In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 273

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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

 

Side Story Episode 16

 

“You, you are….”

 

Just as I had recognized Idan Clus at once, he too saw through my identity despite my changed hair color in an instant.

 

“You damn bitch…!”

 

My entire body froze as if it couldn’t move.

 

I wanted to hide behind Peres’s back again, but my body wouldn’t obey.

 

Before I knew it, several of Sersheu’s soldiers had climbed onto Idan Clus’s back and were trying to tie his hands and feet with rope.

 

But as if he didn’t care about such things, his burning gaze was focused solely on me.

 

“Heh, heh….”

 

And then Idan Clus began to laugh.

 

Like someone who had lost everything and saw a ray of light offered before their eyes.

 

Both corners of his mouth stretched up in a grin and dark veins bulged on his forehead.

 

“Heh, heheh.”

 

The soldiers frowned at the wanted man’s sudden laughter.

 

“What’s wrong with this guy?”

 

“I don’t know, maybe he’s lost his mind thinking it’s all over. Hey, tie that properly….”

 

“Kraaaah!”

 

Idan Clus let out a roar and twisted his entire body as he stood up.

 

The ropes that had been binding Idan Clus’s hands and feet just moments before snapped pathetically, and the soldiers surrounding him fell away like autumn leaves.

 

Now free, Idan Clus crawled on all fours and charged toward me.

 

“I’ll kill you!”

 

With a blood-curdling scream, his wounded hands reached out toward me.

 

As if he would strangle my neck with his bare hands since he had no weapon.

 

However, his body, exhausted from a long life on the run, was not intact.

 

His glorious career as Angenas’s knight commander seemed meaningless.

 

Only the murderous intent to kill me drove him forward.

 

“How dare you.”

 

With a low voice, Peres moved.

 

So naturally, he reached out and drew the sword from the soldier who had been checking identification, rolling it once in his large hand as if it were his own.

 

Then he swung it upward in a sweeping motion.

 

Or so it seemed.

 

At that moment, all I could see was Peres’s large hand covering my eyes.

 

“Kraaaah!”

 

Idan Clus’s scream seemed to come from very far away.

 

Soon the sound of soldiers who had been watching the situation in a daze came rushing over, mixed with agonized roars.

 

“That bitch! I have to kill that bitch…! Let go of me!”

 

But even that sound grew quieter at some point.

 

Clang.

 

Peres, who had carelessly thrown the sword he was holding to the ground, stood before me.

 

Then his large hands covered my ears.

 

Idan Clus’s screams became muffled.

 

The chaos on the deck grew distant.

 

Until everything subsided, the warmth touching my ears and Peres’s red eyes protected my world.

 

* * *

 

Idan Clus, with his hands and feet tightly bound, had a gag firmly placed in his mouth.

 

Peres looked down indifferently at the defeated figure writhing at his feet.

 

His appearance was pitiful, covered in blood with his ankle tendons severed.

 

“Mmph! Mmmph!”

 

Nevertheless, the former knight commander of Angenas was still making some kind of enraged sound, but no one was listening.

 

He was the last remnant of Angenas.

 

The Emperor’s lackey he had missed when he personally dealt with Angenas.

 

To unexpectedly discover such a person in a place like this.

 

It was an unexpected gain.

 

“Mmph! Mmph!”

 

Peres, who had been watching Idan Clus still writhing like a worm, glanced at the movements of Sersheu’s soldiers.

 

Having suddenly captured a wanted man, they were sweating profusely preparing to transfer to the military ship, their faces excited at the thought of the reward money.

 

“Is it an Angenas tradition?”

 

Peres leaned slightly toward Idan Clus and spoke in a low voice.

 

“Being impatient.”

 

The Emperor and the Angenas Patriarch had both ruined things in this manner.

 

“The reason you boarded a cruise heading east even while being pursued was probably to target the Lombardi Patriarch.”

 

It was a fact known to all citizens of the Empire that all members of the Lombardi family would attend Larane’s wedding.

 

“If you had just kept your head down and lived in hiding as befitted your station, you could have lived out your days alone, honoring the Emperor.”

 

Peres raised one corner of his mouth crookedly.

 

“A fitting end for Angenas.”

 

“Kgh! Krgh!”

 

When Lavinia was mentioned, Idan Clus struggled even more fiercely with bulging veins, but it was all meaningless thrashing.

 

“Excuse me.”

 

A man who appeared to be the leader among Sersheu’s soldiers approached and spoke.

 

“You’ve been a great help in capturing the wanted man. We’ve been struggling for months because of this guy.”

 

“What is this man’s name?”

 

Peres straightened his bent body and asked.

 

“Well. We don’t know, but our superiors probably do.”

 

“I see.”

 

Peres’s guess was correct.

 

If they had known who Idan Clus was, the inspection wouldn’t have been carried out by ordinary soldiers alone.

 

“Now I feel completely relieved.”

 

The soldier who muttered while looking at Idan Clus with disgust carefully asked Peres.

 

“But… your swordsmanship looked quite skilled. You are….”

 

The leader seemed to be more perceptive than expected.

 

Peres took out a small medal from his chest.

 

It was an item bearing Chanton Sersheu’s personal seal, proof that the bearer was acting under his orders.

 

“I was heading east on orders from the Sercheu Marquis to prepare for any possible danger.”

