Ch.293Side Story) Who is Sunggoje? (3) – End

# The Sublime Emperor

The Sublime Emperor has been the focus of attention from all sorts of connoisseurs and artists for the past several hundred years. The reason is obviously due to his eccentric personality and disorderly private life despite his outstanding abilities, but his children also played no small part in this attention.

First, there were the twin princesses who became the archetypes for all sorts of literature. Liliane and Claudia, called the twin princesses because they were born on the same day despite having different mothers, married the same man just as their mothers had done. And this was not a strategic marriage dictated by their father’s will, but entirely of their own volition, motivated solely by their love for their husband.

However, they did not completely take after their mothers. The Sublime Emperor’s wives notoriously despised each other, and records detail how they fought shamelessly to monopolize his love even in front of servants. In contrast, the two princesses demonstrated the epitome of harmony.

The princesses, who had been exceptionally close since childhood, maintained their harmonious relationship even after marriage. Instead of engaging in meaningless fights to monopolize love, they perfectly shared it by sleeping together with their husband every night. Their husband, Ethan, the Duke of Aquitaine, experienced what most men could only dream of, and thus received attention from connoisseurs and artists just like his lord, the Sublime Emperor. Today, when multiple women love one man, calling it “being like Ethan” is the result of such attention.

Next is Michel I, the founder of militarism and the Kingdom of Preussen. In all records, Michel appears as a fanatically devout worshipper of God, yet his actions were far removed from godliness. He confiscated church donations to supplement his finances, used iron for weapons rather than agricultural tools, and built fortresses with materials meant for churches. This imbalance was controversial both then and now, but Michel directly countered such criticisms.

He declared that a country of devout believers was no different from a church, so taxes to the country were no different from donations. He argued that national defense was essential to protect the massive church of gathered believers. As for using church construction materials for fortresses, he claimed that since the entire country was already a church, priority should be given to defense against enemy threats rather than adding small rooms. Of course, religious circles did not simply watch Michel’s rampage and soon argued that “a country is not a church” to refute his logic, but this argument completely collapsed under Michel’s subsequent response.

“Believers existed before churches, and the place where believers pray is called a church. Regardless of location, if one prays devoutly to God, that very spot becomes a spiritual church no different from a material one. If the people filling Preussen truly serve God, can’t the entire country of Preussen be seen as a church?” Michel’s response detonated a theological bomb in religious circles, and soon this answer pushed not only the Canaan Church, which was deteriorating due to the Dijon Confinement, but also the Reformed Church into a pit of fratricidal strife.

And Michel, who created this great chaos, did not miss the opportunity to invade surrounding church territories and make them his direct church territories, while simultaneously swallowing numerous adjacent vassal states including Pomeral. By the time neighboring countries formed an alliance against Michel, it was already far too late, and they ultimately could not prevent the invasion of the Preussen March and its elevation to a kingdom.

Of course, these achievements of the Preussen March were not solely due to Michel’s abilities. Preussen’s victory over the anti-state alliance of Holy Empire princes and its elevation to a kingdom was thanks to the full cooperation of Jean-Claude I, who had recently become Emperor of the Holy Empire.

Jean-Claude, who was the Sublime Emperor’s son just like Michel, did not have a close relationship with his siblings unlike his sisters. In the Sublime Emperor’s records, who wrote diaries about his family with almost desperate dedication, Jean-Claude always resented being the second son and an illegitimate child, and perhaps as a reaction, he did not show much affection to his half-siblings.

However, Jean-Claude took Michel’s side in the conflict between Michel and the Holy Empire princes, despite Michel being an indiscriminate invader of surrounding vassal states.

Although the Kingdom of Preussen later became Jean-Claude’s premier vassal state and hunting dog, losing the support of numerous Holy Empire princes was a great loss, and it was a risky gamble even if he could collect the debt later. It seems certain that Jean-Claude considered Michel his brother despite not showing affection. Otherwise, Jean-Claude, who was shrewd enough to rise from a foreign duke to Emperor of the Holy Empire, would not have taken Michel’s side.

Of course, as personal and public matters are separate issues, Jean-Claude extracted sufficient payment from Michel to recover his losses. He forced Michel to cooperate in an assassination plot so that Adela, the Holy Empire Empress, could inherit the Kingdom of Przemyśl, and obtained the right to use the Preussen army for a certain price, solving the chronic problem of the Holy Empire’s weak imperial army.

He even expanded the Emperor’s direct territories not only within the empire but also externally using the Preussen army, so it can be said that Jean-Claude meticulously extracted his debt from Michel. Michel might have had reason to complain about such treatment, but he simply cooperated with Jean-Claude’s actions with the brief response, “I do owe my brother a great debt.”

Eric, the Duke of Brunswick and their half-brother, also benefited greatly from Jean-Claude. With Jean-Claude’s permission, Eric used Queen Anne of Albion, who was also his duchess, as his backing to attack neighboring lords and expand the Duchy of Brunswick. The expanded Brunswick Duchy then inherited the electorates of several prince-electors who had rebelled against Jean-Claude’s reign, and was soon elevated to the Brunswick Electorate.

Of course, Eric did not just receive from Jean-Claude. Having a character that gave when he received, Eric, like Michel, swore absolute loyalty to his brother Jean-Claude, and this oath of loyalty led to Jean-Claude’s direct descendants monopolizing the majority of electorates for generations, allowing them to inherit the Holy Empire’s imperial throne. There were issues midway when the Albion-Brunswick military alliance split into Albion, inherited by the eldest son, and the Brunswick Electorate, inherited by the second son, and the eldest son who inherited Albion claimed an electorate, breaking the majority, but aside from that noise.

