﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 2 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
Skreeekkk.
With an unpleasant sound, the iron gates of the great mansion were closed by the Imperial Knights.
It was the end of Lombardy Family, which had reigned as the greatest family in the Empire for 250 years and was on par with the Imperial Family of Lambrew.
Like an ever-expanding world, the family’s symbol, the clan, which had always been strong, ended in vain with the capture of Vieze Lombardy, the Head of the household, as well as other figures under the name of tax evasion and treason.
Hundreds of citizens of Lombardy, a city named after the family, had gathered in front of the mansion.
Some constantly shed tears into their handkerchiefs, and those who turned away without even looking once.
And in the front row stood me, Firentia.
“Morons.” I said sharply while gritting my teeth, but it didn’t matter now.
I glared at the heavily guarded front gate of the family and uttered a few more words.
“Freaks, dimwits, lazy people who will remain stubborn even when struck with lightning.”
I could feel the people standing around me looking back at me in surprise, but why do I care?
The Lombardy family was now ruined.
However, no matter how much I cursed, the rage inside my heart did not subside.
“I had already told you that it’s not going to be the First Prince. I told you several times that he is just a spoiled brat and he’s never going to be the Crown Prince!”
But despite my advice, the Lombardy idiots supported the First Prince.
The First Prince, Astana Nerempe Durelli.
They said it was because he was related to the Empress, but as far as I could tell, they only picked the same kind of person as themselves.
He belonged to a ‘Royal Bloodline’ but had a fat body while drowning in luxuries and pleasure and laziness that filled up his stomach.
It was no exaggeration to say that Lombardy's brilliant history was the history of the Lambrew Empire itself.
It was the Lombardy Family that made Durelli the first Emperor of the kingdom and brought the Empire where it is today.
And that's not all.
Reaching the top, the family accumulated enormous wealth as they participated in every war, achieved bloodless victories with excellent diplomacy and supported great artists from all over the Empire. There was no place in the world where Lombardy’s name could not be reached.
And it was Rulhac Lombardy, the Head of the previous generation, who is said to have raised the Lombardy Family to a high status.
When the young Rulhac had just taken over as the Head of the family, the Imperial Family issued an Imperial edict to keep him in check.
And that’s when Rulhac came up with the scholarship system.
He had raised the number of talented people in various fields by providing generous support to both nobles and commoners.
It was no wonder where the loyalty of those who had studied under the support of the Lombardy family would lie.
They were not Lombardy, but they were Lombardy’s people.
So Rulhac, the Family Head, had succeeded in planting his people all over the Empire without even taking a single step out of Lombardy’s territory.
Eventually, the Emperor, who had no choice but to recognize the Lombardy family’s influence, had to take back the Imperial edict after twenty years.
However.
“No matter how ignorant you are. How can you ruin such a family in just two years!”
Two years ago, after the death of Rulhac Lombardy, the first son, Vieze Lombardy, was appointed to the post as the next Family Head.
And that was the beginning to the damnation of the family.
Vieze was a sleazy, passive man who only liked to say a few words, so he couldn’t lead a kingdom or his family, and so, Lombardy’s bloodline, a bunch of squanderers, became selfish causing the family to lose their strict ancestry.
It’s so obvious, I don’t even have to look at it.
The reason I knew so much about them was very simple.
I used to be a Lombardy.
To be more specific, I lived in a country called South Korea, died in a traffic accident, and reincarnated into this world.
That too, in the Lombardy family.
When I had first opened my eyes in the body of a newborn baby, I screamed instead of crying while looking at my luxurious surroundings that seemed like an illusion.
I was finally born with a golden spoon!
There was a time when I had woken up in that mansion, greeted everyone in the mornings, and gone to sleep at night while looking at the patterns carved on the ceiling.
But sadly, I was just a half-blood.
My father was the third son of my grandfather, the Head of Lombardy but my mother, who had passed away after months of giving birth to me, was a commoner and could not officially get married due to the strict laws of the family.
Born between them, I was technically illegitimate, but with my grandfather’s permission, I was lucky to be able to use the Lombardy family’s name.
But that didn’t mean that I was recognized as a part of Lombardy.
All the time, I was just a child with an unstable position using the Lombardy family’s name and not a complete member of the family.
It was all superficial but even then, I was happy only for a short while.
A few days before my eleventh birthday, my father passed away due to an incurable disease. After that, I was forgotten in the family.
I was no longer a Lombardy without my father who had linked me to the family.
Soon after, I hadn't gotten invited anymore to any family events and I lost my place.
However, I couldn’t just leave myself like that, so I started working at the age of 15.
In the beginning, I began to take care of the library in the mansion.
When my father was alive, it was the place we had spent most of our time together, and it was almost like my second home.
But when the librarian suddenly resigned due to an illness, there was a vacancy and I took over the position with much difficulty.
It was ridiculous to entrust the whole library to a fifteen-year-old child but the surname Lombardy attached to my name had proven to be very useful at that time.
Ordering and organizing books as people requested were something I loved and it wasn’t that difficult for me.
As a result of working hard while enjoying my duties, the library became more and more pleasant and I started to be recognized for the first time.
