Chapter 20
“No. I plan to go to the academy. I can’t use something like this as an excuse to skip.”
“That’s good. If anything becomes difficult, contact home anytime. There aren’t many days left until you go to the academy, right? Let me see… Yes, it’s already next week. Prepare well, and if you fall ill, come home anytime.”
“Yes, Father.”
“Although the academy is talked about as if it’s essential among nobles, I don’t think so. Your sister never even considered entering because it didn’t suit her, and she’s living well, doing her job properly, isn’t she? While I’d like you to graduate successfully, there’s absolutely no need to push yourself if it’s too much.”
“No, really, the academy isn’t a big deal.”
The Count of Monetery urged Blair, thinking he might not want to go to the academy. But the academy was truly a trivial matter. Blair, having gathered his thoughts, smiled brightly as he wrapped his hands around the warm cup. The warmth spread through his hands, permeating every corner.
Blair didn’t particularly think graduating from the academy was necessary either. Clara, who was closest to him, had never set foot in the academy, and thirty-three-year-old Blair had lived just fine without an academy degree. But having returned to the past, he couldn’t predict how the future might change. To establish himself as a nobleman, spending time at the academy was beneficial in many ways. In the past, he hadn’t graduated from the academy, and it was true that he had some regrets about that.
The Count of Monetery, despite what he was saying, would likely hope for Blair to graduate from the academy if possible.
“Yes. Our youngest is so smart and clever, I’m sure he’ll do well on his own. I trust you.”
The Count of Monetery patted Blair’s uninjured right shoulder with his large, thick hand. Blair nodded with a gentle smile. After being served good tea in the Count of Monetery’s room, his mind cleared. It was tea so precious that its value could be compared to gold. Until now, he had been acting half-possessed, but if he had truly returned to the past, this was no time to be slacking off.
This was reality. It was time to end the denial of reality and get his act together. Blair stepped into the corridor and slapped both his cheeks with his hands. The pain in his left shoulder, which he had carelessly lifted, proved that this was no illusion. The pain was in the same place where he had been hit by the arrow. It was neither a dream, nor a life review, nor a fantasy.
For reasons unknown, he had now returned to the spring of his sixteenth year. The past version of himself would have laughed it off as nonsense, but this moment was reality.
Soon, the day to return to the academy was approaching.
It was fortunate that he had awakened at home after returning to the past. He felt genuinely relieved that he hadn’t woken up at the academy. If it had been there, he wouldn’t have been able to grasp the situation and would have been extremely irritated with his past self. He was very fortunate to have met his family first.
The academy was a center of learning that gathered students from all over the Crassia Empire. The courses at the academy were very challenging. Because of this, commoners with exceptionally good minds could attend without paying entrance fees if they could keep up with the lessons, while even nobles couldn’t attend if they were too foolish. Among the numerous nobles, not many had graduated from the academy. Thus, even for nobles, a degree from the academy provided significant prestige and pride. For commoners, graduating from the academy guaranteed a promised future.
It was common for children of established, powerful noble families to attend the academy unless something unusual occurred. The academy’s principle was to study for 8 years, from age fifteen to twenty-three. There were slight age differences depending on when people passed the entrance and graduation exams, but most studied at the academy around that age range. Of course, there were occasional mature students over thirty, but they were people with a genuine passion for learning.
Naturally, Blair in the past had also entered the academy at fifteen, and it was there that he had met Aaron and Kyle. Enchanted by that beautiful face, he had thrown away everything, including his academy degree, in his frenzy to make Kyle emperor. But in the beginning, it had been friendship. Even he couldn’t be certain exactly when that friendship had transformed into unrequited love.
Blair reminisced about the past. It seemed that his younger self had been quite passionate. Now he had to choose what kind of life to live. Having burned through and exhausted all his passion in the past life, it felt like he wouldn’t have even a handful left if he scraped together every bit. Blair slowly moved his feet.
* * *
“No! Young Master.”
“Why not?”
Blair rubbed his head as if it were giving him a headache.
“You fell off a horse and were bedridden for a week, only waking up the day before yesterday. And now you want to ride a horse again? That’s absurd! You might as well kill us instead.”
The maids and knights were shouting loudly. He had thought he only needed to avoid Kyle, but it seemed noisy people were everywhere. He had wanted to ride a horse to get some fresh air and organize his thoughts, but others clearly didn’t share his view. The maids tearfully insisted that he absolutely couldn’t ride a horse. But Blair stubbornly asked again:
“But I want to ride. Is it really not allowed?”
