Miss Wang Weina, even your cousin won't do!

That's what I say, but there are some things I just can't put into words.

Of course, I had no idea what she was thinking, but I simply extended my hand and sincerely thanked her:

"Anyway, thank you for your concern, Chen."

Chen pursed her lips, glared at Wayne with shame and indignation, and as if she had made up her mind, answered seriously:

"In short, it's great that you're out of danger. From now on..."

"from now on?"

"I will protect you from now on. Don't hesitate to come to me if anything happens, big or small!"

After saying this, Chen seemed to have used up all her courage. Her face was red, her head was lowered, and she quickened her pace to leave the bedroom.

Wayne paused, a slight smile playing on his lips. He turned and followed Chen to the bedroom door. Looking at the door, which had somehow been repaired, he hesitated for a moment, then smiled and returned the same words verbatim to Chen, who was about to leave as he opened the door:

"In accordance with the Victorian gentlemanly tradition, and so it will continue in the future, please feel free to rely on me if you encounter any difficulties. I will always stand with you."

Chen paused for a moment, his lips moved slightly, and a few seconds later, he ran away as if fleeing.

Wayne leaned happily against the doorframe, watching Chen's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor before gently closing the door.

He heard it.

Chen's barely audible reply before fleeing was "Mmm."

Don't underestimate a big cat's hearing!

Chapter Sixty-Eight: Operation Lightning

Victoria, Earl of Vincent in the North, June 1.

In the cruel world of Terra, there is no Children's Day. June 1st is devoid of children's laughter, only the tense sounds of the army's reorganization. After regaining control of Dorron County, Wayne and his men finally received precious supplies. Although the Earl of Vincent's territory is remote, it is still a city on the Victorian border and is constantly harassed by hordes of infected creatures, so it naturally has a tradition of establishing armories and stockpiling weapons and ammunition. While the ammunition in the armories is insufficient to arm a full-strength steam-armored army group, it is more than enough for Wayne's current squads.

As loud roll calls rang out from the ranks, Ernest turned and formally reported to Wayne:

"Your Highness, the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth squads of the steam-armored unit, totaling fifty men, are all in position!"

Wayne nodded.

After a night of adjustment, and with Chen Sir's unexpected interruption, Wayne's mood has recovered. He glanced at the fifty steam-armored soldiers in front of him, whose fighting power was no less than that of a regular force of five hundred, and nodded in satisfaction.

"Okay, very spirited!"

He exclaimed in admiration, then his expression turned serious:

"But gentlemen, I must declare to you all here one last time that this trip may very well be a journey to our deaths!"

Just last night, after obtaining the signal enhancement equipment of the Earl of Vincent's domain and the underground connection channel held by Heidi's intelligence network, Ernest's engineering troops, together with local technicians from Dorronshire, finally established communication with Lentinium.

But as Wayne had predicted, the situation was not as optimistic as he had imagined. Vina's reinforcements were unlikely to arrive for the next few days, or even a week.

The situation in Londinium was complex and volatile. With the new monarch Vina ascending the throne, she lacked prestige to begin with. Although she gained the approval of some lower-class nobles and most of the Victorian people through her televised address, it still had little effect on the great nobles.

Those who were holding back saw the Northern rebellion as a golden opportunity to weaken the monarchy, reorganize Parliament, and even sideline the emperor. While claiming to advocate war, they constantly clashed with the nobles and people's representatives who truly wanted to send troops to the North, shouting that they should "learn from the lessons of the War of the Roses and not blindly send troops into battle." They argued that "the mobile city of Londinium has strong ships and powerful cannons; as long as we hold the city, we can eventually wear down the Northern rebels until they run out of ammunition and food, and then annihilate them." In short, their message was: war is acceptable, but not now; troops are acceptable, but not more than thirty miles from Londinium, to prevent being lured deep into enemy territory by the King of the North's army and wiped out, as happened during the War of the Roses.

As for the issue of Vina, a member of the royal family, they only said, "The fate of the nation cannot be altered by personal feelings." The subtext was that Vina should give up.

Vina naturally refused, and the nobles also gave their conditions—to immediately reorganize the council and then hold a vote.

Admittedly, Vina could use the current state of emergency caused by the dissolution of parliament to forcefully send troops, but the problem remains: she cannot confirm whether those nobles simply want power, or whether they are members of the Noble Republican Party.

She was like a seer in a game of Werewolf, having to be wary of killing the wrong loyal minister and causing domestic turmoil, while also taking down the aristocratic Republicans who were blatantly bluffing and trying to take advantage of the situation, uncovering those who were taking advantage of the situation to infiltrate the parliamentary party, and even finding those aristocratic Republicans who were deeply entrenched among those who seemed to support her.

