1 Prologue

The Chronicles of Astoria.

It was the title of the most popular webnovel series that has proliferated on the internet in the 21st century on the planet Earth. With the advances in technology and the digital world, more and more people are logging online to do their business and hobbies, which include reading web novels. This led to the rise of the webnovel industry and popularized many stories that are posted regularly. The Chronicles of Astoria is one of those stories with over ten arcs or "books'' under its title.

This story is all about a world known as Astoria and chronicles the life and the journey of the main character and some of his descendants, the second Prince Lysander von Claes, in one of the largest empires in the world. However, it was more than just a novel for a man named Jeffrey Taylor. It chronicles the story of his life - his 'past' life. He was in that story. One of the characters. However, he isn't the second prince of the story; he isn't even one of the different villains in the different arcs of the novel series. He is - or was - the third prince of the Claes Empire, Victor von Claes, the brother of the main character.

Victor von Claes was the second son born from the empress and the third son overall in the emperor's line. In Claesian culture, concubines are common, and the emperor is no exception. For the emperor and nobles having multiple wives ensured the royal line, so it was common for the emperor to have a harem full of consorts and concubines and have children from different mothers.

However, Prince Victor did not have a happy life. Despite being the son of both the emperor and the empress, he has to fight just to get the attention of his father and mother and to be respected for his position, which should have been his birthright in the first place. Culturally, his black hair and golden eyes, which is a common physical trait among emperors, should have given him an edge, but he never got the title, throne, and, most of all, recognition from his parents in the end.

Victor was neglected by his mother, who favored her oldest son, and his father, who hated his mother and, in turn, never really bothered to give him a second thought. He was sent to the battlefield as a child without any care about what he wanted and grew up with a terrible reputation as a tyrant (a title coined by the nobles to try to diminish his power to fight for the throne in favor of their descendants to seep in the royal line).

Despite winning wars for the sake of the empire, his reward was not recognition but only humiliation, which only made him motivated to join the fight for the throne just to prove his power and capabilities. But he was stupid and reckless. He lacks the knowledge, capabilities, and skills to manage the political acumen of the royal court; he doesn't establish his foundation, lacks any strong support, and dabbles with the wrong people. Even Jeffrey would agree that if he were to win the throne, he would more likely run down thousands of years of history of the empire of Claes. The worst part is he pushed the people who cared for him the most, costing most of them their lives.

In the end, the ones who stayed were the people whom he had never really thought to stay: his wife and his daughter, whom he neglected to the abuse of others and blamed them for the humiliation he had suffered at the hands of the royal family and nobility. They both died because of him and even to this day, as Victor now Jeffrey lives his new life in this new world called Earth, he still regrets what he has done to them.

Victor met his end when he was blamed for treason and executed publicly in the presence of no other than his father, whom, despite that stage, he still looked up to, and in the presence of the vicious noble consort and his ambitious sixth brother who was the reason for his demise. The same people whom the love and family deprived Victor considered his family but schemed to end his life.

After his death, Victor found himself reincarnated in a new world called Earth. He was born to the Taylor family, who has seven children. The father owns and runs a farm, and the mother is a schoolteacher. Victor was named Jeffrey, and he was the fifth child of the family. He was born with broth hair and chestnut eyes. It was in this world that Victor discovered that having black hair is very common (a complete opposite to when he was in Claes), but having gold or yellow eyes is extremely rare. Magic, which is one of the foundations in the world of Astoria, is unknown in this new world.

At this time, when Jeffrey was born, the human world was filled with gadgets, innovations, and knowledge that made their lives easier. This made Victor, now Jeffrey, so inquisitive that growing up, he got a reputation for being a "nerd" by his siblings because he was obsessed with learning as much as possible – something that he lacked when he was Victor. However, he grew up big, buff, and athletic (courtesy of his previous experience growing up in the army, so he was able to learn to be active).

Jeffrey joined the Navy after graduating high school, and after several tours, he got an honorable discharge and continued to study, focusing mostly on civil engineering, minoring in mechanical engineering. He built his own construction company and has a good relationship with his family, especially his siblings, who grew up with their paths conquering the world on their terms. Jeffrey could not believe a life without scheming against siblings was possible in this world, and he loves the concept of having only one partner his whole life instead of numerous ones, which is common - and sometimes expected of men in his past life.

