In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Episode 97

Lauriel, who had been looking all over the stables for Florentia, who had disappeared for a moment while she went to the restroom, felt relieved.
She had been so worried that some strange people might have taken her lady.
But the atmosphere between Florentia and the group of young nobles, who seemed to be just talking, was not normal.
Lauriel inadvertently looked at Florentia’s face and flinched without realizing it.
It was because she saw the smile Florentia wore when she was quite displeased with something.
“Is something wrong?”
Lauriel asked cautiously.
“No, these people here were asking me who I was.”
“Yes… But why…”
…are you so angry?
Lauriel swallowed the rest of her sentence.
And Florentia quickly provided the answer.
“And he said, ‘It’s obvious’ without even hearing my name, as if he didn’t know who I was.”
“H-how dare he be so rude…”
Lauriel felt sorry for the boy who stood there with his arms defiantly crossed and an arrogant expression.
The lady she served, the cutest, smartest, and most adorable in the world, especially disliked people who showed off based solely on their family’s prestige or status.
And even more so if they were rude to others.
Lauriel could only cautiously guess that it might be due to the influence of her cousins.
“And this person is from the Angenas family. Case Angenas, he said?”
“Oh?!”
Lauriel let out a distressed sound.
If he was an Angenas, it was already beyond Lauriel’s ability to help.
She resigned herself and stepped back halfway.
“Greetings, Lady Dillard.”
The boy who had been glaring at Florentia with a frown just moments ago now greeted Lauriel quite politely.
Come to think of it, he looked familiar, as if she had seen him a few times in passing.
“Is this person a guest of Lady Dillard?”
“Guest…”
Lauriel hesitated for a moment, unsure how to answer.
Florentia was indeed a guest here, as this place operated as a strict members-only club.
However, even this land, where stables were built for the common use of nobles residing in the capital, belonged entirely to Lombardi.
But then Florentia preempted him.
“It’s true that our family is close to the Dillard family.”
Lauriel looked awkwardly at Florentia, but she just smiled sweetly.
It wasn’t a lie that the Lombardi family was close to the Dillard family.
“Hmm. I’m not pleased that someone of unclear status is wandering around here.”
Moreover, his swaggering as if these stables were his own possession was starting to annoy even Lauriel.
Then, as if granting a great favor, he said to Tia,
“I’ll give you a chance to make up for your rude mistake just now. Since we’re on our way, I’ll allow you to attend our tea party.”
“You want me to drink tea with you guys?”
“Oh, no need to be too grateful.
We are all very generous people…”
“Why?”
Florentia tilted her head, as if she didn’t understand, and asked,
“You said something about someone of unclear status like me. So why are you suddenly inviting me to a tea party?”
“Th-that…”
Lauriel, who had been watching Case Angenas’s momentary confusion, swallowed a sound of ‘Ah!’
She thought it was strange how he was speaking so stiffly, but his ears were bright red as he mumbled, unable to answer Florentia’s question.
It seemed he was trying to force a conversation, flaunting his family’s influence, simply because of Florentia’s cute appearance.
It was a typical mistake made by ill-mannered young masters.
Just then.
“What? Why is everyone here?”
“What are you doing here?”
The tall Giliou and Mayron strode over.
“Lo-Lombardi twins…”
Case Angenas, who had been full of himself just moments ago, visibly shrank.
Due to their unrestrained personalities and speech, and their untouchable power as direct descendants of the Lombardi head, they were feared and respected by everyone.
Moreover, their superior physique, including their height and build, even gave off an intimidating aura.
“Why are they coming this way…”
Someone in the group mumbled softly.
But it was a mutual understanding.
To be honest, the Lombardi twins were fearsome beings.
Because they were the true owners of these stables, not just ‘pretenders’ like themselves.
“Giliou. Mayron.”
And they almost fell backwards in surprise when they heard the girl they had been completely ignoring call them familiarly.
“They’re inviting me for tea,” Florentia said, pointing to the group.
The twins’ expressions turned menacing in an instant.
The group instinctively recoiled under their glaring, scrunched-up faces.
“What? It’s just the Angenas scraps.”
“Are you bothering our Tia, asking her to drink tea?”
Even thugs from the back alleys wouldn’t be this scary.
The group, who had been swaggering as if these stables were theirs, instantly became “Angenas scraps,” but no one dared to refute it.
“Th-that…”
Case Angenas was too scared of the twins to even speak properly.
However, at that moment, Florentia spoke in a calm voice.
