1 Chapter 1

『 Chapter 1 』

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Skreeekk.

The iron gates of the great mansion were closed by the hands of the Imperial knights making an unpleasant fricative sound.

It was the end of the Lombardi Family, who had reigned as one of the greatest influential family on the continent for 250 years, on par with the Imperial family of Lamburgh.

Like an ever-expanding world, the family's symbol, the house has always remained dominant soon ended in vain with the capture of Vieze Lombardi, the patriarch of the household, as well as other important figures under the name of tax evasion and treason.

Hundreds of citizens of Lombardi, a city named after the family, had gathered in front of the mansion.

There were those who constantly shed tears into their handkerchiefs and those who turned their heads away without even looking once.

And in the front row stood me, Florentia.

"Morons."

I said bluntly while gritting my teeth, but it didn't matter now. I scowled at the heavily guarded front gate of the poorly-latched family and uttered a few more words.

"Freaks, dimwits, lazy idiots who will roll around even when stuck in the fire."

I could feel the citizens standing around me looking back at me in awe, but what do you think?

The Lombardi Family is already in ruins.

Yet, no matter how many times I cursed, the rage inside my heart did not subside.

"I had already told you that it's not the First Prince. I have often told you several times that he's just a spoiled jerk who will never become the Crown Prince!"

But despite my advice, the Lombardi idiots still supported the First Prince.

The First Prince, Astana Nerempe Durelli.

They said it was because the First Prince was a descendant of the Empress, but as far as I could tell, they only choose the exact kind of person as themselves.

He belonged to a 'royal bloodline', but had a fat body while drowning in luxuries, pleasures and laziness that filled up his stomach.

It was no exaggeration to explain that Lombardi's brilliant history was the history of the Lamburgh Empire.

It was the Lombardi Family that gave rise to Durelli, the first Emperor of the Empire, and ruled the Empire where it is today.

Is that all?

Reaching the top, the family accumulated an enormous fortune, they participated in every war and achieved bloodless victories with excellent diplomacy, and supported great artists from all over the Empire.

There was no place in the world where Lombardi's name could not be reached.

And it was Lulak Lombardi, the Overlord of the previous generation who is praised for raising the Lombardi's Family to a higher level.

When the young Lulak had taken over the position as an Overlord, the Imperial Palace issued a royal edict to keep him in check.

That's when Lulak came up with an idea and presented the scholarship policy.

The administration 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 Lombardi family would lie. They were not Lombardi, but they were the Lombardi's people.

So Lulak, the Overlord, had to succeed in planting his people all over the place without even taking a single step out of the Lombardi's territory. Eventually, the Emperor, who had no choice but to recognize the Lombardi family's influence, had to take back the royal edict after twenty years.

However.

"No matter how ignorant you are, how can you ruin such an influential family in two years!"

Two years ago, after the death of Lulak Lombardi, the first son, Vieze Lombardi, was appointed to the post of the next Overlord.

And that was the beginning of the disaster.

Vieze was a sleazy, passive man who only liked to say a few words, so he couldn't lead the kingdom or his family, and so, the Lombardi's bloodline, a bunch of slanderers, 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 why I knew so much about them was quite simple.

I used to be a Lombardi.

To be more specific, I lived in a country called South Korea, died in a traffic car accident, and reincarnated into this world.

That too, in the Lombardi 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 a hallucination.

I was finally born with a golden spoon!

There was definitely a period where I had woken up in that mansion, greeted everyone in the mornings, and gone to sleep at night while looking at the fancy patterns carved on the ceiling.

Sadly, I was just a half-blood.

My father was the third and youngest son of my grandfather, the Overlord of Lombardi, but my mother, who had passed away while giving birth to me, was a commoner and could not officially get married because of 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 Lombardi family's surname.

However, that didn't mean that I was recognized as a part of the Lombardi's.

All the time, I was just a vaguely positioned child using the Lombardi family's last name and is not actually 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.

After my father passed away because of an incurable disease, I was forgotten in the family. I was no longer a part of Lombardi without a father who had linked me to the family.

Soon after, I was no more invited to any family events and I lost my place.

However, I couldn't just leave like that, so I started working at the age of fifteen. 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 because of an illness, there was a vacancy and I took over the position with much difficulty.

It was ridiculous to entrust the entire library to a fifteen-year-old child, but the surname Lombardi 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, one by one, one at a time. Slowly, 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 family affairs inside and outside the Lombardi mansion.

It was quite an extreme job.

My father's brothers were all snobbish nobles living in their own little bubble, and my Lombardi cousins were rogues who got involved in some of the other accidents every day.

And the year I turned nineteen, 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 cousins, who were born with blank heads, my grandfather was quite shocked to know about 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, Lulak Lombardi's illness worsened. 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 overlord with a commoner's blood in me?"

"No, Florentia."

The voice of my grandfather, who was shaking his head, was very firm.

"You are a Lombardi. As long as you have the blood of the family, you're well qualified."

However, it was only a late regret, and Vieze, my grandfather's first son, was counting the days when he would become the overlord.

Still, 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, Florentia. I should have taken better care of you. And all of that even though you're my granddaughter...I'm really 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 Lombardi 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 really loved being a part of the Lombardi family.

However.

"Get out. You know what you have to do without me telling you any further, Florentia."

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 any more. 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, it seems I wasn't a Lombardi after all.

"You can strip me off of my last name of Lombardi. Let me work for the family. I need to be here." I spoke some funny words.

However, Vieze only laughed.

"You still know nothing till the end. Never come near this place again!"

I was kicked out just like that.

Without receiving any rightful inheritance of property, despite being a Lombardi. And exactly two years later, that idiot completely ruined the Lombardis!

That great family!

The beautiful Lombardi 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, Pherez Brivachau Durelli.

No-one had ever thought that the second prince, who had been rumoured to have died in the small palace, had actually grown up so brilliantly.

And with a tremendous amount of talent, he was the first to graduate from the Imperial Academy as both a civil servant 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 Lombardis 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 Lombardi fools didn't know that.

Probably because they were laughing along with the First Prince at the gambling table. Eventually, the second Prince became the Crown Prince and soon after, the Emperor passed away.

The Lombardis, who had done many vicious things to make the first prince the crown prince, was hit by the extreme backlash.

"Haah...I need to go home."

I felt dizzy because I had drunk too much alcohol. Fortunately, the house where I lived on 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 in vain, my body tilted to one side and I staggered, struggling not to fall. And the place where I finally stood straight was right in front of a moving carriage.

Kwang!

Something powerful hit me hard at the back, and I could feel my body floating in the air.

I could also hear the hooves of a horse in the distance.

It's kind of foolish 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.

Soon, darkness fell.