The morning light filtered through the windows of the castle chambers and reflected upon the face of the young prince, now the son of a humble baron. As soon as the warm rays of sunlight touched his skin, he finally awoke from his slumber, still feeling the effects of the lactic acid from the previous day's exercise. He had forgotten that the real pain always arrived the following day. Even so, a bit of soreness would not stop him from doing what needed to be done.
With that in mind, he dressed quickly in simple, loose clothing to begin his daily exercise routine, which lasted for about an hour. By the time he returned to the castle, he was drenched in sweat and every muscle in his body ached. Only after bathing for half an hour did he feel comfortable enough—or rather, functional enough, since his body still wanted to kill him with pain—to begin his work.
His new attitude, of course, had caused considerable concern among his family and practically every servant in the castle. Waking up early, exercising, eating meat, taking active interest in the affairs of the realm… these were behaviors the young man rarely engaged in, if ever. But ever since he recovered from his illness, he had become a completely different person from the one everyone knew.
He heard all the comments about his change in behavior and felt incredibly guilty, considering that legally and spiritually, he was a completely different person inhabiting the body of this world's Rose. Although, being honest with himself, he didn't care too much. In his heart, this world was now his; its people were his as well. And since the baron and baroness were a second pair of parents, he also had two new siblings… even if he was fairly sure Lambert wanted to kill him. Putting that aside, he remained fully convinced that he had to do what was required.
Of course, as heir, his authority within the barony was practically minimal, and he couldn't—and didn't want to—actively lie to his father about most of the things he planned to do. After all, even if he wasn't the father who had raised him, he was still a good man and had trusted his word enough to summon his engineers to verify the accuracy of his designs.
From what he knew, the man had not yet arrived, so for now, the only thing he could do was study the affairs of the territory as thoroughly as possible.
For that reason, he decided to eat in the castle library, where he went over all the relevant information he could find regarding the state of the barony, especially its economy. And to be completely honest, he was deeply dismayed. As he remembered, the region was rich in natural and mineral resources; however, they were not being used at all. To put it kindly, they were utterly… wasted.
Is this how you felt when you rose as the King of Kings, Father? Rose wondered. He knew that the early years of his father's rule had not been particularly good. Qin was a formidable warrior and, in essence, all-powerful, but without Uncle Zeref's help—may he rest in peace—the empire would have gone straight to hell in its first years; his father had had no idea how to actually govern.
His new father, Sieghard, was not much better in that regard. In fact, he was considerably worse, pouring most of his resources into the military and allowing the infrastructure and the rest of the territory's administrative matters to fall into complete neglect.
Of course, Rose understood the limitations inherent to medieval technology, but that was no excuse for leaving the extraction of valuable resources so poorly managed. And what was worse, the little that was extracted was sold as raw ore, without refining it or using it properly for any of its many possible applications.
Moreover, the economy depended almost entirely on subsistence farming… which meant that a single bad agricultural season would be enough to plunge the region into a recession. Especially considering that the nearby population consisted solely of a farming village without the slightest trace of industry. All of this made his head begin to ache. The territory was, quite simply, a disaster.
He was about to curse Lucifer's name aloud for sending him to the worst possible territory, but before he could do so, he noticed his little sister hiding behind a bookshelf, watching him from afar. The scene almost made him laugh: Henrietta stood there, staring at him like a frightened little rabbit. It was clear that the sudden changes in his behavior over the last few days had led her to think he was possessed or something of the sort.
Holding back his laughter, he took a sip of water without taking his eyes off the books, allowing the girl to believe she remained unseen. She let out a sigh of apparent relief.
"Henrietta, I know you're there," he said aloud, in a calm tone.
The young girl flinched upon hearing him. In her mind, the doubt persisted whether the person before her was truly her brother or some demon taking his place. That was why, seized by panic, she bolted out of the library without uttering a single word. Rose couldn't help but laugh softly at the scene. As her older brother, he knew exactly what was troubling her.
However, if he wanted her to live a long and happy life, he needed to focus on his work. He would have time later to come up with a believable excuse… something like "my near-death experience made me realize how useless my life was, and I didn't like it," or something along those lines.
He never imagined that his life—once active and full of adventure—would end up becoming one devoted entirely to study. He had to cover everything: from finance to mining. Hell, he even had to learn the noble hierarchy he had so thoroughly ignored back when he was still the prince of the First Empire, for now he was no longer even remotely a prince, but the humble son of a baron—the lowest position within the nobility. And he knew that far more powerful lords stood above his father; for example, the Habsburgs themselves, rulers of the Duchy of Austria, with one of their family branches controlling the County of Tyrol, where their lands were located.
