The Tyranny of the French Empire

Chapter 14 : Understanding The Past

A/N : Just in case people didn't understood it, this chapter is a flashback.

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(One year earlier)

Blood.

Blood sprayed everywhere on the grass.

This was the first thing a half-unconscious Aether saw when he slightly opened his eyes.

His vision was blurry, but he could perfectly recognize the grass and the blood all around him. He just hoped this wasn't his own blood.

His somehow deafened ears couldn't perceive any sound, his memory seemed shaken enough to not remember how he got there in the first place.

He tried to focus on his mind to assemble every bits of memories together and find an explanation about his current situation.

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(Flashback)

In the gardens of the Royal Palace, Aether was having his usual meeting with the two princesses of the Flandrensis Kingdom.

But instead of the usual happy expression over the sister's face, Amelie and Emma looked quite worried.

"How long will this take before you return ?" Amelie asked.

"Until the war is over, and since the situation in the Kingdom of Aranthia isn't very stable, they won't risk to lost too many assets for a simple coastline. If we cause serious damage on their side at the first battle, we should be able to finish this war after a few other battles" Aether explained.

Aether had his reasons to think that this war would be easy to win, even with the weakened state of the Kingdom of France, they were still far stronger than the other Kingdoms at the West of the continent.

Plus, due to the ridiculous claim used by the Kingdom of Aranthia as a casus bellis, none of the other Kingdoms saw any interest to waste resources in a pointless war.

Indeed, this Kingdom obsessed with coastlines, claimed what was left of the French coastline for themselves, declaring that the French Royal Navy had invaded their seas and behaved aggressively.

When in reality, everyone knew for a face that the French Royal Navy has been destroyed during the Franco-Ostlandian war.

The only navy that the Kingdom of France still possessed, was a small fleet of merchant ships and some privateers. Which none could pose a serious threat to any of the continent's navies.

"Won't it be dangerous ?" Emma asked worriedly.

"It will, but I'm not a coward that run away at the first sight of difficulty. And anyway, I have Armand with me, I never saw anyone beat him since I know him" Aether pointed out the man that stood outside of the pergola.

Usually, it should have been the King to go to war on the battlefield. But he recently had important health issue, making him unable to get off his bed.

Aether knew that he was going to get on the throne sooner than planned. He had originally planned that, with the life expectancy of this world, he would become King around his thirty.

Which was a very reasonable age to be enthroned, but with his father's illness, everyone knew that he would no longer be a part of this world in one year.

Of course all the mischievous nobles of the Kingdom understood that and already started to make their moves to slowly grind the Royal power for themselves.

"Your Highness, it's time to go" Armand climbed the two stairs of the pergola.

"Alright girls, it was nice to see you before I go" Aether rose up from his chair.