How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 588

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Noble Family (588)

The ceremony welcoming Henri was conducted on a scale similar to the protocol for receiving a crown prince. Henri, who first met the crown prince, entered the grand reception hall together with his entourage and the crown prince. They conversed with nobles in the spacious reception hall. When I was about to yawn from waiting, Prince Hildegard’s footsteps turned toward me. The moment Henri’s gaze, who had been conversing with Prince Hildegard in a positive atmosphere, reached me, his lips hardened stiffly. While feeling puzzled by that change, I greeted him in French.

“It is an honor to meet you, Your Highness. I am Luca Laplace, studying at Henri’s foundation.”

“Yes. Count Laplase. A pleasure to meet you.”

Henri smiled as if nothing had happened. As far as I knew, he was now an Esper in his thirties, but he didn’t look much different from Hildegard, who was in his twenties. Being an Esper, it couldn’t be helped. Hildegart Wittelsbach smiled brightly and lightly tilted her glass as if toasting. Henri’s eyes began to show a strange emotion. The more this happened, the more I had to play dumb. That was because… Hildegart Wittelsbach was extremely progressive. A commoner toasting with royalty! To Henri, who had great pride in the House of Bourbon, this was unthinkable. Knowing that Henri was disturbed by seeing how casually this German royal under a firm monarchy mingled with commoners, Hildegart Wittelsbach calmly continued the conversation.

“Hearing that Your Highness Henri was coming, I thought of a Frenchman studying at our school and brought him along. Since his return to his homeland is far off, he expressed a desire to meet a fellow Frenchman.”

Henri’s expression was not very pleasant. Of course, he would be appalled at being grouped together with me as ‘Frenchmen.’ He was the master of France and I was a subject—how could we face each other as equals? Without showing my thoughts of ‘how presumptuous’ on my face, I bowed my head as if deeply honored. Henri spoke solemnly.

“I too understand that feeling, as my return home is distant. As you know, there are difficulties in returning to the homeland because President Bonaparte and the parliament are currently in conflict.”

“Parliament.”

Hildegart Wittelsbach interjected. Then Henri explained.

“It’s understandable that there would be friction. You can’t imagine how obstinate those parliament members are—it makes governing impossible.”

This man is not shrewd. Even the parliament’s resistance to prevent French President Bonaparte’s reelection, he speaks of negatively simply because he personally dislikes the institution of ‘parliament.’ The reason he dislikes it is that from his position, all rights should rightfully belong to the royal family.

Before coming here, I could quickly recall who Henri was. While there are many Henris in France, the person who came here was the one who would later become Henri V. This person is planning to prevent Bonaparte’s coup, get elected as president, and then become king—yet he criticizes the parliament that opposes Bonaparte? At least in this setting, he shouldn’t speak that way. Next month, he’ll probably go to suppress Bonaparte’s coup. I looked at this pathetic fool and waited for his next words.

“Hmm.”

Hildegart Wittelsbach smiled indifferently, as if she didn’t feel this remarkable statement was worth responding to. That topic ended there. Henri asked me if German food suited my palate well, then left with the crown prince.

Under tremendous pressure, I answered questions from several servants who approached me after seeing me converse with Henri. Whether I answered well or not, later they even took me to meet nobles. Since I couldn’t spout nonsense at this point and felt I had no choice, I answered with exactly half-hearted sincerity.

While doing so, an unwelcome guest approached me. Henri came over with a gentle smile.

“What were you discussing?”

“Your Highness Henri.”

The nobleman greeted him with proper etiquette and looked at both him and me with moved eyes. The nobleman was delighted that his strategy of luring Henri through me had succeeded. What we had been discussing was entirely about whether Henri might become the next French president.

More importantly, why is this fellow coming to my side? Does Henri have any reason to follow around one ‘commoner’? As I acted timid and passed the baton, the nobleman took the initiative.

“We were saying that if Your Highness Henri were to govern France, France would find order.

“Heh heh heh.”

Henri smiled and nodded. He pretended to be modest, lowering his eyes, then answered humbly.

“That cannot be. Not yet.”

“It’s only ‘not yet,’ isn’t it? France wants an emperor, Your Highness. You know this.”

Then Henri smiled with a good-natured face and spoke elegantly.

