Chapter 473

Giovanni said unhappily, and then burped again.

"Raven, you have followed me since your father's generation. For so many years, I have never asked you for anything. After completing the last task I gave you, you can go wherever you want, okay?"

"Don't you want me to stay with you, Duke?" Raven asked doubtfully.

"No, I know you have been planning to leave for a long time."

"Then, Duke, tell me, what is the last task you gave me?"

"Don't worry, Raven, I ask you, is there anything you cherish most in your life? People or things, it doesn't matter."

"Of course I have." Raven nodded. "But now what I cherish most is my own strength."

"It's a good idea. Once a person puts all his thoughts on himself and has no worries outside, he will be invincible."

Giovanni picked up the bottle in front of him and drank another bottle of wine.

"Do you know why I have been targeting the royal family and Antica?"

"Is it... still because of that incident?" Raven asked tentatively.

"Yeah." Giovanni nodded in despair.

"I thought you had forgotten her, Duke."

Raven said this with a hint of regret in his tone.

"How could I forget? That is the regret of my life." Giovanni sighed.

"She was born here and grew up here. She never came back from being driven away until she died in a foreign land. How can I not hate them?"

"So, in order to let him experience my pain, Raven, the last task is to help me kill Lit."

"Only by losing his flesh and blood can he understand how I felt at that time, right?"

Giovanni's eyes revealed a hint of ferocity.

At this moment, he was sober, unlike the drunkenness just now.

Raven nodded, said nothing more, and walked out of the Duke's mansion alone.

Giovanni took out a pocket watch from his pocket, looked at the portrait inside, and stared at it for a long time.

"I'm sorry, I let you down, Margaret...sister."

After a long time, he murmured.

Chapter 125: Disappearing in the Sky (4K)

"Father, why did you drive Sister Margaret out?"

In the mansion, a young child looked at the middle-aged man in front of him and asked puzzledly.

"Giovanni, I've said it many times, she is not your sister, she was just a servant I found to take care of you, and it would be the same if someone else came. If you say she is your sister again, don't blame me for putting you in solitary confinement!"

The middle-aged man was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, and then he shouted loudly.

"Now, I have to deal with things, Giovanni, get out of my way!"

"But..." The boy mustered up his courage and stopped in front of the middle-aged man. "I need you to give me an explanation, father!"

"Explanation?" The middle-aged man smiled.

"You are young, but you are so arrogant."

As he said this, Giovanni was greeted with a heavy slap, and he was knocked to the ground.

Giovanni covered his burning face on the right side, endured the pain and stood up, and stood in front of the middle-aged man again.

"Father..."

"...Okay, since you want to know so much, then I will tell you what happened."

"She is the bastard that your mother gave birth to with a man outside before marrying me!" The middle-aged man said this, his pupils shaking, and the shock in his heart could not be calmed for a long time.

"But... it should be my mother's fault for doing all this, and it has nothing to do with Sister Margaret..."

"Oh, so you mean that I have to feed your mother's lover with good food and drink, right?"

"No... that's not what I mean."

"There's nothing to say, Raven, send Giovanni to the confinement room."

"I know."

Since that day, Giovanni never saw Margaret again. When he saw Margaret again, she was standing next to another man.

And that man was his long-time rival in the Imperial Academy.

Lucius.

That noon, Giovanni found this familiar figure in a restaurant in Saint Laurent City. Even though he hadn't seen her for eight years, she was still as dazzling and charming as before.

Giovanni walked into the restaurant, came to the two of them, and stared at Margaret blankly.

Lucius looked at Giovanni, frowned slightly, and said in a not-so-friendly tone: "Student Giovanni, what are you doing here?"

However, when he saw Margaret, who was sitting opposite him, also showing a surprised expression, he realized that something seemed wrong.

"You, know each other?"

"Yes." Margaret nodded, then looked up at Giovanni who was staring at her.

"Master Giovanni, long time no see..."

"What master? You should just call me Giovanni as usual." Giovanni said this, and he, who was usually sarcastic, rarely smiled.

"But we haven't seen each other for a long time, Sister Margaret. I didn't expect you to be in Saint Laurent City. We haven't seen each other for eight years. What have you been doing during this time?"

"..." Margaret was silent for a while, and then showed a polite smile.

"Sorry, Giovanni, I don't want to tell anyone about my experiences in the past few years. Can you understand me?"

"Oh, of course." Giovanni nodded and looked at Lucius who was sitting next to him.

"Lucius, can I sit next to you?"

"Yes, of course." Lucius also nodded.

When two old acquaintances meet, Lucius will certainly not hinder others from meeting.

The following banquet, which was originally a date between Lucius and Margaret, turned into a reunion between Giovanni and Margaret. The two talked about many topics, but when it came to the experiences in the past few years, Margaret always kept silent.

After the Duchess's adultery with an outsider was exposed, Giovanni's biological mother's lover was directly executed by Leopold, Duke of Naples. His biological mother, the Duchess, chose to die with her lover after receiving the news of her lover's death. Leopold had been busy outside, and the originally lively family was left with only Giovanni in an instant. The scene of chatting and laughing with his mother and sister Margaret was no longer reproduced.

