In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 16

Why was the Imperial Prince, who should be at the imperial palace, casually here at the Lombardy mansion?!
Too flustered, I froze in place as the Prince approached me with clicking shoe heels.
I hadn’t noticed when he was far away, but he was quite tall.
“You know who I am now, don’t you?”
Does he mean, ‘Since you know I’m the Prince, grovel’?
The First Prince’s arrogant face was truly irritating.
I said to him,
“I don’t know.”
“…What?”
“I said I don’t know.”
What are you going to do if I say I don’t know who you are?
I shrugged my shoulders, feigning innocence.
“Then I’ll tell you directly. I am the First Prince of this Lambru Empi–”
“Oh? It’s flying further.”
I deliberately interrupted the Prince and pointed to his hat, which was rolling a few more times due to another gust of wind.
“Grrr! Bring it here at once!”
The Prince stomped his foot and shouted.
I truly couldn’t understand him.
He wanted that hat back so badly, yet the thought of moving to pick it up himself wasn’t even an option in his mindset.
I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
“Oh dear…”
No choice, I guess.
I slowly walked across the lawn where the hat was rolling.
“Hmph! You should have done that from the start!”
I heard the Prince snorting.
The grass beneath my feet was soft, probably because the gardener maintained it so diligently.
A little further, I saw the Prince’s hat lying directly ahead.
When I picked it up, it felt very soft and luxurious, made of what seemed like animal fur.
Now I turned to look at the Prince, who was some distance away.
“Good! Bring it here quickly!”
I smiled brightly at the boy who was urging me on.
And then.
“What are you doing?!”
I threw the hat even further away from the Prince.
Run, run!
Though my legs were short, I ran with all my might.
“Hahahaha!”
Serves him right, serves him right!
“Hey! You, stop right there!”
Would you stop if you were me?!
I kept laughing and ran faster.
“Aargh! If I catch you, I’ll kill you!”
I heard the Prince in the back, spewing murderous words, unable to contain his anger, but I didn’t look back.
I knew he had a bad temper, but I didn’t expect him to be like this even as a child.
There was a good reason why he and Bellezac got along so well.
I didn’t think the Prince, who wouldn’t even pick up his own hat, would chase me by running, but I quickly turned a corner and hid myself from his sight.
It bothered me a little that he screamed so desperately at the end, but what could possibly happen?
Thinking that, I moved towards the main building to find the twins.

First Prince Astana trembled with rage.
“How dare, how dare you…!”
He had never experienced such humiliation in his life.
Born as the legitimate heir of the Emperor and Empress, Astana could have anything he wanted from the moment he took his first breath, with just a glance.
He didn’t even need to voice his desires.
He had always grown up surrounded by nannies and knight escorts, revered.
There was only one thing Astana had to do, even if he didn’t want to: see Bellezac’s idiotic face.
While the Empress always listened to Astana regarding other matters, she was unusually strict when it came to Lombardy.
Bellezac was always a nuisance, constantly trying to gain his favor, and Astana was in a very bad mood today, having to visit the Lombardy mansion of all places.
To make matters worse, he had gotten lost while wandering around alone.
According to an ancient agreement between the imperial family and the Lombardy family, imperial knights were not permitted to enter the mansion.
There had been a scuffle between the Prince’s attendants and the Lombardy soldiers, and the Prince, unable to wait, had entered the mansion alone.
Ultimately, he had brought it all upon himself, but Astana was oblivious to such things.
He was simply angry that those who were supposed to attend him had left him alone, and he resented the Lombardy family mansion, which was as large as the Imperial Palace despite being just a noble family.
In that situation, Florentia’s appearance, audacious enough to make a fool of him, finally provoked Astana’s wicked temper.
“Your Imperial Highness! You were here!”
His wet nurse, who had looked after Astana since he was an infant, finally found him, running up breathlessly.
“Oh, how worried I was! If you go off alone like that…”
“Come here.”
The Prince crooked his finger at the gasping wet nurse.
Her face hardened, and she squeezed her eyes shut and bowed her waist.
Smack!
The Prince’s hand struck the wet nurse’s cheek.
“You left me alone?”
“I-I apologize…”
“Where are the knights?”
Astana asked, looking at the wet nurse and two maids.
“Outside the mansion gate…”
“Tell them to come in.”
“Your Imperial Highness? B-but, Your Imperial Highness. According to Lombardy’s rules…”
Smack!
The Prince’s hand, unusually sharp for a child, left another handprint on the wet nurse’s face.
“Everything in the Empire belongs to His Majesty, the Emperor, and I am the legitimate heir who will follow him.
Why should I have to worry about Lombardy?”
The wet nurse could not say anything.
“Bring the knights here immediately.
If you can’t, I won’t let you off the hook.”
“…Yes, Your Imperial Highness.”
Finally, the wet nurse answered with a trembling voice.
Astana’s mood only improved after he saw her pale, tear-streaked face as she hurriedly ran towards the mansion’s main gate.
Just let the knights arrive.
Astana muttered viciously, recalling the brown-haired girl’s retreating figure.
“How could you find us so well? We really hid well!”
“Right! Tia, did you secretly watch us hide?”
Giliou and Mayron puffed out their cheeks, complaining.
The twins, who had hidden behind a broom closet in a quiet hallway and under a nearby staircase, seemed quite displeased that I had found them so quickly.
“Then why did you hide so sloppily?”
