Chapter 2

“Father?”

I could see a brown-haired man in his twenties, reading a book.

“... Father? No..... Daddy?”

His green eyes, which resembled my own, looked straight at me.

“What is it, Tia?”

The familiar voice sent chills down my arm.

Is this for real?

The scene was too vivid to be a dying vision. The textures and the smell of library books surrounding me were all too clear. I blinked several times, trying to orient myself.

I’d been anticipating my last breath after being hit by a carriage and was suspended in the air. Why am I suddenly in the Lombardi mansion library?

Why are the bookshelves so huge, and why is the desk so tall?

“Tia?”

When was the last time someone said my name so sweetly?

Those familiar green eyes looked worried and on the verge of tears. Father’s youthful appearance was just as I remembered it.

“Tia, are you alright?”

I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I knew I had to get out of there.

“Um, one second. Can I go to my room real quick?” I asked.

My father tilted his head and, looking reassured, crinkled his eyes and gave me a nod. “Sure, you do that. Would you like me to come with you?” he asked, ruffling my hair.

“Oh, it’s okay! I can go alone!”

“You’re especially spirited today. Take care.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back. Wait here one sec!” I shouted and took off running.

As I ran, I noticed that the library looked just as it had when I was young—before I took charge and organized it more efficiently.

How odd! Very odd!

My mad dash out of the library led me to hallways both familiar and foreign.

I knew that my childhood bedroom was too far away, so I opened the first door I saw and stepped inside.

The room, furnished with simple furniture, appeared to have no owner. It appeared to be a guest room, but that wasn’t important. The mansion was like a village in itself, and the Lombardis had countless empty rooms.

“A mirror! Right, the mirror!”

I found a full-length mirror in the corner of the room. It didn’t seem far away, but it took quite a few steps to reach. The moment I saw my reflection, I understood why.

“Why am I so small?!”

I barely filled one-third of a mirror built for an adult. I was ridiculously small. Looking down, I saw hands like maple leaves, a round baby belly, and tiny feet.

“How old am I?”

Who could I even ask such a question?

I lifted the hem of my dress.

“I was eight years old when I had that really bad injury!”

I remembered scraping my knee quite badly while playing in the garden, creating a scar so significant it remained even at twenty-five.

My knees were unblemished and spotlessly white.

“Nothing. No scar. Which means I must be younger than eight...”

Another glance in the mirror confirmed it. I looked like my younger self.

It was shocking enough to wake up post-accident with no injuries, but to find myself in the past? I had experienced reincarnation after death once before, but it still wasn’t easy to accept.

I’d never gone back in time before.

Feeling weak in the knees, I took a seat on the edge of a nearby bed. My smaller stature even made that more difficult.

I could see the Lombardi estate through a window that my eyeline barely reached.

“I really am back in the past,” I muttered to myself.

I looked out on the evergreen trees standing tall in the garden. My uncle Viese had cut them down when he became the head of the family. He had claimed landscaping concerns, but I believed that he simply hated the trees my grandfather had cherished.

It turned out the trees had been a gift from the first emperor to celebrate the Lombardi mansion’s completion, and they had caused quite a scandal. This made it particularly embarrassing that Viese, as head of the family and eldest son, refused to recognize their significance.

“Stupid Viese.”

I didn’t understand my grandfather’s thought process, but I knew that Viese wasn’t fit to lead the household. From that perspective, my younger uncle, Laurels, wasn’t qualified either.

Viese was narrow-minded and biased, and his brother Laurels was nothing more than a loyal hound who did whatever his older brother told him to do.

My father, Gallahan, was the only Lombardi who showed any promise.

He may have been frail and a bit of an overthinker, but the academy envied his intelligence. He’d passed away so early that Grandfather had never had a choice...

Wait.

“Can I... save father?”

My father succumbed to an illness just before my eleventh birthday. At the time, there had been no cure, and there was nothing we could do to help him. However, just a few years later, I remembered hearing that physicians had come up with a cure.

“I can save him!”

I trembled with joy and shed a single tear.

I don’t have to lose Father. I can save him.

I won’t have to watch him suffer and fade away at such a young age.

It seemed unbelievable but, having returned to the past, I could do it. Then another realization hit me.

