In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 2

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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 2

“…Father?”

I could see a man in his late twenties with brown hair reading a book.

“…Father, no…. Dad?”

Green eyes that resembled mine moved to look at me.

“What’s wrong, Tia?”

Goosebumps rose on my arms at the voice that was exactly as I remembered it.

What is this, is this real?

To dismiss this as a final vision before death, the smell of books in the library and the texture of my surroundings were far too vivid. I blinked several times, trying to understand the situation.

I was definitely hit by a carriage and thrown into the air, waiting for my last breath, so why am I suddenly standing in the manor’s library? Why are the bookshelves so tall, and why is the desk so high?

“Tia?”

When was the last time someone called me so affectionately? I felt like I might cry looking at those familiar green eyes filled with concern.

Father looked exactly as young as I remembered him.

“Tia, are you alright?”

I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to get out of here first.

“Um, just a moment. So, may I go to my room?”

Father tilted his head once, then nodded with relieved, gentle eyes.

“Yes, go ahead. Shall I come with you?”

A large hand gently stroked my head as he asked.

“Oh, no! I can go by myself!”

“Haha. You’re especially spirited today. Be careful.”

“Yes! I’ll be back soon, so please wait here for just a moment!”

After shouting that, I started running without thinking. As I ran, I looked around the library, which retained its old appearance. That is, the old look from before I became responsible and efficiently reorganized it.

This is strange! Really strange!

After running out of the library, a familiar yet unfamiliar corridor greeted me. My room was too far away, so I opened the first door I saw and went inside.

The room with a single bed and simple furniture seemed unoccupied. I thought it might be a guest room, but that wasn’t important right now. In the massive Lombardy manor, which was like a village itself, there were countless empty rooms.

“Mirror! Right, a mirror!”

Fortunately, I found a full-length mirror placed in the corner of the room. It didn’t seem that far away, but strangely, I had to take many steps to reach it. And the moment I stood in front of the mirror, I understood why.

“Why am I so small?!”

My body was ridiculously small, not even filling a third of the full-length mirror made for an adult’s height. Looking down, I could see two hands like maple leaves, a chubby baby belly, and tiny feet.

“How old am I right now?”

There was no one to ask. After thinking for a moment, I hurriedly lifted up my skirt.

“I was badly hurt when I fell on my eighth birthday!”

I had severely scraped my knee on a rock while playing in the garden, and that scar was so big it remained on my twenty-five-year-old body.

“It’s not there. There’s no scar.”

My knee was perfectly smooth without any wounds.

“Then that means I haven’t turned eight yet….”

I looked in the mirror again, but it was unmistakably my childhood appearance. Even for someone like me who had experienced dying in an accident and waking up with no injuries on my body, waking up to find myself back in the past was hard to accept.

This is my first time regressing, after all.

My legs felt weak, so I sat on the bed beside me. But even that wasn’t easy due to my short height. Through the window that I could barely see because of my reduced height, I could see the landscape of Lombardy.

“I really came back to the past.”

I muttered while looking at the large evergreen trees that stood tall deep in the garden.

These were the trees that Uncle Biejie had cut down when he became clan head. He said it was for landscaping, but it was obvious he did it because he hated seeing the trees Grandfather cherished.

However, later it was revealed that those trees were gifted by the founding emperor to celebrate the completion of this manor, causing great embarrassment.

For someone who was supposedly the eldest son and clan head to know so little about the family.

“Stupid Biejie.”

I don’t know what Grandfather was thinking, but Biejie was absolutely not fit to be clan head. But if you think about it that way, Uncle Lorels wasn’t qualified either. If Biejie was petty and narrow-minded, his younger brother Lorels was just a loyal hunting dog who did whatever his older brother told him to do.

The only one who showed promise was my father, Gallahan. Though he thought too much and had a weak constitution, he was so knowledgeable that even the Academy coveted him.

But because Father passed away early, Grandfather had no other choice….

Wait a minute.

“Can I… save Father?”

Father died of illness shortly before my eleventh birthday. At the time, there was no cure, so we could only watch helplessly, but I clearly remembered hearing news just a few years later that a doctor had discovered a medicine.

“I can save Father!”

My whole body trembled with joy. My eyes felt hot, and a single tear dropped.

I don’t have to lose Father.

I can save him.

I don’t have to watch Father suffer and die at such a young age.

It was unbelievable, but having returned to the past, I could do it. And soon another realization came to me.

