“Father, why did you drive sister Margaret out?”
Inside the mansion, a young child looked at the middle-aged man before him and asked in confusion.
“Giovanni, I’ve said many tis, she is not your sister. At that ti, I just casually found a servant to take care of you. It would be the sa if soone else ca. If you say she is your sister again, don’t bla for putting you in solitary confinent!”
The middle-aged man was so angry his beard bristled and eyes glared, and then he even directly shouted loudly.
“Now, I need to handle sothing, Giovanni, get out of my way!”
“But...” The boy mustered courage and blocked the middle-aged man’s path. “I need Father to give an explanation!”
“Explanation?” The middle-aged man smiled.
“Not very old, but quite a tone.”
Saying this, what greeted Giovanni was a heavy slap. He was directly knocked down onto the ground.
Giovanni clutched his stinging right cheek, endured the pain, stood up, and stood before the middle-aged man again.
“Father...”
“...Alright, since you want to know so badly, then I’ll tell you what happened.”
“She, your mother, gave birth to that whore with a man outside before marrying !” The middle-aged man said this, watching his pupils dilate in shock, his inner shock unable to subside for a long ti.
“But... doing all this, it should only be Mother’s fault, and has nothing to do with sister Margaret, right...”
“Oh, so you an I should feed and care well for your mother’s lover’s child, is that it?”
“No... that’s not what I an.”
“There’s nothing more to say. Raven, take Giovanni to solitary confinent.”
“I understand.”
Since that day, Giovanni never saw Margaret again. When he saw Margaret again, she was already standing beside another man.
And that man was precisely his long-standing rival at the Imperial Academy.
Lucius.
That day at noon, Giovanni discovered this familiar figure in a restaurant in Saint Roland City. Even after eight years of not seeing her, she was still as dazzling and charming as ever.
Giovanni walked into the restaurant, ca to the two of them, and stared blankly at Margaret. “Student Giovanni, may I ask what brings you here?” Lucius looked at Giovanni, frowned slightly, and spoke in a not-so-friendly tone.
However, when he saw Margaret, who was sitting opposite him, also showing a surprised expression, he realized sothing seed wrong.
“You two, know each other?”
“Mm.” Margaret nodded, then looked up at Giovanni who was watching her. “Young Master Giovanni, long ti no see...”
“What Young Master? Just call Giovanni as usual.” Giovanni said this, and he, who was usually sharp-tongued and harsh, rarely revealed a hint of a smile.
“However, it really has been a long ti since we last t, sister Margaret. I didn’t expect you to be in Saint Roland City. It’s been eight years since we last t, right? What have you been doing during this ti?”
“...” Margaret was silent for a while, then revealed a polite smile.
“Apologies, Giovanni. I don’t want to talk about my experiences in these past few years with others for now. You can understand, right?”
“Ah, of course.” Giovanni heard this, nodded, then looked at Lucius sitting on the side. “Student Lucius, may I sit beside you?”
“Mm, of course.” Lucius also nodded.
Two old acquaintances eting, Lucius of course would not obstruct their reunion.
The subsequent banquet, which was originally a date between Lucius and Margaret, turned into a reunion between Giovanni and Margaret. The two of them talked about many topics, but when it ca to the experiences of these past few years, Margaret always remained silent.
After the incident of the Duchess committing adultery with an outsider was exposed, the Duchess Giovanni’s birth mother’s lover was directly executed by Duke Leopold of Napoli. His birth mother, the Duchess, after receiving the news of her lover’s death, also chose to die with her lover. Leopold had been constantly away on business. The originally lively family was instantly left with only Giovanni alone. The scenes of laughing and talking with his mother and sister Margaret would no longer reappear.
Now, seeing Margaret again, Giovanni felt as if he had grasped a life-saving straw. After the al, everyone stood at the entrance preparing to part ways. Lucius was preparing to take Margaret ho. Just at this mont, Giovanni looked at Margaret and asked, “Sister Margaret, can you co back with ? I will plead with Father for you. Please co back ho. I really live in hardship without you.”
