In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 235

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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 235

“Uh, uh…”

A hesitant sound flowed from Creny’s flustered mouth.

His round, widened eyes were fixed on the approaching Peres, unable to move.

Though Peres wasn’t shooting killing intent at Creny, just glaring and striding forward step by step was enough to be unbearable for Creny.

“Oh my.”

I let out a small sigh and gently pulled Creny behind me.

Then I raised my hand toward Peres and said.

“Peres, stop.”

Thud.

At my words, Peres stopped right where he was, a couple steps away.

But his gaze steadily followed my hand that was holding Creny’s hand.

“S-sister.”

From behind me, Creny called out to me in a frightened voice.

“Really now.”

One of them is currently the top civil official student at the Academy who skipped two years, and the other is the top in both civil and military studies who skipped one year.

And this is the situation we’re in.

I let go of the hand I was holding and instead pointed at Creny’s face while asking Peres.

“Doesn’t this face look very familiar to you?”

As if Creny’s very existence was unpleasant, Peres’s darkly sunken red eyes turned toward Creny.

“Hic!”

What a handful, really.

Creny finally became so frightened that he started hiccupping.

“Think carefully, Peres. You saw him once when he was this small, and once more when he was this big?”

Peres’s thick eyebrows quietly furrowed.

And he thought for a long while.

“Ah.”

Peres let out a short exclamation and opened his mouth.

“Cre… ny?”

He recognized him quickly.

Even while calling his name, he was hesitating, so he was clearly uncertain.

“It’s been a long time, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

“You’ve changed so much I didn’t recognize you.”

Peres muttered something that was uncharacteristically like an excuse.

Then he looked at me and said.

“Really. I didn’t recognize him, that’s why.”

“Yes, I understand. You’re not particularly interested in people around you anyway.”

“That’s not true, I’m interested in Tia.”

“…What are you saying, really.”

While I was having this conversation with Peres, Creny smiled brightly and said to me.

“You two look so well-matched standing there together!”

“What did you say?”

Looking at Creny’s innocent face, it seemed like he truly meant it from the heart.

He didn’t seem to particularly consider the fact that Peres and I had gotten engaged for all the Empire’s citizens to know, then essentially called off the engagement temporarily when I became the clan heir.

“One of you will inherit the throne, and the other will inherit the Lombardi family. It’s like looking at a different world!”

Creny continued speaking innocently.

“You really look perfect together!”

“I heard you haven’t missed being top student at the Academy. You must certainly be an excellent talent.”

Peres patted Creny’s shoulder and said.

“…Don’t say unnecessary things to the kid. Let’s hurry and leave for Angenas, Peres.”

These days, Peres was taking me to the Angenas townhouse every morning where I commuted to work.

I had refused several times, saying the route from the Imperial Palace to Lombardi and then back to the townhouse in the Imperial Capital made no sense.

But I had no way to overcome the stubbornness of this guy who came to Lombardi from dawn, afraid I might leave first.

“So you’re going to Angenas, sister.”

Creny said while opening the carriage door for me.

“I have to collect what needs to be collected.”

“Please don’t overdo it.”

“Overdo it?”

Though it was something commonly said, the nuance felt a bit different.

“There are so many families entangled with Angenas. If you try to consider all their interests, it seems like it would be very tiring.”

“…You even think about such things.”

I thought he had only grown taller, but Creny’s thinking had also become much more mature.

“Hehe. I meet people from various families at the Academy, after all. There will be those who definitely want to collect the money they lent to Angenas, and also those who would rather lose the money and bury the fact that they were connected to Angenas at all.”

Creny was right.

As soon as rumors spread that the Empress was imprisoned in the underground dungeon and I had received an imperial command to handle Angenas affairs, I received dozens of letters.

There were personal requests, and there were pleas for help.

In fact, managing the traffic control of such families was more difficult than disposing of Angenas’s assets.

But for Creny to see right through that.

“Let’s talk more over dinner tonight, Creny.”

“Yes, sister! Please be careful!”

Creny smiled brightly and stepped back.

Though he had grown much taller, his smiling face still retained his childhood appearance.

My gaze lingered on Creny until the carriage departed.

* * *

“Father.”

Shannet called to Rulak.

Rulak, who had been standing by the window watching his granddaughter Tia’s carriage depart toward the Imperial Capital, turned at his daughter’s call.

“What do you think is the reason His Majesty told Tia to handle Angenas?”

Shannet, who was particularly fond of her niece, was concerned about Yobanes’s intentions.

“He spent his whole life being wary of Lombardi’s power, and now he’s giving such responsibility to Lombardi’s new heir.”

Responsibility was bound to come with power.

To the noble families who had things to collect from Angenas, Tia had become someone with virtually absolute power.

“It must be because of the Second Prince.”

Rulak answered calmly.

“After experiencing the conflict between Lombardi and the Imperial family, he means for her to give up her feelings for Tia. Yobanes has done something right for once in a long time.”

“Do you agree with this, Father?”

“Can’t be helped, can it? I’m worried that Tia’s heart might get hurt, but still, for the greater good, there are relationships that must be settled.”

Rulak spoke with bitter but firm resolve.

However, Shannet shook her head.

