In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 186

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

This Life, I Will Become the Clan Head Episode 186

“You should leave now.”

Father instructed the servant who was standing there blankly beside him.

“Yes, yes…”

Perhaps finding this situation quite uncomfortable, the servant quickly left the room without looking back.

As the door closed with a click, Father’s sharp gaze turned back to Peres.

Then I could see Peres’s shoulders flinch slightly.

Father being Father aside, this was the first time I’d seen Peres like this.

“It’s been a while, Lord Lombardi.”

Peres greeted Father first.

“Yes, indeed it has.”

But Father didn’t smile.

The gentle smile he habitually showed to everyone, always, had completely vanished.

“After such a long time, I find that Your Highness the Prince has become my daughter’s fiancé.”

“That is…”

The bewilderment on Peres’s face deepened further.

Straightening his back and tensing up completely, Peres answered seriously.

“There are circumstances involved in that matter. It’s difficult to explain everything, but…”

“A contract engagement, I hear.”

Father cut off Peres’s words cleanly.

“I heard about it from Tia.”

Then, looking toward me, Father’s face bore the familiar and affectionate smile.

“Our Tia, who has grown up well without causing trouble even once since childhood, made such a decision. I thought there must have been reasons for it.”

But when Father looked back at Peres again, his eyes had turned cold.

“But for that partner to be the Second Prince.”

Father’s low voice created a long trailing tone.

“Though it may only be a contract engagement, Your Highness the Prince…”

Father looked at Peres with a somehow sharp gaze, as if examining him piece by piece.

His eyes were filled with an indescribable distrust.

Yet before such a Father, Peres couldn’t even speak a single word properly.

Sigh.

Finally, letting out a small sigh, I stepped forward.

“Dad.”

“Yes, Tia.”

Father answered with a bright smile as if he had never been glaring at Peres.

“Peres and I, it really is a contract engagement. So you don’t need to worry.”

“Worry? Dad isn’t worried. Our Tia will surely handle everything well on her own.”

Father’s hand gently stroked my head.

So I thought it was over now.

But Father turned and half-glared at Peres again.

“However, seeing the Second Prince, I can’t help but recall again. The feeling I had when I heard the news of my precious daughter’s engagement, without any prior notice, through a letter, and only after the entire empire already knew about it.”

At Father’s words, clearly intended to invoke guilt, Peres couldn’t respond.

His complexion looked quite poor, as if someone had punched him hard in the solar plexus.

Father approached Peres, who had become like a mute who ate honey and was just standing there quietly.

Then, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder, he asked.

“So. What did you say was the reason the Second Prince is in my daughter’s room this early morning?”

“…I was asking Lady Lombardi if she could provide me with a room to stay at the Lombardi estate for a few days.”

“Ah.”

Father, who had been quietly listening to Peres’s words, finally smiled slowly.

“If that’s the case, let me help you with that.”

“There’s no need for you to personally…”

“No. Come with me right now. The butler should be awake by now too.”

In the end, Peres had no choice but to follow Father’s lead.

With a face full of reluctance, Peres glanced back at me once before slowly starting to move toward the door.

His shoulders drooped, clearly showing his unwillingness to go.

But Father was firm.

After pushing Peres’s back out the door, Father returned with a smiling face again and said to me.

“Have breakfast with what Dad prepared for you, Tia. We’ll see each other again at lunch.”

The door closed with a thud, and when I realized it, I was left alone.

“Will Peres be okay?”

Father seemed somewhat angry.

But then, through the slightly opened food covers, the warm scent of pancakes wafted up richly.

Growl.

“Well, he’ll manage somehow.”

As if someone like Peres would be bullied by someone like our Father?

The only person in this estate who could properly bully Peres would be Grandfather, right?

Father will probably stop acting like that soon too.

I thought lightly like that as I picked up my fork.

Never dreaming that Peres would be dragged straight to the main building and end up having a very uncomfortable breakfast with Grandfather and Father.

* * *

A time filled with afternoon sunlight.

Empress Lavinia held a tea time after a long while.

Since the Empress had lived a quiet life for some time after the failure of the eldest son succession law, all of Lavinia’s close associates filled their seats.

Among them, the Marquis Sersheu stood out prominently.

