“The Crown Princess locked herself up! We succeeded!”

  “The martyrs will be delighted. This is good progress, brothers. Soon, even the regency council will tremble at our might!”

  “How long has it been since? Three days?”

  “It seems that our attack truly drove great fear into that brat. Cheers for another victory for the Free Republic!”

  Henry Richard von Hecker, however, wasn’t convinced of the celebrations of his colleagues in the ‘Society of the Most Honorable Sons of Lotharingia’, or ‘Young Lotharingians’ for short. They were a group of young men from all backgrounds in the Holy Empire that gathered underground for two decades now for one goal: to end the Empire’s reliance on the Sun Dragon.

  Since he joined and became their de facto leader, he steered them to his more radical ideal of not just breaking the covenant with the Sun Dragon, but creating a one, unified, republic that he would personally lead.

  Why? Because ever since he woke up in this world as a twelve-year-old boy, a fourth son of a countryside count in the Empire’s periphery, and thus, a mere mob character in that otome novel ‘Iron Saintess’, Henry refused to accept that he was fated to be a nobody who would end up as another faceless casualty in the upcoming events of that novel.

  It wasn’t the most fortunate outcome for his isekai life. He always had bad luck, after all, and he lived life with great handicaps. Even when he was born into a rich family, he had always been the unfavored son compared to his little sister and eldest brother.

  It was only natural. He was a gamer, a shut-in nerd, the useless middle child, someone that his father hated. Quite frankly, he had no future in his previous world, especially when he was kicked out due to disagreements with his dad during that tense year when her frail, annoying little sister died due to a heart attack out of nowhere.

  So it only followed that he’d end up as a mob character. He imagined that if his sister or their family’s favored eldest son got themselves in this situation, they would end up instead as the main characters or something close to that if this happened to them.

  No matter though. He had spent years climbing up the ladder. From training himself as a proper swordsman, practicing his magic to death, going on great adventures to further strengthen himself, and expanding this clique of disaffected academics, soldiers, and disposable spare sons of the nobility who hated the declining Holy Empire—he did everything to prepare himself to vie for power in this troublesome decade.

  Specifically, that would last starting this year, 1840, to 1849.

  These were the years when the saintess, the main character of the novel, appeared in the Grand Academy of Lotharingia, followed by the coronation of Empress Alexa Theresa, the main villain of the story, and the six years of chaos until her head was cut by a guillotine.

  It’ll be the perfect time to insert myself into the story.

  Henry stood up, facing the gathered men around him, all of them celebrating their recent terrorist attack against the crown princess. Quite frankly, they didn’t manage to hurt her, so he doubted it was the reason that the princess locked herself up, but it served as a good enough test to see the influence they could wield.

  “Gentlemen,” he raised his glass, filled with red wine. “While this is indeed a cause for celebration, we should not make haste to be comfortable. There are still a lot of things to be done before we can create this ‘Free Republic’.”

  “Indeed! How shall we escape the covenant with the Sun Dragon for one?”

  “Or complete our takeover of the military?”

  “Or remove those old sages in the Regency Council?”

  “What about those spineless rats in the Imperial Diet?”

  “We haven’t even answered the question of what to do with the Imperial Family!”

  “Settle down, everyone,” Henry said, laughing. “All those questions will be answered in due time. As it stands, we’re nowhere near ready yet to move. We have tested our capabilities well last week, but that isn’t enough. We must continue to arm ourselves and grow. The Princess is weak. She will not regain the Holy Mandate for the Wolgast Dynasty.”

  “Hear! Hear!”

  “Thus, we must focus on building up until the perfect opportunity presents itself. Gentlemen, this project has been something we've worked on for years now. We will not fail. We will snatch power, and give it to the righteous—we, Lotharingia. So for now, continue your assignments. I have mine too.”

  With cheers in their hideout, Henry drank his wine fully. He could already imagine the future. The main character and her motley reverse harem, alongside the future Empress and her clique, would all be swept aside by a third force that would audaciously come out of nowhere.

  Soon, Lotharingia shall be Henry’s. He could already see it from here, the dream of having control and dominion over the fate of millions. He was no mob character, he was the fated main character—after all, he was sent here for a reason.

  Whoever sent him here didn’t give him a grand speech, but he believed that with a second chance in a new world, any man given that must answer the call of fate to greatness.

  President Henry? Now that title sounded good to him. He would be the founder of a truly modern republic!

  The die is cast.

  He placed his glass on the table. Then, one of his men spoke up.

  “Wait, where are you going this time around, Henry?”

  “Simple. I am finally being transferred to instruct student magicians in the Grand Academy.”

  “So the plan is already in motion?”

  With a grin that only befitted an edgy gamer, he continued after he nodded.

  “The next generation of leaders will be there. We shall ensure that these saplings do not grow into trees—then we shall replace them with ourselves.”

