Chapter 147 Chapter 147 Were you breaking up just now?
However, what might surprise Spedo is that he is not omniscient. He actually does not know Giotto as well as he thinks, and Giotto is not just the gentle and trusting old man he knows.
At least, Vongola I was definitely not.
Because the Simon family hadn't actually vanished in the war, nor had Elio. Although Spedo had even sent his elite troops to siege them to ensure this, Vongola I, having long since seen through Spedo's betrayal, urgently summoned the Guardians. Under his command, they tracked down Spedo's henchmen and executed them on the spot. They then rushed to the battlefield and successfully rescued Simon and Elio, who had nearly perished.
Giotto even slipped out of Vongola and ran to the battlefield, where he saw Cozart and Elio who had been rescued.
He, Gatlin, Cozart, and Elio. They hadn't seen each other in four years, and for a moment, they stared at each other in a state of confusion. Spedo had nearly taken advantage of Giotto's inattention to bring down Elio and the entire Simon family, exploiting their deep concern for Giotto. It was truly insidious. If Giotto hadn't noticed...
I'm afraid they will never see each other again!
However, the current situation wasn't much better than that. Elio, always a front-runner, had exhausted his own flames. If it weren't for Cozart's guardian's help, activating the healing flame of "Qing," he would have likely died several times. And while Cozart was still able to stand, the fifty men he had carefully selected to bring to sea had all perished in battle, a heroic sacrifice.
They were so miserable because of the rumor that Giotto was trapped!
"I, how are you going to deal with the traitor Damon Spedo?" Gatling directly pointed out the problem.
Even the assassin, known for his mercy and respect for death, wanted to physically dismember Spedo. But Cozart spoke before anyone else, offering a startling suggestion: "Let's just pretend this never happened!"
"What?" Elio was incredulous.
"I knew from the first glance that letter asking for help wasn't from Giotto," the Simon leader, who had suffered heavy losses, stroked his chin nonchalantly. "After all, Giotto wouldn't sign his letter to me 'Vongola I.' But surprisingly, I touched the letterpaper and discovered it was indeed a special letter from Vongola, and the signature was burning with Giotto's unique sky flame... Giotto, don't you say, your family has been completely infiltrated by Spedo!"
Giotto hesitated to speak, and finally accepted this in frustration.
"So, let alone dealing with Spedo, even just taking action against him would involve enormous bloodshed," Cozart said. "That would be a terrible internal war within the Vongola. Worse still, the Vongola is now the largest mafia family in all of Europe... Am I remembering correctly, Gatling? It even has an impact on the entire world!"
Gatlin behind Giotto nodded silently.
"Although we are Italians, as a European, I really don't want another Franco-Prussian War or another Austro-Prussian War," Cozart said with lingering fear. "Italy has just been successfully unified! I don't want all our decades of hard work to be destroyed in an instant."
"Even if that means swallowing the blood and sacrifice of your family members with your own mouth?" Elio said abruptly, "Are you prepared to let this all return to dust?"
Cozart turned to look at him. Giotto tiredly stopped Elio, or rather, he thought he could still stop Elio, "Elio, stop it."
"How dare you tell me to 'shut up,' Giotto Vongola!" Elio sneered. "Who do you think Cozart and I came all the way here to fight this damned, unwinnable Franco-Prussian War that has nothing to do with us?!"
Heckled directly, Giotto offered no rebuttal, merely a look of sorrow. No one could tell what he was thinking. Even when Elio grabbed him by the collar, ready to punch him in the face, Giotto offered no resistance. Only Gatlin and Cozart restrained Elio from striking Giotto in the face.
"I'm sorry, Elio," Giotto looked into his eyes guiltily, "but please believe me..."
Elio turned his head away, obviously not wanting to listen. Seeing this, Cozart patted Elio on the shoulder and said, "After all, it was Giotto who sent people to rescue us, Elio, think about this!"
Elio made no further comment. Gatlin and Cozart released him. The assassin adjusted his attire without a word, avoiding Giotto's gaze.
