In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 169

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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 169

In the end, Larane was confined to her room.

At first, she wanted to request cooperation from the Lombardy Knights to have them guard the door, but was firmly refused.

Now Ceral, Biejie, and Belesack were said to take turns guarding the door.

I went to visit and said I wanted to see Larane, but only received Ceral’s contemptuous gaze and was driven away.

“But do you think I’d give up just because of that?”

I leaned against the window in my room and looked at the darkening evening sky.

And as stars gradually appeared one by one, it became close to nighttime.

Clang.

The sound of the estate’s iron gate closing across the garden could be heard faintly from afar.

Now, unless something special happened, that gate wouldn’t open until dawn.

No one could enter or leave the estate.

Knowing this fact, Biejie’s family would naturally have their guard down.

And since it was late, they might have just fallen asleep while guarding the door.

“It’s time.”

I realized the promised time had come and went outside.

The trees in the small forest beside the annex seemed to be singing softly in the wind.

And when that song briefly subsided.

“Tia.”

Peres walked out from the dark forest.

Though the Lombardy Estate’s walls were high and the Lombardy Knights and soldiers guarded it thoroughly, these things meant little before Peres, who had transcended human limits in various ways, like handling aura.

“What’s the matter? For you to ask to meet first.”

Peres immediately took my hand and kissed the back of it as he spoke.

“Has it been almost two months? Since you returned to the Imperial Capital, Peres.”

During that time, Peres had been away in the south.

He must have gone to handle some business.

Peres paused briefly at my words, then regained his smile after a moment.

“Right. You, Tia, did know that. I forgot for a moment. I’m still adjusting.”

It had already been three months since Peres learned my identity as the owner of Pellet Trading Company.

But whenever that memory came to mind, Peres seemed to be surprised and delighted all over again.

“But why did you call me today, Tia? I’m happy to see you, of course. It’s not that something happened…”

Peres, who had been approaching me, stopped speaking.

“Your lip…”

Peres’s gaze fell on my lip that had split from being slapped by Biejie.

And the wind blew.

The trees that had been dancing pleasantly in the wind just moments before began to tremble threateningly.

It was because of the heavy waves spreading out from Peres as the center.

Even so, I could tell that my surroundings remained quiet.

“Who was it, Tia.”

The voice that sounded gentle at first glance was filled with killing intent.

The color of Peres’s eyes was also slightly different from usual.

“Who hurt you?”

Peres spoke with a frown as if he was in more pain himself.

I shook my head at such Peres.

“Stop it.”

At my single word, the force that had been suppressing the surroundings disappeared like a lie.

Flutter.

I could see the birds that couldn’t escape and had been holding their breath in the trees finally flying away into the distance.

“Who hurt me isn’t what’s important, Peres. The ‘why’ is what matters.”

Peres seemed dissatisfied that I wouldn’t tell him who did this, his eyes still sharp as he looked at my swollen lip, but he obediently nodded.

“How did it happen?”

“Actually, a few days ago…”

I briefly summarized what had happened and told Peres.

And I added at the end.

“So I need you, Peres.”

“Ah…”

At my words, Peres blinked for a moment, then smiled.

It was a deep and rich smile that put the forest’s fragrance to shame.

“Why are you smiling like that?”

“Because I’m happy. You’re saying you need me right now, Tia.”

“You really find the strangest things…”

I, who was about to scold Peres out of habit, closed my mouth.

I’m the one asking Peres for a favor right now.

This won’t do.

I nodded and walked ahead, saying.

“It probably won’t be that difficult for you. Anyway, I need help, Peres.”

“Anything.”

That guy is completely excited.

I began walking across the forest with Peres.

It was a path that the security guards who patrolled on schedule rarely used.

And where we were heading was the main building.

Standing face to face with Peres under the dark, barely visible shadows, I spoke in a small voice.

“Lift me up there.”

Peres looked up following the tip of my finger.

“…The terrace?”

“Yes, the one on the 3rd floor there.”

“Is it Larane Lombardi’s room?”

As expected, Peres guessed correctly right away.

I nodded.

“Will it be okay?”

“What?”

“Won’t you be scared?”

Though it’s called the 3rd floor, with the high ceiling structure, it’s easily the height of a normal building’s 4th floor.

But it’s not particularly scary.

“I trust you, Peres.”

That much is nothing to you, right?

Peres smiled slightly with pleasure, then tilted his head slightly toward me and asked.

“If you tell me who did it.”

Tch, he won’t just grant the favor without conditions.

“…Biejie.”

“Biejie Lombardi?”

“Yes.”

“But don’t harm Biejie.”

Seeing a sharp light momentarily flash in Peres’s eyes at my answer, I quickly said firmly.

“Because that’s my job.”

Peres, who had been staring at me intently for a moment, soon reached out his hand to me.

“I’ll hold you.”

With his brief words, my body was lifted so easily and placed on Peres’s arms.

I could feel Peres’s rock-hard arm muscles directly under my legs and bottom.

I wrapped my arms around Peres’s neck and buried my face against his neck.

“I’m not doing this because I’m scared.”

I just don’t like high places.

“Being scared and disliking something are completely different things.”

Through our touching bodies, I could hear Peres chuckling softly.

And when I felt one of Peres’s arms grip my body more firmly.

Whoosh, thud, thud, tap tap.

That was all there was to it.

Except for the belated wind that caught up with us at the end with a whoosh and tousled my hair once, there wasn’t even a feeling of ‘jumping’.

“You can open your eyes now.”

At Peres’s low voice, I slowly lifted my head, and before I knew it, we were standing on the terrace I had pointed to just moments before.

“It seems like there’s only Larane Lombardi inside.”

What a perceptive guy.

Peres had already read the presence with his keen senses and told me.

