The Youngest Prince Of The English Royalty House [EN]: Chapter 139

Aachen’s Tears (2)

―1200, Aachen, Holy Roman Empire―

Unlike history, Emperor Frederick of the Holy Roman Empire did not drown in the river and lived a long life.

He was an old emperor, 79 years old this year.

Even John, far away, never imagined that old man Frederick would survive to be over 79 years old.

In fact, one might wonder if living long is such a big deal, but this was medieval Europe, where the average lifespan was short, with natural deaths common even in their 40s and 50s.

However, Frederick I, who was about to die, gritted his teeth and clung to life. It was practically an obsession. It was the obsession of an old man who knew all too well that the empire would collapse if he died.

The old emperor clung to his fading life, living and living, desperately trying to live longer, at least until his successor came to his senses, until the succession of power was complete.

He didn’t just scold his foolish son but endured the time to persuade him with the most gentle voice possible.

And what he always said to his son was:

‘I love you.’

It was because he had a hunch that just nagging at his son would make things worse.

But humans are not gods. Life has its limits.

The old emperor, who had endured and endured, felt like he could see the River Jordan before his eyes, and there was not much left in his loosened breath.

As a result, he found the appearance of his old vassal before him displeasing.

“Ugh… Count Sultzbach. You’re still not dead.”

“Are you cursing me?”

“Cursing? I’m just jealous. It seems like you’ll live longer than me.”

“You are truly amazing until the very end, Your Majesty.”

Count Sultzbach had followed his words since he was young, and in the future, he had devoted all his loyalty in every way, such as sending his daughter to the Eastern Roman Empire as his emperor’s command.

“Should I… entrust my son to you?”

“Your Majesty alone was overwhelming. So, I want to take care of my granddaughter now.”

Frederick I smiled at the words of the old man, who, like himself, did not know when he would die. It was because he knew the heart of his old vassal well.

However, he felt a little uncomfortable and raised the corners of his mouth to speak to Count Sultzbach.

“Granddaughter… Anna, is that child doing well?”

Frederick I also knew Mary’s identity. Above all, he knew very well that Mary was Count Sultzbach’s granddaughter and was keeping the secret.

Looking back now, these were all futile things.

He was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, the ruler of the Germans, and at one time, he thought he would rule everything in the world. He called countries he didn’t like vassals. As a Christian, he wanted to occupy the Holy Land.

He burned his youth to fulfill all kinds of desires.

Fortunately, thanks to God’s history, he made most of his ambitions a reality. He was the emperor who created the ‘fall of the Islamic era,’ an achievement that no emperor of the Holy Roman Empire could have achieved.

However, Frederick I was very heartbroken because his mind was broken by his children’s problems, even though he had made such achievements.

“I shouldn’t have laughed at Henry the Lion.”

He didn’t regret it. Henry the Lion was a monarch worthy of ridicule. To be harmed by his children and wife to the point where there was no father in such a terrible family. How could Henry II endure the ‘Great Revolt’ that almost split England because of his carelessness?

However, as time passed, the situation worsened for himself.

Whether it was pressure or the rebelliousness of not giving him attention in his childhood, his eldest son, Heinrich, showed an incompetent appearance, unlike the clever children of Henry II.

Of course, everyone suffers because of their children. The game was decided by what kind of ‘son’ he had. In the end, he was defeated.

“Yes, Henry II won. At least he prepared for death by establishing Prince Richard.”

“Bring the people.”

And time passed.

The people Frederick I cherished gathered.

But the King of Germany did not come.

‘Either the Elector of Saxony has taken over the palace to the point where the servant didn’t tell me, or my son didn’t listen to his father at all.’

Whether it was the former or the latter, it was a pathetic situation, but Frederick I, who had already given up, gave up.

“Your Majesty, do you have any last words?”

“Yes, I have to leave something. I am about to die.”

The people who were trying to listen to the last words of old Redbeard Frederick were nervous. The words left by a great figure of the era would surely have a big impact.

Frederick I looked at the people and said his last words in short Latin.

“After my reign, a flood….”

The last words of a great figure of an era who did not drown in the river were the same as the last words left by a certain monarch in the distant future.

But the meaning was completely different.

The emperor who made the Holy Roman Empire into a single Germanic empire left a will that was tantamount to giving up everything.

“Sniff… Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty, why are you abandoning us Germans?”

Count Sultzbach, who was watching the scene, thought.

‘An era has ended, and a real flood will come.’

―Ding, ding.

A funeral mass was held in the Holy Roman Empire.

A great figure died.

People who liked Frederick I, people who hated him, and people who knew what the death of Frederick I, a stormy figure of an era, meant.

And it became a great opportunity for one person.

“I’ve been waiting.”

71 years old. The old and powerful Elector of Saxony, Heinrich, who pretended to be young, had really been waiting for this moment.

It was time to shed the skin of the elector and become emperor.

The Elector of Saxony had already subdued the remaining electors. Or, to be more precise, the Elector of Saxony was originally chosen as the representative of all the electors.

His election was a foregone conclusion.

However, what was bothering him was the emperor’s old loyalist.

If this man supports the King of Germany, a civil war far more terrible than the English civil war will break out.

“Count Sultzbach, what… are you going to do?”

Count Sultzbach said to the Elector of Saxony.

“I am going to retire now. I won’t be an obstacle to you.”

“You have thought well.”

The biggest obstacle gave up the fight on his own, and the Elector of Saxony thought he would only walk on a flowery path.

* * *

―England, Duchy of Aquitaine―

I looked at the window with the outside scenery and sighed.

It was bitter.

It was the fact that a comrade who once fought against the Muslims to protect the Christian holy sites had passed away.

