The European Emperor: From the Hundred Years' War

Transported back to medieval France in its most desperate hour—on the very brink of annihilation—the young maiden Joan of Arc, the figure destined to alter the nation's fate, is nowhere to be found. In her absence, another rises: Hugh de La Baume. To the world, he becomes the emperor who sweeps across Europe, the sole prophet of the age, the holy saint of God, and the tyrant who dares to crown himself. His name is sung by every tongue, his bloodline deemed the only legitimate one, for he achieves the impossible—the complete unification of the European continent. Yet Hugh harbors no illusions of sainthood. He knows the truth: he is simply a man who, upon death, returns to the very day she once saved him. Joan, however, sees only divine purpose—the power of rebirth, she insists, is a gift from God, and that makes him a saint. Frustrated, Hugh argues that his is not a resurrection after death like Christ's, but a rewind to before death—a return, not a rising. Joan calmly concludes that God must have sent him. Exasperated, Hugh declares himself God, co-equal and four-in-one with the Almighty. Joan falls silent. Then, with quiet finality, she orders him to disarm. And Hugh, for all his power, simply obeys.