🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 1
“Traitor to the Empire. Swordmaster Louise is hereby sentenced to death.”
The execution was declared in the center of the imperial plaza.
The condemned… was Louise, the Swordmaster who had once protected the Emperor.
“Any last words?”
The one who spoke was Crown Prince Kalshuple.
No—now he was the Emperor.
Louise slowly turned his eyes toward him.
“One day… I’ll kill you myself.”
A vicious curse slipped from his lips. Several knights moved to restrain him.
“Leave him.”
At that moment, Kalshuple raised his right hand, and the knights stepped back.
“Why do you hate me this much?”
Kalshuple looked at him as if he truly didn’t understand.
Louise scoffed in disbelief. No one knew better than him what kind of filthy ambition lay hidden behind that face.
“I hate a monster who killed his own father and is trying to kill his teacher. Is that a problem?”
“How dare you spout such nonsense!”
“That’s absurd!”
Some citizens shouted in anger. None of them believed the words of a “traitor.”
“Heh…”
Louise looked at them with disbelief.
Would they ever learn the truth?
The day the Emperor tried to distribute power in preparation for Kalshuple’s ascension—
Kalshuple had drenched the capital in blood.
‘They’ll never know.’
Louise was certain of it.
‘Everyone closed their eyes… just to survive.’
Even the Emperor’s closest aides had turned their backs.
Only Louise had drawn his sword to protect the Emperor.
And the result—
“Have you gone mad now that death is near, Louise?”
—was this.
Standing at the guillotine.
“Pathetic. It’s embarrassing to think you were once my teacher.”
Louise’s body trembled at those words.
If he could, he would cut off Kalshuple’s head right now.
But—
After battling ten Swordmasters, his aura heart had been completely destroyed.
He no longer had any strength left.
“Still, I must admit your skill. Becoming a Swordmaster with a half-broken aura heart… impressive.”
Louise had been born with a weak heart.
Even after forming an aura heart, he could only use half the aura others could.
‘If only my aura heart were intact…’
At this moment, he resented it more than ever.
If it were whole, he could have killed Kalshuple.
Step. Step.
Kalshuple walked toward him.
Some knights looked uneasy.
“Don’t worry. He’s weaker than a cripple now.”
Kalshuple reassured them.
It was true. With his aura heart destroyed, Louise was weaker than an ordinary man.
Thud.
Kalshuple stopped right in front of him and grabbed his hair.
“How does it feel?”
“…Ptooey!”
Louise spat in his face.
Kalshuple frowned.
A look of outrage—how dare a lowborn dog—appeared on his face.
“Fine. I’ll take that as your last struggle.”
He sneered and released Louise’s hair.
Louise’s head dropped. He didn’t even have the strength to hold it up anymore.
“Carry out the execution!”
Kalshuple’s voice echoed through the plaza.
The soldier holding the rope released it.
—Shing!
The massive blade fell.
Slice.
Louise’s head was severed.
That was the miserable end of the Swordmaster who had tried to protect the Emperor.
At least… that’s what everyone thought.
—Hummm…
But at that moment—
The ring on Louise’s finger began to glow faintly.
The Ring of Life… given to him by the Emperor.
“Ghk!”
Louise snapped his eyes open.
“Kalshuple!”
He swung his hand instinctively, trying to kill the man before him.
But—
—Creak.
All he grabbed was a worn blanket.
And the bed shook beneath him.
“…?”
Louise froze.
He couldn’t understand what was happening—but his sharp mind was still working.
He slowly looked around.
Old furniture filled the room.
A moldy door. A crooked desk.
Nothing looked normal.
‘This isn’t a prison… but more importantly—I definitely died.’
His thoughts reached that point.
He instinctively touched his neck.
“…It’s attached?”
His severed neck was perfectly intact.
But something felt off.
It was… too thin.
“And what is this voice?”
The sound coming from his throat wasn’t his own.
It wasn’t the deep voice of a man—but that of a young boy.
‘I need a mirror.’
He scanned the room again.
Then he found a full-length mirror near the door.
Tap!
He jumped out of bed and rushed toward it.
