In This Life, I Will Be The Lord - Chapter 63

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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 63

Pirenthia did not approach Gallahan’s side.

She stood far away at the doorway, had a brief conversation with Cleribane, then turned and left again.

Seeing this, Gallahan smiled bitterly and spoke to Loril.

“Loril, would you help prepare Tia’s bedtime?”

“…Yes, Lord Gallahan.”

Loril bowed her head deeply and hurriedly followed after Pirenthia.

Now the only ones remaining in the room with Gallahan were Rulak, still sitting in his chair, and Cleribane standing at the doorway.

“It seems we’ll need to rely on Miss Loril’s help even more from now on. This is troublesome.”

There would be more and more things he couldn’t do going forward.

Right now it was just one leg, but no one knew when the paralysis symptoms might spread elsewhere.

“Six months….”

That was the remaining lifespan Doctor Omari had told him about.

After Tlenbroo manifests, people usually don’t survive more than six months, he had said.

“I’ll bring another doctor tomorrow, so get examined again.”

“Father….”

“It’s such a rare disease, how can we be certain after just a brief examination? I’ll inquire about other doctors. You having Tlenbroo disease? That’s ridiculous….”

At Rulak’s grumbling mutters, Cleribane’s face hardened.

“Tlenbroo….”

“Didn’t I say it’s not that!”

Finally Rulak burst out in anger.

His face was so horribly distorted that it was hard to recognize him as the usual calm and composed Rulak.

“There’s no way Gallahan could have caught such a terrible disease!”

“Father….”

Gallahan looked at Rulak like that, then nodded and said.

“I’ll get examined by another doctor.”

“Yes, that’s what we should do. Doctor Omari’s skills seem to have gotten rusty.”

Rulak abruptly stood up from his seat.

“That leg could be perfectly fine again as soon as tomorrow, couldn’t it.”

But even as he said this, Rulak’s gaze couldn’t leave Gallahan’s paralyzed leg.

It looked so normal from the outside.

“You are still far too young, Gallahan.”

Too young to catch a fatal disease with no cure.

Rulak left those words and turned around.

“And make sure this matter doesn’t leak to others. You… broke your leg by mistepping at the Imperial banquet. Understood?”

“…Thank you, Father.”

The ripple effects of rumors about Gallahan’s health problems, when he had been showing distinct prominence both inside and outside the clan recently, would be enormous.

It would be welcome news for competitors who were constantly watching for opportunities, and a huge obstacle for those hoping to work with Gallahan Clothing Store.

“Since we don’t know who might visit when, put a splint on that leg.”

“Haha. Yes, Father.”

Gallahan laughed, and Rulak called his son a ‘silly fellow’ before leaving the room.

With the click of the door closing, the smile faded from Gallahan’s face.

Then he spoke to Cleribane in a calmly settled voice.

“Lord Cleribane.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“It seems I need to prepare a few things.”

“What are you referring to?”

At Cleribane’s question, Gallahan let out a small sigh.

“I need to prepare for the case where my illness really is Tlenbroo disease.”

It was a sigh closer to resignation than frustration.

“Tia will be left alone, won’t she.”

To Gallahan, who smiled habitually again, Cleribane could say nothing.

Instead, he clenched his fist so tightly that the note Pirenthia had written and passed to him crumpled with a crinkling sound.

* * *

As morning was breaking.

Peres headed to the Poirak Palace Training Grounds with his sword, following a habit long ingrained in his body.

The day he first met Pirenthia.

It was morning training he had never skipped even once since that day when he was told he ‘needed to practice swordsmanship.’

Yesterday’s banquet had ended past midnight, and he had only slept for a few hours, but today was no exception.

Though his body felt heavy, once he began circulating his aura, that feeling disappeared instantly.

After working up a good sweat, Peres sat on the training ground floor and recalled what had happened last night.

Pirenthia, who had taken everything from Peres in an instant when they met in the forest, remained unchanged despite the passage of time.

Peres still only saw Pirenthia.

When first walking into the banquet hall.

During the sweet time on the terrace that passed too quickly.

When Astana drew his sword.

All Peres could see was Pirenthia alone.

And when Gallahan collapsed and everyone was looking at the fallen Gallahan.

Peres was watching Pirenthia.

“I wonder if she’s okay.”

Unlike himself, Pirenthia seemed very close to her father.

He kept remembering that face with lips pressed tight as she looked at Gallahan lying unable to get up.

It would be nice if he could visit and see her.

But Pirenthia had said they mustn’t let anyone know they were acquainted.

Peres sheathed his sword and suppressed his feelings as well.

But still, he wanted to see her.

Peres’s shoulders kept drooping as he returned to the palace.

“Em, Empress!”

It was just as he reached the Poirak Palace building.

At Kaitlin’s flustered voice, Peres raised his head.

He saw the Empress kicking open the carriage door herself and striding forward.

