In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 94

Looking in the direction of the sound, I saw Bate, looking quite flustered, talking to someone.
“You heard me. It means to vacate the premises, what else?”
The thin, stern-faced middle-aged man seemed quite annoyed by the conversation.
He kept picking his ear and clucking his tongue.
But at the same time, the man’s eyes kept sweeping over the interior of the store.
His gaze was filled with greed.
“The contract is until next year, isn’t it! And at the time of the contract, you said you’d let me operate the store without worry for about 10 years…”
“That’s what my father said before he passed away. I never agreed to such a thing!”
“Even so…”
Bate, who always had a smooth smile, was now pale.
“The store has only been open for two years, and it’s just starting to get established. What do you expect me to do now?”
“Oh, come on. That’s none of my business, is it?”
The man, who seemed to be the building owner, had no interest in Bate’s situation.
He seemed to have inherited the building after his father’s death, and the new owner was busy looking around the building that had suddenly become his.
“Father, really, this good building at such an absurd price…”
It was a murmur, perhaps to himself, or perhaps for others to hear.
The more he mumbled, the more Bate’s handsome face was tinged with despair.
However, unable to back down, Bate approached the owner again and said,
“I’ll pay a higher rent. Please reconsider.”
But the owner, far from accepting Bate’s offer, merely snorted in disbelief.
And then he looked Bate up and down and said,
“You seem quite young. You shouldn’t try to go through life so easily.”
“Ea-easily… Ha.”
Bate ran a hand through his bangs and swallowed a hollow laugh.
His face showed that he had much to say, but couldn’t.
“Is this bakery really that famous?
I wondered how good it was, but it turns out it’s just because the location is good.”
The new owner’s last words seemed to be Bate’s breaking point.
“For now, we’re open, so let’s schedule another time to talk. I’ll visit your residence.”
“Oh, no need.”
The owner waved a hand dismissively.
“No need for further words. Just prepare to vacate the premises when the current contract ends.”
And then the man left the store.
“Haa…”
Bate’s sigh was deep.
It couldn’t be helped.
Now was the time when ‘Caramel Avenue’ was gaining popularity and he needed to recoup his investments.
It was natural to feel helpless when a new owner suddenly appeared and demanded he vacate the store.
Bate, with a furrowed brow, turned to me, and our eyes met.
I didn’t panic and smiled sweetly, saying,
“Two more slices of the same thing here, please.”
I had to buy a lot too.
Bate nodded slightly at my words and quickly brought two more slices of chocolate cake.
But a glass full of milk came along with it.
“I didn’t order this?”
“It’s a service.”
“Service?”
What service when he was about to be kicked out of his store?
When I looked up at him in disbelief, Bate subtly avoided my gaze, scratched the side of his head slightly, and said,
“It’s good to drink a lot of milk during growth spurts.”
“Oh, yes…”
It had been a long time.
Being treated like a proper child again.
Everyone around me treated me like a half-grown adult already.
My father and cousins were like that, and Clerivan and Violet, who were my subordinates, goes without saying.
Because they knew I wasn’t just an ordinary eleven-year-old kid.
But wouldn’t that be the same for Bate?
“Thank you, I’ll drink it gratefully.”
I bowed my head and took a sip of milk.
Bate looked at me with a somewhat pleased expression, then when our eyes met again, he returned to his usual expressionless face as if nothing had happened.
He’s really bad at controlling his expressions.
I felt like giggling, so I just took a few more sips of milk.
As I continued chatting with Craney, Bate, who had returned to his usual self, began working, weaving through the tables filled with people on the second floor.
He would stand in a corner with his hands behind his back, watching to see if customers needed anything, and if he saw an empty glass, he would quickly approach and refill it.
Sometimes he would attend to the counter downstairs, but mostly he moved among the customers like this.
That’s the Bate I had come to know as a regular customer of ‘Caramel Avenue’ over the past few months.
At least during the store’s operating hours, Bate was an excellent waiter, better than anyone.
At least during ‘Caramel Avenue”s operating hours.
“So, these days that family is in enormous debt…”
“The third son of the Faemin family, his affair partner was…”
“I heard a rumor from my relative in the West…”
As I quietly sipped my milk, looking outside, I could clearly hear the conversations of women gathered in small groups, talking about all sorts of topics.
It was as if my body was sitting here at ‘Caramel Avenue,’ but my ears were hearing everything happening across the Empire.
Then I felt an intense gaze on me and looked up.
It was Bate, standing silently in a corner, as if the earlier commotion with the building owner had been a lie.
With his bright amber eyes shining and standing without a sound, he was like a cat.
A cat that seemed to be nonchalantly doing its own thing, but whose sensitive ears twitched constantly.
Truly.
