In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 251

“Tia!”
Lorraine hugged me and laughed.
The strength of her pull and her voice were incomparably brighter and more powerful than before.
“Hello, Lorraine.”
I hugged Lorraine back and said.
Then I looked at Avinox, who was standing behind Lorraine.
“Welcome, Lord Avinox.”
“Thank you for welcoming us, Lady Lombardi.”
Avinox’s face still seemed to sparkle, and a wide smile filled his face.
“Long time no see, everyone.”
After hugging me, Lorraine greeted the twins.
“You look much healthier than before.”
“That’s good.”
The twins also welcomed Lorraine.
It wasn’t just me and the twins who came out to greet them in front of the mansion.
“Welcome, Lady Lorraine.”
“How have you been?”
The employees who had worked at the mansion for a long time also took time out of their busy schedules to see Lorraine.
“I missed you all.”
Lorraine’s eyes welled up as she looked at each familiar face.
It was a completely different scene from when she secretly fled the mansion in the middle of the night.
Everyone had gathered to welcome Lorraine.
And finally, Lorraine stood before grandfather.
“You’ve had a long journey, Lorraine.”
Grandfather spoke first in a gentle voice.
“Lord Avinox. Could you bring that from the carriage?”
“That… ah!”
Avinox clapped his hands lightly and hurried to the carriage.
What he brought out, struggling through the busy employees unloading luggage, was a bouquet of flowers.
It was so huge that the burly Avinox frowned slightly.
“Oh my! Flowers in this winter!”
“My goodness, there must be hundreds of them!”
People’s eyes widened in surprise.
It was understandable. The bouquet was so fresh that it made them momentarily forget it was winter.
“I brought them as a gift for grandfather and the Lombardi people,” Lorraine said with a shy smile.
“Lilies… are they?”
Grandfather asked, looking at the bouquet with a bewildered expression.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“But how did you get so many lilies in this winter?”
“The East doesn’t get that cold even in mid-winter. They grew very well when I cultivated them in a greenhouse.”
As Lorraine spoke lightly as if it were nothing, Avinox quickly added an explanation from beside her.
“Lilies are originally not found in the East. Lady Lorraine is working on improving plants that are not native to the East, like lilies, to suit the Eastern soil, Grandfather.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. A while ago, she started researching wheat that doesn’t grow well in the East, and the results are very good.”
“You’re doing a very good job, Lorraine.”
Lorraine’s face turned red at grandfather’s praise.
“Please give us the bouquet.”
Johan came with two burly employees and said.
“Ah, then I’ll leave it to you.”
Avinox smiled brightly and handed over the lily bouquet, and the two employees visibly staggered for a moment.
“You must be tired from your long journey, let’s go inside somewhere warm.”
Grandfather said, ushering Lorraine into the mansion first.
“And you.”
“Yes. H-Grandfather.”
Avinox, who was about to naturally follow Lorraine with a smiling face, froze at grandfather’s call.
He probably just realized his situation.
Whatever the reason, Avinox was the one who took Lorraine to the East by secretly eloping in the middle of the night.
He was not in a position to be so confident in front of grandfather.
Even from my perspective, watching a step back, I could see the cold sweat dripping down Avinox’s back by now.
“…Hmph.” Grandfather looked at Avinox silently for a moment.
Gulp.
I saw Avinox’s Adam’s apple move greatly with tension.
“Let’s go inside for now.”
Grandfather said that, patted Avinox’s shoulder once, and then turned his back and walked inside first.
That was all.
But Avinox’s face instantly brightened as if a light had been turned on.
“Th-thank you!”
Avinox’s booming voice echoed loudly as he quickly followed grandfather inside.
I watched that scene and then looked at the bouquet that the employee was struggling to carry.
“Lilies, huh.”
Is this also a coincidence?
“They do suit Lorraine best.”
As I quietly looked at the lilies, memories from my previous life came to mind.
The white lilies that filled Lorraine’s funeral hall.
“The Eastern climate must suit them. Seeing how big and fresh they bloomed.”
I turned and said to Johan.
“It would be good to decorate the Lombardi mansion with these. And tonight’s banquet too.”
“Yes, Matriarch.”
Butler Johan said with a gentle smile.
“Brrr, it’s cold. Come on, everyone, go inside quickly. Don’t catch a cold.”
I said that to everyone, shivered a little, and went into the warm mansion.
It was still cold winter.
To welcome Lorraine’s return, all the Lombardi people gathered.
Father, Shananet, and even the people from the vassal families.
Everyone gathered in one place and a boisterous banquet was held.
Superficially, it was a party to welcome Lorraine’s return, but a quick look at the splendid interior of the banquet hall revealed that it was not.
Even for Lombardi, a typical banquet would not be held so grandly.
“Because it’s in place of the engagement party.”
This banquet was prepared by grandfather for Lorraine.
