Chapter 89

"Gasp. R-really?"

"Of course."

"It's an honor...!"

Lady Halo looked overjoyed, as though she couldn't believe it. The Empress's gaze shifted to me, since I still hadn't answered. I replied as politely as I could.

"First, thank you for thinking so highly of me and for the offer. However—"

"However?"

"It's simply a path I'd never considered for myself..."

The only career path I'd ever considered was lying around in bed for the rest of my life.

If I accepted the offer, finished my studies showered in support and expectation, what waited for me after that was a hellish life as a graduate student — churning out research results until the day I died.

Beyond even a "best life"... the life of a grad-school slave...!

After all the trouble of being reincarnated as the youngest daughter of a Count's house, I had no reason to make that kind of choice.…