Make Our Family Great Again – Chapter 55

I woke up to find myself on top of Elena, completely naked.

What in the world happened? I tried to recall the events of last night.

“…”

I guessed that after having a great time with Elena, I had unintentionally fallen asleep on top of her.

Quietly trying to sneak away so as not to wake her, I—

“Elena?”

Elena was unconsciously holding me tight, cradling me like a child, making it hard for me to get free.

‘Guess there’s no helping it.’

To be honest, being pressed against Elena right now wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

If anything, I hoped Elena would wake up soon.

But suddenly, I heard the sound of the entrance door to Elena’s room opening.

‘Who is it?’

It seemed a little strange to say it was the Wolf coming to report something to me.

The most likely candidate was my other wife.

“…Luke?”

“Peli, are you here?”

Sure enough, I heard Felicita’s voice.

She looked bewildered at the sight of me, completely naked, cuddling with Elena on the bed.

“What are you doing right now?”

“I’m kind of trapped by Elena.”

“….”

Unlike me, it seemed Felicita didn’t care whether Elena woke up or not.

What mattered to her was getting her husband back in the right place, so to speak, to normalize things.

“Well, anyway.”

With a dissatisfied tone, Felicita began to pry Elena’s arms away from me.

“Peli, don’t pull too hard. What if you wake Elena?”

“I don’t care.”

“….”

Though she said that, Elena didn’t wake up until I finally escaped from her embrace.

Rather than Felicita being considerate, it appeared that Elena was just in a deep sleep. After all, last night’s escapades had been quite intense.

“Luke, let’s go.”

“Hold on, just a second.”

Felicita tried to drag me away while I was still naked, but that seemed a bit much.

So I quickly threw on some clothes and followed Felicita out of the room, making sure to cover Elena with a blanket so she wouldn’t get cold.

“I’ll take a bath first.”

“Yeah, the smell of Elena on you is quite unpleasant.”

“Maybe Elena feels the same way?”

“No matter how it is, a bad smell is a bad smell.”

Felicita was so adamant that I didn’t bother to argue further.

But just as I was heading to the bathroom, Hebili suddenly zoomed in.

“Heb?”

“Ki-ki-ki!”

The little guy suddenly clung to my back and started squirming around.

“…Did you have some vigorous fun with Elena?”

Hebili was busy healing the scratches on my back left from last night’s passionate encounter with Elena.

Felicita must have known about that, so she shot me a glare, but I quickly dashed to the bathroom.

“Heb, that’s enough.”

I ushered Hebili out before I took my bath. Once I put him down in front of the bathroom, he didn’t run off but stayed right there.

It was strange behavior for him, but after a quick wash, I returned to Felicita’s side.

The moment I came back from the bath, Felicita hugged me as if to confirm I was her rightful husband.

“Nothing happened last night, right?”

“Yeah, it was actually too quiet. I felt empty.”

Felicita rubbed her face against mine, and at times like this, she was just like Elena.

“Peli, how’s my sister doing?”

“Oh, I was just about to tell you.”

She shared the information she had found out, primarily concerning my biological sister.

“Her name is Veronica Carmen. She, too, is an orphan like you.”

“….”

“Rita Carmen, it’s certain she raised her as a foster daughter.”

It followed the same pattern as my own upbringing by my adoptive father. The Carmen family had a stronger appeal as they were obsessed with Father.

“But why didn’t we catch on sooner?”

“There’s a reason for that.”

“Wait, where did you even get all this information from? Was it from the Rat Hole again?”

“No, the info from the Rat Hole alone isn’t reliable, so I asked other informants. It seems that rat hunters have been fairly active lately as well.”

“Rat hunters? What’s that?”

“Those are people who hunt the rat humans in the Rat Hole.”

Considering they were hunting rat humans, it felt very much like the ingrained discrimination against that race in Hebili. It seemed Hebili truly had such a culture.

I wasn’t well-versed in every aspect of this world. However, the more I heard, the more it sounded different.

The Rat Hole’s unique method of selling information with an all-or-nothing approach. Unintentionally gathering stories from those harmed by the Rat Hole.

It could be said to be a gathering of those affected by the Rat Hole, in fact.

“Anyway, there’s a reason why Veronica is relatively unknown.”

I quietly listened to Felicita’s words. But distinguishing the members and leaders of the Carmen family was more challenging than I had expected.

While there weren’t many of them, they always wore strange iron masks.

“It seems that after Carmen split from your father, she was pushed to a lowly position.”

“What was it like before that?”

“Apparently, she used to enjoy a favored status. There was likely some plot in the works that suddenly went awry.”

