In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 5

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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 5

“Doctor Omari, are you there?”

The place Father arrived at while carrying me was, as expected, the hospital within the Manor. The doctors in this world were similar to traditional medicine practitioners in that they brewed and ground herbs to use as medicine, and they were also similar to the priests I’d seen in novels in that some doctors possessed mysterious powers called healing abilities. As soon as we entered the small building, the vibrating scent of herbs was so strong that even a stranger would know this was a hospital.

“Doctor Omari!”

As the herbal scent indicated, Doctor Omari, Lombardy’s personal physician, was the former type of doctor.

“What brings Lord Gallahan here?”

From the back, a man with a gentle impression opened the research room door and walked out. He appeared to be a tall person in his late forties.

“Pirenthia is injured. Could you take a look at her for a moment?”

At Father’s words, Doctor Omari looked at me. He seemed puzzled that a young child who should normally be crying if injured enough to be brought to a doctor was staring blankly at him.

“Oh my, how did this happen.”

However, Doctor Omari, who had seated me on a chair and was examining the wound, frowned. The injury was more severe than he had thought.

“I fell down.”

I gave the reason that worked like a cure-all for questionable injuries.

“The scraped knee might leave a scar.”

Coincidentally, it was the same spot where I had originally fallen and gotten injured on my birthday. I had grown up without scars, but ended up getting a similar one after all. However, unlike me who just nodded in acceptance since nothing was broken, Father’s complexion darkened.

“Sigh…”

It must upset him that his daughter’s body would have a scar. Father’s large hand heavily stroked my head. Doctor Omari watched our father-daughter scene with satisfaction for a moment, then took out a strange potion and applied it to my wound.

“And are there any other places that hurt, Miss?”

The extremely formal speech I was hearing after so long was honestly a bit awkward.

Right. Before Father passed away, it felt like this. I extended my left arm, which had been bothering me more than my knee, to Doctor Omari.

“Here…”

“Oh dear.”

The doctor unconsciously clicked his tongue upon seeing my swollen wrist.

“Who was it, Tia.”

Father asked in a low voice, seemingly angry. He probably meant which of Belesack or Astaliou had made my wrist like this. It seemed he was thinking of going to confront the responsible child’s parents.

But I answered in the same tone as before.

“I fell down.”

“Tia…”

Father called my name sadly, but I pretended not to hear, pretended not to know.

“Hmm. Judging by the degree of swelling, it doesn’t seem broken, but you’ll need to be careful for a while.”

In the end, my wrist was wrapped tightly with thick bandages. I could unwrap it when bathing but had to wrap it again, and Doctor Omari would visit me every few days.

And I was told I had to drink bitter medicine every day for a whole month. For me, who disliked bitter food and tea even as an adult, this was the worst prescription. Seeing me holding the medicine packet with a sour face as I could already taste the bitterness, Father spoke to Doctor Omari.

“Doctor, I’d like to talk with my daughter for a moment. Could you give us some privacy?”

“Yes, I’ll be in the research room. Call me if you need anything.”

After the doctor returned to his research room, only Father and I remained. Since this was Doctor Omari’s space, we should have been the ones to leave if we had something to discuss. But seeing Father so naturally ask the doctor to leave, I was reminded anew that he was the Patriarch’s son.

“Tia.”

Father knelt on one knee to match my eye level as I sat in the chair and called my name. Seeing Father with the same green eyes as mine, which I could only see when looking in a mirror, made one side of my chest ache while also bringing joy.

“Why didn’t you tell me about this earlier?”

It would be about Belesack and Astaliou. Father knew those two were bullying me, but today was the first time he learned I was hearing such humiliating words, so it must have been shocking. The old me had been frightened by Belesack’s threat to show me what for if I tattled, and couldn’t even think of asking adults for help.

In the end, Father never knew this fact until the day he passed away. At the time, I thought it was fortunate. Looking back now, it was really a foolish thing to do.

“They said they’d hit me more if I told.”

“…These little…!”

Angry Father stood up abruptly as if he would go scold Belesack and Astaliou right away. But my hand grabbed Father’s sleeve.

“It’s okay. They got beaten up a lot by me today, so they won’t be able to say such things again.”

If they do it again, I’ll just hit them again.

Father, momentarily flustered by my cool reaction, soon sat back down with a helpless laugh.

“Tia, may I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“Why did you act differently today?”

He seemed to want to know what kind of change had occurred in my heart. From a parent’s perspective, they’d naturally be curious about what their child is thinking.

“Because I realized that no matter how much I endured, they wouldn’t stop.”

