In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 147

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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This Life, I Will Become the Clan Head Episode 147

Ramona.

The person known as Peres’ lover in my previous life.

Ramona, who always accompanied Peres at official events.

So that person was here.

“She holds the position of deputy head at the Monak Guild, but it seemed like she handled all matters related to Trivia Lumber.”

I had been thinking it was a name I would hear someday, but I seemed a bit surprised without realizing it.

No, I knew she would have graduated from the Academy with Peres, but I didn’t know she would be working at the Monak Guild.

Somehow my head felt foggy.

“Lady Pirenthia?”

Violet called me with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I spoke with an awkward smile.

“I was just a bit curious. Someone that Violet evaluates so highly.”

“To be honest, she’s talented enough that I’d want to bring her to Pellet Trading Company. With that level of passion, I could trust her with any task.”

Violet nodded as she spoke.

That sight made my heart feel even stranger.

So that woman even won over Violet’s heart, who is second to none in strictness.

Violet, thinking I was interested in Ramona, began listing praises with sparkling eyes.

“…So although I couldn’t attend that day, I was confident that my representative would easily win the auction. The Monak Guild had participated in an auction at the distant Dimak Estate just the afternoon before. But Deputy Head Ramona arrived at the auction hall early in the morning. She probably rode through the night from dawn.”

“As Violet says, she really is a hardworking person.”

“Miss Ramona is still remaining in Aivan Estate, so perhaps you might have a chance to meet her.”

“Still remaining in Aivan.”

The Monak Guild had stored the Trivia lumber they had been collecting in a warehouse on the outskirts of Aivan, and there was still time before all of it would go to Angenas.

So it makes sense that she’s still remaining in Aivan.

I thought this while looking at Violet and spoke with a smile.

“As Violet says, I hope there will be a chance to meet her at least once.”

And I understood.

The back of Peres as he left the manor alone without taking anyone with him.

* * *

Peres, dressed in plain clothes and a robe that wouldn’t draw attention, left the manor and pulled his hood deep over his head.

And habitually checking if anyone was following him, he took a winding route and blended into the market.

It was a shabby market alley where nobles rarely walked.

Peres, walking among people with his head deeply bowed, went up to a small two-story building.

At the end of the staircase was a door with an equally inconspicuous nameplate.

[Monak Guild]

Peres, who familiarly opened that door and entered, finally removed his hood.

“Your Highness.”

Someone approached Peres.

“It’s been a while, Ramona.”

The beauty Ramona, with reddish auburn hair and bright blue eyes, looked at Peres and smiled brightly.

Her particularly pale face quickly turned rosy.

Ramona, who glanced sideways to check her appearance in the mirror, felt like crying a little.

She resented herself for being unable to hide her feelings at all.

And she didn’t like her darkened eyes from not sleeping a wink upon hearing news of His Highness’s visit, nor her curly hair that was more unruly than usual today.

These were things she normally didn’t care about.

But whenever she stood before him, only such things caught her eye.

Ramona swallowed a small sigh and spoke in an even brighter voice.

“I’ve prepared refreshments, Your Highness. You like sweet things.”

But Peres shook his head.

“I have to leave soon, so it’s fine. Let me receive the report first.”

“Ah…”

Ramona looked glumly at the chocolate cake she had bought for Peres, then nodded.

And she took out a thin bundle of documents she had prepared in advance from the drawer and handed it to Peres.

“Then I’ll explain while you look at the report.”

The report wasn’t very long.

She had been consistently providing written reports, and it was Ramona’s way to convey only the important points without being verbose.

Even after her report ended, Peres remained silent for a while.

He just leaned against the window and carefully read through the report Ramona had written.

And with the sound of the last page turning, Peres spoke.

“You’ve worked hard, Ramona.”

“Thank… you.”

A blush spread across Ramona’s face again.

Though there had been countless difficult times, this one phrase seemed to compensate for everything.

Peres conveyed his gratitude to Ramona in an unexaggerated, plain tone.

“Thanks to your stable supply of lumber, we were able to effectively drain Angenas’s budget.”

“I’m glad I could be of help, Your Highness.”

“I’m fortunate to have someone like you whom I can trust with work.”

Now the tips of Ramona’s ears were as red as her hair color.

However, Peres looked out the window rather than at Ramona and asked.

“What kind of person is the Aivan family head?”

Ramona, who pondered Peres’ question for a moment, gave an honest answer.

“He’s a typical northern noble. He’s generous to his own people and his estate’s residents, but also has strong exclusive tendencies. Originally he had a very magnanimous personality, but there are opinions that his character changed after suffering from a chronic illness for a long period recently.”

