The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 100

100. The Enemy Is in Aquitaine

—Saint Patrick’s Prayer Room—

Mary and Eleanor continued their story in a special place.

It was Saint Patrick’s prayer room. Saint Patrick preached the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Irish, who were then considered barbarians, and was eventually revered as a saint for his sincere love for the Irish.

During Saint Patrick’s life, he embraced poverty, so his prayer room was initially very small.

But as the Irish people’s respect for him grew, it expanded to a more magnificent scale.

John, who fancied himself Saint Patrick’s political successor—a benevolent Englishman to the Irish commoners—did not use this prayer room.

Now, it had become Eleanor’s private space.

‘Then this mother will use it.’

‘Please do. It’s the perfect place to plot.’

That was the agreement between the mother and daughter.

“Mother, you look so young. If people saw you, they would think you were my older sister.”

“You are a beautiful and youthful beauty yourself.”

“Oh, do I just have a face that suits my age? I’m just envious of your youthful beauty, Mother.”

“You threw your conscience into the Golden Horn [a major waterway in Istanbul].”

Safe Merida, who shamelessly concealed her status and age. Her conscience had already been thrown into the Jordan River.

Eleanor, a heroine of the old era, and Mary, a heroine of the new era.

If they were any other mother-in-law and daughter-in-law, this situation would never have arisen. But were these two an ordinary mother-in-law and daughter-in-law?

Eleanor, who had been praising her daughter-in-law until just now, raised the corners of her lips and said.

“The news from the Middle East, the news from the Holy Roman Empire… Just hearing the stories, it seems like our daughter-in-law is a real mastermind?”

“Mother, I don’t think there is such a thing as a mastermind. Isn’t this world ultimately a place where various interests intersect? I am also vulnerable to someone who has no causal relationship with me.”

Mary thought. *There is no complete mastermind in this world, and it is a big mistake for people who know her true identity to think of her as a mastermind.*

“So… why did you call me, Mother?”

“I’m not particularly interested in my sons’ fight; I just want to make a deal with you.”

“A deal?”

“Don’t we have so much to give and take?”

Mary raised the corners of her lips and said to her mother-in-law, who was speaking in a very affectionate voice.

“You’re not asking for a favor; you’re requesting a deal.”

With those words, Queen Eleanor clapped her hands.

‘Clap!’

Rosamund, Peter’s biological mother and now Queen Eleanor’s lady-in-waiting, brought a precious paper document and presented it to Mary in a polite manner.

Then, Mary, after reading it, said to her mother-in-law with an admiring face.

“Amazing. I thought you were just spending your remaining years in peace. I didn’t know you had this hobby.”

“Of course. I need to do some work, too, don’t I?”

“A side job?”

Then Queen Eleanor gave her daughter-in-law a very pitiful look and said.

“I got permission from Count Sulzbach. Now all that’s left is for my beloved daughter-in-law to decide. If you want to support our John with ‘funds,’ this old mother’s pockets need to grow, right?”

Then Mary said very calmly.

“Only this once.”

* * *

—County of Flanders—

The Angevin family’s fight is no longer just a matter for the Angevin family.

The conscienceless Angevins call it a ‘fair family fight.’ But aren’t the shrimp’s backs breaking under the whale’s pressure? As the Angevin royal family slowly starts to move, the people nearby are suffering a lot.

Even Philip II, the cunning king of France, is shouting, ‘Oh, please… you crazy bastards, I haven’t finished organizing internally yet!’

They’ve already started with territorial warfare. This time, they’re pretending to be pirates and directly attacking Prince John’s fleet.

Anyway, this damn bean family. It seemed to many people that all the most heinous eggs were hatching in the Angevin family.

“Sigh, what do we do now?”

Like the nobleman who is sighing now.

It was already hard enough to be aware of the Holy Roman Empire, France, and England. Then suddenly Spain appeared.

Now, the Angevin family’s civil war is slowly appearing before their eyes.

[I am the Duke of Aquitaine!]

[The throne has not yet been decided!]

Already four princes have started moving their troops. Suddenly, the neutral lords who were quietly nearby are in fear that their territory may become a battlefield.

The Count of Flanders had many worries. His territory has always been related to the turmoil in France because it was next to France.

But now, he’s going crazy because of the flamboyant family fight of the English friends who have taken over the west of France.

It’s just like the insane family fight of the English a long time ago, the ‘Great Rebellion’ [English Civil War].

It would be good if the French kingdom, like Flanders, could maintain its center, but the damned Philip II is just watching.

“Prince Richard and Prince Henry… are both telling me to take sides.”

At the Count of Flanders’ words, who had many worries, several nobles had troubled expressions. It was because their power was weak.

Prince John is ridiculed as a small France, but at least the Kingdom of France has the power to maintain ‘neutrality.’

However, the nobles of the Low Countries (including northern France and parts of Germany), who are said to be weaker aristocratic forces than France, did not have that power.

The reliable ‘older brother,’ the Holy Roman Empire, is also in the midst of its own political struggles, so there is no clear place to rely on.

Either or.

The Angevin family’s infighting is getting more and more fierce.

The moment of choice is approaching.

“What are you going to do, Your Excellency?”

“I’m worried….

During the Great Rebellion, I chose Henry II. Because it was stable. But now the situation is different from then because the difference in power between the two forces is close.

The time left for them is running out, but it was not an easy decision.

* * *

—Near Mortain, 1190—

Swish.

The wind smells of France. Even the simple process of landing from the sea was difficult. Even though I’m smiling on the outside, I’m angry on the inside.

