Chapter 1

### The Youngest Prince of the House of Plantagenet - Chapter 1 (1/205)

-1166-

"Ah!"

"Your Majesty, it's a healthy prince."

"Oh, a prince."

"How fortunate, Your Majesty, that it's a prince."

The voices of the old midwife and the young couple echoed in my ears.

Yes, it seems I have been reborn.

How did I know? You ask?

My mother and aunt from my previous life were French, and one of my majors in college was Medieval French.

Anyway, I need to think.

I seem to be a French prince now. Being a prince is better than being a princess, right?

Of course, I didn't cry loudly like other babies.

I just made a cute "Ah!" once as a favor and kept my ears open.

Still, if they're speaking Medieval French, does that mean I'm really in the royal family of Medieval France?

Seeing them use Medieval French, I might have been born into the Capetian or Valois dynasty.

But before long, I had to cry three times in a row like a baby.

"Ah! Ah! Ah!"

To assert my presence.

"Your name is John. John Plantagenet."

Oh, I wasn't the prince of the French royal family I had been hoping for.

To be reborn as John, the most incompetent king in English history, my heart was very painful, sad, and depressed.

It's not just because I'm John.

"Eleonore, thank you for giving me such a handsome son again. I am so happy."

"Henry, my beloved! I am so happy. I wish time would stop."

It's dripping with honey. Dripping with honey!

Of course, the beautiful couple will face a tragic end.

Due to Henry II's womanizing, the House of Anjou-Plantagenet will become the worst dysfunctional family in British history.

Henry II, the womanizer who believes he can endure Judgment Day as long as he has wine and beautiful women.

Eleonore, who grinds her teeth and waits for the opportunity to drive him away.

Henry, the eldest son and professional rebel (the opening act of the rebellion).

Richard, the second son and professional rebel (the famous Lionheart, a successful rebel!).

Geoffrey, the third son and professional rebel (a terrifying plotter).

And countless illegitimate children playing supporting roles and extras.

What a lineup that makes my heart burst with excitement!

Of all things, I was born as the youngest in this terrifying family.

What did I do to deserve being born as the youngest in such a family?

**

My sisters came in with my mother.

Matilda, the younger Eleonore (named after my mother), and my one-year-old sister Joan, who was looking at me in my mother's arms.

'And I have three older brothers.'

At least at this point, my parents were very much in love.

Well, they are both beautiful and in the prime of their youth, so their love is burning!

Even though I'm thinking like an adult, I'm still a powerless baby John, and I have to listen to the cute girls saying, "Oh, you're so cute!"

"John, you're so cute!"

The oldest sister, Matilda, who inherited her grandmother's name, came over and stroked my head.

"I want to touch him too."

"Me too!"

"Ba-ba (Joan)!"

"Sure, let's touch our cute little brother."

The three sisters were fighting to touch my head.

Flattery! (Oh, be gentle)

"Enough, you're scaring John."

Fortunately, my mother thoroughly stopped the sisters' misdeeds.

"Baby, grow up healthy."

After the sisters, it was the turn of my terrifying older brothers to welcome the young me.

"The Crown Prince has entered!"

A handsome boy with slightly reddish hair came in.

"Ah!"

"John, what a wonderful name."

As he said this, Crown Prince Henry stared at me intently.

"Are you a wolf? Or a lion?"

He seems to be saying something ominous before leaving.

The eldest brother left with those words.

Now it's the second brother's turn.

"Prince Richard has entered!"

Unlike the eldest brother Henry, who has the same name as my father, this person is

the future Richard the Lionheart.

"Ah!"

One of the greatest commanders of medieval England, alongside Henry V.

I looked at my accomplished second brother with wide eyes.

Even as a young boy, he had an unbelievable physique.

A terrifying boy with a body that seems capable of handling people. Is this a human weapon?

Indeed, he looks like a strategic bomber against the Muslims.

If he's this scary now as a kid, how terrifying will he be when he reaches his physical prime in his twenties?

"..."

Richard was silent for a while.

He just stared at me as if observing me.

"Ah!"

I tried to be as cute as possible in front of Richard.

The atmosphere was heavy.

"What a cute youngest brother."

The first words from my second brother, who is nine years older than me, were fortunately friendly.

Of course, it's because I'm a weak and powerless baby.

"Prince Geoffrey has entered!"

Now, the last third brother?

When Geoffrey entered, I felt a strange aura.

'He looks like a villain from a cold city.'

Objectively, my father, eldest brother Henry, and second brother Richard can be called handsome.

However, Geoffrey, with the Plantagenet family's reddish-brown hair, is the most handsome.

He looks like a beautiful vampire.

"..."

He has deep eyes, just like Richard.

"Ah!"

In front of Geoffrey, who is a year younger than Richard.

