Chapter 269
Chapter 269
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 269
Chapter Title: How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magical Noble Family
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“…….”
I smiled at the steward.
Excellency? To Luca, he was someone who could be called a godfather, and he must have thought the same. Hadn’t he even come to the classroom and refrained from calling me young master?
The Anhalt government’s stance of riding the bandwagon of public sentiment for gain was clear from the representatives’ attitudes, but Ascanien’s mood was still uncertain.
Because of the unpredictable wild card named Georg Ascanien, Ascanien might maintain its previous hostile attitude separately from the government, taking the benefits while still treating me awkwardly. The Anhalt government wasn’t the one who raised Luca, so they wouldn’t feel much guilt about switching sides, but Ascanien was different.
The only person in Ascanien who had cared about Luca’s health and treated him warmly was Adrian Ascanien. Even that had been exposed as his true colors to me, not Luca. It was unknown whether Ascanien, expecting to have failed to make a good impression on me, would stick to its past attitude or switch like the Anhalt government.
It wasn’t enough to gather a ton of information, but now, through the steward, I at least had an indirect sense.
I shook my head.
“Please call me comfortably.”
“Shall I? Let’s go, young master.”
He led me out beyond the platform. Whether it was under access control or not, there was no one on the platform except Ascanien servants. But the moment we stepped outside Dessau Station, I faced a dense crowd packed beyond the barricade lines.
They were all Anhalt citizens.
“…….”
The noise from the crowd cut off abruptly as their eyes met mine. I could sense shock and wariness in their round eyes. Caught between the information they had believed and the empire’s hero, they were plunged into immense confusion. Their intense determination and curiosity to see and judge me with their own eyes, refusing to trust the empire’s testimony, was plain on their faces.
These were the people.
These were the ones who, pushed by my brother’s schemes, had despised Luca as the most reviled figure in the empire.
I gave them a smile and boarded the Ascanien carriage.
Ulrike, who knew nothing of the situation, climbed in beside me with a tense face. Muttering to himself as he did,
“To think I’d come to Anhalt. Oh...”
“You said you’d never been here before.”
“Yeah.”
Now Leo and Narce had joined us in the carriage.
Whether Ulrike sensed the subtly tense atmosphere or considered my position as Pleroma, he asked a question I hadn’t expected from him.
“But are you close with your family? I hope hanging out doesn’t ruin your mood for no reason.”
“Who knows.”
I quietly replied as I parted the carriage window blinds with my fingers now that we were starting to move. Even after leaving the station, citizens who had come to gawk at me lined both sides of the road.
“I’ll find out soon enough.”
Narce was restricted from using his precognition to aid his recovery. Neither he, Leo, nor I could be certain of the exact flow of the political situation here—we could only guess.
I smiled at Ulrike and said,
“We’re heading to Residenzschloss Dessau now. Just wait a bit.”
Residenzschloss Dessau was the Ascanien main residence. It was the castle I’d come to when summoned by my brother, so this was my second time.
If only each minute had felt like an hour, it might have been better. To me, the road from Dessau Station to Residenzschloss felt incredibly short. What should have been a ten-minute carriage ride felt like less than five.
“We’ve arrived.”
The steward’s voice came from outside the carriage.
Far ahead near the castle gate, on the right side, Ascanien servants stood in formation. I’d thought the same last time, but this was incomparable to what I’d seen before. It seemed they’d gathered not just from the main residence but from all thirteen castles owned by the family.
And on the left were Anhalt government officials and assembly members. The pinnacle of entrenched corruption in modern eyes, and the same in this era. This wasn’t at the family level. It was a national welcome.
“…Wow.”
Ulrike glanced at me in admiration. I wanted to do the same, but my facial muscles remained as they were.
The real surprise wasn’t them. What shocked me more was above them—right in front of me—the Ascanien-affiliated mages standing there.
Creak—
The steward opened the carriage door. I got out wordlessly and looked up.
The same scene I’d witnessed in Bavaria unfolded. They saluted me.
“…….”
Just as the imperial family had its own mages, this place had family mages on a household level. Whenever a direct Ascanien visited or returned officially to Anhalt, this was the standard procedure.
Unlike the old Anhalt forces semi-forcibly integrated into the imperial army after the empire’s founding, these mages were newly hired as Anhalt’s private forces in the post-magic world. Like the imperial guard, they served the family and sovereign, so they were commonly mobilized for ruling family events.
To Adrian Ascanien, this must have been routine.
For me, it was a first.
Of course, this was also the first time I’d visited on official business, and under normal circumstances, I couldn’t have expected such treatment.
Earlier this year, I’d realized a VIP had come home from the servants’ welcome. In truth, Luca deserved that greeting too, but naturally, I assumed it wasn’t for me and guessed my brother had returned.
