Free Web NovelSeveral luxury vehicles were passing through the broken gate of the Medici estate.
The armed men standing guard around the area did not stop the cars, and they drove straight to the estate entrance.
Soon, the lead car stopped at the entrance.
A man who looked exactly like Lorenzo got out of the stopped car.
Beside him stood Alberto, the Medici family's butler.
Elderly people with similar features got out of the cars that stopped behind them.
“Lord Giuliano.”
Alberto called the man's name.
“Alberto, where is my brother?”
“Lord Lorenzo should be in the study.”
Giuliano Medici.
He was Lorenzo's younger brother.
Giuliano was cold and decisive. He was capable enough to be called someone destined for great things.
But the position of family head had gone to Lorenzo, the eldest son.
However, Giuliano had never been dissatisfied with that outcome.
He believed he could do anything as long as he could help his brother develop the Medici family.
He never shied away from difficult work and devoted himself to the family.
But...
“Giuliano. Where is Lorenzo?”
Giuliano turned his head and looked behind him.
Two old people stood there, staring only at him.
“Aunt, Uncle.”
The elderly people who had come with Giuliano were collateral relatives of the Medici family who had stepped back when Lorenzo became family head.
The elders, who disliked Lorenzo's course of action, had easily fallen for Xavier's incitement.
In the end, they had conspired to put Giuliano forward and drive out the family head.
“Let us go in.”
Lorenzo and the collateral relatives entered the estate along with the armed men.
Except for the guards stationed at the entrance, Alberto had already sent the guards inside the estate outside.
After entering the estate, Giuliano stopped for a moment and looked around.
“Nothing has changed here.”
After muttering to himself with mixed emotions, Giuliano gave an order.
“Search it. Team One, go to the study. The rest of you, search the entire estate just in case. You must find my brother no matter what.”
“Yes, Lord Giuliano!”
The armed subordinates quickly scattered.
They searched the entire estate, but they could not find Lorenzo.
One subordinate hurriedly reported to Giuliano.
“Lord Giuliano. We searched the entire estate, but we could not find Lord Lorenzo.”
“...What about Grandfather's bedroom?”
“We did not search there. The people guarding the entrance looked ready to fight if necessary.”
With a grave expression, Giuliano turned to the elders.
“Aunt, Uncle. I need to see Grandfather.”
All of the elders nodded.
With Giuliano at the lead, the elders climbed the central staircase to the third floor.
After sending away the subordinates facing off against the people guarding the door, Giuliano stepped forward.
“It has been a long time, Pietro.”
Pietro was a man who had served Cosimo for his entire life.
He, too, had grown old, his hair now completely white, but the light in his eyes had not died.
Pietro's gaze passed over Giuliano and turned to Alberto standing beside him.
Anger appeared on Pietro's expressionless face.
“Alberto! You bastard!”
“Father, Lord Lorenzo is ruining the family.”
“Is that something you should be saying! We are not people who think for ourselves! We are people who do what the family head orders! I raised you—”
Alberto cut Pietro off.
“Father, if this continues, the family will collapse. If the family head is walking the wrong path, correcting that path is also the duty of the family's butler.”
“You... How dare you...”
At that moment, one of the elders standing behind them stepped forward.
“Pietro.”
“...Lord Alessandro.”
“Move aside. I need to see Father.”
“I cannot allow that.”
“Pietro!”
“The people behind you left the family and formed collateral branches. The only people who may give me orders in this estate are direct-line members.”
Pietro took a firm stance.
Only two guards stood behind him.
It was a situation Giuliano could suppress easily enough.
But he did not want to spill blood in front of his grandfather's bedroom.
“Pietro.”
“...Yes, Lord Giuliano.”
“I am still direct-line, am I not?”
Pietro could not answer easily and pressed his lips together.
Giuliano respected Pietro.
He had devoted his entire life to the family.
Giuliano was one of the few people who recognized all that effort.
“Please step aside, Pietro.”
