Chapter 6 – Childhood (1)
Childhood (1)
Ten years have passed since Yuno’s younger brother was born. Yuno also turned 11 and was at the age where he had to learn culture and martial arts as a prince, so he left the empress’ palace, which he had loved since childhood, and began living in his own palace.
“Your Royal Highness, please look at this map. This is the place where your previous Majesty ascended to the throne and declared an empire after retaking the Zenon Plain from the wicked Tesseito Empire. The Tesseito Empire gave the vast Zenon Plain to our Balkan Empire. After taking it out, it was relegated to a kingdom and is still unable to use its power, but you never know when those evil bastards will attack again, so you must always be on guard.”
The instructor, who had been talking for a while, looked back and asked if the prince understood his explanation.
“Your Majesty! Do you understand my explanation?”
“Drurling~ Cool~ Drurling~”
Kwaang!!
“Your Majesty!!”
“Ah!! Eh? Eh? Ah? Ah,~ Baron Kimberly~ I’m sorry. I was training late last night… So I didn’t get enough sleep… I guess I dozed off for a bit. Haha,”
By all accounts, Juno was not dozing off, but rather sleeping, but Baroness Kimberly could not argue with the noble prince. Baron Kimberly, who could barely control his anger, returned to the map and asked Prince Yuno for further explanation.
“Ha~ I understand. Your Highness. Let me explain again. How much do you remember from today’s class?”
“Um, sorry. I don’t remember a thing.”
The prince’s remark that he had so shamelessly failed to attend any of his classes finally angered Baron Kimberley, who had been holding it in for a long time.
Kwaang!!!
“Your Highness Prince Yuno!! Please take the class! Your Majesty is the Third Prince of the Balkan Empire!! You must learn the bare minimum of culture to maintain your dignity. What I teach is history, etiquette, economics, geography, administration, and law. It’s the most basic!!”
Yuno shuddered at the subjects that made his head ache just by hearing them.
“Ah, that’s your major. Can’t you just teach it?”
“Your Majesty!! These are all things that His Royal Highness Crown Prince Franz and His Royal Highness Prince Heinrich took off when they were 10 years old!! If you keep doing this, God will have no choice but to report to the Empress!!”
“No~~ Shouldn’t you be told to do what you are good at? Brother Franz, of course, is going to become emperor, so you have to master it, and Brother Heinrich is also going to assist Brother Franz and become prime minister, so you should learn it well.”
“Then! Your Majesty the Prince too!!”
“I’m not particularly interested in running an empire, so wouldn’t it be okay to just learn martial arts to protect myself and have fun? If I learn things like kings for no reason, my brothers might be very concerned. Baron Kimberly! Haha,”
Only then did Baron Kimberley calm down his anger and look at Prince Juno soberly. Prince Yuno, whom he had observed until now, was an immature child who did not like to study and only enjoyed playing outside and training in martial arts, but the current Prince Yuno accurately understood his position and was careful not to be cornered by his older brothers. He was showing the appearance of an ambitious person.
“Of course, for me, training and playing with the knights is the most fun! Haha,”
‘Hmm… Did I see something wrong? No… Prince Yuno is hiding his teeth. And he’ll set his sharp claws on his brothers one day! To do that, I have to force Prince Yuno to teach him… Even if he is the third prince, he clearly has the right to succeed to the throne!! If His Highness Prince Yuno ascends to the throne, I, my teacher, will also be able to achieve success… Hehe.’
However, contrary to Baron Kimberley’s thoughts, Juno had no teeth or anything. When Yuno became an adult, his goal was to become independent of the imperial palace, receive a fiefdom, and live happily with his family with Empress Yuria, older sister Isabella, and Marie.
‘My father is now approaching 80, so it won’t be long before he passes away… 10 years at the most… Then my mother will have to choose between becoming Empress Dowager and getting involved in politics or retiring and going back to her hometown. Because of my mother’s inclination, I don’t think she would be interested in politics…’
Yuno was already thinking about the future path of himself and his family, and was concentrating on improving his physical abilities in order to prevent his unexpected assassination.
‘Anyway, if I say I’m leaving the country, my brothers will give me a suitable territory, so I can take my mother to my territory and live happily together… Even if I’m not interested in politics, if my mother stays in her position, many flies will be attracted to us. If the family leaves the country together, it will be more helpful to my brother in ruling the empire.’
Since he was born as a son, of course they couldn’t become lovers or get married, but Yuno wanted to make Yuria, the love of his past life, happy. What was most important to Yuria, to the extent that she named herself after the goddess of her family, was for her family to live happily, so Yuno wanted to give her mother that happiness. 〉
‘And honestly, studying isn’t fun… All I have to do is keep myself and my family safe…’
Even in her previous life, Yuno was far from studying, so when she was reincarnated, she could live comfortably if she did as she wanted, but Yuno had no intention of studying hard.