“We didn’t hide sloppily!”
The twins shouted, expressing their frustration with their whole bodies.
“This isn’t fun!”
“Me neither!”
“Really? Then should we go read a book?”
“B-book…?”
At my suggestion, the two exchanged desperate glances.
“No. This is fun, Tia.”
“Yeah. Let’s keep playing hide-and-seek.”
Simpletons.
But even if their likes and dislikes were clear, Giliou and Mayron weren’t bad kids.
Compared to Bellezac and the First Prince, the twins were angels, angels.
“The library would be perfect.”
Because those wicked spiritual twins would never come to the library to read books.
Well, in this vast Lombardy mansion, if you simply looked around carefully, what would there be to run into?
Remembering that the First Prince had been in the annex earlier, I took Giliou and Mayron to the lower floor of the main building.
“There are lots of places to hide here, so it’s good, right?”
“Yes, good!”
It was the first floor, which was structured like a maze and much more complicated than the upper floors.
The twins whispered to each other, discussing where to hide, then giggled.
They seemed to have a good idea.
“Alright, then I’ll count to 100 here…”
Two men walking from the opposite end of the corridor caught my eye.
They had swords at their waists, looking like knights, but they weren’t wearing Lombardy knight uniforms.
If they were knights belonging to some order, they would surely bear that family’s crest, so what was it?
Unless they were people who needed to conceal their identities…
Then an idea popped into my head.
The Prince’s escort knights.
The Prince deliberately travels outside the palace pretending to be a common noble.
It was for safety reasons.
So, the knights escorting such a prince would take off their imperial knight uniforms and wear plain clothes.
And behind them, three Lombardy guards were visible.
With stiff faces, they couldn’t stop the Prince’s knights and just followed behind them, constantly looking back as if waiting for their superiors to arrive.
“Those people are playing hide-and-seek too!”
Giliou said, seeing the approaching knights, just like me.
A shiver ran down my spine.
The knights were indeed searching for someone, looking under tables and other places in the corridor, just as Giliou had said.
“Damn it.”
The whole situation clicked into place.
The Prince had brazenly brought his knights into the mansion to find me.
The Lombardy guards who tried to stop them couldn’t use force against the imperial knights and were probably waiting for the Lombardy knights to arrive after hearing the news.
I couldn’t blame them.
There was a difference between knights and ordinary soldiers, and if either the imperial knights or Lombardy soldiers drew their swords or harmed each other, the situation would spiral out of control.
I had heard many stories about the First Prince being a wild card, but I didn’t expect him to be this extreme.
Just because I teased him a little, he sends people after me?
And within the Lombardy mansion?
Imperial forces cannot enter the Lombardy mansion.
That was an agreement between the Durelly and Lombardy families when the Empire was founded.
“Giliou, Mayron. Run!”
No matter if it was inside the mansion, getting caught by those knights would be troublesome.
I grabbed one of the twins’ hands in each of mine and started running blindly in the opposite direction from the knights.
“T-Tia! What’s wrong?!”
Mayron asked in surprise, but there was no time to answer.
I glanced back and saw the knights, having recognized me, chasing after us at a terrifying speed.
“We’re running all the way to Grandfather’s office!”
“O-okay.”
Frightened by the adults chasing them, the twins followed my lead well, but we didn’t get far.
The moment we reached near Grandfather’s office, we ran straight into them in the long corridor.
The Prince’s entourage.
“I told you you’d die if I caught you, didn’t I?”
The Prince said with a smirk, seeing me trapped.
Is he seriously a psycho?!
This time, it was my fault for underestimating the Prince’s madness.
I hid the twins behind me and said,
“Is this really necessary?”
I hadn’t even hit him, just threw his hat a bit, and he’s going all out without thinking.
“You dared to disobey my command and insulted me. So you deserve to die.”
At that moment, I realized.
The First Prince doesn’t know the relationship between the imperial family and Lombardy.
For a young prince, not even the Crown Prince, to act like this when even the Emperor had to consider the Grand Duke’s feelings, was unbelievable.
But regardless, right now it was just three children on my side, and three anxious soldiers behind them.
“Kneel.”
Astana said, crossing his arms and looking down at me.
“If you kneel before me and beg, I’ll let you live.”
“Why should Tia kneel?!”
“Who are you?!”
The twins flared up in anger and stepped in front of me.
At that moment, the First Prince ordered his knights.
“Get these two out of the way.”
But this time, even the knights looked troubled.
They had probably been told about the agreement between the two families when they came to Lombardy.
While unauthorized entry might be overlooked, harming the Grand Duke’s grandchildren was an entirely different matter.
“Don’t touch them!”
I quickly pulled the twins behind me again.
This was my responsibility.
I couldn’t let the children get involved.
“Then you can kneel.”
Astana sneered, as if daring me to do it.
Should I really kneel?
In this desperate situation, as I tried to find a way out, I saw a group of people approaching hastily from behind the Prince’s entourage.
Hah, thank goodness.
Once I felt relieved, my mind started working again.
I bowed my head deeply.
And a few seconds later, when I lifted my head again.
Teardrops, large as chicken eggs, ran down my cheeks.
“What, do you think everything will be solved if you cry?”
Astana said, dumbfounded.
Oh, yes, everything will be solved.
“What in the world are you doing in Lombardy?!”
The enraged Grand Duke of Lombardy, my grandfather, was walking towards us at a terrifying speed.