How to Live as a Tyrant’s Bastard Brother

What kind of magic has happened?

Has the flames of the dragon and my death all become a thing of the past?

Reversing time, it was something I had never heard of.

But the ceiling in front of me and Rudi’s face were far too familiar.

Is this reality, or just a mere dream?

Numerous questions fluttered through my mind.

“Your Excellency, what’s wrong today? You’re saying things you don’t usually say.”

Rudi approached me with a worried expression.

“Did you have a nightmare?”

Her voice was so familiar that it almost made me cry.

I took a breath and said, “Yeah. It seems like it. It was a very, very long nightmare.”

A nightmare that lasted for 40 years.

“I’m glad you woke up. Shall we change your clothes now?”

Rudi offered a tidy shirt.

“Take it off here?”

“Yes. You always did.”

“Did I? Always?”

Indeed, I did.

Up until I was twenty, I had naturally displayed my body to maids and attendants just like other royals and nobles.

“Are you still half asleep?!”

Her rebuke made me quickly unbutton my pajamas and reveal my upper body.

My reflection in the large mirror showed my body.

White skin, with blue veins visible in places.

Muscles were nicely defined, solid yet slender, and there was not a single scar on it.

It was truly the body I had when I was seventeen.

I changed into the shirt and pants Rudi handed me and looked around the room.

From the walls to the carpet, everything felt as vivid as if I had walked into a memory, but there was something strange.

“Did this always exist?”

There were two unusually large bookshelves. They would stand out even if placed in a library instead of a room.

The two bookshelves were packed with books.

Of course, they were not novels or anything of the sort.

Introduction to Administration, Inheritance Law, Military Studies, Geography, History of the Imperial Wars, Diplomacy, Theology.

The titles contained valuable knowledge that matched their themes.

“What are these books?”

They were books that had no connection to my life.

“Are you still half asleep? You read them every day. You said they were fundamental knowledge necessary for a royal life. I heard you talk about their contents so much that I almost memorized them.”

I frowned and scanned the shelves.

Each was an expensive book, written on parchment and bound with metal, wood, and leather.

“There’s no way I would have collected these.”

I could not have possibly amassed such things.

In my youth, I was a reckless bandit in the imperial capital.

I lived every day immersed in alcohol, women, gambling, and drugs, pouring all my royal pension into the red-light district.

I fought with other idle nobles in similar situations, stealing from each other, mocking fate and myself.

“You practiced your sword skills diligently, and even after I advised against it, you went ahead and obtained grimoires. You met with other royals every day to passionately discuss the future of the empire.”

“Me?”

I scanned Rudi from head to toe.

Every time I saw her emerald green eyes sparkle, memories began to flood back.

“Yeah. That was true. Right, it was.”

I hadn’t always been a bandit.

Once, I had lived diligently.

With the mindset that I would die tomorrow, I severed any attachments to worldly pleasures and studied swordsmanship and kingship as if I would live forever.

How did I end up as a bandit?

I had taken so many drugs during my reckless days that my memories were hazy.

But I was sure that someone must have died, causing the change.

“Just in case you forgot, you’re scheduled to meet with other royals starting at nine today.”

“Starting at nine? Rudi, what date is it today?”

“You forgot that too? It’s April 30th.”

“April 30th, the day of the one-year accession.”

At that moment, a severe headache surged through my head.

Memories I had been avoiding for 40 years struck me like a bolt of lightning.

The moment Rudi’s green eyes closed remained vivid in my mind.

The Audience Chamber filled with red.

The shattering wine glass.

Jeilliris smiling from the golden throne.

I pressed my temples and leaned against the wall.

“The Great Purge.”

“Excuse me?”

“There’s only a month left until the Great Purge.”

I muttered with vacant eyes, like a mad person.

“And you die then.”

“I die? What do you mean?”

“That’s for the crime of not properly serving Valenciaunos.”

“That could be a capital offense. But you say I didn’t serve you properly? I’ve served you since you were nine years old and I was thirteen.”

Rudi shot back playfully, thinking I was making a strange joke.

“Right, it can’t be.”

I forced a weak laugh and turned my body.

Right. It can’t be.

You know everything from the clothes I like to the food I can’t eat.

Yet dying for that crime was problematic.

