"Your Highness."
"Your Highness!"
He came to his senses.
He had clearly died from being beheaded at the guillotine.
He had felt the blade cutting through his neck just a moment ago.
'Did I come to the afterlife?'
"Your Highness Eurius!"
'Hmm?'
He recognized the voice as one he had heard many times before.
"Are you ignoring this old man now?"
"Marius, sir!"
Eurius was overjoyed to see him.
This old man, who looked stern at first glance, was Marius, his teacher who had taught him practically since he was an emperor.
But unlike Eurius's feelings, the old man's face was twisted with anger.
"Are you mocking me now?"
"Geez, you're still hot-tempered? It feels like I'm back to my childhood."
He joked with joy, but the reaction was not good.
He was a really grumpy old man, Eurius thought to himself as he tried to apologize.
"Then I'll have to tell His Majesty!"
"His Majesty? Who's that?"
Eurius stupidly asked back.
Wasn't he the emperor?
Come to think of it, they called him a prince, not an emperor.
The old man's face turned red and purple with anger, as if a volcano had erupted.
"I told you! We're done with today's lesson!"
He got up from his seat and walked out of the room with a brisk stride that did not suit his age.
'Prince? Lesson? Old man?'
Eurius looked around the room, confused.
'Very familiar.'
Eurius's gaze landed on a mirror.
'What is this?'
The reflection in the mirror was not him in his late thirties before he was executed, but a boy who looked about fifteen years old.
"Is anyone there!"
Eurius hastily called for a servant.
If his guess was right?
"What can I do for you?"
A servant came in quickly.
"What's the date today?"
The servant looked puzzled for a moment, but answered.
"No way."
He asked several times, but the answer was always the same.
Eurius bid the servant and slumped into his chair.
Today was about twenty years before he was executed.
He had regressed to his fifteen-year-old prince days.
'How did this happen...'
Eurius grabbed his head in confusion.
Was everything that happened after he ascended to the throne a dream?
No, that couldn't be.
There was no way he could have such a vivid dream.
This was definitely reality.
'Then?'
After some doubt, hope began to rise on Eurius's face.
He could undo everything he regretted in this life.
He knew most of the events that would happen in the next twenty years.
He also knew who was loyal and who would stand out among his vassals.
'Leonhart.'
He whispered the name of his half-brother who drove him out.
'It won't be easy this time.'
No, he would definitely survive.
'First of all, I have to raise my reputation.'
The biggest mistake he made in his previous life was at this point.
'I was too naive.'
The First Prince.
In other words, he had a blessed environment as the heir apparent of the royal family and could inherit this huge empire without doing anything under the strong protection of his father, the benevolent emperor.
No one thought anyone could stop him from becoming emperor.
'But it was a big mistake.'
The blessed environment he believed in was all an illusion.
No, he was brainwashed into believing so.
The local forces turned their backs one by one, and his trusted vassals left him.
He was too immature to stop them from leaving.
He belatedly realized his situation and tried to gather talents and strengthen his imperial power, but it was futile.
Less than four years after he ascended to the throne, the empire was split in half.
And a fierce civil war that lasted for ten years began.
The land was devastated and the national power fell to the bottom due to the long war.
The result was as he knew it.
'In the end, I failed and was executed by my brother's hand.'
At first, he hated his brother with all his heart.
But now that he thought about it, it was inevitable.
All the clues were already given around him, but he was blinded by the glamorous future he saw and missed the truth.
But this time it would be different.
Eurius's head was busy planning for the future as he sat in his chair.
But then an unidentified voice rang in his head.
[You have acquired the authority of a player.]
[You can open your status.]
"Status?"
…
Meanwhile…
"Your Majesty, Marius, the Minister of Administration, is here!"
The brisk steps of Marius, who did not look like an old man, stopped in front of the palace.
On the throne, an emperor with half-white hair was sitting.
He looked old enough, but his eyes were full of vitality.
His muscular body also showed a strength that did not match his age.
[Theopold II.]
He was a great commander who brought the current golden age of the empire.
He conquered the northern tribes, who had been a thorn in the empire's side for generations, and stabilized the security and livelihood of the people internally.
His strict rule did not spare even the meritorious subjects who helped him ascend to the throne.
He executed anyone who committed corruption or crime, even if they were his confidants, and the standards of reward and punishment were fair.
That's why he was nicknamed the Iron-blooded Emperor!
As his nickname suggested, the emperor's appearance on the throne was full of dignity.
Marius went straight to the front of the throne and bowed down.
"I greet Your Majesty."
And he stayed down as if he were dead.
After a while…
"Get up, Marius."
"..."
But Marius did not get up from his bow, despite his old age.
