In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 193

Click.
Perez’s three companions shoved each other’s backs and rushed out, and the door closed.
“Hmph.”
I tried to sublimate my boiling anger into a deep sigh as I looked at Perez.
In a single day, dark circles had formed under his eyes, and his cheeks had hollowed out.
This, in its own way, highlighted a decadent beauty, but I didn’t like it at all.
“Perez.”
When I called him softly, his red eyes obediently looked up at me.
“A contract engagement is still a contract, you know.
Who gave you permission to break it off?”
Perez was silent for a moment, then spoke with a seemingly expressionless face.
“I’m afraid something might happen to you, Tia.”
He said it quite plainly, but I knew it was his true feelings.
“If you break off the engagement with me now, your position will become very difficult, won’t it? All the plans you’ve made will turn into scraps of paper.”
“I know.”
Perez replied calmly.
“But it’s better than you getting hurt.”
“So, you’re truly worried only about something happening to me?”
Perez nodded.
I sighed softly.
And leaning closer to Perez, who was sitting, I looked him straight in the eyes and asked.
“Do you think I’m a joke?”
An incredibly eerie voice escaped me without my knowing.
He was injured, so I wouldn’t grab him by the collar, but I was literally furious.
“Why do you decide on your own to make me someone who hides just because she’s afraid of the Empress?”
Because Bate, who had received the information, acted immediately, and because Lombardi knights found me and Perez in that vast plain, we barely survived.
If we had been unlucky, Perez and I would have died there unnoticed.
To be honest, I was scared.
When I was losing consciousness due to the poison, I was afraid I wouldn’t open my eyes again.
But that doesn’t change anything.
“The first day we met in the imperial palace forest. I told you, ‘I will help you.’”
“……I remember.”
“Then answer me, Perez. If it were you, would you let go of my hand for such a trivial reason?”
His red eyes trembled slightly at my question.
“……No.”
“Me neither.”
I straightened his disheveled shirt and smoothed back his hair, saying.
“So don’t you dare make me someone who breaks promises just because she’s afraid of the Empress.”
Through this incident, I understood a little of what it felt like for someone to target my life.
And what Perez must have felt all this time.
My resolve only became stronger.
“I have no intention of leaving you alone in this quagmire and escaping by myself.”
Perez’s brow furrowed.
He slowly reached out and wrapped his arms around my waist.
His firm forehead touched my stomach.
From that action, unable to hold me tightly, I felt apology, gratitude, and affection.
All those mixed feelings were conveyed.
His broad back, in a crumpled shirt, looked so lonely that I hugged him as tightly as I could.
“I need to hug you for a bit, so bear with the pain.”
A low chuckle from Perez vibrated through my entire body at my words.
Last time, when I hugged him like this on the horse, I felt the gushing blood directly on my fingertips.
I slightly opened my eyes and confirmed that nothing was on my hands now.
I hugged him even tighter, matching the relief that filled my heart.
Then Perez, uncharacteristically, complained somewhat.
“If anything happens to you, I’ll destroy everyone.”
“What kind of gruesome joke is that?”
I laughed and ruffled Perez’s hair.
But he didn’t answer, pulling my body closer and rubbing his face against me like a spoiled child.
***
As Empress Lavini was just finishing her hair, a palace maid rushed in to inform her.
“Lord Gallahan Lombardi has visited the imperial palace.”
“Tell him to wait, as I’m not yet ready.”
Lavini said leisurely, looking in the mirror.
“What a rude man. He doesn’t properly reply to my letters and just shows up at the imperial palace.”
Empress Lavini had heard the news that Gallahan Lombardi had returned to the Lombardi mansion from Chesayu.
She had immediately sent an invitation to the Empress’s palace but had not yet received a proper reply and was about to send someone again.
“To think that child got caught up in it.”
Florentia being with Perez at that moment was an accidental occurrence.
It seemed the secret was still being kept, as the Lombardi Patriarch hadn’t said anything yet.
But her father, Gallahan, might know.
“Gallahan is a timid man, so I just need to coax him appropriately.”
As Lavini murmured leisurely, the maid cautiously said.
“Um, Lord Gallahan Lombardi has gone to the Emperor’s palace, not the Empress’s palace, Your Majesty.”
“What…… did you just say?”
“Lo-Lord Gallahan Lombardi is currently in the Emperor’s palace garden, having a meal……”
Empress Lavini sprang up from her seat.
A bad premonition ran down her spine.
“My dress, bring my dress at once!”
Lavini, hastily putting on her dress and heading to the Emperor’s palace, trembled with a sense of déjà vu.
Something like this had happened before.
The day Rulac suddenly visited the Emperor’s palace, became the Second Prince’s guardian, and many things began to go awry.
Sure enough.
As she approached the Emperor’s palace garden, a loud laugh was heard.
“Hahaha! Gallahan, I didn’t know you were such a smooth talker!”
“How can it be smooth talk when Chesayu’s prosperity is all thanks to Your Majesty, hahaha!”
Even this was exactly like that day.
As if they had been close siblings their whole lives, despite having been distant.
Gallahan and Emperor Jovanes were chatting amiably.
