Riser
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🕑 Added 2025-08-02 21:15:14 +0000 UTCEP.6 Childhood (1)
Ten years passed after Yuno’s younger sibling was born. Yuno was now eleven years old—the age when he was expected to begin learning the etiquette and martial arts befitting a prince. Thus, he left the Empress’s palace, where he had grown attached since childhood, and started living in his own palace.
“Your Highness, please look at this map. This is the place where the late Emperor, upon ascending the throne, reclaimed the Zenon Plains from the wicked Teseito Empire and proclaimed the Empire. After losing the vast Zenon Plains to our Balkan Empire, Teseito was demoted to a kingdom and still cannot regain its strength, but since we never know when those wicked ones might invade again, we must never let down our guard.”
After lecturing for a while, the instructor turned to check if the prince understood his explanation.
“Your Highness! Did you understand my explanation?”
“Snore~ Zzz~ Snore~”
Bang!!
“Your Highness!!”
“Ah!! Eh? Eh? Ah? Ah~ Baron Kimberley~ I’m sorry. I was up late training last night… I must not have gotten enough sleep and dozed off for a moment. Hahaha.”
Anyone could see Yuno wasn’t just dozing but was completely out cold, but Baron Kimberley couldn’t rebuke the noble prince. Barely suppressing his anger, Baron Kimberley went back to the map to try again and asked Yuno:
“Sigh~ Understood, Your Highness. I’ll explain again. How much do you remember from today’s lesson?”
“Um~~ Sorry. I don’t remember anything.”
At the prince’s shameless admission that he hadn’t listened to a single word, Baron Kimberley’s long-suppressed anger finally exploded.
Bang!!!
“Prince Yuno!! Please, attend your lessons! You are the third prince of the Balkan Empire!! You must at least learn the basics of etiquette to maintain your dignity. What I teach—history, etiquette, economics, geography, administration, law—these are the fundamentals. The basics!!”
Just hearing the list of subjects made Yuno shudder.
“Ah~ Those are my brothers’ specialties. Can’t you just teach them?”
“Your Highness!! Crown Prince Franz and Second Prince Heinrich had mastered all this by the age of ten!! If you keep this up, I’ll have to report to Her Majesty the Empress!!”
“Shouldn’t people do what they’re good at? Franz is destined to be Emperor, so he needs to master this, and Heinrich is going to be chancellor to assist Franz, so he should learn it well.”
“Then, Your Highness, you must also—!!”
“I’m not really interested in running the Empire. Isn’t it enough if I just learn martial arts and enjoy myself? If I studied statecraft, my brothers might worry. Baron Kimberley! Hahaha.”
At this, Baron Kimberley calmed his anger and looked at Yuno with a new perspective. Until now, he’d thought Yuno was just a childish boy who hated studying and only enjoyed running around and training with the knights. But now, Yuno seemed to have a keen sense of his position, careful not to become a political rival to his brothers—a sign of ambition.
“Of course, for me, training and playing with the knights is the most fun! Hahaha.”
‘Hmm… Was I wrong? No, Prince Yuno is hiding his fangs. One day, he’ll bare sharp claws at his brothers! I must teach him, even if by force… Even as the third prince, he has a claim to the throne!! If he becomes Emperor, his teacher—that’s me—could rise with him… Sniff.’
But contrary to Baron Kimberley’s suspicions, Yuno had no such ambitions. His goal was to become independent from the palace as an adult, receive his own fief, and live happily with Empress Yuria, Isabella, and Marie as a family.
‘Father is nearly eighty now, so he can’t have much longer… at most ten years… Then Mother will become Empress Dowager and either get involved in politics or retire to the countryside. But knowing her, she’ll retire…’
Yuno was already thinking about his and his family’s future, and was focusing on improving his physical abilities to guard against any possible assassination attempts.
‘If I ask to retire, my brothers will give me a suitable fief, and then I can bring Mother to live with me and be happy together… If Mother stays in the capital, she’ll attract all sorts of schemers, so if we all retire together, it’ll help my brother rule the Empire.’
As a son, he couldn’t become a lover or marry Yuria, but Yuno wanted to make his former-life love, now his mother, happy. Since she named him after the goddess of family, what mattered most to her was family happiness, and Yuno wanted to give her that.
