In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 206
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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 206
“Wh-what are you saying! Assassinating the Emperor… treason!”
Astana couldn’t even finish voicing the charges and his face turned deathly pale.
From how much he had struggled, the cloth binding his ankles was torn and stained red, and the bandages the court physician had wrapped around his right arm were also messily undone.
He couldn’t overcome his own foul temper.
But Peres’s face looking down at such an Astana remained expressionless as ever.
“Are you trying to claim you don’t remember now?”
Peres asked in a dry tone.
“Don’t talk nonsense! Why would I do such a thing to His Majesty…”
Astana muttered with a still confused expression.
Then the next moment he widened his eyes and shouted at Peres.
“Wait, is that the reason I’m tied up here? Because I tried to assassinate His Majesty?”
“That’s right.”
“Ha! Then that’s it! Haha!”
Astana suddenly burst into laughter.
With his sweat-soaked hair, disheveled clothes, and bloodshot eyes, his laughing appearance looked like a deranged madman.
“There must have been some misunderstanding! What I was trying to kill wasn’t His Majesty but you! So hurry up and untie this!”
The knights’ faces became awkward.
How should we explain this.
They simultaneously looked at Peres.
Peres stared at the sneering Astana before answering.
“What you charged at to kill was not me but His Majesty.”
Peres said while opening a sturdy-looking box.
“You used this dagger that Belesack Lombardi was carrying.”
Astana’s gaze reached the sharply forged dagger.
Yes, he remembered holding that dagger in his hand.
But.
“That’s nonsense. It was definitely you, you lowly thing. I didn’t succeed because of the Imperial Knights beside you, but…”
Astana’s voice gradually grew smaller as he spoke.
His pupils shook as if an earthquake had struck.
He also confirmed the uncomfortable faces of the knight order with increasingly horrified eyes.
“Su-surely not…”
Finally, a sound like air being let out flowed from Astana’s mouth.
“Is, is it really true?”
Astana asked Sir Sloan.
Sir Sloan looked at Peres once as if to confirm with a somber face, then answered.
“What the Crown Prince attacked in the Forest of the Mad was not the Second Prince but His Majesty.”
“Bu-but he was definitely wearing red armor, and beside him was that Lombardi girl…”
“Watch your words, Astana.”
Peres had already raised Belesack’s dagger to Astana’s throat and spoke in a low voice.
It wasn’t simply for intimidation.
The unusually sharp tip of the dagger was pressing against Astana’s Adam’s apple.
With just a little more force, it would cut right through the flesh.
“A-alright.”
Astana quickly answered.
“So, I mean the Lombardi young lady was definitely there beside him, that’s what I’m saying.”
“Pirenthia was accompanying His Majesty to look around the forest.”
Peres said without withdrawing his sword.
“So you are a criminal who attempted but failed to commit treason, Astana.”
“Treason! Why would I! I’m someone who will become Emperor after His Majesty in the future even if I just stay still! Why would I commit treason!”
“Well. That’s something I’ll have to find out from now on.”
Peres flipped the dagger in his hand and thrust it before Astana’s eyes.
“Astana Nerempe Durellie, you tried to assassinate His Majesty with this dagger in the Forest of the Mad. And.”
At Peres’s gesture, a knight presented a water bottle made of black leather.
“Investigation revealed that this water bottle contained a drug.”
“…A drug?”
“A drug that rapidly absorbs magi, causing hallucinations and auditory hallucinations.”
“Th-then that’s it!”
Astana sat up abruptly and shouted.
“Yes, someone definitely used a drug! Otherwise, there’s no way I would have mistaken His Majesty for you…”
“Are you saying you didn’t take the drug voluntarily?”
Sir Sloan asked Astana.
Magi dramatically enhances human strength.
That was also why Astana had gained strength and stamina beyond his limits for several days.
“Would I be crazy enough to deliberately absorb magi!”
“Then this is a very important matter.”
Sir Sloan asked Astana with a serious face.
“Was there anyone who had access to this water bottle?”
“How would I know that! That water bottle wasn’t even mine to begin with!”
“It’s not Your Highness’s? Then why did you keep carrying this water bottle around?”
“That’s because Belesack… Belesack…”
Astana’s voice gradually grew smaller again.
At that moment, Astana’s eyes turned toward Peres.
“That water bottle…”
“When we encountered the Second Prince’s group in the forest, I secretly took one of the water bottles they were drinking while talking about magi.”
Astana couldn’t continue his words.
“You, you…”
Goosebumps rose all over his body.
Coming to his senses, he realized he had entered the mouth of a beast.
Then, Peres, who had stepped back, spoke.
“Tell me, Astana.”
It was the same dry, emotionless voice as before, but to Astana it was no different from laughter.
“Finding out all those involved, including you, is the command His Majesty gave me.”
There was a hint of amusement in Peres’s red eyes.
* * *
Rulak let out a long sigh as he watched the scenery outside the carriage window entering the Lombardi estate.
He felt suddenly weighed down by fatigue.
“I’m getting old too.”
Rulak gave a bitter smile.