It's incredibly frustrating. Even with the help of Theresa's Originium Arts, which greatly increased the speed, it's still impossible to send troops out within a few days.

There was a little incident. Theresa's brother, Theresis, using the title "Vina's sister-in-law's brother"—a title that made Vina a little embarrassed but pleased Theresa—to advise Vina: "Nobles are just a hindrance. We should just have a major purge. Kill all the suspects; better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free." He added that if necessary, Vina could give him a hundred men, and he could lead them to each of them and take action.

This kind of purge-style, list-based investigation method, which sounded very familiar to Vina, was naturally rejected by her.

However, Wayne did remember the names of the nobles that Vina had given him.

You little brats, you used to call each other loyal so readily, and now you dare to kick me while I'm down and arrange for your grandfather Wayne to come and purge you one by one when I get back.

Getting back to the main point, the current situation for Wayne is that during this period when he is restricted by Lontinim, he can only rely on himself.

Vina and Theresa's advice to him was one word: "Hide!" They were already working tirelessly to eliminate the traitors, and in two days at most, Vina would personally lead the army to the North. At that time, the North, which had long lost its former glory, would undoubtedly be crushed by the increasingly powerful war machine that Londinium had built up in recent years under the King of the North.

But Wayne refused to sit idly by. He had already learned from the Duke of Normandy about the current headquarters of the Northern rebels: the Earldom of Princeton, and he knew that in the coming days, he would undoubtedly become a target for capture by the entire Northern rebel army. Under such circumstances, even if he hid, how long could he hide?

If he were alone, with the help of Kal'tsit, Unicorn, and others, it would be easy for him to evade capture by the Northern rebels, but he was never alone.

Behind him were students from the Royal Military Academy, fifty soldiers in steam-powered armor, Ernest and other core members of the "Wayne Party," and Chen Huijie, whom he had just agreed to act as a gentleman's protector. To ask Wayne to abandon them and hide in the deep mountains awaiting the return of the imperial army meant to abandon Victoria's rising star, the hard-won foundation, and the promises he had just made. He couldn't do that.

And to hold fast to the Earl of Vincent's domain?

That's even more impossible. Once the enemy's encirclement tightens and their army presses in, how could the city of Earl Vincent's Territory, which has even managed to provoke infected creatures multiple times, possibly withstand the bombardment of heavy siege artillery? At that point, Wayne's chances of survival would be worse than if he had simply fled with the main force from the start.

Therefore, he might as well take the initiative.

He left the students of the Royal Military Academy and the civilian staff who were not adept at action in a secret chamber within the Earl of Vincent's estate, guarded by Shadow Guard Zijin and another master of thunder magic, whom Zijin had mentioned but whom Wayne had not yet met. He then led his army, relying on the defense intelligence provided by the Duke of Normandy and the fact that the enemy was unaware of the Duke of Normandy's defeat, to break through the encirclement and strike at the heart of the enemy forces—the Earl of Princeton's estate—thus ending this absurd rebellion farce.

"Our mission may very well be a death sentence! But the enemy's forces outnumber ours several times over. Holding out and waiting for reinforcements will only lead to our demise. Only by taking the initiative can we seize a chance to survive!"

"I officially name this operation 'Lightning,' meaning to appear at the fastest speed in the most unexpected place and paralyze the enemy's heart!"

Wayne raised his hand and solemnly announced:

"Gentlemen of the Royal Victoria Army Steam Armored Corps, God bless the Queen!"

The soldiers of the steam-armored unit immediately responded to the call:

"God bless the Queen!"

Chapter Sixty-Nine: National Policy: Kazdel Military Advisory Group

Victoria, Lentinium, June 1, early morning.

Vina jolted awake from her desk, covering her cheek where the reports on the table left several marks, and groggily sat up.

Are you awake?

Theresa's voice came from beside her. Vina turned her head and saw Theresa sitting by the window. The morning light shone on her profile, which was adorned with a faint smile, making her look like an angel.

She put a checkmark on the file in her hand with her pen and placed it on the stool next to her. Only then did Vina realize that there was a thick stack of files on Theresa's lap and a large number of documents that had been categorized on the wooden stool that had been moved to the side.

Noticing Vina's gaze, Theresa looked up, tilted her head slightly, and gave a warm, spring-like smile: "Good morning, Vina."

"Did I fall asleep?"

Vina snapped out of her daze, a pained expression on her face, and ran her fingers through her messy hair, which she had gotten from sleeping on the table.

"My brother was still in such a dangerous place, and I fell asleep..."

"Don't say that, Vina, you've already tried your best." Theresa pursed her lips and comforted her, "Prince Bruce is a very capable person, he'll be alright."

