beta
If we look at the definition of grooming google says “the action of attempting to form a relationship with a child or young person, with the intention of sexually assaulting that child”
While the duke didn’t do anything sexual with Alois before and left him on his own to meet other people he did approach a child with the intention of having him look at him the way he saw him do in the future (in love) . If he had returned to the past and had eventually saved Alois by coincidence or only remembered that he had to save a child called Alois and didn’t think of doing that act in the future after he had grown up that would be fine but he didn’t. He remembered everything and waited for that moment to happen while telling himself that he had to let Alois make the decision himself. By definition this is grooming and the fact that he slept in the same bed as child Alois really doesn’t help his case here.