Even though I could never win against Master's relentless coaxing, I still obediently took my medicine for six years. But he kept those words of mine close to his heart.
After I recovered, nothing sour or bitter ever appeared on my dinner table again.
I took the pot from Donna Vittoria's hands and, as if I couldn't feel the scalding heat, drank half the soup in one long gulp.
The remaining half I poured out beside Master's body.
I wiped my mouth. "Not bad, old man. But the blood mixed in makes it a little fishy."
"Have a taste yourself. Pay attention next time you make it."
That was what finally shattered Donna Vittoria's composure.
The tears she had held back for so long broke free all at once.
"Nara, there won't be a next time. Your master is dead!"
Oh, right. There wouldn't be a next time.
Fine. Since Master couldn't look after me anymore, it was my turn to protect him for once.
I unfastened the coat Master had sewn for me with his own hands and draped it over his body. My voice was calm. "Donna, watch over Master. Don't bury him."
"He'd be too lonely by himself. I'll find him some company for the grave."
Donna Vittoria couldn't stop me. All she could do was weep and beg me to come back alive.
I carried Mietitore and walked toward the Valente compound.
The chain-link gate of the Castellano yard groaned shut behind me, and somewhere in the distance, the low rumble of engines told me the compound perimeter was already on alert.
Valente soldiers rushed forward, blocking me outside the compound gates.
The one leading them was none other than my senior brother from the Castellano crew, Master's proudest protégé: Edoardo Castellano.
He stared at me in surprise, brow furrowed. His hand went to his tie, tugging it straight. "Nara, if you've come to seek the Boss's favor, you should keep your head down and your voice low."
"What's the point of making such a scene?"
I didn't bother looking at him. My eyes stayed fixed on the compound gates. "Tell Aldric Valente to come out."
"Tell him an old friend has come to visit."
Edoardo let out a weary sigh.
"Nara, have you lost your mind?"
"We're nobodies. Street kids from a nothing crew. If not for this stroke of fortune, how could we ever have been made and stood before the Boss of All Bosses?"
"'An old friend.' You're not embarrassed to say that out loud?"
Only then did I turn to look at Edoardo, each word falling like a stone. "You call Master's death a stroke of fortune?"
Edoardo faltered. A flicker of guilt surfaced in his eyes. His fingers went to his tie again, pulling at the knot, though it hadn't moved.
Rosalia Castellano, the second protégée, had just arrived. She flipped her hair over her left shoulder and rushed to Edoardo's defense the moment she saw his expression.
"Nara, how dare you speak to Edoardo that way?"
"Master's death wasn't our doing."
"If you want to blame someone, blame Master for holding those Original Oaths. We simply seized the opportunity that presented itself."
Looking at Rosalia's face, utterly devoid of remorse, all I felt was that Master had never been worth the love he gave them.
Edoardo and Rosalia were the first protégés Master ever took in.
He treated them no differently than he treated me.
He poured every ounce of his heart into raising them, even putting off having children of his own.
That was why, after all those years, Master and Donna Vittoria never had a child by blood.
Donna Vittoria would grumble about it from time to time, but that foolish old man would just laugh and wave it off. "It's fine. I trust my people. When the day comes, they'll see us properly buried."
He was wrong, in the end.
But I knew that foolish old man.
He believed, to his last breath, that people were born good. Whenever his protégés made mistakes, he always gave them a chance to make things right.
I never agreed with that. But I didn't want him to die with his eyes open, restless and unsettled.
So I did what Master would have done. I gave Edoardo and Rosalia one chance.
"I'll handle avenging Master myself. I don't need your help."
"Go back to the Castellano house now. Stay with Master and Donna Vittoria."
"Carry on Master's legacy. Make the crew what it should have been."
Rosalia had been spoiled rotten by Master since she was a child, and her temper was as foul as they came.
The second she caught the commanding tone in my voice, her face soured.