She stood up, picked up the documents containing information about Victorian nobles that had been categorized and placed on the stool beside her, and handed them to Vina, saying:

"Besides, rest is for better work, isn't it? My dear Empress, no matter how much work you have, if you feel tired, you still need to rest. I have already finished screening these nobles for you, so I will leave it to you to arrange for the unicorns to deal with them."

"how about you?"

Vina glanced gratefully at Theresa, took the file, pressed the bell button on her desk, and waited for the unicorn to arrive.

Theresa shook her head, rubbed her arm to look relaxed, and replied:

"I'm not tired. Don't underestimate the physical strength of the Sarkaz."

However, this is a lie!

The Sarkaz are human too, and the difference in their physical abilities might have made them more energetic than Aslan, making it impossible for Vina to see the fatigue she was hiding. But in reality, Theresa was also very tired.

Not to mention that the Victorian aristocracy was completely unknown to Theresa, the newly arrived princess-to-be. Since receiving news of the official rebellion in the North and Wayne's perilous situation, Theresa had been working tirelessly, day and night, from mid-May to June 1st—a full two weeks. Even an iron woman would be exhausted. The fact that Vina fell asleep at her desk last night was the best evidence of that.

But Theresa didn't want to rest; she couldn't rest. As Vina had said, Wayne was still in danger, and she, in Lentinium, couldn't get to him immediately. Theresa couldn't forgive herself if she didn't do something.

Being strict with oneself and lenient with others has always been one of Theresa's life principles. She advised Vina to rest because Her Majesty the Queen had many more important matters to attend to. Her being tired would not affect anyone, but if Vina showed signs of fatigue, it would affect the dignity of the entire royal family.

She had promised Wayne to take good care of Vina and teach her how to be a good monarch. She never broke her promise, and she didn't want Wayne to feel disappointed and worried about Vina or herself after his safe return.

Vina, of course, couldn't see the weariness that Theresa had concealed, and could only nod with some skepticism.

At this moment, Albert, the unicorn lieutenant who remained in Londinium, strode in, bowed respectfully to Vina, and then somewhat reluctantly bowed to Theresa as well. He took the file, glanced at it, and then turned and walked out swiftly.

Today, Victoria's lineage will have a few fewer nobles.

Vina, of course, noticed Albert's reluctant and stiff movements, and took the initiative to apologize to Theresa:

"I'm sorry, Theresa, even though you've helped me so much, I still..."

Theresa shook her head, interrupting her. There was no anger or discouragement in her eyes, only helplessness and indifference.

The Sarkaz's infamy on the land cannot be changed overnight; in fact, It's possible that Theresa may never be able to shake off the derogatory title of "demon" associated with them, even if she dedicates her entire life to it. But she will never be disappointed. Just as she said at the beginning, she hopes to secure a home for the Sarkaz—a peaceful and tranquil place where they can thrive. For this grand goal, her own sacrifice is utterly insignificant.

The only consolation is that when she decided to sacrifice her own happiness, she was able to meet Wayne.

Like a fairytale encounter in modern society, a series of dramatic coincidences led to this happy ending. Whenever Theresa thinks of Wayne, a warm, hopeful feeling washes over her, and she is already quite content with that. As for the cold treatment others give the Sarkaz, Theresa will do her best to gradually change that.

“No need to apologize, Vina. From the day I arrived in Lentinium, I was prepared to face these gazes. But I believe that arrogance and prejudice can be overcome through action. Just as Bruce wrote in his letter to me, bigotry and violence can never triumph over the truth. One day I will earn the genuine respect of the Victorians!”

Theresa's earnest answer left Vina slightly stunned.

She began to understand why her brother wanted to marry this princess despite the Sarkaz's reputation. Even though she was from the Sarkaz, Vina didn't find it incongruous to have a halo around her.

Theresa is an angel. How long will it take her to learn such charisma?

Vina earnestly wanted to thank Theresa, but Theresa stopped Vina from bowing her head and smiled as she reminded her:

"Don't bow your head, or your crown will fall."

"In these extraordinary times, as Queen Victoria, you cannot bow to anyone. Whether that person is friend or foe, good or evil, you must maintain the most noble and disdainful posture to deter all the villains!"

"I've learned a lot," Vina nodded.

Then, she reached out to Theresa, took the portion of the documents Theresa was in charge of, and draped her own blue cloak over Theresa's shoulders, saying:

"But you can't refuse that, can you?"

"You've worked for me all night. Now, get some rest, Princess Consort. Otherwise, your brother will be angry when he gets back."

Vina bared her fangs and said with an air of authority:

"This is also my order!"