Published: January 4, 2026
“Luke.”
I called out toward the door of the room.
Luke, who always stood at the entrance of the office and handled every message, hurriedly ran over.
“Your Majesty, you called?”
“How long until the report is ready?”
“Um… the next update will be in an hour.”
“Then let’s eat in the meantime. Oscar, join me.”
“Understood, I will accompany you.”
“Prepare enough for two.”
“As you wish.”
Luke, who had once been quite awkward, had now become capable of smoothly carrying out these routine orders.
He immediately dashed out of the office, and shortly after, a few lower-ranking eunuchs entered, setting up a table and chairs in a corner of the office and arranging the dishes on it.
“Will we be eating here?”
Oscar looked slightly surprised.
“I have been doing so for a while now.”
I stood up and took a seat at the newly set-up table — our dining table.
With a glance, I gestured for Oscar to join me, and he bowed before sitting down beside me.
It was a rectangular, long table.
Oscar sat along the long side.
Since this was the office — meaning inside the palace — and thus a semi-official setting, Oscar avoided sitting directly in front of the emperor and instead chose the side.
It felt a bit strange, even for a makeshift table in the office, but such was the protocol.
“I often have to leave the Imperial Capital and have little time to dedicate to administrative work. It’s troublesome to have others find me or for me to move around for each report. That’s why I eat here during work.”
“I see. Your Majesty, that is indeed remarkable.”
“That’s out of the blue. Why do you say that?”
I was a little taken aback.
It was rare for Oscar to flatter me.
Oscar looked toward the entrance and added,
“I mean that eunuch.”
“Luke?”
“Yes. He used to be just a child, but now he’s incredibly capable. I’m always in awe of Your Majesty’s keen eye.”
“Ah.”
I looked toward the entrance as well.
I could see Luke briskly giving orders to the lower-ranking eunuchs under his command.
Indeed, when I first saw Luke, he was an innocent child, completely unversed in the world.
He became a eunuch to pay for his sister’s medicine — understandable circumstances, but the irreversible act of castration for that purpose always felt questionable.
Now, Luke had become remarkably competent.
“People can change drastically depending on their environment. I know that firsthand.”
“Firsthand?”
“For example, if I had been born and raised in a rural village, I would have likely lived a life consumed with protecting my wife, children, and fields.”
I smiled softly as I spoke.
Though I used the word 'would have,' to me it was an established fact — no, simply my past.
Before being born as Noah, that was the life I would have lived and ended with.
But being born as Noah Alarate changed everything.
As the emperor’s thirteenth son and prince thirteen, I learned in the best environment possible.
If the education a noble receives is rated 100, that of commoners — especially peasants — wouldn’t even reach 1.
The difference in environment is that significant.
Because I have experienced both, I feel that deeply.
“You must be joking. Even if Your Majesty had been born in a remote village, you’d have quickly stood out at the knight selection.”
Oscar didn’t seem to believe it.
Since he hadn’t experienced it himself, I didn’t press the matter further.
While we talked, Luke returned with a group of lower-ranking eunuchs carrying our meals.
They set down two meals in front of me and Oscar.
Once everything was arranged, Luke quietly led his subordinates out of the office.
“This is...”
Oscar looked at the meal with a bewildered expression, as if a fox had pinched him.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well, this meal...”
“Is it too plain?”
I chuckled softly. Oscar looked a bit flustered.
“No, it’s not that.”
“You must remember too, Oscar. After decades as a prince, you must have tasted every sort of luxury.”
“Well, yes.”
Oscar nodded vaguely.