Power Minister, Everything You Have Is Given by Me

Serena really didn’t know what was going on in Southlyn. Just relying on rumors from outside and a single letter from Prince Nathan of Southlyn, she couldn’t make a snap judgment—and certainly wouldn’t just promise Nolan anything.

All Serena said was that she’d write to ask Prince Nathan herself. Whether Nathan would agree or not was out of her hands.

“Silly.” Nolan flicked Serena’s forehead. He wouldn’t bring it up if he wasn’t absolutely sure—he’d never let her be put on the spot.

With a crisp sound, a red mark appeared.

“Ow... that hurts.” Serena clutched her forehead, giving Nolan a look of pure accusation. Her pitiful expression was almost a match for Feng Jin’s.

“Let me blow on it for you...” Nolan’s eyes sparkled with laughter, and he copied Feng Jin, blowing gently on Serena’s forehead. Only his breath... was about as suggestive as it gets.

“You’d better not.” The heat of his breath washed over her; Serena’s ears turned pink, her cheeks flushed bright red.

“No, I have to. It’ll hurt otherwise. I’m healing you.” Nolan sounded deadly serious, like he was scolding a stubborn kid.

Serena rolled her eyes, grabbing Nolan’s hand from under her clothes. “Are you sure this is healing? How badly do you think I’m hurt that you need a full-body check?”

“Checking to see if you have any other injuries.”

Great, now he had an excuse.

......

Yesterday, Felix Fuller and General Warren Yu raced out of the palace and straight home, refusing to see anyone no matter what happened. All they cared about was tracking Nolan’s next move.

“Looks like those two are about to make trouble.” As for Prince Nathan’s situation, William Wang Jinling kept to his three-no policy: don’t ask, don’t interfere, don’t investigate.

“Sir...” The bodyguard behind him started to speak, but William cut him off: “Don’t meddle.”

Not asking, not interfering, not investigating didn’t mean he was ignorant. He knew too much—which was exactly why he stayed out of it, so he wouldn’t get dragged down and stuck for good.

He was nothing like Felix and Warren. Those two had staked everything on Nolan; their power and their families’ rise depended entirely on whether Nolan succeeded.

Those two were gamblers, putting all their chips on Nolan. But William wasn’t...

The Wang clan was already a top-tier aristocratic house. Even if Nolan won, they wouldn’t get much higher. William had no reason to risk everything and tie himself to Nolan’s ship.

That way, the Wang clan could advance or retreat as needed. Even if Nolan failed, they’d only be shaken, not destroyed.

The next morning, Felix and Warren were still watching Nolan’s every move. When they learned Nolan hadn’t gone to see Prince Nathan, both were baffled.

Nathan’s words weren’t fake, and his threats weren’t empty either. Did Nolan really not care at all?

Or maybe Nolan was ready to go to war with all three kingdoms and eight cities at once?

Impossible...

Felix and Warren both shook their heads. They didn’t know all of Nolan’s cards, but even with a whole deck of tricks, there was no way he could take on the three kingdoms and eight cities alone.

Nolan must have some way to handle Prince Nathan, but it could only be a temporary fix—just postponing the conflict. Nolan’s ambition to unify the Nine Provinces couldn’t be hidden forever; the moment he made a move, others would notice and strike back.

“The urgent thing now is to find allies and seize the initiative.” Felix mentally ran through the situation in the three kingdoms and eight cities. The best partners for Eastlyn were Southlyn and Westlyn.

Eastlyn could ally with Southlyn or Westlyn. The two could carve up the territories of the eight cities, then go to war with the other two kingdoms—or even fight both at once, if necessary.

If all four kingdoms could join forces to divide up the eight cities first, that would work too.

Felix was sure that with enough profit on the table, any country would want to work with Eastlyn. Southlyn, Westlyn, and Northlyn all had their own issues, and a war windfall could seriously ease their domestic troubles.

Of course, whether to turn on your allies in the end wasn’t Felix’s concern. When the Nine Provinces Realm was down to just two or three major powers, even if Nolan didn’t want to, the others would.

Felix was always a man of action. Now that he knew Nolan’s secret, he had to show initiative. He immediately wrote a secret memorial, analyzing each kingdom and city—who could be allied with, who could be won over, who could be split apart.

This continent was never a solid block; splitting it up was easy.

To prove his loyalty, Felix volunteered to personally persuade those he thought could be won over.

Felix’s secret memorial reached Serena first. In just a few thousand words, he laid out the Nine Provinces so clearly that Serena had to admit he was a real talent.

“With talent like that, would he really be content to serve under someone else?” Felix was definitely cut out to be a power-minister—and he had the ambition for it.

Of course, William Wang Jinling had the strength too, but he wouldn’t go that far, nor would he ever do so much for Nolan.

‘Power over court and realm, second only to one, above ten thousand.’ Nolan wasn’t stingy about giving Felix authority. Compared to William, Felix was easier to control.

Because everything Felix had was granted by Nolan—and Nolan could take it all back with a single word.

“So you’ve approved his proposal?” Serena closed the memorial, her face grave as she looked at Nolan.

Once Nolan nodded, it meant the whole continent was about to go to war. Not just small skirmishes, but a full-scale mixed war—like a world war, dragging every power into the chaos.

Break, then rebuild. If the balance of the Nine Provinces wasn’t shattered—if things didn’t get chaotic—there was no way to unify.

“Why not approve it?” Nolan shot back, his eyes suddenly blazing with dazzling light.

“Weren’t you just trying to calm everyone down? If you make moves in secret, won’t people get suspicious? If it backfires, things will get messy—Nolan isn’t the only one with ambition in the Nine Provinces.”

Nolan smiled silently. “A wolf tells a rabbit: ‘Come here, I won’t eat you.’ If you were the rabbit, would you believe it?”

Serena: “...”

Whether they believed it or not, Nolan’s posture at least made the others relax for now and kept them from acting rashly. As for the secret alliances...

Felix was late—Nolan had picked Westlyn as his ally long ago. Give Nolan a little more time and he wouldn’t care who knew his ambition.

Looks like she’d better get the Phoenixfield Clan ready—the mixed war of the Nine Provinces would erupt within the next two years.

In chaotic times, heroes are born. If you want to build an empire, if you want to make your name, this is the best era!