2 Marquis of Layfette (1)

"Ahhhh!" 

The chilling sound of the guillotine blade dropping echoed in my ears like an auditory hallucination. 

"Huuuff, huff, huff..." 

A sensation as if the wind was blowing through my neck, which should not be felt at all. 

I frantically raised my trembling hand to my neck. 

...It's properly attached. 

The image of my body on the guillotine, which I saw with my own eyes, still lingered in my mind. 

My body. 

My body without a head. 

I stood up almost reflexively. 

Where am I? 

My room. 

My room? 

This is not the filthy and horrible dungeon. 

This is definitely my room in the Marquis's estate. 

I walked unsteadily to one side of the room, and my reflection with a perfectly attached neck appeared in the mirror. 

"What is this?" 

The figure reflected in the mirror was now of a young man who looked to be in his late teens. 

*** 

A maid came to wake me up and was surprised to see me already awake and brought me a washbasin. 

I washed my face with clean water instead of being locked up in the cold and musty air of the dungeon. 

Is this a dream? 

The strange feeling of having memories of fighting on the battlefield without time to change clothes and being imprisoned in the dungeon mixed with memories of my childhood when a maid always helped me dress. 

Perhaps this is all a hallucination made up by my severed head? 

With engrained movements, I mechanically repeated the daily routine I had in this mansion 10 years ago. 

I just wash, dress, and go to the dining room when I'm told that breakfast is ready. 

The dining room was filled with a luxurious meal that was unimaginable on the battlefield or in prison. 

Well-cooked chicken and vegetables, warm soup, and soft white bread. 

I remembered the taste of the hard bread that the commoners ate, the last thing I ate. 

The butler called me cautiously, seeing that I wasn't touching my food because I still felt disconnected from reality. 

"Young Master?" 

Young Master? Right. That's what I was called. 

"Is there anything wrong...?" 

The butler seemed to be observing my reaction, wondering if I was uncomfortable and not eating. 

"No, nothing." 

And then I noticed the maid standing in the corner of the room, watching me eat. 

A young girl who resembled the woman who gave me the bread for the last time. 

She must have looked like this 10 years ago. 

"What's your name?" 

"My...my name is Jessie, Young Master." 

The girl was startled, as if she hadn't expected to be asked this question. 

—"Your Excellency, the Marquis. Do you, who have so proudly protected and guarded your people, know the names of those you rule?"— 

The laughter and jeers of the crowd surrounding the guillotine continued to echo in my ears. 

Jessie. I made sure to remember the name that I wouldn't have bothered to learn before. 

Then I picked up a piece of white bread. 

Feeling its soft texture, I slowly dipped it in the soup and put it in my mouth. 

The soft and warm taste spread slowly in my mouth. 

Only then did it hit me that this was real. 

"Y-Young Master?!" 

I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. 

"...I'm back." 

*** 

The Kingdom of Francia, a country of knights, was in turmoil. 

Normally, the eldest son should be the successor to the throne, but the late king, known as the 'Knight King' for his bravery and fiery temper, did not favour the 1st Prince, who was extremely aristocratic and political. 

On the other hand, the 2nd Prince was an excellent knight himself and won the favour of the late king by personally distinguishing himself in the war against the Germania Empire. 

Naturally, the late king wanted to crown the 2nd Prince as the crown prince, but the 1st Prince, who took advantage of his political influence, used the power of the nobles who were dissatisfied with the king to keep both the king and the 2nd Prince in check. 

Thus, in the midst of the chaotic succession structure with the 1st Prince's faction, which was centred on the nobles, and the 2nd Prince's faction, which was centred on the royalists, the unfortunate death of the late king occurred. 

The 1st and 2nd Princes both claimed that they should inherit the throne, and the conflict between the factions soon escalated into a civil war. 

The civil war that began in this way has been burning throughout the Kingdom of Francia for three years. 

*** 

"Ugh, are you sure about this, Young Master?" 

The middle-aged man with a potbelly, Baron Robert de Dumont, wiped his sweat with a handkerchief and asked. 

It must be tough for a fat guy in the summer... 

"What are you talking about?" 

"With the shortage of troops left by the Marquis, sending out our precious cavalry..." 

My father, Marquis of Lafayette, is a key figure in the 1st Prince's faction and is currently leading the army near the capital of the kingdom, Lumiere, in the midst of civil war. 

One might ask, as the strongest knight in the Kingdom of Francia, known as the 'Blue Knight', why did the Marquis side with the more aristocratic and politically supported First Prince instead of the Second Prince, who is supported by the knights? 

It was because when my father first became a knight, we were not a marquis family. 

My father rose to fame with his overwhelming martial arts skills and received the title of 'Blue Knight' and the rank of Marquis. 

However, as a newly emerging high-ranking noble, he was naturally ostracized by the existing nobles, and the Lafayette family was practically a marginalized family in the central government. 

When the civil war broke out, most of the knights and military leaders followed the Second Prince, so the desperate First Prince won over the Marquis family by promising various privileges. 

So while the Marquis is leading the main force of the Marquisate in the north to help the First Prince fight the civil war, I am managing the Marquisate in the south, which is quite far from the main battlefield. 

And the Marquis took most of the knights and heavily armed cavalry with him and ordered the light cavalry remaining in the territory to patrol the border of the territory. 

"Anyway, the remaining cavalry in the territory are only light cavalry. Besides, if we are ever to be attacked, the cavalry patrolling on the borders around will surely find out first." 

"That is true, but..." 

The baron kept wiping his sweat with his handkerchief, but he looked at me with a slightly strange look in his eyes. 

Originally, I was not this active at this time. 

