The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 96

96. A Calm Quiet

—Somewhere in the Middle East—

The death of Guillaume I created a chaotic atmosphere in the Middle East.

Even though he ascended to the throne for ‘political’ reasons, Guillaume I’s death sent massive shockwaves, throwing the Middle Eastern political scene into turmoil.

Of course, the Vatican, the Eastern Roman Empire, and the great Western nobles were trying to manage the situation, but the noise was still loud because this issue was also related to the Angevin family.

However, even in this heavy atmosphere, there were men drinking expensive Lebanese wine and tearing into meat.

—Clang.

A man shook money.

Ducats [gold coins used as currency], received as a commission. Of course, they were gold coins from ‘Venice,’ so they had good credit value.

“Hehehehe. Ducats are good!”

“Who knew the commission would be this much! It’s so sweet that even cheap wine goes down well.”

Two men were drinking with pleasure as if a huge business had succeeded. They didn’t care what kind of commotion was happening in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

They were just indulging in drinking and getting drunk. But the eyes of the two men were still cold.

“The work sent by the clients is done safely, so now we can drink to our hearts’ content.”

“Hahaha, yes, let’s eat and drink now. It would have been even better if we had women too.”

The large man who ate the biggest piece of meat laughed. However, this cheerful atmosphere did not last.

“But still……”

“Sharing between two, isn’t that a bit much?”

And they held daggers in their hands.

From the start, a large reward could not be split in half. Only the one who survives the fight can enjoy the fruit.

Right then. Arrows flew into the place.

—Phew, phew, phew.

Perfectly accurate hits.

The two men, who had been warm until just now, became cooling lumps of flesh.

A hooded man who entered first checked the bodies and said calmly.

“Boss, they’re all definitely dead. You can come in.”

“They fought among themselves and ended up like this.”

The ‘boss’ who was called that chuckled as he looked at the bodies in the room.

The world was a mess. Blinded by greed for money, they ended up fighting. If they had settled the accounts cleanly and fled, it wouldn’t have been easy to track them down. Should I thank them for that?

There was no need to get information from those dead men anyway. The order was to eliminate them, not to torture them.

Soon after.

The ‘boss,’ who had dealt with both men, disposed of the bodies and entered a shanty house not far away.

He spoke to a man who was quietly drinking beer.

“As ordered… I killed the small fry.”

“No traces left?”

“Yes, I erased all traces.”

The man who heard the report nodded and said to the ‘boss’ who had finished reporting.

“Good work. You’re the last one.”

“I’m honored.”

The man smiled, seemingly proud to be the last one.

“Yes, you eliminated the most important tail. Your contribution is truly great.”

“Yes, then what about the reward?”

“You speak so casually now. Go to the Sea of Galilee, and they will give it to you.”

The man who realized what the code word Sea of Galilee meant appropriately paid his respects and left.

“Our cruel lord, who enjoys playing the Duchess of Ireland, would give such an order.”

During the most chaotic time in the Middle East, the ‘tails’ at the bottom of the Middle East all died. Of course, they were just tails, so there was no big concern. At least the dead were not as famous as Guillaume I.

Anyway, the man left alone in the empty shanty house chuckled and muttered.

“The Angevin family’s folk game will take place.”

Whoosh.

The wind blew past the ear of the man left alone. Other people’s folk games are always fun.

* * *

—1190, Ireland—

The eventful year of 1189 ended. Well, ever since I was reincarnated in the Middle Ages, there never seemed to be truly cozy and peaceful days.

Medieval Europe is a chaotic demon realm itself.

At least the distant East would be a history of quiet mornings. Those European friends are always causing trouble. Seriously!

“Your Highness, it is time.”

Anyway, I, standing on the podium of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, representing Ireland, made the sign of the cross and spoke to God.

“Lord, thank you for giving us a new year.”

I made the sign of the cross following me and said to those below looking at me.

“It is 1190. May 1190, which will be richer than before, enrich you!”

Anyway, a new year has arrived, and Safe Zone has become a bit older.

Of course, not physically, but mentally. Because I am a reincarnator who remembers the memories of my past life. My age is not what it seems.

‘Damn, our messed-up family has updated the latest news. Guillaume’s death, Henry II’s ugliness!’

Of course, even apart from the family, there were many things to do now that the new year had passed.

First, I invested in making children of various classes into Angevins, focusing on Sunday school [a system to teach arithmetic and Angevin culture].

I asked the Safe Knights to further refine the territorial army.

To feed the people more than before, I moved the Internal Affairs Trio to focus on agricultural and livestock production plans.

As I worked so hard, the day came when I could smell the scent of spring.

And the news that the world had been waiting for was delivered. The Knights Templar and officials of the Eastern Roman Empire from the Jerusalem Kingdom branch conducted an on-site investigation, and the conclusion was that vengeful Muslims had ‘poisoned’ him.

Of course, the Earl of Surrey, who could be called Guillaume I’s bereaved family, did not believe this nonsense that would be said by the 21st-century Ministry of National Defense.

“Whether it is true or false does not matter. Now is the time to decide what we should do.”

The Earl of Surrey cooperated with me as a kind of advisory member. He just intends to stay in Ireland.

Then, who will run the territory?

He turned his base territory into money and became a medieval alchemist. He doesn’t care about the territory anymore after his son died.

Soon after, the Earl of Surrey began to invest heavily in Ireland, bringing in various merchants, mercenaries, or former administrators.

