Watching from the Sidelines, I Remain Unshaken

With the emperors of the Four Kingdoms fanning the flames, the rumors grew ever more intense. William Wang didn't have to do anything—the effect Prince Nolan wanted was already achieved.

In fact, aside from tossing out the matter of Jason Lan and the treasure, William Wang only had people spread news about Skyvault Fortress and Eastlyn. He barely intervened in the rest; the subsequent chaos was the result of all the various factions getting involved.

It makes sense: once Jason Lan's secret and the Former Dynasty treasure were exposed, even Ghost Hall’s existence was dug up. There’s no way Liancastle and Ghost Hall would just let things go, so them throwing out rumors about Prince Nolan and Serena Feng’s backgrounds was entirely expected.

Aside from her initial shock and worry, Serena quickly put the whole matter out of her mind. Her identity was bound to be exposed sooner or later; it didn’t make much difference whether it was now or later.

In the middle of all this chaos, tossing out her identity only helped muddy the waters—there was no harm in it.

Tyre City had already fallen. The Shandong governor sent a memorial, reporting the situation and requesting the court to send officials to take over Tyre City and station troops there.

Serena had originally planned for the Phoenixfield Clan to occupy Tyre City and become its new rulers. But with the Phoenixfield Clan’s secrets exposed, she could only put the plan on hold and wait for the storm to pass before trying to officially restore the clan’s name.

The Phoenixfield Clan would continue to hide in the shadows. Tyre City was handed over to Eastlyn in exchange for temporary protection.

Earlier, Dorian Owen had crushed Prince Jason of Zhou and Prince Evan of Yong. Prince Evan killed himself on the city wall, and his entire household followed suit—over five hundred people in Prince Evan’s residence, not a single survivor.

When the news reached the frontier, Prince Nolan stood outside his tent for a night. The next day, he returned and wrote an imperial decree posthumously honoring Prince Evan, ordering that Prince Evan, his wife, and heir be buried in the imperial mausoleum.

The men of the Eastlyn royal family—even in defeat, they lose with pride!

Lord Harold Chase of Chu City died of illness during the chaos of war. Prince Jason of Zhou and Charlotte Chu were captured alive. With Charlotte Chu present, Prince Nolan would at most put Prince Jason under house arrest—he would never kill him. After all, Prince Jason is Lord Harold’s son-in-law. If Nolan wants to rule Chu City, he needs to show the people his benevolence.

If even the chief culprit, Prince Jason, is spared, then as long as Chu City’s people surrender, Eastlyn will let bygones be bygones.

While Liancastle and Ghost Hall’s rumors spread and all the kingdoms focused on tracking down the Former Dynasty treasure and discussing how to suppress Prince Nolan, Eastlyn kept receiving good news.

First, Tyre City was quietly taken; then Dorian Owen marched the prisoners to the capital. Before they even arrived, news came from the frontier: Prince Nolan had crushed Northlyn, pushed deep into its heartland, captured Northlyn’s great general, and was preparing to return to court.

It was nearly the year’s end, and with Prince Nolan’s return to the capital, the rumors about his and Serena’s origins only grew wilder. Everyone was plotting how to use the situation to their advantage.

Under the manipulation of the emperors, everyone seemed to forget about Jason Lan, the other true-blooded Lan heir, and instead focused all attention on Serena and Prince Nolan—whose identities have yet to be confirmed.

If not for the threat of the Former Dynasty treasure and Ghost Hall, the emperors of the Four Kingdoms might already be discussing sending troops to punish Eastlyn under the pretext of Serena and Prince Nolan’s backgrounds.

The whole situation was getting more and more chaotic. Not just ordinary people—even the emperors and city lords at the center of power didn’t know where to start.

Should they chase down the Former Dynasty treasure, or wipe out the remaining Former Dynasty loyalists? Should they go after Liancastle first, or Ghost Hall? Or should they target Serena and Prince Nolan?

Each problem was laid out on the desk, and the emperors of all the kingdoms were at their wits’ end, completely unsure where to begin.

