Chapter 237

"Huuk! Cough!"

Viege, who was drinking water, coughed until his face turned red.

Rulac waited silently, saying no more until Viege's disturbance was over.

"Get out of the mansion?!"

Viege yelled at Rulac.

"Where am I supposed to go when I leave the mansion?!"

"Well, that's up to you to decide."

Even with the rage of Viege, Rulac did not respond hastily.

From beginning to end, he responded in a dry voice.

It was a thoroughly perfunctory attitude.

Viege was quite unfamiliar with this appearance of his father.

He was also scared.

Those brown eyes always looked at them unpleasantly.

However, even in those strict eyes, something like his father's compassion or affection has always existed.

But now, Rulac was looking at him as if he were dealing with a perfect stranger.

"I've already told Lorels. He said he would go to Ginefolk Street, his wife's house."

(A/N: Lorels is Astalieu and Crenny's father.)

"But father..."

Viege walked up, jiggling up and down on the edge of the chair.

He was thinking of trying to take matters in his own hand.

"I don't even have a wife anymore! And then Angenas was..."

Viege spoke with a face and voice that had always touched his father's weak side.

Surely, you're not going to throw away your eldest son, right?

"How are Serral and Bellesac doing?" Rulac asked.

"Yes? Oh, those two..."

Viege couldn't answer easily.

It was natural.

He was told that Bellesac was released, but he had never seen his face ever since.

The same was true of Serral.

One day, he came back from drinking, and found that all of his wife's valuables had disappeared from the villa.

"....Pathetic guy."

Rulac said as he clicked his tongue.

"You don't know what's going on with your wife and children....Still, you should have thought of taking care of your family."

"Do you have any idea where Serral and Bellesac are?"

"You don't deserve to know."

Lulac said and clicked his tongue once again.

"I won't say much, Viege. I'm thinking of handing over the Lombardi to Tia sooner or later. So you go out before then. This is the last thing you can do for Lombardi's future."

"Tia! Tia! Father only knows a girl who has no roots!"

Viege leapt to his feet and screamed loudly.

"That girl will lead this family? You gave her everything! Ha! The whole Empire will laugh! You handed over the family to a granddaughter who was born on a wanderer's boat! Have you gone senile!?"

Viege spat and drew blood around his neck.

"It's all a lie that Pellet is hers! She's been greedy and wicked since she was a child, so you don't know what she might have done!"

His body, soaked in liquor, couldn't scream for long.

"Haah..hah.haa.."

Viege, who had roughly wiped the area around his mouth with a dirty beard using his sleeves, said, pointing a finger at his father.

"You are ruining this family now with your own hands! This great family! You are running Lombardi!"

"Do you really think so?"

Rulac asked quietly.

"What do you think would have changed if you sat there, Viege?"

"That's..."

Viege tried to say it was obvious.

But he was suffocated.

He didn't know why.

However, no matter how hard he tried, the words 'I would have done better' did not come out.

Rulac sighed sadly as he watched Viege, whose mouth was puffing like a goldfish.

Then he pulled out a letter in the drawer of the table and handed it to Viege.

"Bellesac's handwriting..."

With his trembling hands, Viege opened the letter.

It contained the current situation of Bellesac and Serral, which he conveyed calmly in finer writing than his own memory.

"Tia took care of Bellesac to the end." Rulac said to Viege.

"The Empress tried to use a man to kill Bellesac and disguise his death as suicide."

"....what...suicide?"

"It must have been intended to make Bellesac a scapegoat for Astana. But Bellesac was able to get away with it thanks to Tia."

"Then..."

"That was the first thing she did after she became the successor to the household. Not only that, but Serral and Bellesac also found a house to live in peace."

Rulac pointed to the letter in Viege's hand.

"It's a letter from Bellesac to thank her for that."

Viege finished reading Bellesac's letter with shaky eyes.

Although it was a low-quality letter paper that was incomparable to the one they used in the Lombardi mansion.

A few lines of writing were enough to tell that Bellesac's life was much more stable than before.

[...I'm sorry and grateful. Please make sure to deliver my apology to Florentia, no, the Deputy Patriarch of Lombardi.

I hope from a distance that only peace will be in the road ahead of Lombardi....]

Bellesac was sincerely apologizing.

"Tia has done a better job than anyone else."

To embrace and protect the family members, leaving her personal feelings aside.

That was the most important duty of the Patriarch.

"So, Viege, I'll answer for you. You wouldn't have made a good householder. And Lombardi will become even greater under the leadership of Tia."

Rulac's words contained unwavering conviction.

Viege had a troubled face, his head bowed.

And he sobbed.

"I was not good enough...I was lacking..."

Viege was truly repenting.

But it was too late.

"When the next head is chosen, those who compete with them can choose. Either to leave the family, or work for the family with the head's permission."

Rulac's brothers also left the family, and half remained.

It is an inevitable process.

"But now you don't have a choice. It's a punishment for the stupid things you've done."

Rulac quietly continued his sentence against Viege.

"People don't change. The idea that the little enlightenment now will make you a different person is just a foolish hope. So go away, it's raining."

At this moment, Rulac only thought of Tia to succeed him.

He made a choice for his granddaughter to inherit the family.

"Before Tia takes over the house, pack your luggage and leave the mansion. You don't have to say anything anymore."

Viege looked at Rulac for a moment in vain.

Now he realized that he had nothing left.

No house, no family.

It was an unforgettable fact even if he drank all the alcohol in the world.

