As Far Away As Possible

Jeffrey (now Victor) could not believe it. He's back! Back to his first life! After living his second life as Jeffrey Taylor on planet Earth, he has considered the possibility of reincarnating after his death. But reliving his first life was not one of the things he thought would happen. It was like the heavens are giving him a second chance to correct the mistakes he has made. It also made him looked at Astoria in a different light after knowing that this life was part of a novel. However, the timing was atrocious. Out of all the time to get himself reincarnated he has to wake up in the middle of a battlefield. He recalled someone shouting at him and a blade aiming at him before everything went black. Since he has no memory of getting injured in the Aztos war, it would seem this is the first change he made in the plot of the novel. After all, waking up after living a second life in the middle of the battlefield would rattle anybody.

After his sudden outburst of tears that made Rufus even more of a mother hen than he used to be, he has been staying in bed for a few days. It took a while until the infirmary was able to concoct a healing potion. It wasn't of high quality one so the healing process is still very low. Victor also has to learn and unlearn many things the moment he realized that he came back to Astoria. Like learning that Astoria is a world whose culture is built through magic and he has to remember (and practice) those magical abilities of his. He can't remember most of it anymore but he was surprised that he can still use his sword expertly as if he never left and lived a second life. Another thing is that he missed a lot of the conveniences that he took for granted during his life on Earth. He misses coffee, books, a hot shower and most of all deodorant. He never realized how smelly his first life. When he first came back, he thought he was living near a pigsty. Nope. That was just him.

Most of the people in the Blue Rose army do not have time for a bath. Water is difficult to obtain. Even with water magic, one cannot make it drinkable (they have to heat it up to safely drink water) and with the army's scarce resources, people have to preserve their strength and magic as long as possible until the next battle. So drinking water was prioritized over hygiene.

At this period, Victor is 20 years old. He and the Blue Rose is in the middle of the war with the Aztos kingdom. After living as an old man, he finds happiness in his youthful limbs and body. He is currently fit with long black hair that really needs a wash or a cut. His face is gaining some facial hair, and his golden eyes stared back at him when he looked himself in the mirror. Victor cannot believe the muscles that he has. The one time he lifted his shirt, he saw his abs. A freaking eight-pack! He couldn't believe it. Even in his second life, he can barely get abs without maintaining his body in the gym. Yet, here he is, just 20 years old, and already this fit? Life in Astoria is really different from modern Earth.

"You still looking at yourself in the mirror, princess?" a joyful voice interrupted his thoughts as the man entered the tent with a look of mischief in his eyes. This was Jason Aster, the nephew of General Aster and Victor's childhood friend. He and Victor were the only two children in the army 10 years ago and that was how the two became best friends.

Jason is mischievous and has long green hair, a trait common in the Aster family, and teal-colored eyes. His skin is tanned since he likes to spend his days under the sun (Victor even less so). They were the same age but he is taller than Victor and very large, muscle wise.

When Victor saw him, he wanted to hug him. He missed his best friend. This man died in his last life, poisoned by his own brother just so he could take over the family inheritance. But Victor has to control himself. He can't just hug him for no reason. In the Claes empire, men hugging each other outside of family ties is unheard of or even frowned upon so he is sure his best friend would punch him if he tried. It was just that he was so used to being Jeffrey (he lived a long life as one after all) who was more affectionate with his friends and family than coming back to the stoic and very serious Victor in a more rigid society obsessed with image and rules is a struggle.

"I heard from Rufus that you asked him for a mirror?" Jason asked with a raised eyebrow with a look of disbelief. " Since when are you, this concerned about what you look like? Are you waiting for a prince to kiss ya?" Jason teased.

"Shut up." He lightly punched the man on his shoulders.

Jason laughed and then gave him a serious look. "Are you really alright? I did not expect you to get injured like that."

"I'm fine," Victor replied. He understands why Jason is worried. After all the years he has honed his skills and abilities on the battlefield, it was difficult to even hit him. Unfortunately, the fates decided that getting reborn in the middle of the battlefield was the perfect time to do so.

"Ugh. So direct." Jason muttered as he sat on one of the chairs and place his feet on the table.

"I actually did not expect the Aztos kingdom to surrender like that. With you being injured. They could have used this as an opportunity to rally their forces and put you in a position of weakness." Jason said.

Days ago, the Aztos kingdom sends a missive of their surrender which surprised Victor. Last time, it took another few more weeks before they surrender and Jason is right to point out that since he was injured, a known warrior, and also royalty in the Blue Rose army, Aztos surrender would not be the next move. They should be celebrating. No wonder General Aster was cautious of the missive.

But Victor already has an idea as to why Aztos is surrendering. It was the same reason last time. They are running out of resources and if they don't surrender, the kingdom and its citizens would die of hunger and destitution. Victor also knows that the whole war was nothing more than a farce. It was communicated to them that the Aztos forces, in their arrogance, wanted to expand their territory and Claes was their next target. They murdered a local baron and terrorized the local citizens. However, this was not true. After all, what kind of a small kingdom would threaten a large political and economic powerhouse like Claes?

In fact, the Claes empire wanted the magical pools that are unique to the Aztos kingdom. Those pools provide ingredients to make powerful potions, so they are coveted by both nobles and the magic tower. However, Aztos did not want to just freely share it with Claes who has a history of conquering other nations for the sake of exploiting and/or monopolizing their resources. And the dead baron was actually just an excused use since that man was also murdered by another noble who wanted his territory and hired a bunch of thugs to terrorize the local citizens while pretending to be Aztos.

