"Stop her!"
"Quick, stop her!"
"Don't let her die!"
Serena kept her eyes fixed on House Lewis's movements. The moment Old Madam Lewis made a move, Serena spotted her intent.
At this moment, Old Madam Lewis absolutely could not be allowed to die. If the young madam miscarried, it could be blamed on Serena, but if she were to be forced to watch Old Madam Lewis die right here—even Ninth Royal Uncle would not escape punishment.
"House Lewis really is willing to pay any price," Ninth Royal Uncle reacted first, grabbing the guard at his side and flinging him forward. The guard, a battle-hardened veteran, immediately understood what was happening as he flew through the air, landing straight at the bottom of the steps and rolling downward...
With a loud "thud," he collided squarely with Old Madam Lewis.
"Ah!" Old Madam Lewis fell to the ground with a scream. Realizing she hadn't died, she instantly lunged forward again.
Today, she was determined to die in front of Ninth Royal Uncle, to let all the people of Shandong see how the imperial princes bullied commoners—how they forced an innocent old woman to her death.
"Grandmother, no!" Third Young Master Lewis's pupils dilated as he struggled free from the guards and lunged at Old Madam Lewis. To outsiders, it looked like he was desperate to save her, but Ninth Royal Uncle and Serena saw clearly—he was actually helping her, giving her another chance to smash herself against the steps.
House Lewis really was ruthless. Fury flashed in Ninth Royal Uncle's eyes as he barked, "Seize him!"
Ninth Royal Uncle's guards were no pushovers. Old Madam Lewis missed her chance with the first attempt, and trying to die again wouldn't be so easy now. The guards pounced like tigers, pinning both Old Madam Lewis and Third Young Master Lewis to the ground.
Third Young Master Lewis struggled and groaned, while Old Madam Lewis—old as she was—fainted on the spot. Fortunately, her life was not in danger.
Once he learned Old Madam Lewis was unharmed, Ninth Royal Uncle's face darkened immediately: "You Lewis people have some nerve, daring to threaten me with death. Defying your superiors—what punishment do you deserve?"
This time, Ninth Royal Uncle was truly furious. House Lewis's tactics were far too vicious. If Old Madam Lewis had died here today, he would have no way to defend himself. Even if the Emperor let him off, the censors never would.
Most importantly, he wouldn't be able to take further action against House Lewis—he'd lose the moral high ground.
"Mmm, mmm, mmm..." Master Lewis and Third Young Master Lewis had their mouths gagged by the guards, and the rest were pinned to the ground one by one. The remaining women could do nothing but cry. The commoners who had joined in begging for mercy were so frightened by the scene that they knelt there in a daze, not knowing what to do next.
If Old Madam Lewis had died, people could claim it was Ninth Royal Uncle who drove her to her death. But now, Ninth Royal Uncle had actually saved her.
As for Ninth Royal Uncle, his face was so dark and menacing that no one dared speak up. Anyone with sense understood: Old Madam Lewis had tried to threaten him with death—if he wasn't furious, that would be strange!
All for nothing!
Third Young Master Lewis was pinned to the ground, his eyes burning with hatred and bloodlust.
So close—just one step away.
That wretched Serena Feng, always ruining their plans again and again. They should have killed her from the start.
“The Governor-General is here! The Governor-General is here! Make way, make way!” Amidst the commotion, this voice—no doubt belonging to the Governor-General—finally broke the oppressive atmosphere created by Ninth Royal Uncle.
“Quick, quick, save her—there’s no time!” The crowd of commoners spontaneously parted to form a path. Some stole glances at Ninth Royal Uncle, and seeing he did not object, everyone quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Ninth Royal Uncle looked down from above, casting a single glance at the Lewis family. He took in Third Young Master Lewis’s wolfish glare and the unwillingness in his eyes, then turned away without another word.
No matter how unwilling, he could not change his status. So what if he was fierce? So what if he was proud? The Lewis family could only endure it.
Not long after Ninth Royal Uncle left, the Eastmont Governor-General arrived with his men. With Nolan’s personal soldiers accompanying and standing guard, the Governor-General had no room for favoritism and could only handle matters impartially.
The Chen and Lewis families were separated by gender and thrown into prison. Under the watchful eyes of Nolan’s personal guards, the Lewis family was completely cut off from any communication with the outside world.
With the Lewis family locked up, Nolan was ready to make his move against them.
"Did you find out earlier that over eighty percent of the shops in Eastmont belong to the Lewis family?" Nolan asked.
"Yes. I still have some people stationed here—do you need them?" Before leaving, Serena had asked Jada and Mira Tang about their contacts, in case she needed them here.
After all, the Lewis family wasn’t easy to deal with.
"No need for those people. But... if possible, I want you to write a letter to Prince Nathan of Southlyn." Nolan had originally planned to wait, but seeing how ruthless the Lewis family was, he no longer wanted to circle around, giving them a chance to strike back.
He was going to strike hard and shatter the Lewis family, just to see what was hiding behind them.