Empress Lavini gritted her teeth.
Gallahan was not Rulac.
After reassuring herself several times behind the corner, Lavini entered the garden with a bright smile.
“Your Majesty, you were here. I rushed over as soon as I heard we had a welcome guest.”
“Oh, the Empress has arrived.”
Emperor Jovanes said, his smile fading slightly.
He was not particularly pleased by the Empress’s appearance.
Gallahan stood up from his seat and said.
“It’s been a long time. It’s good to see you, Lord Gallahan.”
The Empress extended a hand with a smile.
It was to receive a polite greeting from Gallahan.
But Gallahan did not take her hand.
He merely looked at Empress Lavini’s white hand with eyes completely different from his smiling face, cold and indifferent, then smiled and said.
“Yes. It’s been a long time, Your Majesty the Empress.”
It was an insult.
He had not shown the proper respect due to the Empress.
But Gallahan still stood there with a smiling face.
It was an attitude that dared her to get angry.
Empress Lavini’s long eyelashes trembled with rage, but the Emperor was not on the Empress’s side.
Jovanes patted Gallahan’s shoulder affectionately and said.
“Gallahan, didn’t you say you were busy and had to leave now?”
Gallahan secretly took a breath before answering.
And then, as if he couldn’t help it, he smiled and let out the words he had prepared.
“Yes. I have to manage both Chesayu’s and Lombardi’s affairs, so every day feels too short.”
As expected, Jovanes reacted to his words.
“Chesayu, yes, but do you have to worry about Lombardi too?”
“Shouldn’t I also make my presence known to Lombardi’s vassals?”
The meaning of Gallahan’s words was clear.
Jovanes asked in surprise.
“Hmm? Has the Lombardi Patriarch made a decision about the successor yet?”
“Nothing has been officially announced yet.”
Gallahan shook his head.
Lombardi does not announce a successor until internal discussions are complete and everything is perfectly decided.
However, the Empress and Emperor were unaware of this, and Gallahan intended to use that gap.
He planned to act as a shield for a while until Tia could establish her position as the successor.
“But it’s also true that there’s no suitable successor if not me.”
Jovanes nodded at Gallahan’s words.
“Indeed, that’s true. Viese was practically expelled from the family.”
As he said that, Jovanes’s gaze flickered towards Empress Lavini.
It was common knowledge that the Empress had supported her eldest son, Viese.
“Then I will take my leave, Your Majesty the Emperor.”
Gallahan bowed respectfully to Jovanes.
And then turned around and stood before the Empress.
“I received your letter well, Your Majesty the Empress.”
“Did you? I was worried the letter might have gone astray since there was no reply.”
Empress Lavini said, forcing a smile on her stiff face.
“As I said, I’ve been extremely busy lately. But I will make sure to reply to Your Majesty’s letters, so from now on, if you have anything you’re curious about, please call for me.”
“What do you mean……”
“And leave my daughter alone.”
Gallahan added, quietly curling the corners of his lips.
It was a warning about what had happened in the Lombardi plains.
Having said his piece, Gallahan gave Empress Lavini a light bow and walked past her.
“Ah, Gallahan, I also have to go outside the palace, let’s go together!”
Emperor Jovanes followed him.
Empress Lavini, left alone in the Emperor’s palace garden, remained unmoving in that spot for a long time.
***
Late autumn.
The hunting competition hosted by the Lombardi family was approaching.
The three companions of Perez, who were staying at Phorak Palace, were also very excited about the hunting competition.
“They say the Lombardi hunting competition is incomparably larger and grander than anywhere else!”
“So, will we see that Lombardi lady again?”
“Wow, that lady is really……. I’ve never seen anyone scarier than His Highness.”
Stilley shivered at Tedro’s question.
He recalled her cold face commanding, ‘Get out, all of you.’
“Well, she’s that kind of person, so she handles our Highness like a docile wolfdog?…”
“Ahem.”
Tedro nudged Stilley’s side.
Just then, Perez was right next to them, checking the sharply honed blade of his sword.
But even though he must have heard the words ‘wolfdog,’ Perez didn’t seem to mind much.
His calm gaze remained focused only on the blade.
Knowing that such behavior indicated Perez was in a good mood.
Stilley, relieved, threw out a topic that might interest Perez.
“Your Highness’s incompetent half-brother, he brought over ten of his retainers to this hunting competition, didn’t he?”
“What? Ten people?”
Regnite asked back in surprise.
“Yeah. So he’s bragging about it at every banquet. That he’ll defeat our Highness and win this Lombardi hunting competition. What do you think about that, Your Highness?”
Stilley asked Perez with a mischievous smile.
Then Perez replied with an expressionless face.
“By the time this hunting competition is over, no one will be curious about who won, so what does it matter?”
“Ah, well, true.”
The academy trio exchanged glances and chuckled.
Screech, clank.
Perez sheathed his sword and stood up, saying.
“Let’s go.”
Perez led the way, followed by the trio.
Their destination was the venue for the Lombardi family’s hunting competition.
It was ‘Madman’s Forest,’ an area frequently plagued by monsters.