“Then couldn’t I also protect Lombardy?”

I jumped up from my seat and walked to the window. From the library, I could see the entire view of Lombardy’s massive four-story main building and the various buildings built around it. I could see guests visiting the manor, servants, and employees working for Lombardy.

Before I was hit by the carriage, none of these things existed in the Lombardy I last saw. The image of the empty manor, with imperial soldiers locking the doors, was vivid before my eyes.

“First, I need to prevent Biejie from becoming clan head.”

Supporting the Crown Prince was his decision as the next clan head. Lavinia Angenas, the Crown Prince’s mother and Empress of the Lambru Empire, was cousins with Biejie’s wife and my aunt, Ceral Angenas. Given their relationship, it was natural for him to favor them, but still, it was about the position of the next crown prince.

The Crown Prince was not capable of handling such enormous power and responsibility, and Emperor Yobanes was never a foolish ruler. Biejie failed to understand this and supported the Crown Prince.

If he hadn’t made such a public declaration of support. No, if he hadn’t tried to threaten and harm the Second Prince! Lombardy would have been safe.

I thought about trying to persuade Biejie, but I soon realized it would be useless. If he were the type to change his mind through persuasion, that disaster wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Then someone else would have to become clan head instead.

“I would have left this family to you….”

I remembered Grandfather’s words that he used to say habitually while sighing.

“Should I… try it?”

I chuckled, but it wasn’t entirely wishful thinking. While helping Grandfather and practically handling the family’s affairs, I had thought more than once that I wished I were the clan head, especially because of Biejie constantly destroying what I had built.

In fact, no matter what I did, I would be better than Uncle Biejie.

“At least I wouldn’t make such a mistake with the Second Prince. Then our family would be safe. Since I obviously know that the Second Prince will become crown prince…”

Then what if I establish connections with the Second Prince in advance?

If I become close to him, couldn’t that benefit Lombardy?

That wasn’t all. I had memories of at least the next 20 years of events. If I used my knowledge well, I could make Lombardy even more prosperous.

I can protect my beloved Lombardy with my own hands.

Definitely.

“Let’s try it once.”

If left alone, this family would be completely ruined. It would be pathetically destroyed after hundreds of years of dominance. I couldn’t just stand by and watch Lombardy meet such a fate again.

“I’ll become the clan head.”

Or Father could succeed Grandfather.

Anyone except the eldest, Biejie, or the second, Lorels.

“Then first….”

I sat back on the bed and organized my thoughts a bit more.

* * *

“Lord Gallahan received a summons from the clan head and went to the study, Miss.”

When I returned to the library, Father’s seat had already been neatly organized, and the librarian delivered the message to me.

The elderly librarian with graying hair, Broshul.

I started working in the library after this Broshul resigned due to illness. He was originally a famous professor at the Academy, but came to Lombardy after stepping down from teaching.

“Librarian Grandfather.”

For my actual age, it would have been quite rude to speak this way to Broshul, who was once a professor, but what did it matter?

I’m a child right now.

“Please lend me just one book.”

“Which book would you like?”

When I told him the book title, Broshul was dumbfounded.

“Did Gallahan perhaps ask you to get this?”

“No. I’ll be reading it myself.”

I could understand Broshul’s surprise. But I waited confidently without avoiding his obvious stare.

This book was the one I had most wanted to read before I was hit by the carriage. It was so rare and expensive that I never got to read it in the end.

A little later, I left the library with a rather heavy book tucked under my arm.

“I should go near the study and wait while reading.”

When I asked earlier, they said today was the third day of the week. Gathering his three sons and one daughter for a brief meeting on the third day was Grandfather’s long-standing habit.

However, since the time varied each time, Father and my siblings had to stay within the manor all day waiting for Grandfather’s summons. Even so, no one complained about it.

Because Grandfather’s authority in this Lombardy was absolute.

Walking alone with small steps, I came upon the main building and was soon able to reach the corridor in front of the study. It was a place I had frequented like my own room when helping Grandfather with work. Perhaps because I was seeing it from a child’s perspective, it looked somehow different.

Though I would have liked to explore the interior of the main building a bit more, I had to lean against the window to rest. The distance from the library to here was far too great for my current short legs. Moreover, I could definitely feel that a child’s body had weak stamina and tired quickly.

I was thinking that I might need to take a nap soon.

“Hey, half-breed.”

That’s when I heard the voice of some arrogant child calling me.

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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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