Today was a day with Elena.
Of course, it was also when we were busy preparing for war at the Academy, and I couldn’t be by Elena’s side as I was headed to meet Dom Solomon in the city center.
“You all wait here.”
“Okay, hurry back.”
After arriving at the Lupus Carlton Hotel, I got into the elevator alone, leaving Sarina and Kambara in the car.
Sarina, who seemed like she wanted to follow me, surprisingly stayed in the car. There was definitely something about me that made her obedient.
Ding dong―!
As the elevator arrived at the top floor, a strange phenomenon occurred.
Almost simultaneously, the doors to two rooms opened.
“….”
“….”
The looks exchanged between the two wives were as sharp as daggers.
“Elena, I just met with Dom Solomon.”
“That guy?”
“He invited me to his hideout first.”
While I was talking to Elena, Felicita quickly sidled up next to me.
“So, what did you decide?”
“Sanchez scammed us. Including that, Solomon made a new proposal.”
We decided to discuss more details after heading to Elena’s Room. We couldn’t keep chatting right there in the corridor on the top floor.
“Hey, why are you bringing that thing?”
“That thing? You’re being pretty harsh on our darling.”
Felicita wasn’t alone. A huge moth, which must have been hiding behind her, instantly nestled in her arms.
Of course, the owner of the room, Elena, was quite sensitive to the appearance of the giant moth, especially a silkworm moth.
“Keeeeeek!”
Regardless, Hebili freed himself from Felicita’s embrace and clung to me.
“What are you doing! Get that off right now!”
“….”
Surprisingly, it wasn’t me that Elena was alarming about Hebili; she was more agitated than I was.
“Stay still. You little thing.”
It wasn’t difficult to catch the creature that had stuck to me, moving all over the place. Despite being caught, Hebili remained calm.
He definitely had a gentle temperament. Felicita laughed at this, but Elena was horrified by Hebili’s movements.
“Luke, get that thing away.”
“Do I have to? I don’t think it’s necessary.”
“Yeah, Luke seems fine with it.”
“I’m saying I’m not fine with it. Me.”
Seeing Elena’s reaction left me with no choice. Instead of returning Hebili, we came to a compromise where Felicita held Hebili tightly.
Afterward, I explained to both wives about what I heard from Solomon and the proposal he made to us.
“So, all together that’s 15%?”
“Yeah, it’s not too much, not too little—just a perfect middle ground.”
“Let’s negotiate for an additional 5% regarding the ownership of the central part. That’d be good.”
Following Elena’s suggestion, it meant 5% for the drug supply and 15% for maintaining territory in the city center.
“Okay, I’ll relay that to him.”
“By the way, that hamster guy seems to be quite friendly with you.”
“His father was one of our father’s subordinates. It’s probably due to that connection.”
“Plus, he respects our father too.”
I added my personal opinion to Elena’s explanation. From what I gathered while talking directly to Solomon, it did seem to be the case. It was a relief that he didn’t seem the type to try to become a legend himself but rather looked up to it.
“Or he could just be trying to appear that way.”
“If we start going down that path, it’ll never end.”
Elena responded negatively, but Felicita’s point wasn’t entirely wrong either.
There was a possibility that this wasn’t Solomon’s true intention, but rather a clever facade to approach us.
It was clear that I couldn’t trust him completely.
While the two wives were having a brief exchange, I contacted Dom Solomon. As soon as he picked up the phone, I brought up Elena’s proposal.
“So, that makes it 20% in total.”
“If you don’t find it favorable, let’s pretend this proposal never happened.”
“No, no. Not at all. I just… need some time to think.”
To be honest, aiming for a total of 25% or even 30% wasn’t out of the question. But there must be a reason why Elena set it up this way.
“Alright.”
I hung up the phone.
By some twist of fate, even though the proposal had started from Solomon, it felt like we were now the ones making the proposal.
“What did he say?”
“He says he needs some time to think.”
“Is he really pondering over 20%?”
“Could be, or maybe he has some other reason.”
“….”
Suddenly, Elena approached me and began to play with my hair.
“Elena, why are you messing with my hair all of a sudden?”
“Oh, I just thought it would be nice.”
I wondered what kind of good thought could come from her fiddling with my hair.
“….”
Meanwhile, Felicita, seeing this, came toward us.
“Hey, don’t come over here.”
Elena seemed to be addressing not her but Hebili, who was nestled in Felicita’s embrace.
“From up close, it looks different than I thought…”
Even after Elena’s warning, Felicita tried to show Hebili to Elena. The expression she wore was reminiscent of mischief, almost malicious.
