In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 1: Prologue

“You cannot gamble away the family’s real estate so recklessly. This is already the third time…”
SLAP!
With a jarring sound, Florentia’s head snapped violently to the side.
‘Who are you to lecture me, you insignificant nobody!’
A strong reek of alcohol wafted from the man who shoved her shoulder roughly and shouted.
‘Now, now. Calm down, Astaliu. Go over there. And you…’
Bellesac gently admonished his drunken, staggering cousin and then turned towards Florentia.
And then.
SMACK—!
A loud crack, louder than before, echoed, and a large handprint appeared on her other cheek.
‘So, you’ve been managing the family’s money, and now you think it’s yours?’
Bellesac sneered at Florentia, who was trembling, clutching her slapped face.
‘Don’t be mistaken. Although we share the same surname, with that low-born blood in you, you can never be a member of this family. You’re meant to live as our servant, just as you are now.’
It was a cruel statement that, no matter how many times she heard it, pierced her heart like a dagger.
‘If you tell Grandfather about today, I won’t let you off lightly.’
Bellesac warned in a low voice, then spat on the ground and turned away.
Soon, the sound of the carriage she had arrived in faded into the distance.
Left alone in the dark alley of the entertainment district, Florentia clenched her fists.
A single drop of crimson blood trickled from her burst lip.
Clatter.
“Whoa—. Whoa.”
The slight jolt of the carriage and the coachman’s soothing words to the horses roused Florentia from her deep reverie of the past.
She gently parted the curtain over the window and peeked out, seeing the Imperial Palace guards.
“We’re here.”
Florentia let the curtain fall back and straightened her posture, looking straight ahead.
As she tidied her slightly disheheveled hair and clothes, she looked like a perfectly composed painting.
Meanwhile, the carriage carrying her passed through the Imperial Palace’s main gate and arrived at Lambrew Palace.
Under the brilliant afternoon sun, the golden curves of the large World Tree carving adorning the carriage gleamed with their inherent dazzling luster.
“We have arrived.”
The carriage stopped, and the coachman respectfully announced.
“Florentia.”
Soon, the carriage door opened, and a handsome man greeted her.
“Perez.”
As Florentia, escorted, stepped out of the carriage, he kissed the back of her hand lingeringly.
It was a fervent kiss that made no attempt to hide his inner desire.
“Perez!”
Florentia chided him, but Perez only smiled, his long-lashed eyes crinkling prettily.
“Let’s go, everyone must be waiting.”
Pulling her hand from his, she moved towards the grand ballroom first and said.
Perez, seeing the tips of Florentia’s ears faintly redden, smiled deeply once more, then put his hands behind his back and followed her.
“No one in this Lambrew Empire would complain about you making them wait a little, my Tia. You can take your time.”
The two had traveled a long way for today.
“Since we’ve come all this way with such difficulty, we should enjoy this moment.”
After countless struggles and perseverance, it was finally time to reap the sweet fruit.
“Yes. It was hellish hard work.”
Florentia plainly admitted.
I took a very long way around. Probably more than you can imagine.
She added in a voice too low for him to hear.
“But that doesn’t mean we need to be rude.”
Her answer was firm.
The woman who had captivated him at first sight was truly remarkable in that way.
Perez laughed, amused once more.
Soon, the two stood before the closed doors of the grand ballroom.
“Ready?”
At Perez’s question, Florentia nodded briefly.
“Shall we enter, Lady Lombardy?” He extended his hand to her.
“Let’s go, Your Imperial Highness.”
Her fair, delicate hand clasped his.
“Open the doors.”
Perez briefly commanded the attendant in front of them.
“Announcing His Imperial Highness, the Crown Prince, and Lady Florentia Lombardy!”
From beyond the doors, a voice announced their entry.
The sound was like sweet music to her ears, and Florentia smiled.
With a creaking sound, the doors slowly split open, and the bright light from the grand ballroom poured through the gap.
Creak.
With an unpleasant grating sound, the immense mansion’s iron gate was closed by the Imperial soldiers.
It was the end of the Lombardi family, which had reigned as the continent’s premier house, standing shoulder to shoulder with the Lambrew Imperial family for 250 years.
The clan, once thought to be eternally solid like the endlessly spreading World Tree that was their family emblem, met a futile end when its patriarch, Viege Lombardi, and other key figures were arrested on charges of tax evasion and aiding treason.
Hundreds of citizens from the city of Lombardi, named after the family, gathered in front of the mansion.
Some ceaselessly dabbed at their eyes with handkerchiefs, while others turned their heads away, unable to bear witness.
And in the very front row stood I, Florentia.
“Fools.”
A grinding sound of teeth escaped me, but it didn’t matter now.
I glared at the family’s main gate, secured with a laughably large padlock, and muttered a few more words through clenched teeth.