He’s really bad at controlling his expressions, isn’t he?
***

The meeting hall of the Nobles’ Council was heated for the first time in a while.
A topic had been brought up that was contentious enough for them to sit facing each other, divided into two factions, raising their voices sharply.
“Isn’t it natural to lower the tax rate temporarily in drought-stricken areas to lighten the burden on the imperial citizens!”
“Is that the burden of the imperial citizens? It’s the burden of the Eastern nobles!”
The nobles leading each faction confronted each other, their veins bulging in their necks.
“The East has already received tax exemptions for last year’s drought! To ask for it again this year is greed, sheer greed!”
“The drought is worse than last year, so what do you expect us to do?!”
“The Eastern nobles should sell off their private property or find money themselves!”
After a long argument, older nobles, slightly more senior than those who had led the charge, stepped forward.
“The national treasury is in dire straits because of the tax exemption in the East. You must know that, don’t you?”
“It’s true that the national treasury has shrunk a bit, but it’s not that bad. It’s not to the extent of squeezing the lifeblood out of the East.”
“But with the Eastern nobles using the drought as an excuse, other regions are suffering immensely trying to fill that void. This is selfishness, Eastern selfishness.”
While everyone raised their voices and argued, Lombardi and Angenas remained quiet.
The head of the Angenas family listened to the constant whispers of his close aides, while Rulac Lombardi seemed utterly unconcerned, as if he were in a world of his own.
They were fighting fiercely as if national security was at stake, but in reality, it wasn’t a serious matter.
Whether or not to exempt the East from taxes this year due to the drought.
That was all.
In fact, only a few of the Nobles’ Council members sitting there were from the East.
The reason everyone else was getting so heated up fighting over someone else’s problem was one thing:
Pride.
This was a battle of pride between the nobles united under Lombardi and Angenas.
When the heated debate reached a brief lull, the head of the Angenas family made a statement.
“If the East’s taxes must be exempted no matter what, then the contribution of the families opposing it here must not increase by a single coin.”
“What kind of nonsense is that… Of course, if taxes are reduced in one area, the burden on the rest will inevitably increase.”
The subsided offensive erupted explosively towards the head of the Angenas family.
However, the head of the Angenas family silently endured the uproar.
From time to time, when the embers seemed to die down, he would speak again, keeping the atmosphere alive.
‘I must keep dragging out this agenda.’ Perdic Angenas took out a handkerchief and subtly wiped away sweat.
He had to ensure the next item on the agenda was pushed to the next meeting.
The Nobles’ Council operated on the principle of majority rule.
However, the number of nobles from the Angenas faction present today was slightly lower than usual.
It was obvious that they would suffer a great loss if they moved on to the next agenda item in this state.
But at that moment, Perdic Angenas’s gaze met Rulac Lombardi’s.
He flinched.
The head of the Angenas family tried to put the handkerchief back into his pocket with a calm face, but he realized his mistake.
He saw the corner of Rulac Lombardi’s lips, sitting across the large meeting hall, subtly curling up.
“Alright, alright.”
The noisy hall, like a marketplace, instantly fell silent at Rulac Lombardi’s voice.
The Angenas faction also stopped speaking.
Rulac Lombardi was a person with such presence.
“What’s the point in us continuing this discussion among ourselves here?”
His slow, yet undeniably dignified voice caused the agitated nobles to gradually calm down.
‘This can’t be happening!’
In his haste, the head of the Angenas family blurted out something.
“What kind of remark is that, disrespecting the entire Nobles’ Council! Apologize!”
He spoke so hastily that he said something completely out of place.
Even those on Angenas’s side flinched for a moment and looked back at Perdic.
His face turned crimson, but Perdic Angenas pretended not to notice, feigning great anger, and glared at Rulac.
“What I meant was, let’s hear His Majesty the Emperor’s opinion. After all, the taxes we’re debating here, who pays more and who pays less, are ultimately all His Majesty’s property, aren’t they?”
There was no room for rebuttal.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Looking around the assembly, Rulac Lombardi said softly,
“Then, how about moving on to the next agenda item?”
Perdic Angenas finally lowered his head.
His strategies had been completely seen through.
No matter how hard he tried, he was no match for Rulac Lombardi.
It felt like he was up against a colossal wall.
After the meeting.
Perdic Angenas’s footsteps towards the Empress’s Palace were heavy.
He had been utterly defeated by Rulac Lombardi.
Opening the door to the Empress’s Palace, he could already hear the clamor of breaking objects from afar.
It seemed one of the Empress’s ladies-in-waiting had already relayed what had happened in the meeting hall.
The head of the Angenas family, closing his eyes tightly, arrived at the reception room and opened the door.
Crash!
As soon as the door opened, a vase flew over and shattered at his feet.