I Became A Genius Of The French Royal Family [EN]: Chapter 2

Hellfire Difficulty Regression. (1)

Is this a dream or reality?

“Class is dismissed for today.”

“······.”

A stern-looking middle-aged teacher gathered his books and left.

I stared blankly at his retreating figure, as if possessed by a ghost.

“Tsk, tsk, he’s already twelve, yet his progress is still so slow.”

I heard the teacher muttering something, but his words just passed through my ears.

What on earth is going on?

Hours have passed since I opened my eyes, but I still couldn’t fully grasp the situation.

At first, I thought I had been taken to a hospital.

Of course, that thought disappeared in less than a minute.

Because you couldn’t find a pre-modern European-style hospital like this anywhere in Korea.

My physical condition was even more absurd.

I, who had clearly been hit by a hit-and-run driver, didn’t have a single scratch on my body, let alone a full body cast.

Moreover, I looked like a young child who couldn’t have been older than a middle school student.

This was a situation that could only be seen as being reborn.

Surprisingly, I quickly regained my composure and accepted the fact that I had been reincarnated.

This was all thanks to my usual hobby.

Again, the human body is not a machine.

If you’re stuck in the lab all day, you need a hobby to take a break.

My only pleasure was reading web novels during those brief moments of free time.

There was nothing better than web novels to clear my head, kill time, and experience vicarious satisfaction.

It goes without saying what the common themes of web novels are these days.

Reincarnation, possession, regression.

But ridiculously, I never even imagined that this would become my story.

It’s truly bewildering, but what can I do?

At this point, I was sure that nothing could surprise me anymore.

Quickly accepting reality, I carefully examined my surroundings.

Strangely, the furniture and the attire of the people who went in and out of the room as servants looked familiar.

It was not just similar to the historical materials I had studied to the point of nausea, but practically identical.

And after listening to what people were saying, it was obvious.

17th to 18th century France.

No doubt about it.

The setting of the place I was reincarnated into was definitely this period.

Then who am I living here now?

Strangely, my memories were not clear, as if my head was covered in fog.

I clearly knew it intellectually, but the experience was completely cut off.

Louis Christian de France.

That was the name of my current life that I barely managed to recall after dozens of minutes of effort.

It was difficult to recall the name, so I felt refreshed… like hell.

As soon as I remembered my name, a series of endless questions arose.

The name Louis de France is a name given to French royalty.

So, me using this name also means that I am one of the French royals.

But as far as I know, there was no one with this name among the French royals of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Living in such a humble mansion, am I from some insignificant collateral line?

No, that doesn’t make sense either.

If I were a truly impoverished and fallen royal, there’s no way I would have so many servants.

I’ve seen so many historical materials under that devilish professor.

Especially if it’s the 17th to 18th century, this is my area of expertise.

There’s almost no possibility that there’s a royal using the name Louis de France that I don’t even know about.

The most reasonable explanation is that I’m a royal who wasn’t recorded in history.

Yes. That makes perfect sense.

No matter how much I’ve searched through enormous amounts of historical materials and written papers on all sorts of topics, there’s no way I would know someone who wasn’t recorded.

But even if I think that way, there are still questions.

What do you have to do to be a royal who can’t even leave their name in the records?

Even the records of royals who were stillborn at birth are all preserved.

Does it make sense that there’s no record of me, who will be twelve years old soon?

If I could just fully recall this person’s memories, all my questions would be resolved, but unfortunately, they seem to be there but not quite.

Then should I just grab any servant and ask?

That didn’t seem like a good idea.

If I was born with some kind of secret, there’s a possibility that even the servants around me don’t know my identity.

My memories are uncertain, and if I carelessly say something wrong and cause trouble, I’ll be the only one who loses out.

I need to figure out the situation as quietly as possible.

The first thing I need to do is find out exactly what year it is.

Fortunately, they’re using the Gregorian calendar now, so I can pinpoint the exact year.

“Excuse me? What year is it now?”

The maid who brought the snacks tilted her head at my sudden question.

Even if you’re momentarily confused about what day it is, you rarely mistake the year.

But instead of thinking it was strange, the maid looked at me with strangely pitying eyes.

“It’s 1767.”

“1767? So it was the 18th century after all.”

The maid’s gaze bothered me a little, but it didn’t give me any emotion right now.

The important thing is that my prediction was correct.

18th century France. 1767.

There are still more than 20 years left until the French Revolution in 1789.

And it’s not just the French Revolution.

The American Revolutionary War, which takes place in 1775, hasn’t even started yet.

If I have this much time, I’ll have plenty of time to prepare for the future.

Even though I’m only twelve years old, I’m still a royal.

If I make the most of this background and my knowledge, there’s almost nothing I can’t achieve.

It’s even better that I’m a minor royal that I couldn’t find in history.

I can naturally avoid the ending of being a power-hungry person who gets his head chopped off on the guillotine.

Just listing the facts that come to mind, there are countless opportunities to make astronomical amounts of money.

Even if I just work behind the scenes, I could become a mega-rich tycoon who slaps the future Rockefeller back and forth.

“Young master, are you alright? Are you not feeling well? Should I tell the elder?”

“The elder?”

The maid looked at my complexion worriedly, as if I really looked strange as I chuckled to myself.

“You seem to be in particularly bad condition today. I should report it to Elder Lavoisier.”

“Lavoisier?”

My mind, which was excitedly making plans for the future, was startled awake by the incredibly familiar name.

“Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier? Ah, no. If it’s ’67, then it must be talking about Jean Antoine Lavoisier… right?”

