I died.
It's not something that's slow and debilitating, my mind and body didn't turn against me.
Really, I should have seen it coming. How many times have I read similar stories where someone is killed by good old Truck-Kun?
I knew the second I saw Truck-Kun appear out of nowhere that I would die.
I closed my eyes and welcomed it.
There was no one left who loved me. I had just finished burying my last living parent and my ex-girlfriend had left me for the guy that was "Just a friend." so honestly it was the perfect time for me to die.
(That's not to say that I was loyal to her to begin with, but it wasn't like she ever found out just how often I was sleeping around.)
My life was pathetic.
I was glad to die.
I had a Doctorate in History and taught at the local University, but in the end I knew that my students would most likely cheer at the news their "boring" professor wouldn't be coming into class.
Why wouldn't they?
I was an ass. I made no exceptions on late work. I actually included attendance in the Syllabus, and no matter how much effort one put into my class, three papers would in the end determine whether or not someone passed my class.
I've had so many students come crying to me a day before grades were due asking if there was any way to bring up their grades in time.
(I was an ass to my male students at least. My female students could be persuasive, and it must have been luck that I never got in trouble for a few quickies in my office.)
It was all over remarkably fast.
I could have blinked and missed if it weren't for the immeasurable pain that was gone as soon as it came.
And like I had briefly hoped upon seeing Truck-kun hurtling towards me, I was reborn.
I wasn't sure if it was some fever dream or not, but I did know that I could feel the air expanding in my lungs, so I did the typical newly born baby thing and cried to let them know I was alive.
I hoped I was still a boy. I don't know what I'd do without my Little Friend to make me look forward to puberty.
(Actually, I would probably kill myself if I was reborn a girl. Lesbian women could get hot, but I didn't particularly want to be one.)
My vision was blurry as hell, and it was hard to make out anything in the dimly lot room.
Either my parents went with a home birth and the power went out, or they chose a crappy hospital with poor funding.
"It's a boy!"
Well that solved that issue.
And at least it alleviated my own fear about having to learn a new language on top of being reborn.
"What name have you picked, My Lady?"
What? A Lady? Like nobility, or something light hearted said by a friend?
"Lorcan Theodore Oliver Ashburn.", a soft voice replied.
"A strong name for our newest prince."
Prince? What family name was Ashburn anyways? Was I a child of a concubine and some British king given my mother's name? Who's kid even was I?
There's no way I was even in the same world, I had never even heard of the Ashburn family.
I was passed over to a woman, most probably my mother, and placed on her chest. My hands instinctively found her boob and my mouth suckled her nipple. She gasped softly, possibly from the different sensation.
Breast milk wasn't bad, but I assume my body could only process it so my lack of options were limited.
I had no indication of having some sort of System, but I was a Prince supposedly so maybe it all balanced out? My only regret was that I couldn't just have popped up in a body that had already gone through puberty and assimilated the memories.
"Should I fetch a wet nurse, My Lady?", that same voice from before asked.
"I have no need for her right now. Perhaps later."
I really wished I could see clearly.
The real question was what I could do as I grew older.
Would I be a Prince that everyone loved and servants clamored at the chance to have my bastard children? Or would I let the power get to my head and take any girl, willing or not, to my bed only to be later killed for doing so?
What limitations did I have in this world?
Did this world have magic?
Shit! Did this world even have plumbing? I knew nothing about modern plumbing. And electricity! I wouldn't have that either so I'd have to rely on reading by candlelight at night and hoping to remember putting it out rather than leave the potential for a fore hazard.
Maybe it wasn't going to be as easy as I thought.
Hopefully I wouldn't have some younger sibling, older sibling, or other family member out to kill me. Royalty would kill each other in various ways if it benefited them one way or the other.
I would also probably be forced into an arranged marriage, depending on my family and the availability of one, it might even be to a sister in order to keep the bloodline pure.
I have no idea what life is supposed to be like for me as I grow older.
I hoped that I at least looked handsome enough that I could drop a few panties. A harem sounded like a lot of work, but at least I wouldn't be bored with some wife who just laid there until I finished.
The power struggles between any future children would be a problem for future me if I even had them.
I hoped my kingdom had the money to support the lifestyle I wanted to live.
It's not like I could just increase taxes whenever I felt like it, historically that would just be a terrible idea and would lead to discontent and my possible loss of power or life.