 

“Ah, as I thought!”

 

The responsible soldier’s eyes widened as he recognized the medal.

 

“I thought there was something extraordinary about how you subdued the wanted man in one move.”

 

The soldier, whose manner of speech had become respectful, nodded repeatedly.

 

“I will take responsibility for conveying your achievements to the Master.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Peres said this while placing the medal on the two hands that were politely extended.

 

By the time this reached Chanton Sersheu, the ship would already have reached the east.

 

He had brought something he used when traveling in the south a few years ago just in case, and it had been put to good use.

 

“Then, please safely deliver the criminal to the Imperial Palace.”

 

“Yes! Don’t worry!”

 

The soldier, still fondling the medal bearing Chanton Sersheu’s seal as if it were miraculous, answered with a voice full of vigor.

 

Peres gave Idan Clus one last cold look before turning his back on them.

 

As he thought about how to deal with Idan Clus once the eastern trip was over, he began walking.

 

Pushing through the crowd excited by the earlier commotion and anticipation for the fireworks about to begin, his red eyes immediately found Pirenthia.

 

The place he would always return to was by her side.

 

* * *

 

Peres, who had returned after handing Idan Clus over to the Sersheu soldiers, looked somewhat relieved.

 

“So it was Idan Clus that Chanton Sersheu was looking for.”

 

Me too.

 

Thinking back to the past few days when I had been anxious that the tight security might have been targeting us, I let out a hollow laugh.

 

“I thought they were chasing us after finding out we had left for the east early…”

 

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

 

Because Peres had taken both my hands in his.

 

“Why are you trembling like this?”

 

Hmm. I was caught after all.

 

My fingertips trembling finely on top of Peres’s large hands were clearly visible.

 

“I really can’t hide anything from you.”

 

As if my words trying to act nonchalant hurt him even more, wrinkles formed between Peres’s brows.

 

The guy let out a small sigh and gathered my two hands together, wrapping them as if layering them.

 

Warmth gradually spread through my hands that had grown cold with fear.

 

“Ah, really. I was trying to create a romantic atmosphere today. What’s with Idan Clus popping out of there? Right?”

 

“Sorry.”

 

Instead of answering my question, Peres spoke in a deep voice.

 

“If I had moved a little faster, you wouldn’t have had to be scared.”

 

“No.”

 

I shook my head.

 

“I was scared, but it’s not because of Idan Clus.”

 

“Then?”

 

I too looked down at our hands instead of answering.

 

The trembling in my fingertips had stopped at some point.

 

“What I was scared of was this.”

 

I said while meeting his red eyes.

 

“I realized how big of an existence you are to me.”

 

Someone had rushed at me saying they would kill me.

 

It should have been a naturally frightening situation.

 

However, I wasn’t that terrified.

 

“Just the fact that you were by my side made me think deep down that everything would be okay.”

 

How strange.

 

A laugh escaped me.

 

“That’s the kind of existence you are, Peres.”

 

As if my trembling from earlier had transferred to him, his red eyes were wavering.

 

I slowly reached out and cupped his cheek with one hand.

 

“You said it before. That you couldn’t be my first priority.”

 

“Tia, that was…”

 

“You were right.”

 

I had no intention of clumsily lying to comfort Peres.

 

“As you said, I have many things to protect. Lombardy, and the people who follow me too.”

 

But.

 

“What enables me to protect those people is you. I think that without you, I wouldn’t have been able to do many things, and won’t be able to do them either.”

 

So.

 

“Will you stay by my side from now on too?”

 

It was a somewhat selfish confession.

 

But Peres smiled.

 

So that his eyes curved beautifully, so that his red lips drew a pretty arc.

 

Then he rubbed his cheek against my hand.

 

“Please.”

 

Peres said like a sigh.

 

“Please let me stay by your side, Tia.”

 

Bang! Pop!

 

Brilliant fireworks burst in the black night sky.

 

Though it was buried in that sound that made my ears ring, I could clearly read the words Peres briefly added.

 

“For a lifetime.”

 

Yes. No more words were needed between us.

 

“Yes, for a lifetime.”

 

Until this second and final life comes to an end.

 

Pop pop! Bang! Bang!

 

The fireworks that the cruise boasted of, and the people cheering at them, all became distant noise.

 

We left everything behind and walked toward the guest room as if by agreement.

 

One step, one step.

 

Neither slow, nor rushing too much.

 

Walking hand in hand, matching our pace like that, we found ourselves before the tightly closed guest room door.

 

But Peres didn’t move any further from that spot.

 

“Tia, I.”

 

He said as if spitting out the words while tightening his grip on our joined hands.

 

“If I go inside now, I… I won’t be able to stop.”

 

His red eyes wavered in the fireworks illuminating the distant sky.

 

In front of that face where shadows fell deeply, brightening like fire moment by moment then darkening again, my resolve only grew stronger.

 

“I know.”

 

“…You know?”

 

“Yes, I know.”

 

Wahhh.

 

Listening to the cheers coming from afar, I smiled at Peres.

 

“Tia, you don’t have to force yourself…”

 

Click.

 

Along with the sound of the door opening, Peres’s voice stopped.

 

“I know everything, Peres.”

 

I opened the door as it was and led Peres into the dark room.

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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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