’t changed much since she was but a child.

And recalling something, her father spoke so.

[………but still, I didn’t think that brat would have inherited the same healing skill as his father.]

(That’s– I’m sure, that skill isn’t actually Leonardo’s but instead……..)

***

“——-I can steal a skill from the dead corpse of a person and make it mine, that’s my real skill.”

“…………”

Seated on that sofa in the bedroom, Francesca closed her lips tightly.

Biting into a chocolate cookie, Leonardo had almost anti-climactically explained his ability when Francesca tried to inquire about it.

“There are a couple of conditions, and I can’t steal it from just anyone either. [the person must be someone close to me when they were alive]. [I need to touch their body when stealing it], and, [the body should still be in a condition where it is recognizable who that person is.] that’s about it I think.”

Raising his three fingers, he explained it in detail so that Francesca could properly understand.

“Meaning, if I don’t touch their body while I can still recognize their face and activate the skill, I won’t be able to steal a skill from them.”

“……….And, they have to be someone you knew very well, is that correct?”

“Indeed. Depending on how close I was with said person, the strength of the skill I take also changes. If I was really close with them, the skill I take will be the strongest one they had, and will also be able to use it at its maximum strength but……..”

Leonardo continued to speak very calmly.

“I did try taking the skill from someone who I had only talked to a bunch of times, but the strength of that skill was really useless.”

“………….”

Hearing the words he so nonchalantly spoke, Francesca chest hurt deeply.

“Then conversely speaking, those fire and ice skills that were so strong were………”

From people that were really close with Leonardo.

Seeing Francesca hang her head, Leonardo simply smiled as if it couldn’t be helped.

“You don’t need to make that kind of a face, Francesca.”

“But, that means that Leonardo has lost a lot of people that you really cared about, right?”

“That’s not true. In the first place, I just randomly pick people to hang around with and only try my best to get along with all these people, and build relationships with them just so I can rob them of their skills if they happen to die that’s all.”

“…….”

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Leonardo picked up another one of Francesca’s homemade cookies, and then showed a gentle smile.

“………..Right now, the only person in the whole wide world that I truly consider to be someone I love, is just you alone.”

“………….”

Even if he spoke in a half-joking and exaggerated way, she could somewhat tell that he truly meant those words.

Francesca was happy that she was such a dear friend to Leonardo.

But when she thought about how lonely Leonardo must have been otherwise, she started to feel quite lonely herself.

“Don’t make that face, Francesca.”

Leonardo quickly smiled again, so Francesca took a bite of her own cookie as well. With the crunch of the bite, the savoury flavour of butter spread inside her mouth.

She was still frowning as she continued to fill her cheeks with the cookie, when Leonardo quietly muttered so.

“………You are the only person precious to me but..”

His gaze was as if he was looking over something truly adorable and precious.

“Being to protect those that are precious and dear to you has also made me feel quite satisfied. Much more than even I expected.”

“……..”

His expression as he said that really looked like he was in a great mood.