As I listened to Felicita, I was left pondering a question.

Why does Veronica remain under Carmen’s wing? When I asked, Felicita seemed at a loss for that one, too.

“Well, I’m not sure about that. There must be a reason for it, though.”

“So what are you thinking of doing next?”

“I’m planning to meet her in person.”

“Peli, that’s too dangerous. You’re not single anymore, so you should be careful…”

“It’s fine. I don’t plan on going alone.”

That wasn’t what I meant, but Felicita looked quite happy.

“…Alright. Just make sure to be careful. Or should I send some Wolves with you?”

“No, that’s not necessary. Besides, the Wolves are too conspicuous.”

While Felicita made a fair point, I couldn’t help but still feel worried.

Seeing me deep in thought, Felicita reassured me it’d be fine.

Just as I was about to respond, my phone started ringing loudly.

“I’ll get it.”

Not wanting to miss the chance to shift the mood amid my worries, I picked up the phone. When I asked who it was on the other end, a familiar voice came through.

“Mr. Felini, it’s me—Dom Solomon.”

“Oh, what brings you to call so early?”

“I have a request to make.”

Little Dom presented a potentially sensitive request regarding expanding the Solomon family’s territory further into the city center.

Currently, the administrative region name dominated by the Solomon family was Hebili Ridge.

To the south of Hebili Ridge lay a broad area known as Harvey City. What Little Dom wanted was not the entirety of Harvey City, but just a portion of its northern side.

“There are other directions you could expand instead of just Harvey City.”

“That’s true, but I think it’d be a good deal for you, too, Mr. Felini.”

When I asked why he thought that, Little Dom quickly responded.

“I could serve as a buffer zone between the other Five Families and the Felini family.”

“Is that all?”

“No, of course not. My family and I will soon be new members of the Five Families, so it’d be wise to have at least a minimal semblance of camaraderie, wouldn’t it?”

Well, there was some merit to that opinion. But when I said it was still insufficient, Little Dom responded as if he had been waiting for that.

“I’ll increase your share in my scrap business by 5%.”

Little Dom explained that with the expansion of his area, the size of his scrap business would also inevitably increase, thus raising our shares as well.

“Alright, that’s a decent offer.”

“Of course! I knew Mr. Felini would understand!”

“Let’s be clear—I’m saying it’s a decent offer. I haven’t agreed to it yet.”

“….”

“I’ll talk to Elena and decide.”

“Yes, of course. Naturally.”

An underboss couldn’t make such a significant decision without the boss’s permission, even if Elena were currently sound asleep.

“Alright, I’ll be in touch later.”

After ending the call with Little Dom, Felicita asked who had called.

“Little Dom, you know, that little hamster man.”

“Luke, it’s a bit strange hearing you call someone small.”

“….”

“I was joking, just joking.”

Seeing I said nothing, Felicita seemed to realize she made a mistake late.

*

While Felicita attempted to contact Veronica.

Another news reached me as I headed to the Union Office at the Academy.

“Brother, it’s a call from Mr. Vanella.”

Kambara handed me the phone with a serious demeanor, a departure from his usual behavior.

While his brother was striving to take control of Eccelotti’s territory, it appeared he had undergone some changes himself.

“Phew….”

Nonetheless, setting those facts aside, I wondered what this was about now.

“Luke, should I take it?”

“No, I’ll handle it.”

If I passed it to Sarina, I was sure she’d hurl insults at Vanella and hang up right away.

“Vanella, what’s going on?”

“I had some trouble concerning the Nun Robber Gang.”

Vanella said that and mentioned he had resolved the issue right away.

When I inquired about the problem… it seemed that some members of the Nun Robber Gang that had been scattered around our orphanage couldn’t hold back and tried to escape.

Of course, the staff at the orphanage managed to stop them.

But considering they had already killed someone and made a heap of cash, it wasn’t too surprising.

“I have a good idea.”

It seemed that after Little Dom, the next was the crazed one.

Vanella, however, suggested that he’d sacrifice a portion of his income to pay salaries to the leader and all members of the gang.

“So you really like that girl, huh?”

“Yeah, it’s really my first time meeting a girl like that.”

Vanella answered my question without dodging, but he also mentioned they were providing valuable help in running the orphanage.

“Alright, let’s do it. But if it doesn’t work, I’ll take further actions.”

“Understood, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Speaking of which, I needed to meet Hagen and Bishop Smith, too.

Before ending the call with Vanella, I mentioned that part and, just like the first time I met Hagen, I headed towards his mansion with Sarina and Kambara.