Aztos already have a reputation of being hard-headed and they tried to defend themselves from the invasion and rally allies from other countries. But most of the countries did not provide support because they didn't want to fight with Claes. It was obvious that this war was for territorial gain, not revenge. This is why it was perceived that this war is an easy win but the only reason Blue Rose is taking longer to do so is due to the supplies and funding is being misused so their soldiers are suffering from it.

The war with Aztos was the last war Victor participated before the capital calls him back and that is where everything goes wrong. The emperor would congratulate him and the Blue Rose army and then "rewards him". Those rewards were actually an effort to subdue and humiliate him to try to ruin his image and make him less of a threat than he already is. The Blue Rose which has a reputation of soldiers belonging to criminal backgrounds has proven to be the magical powerhouse that some nobles also wanted to covet. They tried to take the Blue Rose army as a means to incapacitate him and forced him into marriage. At the time he thought his father gave him some recognition and cared for him only for his bride to be swapped with a bio on his wedding day.

Bios are men who have the ability to give birth. They look effeminate, smaller, weaker, and almost androgenous in looks but they were not accepted in most families. Bios also have very low fertility and if they do have children, there is a high chance the child will be a bio. These were among the reasons why society did not like them at all. In an empire that favors boys over bios and women, these social beliefs put the bios at a disadvantage in society. In fact, women were still preferred because they tend to have higher fertility rates and they can give birth to sons. Because of this, most bio children are often sent to the orphanage or sold into slavery or prostitution. Nobles with bio children see them as a disgrace and they sometimes live a life of abuse. So, in his last life, being tricked into marrying a bio was simply sending a message to him that he is unworthy of being a royal while also humiliating him in the noble society for such a marriage. He was a prince and was schemed that way and his own parents didn't even bat an eye!

So, what will Victor do now? Revenge? He thought about it but he finds the idea exhausting. He has read those face-slapping reborn revenge stories when we went down the rabbit hole called danmei in the world of webnovels. While he enjoyed it, the very thought of him doing so sounds very exhausting.

He is angry at his father, his mother, Concubine Elrose, and her vicious children which include that asshole the sixth prince, and the rest of the family who has been compliant with the abuse happening in the palace. But fighting back was not the answer. He did that in his last life, it did not go well. So, his aim is to stay the f**k away from the capital as much as possible. Sometimes it's okay to get away. The novel already pointed out that the corruption and misdeeds of the nobles will be shown to the public sooner or later and this can create chaos in the empire and set the factions to fight with each other for the throne plunging towards a civil war which can reduce Claes territories and crippling their economy.

"Jason. What is your plan after this? "Victor asked as he sat on one of the chairs and faced his best friend.

"After this?"

"Your time in the army."

"We have never been given time away from the army," Jason said looking at his friend incredulously. "Why are you asking this?"

"Got a feeling the capital is going to make some changes. Possible dissolving or transferring us to a more permanent position." Victor said. It's not really a feeling. He knows.

"That's one hell of a feeling," Jason said looking warily and at the same time thoughtfully at this friend. "If that happens, I'll probably find a girl to love and marry." He grinned mischievously.

"Never thought you to be a romantic," Victor said smiling but then frowned when he remembered what happened to his best friend. In the future, Marquis Aster will be in trouble, and Jason will be poisoned and murdered by his own wife who is actually a plant placed on his side by Jason's own brother. Victor is not planning to hand his friend to those wolves. As for Jason, if getting a wife is his wish then Victor will have to help him find a better partner than that bitch. If he sees that woman again, he'll probably plunge a knife through her head.

"What about you?" Jason asked.

During his bed rest, he has thought about what to do with his life now. Obviously, he is not going to be fighting for the throne and die. That would be a waste of his second chance. Besides running a country is exhausting. Not to mention the idea of all that paperwork, your mobility is restricted for the sake of your safety and you have to deal with the nobles. Let his brother, Lysander, deal with the chaos of the empire and its future. At least with him on the throne, he is less likely to kill him than the other siblings and probably leave him alone to live a peaceful life. But he also has to make sure Lysander has to get the throne. His second chance also comes with probabilities after all and possible changes that he might intentionally or unintentionally happen that would deter away from the plot of the novel. The novel made him one of the catalysts of the protagonist's growth and he has no plans to stay as one. So, he is going to find a different catalyst for his brother.

For now, he plans to follow the path toward his marriage. He won't care if he will be humiliated again. He will just have to make sure that he will be married to Julian. Julian Monet. His wife, Baron Monet's bio son. Once he got him back in his arms, he will take him away from the capital. He already knows that the emperor will assign him territory and a terrible one at that, but it is located very far which is both a plus and an annoyance. Being far means access to resources such as food, trade, protection, and other means will be difficult.

He just hopes Julian is safe for now. He knows that Julian did not have a happy childhood and suffered abuse in his own home. He really wanted to see those sapphire blue eyes, that pale skin, and the icy blue almost white hair again. He can't help but remember their time in prison. Please let him stay alive until I can get him. He prayed to whoever is listening.

"If given a chance." Victor paused and looked straight at his friend's eyes. "I'll run as far away from the royal family as far as possible."

Victor immediately left the tent leaving his friend with a look of both confusion and disbelief.