Chapter 2813 - 1203: Butterfly Effect_2

Chapter 2813: Chapter 1203: Butterfly Effect_2

Prince Harid said cheerfully, "Leave this matter to us to handle."

He immediately turned to the auburn-haired beauty and said, "Cousin Helena, you’ll need to make this trip personally to convey my sincerity to Lord Zalanda.

As long as they are willing to join the Governing Council, I will formally ennoble them as hereditary dukes to jointly govern the Thacel Kingdom."

"As you command." Helena bowed in acceptance.

Although they harbored doubts about Prince Harid’s command, they absolutely could not show it in front of the four dukes.

These people were seasoned old foxes, capable of exploiting even the slightest cracks.

If they perceived that Prince Harid was not completely aligned with them, they would definitely devise ways to create conflicts and sow discord.

Yet, in this matter, they were extremely passive.

After all, Prince Harid was not a puppet without a will, completely at their behest.

On the contrary, he was full of ideals and ambitions. His return to the throne was not to seek power for himself, but to seek welfare for the people of the Thacel Kingdom, leading them to break free from the constant civil wars caused by the nobles’ military and economic strife, restoring the glory of the Thacel Kingdom.

"Good, good, good, Your Majesty’s return will be a great event for our whole kingdom."

Duke Walter said with a beaming smile, "I believe under Your Majesty’s leadership, our kingdom will once again return to its peak era."

Prince Harid humbly replied, "Your Grace is too kind. It would not suffice for a kingdom to enjoy long-term stability with just myself; the steadfast support of all present here is also necessary.

Our current titles seem a bit too formal; if we consider our familial ties, I ought to address Your Grace as Granduncle. Does this bother you, Your Grace?"

"It would be my honor." Duke Walter’s face showed an appropriately surprised joy.

"Haha... In that case, we are also related by blood..." Duke Zebera couldn’t help but laugh.

Noble marriages are not uncommon.

The four dukes present, each of their families had been established in the Thacel Kingdom for at least hundreds of years, if not close to a thousand.

Not only with the Tesser Royal Family, they had mostly intermarried among themselves, sharing certain blood relations.

You say these blood relations are useful.

When massive conflicts of interest arise, they’re as fragile as paper; they won’t hesitate for a moment because of them.

Those who think highly of emotion and loyalty often don’t last long in this game of power, becoming the first to be eliminated.

If you say they are useless, these nobles frequently bring it up in conversations as a natural tool for delineating circles.

Now is the time for this tool to perform, whether the distance between their hearts has shortened is uncertain, but their words are extremely warm, calling him ’Granduncle’ repeatedly, as if they were extremely close, if you didn’t know the context.

Completely unaware of the political games they played for their respective interests, potentially becoming enemies if consensus wasn’t reached.

The agreement reached only lays out the basic framework and conditions.

For the actual implementation, many specific details still need to be finalized.

For example, the timing of Prince Harid’s actual return.

Before some agreements were concretely realized, Prince Harid was not prepared to return to the Thacel Kingdom.

Currently, it’s the domain of the four dukes, and he must consider his personal safety.

A mere verbal agreement is not enough to ensure his safety.

For instance, upon Prince Harid’s return to the Thacel Kingdom, the location of the royal court.

The four dukes had initially wanted him exiled to Thacel Fort; without saying it was imprisonment, he would still be isolated, only a nominal king.

From the current situation, it’s clearly not feasible.

Ironically, now the four dukes don’t want the royal court at Thacel Fort, while Prince Harid and his party have their eyes set on it.

The reason is simple: Thacel Fort may be small, but there Prince Harid and his party would have enough autonomy, facing much less restraint.

While the four dukes don’t want them to have free rein and lose control of the situation.

But after a long standoff, they found many policies simply couldn’t be implemented.

Because they lacked an important piece of the Thacel Kingdom’s puzzle—the Darama City occupied by Lord Zalanda.

The region lies in the core central area of the Thacel Kingdom.

Topographically, the territories of the four grand dukes encircle it, which is why they were able to impose military and economic blockades.

Everything is a two-way street.

Now that Lord Zalanda has grown, they’ve become a roadblock, splitting the Thacel Kingdom in two.

Though Lord Zalanda has never deliberately made things difficult for them militarily or economically, they still find it bothersome, and many things simply cannot be implemented satisfactorily.

Helplessly, they had to pause the discussion, prepared to focus all their efforts on Lord Zalanda, and once that issue was resolved, they could discuss other matters.

...

"Noble Goddess Saiyamofu! Awakening of the noble bloodline! Isn’t this just a variant of the Shanoba Dragon Dog Mutual Aid ability, now becoming Human-God Mutual Aid!"

Even before Prince Harid’s emissary reached Darama City, the memory projection of the noble Saiyamofu descent was already present in front of Gaven and Zalanda at Zaze Sibo City.