Chapter 02

What kind of magic was this?

Had the dragon’s flames and my death all been undone?

To turn back time… it was something I had never heard of, let alone seen.

But the ceiling above me and Rudy’s face were all too familiar.

Was this real, or just a fleeting dream?

Countless questions raced through my mind.

“Lord Valen, what’s wrong today? You’re saying things you never usually do.”

Rudy approached my side, her expression filled with worry.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Her voice was so familiar it felt like I might cry.

I caught my ragged breath and said, “Yeah. I think so. It was a very, very long nightmare.”

A nightmare that lasted forty years.

“I’m glad you’re awake. Shall we get you changed now?”

Rudy held out a neat shirt.

“Get undressed here?”

“Yes. You always have.”

“I have? Always?”

Come to think of it, I had.

Until I was twenty, I used to let the maids and servants see me naked without a second thought, just like the other royals and nobles.

“Are you still not fully awake?!”

At her scolding, I quickly unbuttoned my sleepwear and bared my torso.

My body was reflected in a large mirror.

It was pale, with blue veins visible here and there.

Well-defined muscles gave it a firm yet slender look, and it was clean, without a single scar.

It was truly the body of my seventeen-year-old self.

I changed into the shirt and pants Rudy handed me and looked around the room.

Everything from the walls to the carpet was as vivid as if I had stepped into a memory, but there was something strange.

“Was this always here?”

Two conspicuously large bookshelves stood in the room. They were so big they wouldn’t have looked out of place in a library.

Both were packed with books.

Naturally, they weren’t novels.

Introduction to Public Administration, Inheritance Law, Military Science, Geography, Imperial War History, Diplomacy, The Seven Classics of Theology.

They were books filled with valuable knowledge befitting their titles.

“What are all these books?”

And they were books that had absolutely nothing to do with my life.

“Are you still half-asleep? You used to read them every single day, saying it was the basic knowledge you had to have to live like a proper royal. You talked about the contents so much I’ve nearly memorized them myself.”

I frowned and scanned the bookshelves.

Every single one was an expensive book, written on parchment and bound with metal, wood, and leather.

“That can’t be right.”

There was no way I would have collected these.

In my youth, I was a scoundrel second to none in the imperial capital.

I spent my days lost in alcohol, women, gambling, and drugs, squandering my entire royal pension in the red-light district.

I fought with fellow idlers of similar station, we stole from each other, and I lived my life sneering at fate and myself.

“You also practiced your swordsmanship diligently, and you even acquired grimoires despite how I tried to stop you. You met with the other royals every day and passionately debated the future of the empire.”

“I did?”

I looked Rudy over from head to toe.

Every time I saw her emerald-green eyes, sparkling and clear, memories resurfaced sporadically.

“Yes. I did. That’s right. I did.”

I hadn’t been a scoundrel from the very beginning.

There was a time when I lived diligently.

I had cut away any lingering attachment to worldly pleasures with the mindset that I could die tomorrow, and I studied swordsmanship and the art of ruling as if I would live forever.

How did someone like that end up becoming a scoundrel?

I did too many drugs during that time, so my memory is hazy.

But I’m certain I changed from the shock of someone’s death.

“In case you’ve forgotten, you’re scheduled to meet with the other royals at nine o’clock today.”

“From nine? Rudy, what’s the date today?”

“You’ve forgotten that too? It’s April 30th.”

“The first year of her reign. April 30th.”

At that moment, a severe headache shot through my head.

A memory I had ignored for forty years, since my past life, struck my mind like a bolt of lightning.

The moment Rudy’s green eyes closed was vivid in my mind.

The audience chamber, filled with red.

The shattering wine glass.

Jeirilis, smiling on the golden throne.

I pressed my temples firmly and leaned against the wall for support.

“The Great Purge.”

“Pardon?”

“The Great Purge is in one month.”

My eyes unfocused as I muttered like a madman.

“And that’s when you die.”

“I die? What a terrifying thing to say.”

“The charge was ‘the crime of failing to properly attend to Valencianus.’”

“Well, that is a crime worthy of death. But me, fail to attend to you properly, Your Highness? I’ve been serving you since I was thirteen and you were nine.”

Rudy replied playfully, probably thinking I was making a strange joke.

“True, that’s impossible.”

I forced a weak smile and turned away.

Right. That’s impossible.

You know everything about me, from the clothes I like to the food I can’t eat.

And yet, that was the crime she died for.

