Long Live the Emperor, Minus Me (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 56

It’s a good thing I didn’t confess to the Grand Duke that I’m also a reincarnator. I genuinely thought so.

Since he believes I’m merely a precocious child, this excuse would certainly work.

“Yes, after all, seven years is longer than my entire life so far.”

I smiled subtly, emphasizing that “Blanche” was still just a six-year-old child, though my mind grew increasingly tangled.

The Grand Duke had always given me much, and always intended to give more. But what I’d received until now was clearly different from what he’d nearly given me this time.

Until now, everything the Grand Duke gave me had been intuitive consideration: a gardener because I liked flowers, a stable because I wanted to raise horses—simple and clean gestures like that.

He must have spent very little time preparing those gifts for me.

It’s simply that I, by nature, find it difficult to accept things without giving something in return; from the Grand Duke’s perspective, however, everything he’d given me probably seemed trivial.

But the plan he just shared with me wasn’t something that could be easily devised.

First, I needed to consider whether I truly wished to conduct research here alongside other scholars or merely wanted to learn something. I also had to worry about the fact that I couldn’t enter the academy alone, and ponder what plausible reason a peace envoy like me could have for attending the Imperial Academy.

That meant the Grand Duke must have thought deeply about this plan—and was willing to sacrifice several years of his own life for it.

Unlike the previous gifts, which were burdensome only to me but trivial to him, this one would weigh heavily on the Grand Duke himself as well.

Though everything the Grand Duke had given me until now could be justified as payment under our contract, I couldn’t possibly view this latest gesture as part of that same arrangement. Clearly, it far exceeded the acceptable margin of error in our agreement.

I felt I would eventually need to have a conversation with the Grand Duke about this distinction—about where the line lay between what I could accept and what would become too burdensome.

Though… I hoped I could postpone that conversation just a little longer.

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