“Wait here for a moment. I’ll talk to her and come right out.”

Peres silently nodded at my words.

Then he plopped down on the railing in a dark corner where no light reached and looked at me.

That sight reminded me of looking at a well-behaved, gentle puppy, so I smiled at Peres once to show approval before gently knocking on the window.

Knock knock.

Not long after the sound, Larane opened the window with a surprised face.

“Ti, Tia?”

Larane, who had been looking at me with a greatly lowered voice, saw Peres sitting quietly in the back and seemed to grasp the situation.

Larane quickly let me inside, bowed her head slightly toward Peres who was sitting there expressionlessly, then closed the door.

“Tia, your face…”

Larane looked at my lips and swollen cheek and couldn’t continue her words.

Tears welled up again in her already puffy eyes.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, because of me.”

Larane gripped my hand tightly.

“Because of me, both you Tia, and Lord Avinox, and even the Ruman Family…”

Wait, something’s strange here.

Avinox and I were treated roughly by Biejie, but suddenly the Ruman Family?

“Why the Ruman Family?”

“Fa, Father came by a little while ago… He said the Ruman Family would be in great trouble because of this incident. He said the subsidies going to the Eastern Region might even be cut off…”

That Biejie, what a despicable bastard.

To think he’d even threaten his own daughter now.

And it’s an empty threat at that.

The Ruman Family’s subsidies aren’t something that can be withdrawn so easily.

But innocent Larane would have believed those words at face value.

And she would have been sitting alone in this dark room, trembling with fear.

Blaming herself that Avinox and Avinox’s family were in big trouble because of her.

“It’s all because I was greedy…”

Larane, muttering like that, looked somehow precarious.

Suddenly, the image of Larane lying as if asleep came to mind.

The one who had the wrong people as parents and closed her eyes far too early as the price for loving and obeying them.

The image of Larane who had withered away like a flower held in one’s palm.

I rather forcefully pressed the box containing Avinox’s proposal ring into Larane’s hands.

“This is…”

Larane’s eyes wavered as she saw the engagement ring she hadn’t even been able to try on her finger.

When careful hands took out the pearl ring, an iridescent light flowed as it caught the moonlight.

Larane couldn’t take her eyes off that beautiful jewel for a while.

Then she carefully slipped the ring onto her finger.

The ring fit perfectly as if it had been made just for Larane.

Yes, Larane.

That suits you much better than some withered flower.

I gently combed through Larane’s disheveled hair with my fingers as I spoke.

“Lord Avinox asked me to tell you that he ‘will wait’.”

“Ah…”

Thick tears fell drop by drop from Larane’s eyes.

“Listen carefully, Larane. I’ve arranged a way for you to leave this place.”

“A way to… leave?”

“Yes, a way to go to a place where you and Lord Avinox can both be happy together.”

But Larane soon spoke with painful resignation.

“But if I leave like that, too many people will get hurt. Starting with you, Tia, who helped me… And if I run away, Lombardy and the Ruman Family will…”

“Don’t worry about such things. Even if Larane leaves this place with Lord Avinox, no one will get hurt. Trust my words, Larane.”

“Tia…”

“So right now, just think about Larane’s own happiness. And make your decision. You’re still contemplating it, aren’t you?”

“That, that’s…”

Larane lowered her head.

There’s no way she’d say she’d leave with Avinox right away.

For that, Larane loves Biejie and Ceral, and also Belesack too much.

Even at this moment when she’s being forced to make perhaps the most important choice of her life, she can’t bring herself to readily abandon them.

I couldn’t understand how she could love people like Biejie and Ceral.

But they’re still her parents.

And Larane is so very kind.

I understand her hesitation in not being able to readily take Avinox’s hand and leave as if running away.

I gently patted Larane’s thin shoulder.

“Loving your parents and siblings, and wanting to do things that make them happy because of that love, isn’t wrong. Absolutely not.”

Larane’s teary eyes looked up at me.

“But still, the most important thing is Larane’s own happiness. So you decide. What you’re going to do.”

“…What would you have done if you were me, Tia?”

“If it were me…”

I wouldn’t have even gotten to this point.

I would have already turned the household upside down and torn apart the mouths of everyone trying to pressure me into marrying someone like Astana.

Who do they think they are, trying to ruin someone’s life!

But such words would be too extreme for Larane.

I shook my head and answered.

“Larane isn’t me. So that kind of question doesn’t have much meaning. But there’s one thing I know for certain.”

I looked straight into Larane’s pretty eyes as I spoke.

“Your family members aren’t the type of people who would be grateful for your endurance and sacrifice.”

Larane’s long eyelashes trembled.

She probably knew it herself.

“So you don’t have to endure and sacrifice for your family anymore, Larane.”

I left those words and stood up from my seat.

I need to get out quickly before being discovered.

“I’m sorry, but there isn’t much time, Larane. Exactly 5 days from now. You have to decide within that time.”

“5 days…”

Larane nodded slightly.

As I stepped back onto the terrace where Peres was waiting, several flower pots placed on the table caught my eye.

Among them, I liked the red flower that bloomed straight and magnificently the most.

Unlike the others that had weak self-supporting strength and bloomed while leaning on supports, this red flower was holding its head up straight toward the sky with its own strength alone.

I pointed to it and said.

“If you make up your mind within 5 days, put that flower pot outside the window. Then I’ll take care of preparing the rest.”

* * *

A letter from Emperor Yobanes arrived at Rulak’s study.

[I give the head of House Lombardi 3 days. Agree to the engagement between the Imperial Court and Lombardi within this time. If you do not comply with the imperial command, Rulak Lombardi will be placed under house arrest. Furthermore, the house arrest will only be lifted when the marriage is consummated.]

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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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