In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 220

Empress Lavini was looking out the window from a dark corridor where the lights had been deliberately left off.
From a distance, a commotion briefly erupted inside the Knight Order building, and then Perez emerged.
Bellezac was seen stumbling behind him.
A moment later, the carriage carrying the two men left the Knight Order alley.
The Empress, who watched the carriage disappear until it was out of sight, began to walk quickly towards the Emperor’s palace.
It was past midnight, but there was no hesitation in her steps.
She already knew through her loyal servants planted inside the Emperor’s palace that Jovanes had not yet gone to bed.
“Inform His Majesty of my arrival, Chief Maid Otua.”
Chief Maid Otua, who had come out after attending to the Emperor when she heard there was a visitor, stiffened when she saw Empress Lavini.
“…Yes, Your Majesty the Empress.”
Chief Maid Otua went back inside, and a moment later, the bedchamber door opened.
“The Empress seeks me out often these days.”
Jovanes, who had changed into his nightclothes, said to Lavini with a crooked smile.
It was clearly a sneer, but Lavini merely stood there with a peculiar smile.
“Hmm.”
Jovanes looked at her with interest and then asked,
“What brings you here at such a late hour, Empress?”
“I have something important to discuss, Your Majesty.”
It was a request for a private audience.
Jovanes nodded and lightly gestured, and all the attendants in the bedchamber left.
“The Grand Council is in a few days.”
Lavini was the first to speak in the Emperor’s bedchamber, where only the two of them remained.
“Ah, if it’s about that, I roughly know what you’re going to say.”
Jovanes said with a slight frown.
The long-standing territorial dispute between Angenas and Brown had been brought up as an agenda item for the Grand Council.
Jovanes, as Emperor, had to decide who would have the right to represent the West.
“You’re asking me to side with Angenas at the Grand Council, aren’t you?”
Saying that, Jovanes picked up a thin bundle of documents from the table.
“But my aides found that the territory transferred to the Brown family was slightly larger.”
However, it was a very small difference, small enough to be negated by the Emperor’s word.
“…That’s right.”
Empress Lavini admitted.
“I came to receive confirmation that Your Majesty will side with Angenas.”
“Confirmation?”
Jovanes chuckled.
Then he took out another piece of paper from under the documents and showed it to the Empress.
“It’s a letter from the Lombardi family head.”
Since entering the bedchamber, Empress Lavini’s smile showed its first crack.
“He says he’ll give 100,000 gold as compensation for the broken engagement between the Second Prince and Florentia Lombardi.”
100,000 gold.
It was truly an enormous sum.
No noble family in the Empire could pay that much money and remain intact.
But Lombardi was an exception.
Always, Lombardi was, an exception.
“How dare they insult the Emperor and try to settle it with money?”
Emperor Jovanes grumbled sullenly.
Of course, he intended to take the money.
Jovanes was no fool to refuse 100,000 gold.
But he had to show that not everything would go Lombardi’s way.
To humble the arrogant Lombardi, he could side with Angenas any number of times.
After all, Angenas couldn’t threaten imperial power like Lombardi could.
Jovanes said to Empress Lavini,
“I will side with Angenas at the Grand Council.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
Lavini, smiling brightly, subtly added,
“And there’s one more confirmation I need.”
“Hmph, one more? I knew the Empress was greedy, but…”
Jovanes let out a scoffing laugh, as if dumbfounded.
“Alright, go on, tell me.”
“Please grant permission for the Imperial Knights to investigate the Pellet Merchant Guild and arrest its head, Clerivan Pellet, today, Your Majesty.”
“Pellet Merchant Guild?”
This time, Jovanes’s eyes widened.
A completely unexpected name had come up.
“Quite a big fish.”
No one living in the Empire was unaware of Clerivan Pellet and the Pellet Merchant Guild.
The guild, which had only been established a little over a decade ago, had already grown large enough to form a pillar of the Empire.
Especially in Eastern trade, the Pellet Merchant Guild had virtually monopolized it.
It was said that to sell goods in the East, one had to go through the Pellet Merchant Guild.
