In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 306

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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 48

Gallahan, the third son of the Lombardi Family, hid his lips that seemed ready to twitch with a wine glass.

“Do you understand what I’m saying, Gallahan?”

Gallahan’s eldest brother, Biejie Lombardi, asked in a pressing tone.

Violent and impatient since childhood, he was the type who could turn at any moment, even while smiling like that.

Even now, his brown eyes gleamed beyond his smiling face, flushed with alcohol.

“…Yes, brother.”

When Gallahan reluctantly answered, Biejie finally nodded with satisfaction.

“Yes, yes. That’s how my little brother should be.”

Gallahan’s body swayed helplessly under the grip that squeezed his shoulders roughly.

Last night, he had tossed and turned all night without rest, and his tired eyes floated on the rippling wine.

“If Father calls you again to give you work, you must refuse like this time, saying you can’t do it. That’s the right thing to do.”

Rulak, Gallahan’s father and head of the Lombardi Family, was a strict leader.

And such an attitude was the same toward his own blood children.

Nothing was simply given.

Rulak Lombardi, as family head and as a father, constantly demanded results.

But the only one Rulak treated softly was his youngest, Gallahan.

He kept giving him opportunities and trying to provide various support.

So Biejie, the eldest son who had not yet been officially declared heir, couldn’t help but be bothered by such treatment of Gallahan.

When he heard that Father was going to give the youngest a position in the Lombardi Guild, he nearly fell over backward.

Eventually, he called Gallahan aside and pressured him to tell Father with his own mouth that he couldn’t do it.

The visits that came once a day to threaten and cajole him, making his blood run cold, continued until Gallahan complied with Biejie’s words.

‘At least I won’t have to see brother for a while now.’

Having no appetite for tea at the seat where Biejie had forcibly made him sit, Gallahan thought while swallowing wine from the morning.

“Family business is not something just anyone can do. Rather than you, who knows nothing, stepping forward and ruining things, it’s right for me, who has experience, to lead the work. You thought well.”

In front of Biejie, who was in a good mood having gotten what he wanted somehow, Gallahan only wanted to escape from this place.

If he knew he would give up like this anyway, he should have refused Father’s proposal from the beginning.

He felt pathetic for having spent tiresome days being greedy with a faint hope.

“Continue to live quietly and obediently like that in the future. You understand, right?”

At Biejie’s threatening words, Gallahan nodded helplessly.

“If you’re finished speaking, may I get up now, brother?”

“Hm? Oh, yes, go ahead.”

Biejie, who no longer had business with Gallahan, waved one hand dismissively without sincerity.

Walking back to his room with heavy steps, Gallahan quietly changed his clothes.

With practiced hands, he soon put on shabby clothes that commoners might wear and picked up art supplies placed in one corner of the room.

His steps as he called a coachman who was tending to horses and got into the carriage even showed urgency.

“Shall I take you to your usual place, Lord Gallahan?”

“Yes. Please hurry.”

Following Gallahan’s request, the carriage began to quickly leave the Lombardi Manor.

“Haah.”

Only then did Gallahan open the carriage window and lean back comfortably in his seat, letting out a deep sigh.

“Now I can finally…”

Live.

Gallahan let the wind tousle his hair freely.

After his mother, Natalia Lombardi, closed her eyes, the manor had become like a prison to him.

His father, who would stare silently at his face that particularly resembled his mother and repeatedly place unwanted expectations only to be disappointed, and his brother Biejie, who sealed his mouth even more despite him already living quietly like a nonexistent person.

Gallahan was quietly watching himself being gradually pushed out of the home where he was born and raised.

“We’ve arrived, Lord Gallahan.”

“I’ll go back on my own in the evening, so go back and rest.”

It was a deserted alley near Lombardi Square.

Gallahan tousled his hair even more and familiarly left that place.

Though he had left the manor in anger, he actually had no particular destination in mind.

After briefly strolling along the riverbank like taking a walk, Gallahan soon turned his steps toward the square.

He wanted to blend in among the bustling, chattering people.

Unaware of the blushing gazes that followed him, Gallahan sat on the fountain.

After habitually taking out his art supplies, he moved his hands thoughtlessly to draw.

Still, being mixed among the lively people seemed to improve his mood a little.

After some time passed and the sun hung high, he could even manage to smile while watching young children running around nearby.

Then he suddenly turned his head.

He couldn’t remember the reason.

It seemed like he had heard some sound from that direction, or perhaps the wind had blown.

From the moment he discovered a woman standing under the flowering tree, such things didn’t matter.

“Ah.”

Gallahan stared blankly at the woman with red hair.

He simply couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Time seemed to have stopped, or perhaps it had flown by like an arrow.

When he came to his senses, he was already holding her in his arms as she was about to fall.

