Ryoko Hayakawa, now reincarnated as Prince Herscherik of Gracis Kingdom, is about to turn seven years old. He has no athletic skills, no magic, and can’t even claim to be a great beauty among the royal family, but he still can’t afford to keep playing the subservient prince for much longer. Now that he’s begun his grass-roots efforts to fix his kingdom (just like the period drama heroes Ryoko used to watch on TV), he is met with a mind-blowing proposal from the Minister Barbosse. Meanwhile, the nefarious agents of the Church are on the move, and a beautiful and mysterious woman appears to Herscherik. As he plunges into danger to save his kingdom, how far will Herscherik be willing to go?

The life of Ryoko Hayakawa, a hard-core otaku, came to an abrupt end the day before her 35th birthday, before she was reincarnated as a beautiful prince in a fantasy world. However, her dream-like royal life didn’t last long, as she soon uncovered the depths of politics and corruption of her kingdom. To protect the king and his people, Ryoko, reincarnated as Prince Herscherik, resolved to conquer the darkness within his country. The problem was, the prince had no physical strength or magical powers, and even his stunning looks were surpassed by every other member of the royal family. Still, the prince persevered, using the skills he acquired during his previous life—the experience of an office worker, Ryoko’s drive for change, and her otaku brain.

Some years have passed since the otaku spinster, Ryoko Hayakawa, was reincarnated as the Seventh Prince of Gracis, Herscherik. As Herscherik approaches his seventh spring, his campaign to save his kingdom faces an unprecedented challenge—the Atrad Empire has taken advantage of the unrest in Gracis to launch an attack. At the same time, Herscherik's arch enemy, Prime Minister Barbosse, sets another one of his evil schemes in motion. Having failed at both assassinating the prince and winning him over, the minister has yet more dangerous machinations in store for Prince Herscherik and his men...

Having defended itself against the invasion of the Atrad Empire and successfully eliminated the darkness choking the life out of the country, Gracis is now busy preparing for the upcoming harvest festival. Seven-year-old Prince Herscherik, the key figure responsible for bringing peace to the nation—and secretly the reincarnation of a thirty-four year old otaku spinster—now finds himself grappling with mountains of paperwork day in and day out. Desperate for a change of pace, Herscherik sets out on one of his usual incognito excursions into the castle town—but instead of a relaxing escape, he finds another mystery when he runs across a pair of shadowy strangers...

Prince Herscherik (previously the 35-year-old Japanese woman Ryoko Hayakawa) continues to fight against the powerful corruption in his kingdom and the puppet-master minister Barbosse. Now that he’s 5, Herscherik earned his own room and office among the other princes, his new base of operations. On the HR front, he gains a new ally in addition to Kuro, the former-spy butler, in the form of a delinquent but more-than-capable knight from a well-respected family, Octavian. As Kuro and Octavian clash, Herscherik is left to keep them in check as they further their cause to save Gracis Kingdom and its people.

The experience of modernization -- the dizzying social changes that swept millions of people into the capitalist world -- and modernism in art, literature and architecture are brilliantly integrated in this account.

Paperback reprint. Originally published: 2020.