So, gradually, I started to touch on the affairs of the mansion.
By the end of my eighteenth birthday, I began to be in charge of the affairs inside and outside the Lombardy mansion.
It was quite an extreme job.
My father’s brothers were all snobbish nobles living in their little bubble, and my Lombardy cousins were scoundrels who got involved in any kind of mishaps every day.
And the year I turned 19, my grandfather fell ill and I was assigned the duty to assist him by his side.
It was only natural that no one knew the family affairs as well as I did.
Unlike my other cousins, who were born with blank heads, my grandfather was quite shocked at my ability to learn anything quickly and fulfill my responsibilities accurately.
“If only I had known a few years earlier that you were such a child!”
Like my grandfather, Rulhac Lombardy’s illness worsened, and sighing became a habit for him as he constantly thought about the future of the family.
“I would have passed down this family to you….”
Every time, he would sigh and laugh.
“Nothing would have changed, Grandpa.”
“Why do you think so?”
“I’m illegitimate. How can I become the Head with a commoner’s blood in me?”
“No, Firentia.”
The voice of my grandfather who was shaking his head was very firm.
“You are a Lombardy. As long as you have the blood of the family, you’re well qualified.”
However, he regretted it too late, and Vieze, my grandfather’s first son, was counting the days when he would become the new Head.
But the last three years that I had spent with my grandfather were not meaningless.
During that time, I was able to feel some affection for the first time after my father had passed away.
“I’m sorry, Firentia. I should have taken better care of you. And all of that even though you’re my granddaughter…I’m sorry.”
It might have been regretful for him, but it was enough for me.
The resentment I had felt towards my grandfather since he hadn’t paid much attention to me since I was a child had disappeared after that heartfelt apology.
He had done his best for the Lombardy family.
With affection, he did everything he could to make the family reach greater heights.
I stayed up all night working, and I didn’t mind taking care of the dirty work and mistakes of my cousins.
I loved being a part of the Lombardy family.
However.
“You have to get out. You know what you have to do without me telling you any further, Firentia.”
After my grandfather’s funeral, Vieze said those words while throwing a bag in front of me.
“I had been patient because of your father for a while, but I can’t just wait and watch anymore. I can’t believe I let you stay in my place for so long.”
I’ve been too patient.
Were you completely blind to all the work that I had done for the family?
For all the effort I’ve been putting in, it seems I wasn’t a Lombardy after all.
“You can strip me off of my last name of Lombardy but let me work for the family. I need to be here.”
I spoke some ridiculous words. However, Vieze only laughed at me.
“You still don’t know anything till the end. Don’t ever come near this place again!”
I was kicked out just like that.
Without receiving any rightful inheritance of property despite being a Lombardy.
And exactly two years later, that idiot completely ruined the Lombardys!
That great family!
The beautiful Lombardy family that I had dedicated my youth to!
Bang!
The glass I put down roughly made a loud noise.
The owner of the bar glared at me, but my anger had exploded and I couldn’t care less about it.
“So the Second Prince became the one to reach the top!”
It was the Second Prince that no one cared about because he was the child of a maid.
The Second Prince, Perez Brivachau Durelli.
No one had ever thought that that prince, who had been rumored to have died in the small palace, had grown up so brilliantly.
And with a tremendous amount of talent, he was the first to graduate from the Imperial Academy as both a captain and a military officer at the same time due to which he ended up grabbing the attention of his father, the Emperor!
Not only that.
The second prince even ate up the entire parliament at once by grabbing the nobles carefully recruited by the First Prince and his mother, the Empress, due to his tremendous charms.
Sigh. The Lombardys wouldn’t have gone bankrupt if only they had hung on to the right rope.
“One more drink here!”
No matter how much I drink, the rage burning inside me doesn’t seem to fade at all.
“If you have two eyes, you should have seen it coming already! No matter who looks at it, it’s obvious that the Second Prince is more likely to be the Emperor than the one who has nothing better to do than getting involved in debauchery and gambling!”
But those Lombardy fools didn’t know that.
Probably because they were laughing along with the First Prince on the gambling table.
Eventually, the second prince became the Crown Prince and soon after, the Emperor passed away.
The Lombardys, who had done all sorts of vicious things to make the First Prince the Crown Prince was hit by an extreme backlash.
“Hah…I need to go home.”
I felt dizzy because I had drunk too much alcohol.
Fortunately, the house where I lived on a monthly rent was only two blocks away from here.
As I placed the money on the counter, I staggered and walked out of the bar.
“Bastards. Brainless fools. Worthless scoundrels.”
It was when I vividly recalled the faces of my uncles and cousins that I began to curse.
Slip.
One foot of mine slipped and my body tilted to one side. I staggered, struggling not to fall.
And the place where I finally stood straight was right in front of a moving carriage.
Kwang!
Something hit me hard at the back and I could feel my body floating in the air.
I could also hear the hooves of horses trotting in the distance.
It’s kind of stupid that I had died in a car accident in my previous life, and this time it’s a carriage accident.
When I glanced down, my body that had been floating in the air steadily fell to the floor, unable to defy gravity.
Very soon, darkness fell.
Reviewed by Lnovels
on
January 01, 2021
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