In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 225

—————
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 225

Peres gazed at the warm tea water with steam gently rising from it as he reminisced.

“Remember, Peres. It’s the Emperor who decides the Crown Prince. You must be careful not to fall out of the Emperor’s favor.”

In other words, she was telling him to stay back during this council meeting.

She was worried he might suffer harm caught between Angenas and Yobanes who supported them, and the opposing Lombardi.

A subtle smile silently spread across Peres’ lips.

This was something that commonly happened when he thought of Tia.

‘How cruel.’

She said they couldn’t marry and make an eternal vow to belong to each other, yet she worried about him like this.

She told him not to love her, yet she was so lovable.

So Peres poured more warm tea into the Emperor’s half-empty teacup.

“Now speak, Second Prince.”

Yobanes said as he familiarly took another sip of tea.

“I’m curious about what you’re trying to say.”

Peres looked at such an Emperor.

The situation where the person he despised most trusted him was so absurd that he almost burst into laughter without realizing it.

“Would you take a look at this for a moment, Your Majesty.”

Peres took out several folded papers from his chest and handed them to Yobanes.

They were old documents with ink that had faded dimly.

“What is this?”

Though puzzled, Yobanes began to carefully read what Peres had given him.

The papers were filled with writing.

Soon, shallow wrinkles formed on the Emperor’s brow.

And he asked Peres.

“These are order forms for commissioning goods from the Lombardi Guild?”

“That’s correct.”

Peres nodded.

“Leather, timber, horses, grain, and iron.”

Yobanes read out the items listed in the document one by one in a low voice.

The rest were things anyone could commonly order.

However, one word caught Yobanes’ attention.

“Iron.”

The Emperor, who had confirmed the quantity of iron written in the order form, asked Peres.

“Was someone planning to wage war?”

The light tone that sounded half-joking was full of thorns.

However, Peres remained calm.

“It’s very faint, but can you make out the orderer’s name remaining at the bottom?”

“Gerard… Brown?”

It was the name of the previous Lord Brown.

Yobanes’ eyes widened.

And he began reading the order form again.

“Your Majesty is correct. The Brown family was preparing for war.”

Peres said to such an Emperor.

“Those goods are the details of items that the previous Lord Brown ordered from the Lombardi Guild with money borrowed from Angenas.”

Peres looked with coldly cooled eyes at Yobanes, who was reading the order form with a deeply furrowed face.

“And at that time, the Empire was preparing for war with the Ruman Kingdom.”

Yobanes’ father, the Previous Emperor, had one dream.

To win a war of conquest and expand the Empire’s territory.

However, at that time the Empire was not in a suitable situation to wage a war of conquest.

But the Emperor’s will was firm.

Eventually, he began reaching out to his subjects to wage war.

Brown was the family that contributed the most supplies among them.

“How did you get this…”

And there was no way Yobanes wouldn’t have known this fact.

He had simply been keeping silent about it.

“The Brown family had been keeping it. And I heard something interesting from them too.”

Peres said while deeply gazing into Yobanes’ wavering eyes.

“They said it was all the Previous Emperor who arranged for them to borrow money from Angenas, and who gave imperial permission for Angenas to exercise premature collateral rights to take Brown’s estates.”

Yobanes’ face turned as red as it could possibly get.

Though Peres was calling him ‘Previous Emperor’ as if it were someone else’s story, he was Yobanes’ father.

After a moment of silence, Yobanes asked Peres.

“Did Lord Brown tell you to blackmail me with this? To change the western representative to Brown?”

Yobanes was furious as if he would immediately cancel the Brown family’s restoration.

But Peres shook his head.

“That document is being given to Your Majesty.”

“To me…?”

“If the Brown family were the type to threaten Your Majesty, the situation wouldn’t have flowed this far. They’re foolish people who kept such an unjust story to themselves for a long time without revealing it.”

And Peres said casually as if it were nothing.

“But if such a story were to leak outside, it’s obvious what would happen to the Imperial family’s reputation.”

An Emperor who waged war with the help of loyal subjects, then orchestrated their downfall out of jealousy.

“That’s why I asked for it and brought it. We can’t just leave the Imperial family’s shame that might be exposed.”

If this story were to spread outside.

