﹡ ⊹ ⊰ Chapter 235 ⊱ ⊹ ﹡
"Uh...." Feeling troubled, a vague sound came out of Crenny's mouth.
His feet were as if rooted to the ground and his big round eyes locked at an angry Perez approaching us.
Even though Crenny's life wasn't in danger, it would be difficult for him to endure all that glaring and threatening aura coming from Perez.
"Haa.." I sighed softly while pulling Crenny slightly behind me.
Then I raised my hand towards Perez and said, "Perez, stop."
At my words, Perez stopped in his tracks a few steps away from me. However, his gaze continued to glare at my hand holding Crenny's.
"Woo...sister..." From behind my back, Crenny called me in a frightened voice.
"Oh, God."
One of them is a guy who skipped two years at the Academy while serving as a student council member this year and the other one is a guy who skipped one year being the first place of the Academy and a student council president.
I can't believe this is happening.
I let go of Crenny's hand and instead pointed to Crenny's face and asked Perez a question.
"Don't you think you've seen this face before?"
As if Crenny's existence itself was unpleasant, Perez's red eyes have darkened as he turned to stare at Crenny.
"Hic!"
Ah! You're doing all sorts of things again!
Crenny was eventually frightened and started to hiccup.
"Think carefully, Perez. Didn't you see him once when he was young and when he was this big?"
Perez's thick eyebrows creased while he thought about it for a while.
"Oh."
Perez briefly recognized him and opened his mouth.
"...Cre...Crenny?"
He found out fast.
Seeing him hesitating while calling his name, it was clear that he was not sure.
"Oh, I haven't seen you in a long time, Your Highness."
"You've changed so much that I didn't recognize you." Perez muttered, with a bit of making excuses uncharacteristically. Then he looked at me and said.
"I'm telling you, I didn't recognize him."
"Yes, of course. Because you are not interested in the people around you."
"No, I'm interested in Tia."
"....Wha—what are you talking about?"
As I was flustered at Perez, Crenny smiled broadly and blurted out.
"You two look great together standing side by side like this!"
"What?"
Looking at his bright face, it seemed Crenny really meant what he said.
It didn't seem to be in consideration that Perez and I were engaged and that the whole Empire know, but we temporarily broke up our engagement after I became the successor of the household.
"One is the heir to the throne and the other is the successor to the Lombardy family. It's like looking at two different worlds!"
Crenny continued to speak in a bright tone.
"But you look so great together!"
"Rumor has it that you didn't miss getting first place in the Academy. You must be very smart." Perez nodded as he taps Crenny on the shoulder.
"....Don't talk nonsense. Let's go now and head out to Angenas, Perez."
These days, Perez was taking me every morning to work in Angenas' mansion.
I've repeatedly refused to went straight home to Lombardy from the palace and headed for the Angenas mansion in Imperial City.
I couldn't win over the stubbornness of those guys from Lombardy once they start unless I started to move first.
"You are going to Angenas, Sister?" Crenny said and opened the carriage door for me.
"Because I have to take what I need."
"Don't push yourself too much."
"Too much?"
It was common to say these things, but it sounded a little different this time.
"There are so many families involved with Angenas. If you want to take into account all of their interests, you will be very tired."
"....You even thought about it, huh."
I thought he was only tall, but Crenny had grown more mature as well.
"Hehe. I meet so many people from different families at the Academy. Some people want to get the money they lent to Angenas, and some want to bury the fact that they are acquainted with them even if they lose their money."
It was as Crenny said.
As soon as rumors spread that the Empress was imprisoned in a dungeon and that I was in charge of cleaning up the Angenas, I received dozens of letters.
There were also several personal requests and pleas for help.
In fact, it was more difficult to organize the immense inbound of letters from such families than to dispose of Angenas properties.
But Crenny sees right through it.
"Let's talk more over dinner tonight, Crenny."
"Yes, Sister! Have a safe trip!" Crenny stepped back with a smile.
Although he was a lot taller, his smile when he was young still remains.
My gaze on Crenny stayed longer until the carriage departed.
***
"Father." Shannanet called Rulhac.
Standing by the window, Rulhac was watching the carriage his Granddaughter rode as it set off for the Imperial City before turning around at his daughter's call.
"Why did His Majesty ask Tia to clean up Angenas?"
Shannanet, who especially cares about her nephew, is particularly concerned about Jovanes' intentions.
"He's been wary of Lombardy's power all his life, yet this time, he's given such responsibility to the new Lombardy successor."
Responsibility was bound to be accompanied by power.
For the noble families who had something to receive from Angenas, Tia has become a being with absolute power.
"It's probably because of the Second Prince." Rulhac answered calmly.
"With Tia as a Lombardy along with her cleaning up the Imperial mess, it means they have to stop thinking about Tia's origins. Jovanes did the right thing for the first time in his whole life."
"Do you have to go along with it, Father?"
"I can't help it. Although I'm worried that Tia might be getting hurt. Still, she needed rapport to sort out bigger things." Rulhac spoke bitterly yet resolute.
