In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 188

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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 188

We left the training ground and returned to my home.

The twins, Peres, and even Ramona.

It had been a while since the drawing room felt so full of guests.

“My request for a swordsmanship duel must have been burdensome. Thank you, Lady Brown.”

I said while pouring warm tea for Ramona.

“Not at all, Lady Lombardi. You’re working so hard to help our family, so I should do whatever I can.”

“But you know what.”

“Can I ask you just one thing?”

Meylon and Giliou spoke to Ramona with sparkling eyes.

“Yes. Please go ahead, Young Lord Lombardi.”

“With Lady Brown’s level of skill, how good would that be at the Academy?”

Unlike Creny who chose the Academy for studying, the twins had never received education outside of Lombardy.

Even their swordsmanship lessons from childhood had been handled entirely by Lombardi’s guards.

They seemed quite curious.

“I wasn’t particularly talented. I barely passed the Academy entrance exam.”

Ramona answered cautiously.

But Peres, who was listening to the conversation while drinking tea, casually remarked.

“At first, that was true.”

“What do you mean by that, Your Highness?”

“Ramona graduated second in the Swordsmanship Department.”

The twins’ eyes widened.

“Throughout her time at school, Ramona was the only person who came to the training ground earlier than me to start practicing.”

To enter with barely passing skills and graduate second in her class.

It showed just how hardworking Ramona was.

“I was lucky. I gained so much from the Academy, which I had chosen as a refuge to survive.”

Her quiet voice spoke calmly.

“Classmates who always stood by me reliably, and also the dream I want to achieve.”

As she said this, I saw Ramona’s gaze briefly reach Peres.

“You entered to survive…”

“You must have suffered a lot.”

“But Lady Brown’s sword was incredibly strong just now.”

“That’s right. Lady Brown is someone strong in both heart and sword-handling ability.”

The twins said to Ramona.

“If there’s anything we can help with, please tell us.”

“Lady Ramona is one of the few swordsmen we acknowledge.”

At those words, Ramona’s face reddened again.

She could be so different when holding a sword versus when not.

“I already think I’ve received a debt from the Lombardi family that wouldn’t be enough to repay in a lifetime.”

Ramona said this while looking at me.

Her eyes were kind, like a deep lake.

“I only hope that someday I’ll be able to repay this kindness.”

“Lady Brown…”

“She’s really an amazing person…”

The twins nodded deeply as if deeply impressed.

“But how did you do that earlier? When your body suddenly became faster.”

“Did you learn that at the Academy?”

“Ah, that…”

Ramona smiled softly.

“I didn’t learn it separately. It’s Brown Swordsmanship.”

“Huh? That’s Brown Swordsmanship?”

Giliou was surprised.

“But Brown Swordsmanship doesn’t have that kind of technique?”

Meylon also tilted his head.

“What you two know is ‘Imperial Swordsmanship,’ not ‘Brown Swordsmanship.'”

The answer came from Peres.

“The two are… different?”

Meylon asked as if shocked.

“Brown Swordsmanship requires building fundamentals for a long time. So some modification was needed so everyone could learn it. The purpose was to have all citizens of the Empire learn swordsmanship to strengthen the nation.”

“Ah, so that’s why…”

“Also, after the family was disbanded, the Brown family members scattered everywhere continued researching and developing Brown Swordsmanship while waiting for the day the family would be restored. There are people like my father who lost their right hand but started training their left hand from the beginning again.”

Their lives probably weren’t much different from Ramona and her father’s lives.

Even while losing everything and struggling for daily survival, they prepared for the day their family would rise again.

Thinking that someday when the time came, that more developed swordsmanship would become the family’s strength.

“Wow…”

“Amazing…”

The twins kept expressing admiration.

Their sparkling eyes seemed to be impressed by the Brown family’s story.

“I need to focus more and train harder too.”

“Starting tomorrow, I’ll earnestly study Lombardi family swordsmanship too.”

They seemed to have received good motivation as well.

“Hey, Lady Brown. Won’t you show us that improved sword technique again later?”

“Yeah, we’ll buy you something delicious.”

At the twins’ suggestion, Ramona burst into quiet laughter.

And she answered.

“If you’d like, shall I teach you the improved parts?”

“What?!”

Giliou and Meylon were so surprised they nearly fell backward and waved their hands.

“No, no! How could we let you teach us something like that!”

But Ramona was rather calm.

“Anyone from the Brown family picks up a sword from a very young age. Whether girl or boy. And on the first day of lessons, there’s something we learn first.”

Ramona spoke each word clearly.

“The sword is held to protect, and to become strong together.”

It was truly a creed befitting the Brown family.

“That’s why long ago, the head of the Brown family made Brown Swordsmanship public to everyone. And I have no hesitation in upholding those words. I think anyone from the Brown family would think the same way.”

Ramona was sincerely offering to teach the twins real Brown Swordsmanship.

“Lady Brown.”

I called to Ramona.

“Are you serious about that?”

“Yes.”

Ramona nodded briefly.

“Yesterday my father said that when the family is restored, he would make the improved Brown Swordsmanship public. I think it’s a good way to raise the pride of our diminished family.”

Then the plan becomes much easier.

It felt like the last puzzle piece of my plan was falling into place.

