Linhardt had been told for his entire life that he was important. Not as important as Edelgard perhaps, but given the domestic struggles in Adrestia it was questionable if any of the great families would actually consider the Emperor or their family members to be more important. Linhardt had also been taught not to trust what he was told, and the evidence suggested that there was no objective difference in value between people. The primary difference was that if he died, there would be consequences to a greater number of people. Which was something to consider, but inherent status was not the only determiner of what the consequences of a person's death would be.

"It leads to humans being used as resources, and to non-consensual human experimentation. And it leads to leaders who cannot be questioned, which means their plans are never fortified and are executed with glaring weaknesses."

"I also know myself." If nothing else, Linhardt was very aware of himself. Even the parts of himself he avoided and didn't approve of, he would admit are present. It's engaging with those parts that he would not do, "And people would be less pleased with my being less hampered than they would think."