However, Baron Kimberley, unaware of Yuno’s thoughts, began to harass Yuno in an attempt to help Yuno’s ambitions that did not exist, and Yuno, who was struggling to avoid attending class, said that evening, when Baron Kimberly told Empress Yuria about Yuno’s love for her. He started studying properly only after the empress ran to the third prince’s womb and told him that he would take the exam himself, after reporting on his attitude in class.
“Hey, I don’t have to learn this, but Mom…”
“Useup! Yuno! Attend class properly! Mom is really going to give you a test after dinner today!”
In the end, that evening, Yuno had to be slapped on the back by her mother for the first time in her life for not studying properly.
Next day. Thanks to the Empress attending her class, Yuno was able to listen to her class without falling asleep, and it was Baron Kimberley who led her class with a smile.
“Your Highness. Do you remember the political characteristics of each country on the continent of Ephoru that I explained to you yesterday?”
“… I don’t think I can remember, but if I say I don’t remember, I feel like I’ll get hit by my mother a few times, so I have to answer that I remember.”
“Yuno!! If you keep doing this, mom will scold you again! Explain it to me.”
Yuno’s mouth was sticking out, but he had no choice but to open his mouth at his mother’s harsh command.
‘At times like this, I get the feeling that her mother might not be Yuri… Yuri was so nice… But my mother…’
However, in her mid-20s, Empress Yuria’s appearance began to resemble Yuri in her previous life, so Yuno was confused at times like this.
‘Oh, what are you doing, Yuri? You can’t even date her mother… You’re like a fucking god… I’ll get revenge no matter what!!’
“Yuno? What are you thinking without explaining?”
“Ah… Okay… Hmm, first, Tesseito is a country where all power is concentrated in the king, and the minister of administration and the minister of military affairs under the king rule the country by dividing their respective areas. And the Kingdom of Leon is our empire. I remember that it is the most similar form of state to that of having a political form in which the country is governed by establishing a cabinet with ministers in each field.”
“There were many omissions and summaries, but you explained it accurately. Then, what about the Holy Kingdom of Johannes and the Kingdom of Drogon?”
“In the Holy Kingdom of Johannes, the Pope and the Council of Cardinals basically take charge of political affairs, and when problems arise, the Saint mediates disputes.”
“What about Drogon Kingdom?”
“… Please explain one more time from there.”
“Blah blah blah. Still, I am impressed that His Highness has reviewed and memorized this much. I will explain in detail again.”
Baron Kimberly continued to explain at length about the Drogon Kingdom, the Alto Kingdom, and the Meikan Tribal Union. But to Yuno, it just sounded like a needlessly long story.
‘So, in the Drogon Kingdom, the king is appointed by the Dragon Lord who lives in the center of the Dragon’s Breath Mountains, and when the king dies, he goes again and pays tribute and asks them to nominate a king… The Mexican Tribal Union is a large tribe once every 10 years. So you’re saying that the warchief will be chosen through a meeting? And in the Kingdom of Aalto, the king and parliament rule the country, and the king is elected from among the members, right? Why does it take so long to explain that…’
Of course, Baron Kimberley’s class was an excellent class that explained in detail the history and background of their political form, but to Juno’s uninterested ears, it was only a warning.
Tap, tap, tap, tap
Baroness Kimberley, who had been concentrating on a long time while teaching class, frowned when she heard the sound of war boots coming from the hallway.
The door opened and three knights of the royal guard came in? She was surprised to see the empress and bowed.
“Mama! I hope you are well!! The Third Prince’s training session will begin soon. If it is okay, would it be okay for me to bring you along?”
Before the Empress could reply, Yuno, pleased with the knight’s words that it was time for her training, threw down the book and pen she was reading and ran out, leaving only a brief greeting to the Empress.
Empress Yuria, who smiled bitterly at her son’s appearance, apologized to her son’s general education instructor, Baron Kimberly.
“I’m sorry, Baron Kimberly. The prince is still immature at his age, so it seems like he would rather play outside. But don’t worry too much! I’ll scold him harshly this evening.”
In response to the Empress’s polite apology, Baroness Kimberly stood up from her seat and quickly bowed to the Empress.
“No, ma’am! The prince is a very capable person. He has a keen eye for judging her situation, and he is a very clever person who has been responding to his situation accordingly from a young age.”
“Well… What do you mean?”
In response to the Empress’s question, Baroness Kimberley described in detail what she had seen, and upon hearing those words, the Empress’s hands began to tremble. Then, she quickly returned to her palace, sent away all of her servants, and shed tears in secret.
‘Ah… My poor son… He’s already thinking like that when he’s still young and just wants to play… I’m sorry mom… I’m sorry…’
Unable to imagine her mother crying like that, Yuno was happily training with the knights.
