Chapter 1: The Man Who Should Not Be Alive

"Carlo, where are you?"

A shout from high up in the luxurious palace interrupted Carlo's thoughts, pulling his soul back into this real world.

"I am here, Father," Carlo replied hurriedly.

"Thank God, my child, are you feeling better?" Only a few minutes later, the voice moved from afar to near; the owner of the voice had already arrived behind Carlo.

Carlo turned slightly, still feeling a bit incredulous.

The middle-aged man standing before him, looking so luxuriously dressed, was actually the biological father of this body he now inhabited—the famous current ruler of the House of Savoy, the first King of a unified Italy, Victor Emmanuel II.

"I am feeling much better; the medicine the doctor gave me was very effective." Carlo nodded honestly, though inwardly he was pondering how to converse with this father he was not yet familiar with.

Victor Emmanuel II did not notice Carlo's complex thoughts; instead, he patted Carlo's head affectionately and said earnestly, "It's alright, child. Although Oddone is gone, you still have us, don't you?"

Oddone was Victor Emmanuel II's third son, who had been granted the title of Duke of Montferrat the moment he was born.

In Carlo's memories, this older brother had been very kind to him, with a relationship far closer than that with his two older brothers.

But unfortunately, by the time Carlo's soul arrived in this world, the Duke of Montferrat, Oddone, was already terminally ill and passed away shortly after.

Due to the extremely poor medical standards of this era, the cause of Oddone's death was never even determined.

That even a prince could die so inexplicably made Carlo feel a hint of fear toward this real world.

For an ordinary person who had experienced advanced technology and society, personally experiencing the technology and life of 160 years ago was truly a form of torture.

Even though Carlo was Victor Emmanuel II's most favored son and a prince of the newly established Kingdom of Italy, it could not offset this terrible feeling.

Seeing Carlo still silent, Victor Emmanuel II patted his head again, squeezed out a smile, and said, "It will be alright, everything will get better, child."

"I will not allow anything to take you away from my side, not even God. Both Adelaide and I will protect you; you will be fine, I promise you."

For Victor Emmanuel II, who was known for his piety toward God, such a promise was clearly heartfelt and sincere.

Carlo naturally knew of Victor Emmanuel II's reputation, and he felt no repulsion toward this "cheap" father who cared for him so much.

"I am much better, Father. Thank you for your concern; I am fine now," Carlo said.

"That is good, child. May God bless you, and I will be with you." Victor Emmanuel II patted Carlo's head affectionately once more, then signaled for the maid beside him to help Carlo back to his room.

Historically, although Victor Emmanuel II had six sons (counting only those born to Queen Adelaide), only two did not die young; he could be considered to have had many children but little fortune.

Among them, besides Prince Oddone who died young at nearly 20, the remaining three children who died early all passed away accidentally during infancy.

Although in this world, because of Carlo's arrival, Victor Emmanuel II lost one fewer son, the constant loss of sons during his middle age made him cherish family affection all the more.

And Carlo, now the youngest son, was the most favored by Victor Emmanuel II; he was the noble Duke of Chablais from birth, with assets including vast farmlands, several castles and manors, and hundreds of servants waiting to serve him at any moment.

While Victor Emmanuel II was lost in thought, Carlo had already been helped into his room by two maids.

Looking at the pure and beautiful maid on his left and the alluring one on his right, Carlo swallowed the words that had just reached his lips.

Although the West practiced monogamy, for noblemen of high status, "mistress" was not an unfamiliar term.

Especially for the very top of the nobility, if Carlo wished, the young women wanting to become his mistresses could line up from the Italian capital of Florence all the way to the northwestern city of Turin.

At least on this point, Carlo was willing to admit that the world of 160 years ago still had some pleasures.

Of course, mistresses were just a tacitly understood enjoyment among nobles and were generally not made public.

For top-tier nobles, maids were certainly a safer choice than mistresses and were also more trustworthy in terms of loyalty.

Especially for some nobles in their youth, maids were more suitable for "enlightenment education," which was the first choice for most European nobles in educating their heirs.

The two maids serving Carlo were chosen by Victor Emmanuel II as his mentors, combining the traits of pure innocence and sexy allure, and both were very beautiful.

At first, Carlo enjoyed their massage, but the pleasure in his lower regions suddenly brought him back to his senses. Looking over, he saw that Anna, who looked pure and cute on the outside, had already reached her hand into his trousers and was quietly teasing him.

"That's enough, Anna." Carlo patted Anna's head, and seeing her look up with blinking eyes, he finally smiled: "Not there yet."

"Alright." Hearing this, Anna nodded with slight disappointment, and her hand left that spot.

"I want to be alone for a while." After enjoying the skilled massage of the two maids, Carlo finally relaxed a little and ordered the two women.

Soon, the two maids left the room, leaving Carlo alone to lie in the room and fall into deep thought.

Carlo had barely accepted his transmigration to this era. At least as a noble, there were still many ways to enjoy life, which was much better than the hard labor of later generations.

But the problem was, although monarchy was still the mainstream globally, it could only last for a few more decades.

Once the two World Wars broke out one after another, they would deal a heavy blow to monarchies worldwide, causing monarchical countries to almost disappear from people's sight.

Apart from the United Kingdom, where the monarch's power was almost non-existent, people in later generations knew very little about monarchical countries and couldn't even name a few that still existed.

The Kingdom of Italy, where Carlo was, would not achieve a republic until after World War II, but during Mussolini's reign, the power and status of the Italian royal family were already precarious; abolishing them would have been just a word from Mussolini.

Although he didn't know how he had transmigrated, since he had started a new life and possessed such a high starting point, Carlo naturally had greater ambitions.

In order to hold his future destiny in his own hands, Carlo had a new plan.

New book setting sail, seeking recommendation votes, seeking collections, seeking investments!

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(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 2 =====