Margaret heard Giovanni’s words, her face was sowhat moved, but she still shook her head. “Giovanni, Lord Leopold will not allow to return, and... I...”
She looked up at Lucius, and everything was understood without words.
Margaret was twenty-two years old this year. When she left the Duke’s family, she was only fourteen. At that ti, her birth father was forced to die, and her birth mother also chose to die with her lover. With no one to rely on, the most valuable thing she had on her was surprisingly the Duke’s family’s maid uniform.
Helplessly, she could only sell her maid uniform, change into rough linen clothes, and walk on the streets, making her ho wherever she went with vagrants.
Living outside, all the citizens of Romulus City knew she was an illegitimate daughter, a whore. Not one of them didn’t mock and taunt her, beating and scolding her incessantly. That period was almost the darkest ti in her life.
In Romulus City, people might not say anything when they saw a vagrant, but when they saw Margaret, they would certainly spit and then walk away disdainfully.
Helplessly, she could only go north to work.
She worked as a live-in nanny for others, and also as a volunteer at a church school. Because of her excellent reputation, the priests even suggested she be baptized and beco a nun, but she refused. She felt that soone with her impure background was not suitable to join the Church.
It wasn’t until four years ago that she saved up enough money and opened a bakery in the lower district of Saint Roland City. Originally, she thought she could just continue to run it safely and steadily like this, and finally live her life honestly and decently alone. However, she didn’t expect to be harassed by local thugs.
At a critical mont, Lucius appeared and saved her.
At that ti, Lucius had not been in Saint Roland City for long. His travel money had been swindled away, and he had nowhere to eat. He was also proud and unwilling to ask his family for help.
And so, Margaret suggested that Lucius help out at her shop, and she would provide for his food and lodging. The two connected in this way.
It wasn’t until a sumr had passed and the school year began that Margaret knew Lucius was a student at the Imperial Academy, and also from a family of military officials.
However, Lucius did not care about the difference in their status and still often visited her after classes. As a result, the two developed feelings for each other.
Would Margaret go back at this ti? Back to that place of sorrow? That place where she had no one to rely on, only loneliness? Margaret truly couldn’t do it.
And so, Margaret finally spoke, “Giovanni, you are also an adult now. I believe you can definitely overco difficulties. I have also co this far by myself all these years, haven’t I?”
“But...” Giovanni looked at Margaret in confusion.
“Sister Margaret, you and I have known each other since we were children. All those years of friendship, is it ultimately not as important as this person?” Giovanni pointed at Lucius.
“He is just the son of a military official. I am the son of a Duke, the future Duke. I have always treated you, sister Margaret, as family. Are you really so heartless, so heartless as to abandon alone?!”
“Apologies... Giovanni, please, sotis think about too...” Margaret heard Giovanni say this and also pleaded helplessly. “Think about what that place, Napoli, ans to . I... I truly cannot go back there... Giovanni, please, even if it’s for my sake, don’t force ...”
Lucius watched the conversation between the two, silently standing by Margaret’s side.
At this mont, Giovanni also knew that no matter how much he pleaded, it was useless.
He lowered his head, looking dejected.
“In other words, as long as Father is gone and I beco Duke, sister Margaret, you can co back, right?” He murmured to himself.
“Giovanni, don’t do anything foolish, alright?”
However, Giovanni couldn’t hear it at all. He just silently turned and left.
Three months later, Lucius successfully graduated from the Imperial Academy as the top student and took up a position in the military.
Another half a month passed. Duke Leopold of Napoli “died peacefully” in his sleep. Giovanni succeeded Leopold, becoming the youngest Duke of the Napoli Duchy in a thousand years.
When Giovanni returned to Saint Roland City with the good news that Margaret no longer had to worry about being scolded if she ca back, Margaret’s bakery had already closed its doors.
At the entrance of the shop, there were countless roses sent by people.
In the distance, the church bells rang. He rushed straight to the church, and happened to see a scene he would never forget.
Under the officiation of the priest, the wedding of Lucius and Margaret was successfully held. The two embraced each other.