“His character changed. Indeed.”

“Is there some matter with the Aivan family head?”

“He said he won’t accept the relief funds.”

“…Pardon?”

Ramona asked back in confusion.

“To be precise, he won’t accept money from the Imperial Court. He did accept the supplies prepared by Lombardy and Ruman.”

“But… I can’t understand it. The north is in a time when it needs all the help it can get, so why…”

“Could the damage be less than we expected?”

At Peres’ question, Ramona frowned and answered.

“Just in Aivan Estate alone, when the castle walls collapsed, there were numerous casualties including the soldiers guarding them. Also, the stones from the walls crushed the residential area, burying many houses. Even now, people who lost their homes are camping nearby, waiting for their houses to be rebuilt. But why would the Aivan family head…”

“Could you take me there?”

Peres asked Ramona.

“No, I know Aivan’s geography roughly too, so if you just tell me where…”

“I will escort you.”

Lest Peres change his mind, Ramona quickly stood up and spoke.

“Thank you. Then I’ll ask you to, Ramona.”

Peres pulled his hood deep over his head again.

The place where the castle wall had collapsed wasn’t far from the market.

Peres stopped walking for a moment as he stood before it.

The black castle wall made of large, solid rock that Aivan Estate had been proud of was now debris scattered unsightly on the ground.

Clatter.

Something different from the castle wall debris bumped against Peres’ foot.

It was a plain ceramic plate.

Peres raised his head to look at the massive pile of earth that had broken through the walls and pushed its way in.

“Down there is…”

“Yes, it was originally where the commoner households were densely packed.”

Nature was ferocious.

The collapsed pile of earth that had struck Aivan’s walls was so massive that if green trees had sprouted from it, one would have believed it was a hill that had always been there.

Massive enough to completely hide all traces of those who had lived peacefully beneath it.

“But why is it so quiet here?”

It was strange.

They should be hurrying to dig out the earth and remove the stones.

There were only a few people in the vicinity.

At most, three or four soldiers were shoveling earth into small carts.

“There’s another place where the walls collapsed besides this one. But that area is near a forest full of monsters and is a strategic point, so all the restoration workers are concentrated there.”

“…I see.”

Peres stood dumbfounded before that tragic scene.

Ramona tried to tilt her head slightly to see Peres’s face.

Since he rarely spoke and showed little change in expression, sometimes she had to take time to study Peres’s face carefully to glimpse into his heart.

Of course, even when she did that, she failed to read his mood eight times out of ten.

Just then, a small sniffling sound was heard from a little distance away.

“Sniff, sob…”

Naturally, both their gazes turned in that direction.

It was a small boy crouched under a relatively intact building.

He looked to be barely seven years old.

The shabby-looking child was staring at the collapsed debris with tear-filled eyes.

Ramona carefully approached the child, wiped away his tears, and asked.

“Little one, why are you crying like this?”

“I’m hungry…”

Startled.

Ramona, who had stiffened for a moment, stroked the child’s head again with a gentle voice.

“Really? Then shall we go to the bakery in front with big sister and eat something delicious? It’s not far, so your parents won’t worry.”

“Mommy and daddy aren’t here.”

The child said while wiping away tears with his sleeve.

“Daddy went to work at the northern walls, and mommy is…”

The child’s eyes silently took in the pile of earth.

This child’s home and mother must be sleeping somewhere under there.

“Ah…”

Ramona lost her words and hugged the child’s shoulders tightly.

Peres, who had been watching this scene, suddenly turned and walked away.

“Little one, wait here for just a moment!”

After saying that to the child, Ramona caught up to Peres with half-running steps.

Though she had no talent for reading Peres’s heart, she could tell now.

How angry the one walking ahead of her was right now.

“P-perhaps there’s something I can help with!”

“No, this isn’t something you can get involved in.”

However, Peres’s response was firm.

Trading company matters and duties as Crown Prince are clearly different stories.

Ramona finally realized she had overstepped and apologized.

“…I’m sorry.”

Peres shook his head expressionlessly and said.

“It’s fine. Come to the Imperial Capital once the Northern Region affairs are finished. Then, I’ll keep the promise I made to you.”

Peres left those words and took large steps toward Aivan Manor.

Ramona watched his retreating figure for a moment, then returned to the child and said with an even brighter smile.

“Let’s go, big sister will buy you bread!”

However, even as she took the child’s hand and entered the inner part of the market, Ramona’s gaze once again captured Peres’s retreating figure.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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