The Beloved Daughter of the Crime Family, Even After Reincarnation Became the Young Lady of a Gangst

Memories of Lapis Lazuli

***

[You know, your father has the exact same amber coloured hair, and rosy red eyes like you.]

The oldest memory Graziano still had was the figure of his mother, telling him that with a smile.

His mother’s scarred yet gentle hands wrapped around Graziano’s cheeks. And on top of her chest lay a shining brooch with a deep blue lapis lazuli embedded in it.

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[Mom……..Mom’s brooch. I’m sorry I scratched it.]

[Graziano, are you really not hurt anywhere from your fall? As long as you didn’t get injured, it’s all okay…….]

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[It’s not okay……! I mean, that thing is your treasure, a matching piece with father right…….?]

Hearing Graziano say that while sobbing, his mother simply shook her head.

[Don’t cry. Mommy now has a treasure far more precious than this brooch after all.]

[……..?]

[My adorable, precious Graziano of course. You’re mom and dad’s cute treasure…….]

His mother embraced him deeply, and poke to console him. Even Graziano had realized that her body had been getting thinner and thinner by the day.

[I’m sure dad will come back one day for you, mom. He’ll have you cured then. Right………?

[……..Of course, Graziano.]

Graziano of course was far more imprudent back then as compared to now of course, and continued to foolish hope for a future that was never going to come.

When the lapis lazuli brooch also disappeared from her chest, she simply lied [I sent a letter to your father. And as proof that it was from me, I enclosed the brooch within it as well]. And he foolishly believed it as well.

Surely his father would receive that letter and would hurriedly have someone send medicine to heal his mother right? He foolishly kept hope that something like that would happen.

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[Mom, don’t cry, I’m not scared.]

Once his mother became unable to even stand up, Graziano grabbed his mother’s hand and desperately shouted that.

[I’m sure, father will come soon. He’ll come for us, I’m sure.]

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[……..Graziano.]

[I’m sure he received your brooch as well. He’ll come and heal your sickness, just wait a little more, pleas——]

[………….]

His mother smiled beautifully, and began to rummage under the sheets with her sickly thin hands and pulled out a bunch of gold coins and handed it to Graziano.

[………..Mom………?]

Graziano knew what [money] was by now. When his mother was still healthy, she took him to the nearby market and taught him how to use it.

[…….Forgive me. Even with this money I was unable to find someone who could take care of you…….]

[Mom, please stop talking. Or the coughing will return.]

[You know, how to use this now right?……….you’ll be fine right? You resemble your father so much, I’m sure you’ll grow up to be a great man one day……….]

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As his mother powerlessly laughed, Graziano could only nod while holding back his tears.

In truth, he wanted to scream and cry, and tell her that he didn’t want to be alone.

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He didn’t want to find a way to live by himself, he wanted to live together with his mom.

But he knew, that if he said that out loud, he would only make his mother sad.

[…….I’ll be fine. I can eat on my own, and I can sleep at night on my own as well.]

[Good boy.]

Hearing the relief in his mother’s voice, he felt glad that he had lied after all.

[Please, never forget this………please. Promise me.]

[Mom……..]

[ I was……]

At the very end, her mother’s hand stretched out and gently patted Graziano’s head.

[I was…….really happy, to have met that man………]

[………]

[Because he gave you to me. Graziano, you will always be my mom and dad’s adorable treasure…….]

[MOM…….!!]

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Looking back now, it was all much more clearer.

Back then, her mother hand not sent that lapis lazuli brooch to his father.

She had sold it for money, and the only reason she handed it Graziano only at her death bed was to make sure that he didn’t run out to waste it on more medicine as well.

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If not for the money she had left for him, until he learnt how to steal by winter, he would have already died.

[I was. Really happy to have met that man.]

The parting words  his mother had left for him were words he had never forgotten.

Even when the nights were so cold that his limbs would go numb, making it impossible to sleep. During the intense summer days when all he had was drinking water and nothing else to eat. He never forgot those words, like it was a protective charm.

[My precious, beloved Graziano. You are mom and dad’s adorable treasure.]

2 years after his mother had died, on that fateful day, when he coincidentally saw his father and chased after him was not to ask him to be saved from his miserable life.

<<If you are reading this chapter at an aggregator site please go to https://shikkakutranslations.org/ or visit https://ko-fi.com/nerosk12/shop to support the translator and read ahead.>>

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He had more or less guessed, even as a child, that his father, in truth had rejected his mother. That’s why he simply wanted to tell him her last words, and nothing more.

And yet, just at the very sight of Graziano, his father had lashed out.

[How can such dirty children be allowed to roam around my mansion?]

Graziano looked in shock. His father glared at him and then shouted in a fearsome voice.

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[—–Send a messenger to the Ranieri family! That there’s an orphan running around thieving people in your territory!]

[………..!]

***

“……………”

Inside the room that had been assigned to him, Graziano slowly woke up.

Inside the Ranieris villa, Graziano had been invited as one of the many guests.

But for a family member like him, the room was a bit too extravagant for his tastes. Even though he had been here for a couple of days now, he had yet to get used to it.

(………This sucks……..)

He had had a dream about his past. Was it perhaps because of the overly large bed that his sleep felt worse than usual?

Graziano was always slow in waking up but, right now while they’re in the forest, he doesn’t have [work] during the night either. So because he was able to go to sleep early, Graziano was waking up a lot fresher than usual by his standards.

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Getting up, he left his after lightly getting dressed, and then ran into the black haired boy.

“Geh………”

“Oh? Finally awake watchdog?”

Getting out of his room at the same time was the head of the Aldini family, Leonardo Valentino Aldini.