“I know. That Bonaparte was elected president in the first place by riding on the glory of his uncle, Emperor Napoleon. The French people are sick of the republic. So he should have governed properly. It’s just regrettable.”

I fixed my eyes on Henri.

Although the two Louis Napoleon Bonapartes I know might not be the same person, the two Louis Napoleon Bonapartes in similar positions are now walking different paths. In the history I knew, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte had the support of the people behind him. It was thanks to his excellent political skills. Henri’s statement that many ‘grew sick of the republic’ was also partly correct. That’s why Louis Napoleon was elected president, staged a coup, and then became emperor through a national referendum. But that was because he was Napoleon’s nephew.

However, here they say that Louis Napoleon failed in diplomacy. Is this the arrogance of royalists who want to see only the good and ignore facts?

No.

Here, his coup actually fails to gain support and fails. Henri’s Bourbon faction and the royalists obtain advance intelligence of the coup plan and stop it, but in fact, the people’s hearts were not with Louis Napoleon either.

Why did history change in that direction? Since they weren’t the same to begin with, it might not be worth comparing, but it was noteworthy that a person in the same position received such opposite results.

The nobleman chimed in.

“You speak truly.”

“At this rate, President Bonaparte might declare himself emperor. The French people want not a president, but a picture-perfect emperor. If things continue this way, Bonaparte might really become emperor. Though I wonder if many would welcome Bonaparte becoming emperor.”

Well, well, so he really succeeded in suppressing this coup. Blabbering about the intelligence he obtained so indirectly like this? I was amazed at Henri’s rashness and nodded. But Henri was on the ordinary side. Perhaps many people in Henri’s position would act like that. Rather than his nature, perhaps the environment he grew up in made him that way… I felt my mood sinking as I listened to their conversation and lowered my gaze.

While they were having a pleasant conversation among themselves, the nobleman flattered him.

“…That position requires an emperor with legitimacy. Like Your Highness Henri.”

Henri nodded as if it were natural, then said.

“I cannot understand how Louis Napoleon Bonaparte fell so far. Where did the charisma that once controlled the entire parliament go? Isn’t this just like the early Louis Napoleon Bonaparte who was called incompetent? People chose him thinking he had talent for domestic affairs, but tsk tsk…”

“We never knew he was so vulnerable to foreign affairs.”

“Exactly.”

Henri answered briefly with a satisfied smile. The nobleman praised him until his mouth went dry.

“But Bourbon maintains good relations with the German states, so there’s no problem. I heard Your Highness’s influence in Austria is quite significant. Truly befitting legitimate Bourbon.”

With the German states…

I turned my head at a sudden suspicion. In the distance, the crown prince was observing the banquet hall while drinking water.

How did Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who gained overwhelming support and became president in this world, now lack significant popular support? What separates this world from the world I lived in? Magic? No, that’s a difference that penetrates the entire world, but now it’s something else… something more specific. An unpleasant idea crossed my mind.

What if Henri and the Bourbon ‘royal family and royalists’ sabotaged Bonaparte the ‘president’s’ France to lower his approval ratings?

‘Bourbon’s diplomatic power’ was mobilized in that process. In other words, Bourbon gave both poison and medicine to the republican France ruled by Bonaparte. Why? So they could seize power again. To show the people how incompetent the government they established was.

Feeling a headache coming on, I held back the breath that was about to burst out. Did Bavaria contribute to that process? It would be the current king’s choice, not Prince Hildegard’s, but did they really participate in preventing the president’s coup and restoring ‘legitimacy’? No, France wouldn’t extend its hand to Germany like that. So even if they were involved, it would only be at the level of assistance in civilian sectors. Or involvement through civilian sectors. In other words, a cover-up…

Henri winked at me and moved away. Under the crushing burden, I answered questions from several palace servants who approached me after seeing me converse with Henri. After asking for understanding, I went out to the corridor. Cold winter wind came through the open window, cutting into my flesh.

I need to calmly think through the comparison between the history I knew and the history here. Since Henri is spouting nonsense, and that nonsense is about to actually work. In doing so, I might be able to deduce the reason for this sudden and puzzling visit. I already thought I didn’t understand why Henri visited Bavaria just before suppressing the coup. The subtle change in Henri’s expression after seeing Luca Laplace, the fact that Luca Laplace was a Bourbon scholarship student, the fact that he was in Würzburg—I’m now questioning everything.