“Oh, look at me. What have I been doing all this time? You must be hungry. I’ll prepare breakfast for you.”

Rudy gasped and headed for the small side door next to the room.

I reached out a hand, about to say, “Wait,” but she had already rushed out.

“…”

My head ached.

“What in the world is going on?”

Just an hour ago, I was a 57-year-old Sword Expert and the tyrant’s last loyal subject. Suddenly, I had returned to nearly forty years in the past and become a 17-year-old boy.

I wanted to sleep a little longer and think about this bizarre reality, but I couldn’t stand up Rudy, who would be bringing breakfast soon.

I grit my teeth and fought off the urge to sleep.

Just then, I heard the sound of military boots in the distance. The familiar clash of metal studs against the floor.

“Knights?”

In my past life, I often moved with knights.

Sometimes I was chased by them, and sometimes I chased alongside them.

I could tell it was them just by the sound of their footsteps.

I opened the door and looked into the hallway. At the same time, doors slammed shut here and there, from the floor below to the floor above.

Wondering what was happening, I was looking toward the stairs when someone spoke to me.

“Valencianus. Get inside, quickly. The knights are here for a surprise inspection. If you’re not careful, you could be dragged away too.”

A woman was peeking her head out from the room next to mine.

She looked maybe two or three years older than me.

Her eyes were red, unlike mine, but her brilliant white hair told me she was also a member of the imperial family.

“The knights?”

I asked again, and the woman looked frustrated.

“It’ll be a huge pain if they find anything on you. Her Majesty sees us all as thorns in her side. On the slightest pretext, we’ll be dragged to the dungeons or killed horribly.”

Jeirilis had been exceptionally cruel in the early days of her reign.

A surprise inspection. Hearing those words, another memory tried to surface.

The sound of the knights’ footsteps grew louder.

A scream came from the floor below.

“Possession of a grimoire by a member of the imperial family without permission constitutes the crime of treasonous conspiracy.”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t even know such a thing existed.”

“Your Highness. It has been over a year since Her Imperial Majesty enacted this law. It has also been nearly a year since all the children of the former emperor were gathered to live in this palace. Don’t you think claiming ignorance is a bit too shameless?”

“H-Heeik!”

“Confiscate the grimoire and take the Grand Duke to the Main Palace. Her Majesty will decide his fate.”

The knights moved from room to room.

“We have been ordered to confiscate all books by the end of April.”

“Take your hands off that! Do you know what book that is?”

“Carry out the order.”

“Aargh!”

The screams grew louder.

“There are letters exchanged with your maternal family here.”

“I was just asking how they were doing!”

“If we remove these characters, the message reads: ‘Send five of the family’s knights to get me out of the Red Halo Palace.’ Do you have anything else to say?”

“Can’t you just turn a blind eye this once?”

“Take him away.”

Finally, the knights reached my floor.

“Grand Duke Zigheim. Are you present?”

“Yes. I am Zigheim.”

A man walked out of the room next to mine.

“A maid from the Main Palace has confessed everything. You incited her to put a deadly poison in Her Imperial Majesty’s food.”

“What are you talking about!”

“Even for a royal, the penalty for treason is death.”

“I’ve been framed!”

“Feel as framed as you like. There is no need for honorifics anymore. He is a criminal who attempted to assassinate Her Imperial Majesty!”

Zigheim tried to throw a punch, but the knights were faster.

They drew their swords, pierced the tendons in his thighs, and seized him.

At last, they arrived in front of my room.

“Grand Duke Valencianus. We will be entering for a moment.”

As if I had been waiting, I calmly opened the door and faced them.

I was the man who had survived for forty years under Jeirilis.

The method for dealing with sudden changes in circumstance was etched into my very soul.

“Come in.”

Brilliant platinum full-plate armor, a helmet that completely covered the face with a short tassel, and a cloak with a white emblem embroidered over a black outer layer.

They were the Platinum Knights, guardians of the Imperial House.

Here, ‘Imperial House’ was meant to refer to the emperor and their entire family, but in the empire of today, it was a word used to mean only Jeirilis.

“Lord Valen, I’ve returned—!”

Rudy, who had come back through the side door, saw the knights and staggered, nearly dropping the tray she was holding.

I quickly supported her.

“Lord Valen.”

Her voice trembled as she called my name.

Two ‘Platinum’ knights had entered the room, and four soldiers waited outside the door.

A knight who had looked around the room spoke.

“Grand Duke Valencianus.”

“I’m listening.”

