"Why did you stop this war? What was your real reason?"
It wasn’t just Prince Nathan of Southlyn—even Serena herself was deeply curious: What exactly was Prince Nolan’s aim in halting the war?
Sure enough, when Prince Nolan took her to his suburban villa to go fishing, Serena seized the chance and asked him directly.
On the surface, it looked like Prince Nolan hadn’t gained anything except for Crown Prince Terrence being deposed. But would he really do something with no benefit at all?
Of course not. Serena was certain—Prince Nolan’s moves always had deeper meaning.
Prince Nolan turned to look at Serena, arching an eyebrow. "Why are you so sure I’m the one who stopped the war?"
He hadn’t told Serena anything about it, so logically, she shouldn’t have known.
"Who else could it be? I can't think of a second person with that kind of power." With the three kingdoms charging ahead, the Nine Cities would have gladly swooped in to reap the rewards.
If no one had stirred things up behind the scenes, the war would definitely have broken out.
All three kingdoms and Nine Cities wanted a fight. Westlyn couldn’t stop it, so that left only Prince Nolan. Plus, he’d been so busy lately that he was nowhere to be seen—there’s no way he did nothing. Serena wasn’t buying it for a second.
And as soon as news came from Westlyn, Prince Nolan suddenly had time to take her fishing at the villa. There was no way that was just a coincidence.
"It was me," Prince Nolan admitted. Same as always—he hadn’t told Serena, but he hadn’t really hidden it from her either.
"Are you mad?" He’d expected Serena to be angry, but she wasn’t the least bit upset.
"Why would I be angry? You always have your reasons for what you do. A continental war has nothing to do with me, so knowing or not knowing doesn’t matter. What I really want to know is, why did you stir up the other eight cities to send troops at this moment? Don’t you want Westlyn destroyed?"
Serena understood perfectly—everything Prince Nolan did was extremely risky. One wrong move and it would all come crashing down. It made sense he kept her in the dark.
The fewer people who know, the better. Besides, even if she knew, she couldn’t help anyway.
Serena wasn’t angry, so Prince Nolan explained a bit more: "I wasn’t trying to keep secrets. It’s just, sometimes even I don’t know how things will turn out until I’m in the middle of it. As for Westlyn? You’re overthinking it—five hundred thousand troops couldn’t wipe out Westlyn."
The fishing line twitched. Prince Nolan’s eyes sharpened, and he flicked the rod upward.
"Got a bite."
"Looks like you really did get a bite. You’re playing the three kingdoms like a game—aren’t you afraid they’ll take it out on you?" Serena watched Prince Nolan with open admiration.
By noon, Prince Nolan had already caught five fish, but Serena hadn’t caught a single one.
She really didn’t have any luck with animals—even the fish looked down on her.
How could anyone be jealous of that?
A flash of fondness flickered in Prince Nolan’s eyes. After the servants took the fish off and baited the hook again, he cast his line back into the water, settling in to fish some more. But he hadn’t forgotten Serena’s question.
"I’m not the one playing the three kingdoms—it’s Westlyn. Even if someone wants to come after me, it’ll only be Prince Nathan of Southlyn. He’s smart; he’d never rat me out."
If Eastlyn and Northlyn found out that Prince Nathan had tipped Prince Nolan off ahead of time and caused the war to fizzle out halfway, they wouldn’t blame Nolan—they’d blame Nathan. His slip-up made everyone’s efforts go to waste.
And since Eastlyn and Northlyn didn’t know the truth, they could still chalk it up to coincidence. The Eight Cities had their own reasons for sending troops, and just happened to clash with everyone else. Even if they suspected something, they wouldn’t blame Prince Nathan—he lost the most this time.
"You really do have everyone’s reactions figured out." Serena waggled her fishing rod, full of admiration.
Not that it mattered—she couldn’t catch fish anyway, rod or no rod.
"I didn’t predict how Westlyn’s emperor would react," Prince Nolan said honestly. Serena’s curiosity was piqued: "What did he do that you didn’t expect?"
Prince Nolan answered seriously, "I never expected Westlyn’s emperor to be so ruthless, not sparing his own son at all. He ended things so quickly—I barely got any fun out of it."
Uh... Prince Nolan, do you have to be this wicked?
Serena shot Nolan a long, quiet look, then calmly turned away to keep watching the water.
Seriously, did this man have to be so infuriating, so shameless? He actually treated the chaos of the Four Kingdoms and Nine Cities as entertainment—and wasn’t even afraid Westlyn’s emperor might kill him for it.
Because of him, the whole Nine Provinces Realm was on edge, everyone living in fear. Westlyn’s people were so scared they wouldn’t even step outside. And he had the nerve to complain about missing out on fun.
"Was your original plan to have the three kingdoms and Westlyn actually fight a war?" Serena wouldn’t admit she was curious—she just couldn’t figure out the game Nolan was playing.
"A real war would’ve been best. Each side would wear themselves out, stop dreaming of war profits, and lose a batch of generals. Let their blood show everyone that the bigger the rewards, the higher the price." He was really aiming at Prince Nathan of Southlyn.
Prince Nathan had pushed so hard for the three-kingdom coalition, hoping to use their combined strength to snatch some benefits from Westlyn. But now his perfect plan had fallen apart.
"Are you disappointed the war didn’t happen?" Seeing Nolan a bit deflated, Serena felt totally satisfied.
Treating the whole realm as a chessboard, with four emperors and nine city lords as pieces—only Prince Nolan could pull that off.
But he really could do it—if he wanted a war, there’d be a war; if he didn’t, then no matter how much everyone else wanted to fight, it just wouldn’t happen.
This man was terrifying.
"What’s there to be disappointed about? I can still do what I set out to do. Westlyn thought they’d use Liancastle as a test, see how everyone reacted—I made sure they lost everything, and now they won’t have the strength for another war for three to five years. Prince Nathan wanted to profit from the chaos, fill Southlyn’s coffers, and develop his kingdom—I’ve left him hanging, stuck in limbo."
Crippling Southlyn’s growth, destroying Westlyn’s foundation—Nolan made it sound as easy as eating or drinking.
"So this is why you didn’t want the coalition army to actually fight Westlyn?" Balancing all the powers like this, the Nine Provinces Realm could finally get a bit of peace.
Lately, the whole realm had been in chaos—so much that even the smaller powers felt unsafe.
In barely a month, everything had changed. One moment, Crown Prince Terrence was swaggering on his white horse, shouting at Liancastle; the next, he was a prisoner.
Just a moment ago, Westlyn was threatening Liancastle; now they had to withdraw their troops, offer lavish gifts, and apologize to the city lord.
Yesterday, Zong City and An City were worried about being the next target. Today, they’d become attackers themselves.
It wasn’t just the ones caught up in the game—even as a mere bystander, Serena’s heart was tossed up and down with every twist in the situation, leaving her deeply unsettled...