Chapter 186: Vacation in Rome (2)
—San Fruttuoso.
It was a famous vacation spot in Italy known for its beautiful beach.
“Are you suggesting we go to a beach?”
“Yes.” Isabella smiled brightly and nodded.
“I’m sure your internal injuries will heal in no time after we soak ourselves in the beautiful sea and apply oil while relaxing at the shore.”
“I don’t know what that has to do with healing internal injuries… but the weather doesn’t seem suitable to go swimming at a beach.”
It was so cold outside that their exhales created smoke-like vapor clouds in the air.
Though the weather in Italy would be much warmer than in Korea it still felt like it wouldn’t be enough to enjoy swimming in the sea.
‘Hm. Thinking about it now maybe it’s not a problem.’
Putting an Awakener’s superhuman body into consideration there probably wouldn’t be any issue even if they were to swim or dive at sea in the middle of winter though the entire thing would feel a fair bit different from ‘resting’ like she mentioned.
“Fufu. Don’t worry. The weather in San Fruttuoso right now is perfect beach weather. In fact you should make sure to bring short-sleeved shirts and shorts since it could be too hot.”
“Huh?”
It didn’t stop at being warm but could even be expressed as being too hot?
‘Isn’t it located in northern Italy?’
Ohjin tilted his head in confusion after searching up San Fruttuoso on his phone.
It made no sense for the weather to be warm when it was located so north that it was nearly bordering France.
“San Fruttuoso is one of the places that had its climate changed due to the influence of mana.”
“Ah so it’s a starzone.”
‘Starzone’ was the word used to refer to locations that had their terrain or climate completely changed by the influence of mana after gates and transcendents known as celestials appeared in numerous places around the world.
“But will it be okay there? I heard that high-ranking gates and dungeons frequently appear within starzones.”
“There actually is a gate deep in the sea nearby.”
Isabella nodded her head and continued.
“However there’s no need to worry because the Colagrande Household has been managing that gate well for several years and not once has a monster been able to leave it.”
“I see.”
There was no need to worry if the Colagrande Household was managing it themselves.
“The seawater that has been influenced by mana in San Fruttuoso has excellent effects in healing internal injuries. There are actually a lot of high-ranking Awakeners that go there with the intention of recovering from their injuries.”
“Really? But I didn’t see anything like that on the internet.”
There were extremely few methods to heal internal injuries aside from the passage of time. It would only make sense for a beach that was effective in healing them to be famous worldwide but despite that there was no mention of it.
Isabella smiled with her eyes and nodded her head.
“There aren’t many people who are willing to share a piece of a great pie with others.”
“…”
In other words it became an attraction that was only known to a select number of people.
It was likely that only an extreme minority of people who possessed both vast wealth and authority were allowed to enter.
“How about it Miss Ha-eun?” Isabella asked as she glanced at her.
Ha-eun had a displeased look on her face because it felt like she was walking right into Isabella’s scheme.
“Well… I guess it can’t be helped if it helps heal internal injuries.”
If it was for Ohjin she couldn’t miss out on a good opportunity just because she felt displeased.
“Then it’s decided.”
Isabella clapped and smiled happily.
“There are vehicles prepared outside. Should we depart right away?”
“Wait. We still need to pack our luggage.”
“Fufu. Don’t worry about it. You only need to bring your body since all the necessities have already been prepared.”
Isabella pulled on their arms.
The two of them followed Isabella outside like they didn’t have a choice.
* * *
After moving to Rome through the Sanctum they headed to San Fruttuoso on the Colagrande Family’s private jet that was on standby at the airport.
“Wow look at the color of the water.”
[It’s a beautiful place.]
It didn’t even take them an hour to arrive at San Fruttuoso and the beach there did its reputation justice.
“Isn’t this like a desktop wallpaper?”
Ha-eun exclaimed again and again as she looked around like a country bumpkin who had just arrived in Seoul.
The emerald water that was so clear you could see the bottom the pure white sand spread out like a snowy field and the tall rocky cliffs made for a superb view.
It was a location so pretty that taking a picture in any direction would make for a great social media post.
“It’s a relief that everyone likes the location.”
Isabella smiled lightly while looking at Ohjin and Ha-eun who were consecutively exclaiming.
“Come this way.”
She casually walked up the beautiful promenade carved out of the side of a large cliff.
Once they followed Isabella for around five minutes they arrived at a large majestic mansion that was located on the top of the cliff.
‘This is supposed to be a villa?’
Ohjin stuck out his tongue while looking at the large mansion that was so grand it resembled Vega’s sanctuary.
Ohjin had noticed it a bit when she nonchalantly gave an entire apartment building as a present but seeing it directly like that really made the Colagrande Household’s enormous wealth sink in.
Ring—
A large door with a detailed rose shape opened along with the sound of clear bells as they approached the mansion.
Dozens of employees were lined up in the garden’s pure-white marble road.
“““We greet the next matriarch.”””
The employees bowed their backs with precise movements.
They could feel elegance in their clean movements and it didn’t look like they were unnecessarily overreacting at the presence of the matriarch.
Ohjin needlessly felt some kind of pressure and walked behind Isabella.
‘So this is a real noble.’
He saw Isabella in a new light right when he thought that he had gotten a fair bit used to her.
While he was exclaiming and following her he met eyes with Isabella who had turned her head.