That was good news for our territory, but those who had thoughts knew that it was not always a good thing. The reason why the Earl of Surrey is focusing so much on our territory is very simple.

He thinks that the person who designed his son’s death is either my brother Geoffrey, my brother Henry, or someone in the opposite position from Safe Zone.

‘Uncle must be thinking of creating a military base through me in Ireland, which is safer than the continent. Only for the sake of revenge.’

I, Safe Zone, could already sense it. This appearance of the Earl of Surrey is a ‘revenge’ process.

But other than that, it didn’t matter. As long as it helps me, I don’t care what kind of revenge he dreams of.

Anyway, in 1190, the Earl of Surrey, who decided to become my helper, had important stories with me in many ways today.

“First of all, the worst situation is that Henry II passes away.”

“Hmm……”

Of course, that ‘passing away’ will include not only natural death due to old age but also various kinds of passing away.

“But there will never be anyone who will harm Henry II.”

“Uncle is right. Unless my brothers and ‘enemies’ are crazy, that will never happen.”

Of course, the moment my brothers illegally take my father on a filial piety tour to the Jordan River, they will lose their justification and start a war. Would even the most reckless brothers do that?

Perhaps, if my brothers draw their swords, they will definitely confine my father. That’s the most stable and best trick.

As I was organizing my thoughts, the Earl of Surrey spoke again.

“That’s why I came to Ireland. There is more to prepare in the future.”

“Uncle is right. We must prepare……”

As expected, a person with a long career and experience feels a different force.

That’s the Earl of Surrey now.

He has decided to become my capable supporter.

It is the moment when an SSS-class supporter is born again. Isn’t it natural that the enemy of my enemy is my friend?

So, I became a nephew who always shows respect to my illegitimate uncle.

* * *

“…That’s all.”

“Good job, Peter. I’ll tell you the rest later.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After Peter left, I looked at the magnificent medieval fortress of Ireland and looked at the sky of Ireland in 1190.

It was not polluted by human-made chemicals, but it was also an era equally polluted by human-made greed.

Ireland.

It is a large if large, and small if small island, but I felt a sense of burden.

Even in the moment of living as the Safe Zone that everyone recognizes, there was something I was afraid of.

A fierce history where the result is important, not the process.

The moment I fail, my family, my vassals, even the children of the serfs I protect… will not have a good ending. So, my responsibility is heavy.

“Ha.”

I sighed. No one would hear it anyway. Except for the knights who were trying to escort me from afar, there was no one by my side.

So, I muttered in Korean.

“King John, I think I know why you failed.”

There is no original King John I know here. There is no such development as in the alternate history novels I read before, where a foolish king becomes a ghost and hovers around the protagonist.

But after experiencing the spicy version of the European royal family, the Angevin family, in many ways, and seeing the things that unfold without me knowing, I could understand.

Living in this family is hard. I even thought that the fact that King John didn’t ‘go crazy’ like Philip VI or Henry VI should be re-evaluated.

After starting the ‘Angevin Culture’ movement by creating a system called Sunday school to teach arithmetic and Angevin, I now had to increase military power to cope with the dangerous future.

But still, I have to do it.

I barely fell asleep because of the amount of work, and I had a terrible dream.

Living as a mixed-race person who is neither French nor Korean is not easy. It is also true to live as a quarter mixed-race person who is 25% Korean.

In my previous life in the 21st century, my maternal grandmother was British.

There may be discrimination, but mixed-race people with white blood are still less despised than mixed-race people of other races. Sometimes they are even treated preferentially.

But that is only possible in modern life where cultural life is possible.

The end of World War III, a time when only people as tenacious as cockroaches could barely survive. A literal ‘end of the century’ itself.

An apocalypse where it is difficult to even save one’s life.

My family was murdered in front of me because they were a mixed-race family. Even I was almost murdered.

Fortunately, my execution at that time would be a ‘public execution’ as a warning to the whites, so I was able to barely escape using that gap.

And I retaliated miserably. I let Korea know that I was not just some white guy. The problem was that I couldn’t love my enemies like Jesus, so I wanted a lot of ‘sacrifices’ to take revenge.

To make excuses, that era was a time of chaos. Of course, I became so twisted that I heard the nickname [Dictator, Charles Lee], which is a nickname that would be found in the Middle Ages.

In the end, I was abandoned by my subordinates as a price.

Well, I had already lost everything the moment my family died, so I didn’t have much regret when I died at that time. But I had many regrets. It was a human concern about why I couldn’t gain popularity.

—Roll.

The end of my previous life, the moment I was executed as a villain.

I woke up from a dream that I didn’t know whether it was a nightmare or a recollection of a longing previous life.

Fortunately, the dream was the 21st century, and the reality was the 12th century.

My wife Mary was next to me. When I looked outside, I saw the simple Irish scenery of the late 12th century.

Perhaps the safe era I lived in under the name of Safe Zone. I felt that it could not be safe.

Several words that my uncle, who came to our territory, gave me had various effects on me.

Anyway, as the youngest prince of a messed-up family, there are many things to worry about.

Perhaps the pressure that I might have to become a real Dangerous Zone, not a joke, came to me.

“Then… that really won’t do.”

A few days later.

To the knight who rushed in.

“Your Highness, this is an urgent report from Anjou.”

I heard the latest news that my two brothers, who share the same father and mother as me, are contacting my half-sister Alix, who has a different father.

Damn, it’s a reunion of separated families.