Viege quietly laid down Bellesac's letter in front of Rulac.

And finally, he bowed to his father and walked away.

He was about to walk out of the main office with a weak step.

"Viege." Siad Rulac.

"Don't drink too much alcohol. Take care of your health."

It was the last request a father could make to his son.

****

(Florentia's POV)

Me and Crenny had dinner together as promised.

Gillieu and Mairon, who were on holidays, also came after hearing the news and we gathered together for the first time in a long time.

"Is Perez still that popular in the Academy?"

"Of course! The Second Prince is a legend! A legend!"

Even in the academy, Crenny's fan spirit was still there.

He completely forgot that Perez couldn't recognize him and shows a terrifying atmosphere.

"The Second Prince remembers my name!"

So it's like this.

Yes, yes. Isn't it a fan's heart to be happy just by receiving attention?

While stroking Crenny's head like I did when I was a kid, I said.

"I should've been to the academy. It sounds fun."

"If my sister went to the academy...it sounds great."

Crenny covered his mouth and muttered what he had imagined.

Mairon fills a glass of red wine in front of Crenny and says.

"Then it would have been nice for us to follow. Isn't that right, Gillieu?"

However, the amount he kept pouring was quite large.

Crenny is only coming of age this year, and has a very weak tolerance on alcohol.

Look at his face turning red.

I said, pulling Crenny's glass back.

"Mairon, if Crenny gets drunk, you have to give him a piggyback ride."

Mairon took the glass he had poured for Crenny and put less than half of that amount in front of Crenny with a new glass.

"Hehe."

Crenny smiled, took the glass, and drank the wine.

Then I asked the twins.

"So, you two will continue to be in the Knights of Lombardi?"

"Us? Well, I guess so."

"I don't know about Mairon, but my goal is to be a commander of the Knights of Lombardi."

"What? You're weaker than me."

Gillieu and Mairon began to argue again.

However, Crenny's face looking at the two is strange.

He looked envious, and he also seemed sad.

"What's wrong, Crenny?"

"Yeah? Ah..."

Crenny replied after sipping the wine again.

"I just wish I could stay like this forever. That would be a little difficult, right? I want to see sister Larane as well."

Crenny smiled bitterly.

I had a rough idea of what was going on.

"I guess grandfather had a conversation with your father."

"Uh, how did you know..."

Crenny opened his eyes wide, apparently surprised.

And soon he said in a somber voice.

"My parents are thinking of taking me and my brother to Ginefolk street."

I nodded.

At least he has a wife to go back to.

It's not such a bad situation for Lorels.

Crenny gulps down a wine again.

"I still want my sister to come to my graduation ceremony...Heup!"

"If you drink alcohol, try to eat this."

I pushed a cheese cracker into Crenny's mouth, smiling with a bitter face that didn't match.

"Oh, thank you."

"So, what do you want to say, Crenny?"

I rested my chin with one hand while looking at Crenny.

"I'll listen to you, so say it."

"Sister..."

Crenny hesitated.

However, the hesitation was not long.

Soon, he looked straight at me and opened his mouth.

"When I was young, why did my sister make me read a lot of books? I didn't know why. I just read it because I like being in the library with my sister."

Once he started talking, there is no stuttering.

Yeah, that's my younger cousin who was educated early by me.

"But when I studied at the academy, I realized it. The things my sister taught me were helpful for my future."

The voice that seemed a little shaky at first also gradually stabilized.

"And the more I studied, the more I thought it wouldn't work. Because my studies had no purpose. So I thought about it. Where do I want to spend my knowledge?"

"So what answer did you find?"

"I want to work for Lombardi, sister."

Crenny's red face turned even redder.

However, his bright eyes didn't shake at all.

"I want to help my sister who is going to be the Patriarch of Lombardi. Please allow me, Sister."

I looked at Crenny for a while and then slowly nodded.

"So be it."

"I...really?"

"Why do you think I educated you early, Crenny?"

Just like my grandfather needed me in my previous life.

I also need someone I can trust and leave my work too.

That's why I thought it would be nice if Crenny, the brightest of my cousins, could fill the spot.

"Instead, you shouldn't miss the top position until you graduate. It means, do not neglect your studies."

"Yes! I can do it well!"

Crenny replied loudly.

"Good! It's a good day, so let's drink!"

"I'm opening one more bottle!"

As if the twins had waited, they pulled out two new bottles of vintage wine and said.

"What should I drink first?"

"I don't know anything!"

"Wait."

The twins, hoping to pour wine in their right hand, happily stopped at my words.

I peek at the bottle.

"Not that one, that one."

They don't know anything.

"That's more delicious. Open it quickly."

"Okay!"

As the twins opened the new bottle, I told Crenny, recalling the letter that arrived this morning.

"We will be able to meet Larane soon."

Then Crenny smiled shyly and nodded.

And do you know what I mean when I say, that smiley face was the last memory of that night?

****

At the same time.

Perez was walking down the stairs to the dungeon.

The sound of heavy shoes rant out the humid, cold air.

"Oh, you're here, Your Highness!"

"What about the sinner?"

"It's over there!"

A soldier who was guarding the door of the prison answered with a tight voice and walked ahead.

Shortly after walking, Perez stood in front of a cage.

And he said to the person sitting with it's back upright in a shabby chair.

"Are you having a peaceful night, Empress?"

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A/N: Goodbye, Viege. I was glad that you were banished, like what Tia experienced in her previous life. And now we will see how Perez will roast Lavigne...