In This Life I Will Be The Lord Novel - Side Story, Chapter 20

Her finger pointed precisely at the two wheat fields, divided in half.
“Both of these places were withered by the blight. Just a few months ago.”
Perez’s gaze moved to the right.
Unlike the completely withered left side, the wheat field on the right was no different from the one they had seen before climbing the hill.
The wheat, grown tall to his waist and ripened to a golden color, was now just waiting for harvest.
But to think that place had also suffered from the blight.
“Lombardi scholars did find a cure, but I wondered if it was too late. Fortunately, it seems not.”
She said it as if it were nothing, but Perez was speechless. Then, with a strange premonition, he asked, “Tia, are you planning to tell everyone about the cure?”
“Yes, I should.”
“Why?”
Finally, the question Perez had held back burst out.
“Why aren’t you using it?”
He couldn’t understand.
If the cure had fallen into his hands, he would have used it.
A terrible blight never experienced before, and the approaching cold season.
Everything was a perfectly laid out game.
A game where everyone could be brought to their knees before Florentia Lombardi, who possessed the cure.
But at Perez’s question, Florentia fell into thought, muttering “Hmm.”
The person who had answered so easily about the entire imperial situation was, ironically, choosing her words carefully for this simple question.
Finally, her lips parted.
“Because I can?”
“Because… you can?”
“Yes, I told you. Many people will die. And I can stop that.”
She does it because she can.
It was a very ‘her’ thing to say.
“Hmm, is the explanation a bit weak?”
Tia tilted her head slightly, then smiled and said, “Lombardi doesn’t ruin the entire chessboard just to win one game.”
Looking down at the unified Western Continent Empire as a single chessboard.
It was undeniably a very Lombardi-like thing to say.
“Don’t we have to keep winning after this one game? If the chessboard is damaged, it won’t look good at all.”
“Then what about the South?”
Perez couldn’t help but ask impatiently.
“Are you going to give the cure to the South too?”
If this blight continued, the South would be hit the hardest.
The wheat production from their vast plains was Sheshou’s sharpest weapon.
But Tia nodded and answered immediately.
“Of course.”
“…Why? Why would you give them the cure?”
At Perez’s question, she rolled her big eyes once and said, “Of course, Chanton Sheshou made a mistake by touching Lombardi. Especially trying to control Chesayu’s Eastern trade as he pleased was a really big mistake.”
But.
She added.
“The imperial citizens of the South have no reason to suffer because of Chanton Sheshou’s foolishness.”
It was resolute.
Perez stared intently at Tia, feeling as if he were a child being scolded.
Perhaps sensing his gaze, she chuckled.
“And I never said I’d give it for free, did I? I have to get what I’m owed.”
Especially from that black bear.
Tia clenched her fists and said.
“Ha.”
Perez finally clutched his forehead and let out a hollow laugh.
He took a few deep breaths in that state, then raised his head again.
Tia was still standing there, smiling, looking at him.
“Tia, you…”
Even the golden waves of the wheat field lost their luster before her.
The brightest person of all.
‘What kind of woman have I fallen in love with?’
He couldn’t help but smile helplessly, as if he had been caught off guard.
“Come on, Perez.”
Tia held out her hand.
“Now we really have to go to Luman. I need to see Rick too. I’m really tired.”
She grumbled like a child, making it hard to believe she was the same person who had just compared the Empire to a chessboard.
Perez looked at the outstretched hand for a moment, then took it, enveloping it.
Her slender hand fit perfectly in his, as if made just for him.
And like a day in their childhood, Perez quietly smiled, watching Tia’s back as she bravely led the way.
***
A few days later.
The wedding day of Lorraine Lombardi and Avinox Luman dawned.
The Luman household, already bustling with last-minute preparations, became even more boisterous as the Lombardi family, guests from the bride’s side, had just arrived at the Luman mansion.
“That damn black bear.”
Since the first day of arrival in Luman, I had been receiving regular reports on my family’s journey via the Pellet Merchant Guild.
The culprit was, as expected, Chanton Sheshou.
As if determined to cause trouble, he raised objections at every turn from the moment the Lombardi people tried to enter Sheshou territory.
He was incredibly difficult, bringing up everything from the armament of the escorting soldiers and knights to aristocratic laws concerning passage.
In the end, my family, who missed their originally scheduled cruise, had to wait two full days until the next ship was ready.
I almost ended up being the only family member on the bride’s side at Lorraine’s wedding.