  +++

  Alexa was distraught. She fell to her knees.

  Eh? Are my stats that useless? And does ‘L’ stand for lame? I knew she was weak but…come on. Also, what are those skills?

  “Seriously? You can’t show it to me?”

  “Oh, please. This is like a lame video game. Can’t I just pay to unlock it?”

  She pouted.

  Shut up.

  “Fine, show me the tutorial. You’re wasting my time.”

  Wait.

  Did this asshole just demand that she exert herself in exchange for what she wanted? No way, she absolutely loathes moving herself, only to end up tired and drenched in sweat. The thought of it…of being smelly and all that…

  How horrifying.

  Did they even have proper sunscreen here? Sure, it was winter, but yesterday, the sun was intense. Going outside was unimaginable.

  If she did that, her newly found beauty that surpassed her previous life would be ruined!

  “No, absolutely not!”

  She shook her head rapidly, repulsed by the very idea.

  “But also like, how do I do this? Do I have to train? And like…do I have to do it outdoors? Isn’t it totally cold out there? And hello, I’m a princess, did you forget that? What if I embarrass myself?”

  “Yeah, but they were boys before being crowned.”

  “Alright, fine! I’ll…do it. I’ll get dressed up this morning. But, can I at least hire a professional to help me?”

  The bluish interface did not appear again. She ‘hmphed’ as a response to its absence. When she had a question, she hated it when people or things didn’t answer her. Did this ‘system’ think its time was more precious than hers?

  How absolutely loathful.

  When it took a while before the ‘system’ replied, she already thought it had abandoned her, and her lips curled into a tiny pout.

  “I know a guy,” Alexa nodded excitedly. “He…he’s…wait, actually, I totally forgot him. He was an advisor to Alexa Theresa…me, like in the novel.”

  She then looked at the book curiously as the bluish interface in front of her disappeared again. Picking it up, she placed it on her table, and she began to skip through the pages.

  Things…changed a bit already, as she furiously skimmed through it. It seemed that the academy arc started better for the saintess. Now that she noticed it, it didn’t seem that she tried to humiliate a nobody commoner like her this time around.

  Maybe because I’m a different person now?

  She ignored the rest in the middle, skipping through the chapters that were the saintess’ POV. She briefly forgot her goal, and she took a detour to the ending, finding out that she was still summarily executed. This time, however, by an unfamiliar character.

  Henry Richard von Hecker?

  She froze. Who the hell is that guy? She skimmed back, checked things out, and there were still the normal arcs in the middle where the saintess and the hero fought her, but…

  Where did this nasty Von Hecker person come from?

  Instead of being guillotined, however, it seemed that she was just straight-up hanged upside down for public display by a bunch of soldiers after they executed her. Now that sucked, her ending became worse. Maybe the story changed because, well, why wouldn’t it?

  She’d been isekaid already, nothing should surprise her at this point, like a goat flying in the sky! Sure, add another character that’ll kill her, as if that changed anything.

  Besides, I haven’t done anything yet to change things, so it makes sense that I died. So focus! Small things first.

  She flipped back, near the middle, desperately searching for a guy that she remembered was with the crown princess before she was crowned. Until she finally found the page she was looking for. He was not just a genius swordsman after all, but also a powerful mage.

  Alfred von Gottfried…

  Her very own personal knight! Indeed, how could she forget about him? He was in her memories. They last met a month ago, right when their academy’s semester ended, and she went back to the palace for the winter vacation, so why didn’t she remember him earlier—?

  ‘Useless! Useless knight! Go away from now on! I don’t even know you!’

  The previous owner of this body said that to him, right as they parted from the carriage. She remembered his face clearly now, that usual resigned, uncaring eyes staring blankly at her. He left without a word.

  “...”

  She buried her face in her book, her left cheek planted on it as she sulked. Now she was utterly embarrassed. She’d have to grovel at that knight’s feet for his forgiveness, didn’t she?

  “The previous me totally blew my chances, didn’t she?”

  No wonder he ended up in that wench’s—ahem, saintess’ harem later.

  And no wonder too that she wanted to drop the novel so bad. She felt as if she was eerily similar to this Alexa Theresa character.

  Is that why my soul was easily merged with her? Oh god, that’s totally messed up…

  …Those words of his brother, about how she’d ‘relate to her’ annoyed her. She could even hear his laughter. Even in another world, she felt like she couldn’t escape him.

  That annoying pig!

  No, she’d prove him wrong. Alexa wasn’t Alexa Theresa. She was…well, her. Someone who could do better.

  She stood up.

  “Alright. If what it takes to prove myself is to complete this silly quest, then I’ll do it,” she vowed, before grinning. “I am not just some ‘spoiled brat’, brother. I will prove to everyone that I can be the finest Empress of this realm!"