“As expected of the Brown family, who passed down the position of Imperial Guard Captain like a family business for generations until 40 years ago. It’s a wonderful decision.”

I smiled at Ramona as I spoke.

After that, perhaps because some awkwardness had lifted, Ramona smiled more brightly than before.

She responded well to the twins’ mischievous remarks, and the conversation continued without interruption.

“But this is the first time I’ve seen Your Highness drink tea. I thought you disliked tea.”

“I’m not particularly fond of herbal teas, but I do occasionally drink the tea that Tia makes.”

Peres answered indifferently to Ramona’s words.

“Ah…”

Ramona smiled vaguely.

But Peres didn’t see that expression.

His red eyes weren’t looking in her direction, but at me.

They were a bright red, round color like drops of blood.

“Let’s talk for a moment, Peres.”

As I said this and stood up from my seat, I felt Peres quietly following behind me.

The place we headed to was my study.

“Close the door.”

I said to Peres.

He silently closed the door.

“Sit here.”

I pointed to the chair placed in front of the desk.

This time too, Peres obediently sat in the chair as I instructed.

“Take off your clothes.”

Again following my words, his hand that was about to unbutton his shirt hesitated.

And he looked up at me standing there with widened eyes.

“I said take off your clothes.”

“…Tia?”

Peres’s pupils shook wildly.

His long eyelashes also trembled.

I urged him on.

“There are people waiting outside. We don’t have time, so hurry up and take them off.”

“There are… people outside…”

Peres slightly furrowed his brow and muttered something in a small voice.

But soon he began moving his fingers that had stopped and started unbuttoning.

His fingertips seemed to be trembling slightly.

Swoosh.

The sound of the shirt sliding off his skin was clearly audible.

“Huu.”

Along with Peres’s short exhale, his firm chest rose and fell greatly.

Peres and my gazes met.

I looked into those red eyes and quietly opened the desk drawer.

Inside were clean bandages and medicine bottles.

Good thing I prepared these in advance.

“It’s medicine that Estira made.”

I handed Peres the small, round container with medicine and said.

“Apply it.”

The wound on his forearm from sparring with the twins earlier was left untreated.

I knew this would happen.

Peres just sat there holding the medicine bottle I gave him, looking up at me blankly.

“Aren’t you going to apply it?”

“You were… going to give me medicine?”

“Well, did you think I was going to give you chocolate or something?”

“Haah…”

Peres suddenly let out a big sigh.

Why, what, why are you sighing?

Peres, who had been looking back and forth between me and the medicine bottle with eyes that seemed half resigned, chuckled and gave a hollow laugh.

I snatched the medicine bottle back from Peres’s hand, opened the lid, and said.

“Even if it’s not that big of a wound, it’s definitely a cut from a sword. You need to apply medicine properly.”

I scooped out the sticky ointment and carefully applied it to the wounded area.

“Anyway…”

“Don’t think that since you already have many scars, one or two more won’t matter.”

Peres’s mouth, which had been half open, closed tightly again.

“And what was that sigh about earlier?”

Peres was silent for a moment at my question.

Then he answered quietly.

“…No, this is good too.”

It was still a statement whose meaning I couldn’t quite understand, but I didn’t feel the need to press further.

But that very long and deep sigh bothered me.

I wrapped bandages over the wound I had applied medicine to and said.

“If you get treated properly, I’ll give you chocolate.”

At my words, Peres chuckled softly and answered.

“…Okay.”

* * *

In the pitch-black dawn well past midnight.

Beit was picking up and reading the papers scattered here and there one by one.

At first glance, they seemed like random scraps of paper, but as they passed through Beit’s gaze, they were sorted and stacked one by one.

That tedious work was repeated for several hours.

But there was no sign of fatigue on Beit’s face.

However, as time passed, wrinkles appeared on Beit’s brow.

“Hmm…”

Beit, who had been glaring at one piece of paper for a long time, pulled out another paper from a different bundle.

“This is strange.”

Beit muttered lowly and rubbed his brow.

Something didn’t add up.

The information sent by the informants was unclear and confusing.

However, sorting them into real and fake and connecting seemingly unrelated things was Beit’s ability.

And he was very good at that job.

But there were days like today too.

Cases where the path wasn’t clearly visible, as if thick fog had settled.

He knew there was something beyond the fog, but he couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

“At times like this, I should take a short break.”

Beit said this to himself and stood up from his seat.

Then he approached the window and opened it.

As the cold dawn air rushed in, his tired mind seemed to wake up a little.

“The sun is already rising.”

Beit, who had been staring blankly at the sky that was gradually brightening, lit a cigarette.

But he just stood still, letting the red ember create a long ash.

His gaze remained fixed on the sky while only his eyes blinked occasionally.

Thoughts followed thoughts in a chain.

The connections between seemingly unrelated pieces of information became clear.

The fog was lifting.

And as Beit followed the path that began to appear, the cigarette dropped from his hand.

“…Damn it!”

Beit rushed back to his desk frantically and rummaged through the document bundles like a madman.

“Chanton Seosseou…!”

What had been nagging at the back of my mind like a persistent poke was none other than the Sercheu Marquis.

After the tea time at the Empress’ Quarters, the Sercheu Marquis’s whereabouts had become mysterious.

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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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