Though his appearance and past career as a knight commander seemed to have no connection with tea time, his figure sitting right next to the Empress and lifting a teacup matched quite well with the white and delicate porcelain.

Before the many guests, the Empress conversed intimately with Chanton Sersheu as if to show off, displaying their friendship.

“I haven’t been feeling well lately, so I’ve been distant from Marquis Sersheu. I hope you don’t feel too hurt by it.”

“You don’t need to worry about such things, Your Majesty the Empress.”

At Marquis Sersheu’s polite response, Empress Lavinia’s smile deepened further.

“The sunlight is quite nice, shall we take a short walk?”

The Empress suddenly suggested.

“…Let’s do that.”

After a brief pause, Marquis Sersheu nodded.

The gazes of the people attending the tea time focused on the two people rising from their seats together.

“Let’s take a short stroll through the gardens.”

“I shall escort you.”

True to his background as a knight, Marquis Sersheu began escorting the Empress with proper etiquette.

Curious eyes followed behind them, but the Empress smiled even more mysteriously as if enjoying it, leaving the place where refreshments were set up.

Before long, the two were walking leisurely through the quiet gardens.

After confirming there was no one around, the Empress spoke.

“This year’s harvest in Sersheu was bountiful as well, I hear.”

Her still beautiful eyes remained gazing somewhere far away, as if enjoying the stroll.

“Many citizens of Angenas depend on the grain from Sersheu Mountain.”

Empress Lavinia spoke, drawing a gentle curve with her red lips.

“I’m very grateful for it.”

It wasn’t empty words.

Thanks to the grain from Sersheu Mountain being supplied at low prices, the mortality rate of commoners in Angenas had drastically decreased.

Originally, due to soil unsuitable for farming, Angenas had more years of poor harvests than average crops.

In such years, they had to spend large sums of money for relief efforts, even if only nominally, so Seo-Seo-u’s cheap grain was like a lifesaver to the current Angenas.

Especially during times like now when Angenas’ capital had dried up like drought-stricken land.

“I have high expectations for the Sercheu Marquis in the future as well.”

“…I will work harder to meet those expectations, Empress.”

“Yes. But…”

The Empress suddenly stopped walking and trailed off.

“I have a concern these days, Sercheu Marquis.”

Her expression seemed very troubled at first glance.

However, Chanton Seosseou could sense that the Empress’s blue eyes were closely watching his reaction.

“What concern do you have?”

“It’s nothing major, but…”

The Empress looked directly at Chanton as she answered.

“The amount of land that Angenas has put up as collateral while borrowing money from the Seosseou Family has become quite substantial.”

It was an obvious statement.

In a relatively short time, the Angenas Family had borrowed astronomical amounts from Seo-Seo-u.

In short, they had tried to cover the reckless Western Region development project and the failure of the eldest son succession law with Seo-Seo-u’s money.

As a result, more than half of the Angenas Family’s estates were collateral for debt.

In other words, more than half of Angenas had fallen into Seo-Seo-u’s grasp.

“That is correct, Empress.”

However, the Sercheu Marquis silently nodded with a face that revealed nothing of his inner thoughts.

“So I suddenly became worried. Seo-Seo-u wouldn’t do such a thing, but what if they really covet our Angenas’ estates?”

The corners of the smiling Empress’s eyes were sharp.

“Of course, I trust the Sercheu Marquis’s words. Your words that ‘Seo-Seo-u has no interest in Angenas’ land.'”

Instead of answering, the Sercheu Marquis pressed his lips together even more tightly.

The Empress, who had been staring at such a reaction, continued speaking.

“For the continued alliance between Angenas and Seo-Seo-u, and furthermore, to enable me to trust and have more faith in the Seosseou Family, I believe we need to further solidify our mutual trust and faith in each other.”

Trust and faith.

At those words, Chanton Seosseou’s previously indifferent gaze became fierce, but it happened so briefly that the Empress didn’t notice.

“Of course, it’s not that I don’t trust the Sercheu Marquis.”

However, the Empress’s bright blue eyes were saying the exact opposite.

Something had made the Empress suspicious of Seo-Seo-u.

Whether it came from simply realizing ‘looking back, too much land was put up as collateral to Seo-Seo-u.’

Or whether there was something more beyond that was unknown.

“What would you have me do?”

Chanton Seosseou asked in a low voice.

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