What happens if Napoleon Bonaparte is resurrected in a fantasy world to save a whole continent from a Demon Lord?
A moment after his death, the former ruler of Europe receives a visit from the mysterious Faucheur, who proposes him to reborn in anoth...
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According to the words of poets, writers and artists, Faria was simply the most enchanting city the world had ever seen.
Not even the mighty Maligrad or Connelly's still stupendous capital, Hadowald, could hold a candle to it.
Its high walls seemed carved in marble, a shimmering white hill rising from the center of a plain covered in fields and meadows perpetually blooming.
Even now that the Montgomery family's dominions had practically halved, the capital of the Grand Duchy never ceased to fascinate everyone who visited it.
Old Berthold Montgomery, the last grand duke of a dynasty that traced its origins to the legendary hero Sigmund, was a lover of beauty and a generous patron, one of those enlightened sovereigns who believed that the true greatness of a nation lay in the arts.
However, by now everyone knew that he didn't have long to live.
Because no matter how many sewage canals and spas you build, how many swamps you reclaim, if you're on its list, leprosy always finds a way to get to you.
For several years now, the Grand Duke had lived like a recluse, a prisoner in his rooms, with the large balcony facing the mountains to the west as his only eye open to the outside world.
He wasn't ashamed of his appearance – in fact he had never wanted to wear a mask – but he was simply afraid of inflicting his own curse on someone else.
The only person who could get close to him without fear was his second son, Victor, who had become very mildly ill when he was very young and easily managed to overcome it, and therefore certainly became immune to it.
But he didn't go to visit his father Victor often, because even though he was now the acting governor, his real interests were elsewhere.
At least he didn't have particularly difficult tastes.
Whether they were servant girls and maids looking for a little money or a little extra food, naive commoners or ambitious noblewomen, it made no difference: everything was fine with him as long as he could satisfy his lust.
The guards and servants were so used to seeing a new face come out of his rooms every day, most of the time in tears, that they almost didn't notice anymore; just as many had begun to ignore the more than eloquent cries and moans that came from beyond that door at any hour of the day or night.
Old Lefde, Earl of Hoope and commander of the western army, did what he could to comply with the will of his friend and lord and best serve his son while guaranteeing the good of Eirinn and the house of Montgomery. But every time it was enough for him to spend five minutes with Victor to understand why Berthold had done everything in his power to make sure that Aria took his place.