“What’s the reason?”
“The investigation into the attempted assassination case has been slow, so I investigated myself and found evidence that the suspicious medicine the First Prince consumed was distributed through the Pellet Merchant Guild.”
Lavini replied without a change in expression.
“Evidence. Evidence, you say…”
In short, it meant ‘it could be, but it might not be.’
“Not a bad picture.”
Jovanes grinned, imagining the Imperial Knights surrounding the Pellet Merchant Guild.
He felt it was a good opportunity to show the imperial family’s authority after a long time.
The fact that Clerivan Pellet was originally a Lombardi person also played a part in Jovanes’s decision.
“The Imperial Knight Order is originally like the hands and feet of the imperial family, isn’t it?”
Emperor Jovanes said to Empress Lavini.
“There’s no reason why the Empress shouldn’t command the Imperial Knight Order.”
***
“Damn it.”
I cursed, looking at Lauriel’s pale face.
“This was it. What the Empress was aiming for.”
Perhaps Bellezac was a decoy from the beginning.
She drew Perez’s and my attention there and targeted Clerivan.
“Why did the Imperial Knights… my brother…” Lauriel asked in a trembling voice, clearly terrified.
“They’re probably looking for the contract. The contract where Angenas’s territory was put up as collateral for a loan.”
“But for the Imperial Knights to move directly because of that…”
“They must have conspired with the Emperor beforehand. And there’s a perfect excuse for the Imperial Knights to move, isn’t there?”
“S-surely…”
Lauriel trembled, unable to even utter the word.
“Right. The attempted assassination of the Emperor. They must have somehow linked Clerivan to it.”
Whether they fabricated plausible evidence, like they did with Bellezac’s will, or simply used it as an excuse, I didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
That Emperor Jovanes would condone the Empress’s actions.
“Did they catch Clerivan?”
“N-no. They just said they were searching the mansion and the guild thoroughly…”
Then there was still a chance.
“First, we need to find Clerivan ourselves.”
I turned to Perez and said,
“Perez, send your people to the Lombardi territory and the capital.”
“The capital?”
“Clerivan said a few days ago that he had a meeting scheduled with Father at the Gallahan clothing store headquarters in the capital today. I don’t know the exact time, but he might have already gone to the capital.”
“Alright. I’ll look for him.”
After confirming Perez’s retreating figure as he unhitched a horse from the carriage and rode off, I said to Lauriel,
“Let’s go to the Lombardi Knight Order.”
“The Knight Order?”
“Yes. I have a favor to ask.”
I said nothing more and just quickened my pace, but inside me, a quiet rage was boiling.
Empress Lavini, how dare you touch my people?
***
“Search thoroughly! Who knows where Clerivan Pellet might be hiding!”
“Yes, sir!”
Imperial Knights and soldiers stormed the Pellet Merchant Guild located on the outskirts of Lombardi.
An angry Violet rushed out of the office and walked towards the knight who seemed to be in charge.
But something was strange.
The one giving orders to the Imperial Knights and commanding them was not another Imperial Knight, but an Angenas knight.
The burly knight, standing tall in the middle of the guild premises, a head taller than others, was someone Violet knew well.
Ethan Clouse.
He was the commander of the Angenas Knight Order, who only listened to the Empress’s commands.
An Angenas Knight Commander giving orders to Imperial Knights.
It was an absurd combination, but the Empress was someone who could make it possible.
And Violet could guess what was happening from that sight.
However, she couldn’t let them ransack the Pellet Merchant Guild as they pleased.
Violet raised her head even more proudly and stood in front of Ethan Clouse.
“I am Violet Riffe, the vice-head of the Pellet Merchant Guild. What in the world is going on?”
“Vice-head?”
However, instead of answering, Ethan Clouse briefly scrutinized Violet from head to toe, then ordered the Imperial Knight waiting beside him.
“Drag her away and interrogate her.”
“Let go of me! Let go!”
They were clearly not interested in talking.
Violet resisted with all her might, but she couldn’t overcome the strong brute force of the Imperial Knights.