HTRE 02

Chapter 2

“I greet the Sun of Franz.”

After returning to the Imperial Palace from completing the great task, Franz’s Emperor, Derick Halshalt, dismissed the attendants.

It had been an exhausting day. Duke Claudis, whom they had tried to arrest for plotting treason, had been executed immediately.

“If Claudis becomes an obstacle to Franz’s future, I will gladly accept death. But I have one request. Please record the destruction of my family as having happened because I lost control of my ability. This is the last wish of a subject who has devoted his entire life to the Empire.”

The Duke had lived his whole life only for Franz. He probably did not want the disgrace of treason to remain in his family’s history.

The Emperor thought granting the request of his old friend and lifelong rival would be his final act of mercy. So he granted it.

Now, everything was over.

“Your Majesty, His Highness Prince Kailev has arrived.”

The Prince did not forget to visit his exhausted father. He was not a welcome guest, but the Emperor had no choice but to receive his son.

Kailev Halshalt.

He was the Emperor’s youngest son and the person who had contributed the most to destroying the House of Claudis.

Prince Kailev came to see his father quietly late at night. His golden eyes, shining brightly in the darkness, seemed to see through everything.

The Emperor was afraid of those eyes, but he could not back down.

“So, my son. Did you finish everything well?”

His voice trembled slightly, despite being the voice of a father speaking to his son.

“They were all burned to ashes.”

“You did well. You saved Franz’s future.”

“More precisely, I saved your future, Father.”

Kailev looked directly into his father’s eyes. His posture did not waver at all.

“Then keep your promise now, Father.”

The Fourteenth Prince of Franz was making a deal with the Emperor.

“Step down from the throne.”

He was speaking to an Emperor who had already lost his power and was now only Emperor in name.

And he was only a twelve-year-old child.

The reason the Franz Empire had been able to possess the strongest power on the continent of Quellton was because of the blessing of the god Galamianne.

Those chosen by Galamianne’s blessing received a special power called a ‘Divine Power.’

Among them, the Halshalt bloodline was the strongest. Their family never stopped producing people with Divine Power, and they had ruled Franz as its emperors for 600 years.

Derick, who had lost his Divine Power more than ten years ago, had gradually become powerless.

He had once been called the most capable Emperor in history.

If the truth became known, factions trying to remove the Emperor would appear.

Unfortunately, the secret could not be kept from Kailev.

“If you do not want it to be discovered that you have lost your Divine Power, step down.”

The Emperor had no choice but to do as his son said.

Honor was important to Derick as well.

Just as Duke Claudis had not wanted to leave the disgrace of treason on his family, he did not want to lose his position because of a rebellion.

“I understand. I will do as you say.”

And so, Derick was forced to step down from the throne by his young son.

Shin Yejin was the name she had before she was reincarnated as Eroica, the youngest daughter of the House of Claudis.

Although her family was extremely poor and buried under mountains of debt, her parents were full of love.

Her mother had been as beautiful as a flower blooming in an environment so low that it made one sick.

Her poor father could do nothing for his beloved wife and daughter except earn money through hard labor.

His back was covered with more and more wounds every day as he came home late at night and left for work before sunrise.

Even when her exhausted father became bedridden after falling at a construction site, she still did not let go of her attachment to life.

The family’s situation, which she had thought could not get any worse, strangely continued to hit rock bottom every day.

Debt collectors came to their home almost every day, and their belongings disappeared one by one.

Her father, who could not even receive proper care because they did not have enough money for hospital bills, passed away when she was thirteen.

Her mother, who spent every day sleeping because of her helplessness, took her own life exactly six months after her father’s death.

Yejin did not resent her.

After all, she herself had thought about following her mother several times a day.

Since none of their relatives could be contacted, young Shin Yejin was sent to an institution.

She tried countless times to adapt to her new environment.

But it seemed that the people there did not like her.

The other children, who were bothered by Shin Yejin because she had entered the institution at a relatively late age, bullied her.

“You’re dirty.”

“You stink.”

All she had to endure was contempt disguised as concern.

The other children constantly attacked her, while the adults remained indifferent.

Her days repeated like hell.

Even so, she desperately continued to live.

Then, when Shin Yejin turned twenty-one, she decided to go to her parents herself.

