Whereabouts of Responsibility

(She’s so pretty and cool, it makes sense why she was depicted as the cool mature lady in the game as well. She wasn’t an obtainable playable character however, even though the Third Chapter revolves around the Ranieri family, and the main character was also her younger brother in that chapter as well.)

From the point of view of the protagonist, there was not a lot of common ground between them and Sofia.

But for the player side, having a [A hot older sis character that interacts with the protagonist] launched her into popularity and there were a lot of voices asking for her to be implemented as a playable character as well.

“In this country anything that could be considered [Beautiful] in the underworld, is controlled and managed by the Ranieri family, right?”

When Francesca asked that, Leonardo sitting beside her chuckled and explained.

“It’s not just the brothels, the Ranieri family also manage gems and jewel trading, art trading, and they even supervise the beautification of the town and its districts as well. Frankly, it was a sector I was aiming to enter as well but I didn’t want to quarrel with the Ranieris so I backed off.”

“You backed off?”

To be fair, Leonardo was certainly not the type to pick a fight he had no chance of winning.

But, in the first place the amount of people that would make Leonardo go [I want to avoid fighting them] are very, very few in this entire world. Sofia simply shrugged her shoulders hearing that, and dropped the ash from her cig into the tray as she followed up.

“You are certainly extremely skilled in almost every category or sector you get involved with but, there’s times when the right person is already at the right place as well. Just like the young miss over there as well, who is also similarly in the [right place] right now.”

(Ugh, not this talk again…….!)

It was doubtful whether Sofia knew her words were causing Francesca some deep pain, but she smiled regardless.

“What do you think, missy? Whether it be the resolve to see everything to the end with your own eyes, or whether it be the control to not make your subordinates do everything for you, both are fantastic qualities only held by those worthy of one day standing at the top of the underworld you know.”

“…………I’m sorry Sofia-san, forgive me if I’m about to say something extremely impertinent but, I’m not as accomplished as you think I am.”

“Ohh?”

“Because my actions were not because of either of these two ‘qualities’ that you talked about, Sofia-san.”

Francesca clenched her fists on top her lap, and then looked Sofia directly in her eyes before continuing on.

“I simply didn’t want to see that boy, Graziano , have to take all responsibility for the actions I ordered him to do.”

“!”

In the underworld, quite often a subordinate would defend their boss and take the fall for them if necessary.

The subordinate would become a sacrifice for the sake of their bosses who actually committed the crimes.

To keep the executives of the organization safe, a single member would put their life on the line to become their shield.

To fulfil the orders of the superiors, the juniors will walk into danger. That was a everyday happening of this side of the world. But to Francesca, that situation seemed unreasonable.

“Everything that happens due to the orders I give is the responsibility of the order giver, and not the one that simply enacted on those orders, in my opinion at least.”

To save that lady beside the river was something Francesca had ordered Graziano to do. To take responsibility for those actions herself was something she deemed to be perfectly normal.

“That’s why I went to stand beside Graziano, and even explained as well as apologized to the Marquis myself.——I simply owned up to my own responsibilities that’s all.”

“……………”

Sofia looked somewhat flabbergasted as she observed Francesca.

(huh?)

Feeling that her reaction was slightly weird, Francesca could only blink in place as well. Looking to the side towards Leonardo, he was holding down on his mouth, trying his best to stifle his laughter.

“………EH!? Hey Leonardo, did I really say something that strange just now!?”

“fuh kukuku…….No, it’s nothing. But I was simply thinking just how incredible you really are, that’s all.”

“I know that reaction! You’re definitely hiding something, aren’t you……!?!”

In a panic, she racked her brains to fix the situation, but the reality was that she didn’t even know what she had said that was wrong.  And in the meanwhile, Sofia suddenly began to laugh out loud.

“Ahahahaha! Now this really is incredible! Oh, I can’t wait to see what the Calvino family will be like in the future!”

(No but!!? I don’t even plan on inheriting my house in the future though……..!?!)

She wanted to say her rebuttal out loud but, she had a feeling that’d only make the situation worse for her. After laughing to her heart’s content, Sofia lit a new cig before speaking again.

“If only Marquis Savini that throws all the blame on his subordinates could hear this. Seriously.”

Hearing that, she also began to think about how Graziano was doing right now.

During the stay for their trip in this forest, Francesca and the rest had borrowed a villa from the Ranieri household as well. Graziano, as well as Ricardo, were currently waiting for them there.

“Even though I’m already busy taking care of my little sisters to get them all ready before the next night party, he just had to go out and cause more problems for me.”

“Night party……….”

It was a keyword that was very important during the events of Chapter Two. Hearing it, made Francesca instantly react to it.

(——That’s the party where Graziano’s father gets assassinated.)

It was an compulsory event in the game, and was completely unavoidable no matter what you do.

(Just in case we are unable to stop the killer before the night of the party, I’d like to at least have the permission to attend it, as a last resort. Even in the game, both the protagonist and Graziano were barred from attending it as they were still students if I recall but…….)

“……….Lord Ranieri.”

While lightly elbowing Francesca in the back, Leonardo suddenly spoke up.

“Could you allow me to take part in that night party as well?”

“Leonardo?”

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