Even in the France of the history I knew, the masses wanted prosperity. Recalling that glorious France of Emperor Napoleon we know, the masses elected Louis Napoleon, Napoleon’s nephew, as president. Henri says that the French people’s election of Louis Napoleon while overlapping him with Emperor Napoleon meant they wanted an emperor who would lead them to a glorious France. There’s nothing to say. While Henri uses information only to strengthen his own position and firmly believes it to be truth—if it were as I knew, the French wanted not just any emperor but ‘Napoleon’ the emperor—ultimately, I became gloomy because I couldn’t help but briefly see an overlap between the French people who elected Louis Napoleon in the past and the Germans who supported and cheered for the Hohenzollern monarchy for endless rising economic power and national strength.

At the same time, I felt again what I already knew. The democracy of the era I lived in was obtained through arduous conflicts among the people, not achieved through a single revolution. The long and difficult process accompanied by revolutions takes hundreds of years to find freedom. The Copernican transformation applied to some worldviews takes time to be implemented in the real world. Therefore, Elias and Leonard’s goal is not revolutionary performance. They are people who realized in different ways that it’s not something they can achieve alone, but that people’s values must change. While Elias of this period lacks such ability, Leonard after his accession has the ability to change constitutional monarchy to democratic republic, and since he can soon place his friend on the imperial throne to unfold their shared will, it would be fair to say they have the ability to change the entire empire to democratic republic. However, they know. A republic that’s only superficial will return to imperial rule as if nothing happened and fluctuate like current France. What’s important is the civic virtue that won’t lose democracy once it’s gained.

In this world where reform will ironically dies out early due to free market economic logic and prosperity from magic blinds everyone’s eyes and ears, people live more abundantly and prosperously, enjoying various materials and services, but the progress of civic virtue slows down. The only time the masses feel the will for change is when Pleroma acts up, but precisely because of that, many still believe a powerful monarch must establish order without gaps. Just like the French people in the history I knew wanted ‘Emperor Napoleon.’ In the same way, the masses of our generation have no great will for change, whether in revolution or reform. Because they’re ‘living reasonably well economically now’ without change. The cycle repeats. This trend is not unique to this world but fundamentally the familiar flow I knew, stretched out longer. Even though magic made humans prosperous and broke their will for transformation, at its root there are always humans. Therefore, from here, the opinions of the two reformers I read about diverge slightly.

“Count Laplace?”

“Yes.”

I looked up at the voice I heard nearby. Someone had come looking for me even though I’d come to quite a secluded place. A slightly short Esper laughed heartily and extended his hand. A fleeting memory automatically reminded me who he was. He was one of Henri’s entourage who had entered together.

“Pleased to meet you.”

“What brings you here?”

“Nothing much, I was just wondering when you might return to the banquet hall.”

“…”

I didn’t respond to that strange remark. Instead, I silently walked toward the banquet hall. This is also quite strange. Henri’s associate comes to me with peculiar words without even revealing whose orders he’s following. I’ll remember this, I thought meaninglessly, continuing my earlier thoughts.

To add my view on Henri’s confidence and my two friends’ disagreement, even though this process is all excellent growing pains toward democracy and systems and popular consciousness are in a complementary relationship, having seen 21st-century democracy shake, I still worry about merely formal precedence. I couldn’t be optimistic. I was born in an era when a philosopher who optimistically declared in 1989 that ‘liberalism had triumphed’ revised his own declaration. That philosopher didn’t revise his statement because communism, which had subsided after the Cold War’s end, suddenly spread like germs across the 21st-century earth to cover liberalism. In the land of liberalism, the liberalism he had been optimistic about was being corrupted contrary to its intentions. Humans enjoying freedom forgot the premises of liberalism.

They lack the virtue to stand on their own, so they want a powerful leader to raise them up instead, and elect such a person as president. Just like now. Duke Henri will become France’s new president at this rate. A Bourbon royal family president! Could there be such an absurd statement? I raised the corners of my mouth without feeling like laughing. Henri the president here succeeds in transitioning the national governance system from republic to monarchy through a formal national vote. Similarly, in the history I knew, French President Louis Napoleon succeeded in his 1851 coup and became emperor through a national vote. With a Bourbon person taking that position here, the situation becomes somewhat more gloomy.