“Idiots, imbeciles, lazy slobs who’d just roll around even if there was a fire.”
I felt the people standing nearby flinch and turn to look at me, but what did it matter?
The Lombardi family was already ruined.
But no matter how much I cursed, the boiling rage inside wouldn’t subside.
“I told you repeatedly that the First Prince was not the one! I told you again and again that he was just a good-for-nothing scoundrel and could never become the Crown Prince!”
Despite my repeated warnings, the Lombardi idiots supported the First Prince.
The First Prince, Astana Nerempe Durelli.
They said it was because he was the legitimate son of the Empress, but from my perspective, they had simply chosen someone exactly like themselves.
‘Noble blood’ with heads full of extravagance and debauchery, and bodies permeated to the bone with laziness.
It was no exaggeration to say that Lombardi’s brilliant history was practically the history of the Lambrew Empire itself.
It was the Lombardi family who had made the Durelli patriarch, who was merely a rural lord of a kingdom, the first emperor, and who had brought the Empire to its current state.
And that wasn’t all.
They amassed immense wealth starting with their trading company, stepped forward in every war to achieve bloodless victories with exceptional diplomacy, and supported talented artists throughout the Empire. There was no place in the world untouched by the name Lombardi.
And the one credited with elevating the Lombardi family to an even higher level was the previous patriarch, Rulac Lombardi.
When the young Rulac had just inherited the patriarchy, the Imperial family issued a ban on entry to the capital to keep him in check.
And what Rulac came up with then was the scholarship system.
He generously funded talented individuals from both noble and commoner families, nurturing them into outstanding professionals in various fields.
It was only natural where the loyalty of those who had studied under Lombardi’s patronage since childhood would lie.
They were not Lombardi, but they were Lombardi’s people.
In that way, the former patriarch, Rulac, succeeded in planting his people everywhere without stepping a single foot outside Lombardi’s territory.
Eventually, the former emperor, forced to acknowledge Lombardi’s influence, had to lift the ban after twenty years.
But then.
“No matter how stupid they are, how could they ruin such a family in just two years!”
Two years ago, after the death of the former patriarch Rulac Lombardi, his eldest son, Viege Lombardi, took over as patriarch.
And that was the beginning.
Viege was a mere phantom who loved to spout empty words, incapable of leading a family that was practically a kingdom. And the Lombardi bloodline, each one selfish and fond of spending money, must have run wild like unbridled colts once the strict former patriarch was gone.
It was obvious without even seeing it.
The reason I knew them so well was simple.
I, too, was once a Lombardi.
To be more precise, I lived in a country called South Korea, died in a traffic accident, and was reincarnated into this world.
And as a bloodline of the Lombardi family, no less.
When I first opened my eyes in an infant’s body, I let out a cheer instead of a cry at the lavish surroundings.
Finally, born with a silver spoon!
There was definitely a time when I woke up in that grand mansion every morning and fell asleep gazing at the World Tree emblem carved into the ceiling.
However, sadly, I was only half.
My father was the third son of the previous Lombardi patriarch, but my mother, who died during childbirth while giving birth to me, was a commoner, and they could not formally marry due to the family’s strict laws.
I, born from that union, was strictly speaking an illegitimate child, but I was fortunate enough to use the Lombardi surname with my grandfather’s permission.
That didn’t mean I was recognized as a member of Lombardi, however.
I was always just an ambiguous child who used the Lombardi surname but wasn’t a formal member.
That seemingly happy period, though superficial, was short-lived.
A few days before my eleventh birthday.
After my father died of an incurable illness and I became an orphan, I was forgotten by the family.
Without my father, the link connecting me to the family, I was no longer a Lombardi.
Soon after, I stopped being invited to family events and gradually lost my place.
Since I couldn’t simply fade away like this, I started working from the age of fifteen, once my body had grown to some extent.
I began by taking care of the mansion’s library.
It was where I had spent the most time with my father when he was alive, and after his passing, it was a place I frequented as if it were my own room when I had nothing else to do.
Then, the librarian suddenly resigned due to illness, creating an opening, and I, with great difficulty, took on the position.
Entrusting an entire library to a fifteen-year-old child was absurd, but my name, Lombardi, was quite useful then.
Ordering books as people requested and organizing them was something I enjoyed and wasn’t particularly difficult.
As a result of my dedicated work, the library became increasingly pleasant, and I began to receive recognition for the first time.
One by one, that way.
As a result of my dabbling in the mansion’s affairs.
By the time I passed my eighteenth birthday, I was unknowingly in charge of managing the Lombardi mansion, both inside and out.
It was quite an extreme job.
My father’s brothers were all arrogant nobles, living by their own elevated standards, and my cousins, the Lombardi scoundrels, caused trouble almost every day.