‘Old man Frederick, you lived a long time.’

I felt like I knew what thoughts the old man had and stubbornly endured.

He would have taken care of his son, hugged him, and even scolded him until he came to his senses. He must have had a lot of trouble.

Yes, even the greatest emperor cannot be free from the problem of succession.

People are born and soon die, but now, the work of sending off acquaintances through death was not so pleasant.

“So he passed away.”

I smiled bitterly and reminisced about a great figure of an era.

But such emotions could not hold me for long.

“Your Highness, I have come under orders….”

“Your Highness, did you call me?”

I called Peter and Godfrey and immediately got to the point.

“Now that the center of the Holy Roman Empire has collapsed, we have a lot to do.”

It’s a cold story, but I thought it wasn’t bad that the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had died. Just as other countries were opening their breath through the English civil war, I wanted to see profits in the ‘process’ until the new regime of the Holy Roman Empire was established.

“Peter.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Since we’re going to replace the weapons soon anyway, we should sell the stockpiled military supplies.”

“I have already prepared, so I can handle it quickly.”

The fire sale begins.

“Godfrey, just in case, you must be vigilant.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Just in case, the Holy Roman Empire should not go crazy and aim for Aquitaine through the Italian city-states.

With Emperor Frederick dead, the Holy Roman Empire will be in chaos, whether it’s a civil war or a political fight.

There is a saying that arms bend inward [meaning resources are used for internal conflicts]. I had more affection for the Elector of Saxony, who had suppressed the rebellion with me, than for the Crown Prince of Germany, Heinrich, who had subtly ignored me.

I was also thinking of supporting him appropriately.

‘Above all, the Elector of Saxony’s son… isn’t he the unfortunate Emperor Otto IV, who helped my incompetent uncle John and ruined himself?’

I gradually planned the John’s Plan like that.

Now that it has come to this, I was thinking of selling some goods to my old brother-in-law and watching the civil war while chewing bread.

‘My old brother-in-law has to do well.’

But I didn’t expect it.

There were so many crazy people in the Holy Roman Empire.

* * *

―1201, January, Holy Roman Empire―

It’s a cold winter.

A cold winter with snowstorms, and many people suffering from the cold.

There was a person making a cold struggle.

It is the King of Germany, whom Prince John and Philip II also find uncomfortable.

“I am the son of the late emperor.”

“So I can’t be defeated like this.”

The King of Germany, Heinrich, knew very well that if he made a mistake now, the great work his father had created would collapse. What is that great work? It is the royal power that held the Holy Roman Empire like an ‘absolute monarchy.’

But.

“Why don’t you listen to me? To dare to hold an imperial election.”

The King of Germany did not seem to be able to enjoy that absolute monarchy. The late emperor did not leave a will for the succession to the throne, and the electors declared that they had elected a new emperor.

There was nothing the King of Germany could do now.

As time passed, the day of the electors’ imperial election arrived.

In the future, in fact, one family (the Habsburg family) continues to enjoy the position of emperor, whether it is an election or anything else, but at least now, it was a position elected according to the interests of the electors.

‘So what? I’ve already created the board the way I wanted it.’

To put it the other way around, it also means that a powerful person who can control the electors can soon become emperor.

The Elector of Saxony was a powerful person who had already recovered his reputation even when Emperor Frederick, who had been checking him, was alive. Could the King of Germany check him?

The electors’ calculations were already over. Instead of a young master who doesn’t know the world, they will elect himself, who has been through thick and thin with them since the old, terrible days, as the next emperor.

The next Emperor Heinrich VI will be replaced by the noble bloodline of his Welf family, not the bloodline of the Hohenstaufen family.

Enrico Dandolo, a 93-year-old great figure who has a friendly relationship with the Elector of Saxony, also knew this very well, so he came to Aachen on the election day.

It is to make a big deal with the next emperor.

“Enrico, welcome.”

“A humble merchant greets the precious person who will soon become His Majesty Heinrich VI.”

“Not yet.”

The Elector of Saxony showed humility.

As he said, it was not yet. After the imperial election is over, at the moment when he practically seizes Aachen and gives the King of Germany a suitable territory and issues a ‘exile’ sentence.

That was the moment when everything would end.

“Now, let’s go.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Thus, the carriage carrying the two men began to move. Just as the carriage was about to arrive at the palace of Aachen.

Someone on the street dared to shout at the Elector of Saxony, who was likely to be the next emperor.

“Great Elector of Saxony, I have something to say to you. Cowardly nobleman who ruined the empire for his own ambition, why are you so greedy?”

“…!”

At that moment, the Elector of Saxony’s eyes widened. It was not the rude person’s words, but the situation that followed that he was worried about.

The Elector of Saxony, who had been shaken for a moment, quickly gave an order.

“What are the guards doing? Drag that man out.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

But unfortunately, before the guards could provide proper security.

―Phew.

They were shot by arrows and died.

“It’s an ambush.”

“Protect the Elector of Saxony!”

“Councilor Enrico cannot die here.”

But what was really unfortunate for the Elector of Saxony was that the coachman was the real ‘culprit.’

“I am the real sword.”

“What?”

He had some military power as he was once called the Lion Duke, but the old Elector of Saxony was vulnerable to surprise attacks.

―Thud.

“Wh… what are you doing now? I am a Venetian.”

Enrico Dandolo spoke in fluent German.

But the other person answered in fluent Latin.

“Of course, there is no need to keep the Venetian pig alive.”

“Die.”

―Thud.

On the same day,

A prominent Venetian politician and the Elector of Saxony, who was virtually about to become emperor, died.

A huge storm began to blow in the Holy Roman Empire.