But Shannanet shook her head.
"I don't agree with Father this time."
"How come?"
"I've been thinking that it would be nice that Tia has everything."
Shannanet's smiling face was somewhat lonesome.
"With a life in which she can live as the Head of Lombardy and also live with all of her loved ones."
Shannanet was happy with her present life.
As she worked for the family, she was rewarded day by day.
The empty space next to her didn't bother her that much.
In the past, she had chosen love over her family, and now she only chooses her family.
But Tia is not like that.
"His Highness and Tia are deeply in love with each other as her grandfather knows."
"How can we not know unless we're blind?"
His granddaughter seemed to be trying so hard to hide it. But her eyes never sparkled more than when she saw him.
So, he felt proud and sorry for his granddaughter who chose to live as the Head of Lombardy rather than for her love for someone.
"Tia is thinking of cutting off her relationship with His Highness the Second Prince and only living for her family. That's what she is." Shannanet said to Rulhac, who nodded with his mouth shut.
"But, is that really the path that Father, who has lived his whole life for the family, wants Tia to walk?"
Rulhac could not answer easily.
Living at the expense of everything for his family, the things that were lost in the wind were too important in a person's life.
Rulhac didn't spend time with his little ones and wasn't a very good father.
He wasn't a good husband who could take care of his wife as she was getting weak.
It was all because of Lombardy.
It was because Rulhac himself put the family's honor first before anything else.
'If I could live once again, I wouldn't live like that.'
It was a choice that Rulhac had regretted repeatedly while laying on his bed at night.
A life to live again.
It was a futile imagination, but if he could, he would be a little more greedy.
Greed to take everything without making a choice.
Rulhac nodded slowly once again.
"Yes, you're right, Shannanet." He said, looking at the carriage after it passed Lombardy's front gates, which were slowly closing.
"I was taking Tia's sacrifice for granted without knowing."
There must be a love somewhere out there that does not end even after a lifetime.
Rulhac himself regrets a life that he blindly spends solely for the bloodline.
Nevertheless, he was hoping that his granddaughter would only understand Lombardy with a heart.
***
"How's it going, Clerivan?"
Wearing his glasses again after a long time, Clerivan smiled at me.
"I'll be able to find and get the money back." Clerivan said competently, and from the first day, he had been turning Angenas' mansion upside down.
"The work itself is going smoothly. However, I'm worried that Angenas' debt is larger than I thought."
"Is it that bad?"
"If you look here..." Clerivan said as he held out some papers to me.
"Did you discover all of these today?"
"Are they mushrooms? Why do they keep coming out of nowhere..." I looked at the newly discovered IOUs. It was a sight to see.
(T/N: IOU or I Owe You is a written acknowledgment of debt that one person owes to another.)
They seemed to have borrowed money from their own vassal, but the due date for the payment is not fixed and there is no interest rate.
In addition, there is a clause that says, 'Angenas shall not be held liable if the debt cannot be repaid under unavoidable circumstances.'
It was an amount that would be a tremendous burden to their vassal family. Moreover, it was as plain as day that this was almost to the level of extortion.
While I was looking at the document, Clerivan spoke.
"If you please, would you give me your time in a few days?"
"Time? If you have anything to say, you can say it now, Clerivan."
At my words, Clerivan waved his hands.
"No, it's not urgent, so I'll tell you again when you don't have much work to do."
I got quite curious.
It was because Clerivan's face while talking to me seemed tense.
This world's Clerivan Pellet is nervous?
"It's not a bad thing, is it?"
"Such a thing is...no, it's not."
Clerivan looked like he wasn't ready yet.
Sometimes some things take time to put out into words.
"It's fine."'
So, I nodded and put the matters of the IOUs back in my head.
However, not before long, Clerivan suddenly approached me and said, "There seems to be a new problem, Lady Firentia."
***
"Even if I dispose of all of Angenas' properties, is it not enough to pay off all of their debts?"
Sitting in his office, Perez raised one eyebrow at the official's report.
"Yes, Your Highness. Even if we seize all of their tangible properties, real estates, and accounts...."
"What about the properties of the vassal lords?"
The official winced at Perez's question.
Strictly speaking, it was right to confiscate and dispose of all the properties of the families who were in the same boat with Angenas.
Then, it was clear that the opposition from the nobilities would increase.
"Your Highness, it's...."
Perez frowned as the official hesitated without answering.
"What does Lombardy think about this issue?"
"I haven't spoken to them yet. Anyway, the Pellet Company is also one of the creditors, Your Highness." The official said while looking into Perez's eyes as he sneaked a hint.
"If Lombardy finds out and asks us to raise the priorities of Pellet..."
Money was scarce and many will want to get it back. Therefore, he asked in case the priorities would naturally be set according to the power of the family.
"...Let us do what the Deputy Head of Lombardy asks us to do."
Coincidentally, it was when the official nodded and tried to answer that the door burst open.
"Your Highness, may I speak with you for a moment?"
With an irritated face, Tia entered the office.
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March 05, 2022
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