Long Live the Emperor, Minus Me (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 61

Chapter 3.

How swiftly time flows, like water. Blink once, and ten years have already passed.

“If you open and close your eyes a hundred times, it still won’t turn into a dream—so why not open them now, Sleeping Princess?”

I hadn’t particularly wished it were a dream. Had I kept my eyes closed too long? A gentle tap on the back of my hand urged me awake.

When I slowly opened my eyes, what I saw was the Grand Duke’s finger. Following that long, knuckled finger upward, I met his gaze fixed upon me.

Eyes as clear and blue as water. And in stark contrast, fiery red hair blazing like flame—the exact same color as ten years ago.

The change lay elsewhere. His voice, once so high it was nearly indistinguishable from a girl’s, had grown noticeably deeper, and his jawline had sharpened.

His eyes had become more angular, his limbs lengthened—he now stood at least a head taller than me.

Ah. Truly, how much time resembles water—flowing past in an instant, yet inevitably leaving its mark, like the hollowed rock beneath a waterfall, worn smooth by layered years.

“…I wasn’t exactly asleep. I was merely reflecting on how swiftly time passes.”

I murmured absentmindedly, staring at my hand resting beneath the Grand Duke’s.

I’d thought my hand had grown quite a bit over the years, yet beneath his, it looked surprisingly small.

Oddly enough, though I was the one who’d held a sword and trained extensively, while the Grand Duke had practiced only basic self-defense, his hand appeared sturdier, with more pronounced knuckles—undeniably a boy’s hand.

No, of course the Grand Duke had never seemed anything less than masculine—but if the Grand Duke of before had been a “boy,” then the Grand Duke now unmistakably felt like a “man.”

In my previous life, I’d only had a younger sister and raised daughters, so I’d never watched a boy grow up right beside me—it stirred unusually deep emotions.

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