In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 45

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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 45

“Dead?”

Rulak half-raised his body from the chair’s backrest as he asked back.

“Yes. Two days ago, he was found at the Serbest River dock in the south.”

“If he was found by the waterside, it would be difficult to identify him, wouldn’t it?”

“He was found by the riverside, but the cause of death wasn’t drowning. With both hands tied…”

“So they disposed of him at a deserted riverside.”

Rulak clicked his tongue in disapproval.

“What should we do?”

Kaitlin asked cautiously.

“Now that the wet nurse’s death has been confirmed, what should we do going forward…”

Her complexion looked quite poor as she muttered those words.

The Second Prince had disappeared from the Imperial Palace where she worked, and his whereabouts had been unknown for a long time.

Kaitlin was undoubtedly feeling considerable responsibility for this incident.

“Kaitlin.”

“Yes, Clan Head.”

“You just need to live your life. If you happen to learn information that might be useful to Lombardy, just remember it and give me a hint.”

“But…”

Kaitlin gripped her dress hem so tightly that wrinkles formed.

“Haven’t the others heard anything, Clan Head?”

Asking about information brought by others in this setting was taboo.

The scholarship program members only brought small pieces of information, and putting those pieces together was the clan head’s domain.

Knowing this well, Kaitlin still gathered courage to ask the question.

“I don’t mean anything else by it. It’s just that the Second Prince’s whereabouts seem so important to you, Clan Head…”

Rulak, understanding her admirable intentions, didn’t scold her harshly.

He simply nodded his head, acknowledging that her words were correct.

“Isn’t it quite amusing, Kaitlin? A prince who’s just a child with no presence has become such a necessary existence to me.”

It was a self-deprecating remark mixed with bitter laughter.

Rulak’s reason for searching for the Second Prince was simple.

It was to keep Angenas, namely Empress Lavinia, in check.

The most absolute card the Empress held was that she was the mother of the Emperor’s legitimate eldest son and only child.

There was certainly one more son of the Emperor, but he was worse than nonexistent.

The Emperor’s attitude of pretending not to know even the seed he had sown only made the Empress more arrogant.

“It’s my fault for moving too late.”

Rulak felt regretful.

If only he had known a little earlier that the Second Prince’s mother was dying, if only he had placed the Second Prince under Lombardy’s protection.

The Empress wouldn’t have dared to meddle with this Rulak’s succession matters without knowing her place.

“Angenas keeps poking around in affairs under my roof, and I have to just sit back and watch! Ha!”

Lavinia Angenas was treating the eldest son Biejie like her subordinate and interfering in Lombardy’s affairs, but there was nothing they could do from this side.

They had hidden the Second Prince so well somewhere that they couldn’t even find a card to use against the Empress.

Rulak’s frown deepened.

“He’s probably already dead…”

The forest pavilion where the Second Prince had lived with his mother had been empty for a long time.

In the pavilion, abandoned like ruins, there was no sign of the prince, let alone any servants attending to him.

So Rulak had ordered the scholarship program members working in the Imperial Palace, including Kaitlin, to find the Second Prince’s wet nurse.

He thought the Empress had sent the Second Prince and wet nurse together to somewhere on Angenas’ lands.

But suddenly that wet nurse was found as a corpse in the south.

The Second Prince’s body had likely not been found and had drifted away down the waterway.

“Otherwise, it wouldn’t be this difficult to find one child and his attending maid in a palace full of adults.”

Rulak shook his head and lamented.

The princes were the only children residing in the Imperial Palace.

Rulak decided it was time to stop searching for the Second Prince’s whereabouts.

“A child…”

Something flashed through Kaitlin’s mind as she listened to those words.

“Yes! But it wasn’t fun at all. Except for making a friend!”

Those were the words Pirenthia had said when they met earlier.

Kaitlin mulled over what she had heard.

“He said he was sick. He said he was alone…”

Alone.

Until now, while searching for the Second Prince under Rulak’s orders, their target had been a combination of a child and palace maids.

They hadn’t thought the Empress would leave the Second Prince alone.

But what if she had separated the Second Prince and hidden him somewhere alone, while moving only the wet nurse separately as a decoy?

Kaitlin cautiously opened her mouth toward Rulak, who seemed lost in thought.

* * *

“Grandfather, I’m here!”

I had just heard that Father would be late again and was about to have dinner with Shannet and the twins.

The butler came personally to tell me that Grandfather was looking for me.

When I entered the study, a simple meal was set on the table like last time.

“Our Tia is here! I called you to have dinner with this old man!”

“I’d love to!”

I wondered what it was about.

He just wanted to have dinner with his granddaughter, it seemed.

I relaxed and sat next to Grandfather, starting to eat.

“Here, eat this too. And this.”

Grandfather pushed delicious foods toward me while patting my head.

“Hehe, you eat too, Grandfather! It’s delicious!”

It was when I had put the third large piece of meat in my mouth.

Grandfather, who had been watching me intently, asked.

“I heard our Tia has a friend?”

“A friend?”

“Yes, one in the Imperial Palace.”

I let my guard down.

I pretended to chew the meat thoroughly while hiding my flustered expression.

What kind of reaction would a typical eight-year-old show to Grandfather’s question like this?

Gulp.

After swallowing the meat, I put down my fork.

“How did you know that, Grandfather?!”

I widened my eyes and raised my voice as if startled.

Children don’t yet understand the complicated entangled relationships of adults.

