﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 3 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
“….Father?”
I could see a brown-haired man in his late twenties reading a book.
“…Fathe-, no… Dad?”
The green eyes that resembled mine looked at me.
“What’s wrong, Tia?”
As I heard the voice that I had remembered distinctly, I got goosebumps on my arms.
What, is this for real?
The smell of books and the ambiance of the library were way too clear to be considered a mere life-flashes-before-your-eyes before dying.
I tried to figure out the situation by blinking several times.
Why am I suddenly standing in the library of the mansion, when I had instead been waiting for my death due to being hit by a carriage?
Why is the bookshelf so big and why is the desk so high?
“Tia?”
When was the last time someone had called me so affectionately?
I felt like I was about to cry as I looked at the familiar green eyes.
My father was the young man that I had remembered in my memories.
“Tia, are you alright?”
I don’t know what the hell was going on, but first I need to get out of this place.
“Wait a minute. The thing is, can I go to my room?”
My father, who had tilted his head, gave me a nod while closing his eyes in relief.
“Okay, you can. Do you want me to come with you?”
“N-no! I can go alone!”
“Haha. You’re more energetic today. Then, please go but be careful.”
“Yep. Then, I’ll be right back. Stay here for a moment!”
Saying that, I started running.
As I looked around at the library while running, it seemed to have retained its old look.
It was the appearance that had been there before I became the librarian and changed it efficiently.
It’s strange! Really strange!
As I ran out of the library, a familiar yet unfamiliar hallway greeted me.
My room was too far, so I entered a random room since its door was open.
The room with a single bed and simple furniture looked like it didn’t belong to anyone.
I thought it was the guest room, but that wasn’t important right now.
It was impossible to count the number of vacant rooms in the mansion, to the point it almost seemed like a village.
“Mirror! Yes, mirror!”
Fortunately, I was able to find a full-length mirror placed in the corner of the room.
It didn’t seem that far away. But strangely enough, I had to take several steps to reach it.
And the moment I stood in front of the mirror, I could see why.
“Why am I so small?!”
My body was ridiculously small, and couldn’t even fill a third of the full-length mirror which was made to fit the height of an adult.
Looking down, I could see two small hands that looked like maple leaves, a baby belly, and a tiny pair of feet.
“How old am I now?”
I can’t ask anyone. After thinking for a moment, I hurriedly lifted the hem of the skirt that I was wearing.
“It was my eighth birthday when I had fallen and injured myself!”
There was a time when I was playing in the garden and I ended up scratching my knees severely on the rocks. The scar was so large that it was still present even when I had been 25 years old.
“There's no scar.”
The knee looked smooth without any sign of an injury.
“Then I’m not eight years old yet….”
I looked in the mirror once again, but my appearance as a child remained unchanged.
Even though I had just suffered an accident and opened my eyes, I was surprised to see no wounds on my body– but if I’m to talk about what’s more surprising, then it’s the fact that I came back to the past.
Even if I had experienced reincarnation after death, it wasn’t that easy to accept.
This is the first time I’ve ever experienced a regression.
My legs were shaking, so I sat on the bed next to me.
But being so short wasn’t that easy either.
The Lombardy mansion’s landscape was barely visible from the window due to my small height.
“I’m really back in the past.” I murmured as I watched the large evergreen trees soaring deep in the garden.
These were the trees that had been chopped off when my first uncle, Vieze had become the Head.
He had said that it was for landscaping but it was quite obvious that he just didn’t want to see the trees that my grandfather had cherished.
However, it was later found that the trees were the ones he had offered to the First Prince to celebrate the completion of the mansion.
He was named the eldest, but that man who was the so-called Head didn’t even know about the importance of those trees to the family.
“Stupid Vieze.”
I don’t know what the hell grandfather was thinking because Vieze was never suited to be a Head of the family.
But in that sense, even my younger uncle, Roulier was not qualified.
If Vieze was a man with a narrow and intolerant view, his younger brother, Roulier, was just like a loyal hound who was always moving as his brother ordered.
If anyone was capable, it was my father, Gallahan.
Although he was overly thoughtful and somewhat fragile, he was a well-educated person who wanted to go to the academy for higher education.
But my father had passed away early, so there weren’t many options left….
Wait a minute.
“My father….can he be saved?”
My father had passed away due to an illness shortly before my eleventh birthday.
At that time, there was no cure, so I couldn’t do anything about it, but just a few years later, I clearly remember the news that a doctor had discovered the cure.
“I can save my father!”
My whole body trembled with joy.
My eyes seemed to be hot, and tears dripped down my face.
I don’t have to lose my father this time.
He can be saved.
I don’t have to watch my father die a painful death at such a young age.
It was ridiculous, but I was somehow able to return to the past.
And right away, another realization came to me.
