I just want to live in peace!!

***

The world Francesca had been reborn into was that of a smartphone game that was mainly targeted towards a female audience.

The setting was western, with stuff like carriages and elaborate dresses seen as normal. Technology like trains didn’t exist, however guns were more prominent than swords and perhaps the most distinct feature was that a rare amount of people in this world posses something called a [Skill].

The main characteristic of the game was that the almost all of main male characters were [Inhabitants of the Underworld] of the society.

The country that is set as the stage of this game has been under imperial rule for many years.

However, the king has been supported from the shadows by the 5 great noble families that controlled the underworld.

As for the playable characters, except the main heroine, the rest were all men, and they were obviously drawn to be very handsome as well.

Players would use gacha/microtransactions to gain these characters, raise them stronger, and will enjoy the world of the game by challenging the story events with these characters.

And the main heroine that would be the proxy for the player had the default name of [Francesca Amelia Calvino].

(There’s no doubt, I really am that very Francesca.)

Francesca, having just recalled her past life’s memories, got up from the bed she had been resting in and held the hand mirror in front of her with her delicate hands.

(Rose-like red hair. Light blue eyes. I’m still just 5 years old but, I still can tell that this face belongs to a beautiful girl……….)

In the card illustrations of the game, the face of the heroine was never really drawn properly but she would be shown properly during main story events. And right now, the face she had was exactly the same as seen in the cutscenes.

But, even after gaining such a top class appearance, there’d be no point if her future remained in unrest.

(………..the real problem is [Francesca’s] circumstances………..)

Francesca folded her arms and began to think.

(I am now the sole daughter of the Calvino family, one of the big 5. A girl born in a great household that controls the underworld……….of course the people of her own family were all criminals, and even the capture targets that I’ll supposedly meet in the future were all members of the underworld!! If I recall correctly, as a child she’d get kidnapped way too much so she was raised away from the underworld, and lived a normal peaceful life until she was 17 in the original setting.)

Recalling the setting of the main story of the game, she sighed.

(The turning point in [Francesca’s] life comes when she turns 17. Thanks to the scheming of her fiancé, Leonardo, who she had never met even once, she gets forcefully dragged back into the chaos of the underworld.)

Even though she had been reborn, her memory had been quite clear still. While praising her own memory, she tried to recall more of the details.

(Because of that heinous fiancé of hers, Francesca gets into all sorts of hardships during the course of the main story. Since she had been raised away from the underworld, she’d always be useless even when she got dragged into all the fighting, didn’t she………… was it this very kidnapping incident, that led to my memories coming back, that would then lead to me being raised away from the underworld, I wonder?)

Since the frequency of kidnapping incidents was high, she wasn’t sure if this was specifically the one that’ll cause the reaction but, it was better to assume that to be the case.

(……….I could obediently follow the game’s scenario but………if I let myself get hidden away from the underworld, and then get dragged back when the main story begins to happen, I really will have not much to do after being raised as a normal person for so many years. The most I could do was use my unique skill, that’s all. And in return of using that skill, I will have to get other characters to save me, and have them solve all my problems.)

For Francesca, that was a development she wanted to hopefully avoid.

(Become a person that can take responsibility for the things that happen to you yourself. —–isn’t that what you always said, Grandpa?)

Her grandfather would always instruct these words to his subordinates. And even Francesca, who would hear these things from the side in her past life, began to naturally believe and follow those words.

If she had no choice but to get involved, she wanted to be strong enough to do something about it with her own strength.

Recalling her grandfather’s words, she roused her spirits, yet also felt sad.

(…………grandpa, everyone………..)

She wondered what they all had to go through after she had died. They had all raised her with so much love and care, that she truly felt sorry for them from the bottom of her heart.

(I’m sorry I died.)

Tears began to form in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away.

If they could hear Francesca right now, her grandfather and the family members would have definitely said [Don’t apologize!], she was sure.

[“If it ever becomes too much for you, you can always leave this home. All I want is too see you grow and live a happy life after all.”]

The words her grandfather had left her, she embraced them inside her heart like a protective charm.

(I’m sorry. I will never ever forget about you all………….all I can do now is to make sure that I live a happy life, just like Grandpa wanted, after getting reincarnated.)

