In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 226

“Re-measurement?”
Jovanes tilted his head.
The Emperor’s aide, who had handed over the documents, frowned and spoke to Dewey Angenas.
“If you are worried that the calculation might be wrong…”
“The calculation is not the problem!”
The head of the Angenas family shouted, as if exasperated.
What, then, no way?
“Please re-measure the land itself to ensure the size of each territory has been properly measured!”
“That’s absurd…”
“There’s a limit to being so stubborn, tsk tsk!”
Most of the nobles shook their heads and clicked their tongues.
But Dewey Angenas held his shameless face high and looked only at Emperor Jovanes.
He seemed to have no doubt that the Emperor would take his side by now.
However, Jovanes merely tapped the armrest of his chair with his finger, stalling for time as if deep in thought.
And I saw it.
A fleeting glance, as if checking Perez out of the corner of his eye.
“Head of Angenas.”
I slowly clasped my hands and called out to Dewey Angenas.
“What is it, Deputy Head of Lombardi?”
The Head of Angenas replied, clearly annoyed that such a young person like me had called him.
“Are you saying you can’t accept it because the difference is too insignificant?”
“That’s right.”
I nodded a couple of times and then asked Emperor Jovanes.
“What do you think, Your Majesty?”
“About what?”
“Is the only reason you hesitate to make a judgment the slight difference in size?”
“Hmm, that’s right.”
“Then, is it still your unchanged stance that the size of the territory should be the sole criterion for determining the representative family?”
“It is.”
“Then I will help you make a decision, Your Majesty.”
I said that and slowly rose from my seat.
There was no need to rush.
It was all going according to my plan.
As I moved step by step, countless gazes moved with me.
My whole body tingled from the hot gazes from head to toe.
I presented the documents I had brought from the mansion to Emperor Jovanes.
It was precisely that, the one I had carefully kept in my room’s safe.
Clatter.
Empress Lavini startled, rising halfway, and her chair made a small noise.
“What is this?”
Emperor Jovanes asked me.
I looked back at Empress Lavini and replied.
“This is the contract the Angenas family signed when they borrowed money from the Pellet Merchant Guild.”
It was a lot of trouble finding this, wasn’t it?
“Henforek Territory is held as collateral.”
The bundle of documents Clerivan had brought on the day I attended the noble council was the contract signed with Angenas.
I had moved it to the Lombardi mansion in advance, fearing that the Empress would surely target it once the hunt officially began.
Because the Lombardi mansion was where the Empress’s most powerful weapon, the ‘Imperial Family’ card, lost its power.
I subtly curled one corner of my mouth, just enough for Empress Lavini to see.
“No, Your Majesty!”
I knew it.
No sooner had I finished speaking than the Empress appeared.
She should have done that earlier.
It was boring dealing with Dewey.
“Are you saying they didn’t borrow money, Empress?”
“That’s not it…”
The Empress glared at me openly and said.
“I was saying that the Deputy Head of Lombardi is making a very big mistake.”
“A mistake?”
“Yes. That contract is between the Angenas family and the Pellet Merchant Guild. There’s no place for Lombardi to interfere.”
Then she added in a cold voice.
“You can’t act as a proxy while hiding a criminal in the Lombardi mansion, can you?”
A criminal?
“A criminal, Your Majesty the Empress?”
This time, I wouldn’t let it slide either.
“Your words are excessive. Isn’t that a false accusation without any evidence?”
And then, as if casually, I added a remark.
“There’s no evidence or witness that Clerivan Pellet was involved in the attempted assassination. Why are you making such a claim? Are you being stubborn, or did you just need an excuse to overturn the Pellet Merchant Guild after finding this contract?”
“What?!”
The Empress bellowed, as if she would kill me right then and there.
But everyone in the great hall heard it.
And they began to nod.
“If they made a contract with the territory as collateral, that would make sense…”
“Did they really… the head of the Pellet Merchant Guild because of that?”
“If that’s the case, it all adds up.”
The gazes directed at the Empress and the Head of Angenas were completely different from before.
As the murmuring continued, those who initially thought, ‘Could it really be?’ quickly changed their attitude to, ‘So that’s what happened!’
Meanwhile, Emperor Jovanes was reading through the documents I had given him, turning one page after another.