Giovanni looked at everything before him in disbelief. Everything he had done before seed to have been in vain.
Ultimately, just as when he had said goodbye to Margaret the last ti, this ti too, he silently walked back alone.
...
The war had spread to within half an hour of the ducal mansion. Giovanni could even clearly hear the sounds of fighting and killing in the distance.
He closed the pocket watch, ca to the stairwell, and ascended the stairs.
With every step, he seed to see the various things that had happened in the ducal mansion back then.
“Master, please don’t hit the child. It’s all my fault. Please don’t hit the child!” At the stairwell corner, a woman held the girl in her arms, her back to the angry middle-aged man. The man, like a monster, whipped the woman’s back with his belt, leaving streaks of red scars on it.
A little boy was pulling the man’s hand from behind, but it was all in vain. The man casually pushed him onto the stairs. The back of his head hit the steps, and quite a bit of blood flowed.
“Giovanni!” The woman let out a heart-wrenching cry. However, it was ultimately drowned out by the man’s angry shouts.
“I told you to find an outsider! You whore! You’d all better die!”
Following the stairs, he reached the second floor. At the office by the stairwell, he paused for a long ti again.
This used to be his father’s bedroom. After he died, it was converted into an office.
Inside the room, a middle-aged man lay on the bed, his eyes bloodshot, looking in disbelief at the young man sitting on the side.
“Giovanni! You dare to do sothing like this... Ugh!” The man clutched his neck, then rolled his eyes and died with a pained expression.
The young man walked out from the doorway of the room.
“Raven, I’m leaving the funeral arrangents to you.”
“I understand.”
He stepped forward again, this ti reaching the third floor.
“Duke, we have indeed found Lady Margaret, who was pregnant, however...”
“However, what?”
“She had already died in difficult childbirth at that ti. As for the child... whereabouts unknown.”
“What!?”
Compared to the child’s unknown whereabouts, what saddened Giovanni the most at that ti was Margaret’s death in difficult childbirth.
His gaze shifted, and he arrived at the top floor.
“Your Grace, according to intelligence, near the carriage where Lady Margaret’s body was found at that ti, we only found this boy...”
“Look at him. How much he resembles .” Giovanni took the child, lifted him up, and revealed a rare smile. “Alright, I will adopt this child and na him Donny. However, I must arrange a mother for him, otherwise it will be easy to beco the subject of gossip.”
He held the child above his head. The sunlight shone down. The child smiled, and so did he.
Giovanni stopped again. This ti, he had indeed reached the top floor.
However, Romulus City was no longer the city in his mories.
Romulus City at this mont was only left with decay and silence.
Beside him, standing, was Margaret in a white dress stained with blood.
“Giovanni, is all this you are doing now worth it?” Margaret turned her head to look at Giovanni.
Half of her cheek was also stained with blood.
“Whether it is for my sake, or for your ambition, everything you have done is too much, isn’t it?”
“...” Giovanni was silent. Only in front of Margaret was his conscience tornted.
“I do not regret eting you when you were a child,” Margaret said this, and leaped from the rooftop.
“No! Margaret!” Seeing this, Giovanni quickly reached out, but caught nothing.
Just like before.
When he ca back to his senses, he already saw that on the street in the distance, at a distance of no more than five hundred ters, there were already enemy troops.
Giovanni sighed helplessly, then snapped his fingers, and a ball of fla appeared in his hand. “Perhaps it is just as you said,” he sighed helplessly.
Subsequently, the fla fell onto the ground on the first floor. The fire spread from the first floor, burning all of Giovanni’s mories, layer by layer, into ashes.
Giovanni stood on the balcony of the top floor, feeling the wind gradually beco hot, spreading his arms, and closing his eyes.
He only brought endless disaster to the Empire. He could not even be called a great figure. In future history books, there would only be endless criticism of him.
He naturally also knew that he was a failure. However, he was not sad about those things.
From beginning to end, only one thing was always suppressed in his heart, unable to be forgotten for a long ti.
And now, this matter, along with a fire and his body, would turn into ashes and dissipate into the sky.
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