In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 41

“Argh!”
My nose stung, and I cried out loudly without realizing it.
And with the impact, I collapsed on the spot.
“What, what…?” The thing that had hit my face spectacularly and fallen was making thudding sounds as it bounced.
It was a ball the size of my face.
A leather ball that children often play with.
“Puhahaha!”
I stared blankly at the rolling ball, dumbfounded, when a familiar laugh pierced my ears.
“That dog-faced brat…”
Bellesac was walking towards me, holding his stomach and laughing.
Of course, Astaliu was sticking to him like goldfish poop.
“Look at that! Puhuhu!”
Bellesac pointed his finger at me.
I frowned in anger, and felt something trickling down my nose.
“No, nosebleed!”
My nose had started bleeding, as if I had been hit properly by the ball.
Bellesac, who had come right in front of me, began to roar with laughter, looking like he was about to roll on the ground.
“Blood, blood…”
Astaliu, who was timid, just babbled, unable to do anything in surprise, looking at the laughing Bellesac.
“What do you think you’re doing?!”
I yelled.
“Are you crazy?! You little puppy!”
My anger soared to my head.
“What? Little puppy?”
Bellesac’s face twisted into a menacing expression, but I didn’t flinch.
No matter how small he was, a frown meant nothing.
I couldn’t just take this.
The ball had already rolled far away, and all I had in my hand was the dirt from the ground.
If so, I had to use even this.
I grabbed a handful of dirt and flung it straight into Bellesac’s eyes.
“Aargh! My eyes!”
It must have hit him right, as Bellesac was clutching his face and groaning.
I dusted off my skirt, stood up, and shouted defiantly,
“Hmph! Serves you right!”
I must have been hit quite hard by the ball, as my nose was still bleeding.
Wiping and wiping, the crimson blood on my hands was a little scary, but I couldn’t show it in front of this bastard.
I intended to laugh at Bellesac, who was yelling about his eyes stinging.
But.
“Uh oh…?”
My vision was strange.
For a moment, my vision blurred, and Bellesac, and Astaliu who was fidgeting next to him, appeared overlapped.
Is it because I hit my head?
Or because I’m bleeding?
My head spun.
“Damn it!”
It was also why I couldn’t avoid Bellesac’s hand, which pushed my shoulder hard with his tear-streaked face.
It was a shame that I had stood up so confidently, only to fall back onto my bottom again.
“You, you!”
Bellesac, who hadn’t considered that he started it and was just seething with anger, looked around.
And then he spotted the wooden sword tied to Astaliu’s waist.
Astaliu wasn’t taking swordsmanship lessons yet, but he carried it around as a toy and for bragging.
But even if it wasn’t a real sword, a large wooden stick was a weapon.
“Give me that!”
“B-but…”
As Astaliu hesitated, Bellesac reached out and pulled the wooden sword from his waist.
“You pathetic half-breed!”
Bellesac raised the wooden sword with all his might.
It felt like it would fall at any moment and break a bone in my body.
Go ahead, hit me.
I’ll make you regret it forever.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Just then, something seemed to fly through the air with a whoosh, and Bellesac let out a loud scream.
“Aargh!”
It was a scream of a different magnitude than when I had thrown sand.
I opened my eyes wide to see Bellesac clutching his arm, and on the ground lay a wooden sword I hadn’t seen before.
“Tia!”
The twins were running towards me, calling my name loudly.
It seemed they were just coming out of their swordsmanship lesson.
They had run quite a distance and quickly stood between me and Bellesac, blocking him.
“Tia, are you okay?”
Mayron carefully examined my face, which was bowed low.
And the moment she saw my face, her eyes widened in horror.
“T-Tia! What do we do! Blood! Giliou!”
Mayron called Giliou, who was pointing a wooden sword at Bellesac and Astaliu, his face pale.
And Giliou’s eyes flipped when he saw my blood-covered face.
“Bellesac, you!”
Giliou’s hand, holding the wooden sword, trembled.
He gritted his teeth and tried to thrust the wooden sword at Bellesac, who was clutching his arm and crying.
“Stop it, Giliou.”
I said urgently.
I wanted to shout loudly, but I was too dizzy to do so.
But fortunately, Giliou heard my small voice and immediately stopped.
And quickly came closer to me.
“Tia, Tia…”
I grabbed Giliou’s sleeve and said,
“Don’t hit him…”
If you hit that bastard, if you beat him to death, I’ll lose my justification.
Since I’ve already bled, I need to extract everything I can from this opportunity.
But before I could say anything, I gradually lost consciousness.
Surely they wouldn’t beat Bellesac while I was unconscious for a moment, would they?
Considering the twins’ usual personalities, it was entirely possible.
“Don’t do that…”
In the end, I leaned my head against Giliou’s chest and fainted.
“Tia! Tia!”
***
Giliou and Mayron’s faces turned pale.
Their hearts plummeted at the sight of Florentia’s pale, small face, covered in red blood.
“You. Bellesac, you…”
Mayron said with terrifying eyes.
