WMT | Chapter 1

Wiss was dying.

‘Does this even make sense?’

Lying in bed, Wiss looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling of the tent was spinning, just as the cleric had warned, indicating something was seriously wrong.

He had survived countless life-threatening situations before. The expedition to Phera was never a safe journey from the start.

‘I even survived being buried in a landslide in the canyon.’

Yet here he was, succumbing to a mere endemic disease.

Born a slave, he spent most of his life on the battlefield.

Wiss had climbed to his current position through his own strength.

He was now addressed as His Majesty. He had built a nation with his bare hands and ascended to the throne himself. No one could deny the achievements he had accumulated.

But now, he was about to die.

Wiss thought that perhaps fate really did exist.

His life seemed destined to end prematurely after suffering like a dog.

Born a slave, his life was hopeless from the start, and the same went for Jeremy, who was crying in front of him.

Jeremy was Wiss’s younger brother, but the only thing they had in common was their appearance. He had a weak body and a personality lacking in determination.

The loyalists who helped Wiss establish the kingdom did not trust Jeremy. They urged Wiss to quickly produce an heir for that reason.

But Wiss had no children. It wasn’t because he was a Beta.

Spending 365 days a year on the battlefield, there was no time to make a child, was there?

Instead, Jeremy, who stayed in the capital, had children in abundance.

Wiss consoled Jeremy.

“Stop crying. You’re giving me a headache.”

“H-how could this happen? What am I supposed to do if you die? What about the kingdom? The country will fall apart. I-I can’t do it. You can’t die. What did the cleric say?”

Jeremy looked around.

But the retainers Wiss had summoned did not answer him. They only looked at him with disrespectful eyes.

Wiss held back a sigh as he watched the situation unfold.

“Jeremy. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. Among your children, there was an Alpha, right…? What was their name again?”

“Who are you talking about? Doran? Posty?”

“Who was the one who beat up their cousin last time?”

“Posty.”

“Then let’s go with Doran.”

“For what?”

‘What do you think?’

Wiss glanced at Jeremy, who was sitting in a wheelchair.

“The successor.”

Jeremy’s mouth fell open. Wiss ignored it and continued speaking.

“How old is he? Until he turns sixteen, you should act as his guardian. Teach him about state affairs and protect him from danger. Arrange a marriage for him too.”

“Your Majesty.”

Wiss stopped the retainers, who were about to speak in surprise, with a glance.

But he couldn’t stop Jeremy from starting to cry again.

“N-no, I can’t do it, brother. How can I do such a thing? You know I’m nothing without you… You can’t die, please. Don’t do this.”

Wiss had a headache.

He felt nauseous, and his body was unbearably heavy. If he closed his eyes now, it seemed he would sleep forever.

But he couldn’t ignore his brother, who was crying as if he were dying, and fall asleep.

Wiss promised.

“Jeremy, stop crying. Have I ever given you a task you couldn’t handle? Do you think I’d let the country I built fall apart? If the kingdom is in danger, I’ll come back. You don’t have to worry about anything…”

His eyelids were heavy. Even moving his lips was difficult, so Wiss spoke slowly. He had to focus all his attention on pronouncing the words correctly.

Fortunately, Jeremy seemed to have stopped wailing.

Before he knew it, all the noise around him had disappeared.

Wiss, the first king of the Kingdom of Summer, died young at the age of twenty-eight on the battlefield.

His younger brother Jeremy and the loyalists who helped him establish the kingdom were by his side in his final moments.

Afterward, things proceeded according to Wiss’s will. Doran Summer ascended to the throne, and Jeremy became the regent.

Whether it was a good decision or not…

If Wiss had known that even his other will would be realized, he would have been more careful with his words.

── .✦

Wiss opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was the smell.

He was lying in a place that smelled of flowers, not the tent that reeked of horse dung.

The bedding was soft, and the air was warm.

The expedition site was in autumn. Just the other day, his adjutant was worried that they might have to spend the winter there as the expedition dragged on.

He moved his hand slightly, and it moved without issue.

‘Wasn’t it supposed to be a terminal illness?’

Wiss considered beheading the wizard who diagnosed his illness but decided against it.

The wizard had accomplished much to be punished for such a trivial matter.

Wiss looked around. The place where he had awakened was not a tent. It was a luxurious bedroom.

His illness must have halted the expedition.

“Is anyone out there?”

Wiss assumed someone had moved him to a castle and called out for someone.

He expected a servant, adjutant, or perhaps Jeremy to come in.

But the person who entered was a young knight he didn’t recognize.