“Not! Allowed!”
At the maid’s stern warning, Blair obediently gave up on the horse. Though he was confident he could doze off while sitting on a horse, he didn’t want to be that stubborn in front of people who were worried about him. The maids were right.
“Then how about archery?”
“You can do that, of course. But you injured your left shoulder—how are you going to shoot a bow? You can barely lift your arm above your shoulder right now.”
“Ah. That’s true.”
Blair made a troubled expression, as if he hadn’t thought of that. Horseback riding was out due to the maids’ extreme opposition, and archery was difficult because his shoulder still hurt. That left only walking as an option.
“Do you want to go out, Young Master?”
Feeling guilty for prohibiting this and that, the maid cautiously observed Blair’s mood.
“Not particularly, but I would like some fresh air.”
“Shall I prepare a carriage then?”
“No, nothing like that. I wanted to ride a horse myself, not to go somewhere specific. Thank you for your concern.”
Waving his hand dismissively to send the maids away, Blair changed into comfortable active wear and came out into the sunshine. The well-maintained garden was beautiful. It was a gorgeous garden that his forever girlish mother loved and was proud of. He could boldly claim that even the imperial garden wasn’t more beautiful than this.
Feeling the sunshine after so long improved his mood. Though he couldn’t ride a horse, walking had its own charm. A vibrant green color bloomed in the life-filled garden. A natural humming flowed from Blair’s lips. Butterflies visited the flowers.
Blair had been trying to organize his thoughts before departing for the academy. If he went to the academy again, he would surely meet Aaron and Kyle. Frequent encounters with Aaron and Kyle happened after Blair turned eighteen. Before that, they had just been acquaintances who exchanged greetings.
It occurred to him that returning to the past might be a warning from some transcendental entity not to live the same life again. The very concept of going against time was beyond common sense. In fact, it still felt unreal to the point of disbelief. If so, what should he change?
What if he didn’t make Kyle emperor again? If he were to follow his past life exactly, making Kyle emperor again wouldn’t be particularly difficult. He could simply avoid the life-threatening situations and take only the good parts.
If by any chance he did make Kyle emperor again, this time he definitely wanted to kill Joshua and Empress Kalshon. His teeth gritted at the thought of Joshua’s face. But even if he gave up on taking Joshua’s head, somehow he didn’t feel like making Kyle emperor. The passion to repeat a life he had already lived had all turned to ash and disappeared.
He really wanted to make different choices this time. What would be the point of living the same life when given the chance to live twice? He had a feeling that the transcendental being who sent him back to the past wouldn’t want that either.
Blair smiled as he plucked a flower from the flowerbed. It was a choice he could make because there wasn’t a shred of regret in the past life he had lived. Blair had always taken pride in the path he had walked.
“Yes, I’ll try something different this time.”
Blair sniffed the plucked flower and began singing, nodding his head.
Life as a kingmaker hadn’t been bad. It could even be considered quite a successful life. Blair had observed from the closest position as a weak and powerless prince grew up and seized the throne, and he was the man who had made the most brilliant contributions to that outcome.
To achieve that, he had crossed numerous lines between life and death, thrown himself onto countless battlefields, and endured political battles that didn’t suit him. In return, he had received territory and titles, and earned the respect of the empire’s citizens.
Despite the hardships, Blair and Kyle had always been the winners, so it wasn’t a losing proposition. Ah, or was it? In the end, Blair had been shot by an arrow and died, so perhaps they weren’t winners after all. Anyway, he didn’t want to think about complicated matters anymore. This time, he wouldn’t live a life so frantically helping Kyle or entangling himself with him.
It would be a lie to say there wasn’t a bit of personal resentment in making that decision. After all that suffering to make him emperor, Kyle had gone and paired up with someone else, and in the end, Blair had even given his life. No matter how he looked at it, everything involving Kyle had been a loss for him.
He definitely didn’t want to do that in this life. A merchant’s son only needed to engage in a losing business once. If Kyle wanted to develop his own abilities and become emperor, Blair wouldn’t actively stop him, but he personally didn’t want to roll up his sleeves and jump into that bloody place like before. One round of such brutal hardship was enough. He didn’t want to stain his hands with blood anymore.
[To be continued in the next chapter…]
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