Because the family fight has progressed to the point where it feels real.

‘Ha, damn brothers.’

The fleet of my half-brothers, pretending to be pirates, tormented me to madness. Of course, they wouldn’t have thought they could beat me, who has the elite fleet of Ireland.

Maybe they’re trying to delay me from arriving in English-controlled France even a little later and to consume my supplies.

Over there in Aquitaine, preparations to ‘inherit the throne’ are severe.

Already our spies and the Avengers Geoffrey team’s spies have been tortured and executed.

Bad rumors about me are slowly spreading. There’s even a ridiculous rumor that the reason Henry II almost died from exhaustion was because of the evil Prince John.

I’m not the kind of person who creates all the most heinous things in the world, and such slander and machinations… If I hadn’t properly confronted them, it wouldn’t be the first or second time I’ve been unfairly misunderstood.

I ignored such slanders and spread the rumor that the Duke of Aquitaine, ‘Brother Henry,’ the mastermind of the ‘Great Rebellion,’ was the real mastermind.

What’s important is the actual ‘fight.’ That was slowly starting.

Already the nobles of western France have divided into factions and started territorial warfare.

Unlike the War of the Roses [English dynastic wars fought in the 15th century], which is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking about the English Civil War, the battlefield will occur in the French region.

Because during the War of the Roses, England had almost all of its territories in France taken away by the capable monarch Charles VII and Saint Joan of Arc, but unlike then, our England now firmly controls western France.

‘If things go wrong, I’ll burn France down with it. There’s no need to let Philip have a good time.’

Anyway, despite all the trials and tribulations along the way, I arrived properly in the French region.

Of course, silently. Rather than being welcomed, I encouraged the soldiers stationed in the outer castle near Mortain here.

“You have suffered a lot. Godfrey, give them the gifts we have prepared.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

As I encouraged the soldiers in the outer castle, I thought about the future.

‘I have to win.’

First, I’ll crown Brother Richard. I’m going to make Brother Richard the legitimate heir to Henry II.

I’ll preserve legitimacy, preserve justification, and prevent any backlash.

It’s been quite a while since I was reincarnated as John, but living as a prince of England has given me a variety of experiences.

I’ve spent money in various ways, carried out silent purges, and bowed my head to the strong several times.

I felt that the Middle Ages were more difficult than Middle Ages games.

I thought the British Empire was really great.

The soldiers’ cheers are heard everywhere. Beer and white bread are common in modern times. In the Middle Ages, they are precious things.

Thinking about the state of 21st century Korea, which was ruined by treating conscripted soldiers like dogs, I am treating my soldiers like this.

By the way, Akbulhoi’s expression is a bit strange? Did he drink some strange wine again?

Anyway, now is not the time to worry about that.

Mortain County was my first assignment.

Of course, as the lord, I led the army and made an appearance, so the people in Mortain welcomed me.

“Long live Prince John, long live England!”

“He has three talents.”

“Generosity, bravery, and wealth!”

It’s England’s exclusive opening.

A civil war has broken out, but they have plenty of time.

The reason is that it is virtually a war that starts with my ‘mercy’ and some investments, but also because they have faith in me.

* * *

In the distant future, a Westerner Marco Polo who came to live in Mongolia and an Easterner who was dragged from the East to the West in the exact opposite position.

Akbulhoi, who even participated in a family fight in a foreign land, thought in his heart.

‘I’m no different from a Westerner now.’

Akbulhoi’s life was really tragic. In his childhood, he spent unhappy times because of his grandfather Akbi, who was not reinstated.

While spying on the Jin Dynasty [Jurchen dynasty that ruled northern China from 1115-1234], his identity was revealed, and he ran away to the grasslands, where he was captured by Mongolian barbarians, sold as a slave, eventually became an English knight, and was appointed as Prince John’s ‘Chinese expert.’

However, he was recognized because he helped create useful inventions such as the Johns Bow siege weapon.

He missed his hometown, but now he decided to forget it. He was unfilial to his parents, but he had a mixed-race child with a Western woman, so now England is his home.

‘The West is really complicated.’

Of course, in the Song Dynasty’s [Chinese dynasty from 960-1279] worldview, he thought that the West was just dominated by the Da Qin Kingdom (here, the Eastern Roman Empire) and the Huihui Kingdom (Islamic Empire).

But after living in the West for so long, Akbulhoi also realized many things.

Even in this Spring and Autumn Period [era of warfare in ancient China]-like West, there are many interesting things. The West, which he revisited after marrying a Western woman, forming a family, and converting, was as fierce as China.

And he also participated in this bean family fight. Well, it’s not surprising that the king collapses and the princes have a family fight. Wouldn’t there be a fight for the throne in China? Not only in China, but wars of succession are quite common, aren’t they?

It’s not surprising that they’ve been preparing for a civil war for a long time. In the first place, the succession structure was incomplete, all the nobles in Ireland had already guessed the civil war, and Akbulhoi, who was from the East, also knew it.

But what Akbulhoi is interested in now is not the civil war itself, but his lord, Prince John, whom he serves.

He is cruel when he is cruel and merciful when he is merciful. It was like seeing an emperor commonly spoken of in Chinese history.

So it was good. He was curious about what his lord would show.

Order has not yet been determined. The family fight between the two factions will be a place of many opportunities.

‘Well… I don’t plan to go back anymore.’

Whether he knew that Akbulhoi was looking at him or not, Safe John, who was welcomed by the territorial people, said.

“The enemy is in Aquitaine.”