Reinforcements and Making Peace When You Cannot Win

No matter how much they wanted to say, both Prince Nolan and Serena knew this was not the time for words. Nolan gently squeezed Serena’s hand to comfort her.

Serena opened her mouth and bit Nolan on the shoulder, finally venting her anger. Then she obediently curled up in his arms, letting him carry her out.

Serena kept this grudge in her heart. Leaving Tyre City today, she vowed she would return one day. Nolan felt the same—when it comes to revenge, it’s never too late.

After Nolan carried Serena out, he didn’t lash out at Lord Tyre. Instead, he spoke calmly: “City Lord Tyre, thank you for your care these past days. I’ll take my leave now.”

With that, Nolan didn’t wait for Lord Tyre to escort him. He simply carried Serena out of Melody Lodge. The Eight Commanders, seeing Nolan unharmed, shot Lord Tyre a cold glare and silently followed Nolan out.

“Mr. Sage, what does Nolan mean by this?” Lord Tyre finally came to his senses after Nolan left.

Mr. Sage sighed. “I suppose it’s because Miss Feng is safe. Young Master, it seems there’s still room to repair things with Nolan. If you don’t want him as an enemy, why not offer the Little Crest Mountain gold mine as an apology?”

“No way, that’s impossible!” Before Lord Tyre could speak, Hugh Kane, the big brute, objected. “We went through all that trouble, kidnapped that Serena just for the gold mine. Now that it’s in our hands, how can we just give it away?”

“Young Master, I think Mr. Sage has a point. Nolan is just too difficult to deal with. Sacrificing one gold mine to calm his anger would be good for us.” Sean Young couldn’t help but remember how one look from Nolan had left him sitting on the ground, and he shivered quietly.

“The real worry is that we might not be able to take Little Crest Mountain’s gold mine at all.” At this point, Lord Tyre finally saw the truth. Nolan kept saying he was here to honor the agreement, but he hadn’t given Tyre a single document proving Tyre was the owner of the gold mine.

Send troops to take over the Little Crest Mountain gold mine? If he leads his men there, chances are, they’ll never come back.

“Young Master, since that’s the case, why don’t we put on a good show? After all, that gold mine is never going to be ours.” Mr. Sage advised again. This time, Hugh Kane didn’t object, and Lord Tyre could only sigh and nod in resignation.

After all the scheming and sacrifice, in the end it was all for nothing. Lord Tyre and his men were crushed, but soon, something even more demoralizing happened.

Less than two hours after Nolan left, a scout rushed in: “City Lord, reinforcements have arrived!”

Thirty thousand rescue troops finally showed up, now waiting outside Tyre City, ready to charge in at Lord Tyre’s command. But inside the city...

“Quick, go find out—where is Nolan now?” Lord Tyre froze for a moment, then snapped back and shouted.

“Damn it, why come now? Nolan’s already gone, no one knows where he is. If only they’d arrived sooner, we could’ve trapped him here and put him in his place.”

Hugh Kane was a natural fighter, fierce to the bone. Even though Nolan hadn’t fought or said much, he’d crushed the spirit of everyone in Tyre City. The whole city lost face, lost pride—there wasn’t a soul who didn’t want to see Nolan knocked down.

“Gone, he’s gone... Nolan is gone, and he didn’t run into the army.” The messenger reported again.

There’s more than one road from Tyre City to Shandong. Logically, Nolan should have taken the main route back, especially since Serena was injured and the shortest way would be best for her. But he didn’t...

“Report…” Another messenger arrived: “City Lord, Prince Nolan’s group has headed toward the forest.”

Even though Nolan had left with his men, Lord Tyre was still worried he might double back, so he sent people to follow secretly. Only when they were sure Nolan was gone did Tyre City truly feel safe.

“What?” Lord Tyre’s eyes widened in frustration. “Did Nolan already anticipate the reinforcements? Or maybe he intercepted our troops himself?”

“Young Master, the one who blocked our reinforcements definitely wasn’t Nolan.” Mr. Sage was the only calm one here; he never believed Tyre City could ever trap Nolan.

“Not Nolan? Then who?” After today, Lord Tyre trusted Mr. Sage even more. Mr. Sage didn’t hold back: “Young Master, Nolan may be powerful, but this is Tyre City, near Shandong. The men he sent here are likely all his available troops; he couldn’t possibly muster more to intercept our reinforcements. There aren’t many people in Shandong with the ability and a grudge against us.”

Stopping thirty thousand troops is no easy feat. And those who suddenly appeared to help us today surely had their own agenda. Mr. Sage didn’t say this outright, but he was sure Lord Tyre had already figured it out.

Lord Tyre narrowed his eyes, thought for a moment, then cursed, “The Lewis Clan, the Shandong Lewis Clan—it must be them. Good, very good. Tyre City and the Lewis Clan are sworn enemies now.”

With Mr. Sage’s hints, Lord Tyre’s hatred for the Lewis Clan grew. He blamed everything on them: if not for their fight over the gold mine, he wouldn’t have targeted Serena, and Nolan wouldn’t have become his nemesis.

People never want to face their own mistakes. Lord Tyre self-righteously dumped all the blame on the Lewis Clan, hating them even more than Nolan. And all of this was exactly what Nolan had predicted.

After this, Mr. Sage would undoubtedly become Tyre City’s top strategist. With Lord Tyre’s trust, he’d have much more freedom to act.

Under the protection of the Black Riders, Nolan didn’t take the main road but chose a difficult forest path, entering the woods at night so no one dared make a move.

This way, not only did he avoid Tyre City’s army, but he also shook off the Lewis Clan’s spies. When the news reached the Lewis Clan, Third Young Master Lewis smashed a set of fine porcelain and hurried off to the wooden hut to beg forgiveness from the man inside.

“I have failed you, my lord. Please punish me.” Third Young Master Lewis, so impressive outside, was now humbly waiting before the hut for the man’s judgment.

The man inside didn’t speak for a full fifteen minutes, then finally said, “Get up. Send men into the forest, and if necessary, burn it down. If Nolan makes it out alive, have your father go to him and apologize in person.”

If you can’t win, make peace.

Shameless as it was, the tactic worked. Third Young Master Lewis understood right away and prepared two plans: send death-soldiers into the forest to hunt Nolan, and have his father ready an apology…