“Of course, I’m reporting to the elder, not Laurent. You need to produce results to be recognized as a member of the Academy of Sciences [a prestigious scientific organization]. So you’re busy writing papers. It’s hard for us to even see your face.”

I was ashamed of myself a few minutes ago, who thought that I wouldn’t be surprised by anything anymore.

In fact, I could easily guess that I would be indebted to someone.

However, I never dreamed that the person would be Lavoisier.

Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier.

This man is truly a big shot.

That’s because he is one of the most revered chemists in history, even in modern times.

He is the person who virtually founded chemistry, and many people call his achievement of separating chemistry into an independent discipline the Chemical Revolution.

He was a scientist who represented the era, but he was also a tax collector who collected tolls in Paris.

Because of this, he was hated by the public, and he met a tragic end when his head was chopped off on the guillotine during the Reign of Terror after the French Revolution.

But that’s still 30 years in the future.

Right now, his father, rather than his promising young son, was the person who represented the family.

Lavoisier’s father was working as a legal advisor to the prestigious Paris High Court.

It was good to say that he was a person who had the power of the so-called nobles of the robe [nobility who gained their status through judicial or administrative posts] behind him.

This noble of the robe is a clear vested interest that is classified as the Second Estate in the Estates-General [the representative assembly of pre-Revolutionary France] along with the nobles of the blood and the nobles of the sword who became nobles through military service.

If someone with this kind of background is a patron, then there’s really nothing to be afraid of.

“Um, young master, I’ll tell the elder…”

“Yeah, yeah. Just say something appropriate and you can go now.”

I somehow sent out the maid who was doubting if I was in my right mind, and then I cheered and ran around the room.

How can things work out so well?

Is it God’s consideration for me to enjoy life in easy mode this time since I rolled around in hellfire difficulty in my previous life?

Right now, I might be able to sincerely repent for my past, when I lived my whole life as an atheist.

I don’t know if that God is God or Buddha, but anyway, faith in God was welling up.

And if the merciful God really lowered my life difficulty, there’s a way to easily check it.

I checked again to make sure no one was outside the door and shouted in a low voice.

“Status window.”

The moment I uttered that word like a promise, nothing appeared before my eyes as if it were a lie.

Even though I knew no one was watching, I felt an uncontrollable amount of embarrassment.

But it’s still too early to give up.

“Status.”

The room was still silent.

After that, I tried compound words like stat window, but the window I so desperately wanted didn’t appear.

Ugh. Can’t I go with a completely easy development?

Ah, wait, this is France.

I was stupid to use Korean or English, so of course it wouldn’t appear.

I tried shouting again with a desperate wish and a butter-rolling pronunciation.

“Statut.”

I tried to bring up the window by combining all sorts of words from Korean, French, English, and even Latin, but even God was indifferent.

My prayers were not answered.

If anyone had seen me, it would have been a crazy person talking to himself in multiple languages, but fortunately, no one was around.

Well, I can’t help it.

Originally, status windows don’t appear often in historical dramas.

Isn’t the real taste of historical dramas solving incidents by utilizing future knowledge without receiving such cheat-like abilities?

I’m confident in my knowledge, so let’s be satisfied with the current situation and not be greedy.

I sat at my desk and wrote down a simple plan for the future.

Of course, I didn’t do anything stupid like writing in French or English because someone might find it.

If I write it in Korean, no one but me will be able to read it, even if someone else sees it.

At this time, the Korean alphabet used in Joseon [Korean kingdom from approximately 1392 to 1897] would be very different from the Korean alphabet of the 21st century, so there’s no chance of that happening.

How many hours had passed since I started organizing various things like that?

“······?”

It was already dark outside, but the house was strangely quiet.

I was hungry, so it seemed like it was already dinner time, but no one came to call me.

“Was I so focused that I didn’t hear them calling me?”

I got up from my seat and went outside, but the inside of the mansion was still quiet.

All the lights were turned off, and there was even a somewhat eerie atmosphere.

It was as if I was the only person walking around in the house.

The moment I felt that way.

Bang! I felt a strong impact on the back of my head.

Tasting the sensation of the hard ground with my face, I finally realized that my body had fallen forward.

I tried to get up, but I couldn’t put any strength into my body and I was losing sensation.

At the same time, a heat that felt like burning my back ran through my whole body.

This fading consciousness and the hot feeling of burning my body was a sensation I had experienced once before.

I remembered.

Back then, when I was hit by a hit-and-run vehicle and sprawled on the ground like trash being disposed of.

The ground turning red and the consciousness rapidly disappearing in proportion to it.

This is definitely the sensation of death that I have experienced once.

Are you kidding me?

It was today that I miraculously reincarnated after dying unjustly without achieving anything.

But am I going to die again like this without even knowing why, without even lasting a day?

I can’t die like this.

It’s a life that I miraculously started again as a royal, so I can’t let it go like this…

As I desperately struggled, I suddenly realized one thing.

The reason why I wasn’t recorded even though I was a royal and why I didn’t even know I existed.

It’s because I die so absurdly that I don’t even appear on the stage of history.

I should have considered the possibility of assassination long ago.

No, but even if I had considered it, who could have predicted that I would get stabbed and die on the day I reincarnated?

Easy mode my ass.

I just stupidly planted a flag myself.

“This sh…”

I couldn’t even finish cursing satisfactorily because of the blood rising up my throat.

Ironically, that sight was not much different from the first death I had when I was hit by a hit-and-run.

With unbearable injustice, anger, and despair, Louis Christian de France lost his life once again.