Since this was the Kingdom of Francia, a country of knights, the fact that I, the heir, was left in charge of the territory while a civil war was going on was not because I was trusted, but because my father thought I was not capable enough to join him on the battlefield and earn my share of merits. 

So, from the point of view of the Baron, who has been assisting me with taking charge of the administration of the territory while the Marquis is participating in the civil war with the territorial army, it must seem like I have changed overnight. 

"Don't worry too much. It's just a precaution." 

"I trust that you have everything planned, Young Master." 

He said that with a face full of disbelief, but... 

"Yes, I will make sure that you will not be disappointed." 

"Ahem, ahem. Disappointment, you say. Well, then, I shall take my leave. Young Master." 

I saw the Baron off and slowly closed my eyes. 

A month has passed since I woke up as an 18-year-old, with the memories of being executed on the guillotine at the age of 28. 

At first, I was confused about whether I had just had a terrible dream, but now I have fully accepted that this is reality. 

This is because, above all, not only did the trivial encounters and events that I remember happen exactly as I remember them, but even the news coming from the northern battlefield, the main battlefield of the Civil War, is exactly what I already know. 

It can't be a coincidence at this point. 

I must have gone back in time, killed by the revolutionaries. 

I don't know the reason or the principle. 

But the resentment I felt at dying in such a way in front of the guillotine, and the earnest desire I had for a second chance, are still vividly remembered. 

And if so, then this time, I must grasp a different fate. 

I opened my eyes again and looked at the Marquis's orders from the north. 

The Marquis, leading the main force of the Marquisate in the north, is naturally demanding a constant supply of massive military supplies. 

In the past, I would have replied that it is impossible to collect war taxes from a territory that has been impoverished by indiscriminate looting. 

The Marquis then ordered me to send military supplies either by collecting war taxes or by plundering the nearby territories of the Second Prince's faction. 

However, I know full well that a revolution is about to break out. Knowing how the First Prince dies, I naturally have no intention of using such methods. 

But the Marquis will not be convinced of that. 

The Marquis, who believes that he will be rewarded for all his devotion once the First Prince becomes king, has staked everything on this civil war. 

However, that devotion was not reciprocated, and my father, the Marquis, died in vain. 

In my previous life, I succeeded the Marquis and fought against the revolutionary army, but the nobles of the Kingdom of Francia, who were known as the strongest knights on the continent, were crushed by the revolutionary army. 

This was because the revolutionary army had an unparalleled genius general. 

Raphael Varian. 

This general actively utilized gunpowder weapons, which had been pushed aside due to the dominance of knights and mages who wielded magic, and inflicted consecutive defeats on the royal army with his ingenious tactics that no one could stop. 

I was lucky enough to get a second chance. 

Even so, to be honest, I don't think I can stand against Raphael Varian and crush the revolution itself. 

Due to the long period of civil war, most of the cities had bought autonomy from the king and nobles, so it was difficult to deal with the key figures of the revolutionary army, who were all influential figures in these cities. 

No, before that. This rotten kingdom is bound to collapse even more miserably than without a revolution. 

—Kill them! 

—Death to the corrupt nobles! 

Even so, when I close my eyes, I can sometimes hear the hallucinations of the madness and ridicule that filled the city. 

I saw what madness and frenzy the revolution brought to Francia. In the republic that rose up after the overthrow of the kingdom, the number of people executed by the guillotine is not much less than those who died in the civil war. 

The revolution will happen in the 5th year of the civil war, which is 2 years from now. 

So, I will follow the Marquis's orders and procure military supplies, but I must avoid over-exploiting the common people or becoming notorious for looting during these 2 years. 

Only then can I join hands with the revolutionary army as an uncorrupted noble and ally of the common people. I need to make sure that the moderates, not the radicals, take power within them. 

Only then can I prevent the madness of the rampant revolutionary army from staining my people and Francia with blood. 

In this life, I will not just watch as everything I have protected is so meaninglessly denied. 

At that moment, a knock came and a deep voice was heard. 

"Young Master." 

"Come in, Knight." 

The door opened and a large man in armour entered and saluted. 

He is the same age as me, but he is a head taller than me. 

"Knight Ran Gaston greets the Acting Marquis Pierre de Lafayette." 

In a situation where all the knights except the Marquis had been wiped out, this man was the only knight left in the Marquisate besides me. 

At the same time, he is a man who makes me feel very complicated emotions. 

He is the one who made the Marquis distrust me since he was a commoner, but even so, he was the one who remained loyal to me to the end, even when it became clear that the kingdom's army was going to be defeated. 

I looked at him for a moment, then shook off my complicated feelings and asked. 

"What is it?" 

"This is a report from the cavalry who went on a reconnaissance mission as ordered by the Young Master. It is said that a force of about 100 men, including knights, entered the Marquisate from the direction of the Mirbeau County." 

"It's looting." 

"Yes. It looks like it." 

I don't have time to be leisurely lost in thought. 

I sighed involuntarily. 

"Gather the cavalry. Let's go out right away." 

"Only the cavalry?" 

"Yes." 

Sir Gaston asked as if he was puzzled, but the scouts just discovered the enemy and returned to report it, so by the time we gather the entire army here and march there, the village will already be in ruins. 

In order to prevent the moderates of the revolutionary army from being pushed out by the radicals, we must at least maintain a force strong enough to support them. So we can't just let the territory be looted. 

As I thought about this and put on my breastplate, Sir Gaston's expressionless face showed a surprised look. 

"Are you going out too, Young Master?" 

"Yes." 

I answered simply and picked up my sword and bow. 

What am I going to do without an army because the Marquis took them all? 

I have no choice but to do it myself. 

"We have to make those who came to rob the innocent people of the Marquisate pay the price."

***

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