Long Live the Emperor, Minus Me (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 27

Unlike Blanche, who had collapsed into sleep right after dinner from running around so much her feet were sweaty, Melchizedek—who had spent the day relaxed and idle—still had enough energy after dinner to calmly go visit the Empress Dowager.

“Did you summon me, Your Majesty?”

The Empress Dowager, Lachia Vee Pendleton, greeted her son exactly as she had been, trimming a bonsai. While tending to the small potted tree, Lachia opened the conversation with a simple inquiry about his well-being.

“Indeed. How is your elder brother faring?”

Yet that inquiry concerned only the eldest. A mother asking her second son about the eldest—truly a strange scene, yet Melchizedek answered calmly as usual.

“Yes, he is in excellent health.”

“Then there’s nothing more to worry about. At twenty years old, he’s already reached the highest position—what more could that child possibly desire beyond good health?”

It was an awkward question to answer, so Melchizedek pretended not to hear it and let it pass.

“You didn’t call me here merely to ask after my brother’s well-being, did you?”

Lachia lightly lifted the corners of her mouth and finally turned her gaze toward her son.

“You’re quite impatient today—unlike your usual self.”

“I must be in bed by ten due to my age, so I’d like to get straight to the point, finish our conversation quickly, and go to sleep.”

It was a logical excuse. In truth, Lachia hadn’t summoned him at this hour just for idle chatter, so she readily moved to the main topic.

“Very well. What kind of child is this Blanche?”

Melchizedek unusually hesitated before answering—not because he was thinking it over now, but because he was quietly reevaluating a conclusion he’d already reached.

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