“Indeed, the party to the contract is stated as ‘Owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild.’ The Empress is right.”
Foolish Jovanes.
Perez must have given him a hint in advance, but he was still ambiguously siding with Angenas.
To think such a person is the Emperor of the Empire.
I suppressed a sigh and said.
“Then, Your Majesty the Empress, I would like to confirm one thing.”
Emperor Jovanes gave a short nod, as if telling me to proceed.
“The Angenas family did not pay the interest last time, nor the time before that.
Also, this month’s interest has not yet been paid. Is that correct?”
The Empress looked down at me with cold blue eyes, as if turned into ice shards.
“In fact, after borrowing the money, the Angenas family has never paid interest.”
Angenas borrowed money but didn’t pay interest.
It sounded absurd, but that was the custom.
As the Empress’s family, those who lent money to the powerful family were mostly trying to get in line with Angenas.
Thus, even though the contract clearly stipulated interest payments, the non-payment of interest was condoned.
‘Empress Lavini, of course, didn’t pay the interest because she thought Clerivan was trying to curry favor with her.’
I asked again, enunciating each word clearly.
“Is this fact correct, Your Majesty the Empress?”
Empress Lavini’s clenched fists trembled, and her lips were tightly sealed.
She probably had nothing to say.
“Your Majesty, if you look at the last page of the contract, there is a clause regarding the exercise of collateral rights.”
At my words, Jovanes glanced at the Empress, then opened the very last page of the contract.
“It says, ‘If Angenas fails to repay the interest and principal, the owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild becomes the owner of Henforek Territory, which is the collateral.'”
“And below that, it also specifies exactly what constitutes ‘failure to repay interest and principal.'”
I held up three fingers.
“Three times. It states that if interest is not paid three times, it will be considered ‘a situation where interest and principal cannot be repaid.'”
The Empress must have known this part, as she had personally checked it when the contract was signed with Clerivan.
That the collateral rights could be exercised according to the contract.
That’s why she chased Clerivan and searched the guild like a rat, even using the Imperial Knights, her last resort.
“Ha!” At that moment, the Empress suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“Even so, that is only between Angenas and Clerivan Pellet, the owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild. The Deputy Head of Lombardi has no right to exercise collateral.”
And she smiled cruelly.
“Are you planning to call Clerivan Pellet here?”
She probably intended to kill Clerivan immediately if he stepped one foot outside the Lombardi mansion.
Because Empress Lavini would do anything to protect Angenas’s representative rights.
“Your Majesty, please call Clerivan Pellet here.”
Now she was even trying to persuade Emperor Jovanes.
I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“There’s no need for that, Your Majesty.”
You’re finished now, Empress.
“The owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild is present here.”
The breathless audience stirred instantly like a surging wave.
“Clerivan Pellet is here?”
“Did he sneak in?”
The nobles forgot they were in a council and looked around.
“What do you mean, Deputy Head of Lombardi? Explain further.”
Emperor Jovanes also leaned towards me, asking impatiently.
“As I said. The owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild is present here.”
And I smiled sweetly at Empress Lavini and said.
“The owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild is I, Florentia Lombardi.”
Not even a breath could be heard in the council hall.
Only a deafening silence flowed, as if everyone had their ears tightly covered with both hands.
And a sobbing voice escaped from the Empress.
“What… did you say?”
At the same time, another noisy wave swept through the great hall.
“Did I hear that right?”
“The owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild is the Deputy Head of Lombardi?”
“Does anyone know how old the Deputy Head of Lombardi is this year?”
It was utter chaos.
The vast great hall, capable of accommodating hundreds of people, became as noisy as a marketplace.
In that tumultuous space, Empress Lavini and I faced each other.
At first, her blue gaze was rigid and unmoving, but it gradually began to waver.
She would want to believe that I was lying, but she would instinctively feel it.
That my words were sincere.
I put away my smile and watched with serious eyes.
Empress Lavini gradually crumbling.
“Is there a way to… prove it?”
Emperor Jovanes, also quite surprised, asked me in a choked voice.
“May I call the Lombardi Knights Commander inside for a moment, Your Majesty?”
“Do… so.”
At the Emperor’s command, a servant ran outside, and after a moment, Sir Lambert Lombardi entered the council hall.