The emperor relaxed his stern expression and chuckled as he stroked his beard.
"Is it him again?"
As soon as he heard that, Marius started to tremble while still bowing down.
"I did my best to serve His Highness Eurius."
The emperor stopped stroking his beard.
"Get up, Marius. This is an imperial decree."
He emphasized the word 'imperial decree' and Marius quickly got up with a shudder.
"I have called you here to scold you. Isn't it time for you to stop that protest?"
The emperor sighed inwardly as he looked at his old servant.
'I've spoiled Eurius too much because he is my first son.'
Eurius was the only child of the first empress who had already died.
As a result, no matter how ruthless the emperor was, he had no choice but to cherish him terribly.
On top of that, he had the most powerful political position as the first prince, which made him spoiled in no time.
Before long, Eurius became so unruly that even this Marius, the best scholar in the empire, shook his head in dismay.
"How is Eurius doing? I guess he knows why you came here. And what about Leonhart's education?"
"The second prince is not under my direct supervision right now, but he is still excellent."
Mareus started his report with a bitter expression.
"He shows outstanding achievements in every subject, including imperial studies, administration, and military tactics. And according to Wilhelm, the duke who is in charge of his guardianship, he also has a much better talent for swordsmanship than the children of any prestigious martial arts family. He praised him so much that his mouth went dry."
What parent would hate hearing praise for their child?
Unlike Eurius's case, the emperor's mouth turned into a satisfied expression.
But that was only for a moment. The emperor's face became slightly worried again.
"It's a tricky problem. When the children become adults, I have to appoint one of them as the crown prince. But I don't know who to choose in this situation."
It might be wise to choose the second prince, who has more support from the nobles and more talent, rather than causing trouble over the succession issue.
But when he heard that, Marius jumped up.
"Are you saying that you will give up Eurius from the Crown Prince's position?"
It was obvious what would happen if he gave the succession to the second son when there was a legitimate eldest son with no problem in his bloodline.
Marius straightened his crooked back.
"Your Majesty, please take back your words!"
He boldly straightened his back in front of the emperor and poured out his argument.
"It has always been a seed of turmoil to give the succession to the second son when there is an eldest son. Moreover, if you raise the second prince to the throne in this situation, you will not be able to avoid the interference of the nobles."
The current emperor had weakened the power of the old nobility, the duke faction, by shedding countless blood, and replaced them with young and capable nobles who trusted the emperor.
Marius, who had been at the forefront of the emperor's reform from the beginning, had been serving as the head of the administrative office for thirty years, opposing
the noble council that represented the interests of the nobles.
He was also one of the most trusted confidants of the emperor with his bold personality and frankness even to the emperor when something was wrong.
Marius expressed his political opinion as if he had regained his youthful vigor, and finally began to talk about Eurius.
"Of course, the first prince is currently behind the second prince in terms of achievement. But!"
He had been watching their every move as their teacher since they were born.
Perhaps he knew them better than the emperor who had difficulty seeing their faces because of his busy work.
"What an emperor needs is not simply outstanding academics or military skills."
Before long, Marius's expression became calm again.
He had seen Eurius grow up from a baby and knew that he was rebellious now, but fundamentally he had a gentle and tolerant personality.
In fact, he had never heard of him mistreating or harassing maids or servants in the palace, even though he had committed some misdeeds such as skipping or sneaking out of his imperial education.
The current domestic situation of the empire was more stable than ever.
The old politician who had been running the empire with the emperor for twenty years thought that Eurius was more suitable for the next emperor in this peaceful era.
The emperor nodded repeatedly as Mareus spoke and answered.
"I feel better after hearing your words."
"I'm grateful, Your Majesty."
"But what can I do? He doesn't listen to me anyway."
The emperor sighed heavily and spoke to him in a casual tone.
"I guess there's no one else I can ask but you. This is a request not as an emperor but as a father. Please help my son."
"A request? How presumptuous of me to refuse it, Your Majesty."
Marius couldn't even lift his head at the request of the emperor, who was above all.
After soothing and sending Marius away, the emperor smiled triumphantly.
'Now Eurius will be dead.'
Marius was a good servant who could be motivated more strongly by stimulating his loyalty to the emperor and the empire than by simply giving orders.
'I've been too soft on him. They say eagles drop their young off a cliff when they grow up.'
The emperor murmured softly as he leaned back on his throne.
"My first son, please don't disappoint me and my servants."
He still had enough authority to control the nobles as long as he was upright.
But as time went by, Eurius would face a difficult situation.
'In the worst case, he might even fall into being a puppet of the nobles.'
The emperor felt that he had aged a lot lately and continued to deal with state affairs.