“As Her Imperial Majesty’s closest blood relative, I trust you are aware of the many conveniences we have afforded you until now.”

Had they?

“We allowed you to continue your studies, and we turned a blind eye when you met with royals who harbored seditious intentions. We even permitted you to continue practicing with the sword.”

So they had.

That certainly counted as a convenience.

“Her Imperial Majesty does not wish for the royals to accumulate any power that could be used against her. Be it knowledge, the sword, or magic.”

It was the same as my past life.

The moment I had that thought, the hazy memories began to return, little by little.

The knight pointed to the shelves and the bookshelf.

“Those books, and that sword, are items that should have been confiscated long ago.”

A single sword lay on a shelf.

“Grand Duke Valencianus, you are currently the only person in the empire who can claim the right of succession.”

After all, I was Jeirilis’s twin brother.

“I trust you know to whose grace you owe the fact that you are still alive.”

He was right.

If I were Jeirilis, I would have kept me in check too.

“From now on, Her Majesty intends to put even more pressure on her relatives. I will say no more for today. I hope you will make a wise choice.”

“…”

Perhaps taking my silence as defiance, the knight added one more thing.

“The way for the Grand Duke to help Her Imperial Majesty is not by accumulating knowledge or power, but by not becoming a nuisance and not arousing her suspicion.”

“I understand perfectly.”

Click. The door closed.

Rudy set the tray down on the desk and let out a sigh of relief. Her green eyes were brimming with tears.

“Your Highness. Are you alright? I thought you were going to be dragged away too.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Pardon?”

I staggered toward the desk.

Now I remembered a few things.

What had happened before the days I spent soaked in drugs and alcohol, living as a scoundrel.

Why I had become a scoundrel.

I opened the bottom left drawer, took out the various stationery, and ran my hand along the bottom of the drawer.

It had been decades, but I remembered this space.

There was a small hole in the wooden board.

I picked up a quill, inserted its tip into the small hole, twisted, and lifted.

A thin wooden panel flipped up, revealing a false bottom.

I heard Rudy’s surprised gasp.

“When did you make something like that?”

The secret compartment was filled with letters.

“I’ve made up my mind. How I’m going to live this life.”

[I will contact my family and prepare 3,000 soldiers.]

[I have contacted my cousin who became a mage of the Ivory Tower.]

[It seems the Marquis of the Southern Border is watching us. If we play our cards right, we might be able to get a Sword Master on our side.]

[Think about it carefully. It’s entirely possible.]

[How can a woman who was over a hundredth in the line of succession ascend the throne? This is absurd…]

[Valencianus, I hope you will choose the greater cause over blood ties.]

“Lord Valen.”

Rudy trembled as she read the titles.

I walked over to the fireplace, where embers still glowed, and emptied the drawer upside down.

The colorful papers and parchments crackled as they caught fire.

“I was insane. To think I was doing something like this. That’s why I lost you.”

The royals trapped in this palace, my half-siblings, were contacting their maternal families and preparing a rebellion.

For the sake of their claim to the line of succession, they were trying to pull me, her twin brother, into it.

And this rebellion would end in failure.

I couldn’t choose a side and ended up in an ambiguous, wishy-washy position.

I was nearly killed but survived because I was her full-blooded sibling, while Rudy was executed for the crime of not serving her master properly.

After that, I was put under surveillance.

I was forbidden from studying, from magic, from the sword.

Not that I had any desire to learn back then.

Experience is a teacher that charges a hefty tuition.

I paid the price for my indecisiveness with the death of someone precious to me.

I don’t know how long I lived as a mad scoundrel, but by the time I somehow managed to pick up a sword again, my body was already broken, and I could no longer reach a higher realm.

I recalled the events that felt like they happened just an hour ago.

The dragon from beyond the boundary, descending through the clouds.

The price for my indecisiveness was Rudy’s death, and the price for the years I spent as a scoundrel was the fall of the empire and the death of Jeirilis.

But whether by the grace of a god or the trick of a devil, I was given another life.

A chance to save Jeirilis and this empire.

I have no intention of wasting a single second of this life.

But I have to survive today to see tomorrow.

“Rudy.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Could you bring me some liquor and a glass?”

First, I have to survive the impending purge.

I must not be a nuisance to her rule, and I must not arouse suspicion.

I have to constantly send the signal that I have no interest in power.

I already knew how to do that.

Though it wasn’t my intention, I had proven my lack of ambition in my past life by acting the part of a profligate for several years.

Yes.

Let’s become a scoundrel again.