Therefore, grandfather’s heart, wanting to make up for the engagement banquet he couldn’t hold for his granddaughter, was fully contained within it.
“…Sob!”
That was why Lorraine started shedding tears as soon as she entered the banquet hall.
But they were not sad tears.
“Congratulations, Lorraine.”
“Congratulations, Lady Lorraine!”
The huge banquet hall was filled with people congratulating Lorraine and Avinox on their engagement.
The banquet began, and Lorraine and Avinox started dancing together.
“They’re truly a picturesque couple.”
I muttered unconsciously, but everyone around me nodded.
Lorraine and Avinox suited each other that much.
Avinox, as bright as the sun, and Lorraine, blooming even more freshly, receiving his light.
They were a couple that naturally brought a smile to one’s face just by looking at them.
“Florentia.”
Grandmother approached me as I watched the dance.
Grandmother and the tribal people, who had been staying at the mansion since my inauguration banquet, had been actively sightseeing in the capital for the past few days.
Even Onta, grandmother’s physician, who had grumbled at first, didn’t seem to dislike learning and experiencing new things every day, and his complaints about the cold weather had completely disappeared.
“They are truly a beautiful couple,” grandmother said, looking at Lorraine and Avinox, who were now spinning around.
“Some flowers grow better in a different place than where they were born and rooted.”
“That’s right. Lorraine will live happily in the East.”
I don’t have the foresight of my grandmother or mother, but I instinctively knew that happiness would fill Lorraine’s future.
“Come to think of it, when she left Shando Village, she took a bunch of flowers in a pot, roots and all. She said she would plant them where she settled.”
“Mother, flowers?”
“What kind of flower was it… Ah, yes, Bomnia. It was a Bomnia flower tree.”
“What did you just say?”
I was so surprised that I almost dropped the glass in my hand.
Bomnia?
“Bomnia is a flower that blooms all over the fields in spring where we live…”
“It’s a red wildflower that only grows in the South.”
I had read it in Perez’s letter.
Bomnia is a flower that originally only grows in the South.
And it was also the most important medicinal herb in curing my father’s incurable disease.
“Good heavens…”
If she were in front of me now, I would want to ask.
Mother, how far into the future did you see?
My mind was so tangled from surprise that I quietly swallowed the wine, and grandmother said to me.
“I have a favor to ask of you, Florentia.”
“…Yes, tell me.”
Putting aside my overwhelmed feelings for a moment, I answered in the calmest voice possible.
“If I send some people from the tribe to Lombardi in the future, could you take good care of them?”
“People from the tribe?”
My mother’s hometown people were said to have a very closed culture.
Grandmother and the two people I had met over the past few days were like that too.
They rarely talked about the tribe, and occasionally they would talk in a tribal language I didn’t understand.
As if reading my expression, grandmother said.
“We can’t hide in the jungle forever, can we? When the time comes, we must break out of our shells.”
As she said that, grandmother’s gaze was on the splendid lights of the banquet hall, but it seemed to be looking somewhere further away.
“Please do. The people of the tribe are like my relatives.”
Grandmother smiled gently at my words.
“Florentia, just a moment.”
Grandmother took my arm and stepped closer.
Then she whispered in a very low voice, so that no one around could hear.
“Soon, someone around you will die.”
Grandmother’s cloudy eyes looked straight at me.
But I didn’t feel fear or goosebumps.
Instead, I felt her concern for me, which surprised me for a moment, and then a sense of calm settled over me.
I wasn’t afraid of the warning of ‘death’.
I couldn’t properly describe it in words, but I instinctively felt that it wouldn’t be a bad thing for me.
“Yes. You are truly Shan’s child.”
Even though she probably couldn’t see well, grandmother, who was looking directly at my face, was already smiling gently.
And she patted my hand and said.
“It’s a good thing you weren’t born in the tribe. You almost inherited an excessively outstanding ability like Shan. It’s a relief that you, at least, are free from that restraint.”
Grandmother said that and held my hand tightly for a long time, not letting go.
***
On the day of the signing ceremony for the Crown Prince’s appointment.
I left the Lombardi mansion early in the morning.
To prepare for any unforeseen circumstances, my carriage was escorted by the Lombardi Knights, including the twins.
Thanks to the carriage that ran to the Imperial Palace without stopping even once, like a ship with sails in a fair wind, I was able to arrive at the Grand Conference Hall where the signing ceremony was to be held, well ahead of the scheduled time.
However, the large conference hall was already bustling with people.
And in the center of the large round table, five chairs were prepared.
As I stepped in, treading on the soft carpet, those who were standing around the round table and talking greeted me.
“You have arrived, Lady Lombardi.”
Luman of the East, Brown of the West, Ivan of the North, and Sheshou of the South.
The lords of each region who were to sign the Crown Prince’s appointment letter had finally gathered in one place.