But Jeffrey occasionally still has nightmares of his former life. The shouts of the people calling him a traitor as the guillotine sliced his neck, the last words of his daughter telling him he doesn't deserve to be protected after spears and arrows came raining down on them or his wife. His sweet "bio" wife, whom he has neglected just because he was used as a tool to humiliate him and his reputation, not realizing he was also a victim of the schemes of the nobles and the royal family. That man stayed with him despite all the deplorable things he did as his husband and comforted him in the dark, damp, and filthy prison. He was already in poor health before the imprisonment, and he died in Victor's arms. He wasn't even properly buried despite his status as a noble. His body was sent to the forests to be ripped apart by the beasts like he wasn't even a human being.

His wife.

His daughter, whom he never got to give a name.

His best friend.

His most trusted servants.

His butler, who was more of a parent than his very own.

And the remaining members of the Blue Rose army who stayed loyal to him.

They all died or lived a worse life than death because of him.

He never even bothered fighting back when they sent him to the guillotine in the presence of the royal family. Why did he even bother to fight for the throne? His family never cared. Why fight for the inevitable? If there was an afterlife, he would cherish the ones he loved and stay away from the toxic assholes who call themselves family.

When he reincarnated as Jeffrey, he wondered if his loved ones had also reincarnated. However, in this vast world with over eight billion people, it is hard to tell. Also, if you have memories of a past life, you know not to easily share that experience unless you want to get committed to a psych ward.

Jeffrey decided to try to live his best life and give back to others. When his company was doing well, he made sure to give back to the communities. He especially has a soft spot for children. So when his brother, Dave, and his wife died in a car crash, he took in his niece and nephews. He raised them as if they were his own and expected them to take over his legacy when he left. He did, however, find it difficult to commit to a relationship. Every time he tried to go out with others, all he could remember was his wife. His beautiful, kind, and wonderful wife, whom he treated so badly.

He thought he could try to forget his past life, but he never expected in his later years to find a ten-part series of novels online that chronicles the life of the people in Astoria, including his. His actions, behavior, and his stupidity were written and published online for all to read and see. He was embarrassed when he found out and almost got a heart attack his nephews had to send him to the hospital.

The worst part is that in the novel, he was no more than just a minor villain, cannon fodder to push the main protagonist. Even the readers who read the novel barely mentioned the third prince at all in their comments, and he didn't even go beyond the first novel. The protagonist is the second prince, Lysander von Claes, the son of both the empress and emperor, the same parents as Victor, yet he is loved and has a lot of powerful backing. So, Jeffrey does not find this very fair at all. Is this what they call the protagonist's halo? Getting almost everything he needed to achieve to get the throne. And why was he one of the catalysts? His mother neglected Victor in favor of Lysander; the Archduke backs him up as the future emperor – the brother of the emperor and even his official wife is the princess of the Jalaya Empire – another empire that has much equal power as Claes. Lysander even thinks his brother Victor was a nuisance as a kid. Jeffrey knows because he read in the novels what his brother thought of him, so why did his death lead Lysander to fight for the throne? They never had a relationship, nor considered him as family, so why was he mad about his death?

The novel was well-written and detailed. Sometimes there are too many details. He does not want to read his brother "doing it" with his wives (apparently, this was a very popular theme in the novel) or the details of what becomes of his other siblings. Some of his siblings did not have good lives, and some were even worse than Jeffrey almost threw up knowing about it. He was thankful he had a quick death in his previous life and was not as tortured as the others. But Jeffrey continued to read. His mind wouldn't give him some peace unless he finished reading the entire series. A habit he formed when he reincarnated on Earth. The book also taught him about his world in the past. If only he had known all this before. He could have prevented his demise and maybe lived a better life and treated the people who cared about him better.

Five years after Jeffrey finished reading the novel, he passed away at the age of eighty-six years old. At least this time, he lived beyond the age of thirty. He will forever be remembered by his siblings, his nieces and nephews, and the remaining family of his second life. But even at death's door, he still has remorse about his last life.

It's just…

"What?"

"Where am I?" Why is everything so dark and noisy?

"WATCH OUT, YOUR HIGHNESS!!!!"

And the first thing he saw was a sword heading straight to his neck.