Serena stayed in the Capital, ignoring all outside rumors. Once, a highly respected elder visited her under the pretext of paying respects, but was actually probing her background. Serena replied bluntly: "When my parents died, how old was I? Even my mother’s identity was something you all later told me. Besides, would you believe anything I say? True or false doesn’t matter—what matters is what you choose to believe."

Serena neither admitted nor denied anything, facing the rumors with utter calm. This only confused the onlookers further. But then again, whether Serena is the Phoenixfield Heiress—what does that have to do with them?

“So what if she’s the Phoenixfield Heiress? She’s just an ordinary person now, surviving only by her own strength. The Phoenixfield Clan has long since declined—even if there are still clan members left, they can’t compare to today’s great houses. The title of Phoenixfield Heiress, once more noble than a princess, is now worthless.” The Master of Mystic Healer Valley scoffed at this news, and found the rumors about Prince Nolan’s background even funnier: “What does it matter to you if Prince Nolan is a Lan descendant? Have you all forgotten, his father was the founding emperor of Eastlyn.”

“I never imagined these two would have such impressive backgrounds—each one more remarkable than the other. I thought Serena was just the daughter of a common family, but she’s actually the only daughter of the Phoenixfield King.” When Victor Yun and Caleb Wang heard the news, they didn’t believe it at first. But when they saw Simon Sun looking troubled, they both thought of Daniel Sun and understood most of the truth.

At first, they were a bit resentful that Serena hid her identity, but then they realized that being the Phoenixfield Heiress brought her not supreme honor, but endless trouble. The fewer people who know, the better.

“We used to worry Serena wasn’t good enough for Prince Nolan. Now it seems… it’s Prince Nolan who has to measure up to Serena. If the Phoenixfield King left only this one daughter, surely the clan would rather have a son-in-law marry into her line than let her marry out.” The Prince of Jiangnan, upon hearing rumors of his own rebellion, was startled and began drafting a memorial to explain himself to the court. But…

Before he could finish the memorial, new rumors broke out. Compared to those, his supposed rebellion seemed trivial. Without a second thought, he burned the memorial.

“It’s just rumors—who knows what’s true or false? They’re saying you rebelled too. Could that be true?” Prince Colin was pragmatic, treating all these rumors with skepticism.

Rumors stop with the wise. Though he wasn’t a sage, without proof, he wouldn’t jump to conclusions.

The rumors outside were everywhere—except for his supposed rebellion, all the others had some basis. Even if they weren’t true, they were still connected. In fact, his rebellion wasn’t unfounded; the captured rebels by Prince Colin had identified him as the mastermind.

If not for this, he wouldn’t have rushed to write a memorial just because of a rumor.

Prince Colin frowned, looking gravely at the Prince of Jiangnan, and spoke with concern: “Brother, please don’t get involved in these matters. I don’t want you to end up like Second Brother, Fifth Brother, or Seventh Brother. I especially don’t want to be forced, like Anping, to save you and become someone else’s pawn. Brother, even if Prince Nolan’s mother was a princess of the Former Dynasty, he’s still our grandfather’s son.”

“You’re overthinking… I stopped worrying about those things long ago. I know full well that with my power, I can’t shake Prince Nolan.” The Prince of Jiangnan paused, then gave a bitter smile.

Prince Colin’s concern wasn’t unfounded—the Prince of Jiangnan had indeed considered using this matter to drive Prince Nolan out of Eastlyn’s power center, then joining forces with Prince Colin to control the court.

But as soon as the thought arose, it was discovered by Dr. Redwater and Dr. Marcus Guile. Both were close friends with the Prince of Jiangnan and privately warned him: “Prince Nolan and Serena are letting the rumors run wild—do you really think they don’t have a backup plan? Maybe Prince Nolan is spreading the rumors himself. Don’t be foolish enough to fall for it.”

The Prince of Jiangnan was shocked, his heart pounding—after that, he never dared entertain those thoughts again.