Empire Rose Incident

It was said that when the Pirate King's flag flew outside Minfoster Port, the Empire's largest harbor, one of the Imperial Navy's generals was so frightened that he wet himself.

At the time, fewer than twenty warships were docked at Minfoster Port for repairs, while the returning pirate fleet numbered three hundred vessels of all sizes. Vast in scale and formidable in strength, they could have flattened the Empire's greatest port in a single battle, then marched rapidly inland and stormed Strasbourg, the imperial capital, within a week.

In that bustling port city, every resident and merchant was as despondent as if dead, convinced the end of the world was at hand. Fewer than half the soldiers could still muster the courage to fight.

When surrender flags rose from the Pirate King's flagship and the vessels under his command, Minfoster Port erupted as though celebrating its grandest festival. Everyone was deliriously happy, and countless people flooded into the streets to sing and dance.

Zimmerman Robin led the pirate fleet back and returned to the Empire's embrace, his prestige soaring beyond compare!

In just a few short years, Zimmerman Robin's reputation had plunged from its peak to the abyss, then surged from the abyss to heights that even someone of his unparalleled talent should have found impossible to reach in a lifetime!

His young life was truly an imperial legend.

That year, Zimmerman Robin's renown rivaled even that of his ancestor Saroses Robin from five eras ago. He was regarded as the most unruly figure of the age, destined to leave his name in history.

When the king received Zimmerman Robin, he said with a smile, "Other than the throne, you may ask me for any reward!"

Zimmerman asked for something no one expected. He refused to return to the Robin Family and requested Axel as his surname from the king, changing his name from Zimmerman Robin to Zimmerman Axel Robin!

After leading the fleet back to the Empire, Zimmerman Axel Robin seemed to have fulfilled every goal in his life. His entire personality underwent a strange transformation.

Before leading the fleet in rebellion, Zimmerman Axel Robin had been a man of few words. He immersed himself in his studies, regarded all entertainment as unnecessary, disciplined himself strictly, and lived in an old-fashioned manner. His teachers described Zimmerman this way: his schedule was as precise as a clock, his life as self-disciplined as a saint's. Other than learning and truth, this fellow saw nothing else!

Yet after returning to the Empire, Zimmerman seemed to have discarded all pretense. In only a few days, he became the Empire's most seasoned playboy.

Menilman Sumay, Charlotte's legendary senior schoolmate, had once been Zimmerman's fiancée.

One day, she visited her mother and saw Zimmerman diligently "plowing" her mother's body...

That scene was an unbearable humiliation to Menilman.

The Empire's First Rose, enraged beyond measure, drew her sword on the spot and demanded a duel with that playboy.

Charlotte spent an entire day reading things he should not have read.

He understood why Miss Menilman had burned those documents.

If this matter had not spread so widely, Charlotte might even have suspected that his senior schoolmate would kill him to silence him.

Given that senior schoolmate's family background, status, and position, hacking a few forty-first-rank First-Class Clerks to death would not have counted as a serious imperial crime.

The duel did not take place as scheduled. After sending Madam Shirley to the pinnacle of ecstasy, Zimmerman Axel Robin rolled over, smashed through the window, and vanished from Menilman's sight at top speed.

The Empire Rose had not even had time to stop that lecherous, shameless bastard.

The next day, Menilman issued a public declaration. Not only did she tear up the engagement, she also demanded a duel to the death with Zimmerman Axel Robin.

The most outstanding Empire Rose had countless loyal admirers willing to run errands for her and challenge her former fiancé in her stead.

Within a single day, Zimmerman Axel Robin received hundreds of letters of challenge. Wherever he appeared, people would block his path and demand a duel in the street.

As a descendant of the Robin Family, Zimmerman Axel Robin had inherited the family's swordsmanship in full. Its vicious ruthlessness even surpassed that of his ancestor five hundred years ago at the height of his powers.

Zimmerman won several street duels decisively, but during the eighteenth, a challenger provoked him, and he killed the man in the street.

After that duel, he never showed mercy again. In one hundred and fifteen duels, he killed one hundred and fifteen enemies, thoroughly offending the majority of the Empire's nobility.

After all, everyone qualified to challenge him was the child of an imperial noble, with an equally distinguished birth.

This far-reaching series of duels became known to history as the Empire Rose Incident.

It marked the dividing line in Zimmerman Axel Robin's life, as well as the beginning of his great depravity.

Zimmerman seemed to become utterly unreasonable overnight. Not only did he defeat his enemies in duels, but after almost every duel, he would provoke the older women in his opponent's family, including but not limited to their mothers, aunts, paternal aunts, elder sisters, maternal cousins, and paternal cousins...

When there was truly no one else to target, he did not mind going after younger sisters, maternal cousins, paternal cousins, or even the sisters of family friends... any female relative would do.

He fell from being one of the Empire's great nobles to becoming a prisoner charged with two hundred and fifty-seven crimes, including murder, rape, arson, robbery, theft, kidnapping, and intimidation...

He even broke the Empire's criminal record!

If not for his immense previous merits, and His Imperial Majesty personally signing seven consecutive pardons, this Mr. Zimmerman would have long since gone to the gallows.

Charlotte's recollection of the documents paused for the moment, and he suddenly felt that this was what a life was supposed to be.

Compared to Mr. Zimmerman, even with an extra transmigration under his belt, his own life seemed rather dull, bland, and utterly uninteresting.

Zimmerman Axel Robin was now imprisoned in Kilmainham Prison. What awaited him might be the emperor's eighth pardon, or perhaps a judgment ordering his execution by hanging.

Charlotte rubbed his brow, no longer willing to force himself to drink this world's black tea. He decided to buy some other tea tomorrow, perhaps flower tea shipped from Dongli Nation.

Setting down his teacup, Charlotte took off his clothes, climbed into bed, and soon fell into a deep sleep.

The next day!

Charlotte rubbed his eyes in the morning light and woke up.

He had slept comfortably that night. He climbed out of bed, washed up briefly, changed into a fresh set of clothes, and bundled his dirty clothes before placing them by the door.

The maids at the Savings Society Apartment would collect the tenants' dirty clothes from outside their doors, wash and iron them before returning them. The cost would be added to the rent and settled once a month.

After tidying the room a little, Charlotte had no time to deal with the women's clothes in his home. He hurriedly left the apartment, as he still had some work procedures to complete that day.

There was no computerized office administration in this era. Every official process had to be handled manually.