"Back to the topic just now," Cozatra replied, "No matter what Elio plans to do, we Simons are prepared to pretend that it never happened. We no longer have the strength to fight, and we don't want to appear in the historical narrative of the Mafia anymore. Please let us just retire! But this time, it's a real retirement, the kind that no one can find us."
Elio didn't comment. He simply stood aside, his arms folded, watching Cozart and Giotto argue. The latter considered this a great sacrifice for the Simon family, but they were all nearly dead, so how could it be considered a sacrifice? Even if they wanted to continue fighting... what could this impoverished family, once a peer of the Vongola brothers, now with only seven or eight members left, do?
Finally, their brief meeting came to an end with Giotto's promise that "as long as I am in Vongola, Vongola will secretly support Simon."
They slowly made their way through the woods, toward the brightly lit exit. Giotto and Cozart walked in front, whispering about the next steps. Elio and Gatlin followed, neither of them speaking. The cannon fire continued, and the raindrops clinging to the branches trembled gently before finally dripping down and disappearing into the blood-soaked soil.
But sometimes, when he saw Giotto's profile as he spoke, or Gatlin's hesitant look, Elio would remember the time when the three of them slept in the same bed together, playing with each other. Back then, who could have imagined today?
Giotto gave Cozart a final hug. They patted each other on the back and touched cheeks, just as they had done when they met again many years ago. Then Giotto turned to Elio.
"Elio," he called softly, "talk to me."
Elio looked at him sternly. Giotto held out his hands, an expression of pleading. Cozart and Gatlin silently stepped aside, giving them both their own space. But Elio was no longer aware of anyone besides Giotto. The assassin stared at him, then wordlessly extended a hand, politely shaking Giotto's right.
"What do you want me to do?" Giotto asked in a low voice.
"How dare I 'hope' you do anything!" Elio replied in a low voice, "I know nothing about the situation in Vongola, and you, the leader, actually ask for my opinion?"
"I mean..."
But before Giotto could finish, Elio shrugged off his hand with a cold face. Even though he knew he was just taking his anger out on others, Elio couldn't help but do it.
"Whatever you want to do, Vongola I!" Elio said, "I'm just like Cozart. I won't be Vongola's enemy, you can rest assured about that. But I don't think Vongola needs me as a friend anymore."
He then reached into his arms, as if groping for something. Knowing how he had "broken up in anger" with Vittorio Emanuele II, Giotto immediately recalled the scene when Elio returned the medal and title. He grabbed Elio's hand in shock, even raising his voice, "How dare you give that back to me?!"
Cozart and Gatlin on the side couldn't help but look sideways.
Elio's wrist was inexplicably clamped by him, unable to break free. He asked angrily, "What do you think I want to take out?!"
“…Isn’t it a pocket watch?” Giotto asked embarrassedly.
"You want your watch back?"
"Of course not!"
Giotto breathed a sigh of relief and was about to release Elio's hand. But at that moment, he noticed something was wrong. Giotto pinched Elio's wrist in confusion, earning a glare from Elio (of course, Giotto pretended not to notice). "Where's your hidden blade?"
"It's broken," Elio said.
Giotto was stunned. His blank expression was so pitiful that Elio felt a little sorry for him. "You've been wearing it for decades," Giotto whispered.
"Yes," Elio said. "It's a little crude... but it's one of the many gifts I've received from my best friend of all time."
Giotto fell silent. They were both silent for a moment, and then Giotto's tears silently streamed down his face. This time, when Giotto rushed towards Elio and forced him into a hug, Elio just sighed and didn't refuse him.
Giotto choked with sobs, "You've been wearing it for decades..."
"Yeah," Elio patted his back, "Virgil said he would give me a new pair, but I didn't want them..."
Giotto buried his head in his shoulder and almost burst into tears.
Cozart and Gatlin were whispering to each other.
Finally, Giotto consciously let go of Elio. But in doing so, he took the handkerchief from Elio's pocket and wiped his face carelessly. "Just leave this to me. I don't want anything else."
