Swear Fealty To Me, My Subjects!

It's like waking up in a nightmare.

Rhine's eyes snapped open.

He looked around—this was his bedroom.

He approached the mirror, and in the reflection stood a young nobleman, dashing and gallant in appearance.

Nineteen years old.

Rhine had returned to life.

After experiencing death once again, he was sent back to the very beginning of the story.

He, Reinhein.

He bore many titles in this land:

"The first heir of the Hain Empire," "A pillar of the Empire with a promising future," "A model youth excelling in both arts and martial prowess," "A man who, for some reason, loves flirting with other people's wives," and, of course, "Hasn't spared the daughters either," "A fine prince, but a bit of a disaster"…

Additionally, he was a traveler from a certain blue planet.

As a traveler, Rhine originally had another real name, but after countless cycles of life and death, he had long forgotten such trivial details.

At that moment, Rhine stared at the handsome man in the mirror.

"Failed again..."

Upon arriving in this world, the system had assigned him a mission: to save the world. To achieve this, Rhine had already died in battle a thousand times.

What made Rhine's blood boil with rage, though, was the fact that half of those thousand deaths—no, at least eight hundred...

...were caused by being stabbed in the back by one of his own!

It wasn't that Rhine was surrounded by cruel, backstabbing people.

It was because every single case of betrayal revolved around seven individuals.

These were the seven Forbidden Soldiers of the Empire: hybrids of goddesses meticulously cultivated by the Empire's state religion, the ultimate warriors representing the pinnacle of human power.

On average, nearly every Forbidden Soldier had personally caused the future emperor's death more than a hundred times.

Rhine felt as though he had been reliving the same historical joke for the past thousand lives.

The Roman Praetorian Guard.

For Rhine, this world-saving mission was also a journey of uncovering the true nature of the Forbidden Maidens.

When he first arrived in this world, Rhine had been a naive, overweight little nerd.

Each day was carefree, filled with eating, drinking, flirting with girls, and living a life of unparalleled bliss.

On the day the late emperor passed and Rhine inherited the throne, he looked at the seat of power, at the wise civilian officials and valiant military generals. Rhine was pleased.

And then there were the seven beautiful Forbidden Soldiers kneeling before him, pledging their loyalty and service.

More than anything else, Rhine was so thrilled he was trembling with joy.

Rhine couldn't believe that he, of all people, had been entrusted with saving a world assigned an S-rank difficulty.

Looking at these beautiful Forbidden Maidens—

These artificial demigods, born through millennia of selective breeding and cultivation, infinitely close to the Goddess of Order, possessing the power and disposition of a goddess—

—Not to mention their stunning beauty, which made even the stars pale in comparison.

For a moment, Rhine couldn't tell whether he was assembling nuclear weapons or selecting consorts.

Damn.

Is this Praetorian Guard… so indulgent with their master?

Having inherited the continent's strongest empire from the start and being surrounded by seven descendants of goddesses eager to serve, Rhine felt like the luckiest traveler in the world!

But alas, it was all a joke.

And joy arrived as suddenly as it departed.

On the seventh day of Rhine's reign…

By the second day of court assembly…

His Majesty Rhine was violently murdered in the palace.

The next day, Rhine's uncle, Prince Edgeworth—the cardinal minister and wealthiest man in the empire—was crowned emperor, supported by several bannermen.

This was Rhine's first death.

Cause of death: [Highest Bidder].

Afterward, the system revived Rhine, returning him to his 19-year-old self.

Rejuvenated, Rhine learned from his first death, grew furious, and, after some underhanded schemes, tricked the prince.

However, at that time, naive and ignorant Rhine still didn't understand what the system meant by "[Highest Bidder]."

Rhine ascended the throne once more.

Shortly after, in an effort to address corruption in the bureaucracy, Rhine launched the first round of investigations into officials' assets.

Including those of the Forbidden Soldiers.

The next day…

His Majesty Rhine was violently murdered in the bath.

This was Rhine's second death.

Cause of death: [Highest Bidder].

This time, Rhine finally realized something was wrong.

Sure, there were bad apples among the officials.

But when these bad apples sought to assassinate the emperor, they did so with the help of the same people!

The Emperor's Praetorian Guard had a traitor in their ranks!

Resurrected for the third time, Rhine began observing the Forbidden Maidens, who appeared so meek and respectful toward him.

Who was the traitor among them?

One thing was clear, though: Rhine was still far too naive.

After one death, then another, and another...

...the number of traitors among the Forbidden Soldiers, as discovered by Rhine, kept growing!

One traitor.

Two traitors.

Three traitors…

By the end, Rhine realized:

Aside from one individual, the remaining six Forbidden Soldiers—shockingly—were all motivated by profit!

To them, the identity of the emperor didn't matter at all.

Fine. Not a big deal.

Rhine, in response, maintained his composure.

All humans have greed; even demigods are no exception.

In any case, there were only seven Forbidden Soldiers in the entire nation—it was impossible to replace them.

So Rhine decided to do his best to meet their demands.

And thus, His Majesty Rhine and his loyal Praetorian Guard finally managed to coexist peacefully.

By relying on the power of the seven demigods, His Majesty Rhine endured countless hardships and deaths to finally unify the land.

Then came the next step.

After consolidating all the power in this realm, Rhine could finally lead humanity to challenge the high and mighty Gods of Order.

The result?

When the Deities of Order learned of an emperor named Rhine who dared to rebel, they sent an oracle to the Praetorian Guard.

The next day…

Rhine was dead again.

Cause of death: [Highest Bidder].

This time, Rhine exploded with rage.

Damn it! There's no hope for these Forbidden Soldiers!

As emperor, Rhine could deal with all mortal matters.

But Rhine was utterly powerless against the bribes of the gods.

When the tools in one's hands turn into weapons that only stab their owner,

Then...

…it's time to cut the cord.

"Forget it. Get rid of them all!"

After countless resurrections, Rhine began employing various methods to purge the Forbidden Army.

Having survived innumerable deaths, he finally learned all the weaknesses of the six Forbidden Soldiers. Within two years, he managed to eliminate these godlike demigods.

Only one remained—a reliable one.

But even then,

Rhine underestimated the depths of betrayal in this Forbidden Army.

Once again, he was stabbed in the back.

It was then that the system issued a notification:

[Reminder!]

[The host's number of deaths has exceeded the maximum limit.]

[The system will now shut down.]

The system spoke and fell into complete silence.

Rhine said nothing.

After a moment, he sighed helplessly.

"So it's finally come to this? I had a feeling the resurrections were nearing their limit."

There was a cap on the number of system revivals.

Now, with the resurrection function disabled, Rhine understood this would be his last chance at life.

Very well.

So be it.

This time, he would go about things differently.

Changing his mindset, Rhine vowed to do his best to survive in this cursed world.

The young prince snapped his fingers.

"Summon Shea Constance to see me."