“Does that mean I can save the Lombardis too?”

I jumped up and walked to the window. From the library, I could see the Lombardis four-story main building and the few surrounding buildings. I could also see visiting guests, servants, and employees who worked for the Lombardis.

Those buildings had once been ravaged. The empty, abandoned mansion locked up by imperial soldiers flashed before my eyes.

“First, I have to prevent Viese from becoming the head of the family.”

Supporting the emperor’s first-born prince, Astana Nerempe Durelli, had been Viese’s decision as head of the Lombardi family. The first-born prince’s mother, Queen Lavinia Angenas, was a cousin of Viese’s wife, Selal.

In any other situation, the family bias would be understandable, but not when the position of Crown Prince was at stake. The first-born prince wasn’t capable of dealing with tremendous power and responsibility, and his father, Emperor Yovanes, was no fool.

Viese had failed to understand these dynamics and had supported Astana Durelli.

If only he hadn’t declared his support publicly.

Or even if he hadn’t threatened and sabotaged the second-born prince, Perez Brivachau Durelli! The Lombardis may have even come out safe then.

The thought of persuading Viese crossed my mind, but I knew it would be futile. If he were the type to be persuaded, the disaster wouldn’t have happened in the first place. Someone else would need to be the head of the family.

“I would have handed you this family.....”

I recalled the words my grandfather had habitually repeated.

“Should I... try?”

I let out a small chuckle, but it wasn’t a completely far-fetched idea. While helping my grandfather and handling family affairs, I had often thought that I could do a better job than Viese, who had regularly undermined my efforts.

Frankly, I would have done a better job.

“At the very least, I wouldn’t have made the same mistakes with the second-born prince, and our family would have been safe. After all, it was always clear that Perez would become the Crown Prince...”

What if I start aligning with the second-born prince now?

If I became close with him, would it not eventually benefit the Lombardis?

That wasn’t all.

I knew what would happen over the next twenty years. If I used that knowledge, I could make the family more prosperous. I could protect my family with my own hands.

“Let’s give it a shot.”

If I left things as they were, the family would surely be ruined. A hundred years of power would be extinguished in a moment.

I couldn’t stand by and watch it happen.

“I will become the head of this family.”

Even if I could make my father the next head of the Lombardi family, that would be fine. As long as it wasn’t Viese or Laurels.

“So, first of all...”

I sat back on the bed to gather my thoughts.

***

When I returned to the library, I noticed that my father’s seat had been tidied up.

“Sir Gallahan was summoned by the head of the family and has gone to his office, miss,” the librarian said. Brochel was an elderly man with plenty of white hair.

In my former life, I had started working in the library because illness had forced Brochel to resign. He had been a renowned professor at the academy, but after stepping down from education, he had joined our family.

“Mr. Librarian.”

Some may have considered this form of address rude, considering he had been a professor, but, oh well, I was just a child.

“May I borrow a book?”

“Which book would you like to read?”

When I mentioned the book’s name, Brochel looked very confused.

“Did Sir Gallahan request this?”

“No, I just want to read it.”

I could understand his surprise. However, I waited confidently without averting my gaze.

I had wanted to read this particular book just before I was hit by the carriage. However, it was so rare and expensive that I’d never gotten the chance.

Shortly thereafter, I left the library with the heavy book tucked underneath my arm.

“I’ll go to Grandfather’s office and read this book while I wait.”

I had found out that it was a Wednesday. My grandfather had a long-standing habit of gathering his three sons and one daughter for a brief meeting every Wednesday.

However, the time of day had always varied, meaning my father and his siblings would have to wait all day for his call.

Despite the inconvenience, no one ever complained. In the Lombardi household, Grandfather’s authority was absolute.

I walked alone to the main building and headed inside to the hallway in front of Grandfather’s office. In my previous life, when I had helped my ailing grandfather, I had frequented the room as if it were my own.

It now looked different through a child’s eyes.

I wanted to explore more of the main building, but I needed to lean against the window and rest first. The distance from the library to the office felt much longer with such short legs.

And perhaps because of my child’s body, I could feel myself becoming tired more quickly.

I began to consider the need for a nap.

Then I heard the voice of a rude child.

“Hey, half-breed.”