Chapter 1

I became Napoleon's genius son - Chapter 0 (1/547)

Prologue - I became Napoleon's prospective adoptive son

So, I am a gambler.

Do you know what's most important in gambling?

There are countless types of gambling in the world.

Cards, roulette, even sports betting, and if you think about it, lotteries like the lottery are all types of gambling.

Is it illegal?

Only in Korea.

In most countries in the world, there are many legal forms of gambling.

So, let's get back to the main point. What do you need to win at gambling?

"Odd. Even!"

It's the sense to determine whether something will succeed or fail.

This is the highest quality of a gambler, soon to be a gambler.

I have that sense.

Just like the silver [text] I've seen since I was a child.

Seeing the clear letters, I made my decision.

The card is flipped in front of me.

Yes, that's it.

The side I chose came up.

The opponent's eyes distort.

I grin.

"Alright, then I'll take this money."

Sweeping the money off the table, I whistle as I leave.

The faces of the gamblers in the house twist.

But it's already in my hands.

Piling up the cash, I stuff it into a golf bag and drive away.

I'll feast on this money for a while.

Three years of studying abroad.

More days spent gambling than studying.

That's when it happened.

"Huh? Is this still here?"

On one side of the car.

My master's thesis was rolling around.

-〈Napoleon's Final Choice, the Russian Campaign.〉

I shouldn't have seen that.

"Really, I wrote this for nothing."

What is this?

Ah, I am a gambler now, but three years ago, I was a bright-eyed student.

And I was a graduate student in Western European history, specifically French history, which doesn't even pay.

I went abroad with dreams of a bright future, but somehow I got hooked on gambling.

I've had this mysterious ability to make judgments since I was a child.

I wasn't good at studying, but gambling was easy.

It's natural to do what's easy.

Suddenly, I gritted my teeth as I looked at the thesis.

"Stupid Napoleon. Just as stupid as me."

Yes, just like me, who came abroad to become a professor.

Western European history is notoriously difficult to get a degree in.

Why is it difficult?

Of course, you have to go abroad to get a professorship, so it's obvious.

Anyway, after overcoming adversity, hardship, and trials, I managed to pass my master's thesis.

The thesis was about French history, specifically the Napoleonic era after the French Revolution.

I had to read extensively about the French Revolution and the Napoleonic era.

But reading the history books and sources of this era, I always found two shocking facts.

One, many of the institutions that remain in modern France and Europe were created during Napoleon's 15-year reign.

Two, all of this was undone by a single campaign.

The Russian campaign.

"Why did you make such a choice?"

Napoleon.

A common nobleman, born in a village on an island that wasn't even part of France.

Yet, he rose to become the supreme ruler of Europe in a moment.

A conqueror who killed hundreds of thousands of his own troops and millions of enemy civilians.

I tilted my head as I looked at the [main character] of the thesis I wrote.

"Napoleon's mistakes, there were many in the later part of his reign..."

Certainly, if it weren't for this Russian campaign, he wouldn't have fallen so miserably.

"I wouldn't have made this choice."

Just not extending a foot into Russia, wouldn't that have been enough?

That's when it happened.

I blinked.

Silver text appeared in front of me like a flash.

Even when I rubbed my eyes, thinking it was an illusion, it still appeared.

Did I study too much and develop some eye problem?

At that moment, I shouldn't have answered.

But without realizing it, I answered.

"Oh, right? If he had just stopped at the Continental Blockade."

At that moment, the silver text appeared again.

At that moment, my vision turned pitch black.

When I lifted my head.

"My God."

In front of me, a truck was barreling towards my car.

***

Suddenly, my vision brightened again.

"Ah!"

My body was drenched in cold sweat.

For a moment, I clenched and unclenched my hand, and the reality hit me.

Yes, I'm alive.

Only, the memory from just now is my [past life]'s death.

At that moment, a small door opened, and a face I still didn't recognize popped in.

"Why did you stop sleeping? Did you have a nightmare?"

A pale face with black eyes, and a smiling face.

At first glance, a dazzling beauty.

The problem is that this face is definitely not Korean.

I forced a smile and said to the 'beauty.'

"Ah, it's nothing. Mom."

"Okay. Then, sleep well. I'll be back in a bit."

"Ah, Mom. You're not going to meet a man again, are you?"

At that moment, the beauty scowled and lunged at me, starting to hit my 'butt.'

"Yujin, you! You can say anything to Mom!"

I scowled as I was hit.

It feels so real.

At that moment, I screamed and lamented.

"Ouch! Mom, Josephine! Please!"

Yes.

The beauty who is hitting me now.

The young, irresponsible mother who leaves her son to go out with a 'man.'

Her name is 'Josephine.'

Who is she?

Do you know?

Josephine de Beauharnais.

Napoleon's first wife and the first Empress of the French Empire.

Then, who am I now?

Yujin, or Eugène de Beauharnais.

Napoleon's first [adoptive son].