This gathering held before France’s imminent return to monarchy feels suffocating. Living well doesn’t require virtue. Citizens who prioritize living well are swayed by propaganda and black-and-white campaigns. In the future, they’ll be swayed by information pouring out beyond control. But how difficult is it to prioritize virtue over economics in this market capitalist world? And I know that the France Duke Henri envisions looks like that. A world where spiritual values are pushed aside by economics is precarious.

France doesn’t repent, and I’m at that scene. I could raise my fist right now to hospitalize future Henri V so he can’t return to France on the day President Bonaparte executes his coup, but that’s meaningless as long as the majority of citizens with voting rights want an emperor who will bring glory to France. It’s a moment of becoming powerless together with the very few French citizens who don’t want an emperor.

Yet according to the history here, Duke Henri is disgusted. By the fact that he must look forward to being elected president based on the breath of poor farmers.

In the history I knew, those who supported Louis Napoleon would have somewhat accepted his becoming emperor while not wanting the return of Count of Chambord, the legitimate Bourbon heir in the same position as current Henri. People wanted powerful order and practicality while not wanting to return to the old regime before the revolution. In other words, they wanted not just any emperor but Emperor Napoleon.

But here… As I’ve thought many times, the old regime is no longer the old regime. They create the nominal Ancien Régime as something to criticize to emphasize differentiation from the past, but that’s a kind of dumbing-down policy to hide that the present hasn’t changed much from the past. Thanks to that, the people were ready to elect the Bourbon royal family as president again if there was a promise to properly distribute the benefits gained from magic to all citizens. Following rightward shift through dumbing down…

“Ah.”

I sighed briefly. Yes, this is why I never stop thinking. When I think about everything that comes to mind, there’s always a topic that gets caught in the net. Now a plausible inference about the unfamiliar name ‘Bourbon scholarship student’ has emerged.

Rightward shift—for this, Henri and Bourbon decide to cultivate French intellectuals. Luca Laplace was a member included in the ‘new intellectual cultivation plan’ that Bourbon ambitiously planned while dreaming of restoration. Good. Now the puzzle fits together cleanly. I held my wine glass and acted appropriately soulful eyes while thinking.

But there’s still one question.

In Germany, Würzburg, Munich, and Heidelberg are famous for medicine. In France, it’s definitely Paris. It would be more natural for Germans to study abroad in Paris. While it’s not impossible, why on earth did Luca Laplace come to Bavaria, abandoning Paris’s advanced medical schools?

I swept the inside of my lips with my tongue. Damn, this is crazy. Instinctive, meaningless curses burst out. Why did he come to Bavaria? Why did Henri’s face harden when he saw that student? I gathered all the questions I’d thought of earlier and immediately knew the answer, so if I was sane, I had to find a way to resolve this crisis immediately. To avoid being purged by both France and Bavaria, I had to go meet Henri right away. I had to go meet Henri and explain that what he just saw was a misunderstanding. XX, how am I going to persuade him?

Stop. I need to think outside. Not even a second is precious. I need to go out and request materials about Bourbon’s foreign students. Isn’t that why I left my friends in Italy and came here at this dawn? I must actively use this free time, not waste it. The problem is that it’s difficult to obtain Bourbon materials in today’s Orleans-ruled era, but where did Henri come from? Since Henri was in exile in Austria until before suppressing the coup, I might have to search there. If things go well, I might even be able to access Austria-Hungary…

Thinking so, I put down my glass and walked toward the corridor. Then magic blocked my path, and I had to hastily stop to avoid falling.

From behind, I heard Hildegart Wittelsbach’s voice.

“Do you believe absolute monarchy is right?”

I was so absorbed in thought that I didn’t notice he had approached. Now I see sound-blocking magic is also cast around us. People in the banquet hall glance at us.

A future king asking such a question to a commoner—truly a chilling matter. Isn’t this a question that could cost me my head if answered wrongly? I didn’t respond. He leaned against the wall and spoke with a calm face.

“Duke Henri is already drawing pictures of after his accession, firmly refusing the tricolor flag. Only the Bourbon family flag. His associates are persuading him that he must use the tricolor flag somehow, so he’ll bend his will.”

