Reincarnated as an Emperor ~ Will the Emperor at Birth Survive?

Salomon de Valverde became a Marquis in the Belbe Kingdom at the young age of thirty. He is the second cousin of the current King of the Belbe Kingdom, the King’s advisor and an excellent general who has pushed back the Tomis Ashinaqui army on the frontline… and a good uncle to Rosalia. 

Rosalia had been looking at some books with a grim expression on her face, but she brightened up when the maid told her that her uncle was coming.

“Uncle! I’ve been expecting you.”

“Hey, Rosalia. I rushed here from the frontlines when I heard you had asked for me.”

It was the truth. Salomon had watched Rosalia grow up since she was born and loved her like a daughter. Salomon rode his horse with all his might for the first time in a long time after having been summoned by this lovely girl. 

“Oh! I heard that Uncle is in command of the frontline. Is it alright for you to leave?”

“Of course, I’ve been doing my job well.”

That was a lie. This man forced all his work onto his subordinates. Right now, the command centre on the frontlines was filled with agonising cries. 

However, this man assessed the abilities of each of his subordinates and distributed ‘just enough work for them to do as long as they work hard’ and came to the capital after concluding that Tomis Ashinaqui would not invade as they were focusing on helping the Theanabe Union. 

He was an excellent person even though he mixed his private and public affairs a bit. Although, he is lenient on his relatives and sometimes misuses his excellence for the sake of his relatives. However, his relatives are the King and Princess, so in a sense, it could be said that he is extremely loyal. 

“So, why did you ask for me? Do you need me to do something for you?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

Rosalia lifted the thick book that she had been staring at earlier.

“I want you to teach me magic.”

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Mages are mostly aristocrats in this era. The biggest reason for this is that the aptitude to be a mage is easily inherited. Since most aristocrats are mages, their children are also likely to be mages. However, even children born from mages might not be able to use magic, or even if they were able to use mage, some of them might only be able to cast very weak spells. 

Likewise, a child with the aptitude to become a mage can be born to a non-mage commoner couple because of their ancestry. However, most of these ‘commoner-born’ mages don’t survive. That is probably why mages are called aristocrats.

Children don’t know how to control their magic when they awaken to it, and those who can’t control their magic, go out of control. However, children from aristocrat families have their parents, guards, and maids who can control the child’s magic and suppress it. Helping a child control their magic is clearly included in the job description for maids and guards. 

However, children born to commoner families don’t have someone to help them control their outburst. Some parents will kill their children on the spot if they see any signs that they are awakening to magic, but few parents are capable of killing their own child. As a result, the child goes out of control, wiping out their whole family, and in some cases, destroying their village. 

The only exception to this would be commoner families who serve aristocrats. Children mages are more likely to get success in life. For aristocrats, it is better to have as many mage children as possible. Therefore, children who can use magic are treated well. 

‘Commoner mages’ may end up becoming ‘aristocrats’. 

This kind of situation is common throughout the continent. However, there is one exception, which is here, in the Belbe Kingdom. 

If a commoner has a mage child in the Belbe Kingdom, they can receive a huge reward if they entrust their child to the kingdom. Therefore, when commoners find out that their children are mages, they risk their lives to report this to the palace. 

The reason why the Belbe Kingdom does this is simple. A mage is a valuable asset on the battlefield. It didn’t matter that they are just children as long as they can use magic proficiently. 

The Belbe Kingdom had been pushed to the point where they were preparing to send child soldiers onto the battlefield, but the war situation did a 180 turn with one word from the Emperor and sending child soldiers to the battlefield was no longer necessary. Be that as it may, it was impossible to disband the child soldiers immediately since the Belbe Kingdom had spent an enormous amount of money gathering them. They were currently being trained to become an ‘elite force’. 

The person who was teaching and guiding this ‘youth mage unit’ was none other than Salomon. There was no one more qualified for being their magic instructor. This was the reason why Rosalia had asked for him. 

“Emperor Carmine can use magic?”

When Salomon asked Rosalia why she wanted to learn magic, she replied, “His Majesty can use magic.” Salomon concluded that this ‘His Majesty’ was not King Belbe, and immediately asked. 

“Is that… true?”

It was unbelievable. The rumours about Carmine said that he is a foolish Emperor, a coward, selfish, a puppet… and that he is still unable to use magic. 

“Yes. I’ve actually never seen him use it before, but he can! There must be a reason why he’s hiding it.”

Incidentally, Rosalia also had the aptitude to become a mage. But her magic education hasn’t been considered important due to her position as Princess. It’s also important to note that there is a ‘sealing magic tool’ in the palace even though the palace is poor. 

“Hmm. But if you say you need it, then you need it.”

Salomon believes that Rosalia is intelligent for her age even though he may be a nepotistic person. It was possible that Emperor Carmine could use magic since she said he could. 

(Do I need to look into this…? No, I can’t risk Rosalia getting suspicious of me. I guess I’ll just wait and see.)

Like most Belbe aristocrats, King Belbe disapproves of Rosalia and Camine’s engagement, partly because he doesn’t trust Carmine, but mostly because he loves his daughter. He began to think that there was no need to force her to marry Carmine now that the Kingdom wasn’t being attacked by Tomis Ashinaqui. 

Salomon, on the other hand, approves of this engagement, but he believes that he has to make her Carmine’s first wife at all costs for her happiness. It was normal for emperors to have several consorts, and some even lay their hands on maids. He wanted Rosalia in a position where she could control them all, no matter what.  

Although Carmina had no intention of marrying anyone else other than Rosalia at that time. 

“Got it. I’ll teach you magic starting from today.”

“Thank you, Teacher!”

Salomon beamed at Rosalia’s bright smile. 

(Cute… I have to make her his first wife no matter what. And if he makes Rosalia sad… then I can’t let him live.)

At the same time, a certain Emperor was struck by sudden trembles.