At that earnest request, Pietro hesitated for a moment, then moved aside and said,
“Everyone else step back. Only Lord Giuliano may enter.”
Leaving behind the displeased elder and the tense subordinates, Giuliano nodded and said,
“Everyone wait here.”
As Giuliano approached the door, Pietro opened it.
Beside the bed where Cosimo lay, there was a great deal of medical equipment, and beside it, the family's attending physician and nurses were trembling in fear.
Once Giuliano entered, Pietro closed the door behind him.
Giuliano looked around for a long while.
But Lorenzo was nowhere to be seen.
“Domenico, where is my brother?”
“H-He is not here.”
Giuliano studied the attending physician with a suspicious gaze and asked again.
“Hiding him will not solve anything, Domenico.”
“He truly did not come here.”
“Hmm...”
Giuliano swallowed a groan and looked around again.
There was nowhere to hide in the bedroom.
Stopping his inspection of the room, Giuliano walked to the side of the bed.
Seeing Cosimo breathing through an oxygen respirator filled Giuliano with complicated emotions.
“Grandfather, you were wrong. My brother is not fit to be family head. Did you really have to leave me aside and put my incompetent brother in the seat just because he was the eldest son...?”
After finally letting out the resentment he had buried in his heart for so long, Giuliano gathered his emotions and asked the attending physician,
“His consciousness? Does he wake up?”
“Very occasionally... He regains consciousness for about an hour a day. But it is not regular.”
“...Can he survive?”
“I think you should prepare yourself mentally.”
“Hoo... If he regains consciousness, call me.”
“Yes, Lord Giuliano.”
After looking down at Cosimo one last time, Giuliano turned and left the bedroom.
Everyone was waiting for him.
“My brother is not here either.”
Confusion and unease appeared on everyone's faces.
Giuliano asked Pietro beside him,
“Pietro, does a secret passage or anything like that exist in the estate?”
“I do not know.”
“If Pietro does not know, then no one does.”
“If it exists, only Lord Cosimo and Lord Lorenzo would know.”
“Pietro, my brother is already finished. More than half of the family members are with us.”
But Pietro merely spoke in a flat voice, like a machine.
“I do not judge. The person Lord Cosimo chose is my family head.”
“What if Grandfather supports me?”
“...”
“Pietro, there is a contradiction in your words. The current family head is my brother Lorenzo. But you are loyal to Grandfather. If my brother and Grandfather give different orders, whose order would you follow?”
Pietro could not answer.
“You would prioritize Grandfather's order. So do not condemn Alberto. He made the best choice for the family.”
After glaring at Pietro, Giuliano walked straight toward Alberto.
Then he gave an order to the others.
“There must be a secret passage. Search the entire estate and find any hidden passage or room.”
“Giuliano, Lorenzo was not inside?”
“No, Uncle. He was not.”
“And Father?”
“He is sleeping.”
Alessandro lowered his voice anxiously.
“We need to catch Lorenzo before Father wakes up. That is the only way we have a chance of winning.”
“Uncle.”
“One order from Father, and the family members who joined our side will turn back again.”
“Hoo... Do not worry. That will not happen.”
Giuliano let out a deep sigh as he looked at the frightened collateral relatives, then ordered his subordinates again.
“Find him immediately.”
“Yes!”
“Search outside the estate too!”
“Yes, understood!”
At Giuliano's command, the subordinates scattered again.
* * *
John and his mercenary team continued waiting near the Medici estate.
“Colonel.”
Scott entered the command room.
“What is it?”
“We identified the people who attacked the Medici estate. Giuliano Medici came out of the estate.”
At Scott's report, John let out a sigh and pressed his brow.
“A coup, then... Where is Lorenzo?”
“We have not confirmed it yet. But it looks like they still have not secured Lorenzo either.”
“Keep watching. If they move, we move immediately. We absolutely cannot hand Lorenzo over. That is the boss's order.”
“Yes, understood!”
After Scott left, John organized his thoughts and took out the satellite phone to report to the boss.