He leaned his shoulder toward me slightly and spoke playfully.

“I can’t imagine how stubborn he’ll become by the time he’s old. Even now he’s urging me to hand over Bavarian timber at half the market price.”

“Pardon?”

“While saying he’ll transfer half of the French government bonds he owns to the Kingdom of Bavaria in the future. A curious proposal.”

But you refused. I swallowed. Henri came to this place today to extract elements necessary for coup suppression and public opinion formation. And this person had no intention of accommodating him. I felt relief deep inside.

“Bourbon won’t last long. Even if restored, it’ll be brief.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

This time I answered immediately. My heart began to beat a little faster. But Prince Hildegard silently looked toward where Duke Henri was.

Bourbon lasts long. They remain as emperors until they’re defeated in the Franco-Prussian War. Hildegart Wittelsbach declared with certainty that such Bourbon wouldn’t last long. Since he didn’t answer, I changed my question.

“What’s the reason for your certainty? What if they do last long?”

“The only way is for a different Bourbon member, not Duke Henri, to become emperor. Instead, this downfall must be achieved by the people, not a decision within Bourbon, for Bourbon to last long.”

I almost reflexively admired and laughed hollowly at those words but barely maintained my expressionless face.

Accurate. As far as I know, Bourbon lasted long, but this Duke Henri was brief. Duke Henri would set aside his stubbornness until accession, but after ascending the throne, he insisted on excluding the tricolor flag from the national flag and using only the Bourbon flag. When Bourbon and the royalists found that Duke Henri wouldn’t be as helpful to their gaining power as expected, they dethroned Henri and put forward Henri’s cousin Gagyeongja, Marie, who already had experience governing a small principality. He rules France as Bourbon’s head until the Franco-Prussian War defeat. Then a very brief provisional republican government was established, and the Bourbon collateral Orleans family pointed out Bourbon’s incompetence and established an empire again.

But this is history from December 1851 to 1871. It’s not a story that Bavaria’s crown prince would know in November 1851. I quietly asked the crown prince who was still leisurely looking across.

“How do you predict such things?”

“If you don’t know, it would benefit the people if you didn’t engage in politics.”

“….”

At those words so characteristic of Hildegard Wittelsbach, I closed my mouth. He had not used the words rule and subjects just now. For a member of the ruling house to use such words in this era was as conspicuous as a black sheep among a flock of white sheep. The previous king, the current king of this era, had governed well so that his son would grow up properly. Or perhaps Hildegard Wittelsbach had read countless books on his own and established his values to reach this position by himself. Politics, people. I repeatedly thought of those two rigid German words. That was the thread connecting the seventy-year-old Hildegard II and the young Prince Hildegard. However, there was no time to indulge in sentiment, and I quickly gathered my momentary thoughts and spoke immediately.

“If you have nothing more to say, then I—”

Hildegard Wittelsbach’s hand lands on my shoulder. He politely pulled me closer, showing affection. His hand gently falls and rests around my waist. I opened my mouth in bewilderment, feeling the attention focused on Prince Hildegard and me. However, what I heard was my opponent’s voice.

“Shouldn’t we hurry and reassure Duke Henri?”

My shoulders stiffen. I closed my mouth and looked at him. Hildegard twisted the corners of his mouth and brought his head closer.

“If you keep acting so lukewarm like this, Duke Henri will throw you out. Duke Henri’s head looks like it’s about to burst trying to figure out why you’re here with me.”

Everything that had been vaguely grasped falls into order. I finished my deduction before he finished speaking and felt my spine grow cold.

Silence flows.

I had to admit that Hildegard Wittelsbach was right. The predecessor of the nearly seventy-year-old sage Hildegard II, this twenty-year-old prince was right. The prince’s movements, indeed. Yes, the actions of a prince whose ascension to the throne was certain were worth watching closely in every aspect. Henri had even been continuously approaching the prince. So then….

Luca Laplace really was a spy. And the prince knew that fact.

I looked at Hildegard Wittelsbach, who was looking down at me with a gentle smile, and smiled likewise. My heart was beating fast, but I couldn’t tell if it was from fear or excitement. The gentle smile sent chills down my spine.

Interestingly enough to face off against, I’d been had.

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