And he also saw her right hand raised high to strike his cheek.

To Peres, it was movement slow enough to make him yawn.

‘Should I take the hit?’

That thought flashed through Peres’s mind for a moment.

Because he could guess why the Empress was trying to slap his cheek.

Peres, who had been standing still, twisted his body slightly at the last moment.

The Empress’s hand barely missed Peres’s face.

“Ugh!”

The Empress became even more enraged.

“How dare that lowly thing! How dare! Draw a sword against my son!”

Lavinia shrieked like that and tried to hit Peres somehow, but each time Peres dodged by a hair’s breadth as if to provoke her further.

“Seize that lowly thing!”

Finally the Empress ordered the guards she had brought with her.

But even the approaching guards flinched when they saw the sword hanging at Peres’s waist.

The fact that the Second Prince was already skilled enough to manifest aura was widely known throughout the Imperial Palace.

And such vivid, vivid blue aura at that.

Although still young, this alone was proof that he already possessed skills equal to those of the knights.

Sure enough.

The Second Prince had already stepped back exactly two and a half steps, as if he had anticipated their next move.

It was a distance where even if the knights drew their swords, the blade tips couldn’t reach him.

It was as if everything about them had already been assessed.

While the knights hesitated, the Empress poured out all kinds of curses toward Peres.

“I should have killed you back then! I should have buried you along with your lowly mother! You filthy thing of unknown origins! How dare you do this to my son…”

“What do you mean by unknown origins, Empress?”

The Empress’s outburst stopped as if by magic.

It was the Emperor who had come out due to the commotion while waiting for Peres in the garden of Poirak Palace.

The knights who had approached Peres quickly stepped back.

“Are you saying that being my son isn’t enough? Or perhaps…”

The Emperor spoke without hiding his displeasure.

“The origins the Empress speaks of—is that me?”

“Th-that’s not what I meant…”

Lavinia was momentarily flustered, but soon regained her composure and answered.

The way she spoke with her chin slightly raised was quite dignified.

“I heard about what happened to Astana yesterday. Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

“What should I have told you? That my fifteen-year-old son couldn’t distinguish right from wrong, pushed Gallahan’s daughter, and ultimately tried to harm that child in front of the Lombardi family head?”

Yobanes spoke sarcastically.

“Astana must have had his reasons!”

The angry Lavinia shouted in a shrill voice.

But the Emperor frowned and shook his head.

“If he’s a prince of this Empire, he should know by now. At least how to make the Lombardi family his ally.”

Those words finally made Lavinia’s anger explode.

“Why! Why do you always worry about Lombardi’s feelings! You are the master of this Empire, Your Majesty! The House of Durelli!”

“So?”

“In yesterday’s situation, you should have taken Astana’s side! You shouldn’t have let that lowly bastard child dare point a sword at Astana and humiliate him, and you should have punished that Lombardi girl who made Astana so angry!”

The Emperor now asked with a completely disgusted expression, clicking his tongue.

“Are you telling me to make enemies of Lombardi because of Astana?”

“Your Majesty has countless noble families, so why do you try to rely only on Lombardi! If Lombardi neglects the Imperial family…”

“Angenas would try to take that position.”

“Th-that’s…”

“Push out Lombardi and fill that position with Angenas. Just how foolish an emperor are you telling me to become?”

Yobanes chuckled.

“Empress.”

The Emperor’s voice calling Lavinia suddenly dropped.

“Angenas can never replace Lombardi. They don’t have that capability. So don’t be too greedy.”

The Empress trembled, but the Emperor paid no attention.

It wasn’t just what was visible on the surface.

Lombardi was like a massive pillar that maintained this Empire and the Imperial family.

In his youth, it was extremely difficult to acknowledge this, but Yobanes had become wise.

He had accepted that fighting Lombardi would only be cutting off his own flesh, and had been using them as Rulak suggested.

Sometimes supporting them, sometimes pretending to push them away.

However, even the fox-like cunning Rulak would never tolerate one thing.

That was matters concerning his own blood.

If Peres hadn’t immediately stepped forward yesterday, Yobanes would have had to publicly reprimand Astana to appease Rulak’s anger.

But even Yobanes still didn’t know why Peres had drawn his sword and rushed out to protect Pirenthia.

He had come to Poirak Palace today to ask about that.

But who would have thought the Empress would come running too.

Thinking of Astana who must have tattled to his mother made anger surge within him.

Pathetic boy.

Then he noticed Peres standing quietly to one side.

He remembered how the boy couldn’t take his eyes off Gallahan’s daughter while entering the banquet hall.

And suddenly a strange impulse arose.

Yobanes spoke to Peres while completely turning his back on the Empress.

“You will go visit Gallahan Lombardi in my stead.”

Color returned to Peres’s previously indifferent expression.

“And on your way, take my letter to deliver to the Lombardi family head. A letter stating that I will take Gallahan’s daughter as your betrothed.”

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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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