Looking into eyes that were similar to his own yet much deeper green, Gallahan startled awake.

“I was… rude.”

His touch as he quickly apologized and helped Shan stand upright was infinitely careful.

“Thanks to you, I didn’t fall! I should be the one thanking you!”

At Shan’s bright smile as she said this, Gallahan somehow wanted to gulp down fountain water.

“Then…”

He bowed his head deeply in greeting and tried to leave.

There was no time to hide his reddened ear tips.

Tug.

Until Shan grabbed his sleeve.

Gallahan couldn’t even breathe as he looked down at the small hand gripping his loose sleeve.

Though it was a hand he could easily shake off, it seemed like he heard a clicking sound of a lock fastening somewhere.

Meanwhile, Shan was flustered in her own way.

‘Why did I grab this?’

Thinking she couldn’t let him go like this, she had acted impulsively.

“The, the drawing!”

Shan said, almost shouting.

“Could I look at your drawing!”

“My drawing… you mean?”

“Yes! I really want to see it!”

I’m doomed.

He’ll think I’m a strange person.

Even while thinking this, Shan tugged the sleeve she was gripping once more.

“Just once!”

“…Here it is.”

Gallahan hesitated for a moment before offering his drawing board.

“Wow!”

Shan opened her eyes wide and unconsciously exclaimed.

“You drew this really well!”

It wasn’t empty flattery.

She couldn’t take her eyes off the square’s scenery vividly captured on a single sheet of paper.

“How can you draw like this?”

“It’s just… nothing special, really.”

“No! The drawing is beautiful, and more than anything, hmm, the people look happy. I think it’s a wonderful drawing.”

At Shan’s smiling words, Gallahan’s face briefly hardened.

This was the first time anyone had praised his drawings like this.

It was just a useless talent for the third son of Lombardi, not quite enough to pursue the path of an artist—just mediocre skill.

“There are countless people who draw as well as I do. This isn’t the level to show to others.”

Gallahan quickly muttered while hiding the drawing away.

Watching him, Shan tilted her head.

It didn’t seem like he was just being shy or embarrassed.

His constantly shifting gaze and head turning toward the ground told her so.

Something was strange.

Not even a few minutes after meeting her future husband, Shan encountered her first obstacle.

She knew well about the future that Gallahan would live.

However, there was something she had overlooked.

She didn’t know much about Gallahan’s past.

She wanted to hit her past self who had carelessly thought ‘everything will flow according to fate once we just meet.’

Whoever they were, the people who had made Gallahan so intimidated deserved about a hundred beatings.

‘Get it together.’

She couldn’t let things end awkwardly here, leaving only embarrassing memories for both of them.

As Shan was thinking this and racking her brain for what to do,

Gallahan, who had already packed up all his art supplies, spoke in a small voice.

“Still… thank you for saying such kind words.”

Oh, what should she do with this gentle, gentle man?

Feeling a sharp pang in her heart, Shan grabbed Gallahan’s clothes once more as he turned away.

And asked with the most pitiful face she could manage.

“I don’t have any friends.”

“Pardon…?”

“So, would you be friends with me?”

* * *

The next day.

On a street bustling with people, Gallahan looked up at the sky once and sighed.

A few steps away, he could see the building with the sign ‘Blue Wave’ that Shan had mentioned.

“I have a feeling we’ll become good friends, you know? What do you think?”

The woman he’d met for the first time yesterday, Shan, had suddenly said that and mentioned today was her day off.

She’d asked to meet here at ‘Blue Wave’ around lunchtime.

Even when he went to bed last night, Gallahan had planned not to accept the proposal.

Because he was scared.

Just from that brief encounter, it felt like his gaze and mind had been completely captivated, so what would happen if they spent more time together?

The coward inside Gallahan was telling him to run away.

So he had planned to hole up in the manor’s study tomorrow and read books all day.

But when he came to his senses, he found himself at the meeting place.

“Hmm.”

Gallahan, who had been standing there contemplating with his face buried in his large hands, soon walked toward ‘Blue Wave.’

His face was tense, as if he had made a big decision.

“Welcome! We’re busy, so sit anywhere!”

A middle-aged woman who appeared to be the owner greeted him.

Gallahan stood there for a moment, carefully looking around the interior filled with people.

And soon his green eyes dimmed.

‘She’s not here.’

Shan was nowhere to be seen.

‘I should have known.’

Making his courage in coming here seem pointless, he gave up quickly.

Not even knowing what he had expected, Gallahan’s broad shoulders dropped powerlessly.

That’s when it happened.

Tap tap.

At the light touch, he turned around to find Shan smiling there.

“Were you waiting?”

The words ‘Am I a bit late?’ followed after, but Gallahan didn’t hear them and thought blankly.

Perhaps, all this time, I had been waiting for this woman.

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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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