Her distrust of people and her resentment toward the world led her.

“It must be really cold……”

It was winter, and the wind was so strong that her ears hurt from the cold.

Without thinking too much, she bought a train ticket and went to a beach as far away from the institution as possible.

In the pitch-black night, the only sound she could hear was the waves mercilessly crashing against the rocks.

“Mom, Dad. Please wait for me just a little longer.”

When the cold seawater touched her feet, the freezing sensation was painfully clear, but she could not stop.

Salty tears wet her lips, and her vision became blurred until she could no longer see anything.

The coldness of the seawater pierced her skin, and the waves slowly began to cover her.

By the time regret started to fill her heart, she was already being swallowed by the sea.

‘Ah…… This is the end.’

She struggled against the pain that felt like her lungs were about to burst, but her ankles only became heavier.

As she sank endlessly into the deep sea, she thought,

‘If I am born again, I hope it will be a different life from this one.’

She knew it was an absurd thought to have at the edge of death, but for the first time in her life, she had an honest thought.

And she prayed.

God probably did not exist, but if He did, she wanted Him to appear before her.

She wanted Him to give her just one chance.

When she had struggled for a long time and was beginning to lose consciousness, a white light appeared before her eyes.

[Child, open your eyes. I will grant your wish.]

She felt a warm voice surrounding her.

Even though she could not clearly see his form, she could feel his smile.

Before she knew it, he warmly covered Shin Yejin.

“Waaah!”

And when she closed her eyes for a moment and opened them again, she had been reborn under the name Eroica Claudis.

It was difficult to grow Franz into a great empire with only the Divine Power of the Halshalt family.

Even so, there was a reason Franz won countless wars and was praised as an imperial nation.

It was because of another Divine Power belonging to the House of Claudis.

It was not a power passed down through every generation, but whenever someone born with this Divine Power appeared, people said that generation could swallow the Empire—or even the entire continent.

That was what the House of Claudis, where Eroica was born, was like.

After being reincarnated, she lived a luxurious life.

She had parents and siblings who loved her dearly, and her family was so wealthy that it was difficult for her to adjust.

It was completely different from her previous life, when she had never been able to have anything she needed.

There was only one strange thing.

Her father did not allow her to leave the mansion until she turned thirteen.

“Eroica, we have a guest visiting the mansion today, so stay in your room and do not come out.”

Because of this, she had to remain confined to a room located in the deepest part of the mansion.

She had questions.

But she had no complaints.

Sometimes she thought about her parents from her previous life, but the parents of this life were surely good people as well.

She even dreamed of repaying their kindness when she became an adult.

Then, when she reached the same age as in her previous life—thirteen—everything was taken away from her once again.

Eroica felt as if she were the root of all these events.

After all, God had not reincarnated her simply to watch her be happy.

But she could not just spend her time resenting everything.

Eroica was too young, and there was nothing she could do right away.

But there was one difference from her previous life.

This time, Soma and Tiller were by her side to protect her.

And there was the name Claudis, which her father had given his life to protect.

She could not give that up so easily.

If she ever met the people who had taken away her happiness again, she would drag them down into the abyss.

And she would reclaim Claudis.

She believed that was what she had to do.

Duke Claudis had spent his entire life protecting Franz.

But the Emperor of Franz had betrayed that Duke.

Because of this, Eroica’s anger was directed at all of Franz.

A burning desire for revenge.

Eroica, who normally did not experience many strong emotions, felt this emotion desperately for the first time.

‘Why didn’t Father use his ability?’

She did not know why the Emperor had betrayed her father.

But even if he had turned all of Franz against him, her father’s ability should have been more than enough to face the Emperor.

“Father wouldn’t have just let himself be attacked for no reason.”

At Eroica’s voice, Tiller stopped what he was doing, while Soma, who had been suffering from seasickness, also looked at her.

It was the first time they had heard her voice during the long voyage, which she had spent in silence.

Their ship was just about to arrive in Palestina.

Unlike Franz, where it was the middle of winter, warm weather continued in Palestina. As they approached the country, a hot breeze gently blew.

Eroica’s hair fluttered in the wind like waves on the surface of the sea.

She stood up with determination.

“I will definitely keep Father’s last words.”