When I talked to Kaitlin about my ‘friend in the Imperial Palace’ during the day, it was purely from worry and longing for a friend, without any other intention.

I turned completely toward Grandfather.

Grandfather gently pinched my cheek without hurting me and smiled.

“I heard from Kaitlin. You didn’t tell this grandfather about your friend, but you told Kaitlin. Do you know how hurt I was?”

Grandfather also spoke with a hearty laugh, showing no signs of testing me.

“Well. He’s a friend I met when I went to the Imperial Palace with Father before, when I got lost. I was afraid I’d get in trouble….”

“You got lost?”

Father must have told the servants to keep quiet about it.

There’s no need to show consideration for the likes of the Empress and Emperor.

Father really is too kind.

The problem is that I can’t be such a kind person.

“Yes! Suddenly scary guards stopped our carriage and told me and Father to get out. Father got angry and they had a big argument! So I got out too, but I became scared….”

“Those damn fools….”

Grandfather seemed to immediately realize who had ordered it.

He ground his teeth, then cleared his throat when he saw my bright, innocent eyes.

Then he asked again in a gentle voice.

“So what kind of child is our Tia’s friend? Is your friend around the same age as Tia?”

“Yes! He’s three years older than me! He has very black hair and red eyes like a rabbit!”

Grandfather’s eyes were no longer smiling.

I quickly added.

“When I got lost in the Imperial Palace, he helped me!”

“I see, what a kind child….”

“But my friend lives all alone. Without a mother or even a wet nurse, all by himself. He looked so lonely and sad, Grandfather.”

Grandfather’s hand that was stroking my head suddenly stopped.

“All alone?”

“Yes! So he said he envied Tia for having such a big family.”

“Oh my….”

But Grandfather’s reaction wasn’t like he would immediately rush to the Imperial Palace as I had thought.

Damn!

Though his voice seemed sympathetic, I know that tone of Grandfather’s.

He’s thinking deeply about it.

He probably heard various information from the scholarship program people today.

They all came in as Grandfather called them and left after reporting what they knew one by one.

If I leave it like this, it might take days or even weeks before Grandfather makes a move.

No, it’s even questionable whether he’ll try to get involved in Peres’s affairs at all.

But Peres doesn’t have that kind of time.

So I was planning to use the birthday wish voucher I had saved up to ‘go to the Imperial Palace with Grandfather to see my friend.’

But to think that giving Kaitlin some information for future plans would flow like this.

Unlike Father’s affairs, matters involving Grandfather are certainly not easy to control as I wish.

I pondered for a moment and made a decision.

I need to give Grandfather a reason why he has no choice but to move quickly.

“And….”

When I hesitated, Grandfather reassured me again.

“Don’t worry. You can tell Grandfather anything.”

I fidgeted with my fingers and spoke as if gathering courage.

“And he said he was hurt. That there’s someone who hurts my friend….”

I hung my head while making the saddest expression possible.

“He said someone is trying to harm him….”

Grandfather still didn’t say much.

I grabbed Grandfather’s sleeve tightly and said.

“Can’t you help him, Grandfather?”

A granddaughter’s earnest plea was certainly effective, as Grandfather’s cold expression wavered.

Grandfather looked at me with a complicated face and asked in a quiet voice.

“What is your friend’s name, Pirenthia.”

He seemed to need confirmation.

I answered clearly.

“Peres. My friend’s name is Peres, Grandfather.”

* * *

The moonlit night was deep.

Rulak Lombardi poured himself a drink and looked out the window.

Though it had been quite a while since his granddaughter Pirenthia returned to her room, Rulak’s contemplation hadn’t ended.

Learning where the Second Prince was brought up other thoughts in succession.

There were many things to consider.

The information brought by those who came before Kaitlin was all tangled together, making his head heavy.

However, what complicated Rulak’s heart more than any politics or interests was blood relations.

Rulak, who had half-emptied his drink while standing, pulled the cord.

Shortly after, the butler quietly opened the door and entered.

“Listen, Yohan.”

“Yes, please command me.”

“Has Biejie returned?”

It was his eldest son who had ignored Rulak’s warning and stubbornly entered the palace early in the morning with his wife and children.

“Well….”

Butler Yohan reluctantly answered.

“A message came from the coachman a little while ago. It seems Biejie’s family will be staying at the Imperial Palace tonight…. It appears to be in order to attend the palace banquet tomorrow evening.”

Rulak was silent for a long time.

The butler couldn’t fathom his feelings and waited quietly with his head bowed.

After a moment, Rulak spoke in a low voice.

“I see. So that’s the decision he’s made.”

Click.

The sound of setting down the glass on the windowsill echoed in the study.

* * *

“Tia? Tia, can you wake up for a moment?”

I rubbed my sleepy eyes and got up at the hand shaking me.

“Father?”

The first thing I saw in the still dim room was Father.

Father, wearing only a silk robe over his pajamas, was waking me with a flustered face.

“Are you very sleepy?”

“Mmm, I’m okay. But why?”

“It seems Tia needs to wake up a little early today.”

Father wouldn’t wake me before dawn for nothing.

Father’s behavior of constantly glancing behind the half-closed door made me wake up as if I had jumped into ice water.

I quickly got out of bed and threw open the door barefoot.

Grandfather was sitting on the sofa in the equally dim drawing room.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

Grandfather, whose voice was as energetic as if he had slept soundly all day, was already prepared from head to toe.

Seeing me holding the door handle, Grandfather smiled and said.

“Won’t you come to the Imperial Palace with this grandfather, Pirenthia?”

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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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