Once she had determined that, she knew she couldn’t just stay here weeping.

(If I want to live happily, I need to fulfil my dreams of my past life. I want to make some friends, and lead a peaceful and ordinary life. That’s why……….)

Francesca stood up on her bed, and put up her both hands in a pose befitting one who was to take a great oath.

(The main story begins when I turn 17. So that I can move on my own, and solve my own problems, I will gain enough strength to move as I myself want to!)

And thus, 12 years passed by in a flash.

They were long and stressful days at times. But to improve her living environment and to increase her own individual strength, she schemed, planned and trained hard. And safely reached the day she became 17.

(To prepare for the day when I get dragged into the incidents of the main story, I have done everything I could think of………….All this, just so I can finally live a peaceful life, and yet………..)

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Having filled the final application for getting transferred into the royal academy, Francesca had come back only to have her head spin from the sight in front of her.

“———–Welcome back, young miss!!”

“WELCOME BACK!!”

At the entrance of the giant mansion, men dressed in black uniforms stood lined up on both sides of the floor runner.

On the floor of the entrance, the symbol of the Calvino family, the red rose was inscribed. And all the men standing around it were bowing down with deep respect to greet her coming back. A scene she had seen many, many times even in her past life.

Further inside, along the floor runner, was a single man knelt on the ground that was currently being stepped on.

The man that was stepping on this poor guy and was twisting the boot of his shoe on the guy’s back was a good looking man with red hair similar to Francesca’s.

“Wha………..What are you doing, Papa………”

“Ah you’re back Francesca. Did you run into any trouble on the way?”

“None at all. If anything, if there was incident, it’s happening right now, in front of my eyes. Why are you stepping on Simone’s back?”

“Because he has committed a truly grave sin, obviously. This man’s an imbecile of the highest degree.”

Her father was a beautiful looking man, even his own daughter would agree, yet he was currently coldly staring down at his own subordinate as he spoke.

“While carrying your clothes, he was shot through the stomach, and let his blood stain your clothes.”

“……………….”

Looking closely, a part of the bright red rug looked stained in a darker muddier colour. But, the man who was dripping drops of blood from his stomach only had remorse in his eyes as he truly apologetically looked up towards Francesca, admitting that he was at fault.

“Forgive my insolence, young miss……..!! I let my dirty blood stain your precious uniform……….no amount of apology could ever make up for my sin, ughh……..!! These were your best ones as well, how could I make such mistake……….”

“Young miss. Please stay calm. Your father’s reaction is perfectly understandable.”

“Precisely. This man had poured water over something vital to your promising school life. In all honesty, he should repent for such a crime with his life.”

“………………..”

Not just her father and the family members, even the guy in question that was being stepped on seemed to have no complaints regarding any of this it seemed.

In a situation like this, Francesca had to do her best to stop the veins on her forehead from popping, and slowly and calmly opened her mouth.

“…………care……..”

“Yes? What is it young Miss?”

Unable to hear her the first time, the family members respectfully asked her to repeat herself, only for her to lose her temper and scream in a very un-lady like manner.

“——–I SAID I DON’T CARE ABOUT SOME DAMN UNIFORM!! HURRY UP AND BRING SOMEONE THAT CAN USE A HEALING SKILL!! AND I MEAN RIGHT NOW—!!!”

“Yes! As you wish milady!!!”

——-Francesca had already failed.

In her great plan to live a ordinary life, she had decided that the first thing to do was to [understand everything about her own new family], and in that process, before she realized, she had already fully acclimatized to them and become one of them.

In the game, her father was supposed to be a cold indifferent man, but here he had become an extremely doting father, although while still looking expressionless.

The family members who were supposed treat her like a burden and would be insulting her, had instead come to treat Francesca as [The rightful heir to the Calvino family].

While constantly wondering “WHY?” to herself, she continued to prepare for the start of the main story.

(But, this is not the time for me to be crying over a slight miscalculation.)

While pushing her father aside, and treating the injured man, Francesca roused her spirits once more.

(Finally, from next week, I’ll transfer to the academy.——-and the day before that, is when the main story truly kicks off. The day that villain, Leonardo, will kidnap me…..!!)

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