And the year I turned nineteen, my grandfather fell ill, and I began assisting him with his duties at his side.
It was only natural, as no one knew the family’s affairs better than I did.
Unlike my other cousins, whose minds were blank slates, my quick learning and precise work ethic were quite a shock to my grandfather.
“If only I had known you were this kind of child a few years earlier!”
My grandfather, Rulac Lombardi, who was increasingly worried about the family’s future as his illness worsened, often sighed habitually.
“I would have passed this family on to you…”
Each time, I would sigh and smile.
“Even so, nothing would have changed, Grandfather.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because I’m only half. How could I, with a commoner mother, become the patriarch?”
“No, Florentia.”
Grandfather’s voice, shaking his head, was quite firm.
“You are a Lombardi. As long as you carry the family’s blood, you are more than qualified.”
But it was only belated regret, and Grandfather’s eldest son, Viege, was eagerly counting the days until he became patriarch.
However, the last three years I spent with my grandfather were not meaningless.
During that time, I felt the affection of kinship for the first time since my father’s death.
“I’m sorry, Florentia. I should have taken better care of you when you were little. You are my granddaughter after all… I’m truly sorry.”
It might sound ridiculous, but those words were enough for me.
My resentment towards the grandfather who hadn’t taken care of me as a child melted away like snow with that sincere apology.
I did my best for Lombardi.
I poured my affection into this family and stopped at nothing to make it greater.
I worked through the nights, and I didn’t shy away from cleaning up my cousins’ messes.
I truly loved Lombardi.
However.
“Get out. I don’t need to tell you what you need to do, Florentia.”
After my grandfather’s funeral, my eldest uncle and the new patriarch, Viege, tossed a bag in front of me and said.
“I’ve endured it until now for father’s sake, but I can’t stand it any longer. You don’t know your place, acting so presumptuous.”
Endured it?
Was my work for the family such an eyesore to him?
Despite everything I had done, I was ultimately not a Lombardi person.
“You can take away the Lombardi surname from me. Just let me work for the family. They need me here.”
It was absurd, but those were my words.
But Viege only snorted with disdain.
“You truly don’t know your place, even to the end. Don’t ever dare to show your face around here again!”
And so, I was kicked out.
Without receiving any of the assets that were rightfully mine as a Lombardi.
And exactly two years later, those fools ruined Lombardi!
That great family!
My beautiful Lombardi, to whom I had dedicated my youth!
CRASH! The glass I roughly set down made a loud sound.
The pub owner glared at me, but I was so furious I couldn’t spare a thought for it.
“They should have backed the Second Prince!”
The Second Prince, born to a maid, was someone no one paid attention to.
The Second Prince, Perez Bribachau Durelli.
No one had imagined that the prince, rumored to have died, having been holed up in a small detached palace and never venturing out, would grow up to be so remarkable!
And out of nowhere, graduating at the top of the Imperial Academy for both civil and military studies with immense talent, thus catching the eye of his father, Emperor Yovanes!
And that wasn’t all.
The Second Prince, with his incredible charisma, single-handedly captivated the nobles whom the First Prince and his mother, the Empress, had meticulously cultivated, eventually taking over the entire council.
Sigh. If only they had chosen the right side, Lombardi wouldn’t have been ruined.
“Another drink here!”
No matter how much I drank, the burning fury inside wouldn’t extinguish.
“Anyone with eyes should know! Clearly, the Second Prince is far more suited to be emperor than the First Prince, who knows nothing but flirting and gambling!”
But the Lombardi fools didn’t realize that.
Perhaps because they were rolling around in gambling dens with the First Prince.
Ultimately, the Second Prince was crowned Crown Prince, and soon after, the Emperor collapsed.
And Lombardi, which had committed all sorts of malicious acts against the Second Prince to make the First Prince Crown Prince, was hit hard by the backlash.
“Haah… I should go home.”
I felt dizzy, probably from drinking too much.
Fortunately, the house I rented was only two blocks away.
I haphazardly placed money for the drinks on the table and staggered out of the pub, my steps zig-zagging.
“Bad guys. Muscle-headed idiots. Womanizers.”
I was still cursing, recalling the faces of my uncles and cousins, whose faces I could still vividly remember, when.
Stumble.
I missed a step, and my body tilted to one side. I stumbled and struggled to regain my balance so as not to fall.
And when I finally stood upright, I was in the middle of the main road where carriages passed.
The moment I realized that, something hit me hard from behind, and I felt my body lift into the air.
I thought I heard a horse’s neigh in the distance.
I died in a car accident in my previous life, and now a carriage accident? This is just too much.
No matter how much I grumbled, my body, once airborne, dutifully fell back down to the ground according to gravity.
Then, darkness enveloped me.