He raised his head and looked at Elio with tearful eyes, trying to impress him. But in his blurred vision, Elio's expression became even more inscrutable. The assassin pulled something from his pocket and pressed it into Giotto's hand. Giotto touched it suspiciously and found it was a small chrome cross.
"What is this?" Giotto asked in confusion.
"I pulled this from Ferdinand II after I killed him," Elio said calmly. "It's a Templar token."
Giotto looked down at the red cross in his hand. It was still hanging on a chain. Giotto looked up at Elio again, not understanding what he meant.
"I've carried it with me all these years, a constant reminder," Elio explained. "Now I leave it to you, and you can think of it as..." He paused, as if searching for the right words. But Giotto understood his meaning. He wordlessly clenched the cross in his hand, then slowly loosened it, smiling. "Wear it for me, Elio. Think of it as the last thing you do for me."
"If you want me to."
Elio put a Templar red cross necklace on Giotto's head. This would be his last encounter with the original Vongola, if nothing unexpected happened. But as he turned and walked away, Cozart quickly dispelled Elio's slight sense of separation.
The reason was simple. The Simon leader asked him in a tone that was obviously full of gossip, "Were you breaking up just now?"
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The author has something to say: Oreo: Huh???
The original plot here is that Spedo forged a letter asking for help, hoping to trap Cozart. Cozart recognized that the letter wasn't from Giotto himself, but he went there specifically because he thought there was a traitor in Giotto's orbit. Then Cozart was almost killed in the battle, but fortunately, Giotto realized that Spedo was betraying him and sent the Guardians to rescue Cozart. I really don't understand why Spedo wanted to mess with Simon... With only fifty people left in his elite unit, what kind of threat can they pose to the Vongola? (Scratching my head)
Haha, maybe this is the danger of thinking...
Then in the original work, they all agreed to pretend that this incident never happened. I really don't understand what the operation is... So they made a large-scale adaptation here, saying that Spedo could forge the imperial edict to this extent. His influence within the Vongola was actually almost the same as Giotto himself. In fact, he had already joined forces with the next leader (Sivnora, the leader of the assassination team and Giotto's cousin) to overthrow Giotto, so Giotto was actually a little powerless to save the situation. Of course, Giotto could just kill Spedo and all the rebels, but first of all, he is not that kind of person. Secondly, as it is said in "Dream of the Red Chamber", "You know, such a big family, if attacked from the outside, it will not be killed immediately. This is what the ancients said, 'A centipede is dead but not stiff.' They must first commit suicide and destroy themselves at home before they can be completely defeated!"
(Although Giotto was the first leader to establish the organization and the greatest Vongola leader who rallied the people during times of war, there were things he couldn't do.)
And one more small point—haha, you wouldn't have guessed it, I let Elena survive! I sent Oreo away a few times before just to give you some highlights. Mainly because I personally don't really like plots where a woman's death causes a split between two men... What's the difference between that and stuffing a future superhero's girlfriend's corpse in the refrigerator to force him to debut? (scratching my head)
After all, the difference in ideas between Giotto and Spedo is their own business. If two people can't get along, they will always split up. It has nothing to do with Elena... and I personally think it's hard to say whether Elena would continue to be with him if she knew that Spedo could cause so many messes for Vongola... But after all, it's the official pairing, so I'll leave it an open ending.jpg Elena, baby, you must stay alive first. Staying alive is more important than anything else!
Finally, let's take a look at the Parisian surrender of 1871. While Paris did surrender, it was actually besieged by the Prussian army for over a hundred days. During that time, they kept sending balloons and pigeons into space in an effort to communicate with the outside world, but eventually, they ran out of options... The Prussians had already ascended the throne at Versailles, right outside Paris's gates. Who understands, folks? [Image: jpg] And even after the formal surrender, Parisians continued to rise in rebellion. The famous Paris Commune, a short-lived event from March to May 1871, occurred during this period...
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