Excluding such discord, the cooperative system of Michel, Jean-Claude, and Eric was maintained smoothly even after their deaths. The Holy Empire, the Kingdom of Preussen, and the Brunswick Electorate, which had coexisted for hundreds of years, agreed to complete national integration rather than fighting each other during the period dominated by nationalist frenzy, and soon the Holy Empire was born as a massive single state called the Imperial Federation. Of course, since the Holy Empire was always one, it might sound strange to talk about integrating countries, but by that time, the Holy Empire was already a nominal empire with only a shell, so the term “national integration” is not completely incorrect.

And Lothair I, the Majestic Emperor who succeeded the Sublime Emperor, did not prevent his half-siblings from causing such turmoil in the empire but rather encouraged it. Since various treaties had transferred the empire’s interests to Lotharingia, the stabilization of imperial politics and the growth of the imperial economy returned as benefits to Lotharingia without any obstacles. Records from that time show that whenever the Holy Empire’s political situation stabilized, the various benefits arising from treaties with the Holy Empire increased dramatically.

Of course, since it would be troublesome if the empire became too strong and broke its shackles, the Majestic Emperor did his best to prevent the empire from unifying and even left a will instructing to prevent the empire from merging. It is no coincidence that the Holy Empire remained torn between the Kingdom of Preussen, the Brunswick Electorate, the Emperor, and neutral nobles for hundreds of years until the rise of nationalism.

The Majestic Emperor is also as respected a monarch in today’s Lotharingia as the Sublime Emperor. Not only did he have the insight to recognize the danger of the Imperial Federation early on, but he also completely integrated and well-organized the Lotharingian Empire, which had been suffering from overexpansion. This integration work notably included the complete integration of the Carolingian Kingdom.

Inspired by his father, who melted the crown of Neustria and used it as decoration for the Lotharingian crown, the Majestic Emperor melted the Carolingian crown and merged it into the Lotharingian imperial crown. The Carolingian nobles naturally had tremendous complaints about this, but by that point, the Lotharingian Empire had enough military power to suppress the Carolingian nobles even if they rose up together, so their complaints remained just complaints, and after the Majestic Emperor, people advocating for the revival of the Carolingian Kingdom completely disappeared.

Not just the Carolingian Kingdom territories, but also port cities taken from Albion and the Holy Empire, various Holy Empire territories obtained through the volunteer army riot incident, and even the northern Cisalpine Peninsula—the Majestic Emperor perfectly digested the excessively abundant inheritance that was difficult to handle. Many historians unanimously say that if he had not existed, most of the territories conquered by the Sublime Emperor would have been lost.

Moreover, the Majestic Emperor desperately educated his successor just as his father had done for him, and even appointed him as regent when the successor turned 20. The Majestic Emperor’s masterpiece, a system that systematically educated the imperial heir to become a philosopher-king, allowed the Lotharingian Empire to maintain its position for hundreds of years. Here, “philosopher” does not mean ruling the country dictatorially, but the ability to synthesize the country’s opinions into a unified view. Even if the Emperor himself became merely a vessel containing Lotharingia’s public opinion.

The Lotharingians, who had always maintained prosperity under the rule of philosopher-emperors, could also participate extensively in politics, which led to Lotharingia safely passing through the modern period without major problems, unlike other countries that suffered from republicanism, revolution, and various ideologies that flooded the modern era. Thanks to this, while the vast majority of countries today have abolished monarchy and implemented republicanism, the Lotharingian Empire still exists as an empire with an emperor.

……….

“Dijon Monthly… Who is the Sublime Emperor (3/3) complete… Whew, that was tough.”

It’s fortunate that writing about the children was fine. When I wrote about myself, it felt like I was praising myself in front of a mirror, which was quite burdensome.

…I miss my children. They were all such lovely children…

Hmm… Yes, I should visit my children’s graves someday. Children’s graves—it sounds like a very sad story on the surface.

“…Still, I can’t get used to this.”

Since being born in the future, I’ve been doing various jobs to make a living, but I’m haunted by memories of the latter part of my previous life when I just gave verbal orders and lazed around.

The habit of laziness ingrained in my soul is desperately trying to block me from working diligently.

Ugh… If I had known this would happen, I should have hidden some gold bars somewhere remote, or added a few words to my wish to the angel so I’d be born as a property owner with assets worth tens of billions.

“Brother, are you done with work?”

In the midst of my self-pity, I hear a familiar voice. I take my hands off the keyboard and turn my head to find a girl with black hair and golden eyes greeting me.

Just as I’m about to respond with a slight smile, more familiar voices flood in.

“I’ve prepared coffee here… Hey!! I told you all not to come in!”

“My lord, you look very tired. I told you to stop working… Leave it to me. My family has plenty of money—”

“Such actions would greatly damage the Saint’s reputation. Continuing to work diligently as you are now would be more beneficial for your reputation, Saint.”

“But juggling various jobs like this won’t earn you a good reputation either. So… honey, my father’s pharmaceutical company has an opening, would you like to apply?”

“Don’t ignore what I’m saying!!”

Well, my current life isn’t particularly bad either.

I certainly made a good wish to the angel.