And the moment he saw his reflection—
“This… isn’t me.”
He froze in shock.
The reflection was not the Louise he knew.
Instead—
A frail, emaciated boy stared back at him.
‘…Did I reincarnate?’
No—
More accurately, he had possessed this boy’s body.
“Ugh!”
A massive headache struck him.
At the same time, fragments of the boy’s memories surfaced.
“The Kingdom of Eslia… at the edge of the continent…”
Eslia.
A weak kingdom in the south.
“The Veratan Baron family…”
A remote noble house located near the Forest of Monsters.
Then the most important detail surfaced—
“…All I know is his name.”
That was all the information he had.
Still, it was something.
“Noah.”
He muttered his new name.
‘What a complete disaster.’
Louise—now Noah—searched through his memories and learned more.
And what he discovered was simple:
His family was trash.
‘Two out of three brothers are hopeless…’
The Veratan family originally had three sons.
The eldest ran away chasing women.
The second robbed the family vault and fled to gamble.
Only Noah remained.
“…Sigh.”
He let out a deep breath.
His thin wrists came into view.
With this weak body, revenge was impossible—let alone reaching his former level.
‘Meanwhile… Kalshuple has completely taken over the Empire.’
Ten years had passed since his death.
In that time, Kalshuple had seized absolute control.
He expanded aggressively, subjugating countless kingdoms.
‘I have to become stronger than before.’
There was no time to waste.
The Empire’s reach could extend here at any moment.
If that happened, revenge would be impossible.
“Kalshuple…”
Noah clenched his fists.
Every time he said the name, rage boiled inside him.
But right now—
He could do nothing.
Still—
‘…I will kill you with my own hands.’
He swore it.
As Noah, the youngest son of a fallen family.
“Weak. Seriously… pathetically weak.”
Even after regaining his senses, Noah stayed in the room.
It was late, and there was nothing to do outside.
He examined his body thoroughly.
Conclusion:
It was completely useless.
‘I can’t even do ten push-ups?’
It was shocking.
He couldn’t even manage ten properly.
“I need strength.”
Overwhelming strength.
Enough to destroy the Empire.
At minimum—that meant reaching Grandmaster level.
‘Swordmaster level isn’t enough to kill him.’
There was a massive wall between Swordmaster and Grand Swordmaster.
If he couldn’t cross it, revenge was impossible.
‘I also need to rebuild the family.’
He couldn’t fight the Empire alone.
He needed power. Influence. A force of his own.
‘This will be difficult.’
The Empire was at its peak—stronger than ever under Kalshuple.
Grit.
Noah clenched his teeth.
Just remembering Kalshuple’s true face made his blood boil.
“…Hoo.”
He calmed himself.
Charging in now would only lead to a meaningless death.
‘First… I need to form an aura heart.’
An aura heart was the core of a Swordmaster.
A second life.
But—
It wasn’t something just anyone could create.
It required immense aura and precise control.
‘But… why does this body already have aura?’
Something felt wrong.
This body wasn’t strong.
It hadn’t taken any special elixirs.
Yet aura flowed inside it.
‘Strange…’
A weak body… with aura?
‘Maybe… I gained some unknown power through reincarnation.’
It was the only explanation.
After all, reincarnation itself was already abnormal.
‘Normally, you need to build the body first… but that takes too long.’
A strong body was essential.
Otherwise, the aura would consume you.
But—
‘With my past experience… I can do it.’
Louise was different.
Despite his weak aura heart, his control had been exceptional.
That’s how he reached Swordmaster.
Still—
‘It’s not guaranteed.’
This body was far weaker than before.
But he wouldn’t give up.
Rustle.
Noah removed all his clothes except his undergarments.
Then he sat cross-legged in the center of the room.
“Just… don’t give me another half-broken aura heart.”
If that happened again, revenge would be impossible.
He poured all his will into it.
“Hoo…”
He exhaled deeply.
And then—
—Hummm…
He began gathering the scattered aura within his body.
That was the plan.
To create just one aura heart.
But—
“Th-This… how is this possible?”
Something completely unexpected happened.