He was also surprised to discover that his younger brother was engaged to one of the daughters of a minor branch of the von Habsburg family—something he, being completely honest, did not consider the great honor his family believed it to be. Nobles rarely married "downward"; only kings could afford to marry duchesses in the rare cases where they weren't seeking to unite territories through a political marriage. There was definitely something behind that engagement. And from what he had seen of Lambert, the boy was incredibly foolish and easily manipulated, despite his intrigues. The most logical conclusion was that the count intended to use him to get rid of the rightful heir and, by marrying him to his daughter, seize control of the iron mines of Kufstein.
Honestly, it was a clever plan… but incredibly inefficient. The same result could have been achieved by marrying the daughter to the sickly older brother and allowing her to become pregnant by him, which would let the count rule as regent until their child came of age. But the nobles of this world seemed to have a fascination with cousin marriages, and his father had always been very clear about the consequences of that: physical deformities were the least of it—the real problem was the mental deterioration that accompanied such unions. He preferred not to think too much about it.
After all, he knew that as soon as he fully recovered his health, his family would start looking for a wife for him, and he would probably end up with one of his cousins or something equally unpleasant. Unless he somehow managed to become King of Germany before that happened, he really had no way of avoiding it.
Finally, after spending most of the day reviewing the affairs of the realm, he noticed that the sun had already set, so he decided it was a good moment to speak with his father about certain matters regarding his observations on the administration of the territory and, incidentally, to ask what had happened with the engineers tasked with reviewing his schematics.
After all, more than a week had passed since the engineers had been summoned, and he was certain that at least one of the men in his father's service should have returned with a report on the feasibility of the designs.
With that in mind, he placed each book back in its proper spot and left the library. He walked through the castle corridors until he reached the door to his father's study. However, before he could knock, he heard a rather… heated conversation taking place between the three men inside.
"I don't care how sophisticated Sir Ingbert's training may be; I have over thirty years of experience in the field of engineering, and I tell you these designs are brilliant! They work exactly as your son described them, my lord!" exclaimed an older voice.
Rose felt the urge to leave, but another part of him wanted to stay and hear his father's decision.
Immediately, a second voice—younger and unmistakably insolent—interrupted with evident mockery:
"My lord, don't listen to this senile old man. He's a commoner. He doesn't have the education I've received. I assure you these designs are nothing but the scribbles of a child who thinks he knows a thing or two about engineering."
Rose had to roll his eyes. This was yet another reminder of why marrying cousins was never a good idea if one wanted their children to retain all their mental faculties. With that single statement, he had already dismissed the second engineer as the son of nobles: the excessive arrogance, the way he had described incredibly detailed schematics as mere scribbles… it was obvious either he hadn't read them at all, or he had and simply failed to understand them.
Finally, his father's voice echoed firmly:
"Sir Ingbert may leave. I have much to discuss with my chief engineer."
Even though Rose couldn't see the expression on the idiot engineer's face, he knew it had to be delightful. He had always enjoyed watching his father—in any of his lives—put narrow-minded people in their place.
Moments later, the door swung open and Rose found himself face-to-face with the man known as Sir Ingbert. He was a young man just past thirty, with light brown hair tied back in a low ponytail and green eyes. He wore an excessively decorated doublet, a clear sign of his wealth. Exactly the kind of pampered fool Rose expected to find.
After noticing the ring on his finger engraved with a boar's head, he recognized him immediately. The man was Ingbert Heltzer, son of one of Sieghard's knights. Just as he had assumed, he had secured his position as an engineer of the barony solely thanks to his lineage. Even by this world's standards, his engineering knowledge was a joke: a pampered noble like him never needed to try hard enough in his studies to become competent in such a discipline.
As for Ingbert, the moment he saw the young man he had indirectly insulted, his expression soured at once. The last thing he needed was to run into the baron's son staring at him with such condescension—especially after the boy had clearly overheard his disrespectful remarks. However, the damage was already done, and Rose simply looked at him as though he were watching a fool… which, objectively speaking, he was.
This only made the young noble angrier, and he stormed off, grumbling under his breath, which caused Rose to let out a quiet chuckle. Immediately afterward, he heard his father's automatic voice from behind the door:
"You may enter."
It was evident that the old baron had been aware of his son's presence outside the study the entire time—something mildly unsettling. Sure, his father Qin had had that ability, but Qin had been practically a demigod with powers Rose could barely grasp. Sieghard, on the other hand, was completely ordinary. Still, he didn't dwell on it and simply stepped into the office.
There he found his father's attentive gaze, along with an elderly man in his fifties who, according to what Sieghard had mentioned, was the barony's chief engineer.
A part of him felt slightly anxious in their presence. One was an intelligent man well-versed in various fields of engineering; the other, the direct authority over the administration of the territory. Even if they were not Uncle Zeref, Uncle Acnologia, or—much less—his father Qin, they were still figures of authority in this world, and that alone was enough to trigger every princely reflex he had learned throughout his past life.
End of Chapter.