Yobanes clenched his fist at the hypothesis he didn’t even want to imagine.

The old order form was crumpled messily in his grip.

“I don’t think the Previous Emperor’s judgment was greatly wrong.”

Peres said to such a Yobanes in a leisurely voice.

“When a tool has served its purpose, you must discard it and replace it with another.”

Then, a short knock came from outside, signaling that it was time for the meeting.

Peres stood up from his seat while buttoning his outer coat.

“Today, the western representative will change.”

It was like a prophecy.

Yobanes looked up at Peres with bloodshot eyes.

“I’m telling you in advance so that Your Majesty won’t be disgraced just to keep a promise with the Empress.”

Having said that, Peres gave a brief bow and walked out to the meeting room.

Left alone in the meeting room, Yobanes gulped down the remaining tea in his cup in one go, feeling as if his throat was burning.

* * *

After the opening of the council meeting was declared.

Emperor Yobanes looked around the assembly and asked.

“Lord Brown, are you in attendance?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Lord Brown, who was sitting next to me, said while bowing his head lightly according to protocol.

“What about the Angenas Patriarch?”

Then this time a loud voice answered from over there.

“I am in attendance, Your Majesty!”

How overdramatic.

Duiji Angenas shot up from his seat entirely and fawned over him.

He must have already coordinated everything with Yobanes, and Cleribane wouldn’t have attended either.

He was obviously grinning inwardly.

“Today’s Council Meeting has been convened at the request of the Nobility Council Chairman to determine which of the Brown Family or Angenas Family will represent the Western Region.”

When the Emperor explained the meeting’s agenda, tension flowed through the assembly.

“And after personally reviewing the matter.”

Gulp.

Someone’s loud swallowing could be heard.

“The difference in territory size between the two families is very slight.”

That was all.

Yobanes closed his mouth as if he had nothing more to say.

Of course.

I slightly lowered my head to hide the laugh that was about to escape.

However, the surrounding nobles began murmuring quietly.

They must have expected the Emperor to raise someone’s hand and declare ‘you are the Western Region’s representative.’

I raised my head while observing the expressions of the Angenas Patriarch and the Empress.

“…Ahem.”

That was really dangerous just now.

I almost laughed alone during the Council Meeting.

Of course, both their faces clearly showed bewilderment.

Especially Duiji Angenas, who had little courage, had turned pale.

“Your Majesty, I have one question.”

Lord Brown spoke up.

“What exactly is this slight difference, and which family has acquired the larger territory?”

Lord Brown was composed.

It was hard to believe this was the same person who had lived as a commoner driving carriages until recently – he was the perfect image of nobility.

Emperor Yobanes looked through the documents his aide handed him and answered readily.

“The Brown Family’s territory is larger. The difference is… about the size of the Imperial Domain.”

“Then…”

“Isn’t it decided?”

When the nobles began murmuring again, Yobanes added a comment.

“However, it’s also not without merit that such a difference is too slight to change the representative family.”

“Exactly!”

Sensing this was his moment, Duiji Angenas shot up from his seat once more and spoke.

“We cannot accept such a small difference!”

“What do you mean you cannot accept it?”

Finally someone shouted angrily.

“No matter how slight the difference, didn’t His Majesty clearly state there is a difference!”

Since Emperor Yobanes took an ambiguous stance, the fight naturally ignited as quickly as flames on dry grassland.

“We cannot surrender the Western Region representative position we’ve held for 40 years over such a trivial difference!”

The Angenas faction also raised their voices without backing down.

“Don’t disgrace yourself further – admit defeat and step down! That’s what nobility should do!”

“Honor, you say! Didn’t His Majesty himself say it was an excessively slight difference!”

Just like in the Nobility Council, both sides were fighting with veins bulging in their necks, but Yobanes didn’t stop them.

He was merely watching as if observing a fire across the river.

The Empress was staring intently at such a Yobanes.

There was no way he couldn’t feel that burning gaze being sent from right beside him.

Yobanes sat with his chin propped up, listening to the back-and-forth arguments with an indifferent expression.

Then, seeming to be gradually losing in the war of words, Duiji Angenas threw his trump card.

“Your Majesty, please order a re-measurement!”

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