I tried to be cute again.

Then Geoffrey said, looking at me.

"John... No, Lackland (without land). I am your brother."

Geoffrey smiled, but it was scary, and I wanted him to leave quickly.

And before long.

I was in pain.

**

I was suffering from an unknown illness.

My cries, coming from a soul that can't be called a real baby due to my reincarnation, were not because of hunger or a dirty diaper.

I cried in pain, one after another.

They say extreme pain brings extreme pleasure, and now I even felt a refreshing sensation, like scratching an itch.

The biggest enemy of a baby reincarnated into the past is not the vague fear of the future.

I know that newborns often die, and the fate of a pre-modern baby is to be born and die at any moment.

In other words, I am currently playing a game of life and death.

"So, how is he?"

"Your Majesty... It's..."

"Speak quickly!"

The doctor was at a loss, and the priest was praying.

I felt uneasy.

Is the crisis of death coming to me, who is less than a year old?

I can already see the Jordan River.

My mother from my previous life, who was French, and my father, who was a Korean diplomat, warn me.

Don't cross this river.

When the pain was so severe that I could see hallucinations.

The proud Eleonore, who was usually haughty and sharp.

My mother was trembling.

"Henry, we can't lose John like we lost Guillaume."

While I was in excruciating pain, the priest was praying.

"Lord..."

"Sir Thomas, keep praying. I don't want to experience the pain of losing a child twice."

The proud lord of western France and the great ruler of England, Henry II, was crying, but the one who was most sad and in pain was me.

"Ah!"

"Ah~~~"

I kept crying desperately to let them know I was in pain.

Since the doctors couldn't treat me, my parents called the priest to hold a prayer meeting.

They must want to save me.

I also felt like I was about to die.

As time passed with the unknown illness causing me pain.

"O Lord, Prince John has been restored by Your grace."

"Let's dedicate this child to the Lord like Samuel. As a servant of the Lord!"

"That's not possible!"

"Then, I appoint you, the most capable servant of the Lord, as his teacher."

"Your Majesty, me?"

The priest, who suddenly became my teacher, was surprised, but Henry II casually passed me off.

"A wise teacher like you is needed for my youngest children."

What is he doing in front of a baby who almost died?

**

The warm sun shining through the window.

I, who was fully enjoying the warmth, shouted.

'I am alive, I am alive!'

Of course, only in my heart, timidly.

I turned four. Of course, this is the European age, not the Korean age.

Turning four means.

I have overcome the infant mortality rate.

My parents were pleased that I had surpassed the age of my older brother Guillaume (1153-1156) who died young.

They granted a special pardon and held a national banquet.

They also bribed the Pope with a large sum of money.

If I were a 100% medieval person,

I would have been deeply moved that everything is God's will.

'What a cursed family, winning the lottery of misfortune again and again.'

I,

had a feeling of resentment.

My previous life was tough.

A cruel death could have been my salvation.

But I was reborn in the Middle Ages as a prince who witnesses the royal couple's fights in real-time.

At least the fights are entertaining with their mix of joy, anger, and sorrow. Studying again was the most tiring part.

But the powerful always hold onto knowledge and learning.

What I learn here is how to become a cultured person for the upper class.

But when will it end?

"Prince, you must concentrate."

"Yes, I understand."

"Prince John, the prophet Nathan said to David..."

The intellectuals of medieval Europe were the clergy.

So my tutor was a high-ranking clergyman.

But what the clergyman is teaching me now is not a normal lesson.

He is comparing our womanizing father to the womanizing King David.

What a transparent teacher.

'He's criticizing my father using the Bible.'

Just like David, who had many affairs, my father is producing countless illegitimate children in the first half of the French-English era.

It's natural for this strict clergyman to criticize him.

But it's not a story suitable for a prince.

Oh, right. Our excellent teacher's dream is to be executed by my father?

What would our teacher be? If I think of a relatable metaphor, he's the English version of Song Si-yeol!

Of course, being English, he wants an ax instead of poison, a clergyman living day by day.

'If my father were the impulsive Henry VIII, this guy would be burned at the stake.'

Right at that moment, my teacher approached me with a solemn expression and said,

"I hope you, Prince, will study hard and become a great servant of the Lord like Samuel."

"No."

I would rather be a reckless royal than a clergyman.

But my childhood was not peaceful.

While walking with my father, Henry II, urgent news reached Westminster Palace.

"Your Majesty, there's a rebellion. Prince Henry, Prince Richard, and Prince Geoffrey have joined forces with the Queen to rebel!"

Ah, ah. The House of Plantagenet's family fights are civil wars.

The protagonist's country.

The territory of England.

The country that occupies mainland England and western France.

It will be called the Angevin Empire in the future.

But the historical John almost ruins everything.