Just as he was about to contact Manager Ma, the light on the communicator lying on the desk began to blink.
It was the device connected to the communicator handed to Lorenzo Medici.
“Lorenzo?”
—Ah, ah. Can you hear me?
“Yes. I can hear you. Lorenzo, are you safe?”
—Fortunately, I escaped through the secret passage without being discovered.
“Can you tell me your location?”
—This is...
The moment Lorenzo finished speaking, the door opened and Scott rushed in.
With an excited expression, he shouted,
“Colonel! The people at the estate suddenly got busy.”
“Get everyone ready. We are starting the rescue operation.”
“Yes, Colonel! We have been waiting.”
Scott went outside with a smile on his lips.
“It seems Giuliano's side has also confirmed your location, Lorenzo.”
—Did you just say Giuliano?
“Yes. Giuliano Medici, your younger brother, is the mastermind behind this incident. As far as we can tell.”
—Th-That cannot be...
Lorenzo's voice trembled as if he were in shock.
But his feelings were not important to John.
“We will depart immediately so we can arrive first. Do not come out under any circumstances. If you are captured, everything is over.”
—Was it really Giuliano...? Giuliano is the mastermind behind this?
“We will talk about that later. Wait there. We are moving now.”
John unilaterally cut off contact and immediately began putting on his gear.
After finishing all preparations, he left the command room.
“Our objective is not to kill the enemy. Only Lorenzo Medici. We must secure him.”
“Yes!”
Scott raised his hand.
John looked at him and nodded.
It meant he was allowing the question.
“Colonel. What do we do if we have to engage?”
“Kill.”
It was a short and blunt answer, but Scott and the mercenaries nodded as if they understood perfectly and checked their equipment.
They left the base five minutes later.
Before leaving, John left a message for Manager Ma.
* * *
I was sitting in the living room, deep in thought.
All kinds of plans were tangled inside my head, leaving me confused.
‘Lorenzo doesn't know much.’
I had not explained the whole plan to Lorenzo.
I could not completely trust him.
So the only thing I had entrusted to him was making Baltice walk into the swamp on their own.
Now Baltice could no longer escape this quagmire.
They could either give up everything and retreat, or be crushed together with this bomb until the very end.
There were no choices beyond those two.
But if they learned I was the one who planned this, they might try to push that bomb onto me.
‘If he was captured... And if he escaped safely...’
I started consolidating different plans based on those two scenarios.
“Boss.”
Manager Ma entered the study.
I stopped what I was doing.
Papers were scattered messily across the desk.
On them were various plans I had written and crossed out.
I raised my head and looked at Manager Ma.
“They say they found Lorenzo's whereabouts. He contacted them after escaping through a secret passage.”
I let out a relieved sigh and smiled.
“That's good. Tell John that once he secures him, he should get him to Greece first.”
“Yes. I will relay that. Also, the mastermind behind this incident is Lorenzo's younger brother, Giuliano.”
“...His younger brother is trying to kill his older brother?”
It was not hard to guess what Giuliano was thinking.
He must have planned this in order to take the position of family head from Lorenzo.
He probably believed that only he could save the family again.
“Giuliano has also departed toward Lorenzo's location.”
“Hmm...”
Looks like he was discovered.
After thinking for a moment, I spoke again.
“Leave the field decisions to John. What about Igor?”
“We received word an hour ago that he was departing for Italy. It will take about ten hours from Russia to Italy.”
By the time Igor arrived, everything might already be over.
“That's late. John should be enough, right?”
“As long as the Italian government does not intervene, he will be enough.”
“If Giuliano planned this, that means the Italian government is either turning a blind eye at minimum, or cooperating.”
The Medici family did not directly rule Italy.
But they were a family that moved Italy from behind the curtain.
“Tell him to make an escape plan with the Italian government's intervention in mind as well. First, get Lorenzo out of Italy.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“And if he cannot secure him...”
Rather than let him be captured alive and fall into Baltice's hands, it would be better to—
“Tell him to kill him.”