‘And honestly, studying is boring… As long as I can protect myself and my family, that’s enough…’
Yuno had never been much of a student in his previous life, and now that he could live as he wished, he had no intention of studying hard.
Unaware of Yuno’s true thoughts, Baron Kimberley began to torment Yuno, determined to nurture his (nonexistent) ambition. Yuno, doing everything to avoid lessons, was finally forced to study when Baron Kimberley tattled to Empress Yuria, who rushed to the Third Prince’s palace and declared she would personally test him after dinner.
“Ugh~ I don’t need to learn this stuff, but Mom…”
“Tsk! Yuno! Listen to your lessons! I’ll really test you after dinner tonight!”
That evening, for the first time in his life, Yuno was spanked by his mother for not preparing for his lessons.
The next day, with the Empress observing, Yuno didn’t doze off and actually attended his lesson, making Baron Kimberley beam as he taught.
“Your Highness. Do you remember the political characteristics of the countries of our Eporeu continent that I explained yesterday?”
“…..I kind of remember… but if I say I don’t, Mom will hit me, so I’d better say I do.”
“Yuno!! If you keep that up, you’ll get in trouble with Mom again! Try explaining it.”
Yuno pouted, but under his mother’s sharp gaze, he had no choice but to answer.
‘At times like this, I wonder if Mom really isn’t Yuri… Yuri was so kind… but my mom…’
But as Empress Yuria, now in her mid-twenties, looked more and more like Yuri from his previous life, Yuno kept getting confused.
‘What’s the point if she’s Yuri… I can’t date my mom… Damn that god… I’ll get revenge for sure!!’
“Yuno? What are you thinking about instead of answering?”
“A…alright… Ahem. First, Teseito is a country where all power is concentrated in the king, and under the king, the ministers of administration and military divide up the realms of governance. Leon Kingdom is most similar to our Empire, with ministers for each field in a cabinet-style government.”
“There was a lot left out and summarized, but that was correct. Then what about Johannes Holy State and Drogon Kingdom?”
“In Johannes Holy State, the Pope and the Council of Cardinals handle state affairs, and if a problem arises, a saintess mediates disputes.”
“And Drogon Kingdom?”
“…..Please explain that part one more time.”
“Sniffle. Still, I’m impressed you reviewed and memorized this much. I’ll explain the rest in detail again.”
Baron Kimberley went on at length about Drogon Kingdom, Alto Kingdom, and the Meikan Tribal Confederation. But to Yuno, it all just sounded like unnecessarily long stories.
‘So, Drogon Kingdom’s king is appointed by the Dragon Lord who lives in the center of the Dragon’s Breath Mountains, and when the king dies, they go offer tribute and ask the Dragon Lord to pick a new king… The Meikan Tribal Confederation picks a Great Chief every ten years at a grand tribal council… And Alto Kingdom is ruled by the king and parliament, and the king is elected from among the members… Why explain it so long…’
Of course, Baron Kimberley’s lessons were excellent, explaining the history and the origins of each political system in detail, but to uninterested Yuno, it was like reading scripture to a cow.
Step step step step
While Baron Kimberley was deep in his lesson, he frowned at the sound of military boots coming down the hall.
Three royal guards entered, and upon seeing the Empress, they flinched and saluted.
“Your Majesty! We hope you are well!! The third prince’s training session is about to begin—may we escort His Highness?”
Before the Empress could answer, Yuno, delighted at the mention of training, threw aside his book and pen, gave his mother a quick farewell, and dashed outside.
Empress Yuria gave a wry smile at her son’s behavior and apologized to Baron Kimberley, his basic etiquette instructor.
“Sorry, Baron Kimberley. The prince is still young and seems to prefer playing outside. But don’t worry! I’ll scold him properly tonight.”
At the Empress’s polite apology, Baron Kimberley jumped up and bowed deeply.
“Not at all, Your Majesty! The prince is more than capable. He has a deep understanding of affairs and responds to situations accordingly, even at a young age—he’s a brilliant boy.”
“What… what do you mean?”
Baron Kimberley explained in detail what he had observed, and upon hearing it, the Empress’s hands began to tremble. She quickly returned to her palace, dismissed all her attendants, and wept in secret.
‘Ah… my poor son… Still so young, wanting only to play, but already thinking such things… I’m sorry, my son… I’m sorry…’
Unaware that his mother was crying, Yuno was happily immersed in training with the knights.