“I really should just take away his honey pot or something.”
He was a black bear who had nothing likable about him from head to toe.
“Honey pot?”
Oh, right.
I wasn’t alone right now.
I was waiting with Perez at the mansion entrance, as the carriage carrying my family was about to arrive.
“Ah, it’s nothing. Just a bad thought of wanting to see a crying bear. Oh, Father!”
“Tia!”
The door of the leading carriage burst open, and my teary-eyed father rushed towards me.
His skin looked less radiant than usual, suggesting he had been very anxious about not making it to the ceremony on time.
“You’re here, Dad.”
“Are you safe? Are you hurt anywhere? Sheshou’s soldiers were so brutal…”
“I will report every detail of Sheshou’s misconduct, Lord.”
“Ah, Clerivan.”
Clerivan, who had been in the same carriage as my father, approached and said in a chilling voice.
Seeing him adjust his glasses with a very tense face, he seemed thoroughly angry.
He should have just messed with me, black bear.
You’re in big trouble now.
I was clucking my tongue at the future Chanton Sheshou when the second carriage stopped.
And I saw my grandfather, opening the door himself and stepping out.
Like my father, he looked a bit tired, but somehow, he seemed much better.
He even had the will to straighten his back and look around the Luman mansion.
However, the Luman household staff were flustered and couldn’t easily approach my grandfather.
My grandfather used to be a bit scary in his younger days.
I shook my head at the sight and walked towards my grandfather.
“Grandfather.”
“Oh, Tia.”
My grandfather’s expressionless face immediately filled with a wrinkled smile upon seeing me.
“Welcome, Duke Lombardi.”
“Ahem. You didn’t have to come out, Your Majesty.”
Of course, the moment he saw Perez standing next to me, he couldn’t hide his displeasure as a grandfather whose granddaughter was being taken away.
“How could I not, when my grandfather is arriving?”
“Ha, Grandfather… Huh.”
It was a statement emphasizing that our engaged relationship was already like family.
My grandfather pressed his lips together in displeasure, then abruptly turned his head away from Perez.
And asked me.
“So, did what you set out to do go well?”
“Of course, Grandfather.”
I smiled triumphantly.
“I plan to get full compensation for all the trouble you went through today, including what that black bear caused.”
“…Really?”
My grandfather looked at me with a strange gaze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter.
“Hahaha! That big, stubborn blockhead’s face will be a sight to behold! Hahaha!”
“Oh.”
Blockhead.
He had such a fitting nickname.
I should consider changing Chanton Sheshou’s title from ‘black bear’ to ‘blockhead.’
I was watching my grandfather, who was still laughing loudly, as he entered the Luman mansion.
“Tia!”
Two voices, similar yet different, called out to me simultaneously.
At the same time, large hands swiftly turned my body around.
“Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Are you okay? Nothing happened on the way, did it?”
“You just arrived, aren’t you tired? Your stamina is still good, Giliou, Mayron?”
“Even though I’m the Vice-Commander of Lombardi… no, that’s not important.”
“Did anything happen? You could have sent a letter in between…”
The twins circled me anxiously, as if to inspect my condition from head to toe.
“I didn’t have the presence of mind for that. You must have had a hard journey, Aunt.”
I greeted Shananet, who was just getting out of the carriage with Perez’s escort.
“A long journey is indeed tiring. And…”
But Shananet’s pale eyes suddenly sharpened.
“When you have time, let’s talk about that Chanton Sheshou.”
What in the world did you do, black bear?
After Clerivan, who would bleed if provoked, you even incurred the dislike of Shananet, who rarely gets angry.
It seemed I wouldn’t even need to step in when we returned to Lombardi.
And so, all the Lombardi people safely arrived in Luman.
And there was someone who had longed for this more desperately than I did.
“Grandfather, Aunt, Uncle!”
It was Lorraine.
Lorraine, who had half-run down the stairs with quick, light steps, stood before her Lombardi family.
And for a moment, she couldn’t speak.
Her trembling lips were visible even from where I stood.
And just as Lorraine was trying to say something.
“It’s been a long time, Lorraine.”
My grandfather said that and hugged Lorraine tightly.
“Ah…”
Even a flower that bravely rooted itself in a new place misses the familiar embrace of family.
In the end, Lorraine, who was shedding big tears, was hugged tightly by my father and Shananet this time.
A bright Eastern morning with a refreshing breeze.
It was Lorraine’s wedding day.