But Elena was quicker.
“I said don’t come over!”
Elena reflexively reached out to swat Hebili away… and the issue was that Hebili broke free from Felicita’s hands and began to fly.
The gigantic silkworm moth suddenly flapped its wings and started flying around the room.
“Kyaaaaah!!!”
Elena’s scream echoed, akin to a siren.
“Hebili, come here.”
Seemingly understanding its owner’s words, Hebili immediately landed on Felicita’s head. Despite knowing its owner’s words, it still didn’t seem to have any respect for them.
“Get both of them out, now!”
“Alright, then you two have a good time. Anyway, tomorrow Luke will come back to me.”
“Just get out!”
Felicita hurriedly rushed out of the room, clutching Hebili, giving me a wink before showing Hebili to Elena.
*
Solomon’s contemplation seemed deeper than expected.
I thought he would call today, but the day changed, and even though it was my day with Felicita, I received no contact from Solomon.
“….”
“Luke, what’s wrong?”
“Seems like Solomon’s response is taking longer than expected. At this rate, he might reject our proposal.”
“No way. He just doesn’t want to appear too easy.”
Felicita asserted confidently, as if she didn’t need to even look.
I wanted to spend more time with Felicita, but both of us had things to do today. Mine was related to the upcoming war while hers involved her family.
“Felicita.”
“Yeah?”
“If you ever need my help, just let me know.”
“…Thanks for saying that.”
She mentioned that the Marinelli Family would handle their matters themselves. But because of that sentiment, her expression brightened a bit more.
After arriving at the Academy, time flew by swiftly.
We were ready to start a war at any moment. Viola’s subordinates had scouted the Russo Family situation multiple times.
They were wary of the growing number of us gathering across the river and bridge, but there were still openings.
The day with Felicita passed, and soon it was time to be with Elena again.
I naturally got out of bed and made my way to Elena’s Room.
‘She would have usually come to get me by now.’
Elena’s whereabouts were completely untraceable; it seemed she had gone somewhere early in the morning.
“….”
I never anticipated I would grow so accustomed to being with Elena. Indeed, the saying that humans are creatures of adaptation seemed to hold true.
It was still an ambiguous time to get out of bed.
As I waited for Elena, I unintentionally drifted back to sleep.
“….”
Thud. I heard the sound of the room door open and close.
It usually wouldn’t be enough to wake me, but this time, it was different.
“Elena, is that you?”
“Luke?”
Though my body remained on the bed, my mind and heart were set on Elena.
“….”
However, I could quickly tell where Elena had gone early in the morning.
“How do I look?”
“…Did you dye your hair?”
Gone were Elena’s dark black hair resembling our father, replaced by a sandy beige color like mine.
This was another reminder of something disappearing that allowed me to recall our father.
Lost in my nostalgic thoughts as I examined Elena’s hair, I caught her trying hard not to laugh at my bemused expression.
“Now we really look like siblings, huh?”
“…You weren’t the type to care about such things.”
“I don’t think it’s bad to care. And it’s not just because of that.”
“Then what?”
“I changed my hair color since Solomon was looking for me. It wouldn’t hurt to change my appearance now and then.”
I suddenly recalled something that the Financial King Hagen had said.
There are two reasons for people, right? One is a plausible excuse, and the other is the real reason. It seemed like Elena had both.
“How does it look? Do I suit it?”
“Yeah. It suits you really well. I can’t think of a color that wouldn’t look good on you.”
“Luke, complimenting me that much won’t get you anything.”
Elena said that, but her smile stretched from ear to ear.
Now with completely matching hair colors, I was curious about how Felicita would react to this scene of us, undeniably looking like siblings.
“By the way, how’s your side of things going?”
“I stopped by the salon, and I got a final check-up.”
It looked like preparations for venturing into the city center were all wrapped up.
Elena and I made our final checks. She was set to head into the city center first. The war with the Russo Family would come afterward.
As Elena moved into the central region, all eyes were on her while I planned to pull a surprise on the Russo Family.
They likely wouldn’t expect us to launch such a large-scale attack simultaneously.
“Looks like we might not see each other for a few days.”
“It’s okay since we’re not directly on the ground.”
Elena was worried about not being able to meet, but I didn’t share that sentiment.
I would probably be in charge of leading the war against the Russo Family at the Academy anyway. Although I planned to personally handle establishing a foothold in the city’s northeast.
The day of the decisive battle was drawing closer.