But my brother wasn’t here now.
Without Anhalt’s crown prince—the VIP—there was no need to save face for the Pleroma master as before.
So I could say this.
This spectacle owed nothing to my brother’s merit. It was entirely because of me.
I lightly raised my hand to the brim of my hat and lowered it.
They hadn’t called in the old guard nor assembled only new humans for overly elaborate maneuvers, so they’d kept it exactly moderate. I appreciated that they hadn’t gone mad summoning outdated protocols to win favor. Anything more would have disgusted me into scoffing.
“Welcome back to Anhalt. All of Anhalt’s subjects have been awaiting Your Excellency’s arrival.”
The Anhalt Prime Minister, whom I’d never seen before, approached and said this. Instead of replying, I extended my hand for a shake.
He shook it gravely and stepped aside.
“It is an honor to meet Leonard Wittelsbach, Crown Prince of Bavaria; Yulia Cheringen, Grand Duke Heir of Baden; and Elias Hohenzollern, Duke of Prussia. I am Joseph Ascanien, Prime Minister of the Anhalt government.”
I waited until he’d spoken to all the visitors, then walked toward the main gate with the steward at my side.
The path was hushed due to the uncharacteristic ceremony. Only after entering indoors did I hear my friends’ small exclamations of awe as tension eased.
We headed to the east wing of the castle. The steward pointed to rooms lining both sides of the corridor.
“Young master, you can use your room until tomorrow morning. For your friends, we’ve converted the vacant rooms here into guest rooms, so please stay there. The upper one is for His Highness Elias Hohenzollern…”
I half-listened as I gazed at my room. Unlike the others, the clean mahogany door showed almost no signs of use. With all my senses stiffening, I slowly placed my hand on the doorknob.
Creak—
“…….”
The scene I’d seen before unfolded before me unchanged.
The aristocratic Baroque interior, the marshes and waterways visible through the window, the blue Elbe River meeting the Mulde far off—all held nothing but bad memories for both Luca and me.
I’d come back here again. Last time, I’d been dragged here alone; now, I’d come at Anhalt’s invitation.
I looked down at the floor by the door. It felt like yesterday I’d collapsed here. The day the steward came to school, Leo had given me sedatives under the pretext of delivering flyers. The memory of taking that medicine on this bed was still vivid. Friends couldn’t visit, so they’d snuck pie into my bag.
“Wow, what’s that? Is the lamp gold?”
“Brass, no?”
Not now. It was different now. Friends who babbled nonsense were here with me.
“Young master. Allow me to brief you on the schedule. Please follow me.”
The murmurs stopped at the steward’s call. I felt all my friends’ gazes on me. I nodded to the steward and smiled at them. Narce smiled softly in response.
We moved to the hall on the same floor and sat on the sofa by the balcony. He sat opposite and spoke.
“You must be very tired. Young master, you may rest until just before noon.”
“Plenty of free time.”
“Indeed. At 8 p.m. tonight, there will be a 30-minute press conference. Twenty journalists from Anhalt and Prussia will be at the first-floor banquet hall. We’ll review the final reports from each newspaper here in Anhalt, so please proceed without worry.”
Censorship, naturally. I had no intention of saying anything against Anhalt’s will at this time, so it wouldn’t harm me.
“And the Duke will arrive at noon.”
“Perfect timing. I was just about to ask where my father is.”
At my words, the steward raised an eyebrow. Clasping my hands, I smiled and asked,
“I’m truly glad to see Father. What brings him here?”
* * *
I wasn’t asking out of ignorance—I was being sarcastic.
Fortunately, the steward understood. He was someone who regretted the family’s neglect of me, so no need to twist the knife further.
They already needed to know the family had failed to earn my trust once, but no need for outright hostility.
I stayed on the balcony of the now-empty hall, gazing outside. A crowd still swarmed beyond the castle walls, eager to see me. Light was rising in the dusky sky.
‘Luca Ascanien’s identity is still unstable.’
With public sentiment having exploded so explosively, I couldn’t say this moment was fully on my side. Crowds could easily swing to the opposite extreme with minimal agitation—that was their nature. Anyone aiming to survive in politics couldn’t naively accept the empire’s hero worship at face value. As supporters grew, so did enemies, and forces to drag down ‘Luca Ascanien’ would emerge. The key was guiding this peak excitement into stability.
The problem was, if Luca Ascanien—who had already fallen once and risen—fell again, recovery chances would be extremely low. Assuming a fall to the prior level, of course.
This held whether I merged identities with Nikolaus now or not.
‘It’s all assuming attacks from my brother, my equal adversary.’
No need to consider other enemies now. My future hinged solely on what card my brother played.
