Present a State Letter to the Emperor of Heavenly Strategy, Offering to Bow and Become His Vassal! (Please Subscribe)

By Matvei's reckoning.

Something had probably already happened that night, after Ancestor Romanov entered the palace to "feast" with his master!

His father, Ivan, had very likely been eliminated along with him by his master's thunderous methods!

Why hadn't his master said so outright? Matvei's thoughts raced.

Of course. Master must have been considering my feelings. After all, Ivan was my birth father, and Romanov was my ancestor.

He feared that hearing the news so suddenly would be more than I could bear, that it would plant a thorn in my heart.

Master... he was protecting me in his own way, clearing every obstacle from my path.

At this thought, an exceedingly complicated tide of emotion welled up within Matvei.

There was a faint, instinctive pang at his birth father's death, but far stronger was the relief of a burden lifted, along with a surging wave of gratitude toward Li Chen!

Master... he murmured inwardly, his gaze gradually firming. Perhaps many people, both at court and beyond, are whispering that you're merely using me as a puppet emperor so you can control Daluo with rightful authority. But so what?

From you, I gained strength I would never even have dared dream of before. You taught me to judge people and affairs, taught me the arts of an emperor, and let me truly begin to understand power and responsibility!

Even if you're using me, you're using me in a way that remakes me from the inside out, granting me new life and strength! This kind of "use" is a thousand, ten thousand times better than spending my entire life as Father and Ancestor's meek, groveling puppet emperor, never knowing whether I would survive another day!

Matvei was merely somewhat weak in temperament, not stupid.

He understood the stakes involved more clearly