Securing Power, How Could I Not Trust You

The existence of aristocratic great houses does bring many drawbacks and is indeed unfair to scholars from humble origins, but Prince Nolan has never considered eradicating the great houses from the Nine Provinces Realm entirely.

He has destroyed a batch of old aristocrats, but once those poor-born scholars succeed, they too will establish new powerful families, becoming the next generation of gatekeeping clans in the Nine Provinces Realm. Thus, the cycle continues, endlessly...

Rather than trying to wipe out the great houses, it's better to support the cold-gate scholars and let them compete, giving them a chance. As long as no single aristocratic house becomes dominant enough to threaten imperial authority, that's enough.

Serena's proposal happened to match Prince Nolan's intentions. He sent people to investigate the situation of all families in the Capital and had William Wang Jinling select suitable candidates. As for the cold-gate scholars, Nolan entrusted that part to Felix Fuller.

William Wang Jinling's status is clear for all to see. No matter how fair-minded he is, he still represents the interests of the great houses. He will give cold-gate scholars opportunities, but never at the expense of the aristocrats.

Felix Fuller is different. As someone with no family foundation, Felix is the perfect representative of the rising cold-gate scholars. With him leading, it's only natural that a group of talented poor-born students will gather around him.

"With this move, you’ve counted all of us into your scheme." This was William Wang Jinling’s private complaint to Prince Nolan.

On the surface, it looked like a contest between William and Felix, but in reality, it was a struggle between the aristocratic clans and the cold-gate scholars. After this, William and Felix would represent two opposing factions—politically, there could never be a unified opinion.

Prince Nolan’s lips curved slightly. "Serena’s suggestion."

The Grand Heir was briefly stunned, then smiled and praised, "Serena really is clever."

Prince Nolan gave the Grand Heir a disdainful look, not bothering to say more. Anyway, as long as he knew the idea came from Serena, William Wang Jinling would always think it was good.

Prince Nolan spread out the map and tapped it lightly. "Night City can be moved upon now." He’d been planning for the naval affair for so long—if all he managed was to target Prince Damien of Southlyn, that would be far too little. Night City and Southlyn were what Prince Nolan truly wanted.

"The treasury is empty." William Wang Jinling naturally understood what Prince Nolan wanted, but attacking Night City was no easy task.

"Borrow," Prince Nolan replied.

"Borrow from whom?" William Wang Jinling spread his hands, clearly refusing to lend any money himself.

Fortunately, Prince Nolan hadn’t planned to borrow from William Wang Jinling anyway. The money he wanted to use was: "The Emperor’s private treasury."

"The Emperor’s private treasury? How much silver could there be?" William Wang Jinling didn’t get it for a moment, but soon realized what Prince Nolan meant. "You want to use the Hsieh Clan’s money?"

Prince Nolan nodded. "Now it’s the Emperor’s money. Eastlyn is going to war—using the Emperor’s private treasury is perfectly normal."

Absolutely shameless.

William Wang Jinling looked speechless, but he had to admit Prince Nolan’s proposal was excellent. All of the Hsieh Clan’s wealth was now in the young Emperor’s hands. For the sake of appearances, neither the retired Emperor nor the rest of them would touch it, but if it was used for war, no one would object.

With the military funding problem solved, William Wang Jinling raised another issue: "Whom do you plan to use?"

War brings the chance to seize military authority and to install one's own people. The question was, whose power would Prince Nolan move against?

"General Warren Yu. It’s time for him to return."

"And what about the Northlyn border? Who will you send there?" William Wang Jinling looked at Prince Nolan, faintly guessing his plan.

"Dominic Zhai."

Just as expected...

William Wang Jinling nodded knowingly. "He really is the only suitable choice." The big guy was easy to fool and wouldn’t notice Prince Nolan’s secrets on the Northlyn frontier.

Prince Nolan met William Wang Jinling’s gaze. Both understood each other—William would secretly cooperate, since neither could afford internal strife right now.

The struggle for the Eastlyn throne may have ended, but things were far from peaceful. The adult princes still watched like hungry tigers, the retired Emperor was dissatisfied, and the generals with troops in hand had unknown ambitions. If Prince Nolan wanted Eastlyn stable, he had to swiftly consolidate military power—only then could he intimidate Prince Jason and keep the Prince of Jiangnan, Prince Colin, and the others from growing rebellious.

General Warren Yu was the first, but he wouldn’t be the last. Once Warren Yu obediently handed over his command, the others would waver, considering whether to surrender their own military power too.

You had to know, General Warren Yu was a tough character—even the retired Emperor couldn’t get the better of him. Yet now, he’d fallen into Prince Nolan’s hands, proving Nolan was one step ahead.

Step by step, Prince Nolan seized and consolidated power, reassuring the people and both civil and military officials. It wouldn’t be long before all of Eastlyn’s officials and commoners knew only the Regent Prince, forgetting the Emperor himself.

Serena had been recuperating at home these days, receiving outside news only from Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. These four Season Maids had special status—intelligence they accessed was out of reach for Jada Tang and Mira Tang before.

Serena knew these four had obtained their intel through Prince Nolan’s personal connections and networks.

Serena would never waste such talent. After some thought, she put the Four Kingdoms intelligence network under the four Season Maids’ charge.

"These were left by Jada Tang and Mira Tang. Review them thoroughly, and once you’re familiar, take over." Since she was going to use the four, Serena decided not to be suspicious anymore and openly handed over all the contacts Jada and Mira had built.

"Miss, you... trust us." The four were overjoyed. They’d always hoped Serena would accept them, let them close to her core power—never expecting that day to come so soon.

"You’re Prince Nolan’s people. How could I not trust you?" Serena smiled. As for her previous caution, she shamelessly pretended it never happened.

Of course, the four Season Maids weren’t foolish enough to bring it up again. They gripped the papers tightly and solemnly declared, "Please rest assured, Miss. We will never let you or the Prince down."

"I trust you." To motivate them to work hard, Serena didn’t mind saying a few nice words. But: "These tasks are important, but remember—Feng Jin is the most important. If you can’t guarantee you’ll care for him as meticulously as before, choose replacements now."

Feng Jin was a lovable little bun. Serena’s warning to the four Season Maids wasn’t out of concern for Zuo An—she truly saw Feng Jin as her younger brother and wanted him to have the best care.

The four Season Maids understood well—caring for Feng Jin was far more important than gathering intelligence. Of course, they would never entrust such an important task to anyone else. They promised again and again that they would never neglect Feng Jin and would treat him with even greater care.

Serena trusted their abilities and nodded, signaling for them to leave. "Alright, you may go now."

"Yes, Miss!" The four Season Maids replied with extra vigor—their voices louder than usual.

The moment they stepped outside, the four couldn’t contain their joy and hugged each other in excitement.

"Wonderful, wonderful! Miss finally trusts us enough to use us."

"We’ll do our best. We can’t let Miss down."

"Mm-hmm!"

...

The four girls cried and laughed, completely unlike their usual composure. Serena smiled and shook her head, a hint of envy flashing in her eyes...

Normally, the four Season Maids were calm and steady, but after all, they were still seventeen or eighteen—full of youthful vitality. But as for Serena herself...?