“Yelling as soon as you wake up… isn’t a good idea, Your Highness.”

The young knight said awkwardly.

‘Your Highness?’

Wiss had never been addressed like that before.

Others called him His Majesty. Before that, when he was a rebel slave, he was ‘captain,’ and during his slave days, it was more like ‘where’s that bastard?’

Wiss was not a slave who listened obediently. As soon as he awakened his magic, he beheaded his master, so his temper was well-known.

His inherent nature didn’t change just because he became a king, so Wiss’s knights knew to be cautious with their words.

There was no way they would assign such an impudent knight as his guard.

“Um, Your Highness. I’m glad you’re awake, but His Majesty is very angry. Though I doubt he has the energy to scold you…”

“Scold me for what?”

Wiss asked reflexively, then was startled.

What was this unmajestic voice? It sounded like a boy’s voice.

“Uh? Your Highness, you know, eloping with your lover wasn’t exactly the right thing to do, was it? I’m not trying to criticize you. But when the kingdom is falling apart, and the prince runs away, people tend to get angry, don’t they?”

The young knight babbled.

Wiss touched his head and looked at the knight.

Why did the back of his head hurt so much? And what was this nonsense?

“The kingdom is falling apart?”

“Oh. What I mean is, rather than falling apart, the royal castle was occupied, the commander-in-chief surrendered, and His Majesty also surrendered, something like that.”

The knight spoke cautiously.

‘Damn, that’s what falling apart means.’

Where in the world is a country intact when the royal castle is occupied, and the king surrenders?

Wiss realized that something was seriously wrong.

Just then, Wiss’s hand touched a bump on the back of his head. It hurt so much that he gritted his teeth.

“Oh dear, Your Highness. You shouldn’t touch your wound like that. Don’t you remember falling and not being able to get up for days? Of course, you wouldn’t remember! You were unconscious. Anyway, I was worried that your head might have been completely shattered…”

Wiss had never kept such a noisy knight by his side, even as a joke.

“What’s your name?”

“Uh? It’s Feather, Your Highness. Is your head hurting a lot?”

“…What’s my name?”

“You are His Highness Wissmia Phoebe Garten Nevia Maximilian Odette Summer, the sole heir of the Kingdom of Summer.”

The knight looked at Wiss with narrowed eyes. Wiss felt like he could read the disloyal thoughts the knight was having.

‘Has this prince gone mad?’

Instead of punishing the knight, Wiss opened the window. He felt like he was going to go insane.

The building Wiss had awakened in was indeed a castle. It was Summer Castle, which he had established as the royal castle when he founded the kingdom.

He remembered creating a massive garden within the castle on the advice of his adjutant.

A vast garden square stretched out before him. A garden that would have been beautifully decorated in peacetime was trampled by the soldiers lined up.

Seeing the light reflecting off the soldiers’ helmets, Wiss slammed the window shut. It felt like his blood was boiling.

“Is the king’s name Doran, by any chance?”

Wiss asked. He was wondering if Jeremy’s son had caused this mess.

“…Are you really unwell? His Majesty’s name is Jeremiah, isn’t it?”

Wiss felt a chill run down his spine.

This castle was indeed Summer Castle, and this knight was calling him ‘something Summer Your Highness.’ So this country must be his kingdom…

But the names Wissmia and Jeremiah were ominous.

Wiss’s name was ‘Wiss,’ and Jeremy’s name was ‘Jeremy,’ but the names had become strangely long.

Only nobles made their names that long and complicated.

It was also a noble trait to have long middle names, with the names getting longer the older the family’s history.

“What year is it?”

“It’s the year 310 of the Summer calendar, isn’t it? Are you really asking because you don’t know? Um, Your Highness. May I call for a cleric? I’ll inform His Majesty slowly. I won’t mention that Your Highness is confused, so please rest easy.”

The knight ran out. Wiss didn’t even look back at him and went to the mirror.

“Ha.”

‘What is this?’

There was a descendant who looked eerily similar to Wiss himself.

It was the face that had caused many problems in his youth because it was unnecessarily handsome.

The difference from Wiss was that the skin was fair and unscarred, and the muscles he had worked hard to build were nowhere to be found.

Hadn’t he inherited only the bad traits without any of the good ones?

He had experienced countless crappy situations in his life, but this was a first.

Waking up to find himself as a descendant?

There was only one possible cause he could think of.

– If the kingdom is in danger, I’ll come back.

That damned will.

Was he really supposed to keep such a promise?

Wiss ran his hand roughly through his hair.

“If you were going to make me keep a promise, you should have called me before the country fell apart…!”