Now seeing Margaret again, Giovanni seemed to have grabbed a life-saving straw. After the dinner, everyone stood at the door and prepared to say goodbye. Lucius was ready to send Margaret home. At this time, Giovanni looked at Margaret and asked:

"Sister Margaret, can you go back with me? I will plead with my father. You can go back home. I really have a hard time without you."

Margaret was touched when she heard Giovanni's words, but she still shook her head.

"Giovanni, Lord Leopold will not allow me to go back, and... I..."

She looked up at Lucius, and everything was self-explanatory.

Margaret is 22 years old this year. She was only 14 years old when she left the Duke's house. At that time, her biological father was forced to death, and her biological mother chose to commit suicide for love. She was helpless, and the most valuable thing on her body was the maid's uniform of the Duke's family.

In desperation, she could only sell her maid's uniform, change into a coarse linen dress and walk on the street, living with the homeless.

When she went out, the citizens of the entire Romulus City knew that she was an illegitimate daughter and a wild seed. They all ridiculed her, beat and scolded her. That period was almost the darkest period of her life.

In Romulus City, people may not say anything when they see homeless people, but when they see Margaret, they will definitely spit and then walk away with disgust.

In desperation, she could only go north to work.

She worked as a nanny for others and volunteered in a church school. Because of her excellent reputation, the priest even proposed that she be baptized as a nun, but she refused. She felt that she was not suitable to join the church because of her unclean identity.

Until four years ago, she saved enough money and opened a bakery in the lower city of Saint Laurent. She thought she could run it steadily and live a life of honesty, but she didn't expect to be entangled by gangsters.

At the critical moment, it was Lucius who appeared and saved her.

At that time, Lucius had just come to Saint Laurent not long ago. He had no place to eat because he was cheated of all his money. He was too proud to ask his family for help.

So Margaret proposed to let Lucius help in her store and she would take care of his food and accommodation. The two of them got in touch.

It was not until the summer passed and the enrollment season began that Margaret learned that Lucius was a student of the Imperial College and a military officer family.

However, Lucius did not care about the difference in status between them, and he still often visited her after school, and the two fell in love with each other.

Should Margaret go back at this time?

Go back to her sad place? The place where she had no relatives and was lonely?

Margaret really couldn't do it.

So, Margaret finally spoke:

"Giovanni, you are also an adult, I believe you can overcome the difficulties, I have come all these years alone, right?"

"But..." Giovanni looked at Margaret in confusion.

"Sister Margaret, I have known you since childhood, and after so many years of friendship, can't we be compared with this person in the end?" Giovanni pointed at Lucius.

"He is just the son of a military officer. I am the son of a duke, the future duke. I have always treated you, sister Margaret, as a family member. Are you so cruel to leave me alone?!"

"Sorry... Giovanni, please, sometimes think about me..." Margaret heard Giovanni say this and pleaded helplessly.

"Think about it, what does Napoli mean to me? I... I really can't go back there... Giovanni, just think of it for my sister, don't force me..."

Lucius watched the conversation between the two and silently guarded Margaret.

At this time, Giovanni also knew that it was useless to persuade her.

He lowered his head, looking distraught.

"In other words, as long as my father is gone and I become the duke, you, sister Margaret, can come back, right?"

He muttered to himself.

Margaret looked at him and couldn't help but worry.

"Giovanni, don't do anything stupid, okay?"

However, Giovanni didn't listen at all. He just turned around and left silently.

Three months later, Lucius successfully graduated with the first place in the Imperial Academy and served in the army.

Half a month later, Leopold, the Duke of Naples, "died peacefully" in his sleep, and Giovanni succeeded Leopold and became the youngest duke of the Duchy of Naples in a thousand years.

When Giovanni returned to Saint Laurent City with the good news that Margaret finally didn't have to worry about being scolded when she returned, Margaret's bakery had already closed.

At the door of the store, there were roses sent by countless people.

In the distance, the church bells rang, and he ran straight to the church, just in time to see a scene that he would never forget.

Under the auspices of the priest, Lucius and Margaret's wedding was successfully held, and the two embraced each other.

Giovanni looked at everything in front of him in disbelief, and everything he had done before seemed to be in vain.

In the end, just like the last time he said goodbye to Margaret, he still walked back alone in silence this time.

…

It had been less than half an hour since the war spread to the Duke's Mansion. Giovanni could even clearly hear the shouts and screams in the distance.

He closed his pocket watch, came to the stairs, and climbed up.

With every step, he seemed to be able to see all the things that happened in the Duke's Mansion.

"Master, don't beat the child. It's all my fault. Don't beat the child!"

At the corner of the stairs, a woman was holding the girl in her arms, with her back to the angry middle-aged man. The man was like a monster, whipping the woman's back with his belt, leaving bright red scars on it.

A little boy was pulling the man's hand from behind, but everything was in vain. The man pushed him to the stairs casually, and the back of his head touched the steps, and a lot of blood flowed.

"Giovanni!" The woman made a heart-wrenching sound, but it was eventually covered by the man's angry shout.

"I told you to find an outsider! You bastard! You'd better die!"

He went down the stairs to the second floor, and he stayed in the office at the stairs for a long time.

This used to be my father's bedroom. After his death, it was converted into an office.

In the room, a middle-aged man was lying on the bed, his eyes bloodshot, looking at the young man sitting next to him in disbelief.

"Giovanni! How dare you do this... Ugh!"