"Prince Nathan? You want him to help?" Southlyn was closer, so it wasn’t a surprise Serena thought of him.
"The Lewis family deserves to be destroyed, but it shouldn’t be by my hand," Nolan said.
"You mean you want the Emperor to do it? He’d never act so directly. He still wants to use the Lewis family to get rid of you. What happened today... I’m afraid it’ll reach the Emperor’s ears very soon." Serena never doubted the Emperor’s ruthlessness—they were nearly the same.
Nolan chuckled, "Serena, don’t overestimate the Emperor. Even if he’s the Emperor, he can’t just do whatever he wants. Some things, even if he doesn’t want to, he has to do—like dealing with rebellion, like punishing treason."
From the start, Nolan never planned to personally wipe out the Lewis family. His coming to Eastmont was to set up a trap, to plant a charge of treason on the Lewis family and force the Emperor to act.
"You’re going to frame the Lewis family for colluding with Southlyn? That’s a bold move."
"Originally, I planned to use Westlyn, and I was willing to wait. But seeing the Lewis family act like this, I don’t have much patience left." Westlyn was in chaos and couldn’t offer help for now.
To charge someone with treason, you need a foreign power involved. Otherwise, the accusation won’t stick. In this world, only Nolan and Serena could so easily plant the crime of treason on someone’s head.
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"I understand. I’ll write the letter now." Though she felt uneasy, Serena forced herself to do it.
A woman’s kindness must have limits. If you don’t uproot the weeds, spring winds will make them grow again. If the Lewis family had killed her back then, they wouldn’t be facing disaster today.
Once the letter was ready, Nolan sent someone out with it that very day. He wasn’t just impatient—the Lewis family’s actions were simply too brazen. Only a ruthless move could reveal their true nature.
Not long after the letter was sent, a man in black appeared at Nolan’s study, reporting on the Lewis family’s situation.
All the Lewis family’s masters, young and old, had been thrown in jail. Yet the Lewis estate showed no panic; their defenses were tighter than ever, and no one could get inside. They quietly issued a secret order to close all their shops.
The Lewis family controlled nearly eighty percent of Eastmont’s shops, covering all necessities. Closing them meant the whole region’s people couldn’t survive. If Eastmont didn’t descend into chaos, it would be a miracle. And if it did, Nolan would be ruined—he couldn’t stay in Eastmont any longer.
"One move after another. I really want to know who’s actually pulling the strings behind the Lewis family," Nolan said.
Things had reached this stage—if Nolan still couldn’t see there was someone else controlling the Lewis family, he’d be a fool.
He’d locked up everyone in the Lewis family, even the women and children, just to see if the family would fall into chaos. If they did, it meant the real power was in jail; but if not... that meant the true master was still at large. After all, it had only been four hours since the arrests—far too little time for the Lewis family to organize such a coordinated response from inside prison.
Yet the Lewis family showed no sign of panic. That proved everyone in the Lewis family, from top to bottom, was just a pawn. The real player was someone else—someone who’d been matching moves with Nolan all along.
"The Lewis family? Third Royal Brother..." Nolan murmured, a faint, enigmatic smile in his eyes.
At the same time, in a wooden hut within the Lewis estate, Nolan’s Third Royal Brother sipped his tea and gazed toward Blossom Garden. "Ninth Brother, by now you must have figured it out. I never thought you’d go this far—so ruthless!"
His words sounded casual, but there wasn’t a trace of anger on his face—just a faint, amused smile, as if the whole thing was nothing but a game.
Just as Nolan expected, it took less than a day for all Eastmont to descend into chaos. The once-bustling streets fell silent, and row after row of shops slammed their doors shut. People came out to see the scene, but no one knew where to go.
"What on earth is going on?"
"Don’t you know? They say Ninth Royal Uncle ordered all the Lewis family’s shops to close. Yesterday he locked them all up, and today he won’t even let people do business. These royals only care about their own power—they don’t care if we live or die."
In Eastmont, the Lewis family had operated for years. Their ability to spread rumors was even faster and fiercer than Nolan’s.
"Everyone outside is talking like that. You really don’t plan to do anything?" Serena asked, enjoying being fed by Nolan as she casually brought up the topic.
It wasn’t that she was lazy—her shoulder was injured, and to heal quickly, she had to let someone else feed her.
"Do what? Clarify the rumors? Do you think it’ll help? In the hearts of Eastmont’s people, my image is already fixed. Even if I say I never ordered the Lewis shops to close, no one will believe it."
"It won’t help much, but you can’t just sit and wait. If things keep escalating, Blossom Garden will be smashed by an angry mob."
"Showy rebels never succeed. A few self-righteous scholars aren’t worth worrying about," Nolan said.
Nolan and Serena had this conversation late at night. Outside Blossom Garden, Eastmont’s scholars gathered and denounced Nolan for oppressing the people, demanding he release the Lewis family.
"This kind of thing is bad for your reputation," Serena said. Nolan was aiming for something big—if his reputation suffered, it would be hard to win the people's support if he ever reached the throne...