“Look at my state. What have I been doing until this time? You must be hungry, let me prepare breakfast for you.”

Rudi looked shocked and headed for the side door of the room.

I reached out, saying, “Wait,” but she had already dashed out.

“…”

My head ached.

“What the hell is going on?”

Just an hour ago, I was a 57-year-old Sword Expert and the last minister of a tyrant, and suddenly I returned to being a 17-year-old boy some 40 years ago.

Though I wanted to sleep a little longer and think about this bizarre reality, I could not leave Rudi waiting for the breakfast she was about to bring.

Gritting my teeth, I chased after the nagging pain.

At that moment, I heard the sound of armored boots from afar, the familiar noise of metal clanging against the floor.

“Knights?”

I had often moved with knights in my previous life.

Sometimes I was chased by them, and other times I chased along with them.

Just from the sound of their footsteps, I knew it was them.

I opened the door and peered into the hallway. At that moment, a series of loud thuds resounded from the floors above and below.

Wondering what was happening, I glanced towards the stairs when someone called out to me.

“Valenciaunos! Get inside quickly. The knights are here for a surprise inspection. If you’re not careful, you might be dragged along too.”

A woman poked her head out from the side room next to mine.

She looked to be two or three years older than me.

Her eyes were red, unlike mine, but her brilliant white hair made it clear she was of the same royal family.

“Knights?”

I asked, and the woman made a frustrated face.

“If they catch you, it’s going to be a headache. The Emperor sees all of us as thorns in his side. If they find even a small excuse, you’ll be dragged off to the underground prison or die a horrible death.”

Jeilliris had indeed been particularly cruel during the early days of her reign.

Hearing the term “suspicion inspection” brought up old memories that were almost resurfacing.

The footsteps of the knights grew louder.

Screams echoed from the lower floor.

“It is treason to hold a grimoire without permission from the royals.”

“I didn’t know. I didn’t even know there was such a thing.”

“Your Excellency, it’s been over a year since the Emperor enacted this law. It must be nearly a year since all the children of the late Emperor were gathered to live in this palace. Don’t you think saying you didn’t know is rather brazen?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“Seize the grimoires and bring Duke Valencius to the main palace. The treatment will be decided by the Emperor.”

The knights moved in and out of the rooms.

“I’ve been instructed to confiscate all books by the end of April.”

“Let go! Do you even know what these books are?”

“Execute the order.”

“Aah!”

Screams grew louder.

“There are letters exchanged with the maternal family.”

“I just asked how they were!”

“If we erase these letters, this is what they become: ‘Send five knights of the family to rescue me from the Crimson Crescent Palace.’ Do you have anything else to say?”

“Can’t you turn a blind eye just this once?”

“Take them away.”

Finally, the knights reached the floor I was on.

“Duke Zigheim! Are you there?”

“Yeah. I’m Zigheim.”

A man stepped out from my neighboring room.

“The maid from the main palace confessed everything. She said you ordered her to poison the Emperor’s food.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Treason carries the death penalty, even for royals.”

“I’m innocent!”

“Feel free to be as innocent as you want. There’s no need to use honorifics anymore. You are a criminal who attempted to assassinate the Emperor!”

Zigheim tried to punch, but the knights were quicker.

They drew their swords, stabbed his thigh, and restrained Zigheim.

Finally, they reached the front of my room.

“Duke Valencius, we’re coming in for a moment.”

I calmly opened the door to let them in, as if I had been waiting.

I was the one who had survived for 40 years beneath Jeilliris.

The method for responding to sudden changes in circumstances was engraved in my soul.

“Come in.”

The Platinum Knights, adorned in brilliant plated armor, with full-face helmets and short capes embroidered white over black.

They were the Platinum Knights protecting the royal family.

Here, “royal family” referred to the Emperor and his entire lineage, but in this current empire, the term was used solely to refer to Jeilliris.

“Your Excellency, I come…”

Rudi, who had returned through the side door, swayed as she saw the knights, nearly dropping the tray she was holding.

I quickly supported her.

“Your Excellency!”

Her voice calling out to me trembled.

Two knights of “Platinum” entered the room, with four soldiers waiting outside.

The knight surveyed the room.

“Duke Valencius.”

“I hear you.”

“As the Emperor’s closest blood relative, I believe you know we have provided several conveniences for you.”