I could preemptively merge Nikolaus into me to solidify my image and block his attacks.
But even then, my future would split on his cards. He’d endured a long time. He definitely had a plan. If he played a card to shatter public support again, Luca Ascanien would crash into the mud alongside Nikolaus. Aiming for high-return attack nullification meant bearing this high risk.
‘Of course, what he can even do now is questionable.’
Delay the merger with Nikolaus? Assuming the worst—Luca Ascanien falls once more after hardship—Nikolaus could serve as a recovery card, provided time passed. Lower risk than above, as I’d avoid attacks on Nikolaus too. Unlike Luca Ascanien, malicious rumors about Nikolaus were negligible, thanks to Bavaria intelligence gathering continental info.
Still, Luca Ascanien’s re-collapse would critically weaken even the Nikolaus Ernst identity.
In short, successfully blocking my brother’s masterstroke—prepared since January, maybe October last year—was crucial for my dawn.
And my answer to his attack was this.
Letting my approval ratings drop wasn’t an option.
No matter the process, my only future was stabilizing this public opinion.
And I hoped he wouldn’t assume I’d just keep defending.
After deflecting his blow, soon—per my expectations—I’d shift strategy.
Defense ends. Time to gather intel on attacking Adrian Ascanien and lay foundations in imperial politics. Even if it’s ten-year-old info, or vanished, somehow.
‘First, let’s check that.’
Dawn 777
— To Final Ending ‘Chapter X. Death’: 588 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 13 seconds
— Changeability: 60.9% (+7.0%p)
‘Hm.’
Good. Satisfactory.
Less than 200 days in, already nearly 61%.
With 588 days left, only 39% to 100%. Objectively, my strategy had succeeded on multiple levels so far.
Growth accelerated since the base formed, so filling the rest would take even less time than expected. My goal: stabilize this crowd psychology, gaining 1% at a time to hit 70% by March.
Variables inevitable, of course. Minimizing them, ensuring any don’t harm me—that’s my top priority.
I stepped away from the balcony toward the east wing.
Rounding the corner, my friends’ lively voices echoed down the hall. Ulrike, spotting me, slung an arm over my shoulder in shocked tones.
“Hey… While you were out, I toured the house. You’re seriously rich. What the hell?”
My father was the rich one. Anyway, I couldn’t help laughing at Ulrike’s carefree awe. My rigid expression, unbeknownst to me, relaxed because of it.
Hearing this with Prussians, Bavarians, and Badeners here felt off. Anhalt was a ruling family but a small state economically dwarfed by those three.
Noticing my arrival, Elias—who’d been sprawled face-down on his bed—joined our talk, voice only.
“As expected of an emperor-holding state. Ahh~ Nice.”
“Emperor?!”
Ulrike gaped at me. Not that close to Elias yet, but shocked by his words? I waved it off quickly.
“No, he means our country’s emperor.”
There was a Russian emperor from Ascanien-Anhalt line. Catherine the Great, famed enlightened despot, was of this house. Though ethnically German Ascanien, she was ‘Russian’ enough to depose Peter III—who clung to German identity, botching the war—and take the throne herself. No Ascanien bragged on that bloodline.
‘Elias knows anyway.’
He was just joking as usual.
Then, Elias’s magic sluggishly flowed to me. Follow it. Entering his room, he bolted upright.
“When can we drink the good stuff?!”
“Whenever you say.”
“Not just me. Everyone together!”
“Sorry. Can’t. Maybe before bed.”
“What!”
He’d drunk plenty on the train, yet still craved more? Shocked, he flopped back on the bed.
“Ah… No way. Then I…”
“Drink with Hyke. He seems to be waiting for it too.”
“Hmm~ Hyke’s good.”
Answering that, he blinked at me. Firmly, to those sparkling eyes, I said,
“I have to head out soon. Wait till evening.”
“Got it… Then drink till I pass out! Ah, today I’ll watch Luca get wasted!”
Bang—!
I wouldn’t.
No reply, I shut his door.
Narce had closed his and gone to sleep early again. Ulrike and Hyke must be touring the castle—they’d vanished. Cheringen was chatting in Leo’s room; spotting me, he smiled and waved.
I waved lightly and entered my room, lying on the bed.
“…….”
Memories from last visit colored my impression here with only hostility and tension toward my brother.
But with friends here, all tension washed away.
Different now. No matter what Adrian Ascanien tried, he couldn’t shatter my foundation.
I sat up immediately.
Time to list his possible attacks and countermeasures.
And time flew.
Skipping meals to focus, noon neared with the hourly bell.
Knock knock—
[Young master. You must come down soon.]
The steward’s slightly tense voice. I closed my notebook and stood.
My father had arrived at the castle.