<b>Chapter 29: Know Your Enemies And Know Yourself</b>


    <b><i>scritch scratch…</i></b>


    All Raytan could hear were the sounds of Sezh’s pen nib scribbling against the parchment as she scrawled her notes. He had already checked over her work from the previous night, so today he was having her practice writing simple sentences. While he waited for her toplete her assignment, he took a seat in front of her and turned to stare out therge window nearby.


    Sezh wrote a few sentences then paused to nce at Raytan. She wrote a few more lines, and then she nced at him again. She knew that he normally wasn’t a particrly talkative or showy person to begin with, but despite his taciturn attitude, he seemed to be emitting a different aura than usual. In fact, he was even more silent than ever, and his demeanor was colder than it had been during their first meeting.


    Was his displeasure a result of being forced to sit in a ce that he was not fond of? After all, Lise had said before that Raytan held great disdain for the library in their pce. Perhaps then it was no surprise that his expression was so foul. Still, she was curious as to exactly why such a grand library brought him such great displeasure, but shecked the courage to broach the topic. Instead, all she could do was nce inquisitively at him every now and then. However, even that was short-lived as her stomach suddenly dered its presence


    <b>“…”</b>


    The sounds of her stomach rumbling made her flustered as it was loud enough that anyone who heard it could have thought that it was the sound of a boat horn. Sezh heard it loud and clear, so she thought Raytan must be the same. She was flustered but tried to look at Raytan to see his reaction. She looked so pathetic now.


    <b>“That… I haven’t had a proper breakfast yet…”</b>


    <b>“…”</b>She quietly continued,


    <b>” I’m not usually like this…”</b>


    Raytan looked at Sezh with a puzzled look before proceeding to call thedy in waiting. Following his beckon, thedy served delicious cakes and cookies on their table.


    <i>I couldn’t believe he had a knack for this kind of thing.</i> Sezh’s eyes widened in surprise.


    <b>“Eat.”</b>


    <b>“Ah, thank you…”</b>


    <b>“Don’t make a noise.”</b>


    <i>Ah, he doesn’t want me to be noisy, it’s not because he is worried about me. Of course. </i>


    There was no way Raytan would be worried about Sezh being hungry. Sezh realized the truth once again.


    But, it was better than not taking care of her in any case…


    <b>“I’ll eat it well, big brother.”</b>


    Sezh started to dig into a ratherrge, decadent slice of cake while sipping at a cup of warm cocoa on the side.


    <i>It tastes iparable to what I usually eat. You can just tell at one nce. The bean-sized strawberries that Luna brought were no match for therge strawberries on this cake, and the side cookies on the side here were also packed withrge chocte chunks. </i>


    A favored concubine surely makes a big difference as they could enjoy many things that she could never imagine. It was beside the topic but this made Sezh realize just how badly she was treated. All she’d eaten so far was nothing more than food waste if shepared it to the dish in front of her.


    <b>“Big brother, you won’t eat yours?”</b>


    By the time she had eaten half of the cake, Sezh coyly pretended to ask for Raytan’s share so she could eat more.


    <b>“You can eat mine.” </b>


    The answer was clear. Then don’t eat it okay, because I’m going to eat it all. Sezh’s eyes were sparkling while eyeing the cake. And suddenly turned to the teacup in front of Raytan as is was filled with dark coffee.


    <i>Right, you’re an adult.</i> Sezh tried to remember Raytan’s age again. In the Denhelder Empire, theing of age ceremony was held at the age of seventeen. Raytan is eighteen now, so he is an adult.


    Before returning to twelve years old, Sezh, who was about to get shed by Raytan was also an adult. Seventeen years old. An adult, who was not only part of the imperial family but also one of the aristocrats who never made a debut at debutante.


    Yerena tried to sell Sezh at the old duke just as she reached adulthood. But the duke died soon after.


    At that time, Sezh was busy looking for an excuse to leave the imperial pce.


    <i>I was in a hurry because I thought I might get sold to a grandfather who was over eighty years old. I had just be an adult and I had nothing to stand on. </i>


    <i>But everything was ruined because someone shed off my neck. </i>


    <i>But well whatever, I can’t repeat the same thing since I’ve returned five years to the past. Right. This is not the time for me to lose my mind over Kazaki like this. </i>


    Sezh, who’d already scarfed down the cake in record speed, carefully opened her mouth after she’d finished off thest bite of cake in her mouth.<b>“Big brother, what do you like?”</b>


    <b>“Hah?”</b>


    <b>“I’m just curious.”</b>


    <i>It’s an abrupt question, but I’ve read it in the book before. If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. Of course, I don’t want to fight. But I do think I will need to know something so I could gain his favor more easily. I wouldn’t have dared to ask this question before, but since things have be a little bit different, I thought I should try. </i>


    <b>“Well, I like cakes and cocoa. I like reading books too, and what about big brother…?”</b><b>“…”</b>


    <b>“Food or a hobby…?”</b>


    <b>“There’s no such thing.”</b>


    <b>“Pardon?”</b>


    <b>“I don’t like anything.”</b>