Did I?

“We allowed you to continue your studies, overlooked your meetings with royals with unsavory intentions, and even permitted you to continue practicing your swordsmanship.”

I see.

That indeed meant they were providing conveniences.

“The Emperor does not want the royals to build the power to oppose him, whether in knowledge, swordsmanship, or magic.”

This felt like my previous life.

The moment I thought that, the faint memories began to return gradually.

The knight pointed to the shelf and bookcase.

“Those books, along with that sword, should have been confiscated a long time ago.”

A sword was placed on the shelf.

“Duke Valencius is now the only one who can claim the right of inheritance in the empire.”

For once, I was the twin brother of Jeilliris.

“I believe you understand whose grace it is that you are still alive.”

His words rang true.

If I were Jeilliris, I would have been suppressing me as well.

“The Emperor will continue to pressure you more than ever. I will only say this much for today. Please make a wise choice.”

“…”

Thinking the silence was a rejection, the knight added one more comment.

“The way for the Duke to assist the Emperor is not by building knowledge or power, but by not becoming a burden and avoiding suspicion.”

“I understand.”

With a snap, the door closed.

Rudi set the tray on the desk and let out a sigh of relief. Tears welled in her green eyes.

“Your Excellency, are you alright? I thought you’d be dragged away too.”

“I apologize.”

“Pardon?”

I staggered over to the desk.

Now I remembered something.

What had happened before I lived as a reckless bandit soaked in drugs and alcohol.

Why I had become a bandit.

I opened the lower left drawer and pulled out some miscellaneous stationery, wiping the bottom of the drawer with my hand.

It had been decades, yet I remembered this space.

There was a small hole in the wooden panel.

I picked up a quill and twisted it to fit into the small hole and lifted it.

The thin wooden panel flipped open, revealing a double drawer.

Rudi gasped in surprise.

“When did you make something like this?”

The double drawer was filled with letters.

“I’ve made my decision. How should I live this life?”

[I’ll contact my family and prepare 3,000 soldiers.]

[I contacted my cousin who has become a mage at the Ivory Tower.]

[It seems the Southern Count is gazing this way. If all goes well, we can get the Swordmaster on our side.]

[Think it over well. There’s considerable potential.]

[To think a girl ranking a hundredth in the line of succession would ascend the throne; it’s absurd…]

[May you choose ideals over blood ties, Valenciaunos.]

“Your Excellency.”

Rudi trembled at the sight of those titles.

I walked to the barely smoldering fireplace and upturned the drawer.

Colored papers and parchments caught fire with a crackle.

“I’ve gone mad. How was I doing such things? That’s why I lost you.”

The royals trapped in this palace, my half-siblings, are preparing for a revolt while contacting their maternal families.

Under the pretext of the line of succession, they were trying to involve me, her twin brother.

And this rebellion would fail.

I wouldn’t be on either side, showing a stance that was neither here nor there.

I narrowly survived by nearly dying and ended up still being a surviving twin. Rudi would die for failing to serve her master properly.

From then on, I would be under constant surveillance.

Unable to learn even study, magic, or swordsmanship.

At that time, I had no intention of learning.

Experience as a teacher requires a high tuition.

I paid the price for my indecisiveness with the death of someone precious to me.

How long had I lived in a daze as a bandit? By the time I grabbed a sword again, my body had already deteriorated to the point I could not reach the ultimate level.

I recalled what had happened about an hour ago.

The dragon descending from beyond the boundary, piercing through the clouds.

The price of indecisiveness was Rudi’s death, while the price of those reckless years was the empire’s downfall and Jeilliris’s death.

But by some divine intervention or devil’s trick, I was granted another chance at life.

A chance to save Jeilliris and this empire.

In this life, I will not waste even a single second.

But for today, I must navigate through to ensure there is a tomorrow.

“Rudi.”

“Yes, yes?”

“Can you bring me some alcohol and a cup?”

First, I need to get past the imminent purge.

I must not become a burden in governance and avoid drawing suspicion.

I need to send signals endlessly that I have no interest in power.

I already knew how to do that.

Unintentionally, I had spent years in my past life displaying a dissipated life, proving I had no desire for power.

Yeah.

Let me go back to being a reckless bandit.

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