“Sir Lombardi, would you give me the envelope I entrusted to you at the mansion?”
Sir Lombardi, with a bewildered expression as if wondering what was happening, having been suddenly called into the chaotic scene, nodded.
And he handed me the envelope, which had been carefully tucked inside his thick armor.
I took a piece of paper from it and showed it to the Emperor.
“This is the employment contract that Clerivan Pellet and I signed when the Pellet Merchant Guild was first established.”
“Employment… contract?”
The Emperor took it with a bewildered face.
The content of the contract was simple.
[I, Florentia Lombardi, owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild, employ Clerivan Pellet as the Guild Master.
Clerivan Pellet shall be granted full authority over the guild as my proxy, and this employment contract shall be valid indefinitely unless Clerivan Pellet requests its termination.]
And below that, the date of my eleventh birthday and the signatures of Clerivan and I were neatly written side by side.
I somehow felt like laughing at my childish, crooked handwriting, which I had carefully pressed each character into.
“As you can see. Clerivan Pellet is an employed guild master, and I am the owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild.”
Instead of the speechless Emperor and Empress, I looked towards Perez.
He was smiling.
His red lips formed a perfect arc, and he watched me with eyes full of warm affection.
He was there, closest to me, at the moment my long-kept secret was revealed to the world.
I smiled back at Perez, then half-snatched the employment contract from the Emperor’s hand.
Ah! Fingerprints!
How important is this!
I carefully folded Clerivan’s lifetime employment contract and put it back into the envelope, saying.
“As the owner of the Pellet Merchant Guild, I will exercise the collateral rights over Henforek Territory.”
This one sentence is enough.
That land is now mine, and I can do with it as I please.
“Would you return it, Your Majesty?”
I said, pointing to the contract between Angenas and the Pellet Merchant Guild.
“Go, go ahead.”
Emperor Jovanes handed over the contract he was holding in his other hand.
Look, there are fingerprints here too.
But this time, I didn’t care much.
It’s not mine anyway.
I simply tossed the contract to the Head of Brown.
“And I will transfer the Henforek Territory to the Brown family.”
This is game over.
Although Henforek Territory is described as a tiny piece of land, it’s only tiny on the Empire’s map; in reality, it’s a vast, empty plain, quite a spectacular sight.
“Th-thank you, Deputy Head of Lombardi.”
The Head of Brown said, receiving the bundle of contracts with both hands.
“You’re welcome.”
I slowly walked back to my seat and sat down.
Now everyone in the great hall was looking only at Jovanes.
“Then…”
Just as Jovanes, pushed by unspoken pressure, was about to open his mouth.
“Your Majesty, no.”
Empress Lavini grabbed Jovanes’s arm.
“You can’t do this.”
Empress Lavini’s voice was trembling.
She had used every trick to defend, but ultimately lost.
All she could do now was plead with the Emperor.
The usual dignified and confident appearance of the Empress was nowhere to be seen.
Her large eyes filled with tears that seemed about to spill.
One might be momentarily swayed by her desperate appearance.
But Emperor Jovanes cruelly shook his head and pulled his arm free.
And he declared.
“The Brown family has become the new representative of the West.”
Thump!
It sounded like a crisp sound from somewhere.
It felt empty without it.
Jovanes roughly threw off his outer garment.
Even though he hadn’t drunk a single sip of alcohol, his face was red and his head ached.
After the great council, he went out hunting as planned, but had to return quickly.
Because he wasn’t feeling well.
“Call the imperial physician!”
Jovanes shouted loudly, slumping onto the bed.
“Now that the West is settled, it should be quieter.”
For the Emperor, the great council that afternoon had that meaning.
An annoying, bothersome matter.
Perhaps his current poor health was due to that reason.
Thinking about the ongoing conflict between Lombardi and Angenas made his head throb even more.
Jovanes looked at the liquor bottle on the bedside table and got up.
“To think that young one had such a secret. Ha, quite impressive.”
His hand trembled unsteadily, making it difficult to pour alcohol into the glass.
Jovanes put the bottle directly to his mouth and took a big gulp.
Once, twice.
That was the moment.
“Gah!”
Emperor Jovanes clutched his chest tightly and collapsed.
Thud!
A loud noise echoed through the Emperor’s bedroom.