The duties of a clan head had been beyond his strength for a long time.
However, he had somehow endured until now.
Dr. Estira, Lombardi’s personal physician, was exceptionally skilled, and Rulak himself had been careful about his health since collapsing a few years ago.
But now he felt that even that had reached its limit.
“Hmm.”
Rulak sighed once more and rubbed his face with dry hands.
“We’ve arrived at the manor, Master.”
The coachman’s voice could be heard from outside.
“You’ve done well.”
Rulak said, trying his best to hide his fatigue.
Then the carriage door opened.
Rulak’s eyes widened in surprise, having simply thought it would be the coachman.
“Grandfather! You’re back!”
“Tia…”
Though she had grown into a full adult, his granddaughter still retained her childhood appearance as she smiled brightly.
“You must be tired from traveling so far? Let’s have a delicious dinner together, Grandfather!”
“Were you waiting outside because of this old man? It’s so cold…”
Rulak asked worriedly, looking at his granddaughter’s reddened nose.
“I only just came out! Father is waiting in the dining hall too. Let’s go together, Grandfather!”
Tia said affectionately, linking arms with Rulak.
“Gallahan too… Yes, yes.”
Rulak patted Tia’s hand.
Though her hand still felt small and delicate, nothing could be more reliable than it.
The affectionate grandfather and granddaughter climbed the entrance stairs one by one, chatting warmly.
“The Nobility Council has agreed to properly discuss the Brown Family’s restoration.”
“Really? Lord Brown and Sir Ramona will be so pleased.”
At Tia’s words, Rulak looked at his granddaughter.
“What about you, Tia? It was you who brought them back into the world.”
“Well…”
Tia smiled, her eyes crinkling beautifully.
It was a smile exactly like her father Gallahan’s.
“Of course I’m happy. It was homework you gave me, wasn’t it, Grandfather?”
Such a smart and capable child.
Rulak stroked Tia’s head.
“When did you grow up so much?”
His granddaughter had suddenly grown up and become a reliable pillar of support.
Fighting and squabbling over succession.
Lombardy was completely different from the Durellie Imperial Family, which had already begun to shed blood.
In Lombardy, such an excellent next generation was growing up like this.
‘Since Tia is still young, if I teach her like this one by one for a few more years…’
It was when Rulak was thinking this.
Stagger.
Rulak’s body collapsed greatly.
It was exactly the same situation as when young Tia had embraced Rulak and they had rolled down the stairs.
Now Rulak knew what this condition meant.
Would he hurt her badly like last time?
Instinctively leaning his body away from Tia, Rulak slowly sat down as if lying on the stairs.
“Grandfather!”
Tia’s startled voice was heard.
He could also feel his granddaughter’s hands grasping his shoulders, trying to protect Rulak somehow.
In his gradually fading consciousness, Rulak patted the back of his granddaughter’s hand as he had just before.
‘Don’t be too surprised. I’m fine.’
However, unable to finish those words, Rulak eventually lost consciousness on the front porch stairs.
* * *
“What happened, Estira?”
My voice was so unfamiliarly cold.
Grandfather was safely moved to his bedroom and Estira came running immediately.
“He’ll regain consciousness soon. He’ll be fine.”
“How much worse has Grandfather’s condition gotten? If you had told me earlier…”
I would have been more careful.
I wouldn’t have let him make the long journey to the Imperial Palace alone.
Various thoughts tangled up in my head.
“Don’t scold Dr. Estira too much. I told her not to tell anyone.”
Grandfather was slowly sitting up.
“Grandfather.”
As I approached, Grandfather chuckled warmly.
“It’s all because of age, isn’t it? No matter how good the medicine, one cannot deceive time.”
Grandfather was right.
In my previous life, Grandfather at this time gradually had difficulty moving and needed someone’s help even to take a single step.
I couldn’t even imagine him freely traveling to the Imperial Palace like now or sitting up in bed by himself.
I apologized to Estira.
“I’m sorry, Estira. I misspoke.”
“It’s fine. You were very shocked too, Lady Pirenthia.”
Estira gave me a warm smile while handing medicine to Grandfather.
“I think it’s because I was very tired today. Should I take medicine more often?”
“It would be best to rest well for a few days and monitor your condition, Master.”
“Hmm. I see.”
Grandfather nodded as if he had expected this.
“This has become quite troublesome.”
“There’s nothing to worry about. You absolutely must rest well, Grandfather.”
At my words, Grandfather burst into hearty laughter.
“But someone must attend the Nobility Council to ensure the Brown Family can be restored.”
“Don’t worry. Peres will take care of that…”
“Yes, you can go, Tia.”
“What…?”
For a moment I doubted my ears.
Thinking I had misheard and about to stick my pinky finger in my ear, Grandfather smiled and said,
“Tia, you go to the Nobility Council in my place.”
“But Grandfather, that’s…”
“Yes, it’s something only the Deputy Lord can do.”
I stared at Grandfather, forgetting even to breathe.
Grandfather smiled kindly and said as if confirming it for me,
“You will attend the Nobility Council as Lombardy’s Deputy Lord, Tia.”
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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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