“Then, would this mean that I will be able to protect the Lombardy family?”
I jumped up from my seat and walked towards the window.
From the library, the view of Lombardy’s huge four-story main building and several buildings built around it could be seen at a glance.
I could also see the guests, servants, and other people working in the mansion.
All of this had ceased to exist.
In my memories, I could see the Imperial Knights closing the doors of the empty mansion in front of my eyes.
“First of all, I have to stop Vieze from becoming the Head.”
As the next Head, it had been his judgment to support the First Prince at that time.
Ravini Angenas, the mother of the First Prince and the current Empress of the Lambrew Empire is also the cousin of Vieze’s wife, Seral.
With this relationship, they would inevitably be inclined to support her son for the position of the next Crown Prince.
The First Prince was the first person who couldn’t afford to deal with such immense power and responsibility and Emperor Jovanes had never been a foolish monarch himself.
It was Vieze who didn’t understand his mind and ended up supporting the First Prince.
If only you hadn’t declared your support so publicly.
No, you had even tried to blackmail and harm the Second Prince!
Otherwise, Lombardy would have remained safe.
Then, I’d thought I would try and persuade Vieze, but very soon, I realized it wouldn’t work.
Had he been a man who could be persuaded easily, he wouldn’t have ruined the family like that within such a short time.
If so, it means that someone else should be the Head instead.
[ I would have passed down this family to you….. ]
I remembered how my grandfather would always say that while sighing out of habit.
“Me….shall I try it?”
I chuckled because it sounded like I was out to catch clouds. [T/N: Catching clouds means a person pursuing something that is vague or impossible to do.]
While I had been helping my grandfather and practically taking charge of the family affairs, it wasn’t just once or twice that I would have the thought that I’d rather become the Head instead of Vieze since he kept ruining all my hard-earned efforts.
Actually, no matter what I do, I’m sure I’ll be better than my uncle anyway.
“At least I wouldn’t make the same mistake against the Second Prince. Our family will then be safe. I know for sure that the Second Prince will end up becoming the Emperor anyway…..”
If so, how about I place the Second Prince in the lineup in advance?
Wouldn’t it benefit Lombardy if we got close?
Not only that. I had a memory of what would happen at least for the next 20 years.
If I could make good use of the knowledge I had, I could make the Lombardy family stronger.
I can protect my dear family with my own hands.
Indeed.
“Let’s do it.”
It was a family that would be ruined if left unchecked.
Hundreds of years of reign would tragically be destroyed just like that.
I couldn’t let that happen to Lombardy.
“I’m going to be the Head.”
Or I could have my father succeed my grandfather.
It just couldn’t be first uncle Vieze or second uncle Roulier.
“Then, for now.…”
I leaned back on the bed and organized my thoughts a little bit more.
* * *
“Lord Gallahan has received a call from the Head, so he’s gone to the office, Young Miss.”
When I returned to the library, the place where my father had been sitting was neatly arranged and this is what the librarian told me.
The old librarian whose hair had already turned grey, Brochle.
It wasn’t until Brochle had resigned from his job due to an illness that I started working in the library.
He was originally a famous professor at the academy but later started working for Lombardy.
“Library grandpa.”
If it were my original age, it would have sounded very idiotic to say that to Brochle, who was once a professor, but what should I worry? I am a child now.
“Please lend me one book.”
“What kind of book would you like?”
When I said the title of the book, Brochle looked dumbstruck.
“By any chance, is this something Lord Gallahan has asked for?”
“No. I want to read it.”
I understand why Brochle looked surprised. But I waited confidently, not avoiding his eyes that were practically staring at me.
This was the book that I had wanted to read the most before I was hit by a carriage.
However, it was so precious and expensive that in the end, I was never able to read it.
After a while, I left the library with a pretty heavy book in my arms.
“I’ll go near the office and wait while reading a book.”
I had asked someone a little while ago and found out that today was the third day of the week.
It was Grandfather’s old habit to have a brief meeting with his 3 sons and 1 daughter on the third day.
But the time would be different every time, so my father and his siblings would have to stay in the mansion all day and wait for Grandfather’s signal.
Nevertheless, no one could express their dissatisfaction against it.
Because in this Lombardy mansion, Grandfather’s power was absolute.
When I was walking by myself, I found the main building and was able to stand in the hallway in front of the office.
It was a place I had visited often when I had helped assist grandfather in his work.
From a child’s point of view, it looked somewhat different.
I wanted to take a closer look around the inside of the main building but I had to rest by the window.
The distance from the library to this place is too much considering my short stature.
Moreover, I could feel that my child's body was weak and gets tired easily.
And then, when I was about to fall asleep,
“Hey, half-blood.”
I heard the voice of some cheeky kid calling me.
Reviewed by Lnovels
on
January 01, 2021
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