“This time, I don’t agree with your words, Father.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I’ve always thought it would be good if Tia could have everything.”

Shannet’s face looked somewhat lonely as she smiled while saying this.

“A life where she can be completely together with the person she loves, even while becoming the head of Lombardi.”

Shannet was satisfied with her current life.

Each day working for the family brought her fulfillment.

The empty seat beside her didn’t bother her much.

She had chosen love over family before, and now she was simply choosing family.

But Tia was different.

“His Highness the Crown Prince and Tia hold each other deep in their hearts. You know this too, Father.”

“One would have to be blind not to see it.”

Though his granddaughter seemed to try her best to hide it, her eyes never sparkled as much as when she looked at that wolf cub.

That’s why he felt both proud and sorry for his granddaughter who chose to live as the Lombardi clan head rather than pursue love.

“Tia intends to sever her ties with His Highness the Second Prince and live for the family. That’s the kind of child she is.”

Shannet spoke to Rulak, who nodded with his lips pressed tightly together.

“But Father, you who have lived your entire life for the family—is that really the path you want Tia to walk?”

Rulak couldn’t answer easily.

Though he had lived sacrificing everything for the family, what he had lost because of it were things far too important in a person’s life.

Rulak, who couldn’t spend proper time with his young children, had not been a good father.

Nor had he been a good husband who could take a full day off to care for his ailing wife.

All of it was because of Lombardi.

It was because Rulak himself had prioritized the family above all else.

‘If I could live again, I wouldn’t live that way.’

It was a choice Rulak had regretted painfully countless times on his sickbed.

A second life.

Though it was a wild fantasy, if he could do so, he would be a little more greedy.

To have everything without having to choose.

Rulak slowly nodded once more.

“Yes. You’re right, Shannet.”

And after the carriage passed, looking at the slowly closing main gate of Lombardi, he said:

“Without realizing it, I was taking Tia’s sacrifice for granted.”

There was a love that wouldn’t break even if it lasted a lifetime.

Even though Rulak himself regretted his blind life for the family so much.

He had so naturally hoped his granddaughter would live solely for Lombardi, carrying a great wound in her heart.

* * *

“How is it progressing, Cleribane?”

Cleribane, who had taken out his work glasses again after a long time, smiled at me.

The capable Cleribane had been turning the Angenas manor upside down from day one, saying ‘I’ll find the money I’m owed myself.’

“The work itself is progressing smoothly. Though I’m worried that Angenas’s debts are more substantial than expected.”

“That much?”

“Look here…”

Cleribane handed me several sheets of paper.

“All of these were newly discovered today?”

“Yes, they came from the bottom of the safe.”

“Like an onion? No matter how much you peel, more keeps coming out.”

Looking through the newly discovered promissory notes was quite a sight.

It seemed he had borrowed money from his own vassals, but there was no set repayment deadline and no interest.

Moreover, there was even a clause brazenly attached stating ‘Angenas bears no responsibility if unable to repay debts due to unavoidable circumstances.’

These were amounts that would be tremendous burdens for vassal families, and this was practically at the level of extortion.

As I was examining the papers, Cleribane spoke to me.

“Could you spare some time in a few days?”

“Time? If you have something to say, you can say it now, Cleribane.”

At my words, Cleribane waved both hands.

“No. It’s not that urgent, so I’ll speak to you again when Lady Pirenthia’s work becomes a bit quieter.”

I became quite curious.

Because Cleribane’s face looked tense as he spoke to me.

For the great Cleribane Pellet to be so nervous about something.

“It’s not bad news, is it?”

“It’s not… that.”

It seemed Cleribane himself wasn’t mentally prepared yet.

Sometimes there are words that take time before they can be spoken aloud.

“Then that’s fine.”

So I nodded and went back to organizing the contents of the promissory notes in my head.

Cleribane, who had likewise been busy with work, approached me and said:

“It seems we have a problem, Lady Pirenthia.”

* * *

“Even if we dispose of all of Angenas’s assets, it won’t be enough to repay all the debts?”

Peres raised one eyebrow at the report from the official who had come from the government office.

“Yes, Your Highness. Even if we empty all the real estate, movable property, and accounts…”

“What about the vassals’ assets?”

At Peres’s question, the manager’s shoulders flinched.

Strictly speaking, it would be right to confiscate and dispose of all the assets of the vassals who had been in the same boat as Angenas.

But if that happened, there would surely be great backlash from noble society.

“Your Highness, that is…”

When the manager hesitated without answering, Peres frowned.

“What does the Lombardi side think about this problem?”

“We haven’t discussed it with them yet. But anyway, the Pellet Trading Company is also in the position of a creditor, Your Highness.”

The manager, who had subtly broached the subject, glanced at Peres and said:

“If the Lombardi side learns of this fact and requests to raise the Pellet Trading Company’s priority…”

Money was short and there were many people to repay debts to.

So he was asking in preparation for priorities naturally being determined according to family power.

“…Do as the Lombardi Deputy Lord requests.”

As expected.

The manager was about to nod and respond when:

“Your Highness, let’s talk for a moment.”

Tia, who looked thoroughly annoyed at first glance, entered the study.

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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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