Isabella’s mouth curved up into a satisfactory smile as she was examining his expression and she giggled like she was looking forward to that reaction.
‘So she was aiming for this.’
Isabella was a sneaky woman in several ways.
“I… I greet the next matriarch!”
In the middle of heading to the residence they saw a middle-aged man wearing an excessively extravagant outfit running towards them.
The pot-bellied man wearing a monocle decorated with expensive gems bowed down in succession and made a fuss unlike the employees.
“Hmm. Hello Uncle Guilford.”
Isabella slightly frowned while looking at the man.
“Y-Yes!”
Guilford got into a salute with a somewhat frightened look on his face.
With how he was acting like he was meeting a superior in the army Isabella couldn’t help but sigh at how deplorable he was.
She turned to face Ohjin and introduced Guilford.
“This is my maternal uncle. He manages the gates around the Villa and San Fruttuoso.”
“Are you the Lightning Wolf?”
Unlike how he treated Isabella Guilford looked at Ohjin with a haughty expression.
Isabella slightly raised her brow.
“Uncle this is ‘my’ guest. Show some respect.”
“Ah… F-Forgive me!”
Guilford backed off with just a word from isabella.
The sight made you instantly understand how influential Isabella was in the Colagrande Household.
‘Maternal uncle huh… it looks like they don’t kick out family members from the collateral line.’
According to what he heard from Isabella they kicked out everyone without mercy aside from the one direct descendant due to the problem of choosing an heir.
Still it appeared that they didn’t lay their hands on the maternal side and left them to take care of chores such as managing the villa.
“Um… how has the Family Head been doing lately…?”
“They’ve been doing well.”
“I… I see…”
Isabella replied coldly to Guilford’s question.
Ohjin’s eyes shone in surprise as he was silently listening to their conversation.
‘It seems that her parents are still alive.’
He vaguely suspected that they died to her or the gate incident because she said that they were extremely stupid in past tense but it appeared that they were still alive somehow.
“Then I hope you all enjoy a great vacation. Please contact me whenever you need something.”
Guilford slavishly bowed down in head to Isabella and slowly backed off.
* * *
* * *
“Then should we go inside Ohjin?”
Once Guilford left Isabella smiled lovingly like she had never put on a cold expression before and was about to hug his arm.
At that moment—
“Yeah why don’t we go see how spacious our rich lady’s house is?!”
—Ha-eun pushed her body in between Isabella and Ohjin and shouted out in an excited voice.
Isabella’s eyes shone coldly for a moment but she soon smiled like there was nothing wrong while she nodded her head.
“Yes. First off let’s eat before we head to the beach. Should I prepare us three servings?”
“No prepare us four” Ohjin said as he pointed to Vega who was sitting on top of his shoulder.
Vega shook her head and opened her mouth.
[Five… no prepare six.]
“You’re going to eat that much?”
[Hyap.]
Whack!—
Vega slapped Ohjin’s forehead.
[Didn’t you say that you’re going to bring Riak as well?]
“Ah.”
‘Come to think of it we also need to bring that lil pup.’
He had momentarily forgotten about him since he wasn’t anywhere in sight for so long due to his focus on training.
“When are you going to call him?”
[I shall call him once the meal is prepared.]
Ohjin nodded and headed to the dining room.
He could probably explain to Isabella that he was just a summoned beast.
* * *
Once they finished following Isabella for a tour around the residence and did simple introductions after summoning Riak they had a meal that seemed to be prepared with the intent of breaking the table’s legs.
“The cooking of humans always surprises me.”
Riak growled in satisfaction after eating all the food on his plate with nothing left remaining.
“I’m relieved that it suits your tastes.”
Even though a massive wolf over two meters tall eating at a table with them was a rather strange sight Isabella had a peaceful expression and treated Riak like none of it mattered.
“Then since we’ve all finished eating… should we get ready to enjoy swimming?”
As Isabella stood up the employees nearby took care of the plates.
“But I didn’t bring a swimsuit.”
“Fufu don’t worry Miss Ha-eun. I prepared everything.”
Isabella smiled and guided them to a dressing room that was wider than most houses and all kinds of swimsuits were organized neatly inside.
“You can pick any design you want to wear.”
“…There really is a disgusting amount.”
Ha-eun stuck her tongue out while looking at the swimsuits filling the room.
She gulped after glancing at Ohjin who was behind her and taking a look at the swimsuits.
‘I need to pick a swimsuit that Ohjin will like…’
Ha-eun would’ve comfortably picked a revealing swimsuit if it was just the two of them but she couldn’t when there were Isabella Vega and other tourists that were enjoying vacations as well.
‘This one’s alright.’
While she was walking around the dressing room she discovered a black bikini that had the marvelous shape of a rose engraved on it.
It wasn’t that revealing for a bikini and showed enough of her body at the same time.
“I’ll go with this.”
When Ha-eun grabbed the black bikini—
“Goodness I completely forgot about this.”
—Isabella paced around with an extremely apologetic expression.
“…What did you forget?”
“Come to think of it the swimsuits over here are tailored to my size.”
Isabella glanced up and down Ha-eun and then smirked.
“It… will probably be too ‘loose’ for Miss Ha-eun.”
“What?”
Pak—
A thick vein popped out on Ha-eun’s forehead.