Bellesac and Astaliu flinched, unable to say anything, and avoided Mayron’s enraged gaze.
“Mayron! We have to take Tia to the doctor quickly!”
If Giliou hadn’t shouted that then, Mayron would have picked up the wooden sword on the ground and severely beaten Bellesac and Astaliu.
Until they begged never to bother Florentia again.
Mayron glared at the two one last time, then leaned Florentia’s limp body against Giliou’s back.
“We have to go quickly!”
Giliou scooped Florentia onto his back and cried out.
Mayron also supported Florentia’s back with one hand and ran along with him.
“Damn it… Tia is too light.”
Giliou, carrying his cousin sister, bit his lower lip and mumbled.
His eyes were already welling up with tears.
She was always bright and cheerful, sometimes even scary, making her seem like an older sister a few years older.
Though smaller than her peers, Florentia, limp on his back, was too light and fragile.
Mayron’s face was already a mess of tears and snot.
“Bellesac, I won’t let you off…”
Mayron said, grinding her teeth, as if thinking the same thing.
Why did Dr. Omally’s clinic feel so far away today?
Servants and Lombardi officials stopped in surprise when they saw the twins running and crying, carrying Florentia on their backs.
But the two eleven-year-olds didn’t even think of asking for help; they were running with all their might, solely focused on taking Florentia to the clinic.
“Dr. Omally!”
“Doctor! Tia is hurt!”
As soon as they finally arrived at the clinic, the twins shouted at the top of their lungs.
Dr. Omally was so surprised that he rushed out of the inner research room.
“What on earth happened…?”
The doctor’s heart sank at the sight of Florentia, carried in unconscious, and Shanannet’s twins, who were sobbing.
“Please lay her down here.”
The twins of Shanannet, who had the most influence among the four siblings of the Patriarch, and the only daughter of Gallahan, who was the talk of the town these days.
Dr. Omally’s movements quickened, thinking that nothing should go wrong.
The doctor first sent the twins away and then drew the curtains.
And then he carefully examined Florentia’s condition.
Her nose wasn’t broken, but there was a slight bruise, and no other external injuries were visible.
The nosebleed had already stopped.
Still, just in case, the doctor undressed Florentia and carefully examined her before buttoning her clothes back up and letting out a small sigh.
There were no other problems; it seemed something had hit her nose, causing a mild concussion, and she had briefly lost consciousness due to the heavy bleeding.
Throughout this, the intermittent sounds of the twins sobbing could be heard from behind the curtain.
The doctor tucked Florentia in well, then opened the curtains and came out.
“Is Tia okay?”
The twins, who had been sitting on another bed, rushed over and asked.
“Lady Florentia will be fine. Don’t worry too much.”
“Ah…”
“Thank goodness…”
Giliou and Mayron wiped away their tears with the back of their hands, relieved.
But that was only for a moment.
Their tension released, they soon burst into sobs again.
“Whew…”
Dr. Omally, sighing inaudibly, called a servant to deliver a message.
And a moment later.
Bang-!
The sliding door of the research room opened roughly with a loud bang.
Walking in with a stern face was Lombardi’s head, Rulac.
Dr. Omally, who had been writing Florentia’s medical chart and got up in surprise, inadvertently looked at Rulac’s face, then quickly bowed his head again.
Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, his heart was pounding nervously.
Such was the terrifying aura of Rulac, who had rushed over upon receiving the call.
The twins were so quiet that they couldn’t even sniffle.
As Rulac walked in with his hands behind his back, the not-so-small treatment room felt filled.
“Is the child alright?”
“Yes. Lady Florentia seems to be fine and will wake up after some rest…”
Dr. Omally quickly replied.
Rulac gazed at his granddaughter, who lay unconscious on the bed.
His eyes lingered on the small dress, its front stiff with dried blood.
And a short while later, Shanannet arrived, slightly out of breath, having half-run there.
“Mother!”
“Wahhh!”
The twins threw themselves into Shanannet’s arms, resuming their stopped crying.
“What on earth happened?!”
Shanannet asked, patting the twins’ backs.
“Well… sniff. We were going to find Tia after swordsmanship lessons, and Bellesac… Bellesac… at the training ground path…”
“Bellesac was hitting Tia with a wooden sword… sob. So we ran and saved her. But Tia, Tia lost consciousness…”
“Hitting with a wooden sword…?”
Shanannet asked back in surprise.
She knew Bellesac disliked Florentia, but cousins fighting was one thing, and hurting someone by swinging a wooden sword was entirely another.
“So we tried to hit Bellesac too… but Tia told us not to, gasp!”
“Even while fainting, she kept telling us not to hit Bellesac… several times… Bellesac, oh my god, Bellesac hurt such a kind Tia… sob sob sob!”
The twins burst into loud sobs again, as if the overwhelming emotions of that moment had returned.
Shanannet soothed them, glancing at Rulac.
She wished he would just rage and be angry.
It was worse when he was so quiet.
As expected.
Rulac, who had been quietly listening to the twins’ story, commanded the servant standing nearby.
“Tell Viese and Bellesac to come to my office.”