Young me had endured thinking that if I persevered like this, it would end someday. As I expected, Belesack and Astaliou’s bullying stopped as we got older, but it didn’t really end. It just changed into other types of violence and discrimination.

“So from now on, I won’t endure it. I’ll fight back just as hard, and if that doesn’t work, I’ll tell adults and cry. So don’t worry too much.”

I said this while giving Father, who was looking at me with sad eyes, a hug. Father, who had stiffened in surprise for a moment, soon patted my back.

“But Tia, why are you suddenly calling me Father? I’d prefer if you called me Dad like before…”

Oh right. I used to call Father “Dad.”

Perhaps feeling hurt by the sudden sense of distance, Father’s eyes drooped downward. I had met Father again after he had passed away more than ten years ago – couldn’t I at least do that much for him!

“Dad!”

I snuggled deeper into Father’s embrace as I spoke.

“Let’s live happily together for a long, long time!”

“Haha! Let’s do that, Tia.”

Dad doesn’t know the meaning of what I just said. He never will. Because this time, I won’t let him leave so futilely.

I will protect him. Dad, and this Lombardy too!

* * *

The Patriarch’s Office.

Rulak rubbed his graying eyebrows as he looked at a book placed before him.

【People of the South】

He had someone fetch another copy of the book Pirenthia had been holding from the Library. He wondered if he might be misremembering the book’s contents.

This book was a research publication about a mysterious tribe newly discovered about ten years ago at the Southern Frontier of the Empire. The author introduced that these people, who lived in the Forest and had a very closed culture, possessed a mysterious power called ‘magic.’ It was described as an ability passed down only through bloodline and a secretive power that could not be taught to outsiders.

Rulak, who had opened the book and skimmed through its contents, closed it. Such content wasn’t what mattered. What concerned Rulak now was why his seven-year-old granddaughter had been reading a difficult academic text written for adults, not a literary work like other educational books.

Knock knock.

With the sound of knocking, a man with long blonde hair neatly tied back and wearing glasses entered. It was Cleribane, a scholar Rulak had been supporting since the early days of establishing the scholarship system. Currently, he was in charge of the Manor’s finances and the education of the Lombardi Family children.

“You called for me, Patriarch.”

“Sit for a moment.”

As soon as Cleribane sat across from him, Rulak pushed 【People of the South】 toward him.

“What is this?”

“The book my granddaughter was reading today.”

“Granddaughter… do you mean Lady Larane?”

Larane was Biejie’s eldest daughter and Belesack’s sister, two years older than him.

“How remarkable. At eleven years old, reading such a book…”

“It wasn’t Larane.”

“Then who was it?”

“Pirenthia.”

At Rulak’s words, Cleribane frowned. He wondered if the Patriarch was joking with him.

“This is no joke.”

“But Lady Pirenthia is still…”

“Seven years old.”

Cleribane, who had flipped through the book to check its contents as Rulak had done, spoke with puzzlement.

“Perhaps she was just holding it because she liked the book’s cover?”

The deep green cover, like the Forest where the southern people lived, might have looked quite pretty to a child’s eyes.

“At seven years old, she should barely be able to read a few fairy tale books.”

“Generally speaking, yes.”

“Then are you saying Lady Pirenthia is not ordinary?”

“That’s what I called you here to find out.”

“In that case…”

“From now on, have Pirenthia attend classes with the other children too.”

Cleribane held classes for the Lombardi Family children once a week. The subjects were children judged capable of following the lessons regardless of age, and currently only Biejie’s two siblings and Shannet’s eleven-year-old twin brothers were attending classes. Shannet was Rulak’s eldest and only daughter.

“Lady Pirenthia is still too young. A seven-year-old child would find it difficult not only to understand the lessons, but even to sit in one place for such a long time.”

“That would generally be true.”

Cleribane narrowed his eyes, sensing something meaningful in Rulak’s words.

“What exactly are you trying to confirm, Clan Head?”

“Well…”

Rulak’s thick fingers tapped on the desk.

“Pirenthia’s mother was a wanderer who drifted into this city. She was beautiful in appearance, but had no other exceptional qualities.”

Rulak continued, recalling the woman whose face was now faint in his memory, but whose intense green eyes had left a lasting impression.

“Because of that, it’s true that I didn’t pay much attention to Pirenthia. But seeing her today…”

He remembered his granddaughter’s face—covered in wounds with disheveled hair, yet not shedding a single tear as she spoke her mind clearly and firmly.

“I’m starting to think there might be a child who has inherited this Rulak’s blood quite strongly.”

As he recalled the sight of her climbing on top of Belesack, who was much larger than her, and skillfully swinging a book, a rare pleasant smile appeared on Rulak’s wrinkled face.

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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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