“You two. How can you be so rude? You should be polite.”
Polite? Those two?
The twins, known as the Lombardi rascals, were completely unrelated to politeness.
But a miracle happened.
The growling twins suddenly grinned like well-behaved puppies.
“Okay, Tia.”
The obedient twins asked with a slight smile,
“Did you guys ask our Tia to drink tea?”
It was certainly much more polite language.
But why was it even scarier?
“No, not us…”
Someone said with a trembling voice, subtly glancing at Case Angenas.
“…You?”
“Ugh, ah…”
Case Angenas trembled so much he looked like he was about to collapse on the spot.
“Why?”
Giliou asked, leaning his face close.
“Ju-just because she was someone I hadn’t seen before…”
“Hmm.”
Mayron hummed subtly and likewise approached closer.
And then he whispered in a low voice,
“For an Angenas scrap, you have good taste.”
His eyes, barely visible beneath his long eyelashes, were cold.
Giliou fiddled with the hilt of the sword at his waist and said,
“How dare you covet my sister. Do you have a death wish?”
“H-Heeek!”
Case Angenas cowered in fear.
“Stop it, you two. I’m tired.”
Florentia said simply in a bored tone, as if she had lost interest.
Immediately, the twins’ razor-sharp demeanor vanished, leaving only two doting fools grinning at Florentia.
“Our Tia is tired?”
“Let’s go somewhere warm quickly!”
Florentia and Lauriel led the way, with the twins following behind.
They didn’t pay any attention to the group of young nobles left behind, who collapsed to the ground, their legs giving out.
On the way to a sunny spot the twins had picked out earlier, Florentia murmured softly,
“It’s inconvenient when people don’t recognize me. I guess it’s almost time for my debut.”
***
‘Caramel Avenue,’ quiet after a day of business.
In the office specifically prepared at the back of the kitchen, Tolly, the pastry chef, smiled and greeted Bate, who had just sat down.
“You worked hard today too, Bate.”
“Oh, you too, sir. You worked hard.”
However, Bate reached for the documents on the desk, which were messily written in code.
“You’ve been working all day. Take it easy, Bate,” Tolly said, feeling sorry for Bate.
It was hard to watch him work all the time, except for sleeping, at an age when he should be enjoying life to the fullest.
Especially since he started preparing for that ‘information business’ or whatever it was, Tolly hadn’t seen him rest.
“It’s just a few more documents. I’m fine. You can go ahead, sir.”
“Hmm. Alright. I left a few slices of apple pie on the shelf. Grab some if you’re hungry.”
Tolly looked at Bate with concern until the very end, then patted his shoulder and said,
“Yes, sir.”
After Tolly left, Bate, left alone, put on the glasses he had taken off and picked up the documents.
Under the dim lamplight, his rimless glasses glowed yellow.
“Hmph. ‘Investigate me thoroughly,’ she said?”
That voice, which subtly pricked his pride, was still vivid in his ears.
“Does she think I can’t find out?”
Acquiring and consolidating information was Bate’s specialty.
He also had an eye for discerning real information from vague rumors and gossip.
It had been quite some time since the Lombardi brat, who had started frequenting the store a few months ago, had come under Bate’s sensitive radar.
She had ordered cake from ‘here to there’ every time she visited, as if demanding his attention, and had even brought the rising Clerivan Pellet of Pellet Corporation, so he couldn’t help but be concerned.
Furthermore, she was the only daughter of the famous Gallahan Lombardi and Rulac Lombardi’s most beloved granddaughter.
Even that alone made her extraordinary in many ways, but Bate instinctively felt that Florentia Lombardi had something even more special about her.
“I’ll dig deep,” Bate muttered, burying himself in the mountain of documents.
From within, he sifted out useful puzzle pieces and connected dots that seemed completely unrelated at first glance.
Then, a large picture that no one had ever known would suddenly emerge.
As the night deepened, the moon, which had risen high in the sky, began to wane.
Finally, it was not until dawn, when the eastern sky began to faintly lighten, that Bate could stop working.
Thud.
His carelessly discarded glasses lay scattered on the desk, but Bate didn’t care.
He rubbed his face with his large hands, as if washing his face without water, and let out a deep sigh.
And then he covered his mouth.
He trapped the scream that threatened to burst forth.
The scattered codes, one and all, spoke clearly:
Florentia Lombardi was a far grander picture than Bate had ever imagined.
Bate muttered like a moan,
“What, what on earth is your true identity?”