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

A brief, awkward silence fell. After a long pause, the soldier Luper sighed:

"Actually, the Queen is quite good; her speech... was quite moving. However, if His Highness Wayne were to oppose her, I would definitely support His Highness Wayne, after all, I am a soldier of the North!"

The soldier from Felin sighed and said helplessly, "If only we didn't have to fight."

Unfortunately, they all understood that this was impossible. The rebellion had already begun, and Prince Wayne, as the leader and the one who proclaimed it, had returned. Even if Lontinim were willing to grant a general amnesty to pardon their treason, Prince Wayne would still insist on launching a war to reclaim the throne.

I really hope that His Highness Wayne and Her Majesty the Queen can reconcile. After all, after that bloody War of the Roses, neither the soldiers of the North nor the army of Londinium wanted to fight their own people with swords drawn again.

"Alas, it's a pity I'm on duty today and can't go to the square to see His Highness Wayne, who has grown up. I don't know when the next opportunity will come."

As the soldier Luper adjusted his heavy crossbow, he complained helplessly.

The soldier leaned out of the guard post window and approached, confidently offering reassurance:

"Don't worry, don't worry, it'll be over soon. Before long, this mansion behind us will be changed from Princeton Earl's Mansion to Wayne Mansion."

"Why?" Guard Rupert asked curiously.

"It's all thanks to the Earl of Princeton that His Highness Wayne was able to return safely to the North! Didn't you know that?"

"Huh? Who said that?"

"His Highness Wayne said it himself."

The guard, mimicking Wayne's tone, said:

"The Earl of Princeton devoted himself to my resurgence, working tirelessly until his death, giving away his entire fortune without seeking anything in return. His hard work and great contributions have deeply moved me. I have decided to officially transform the Princeton Palace into the temporary Northern Royal Palace and the Northern Army General Staff. I will reside here permanently, and I will grant the Earl of Princeton the same royal honor!"

Guard Rupert's eyes lit up. To be able to eat and live with the royal family was an honor that many Victorian nobles could only dream of their entire lives. Even though he wasn't a nobleman, he couldn't help but feel a little envious of the Earl of Princeton.

He exclaimed excitedly, "So, for a long time to come, we'll be able to see Prince Wayne here?"

Guard Felin nodded: "That's right! Prince Wayne said that the Earl of Princeton has handed over command of the army and ownership of the Earl's mansion to him, and even produced the unicorn's secret letter as evidence. In the future, Prince Wayne will hold royal meetings and military deployments here. Don't be fooled by our current ease; this is the calm before the storm. In less than two days, this place will be much more lively than it was a few days ago!"

"It's alright, no matter how many people come, we, the guards of the Northern King, will definitely protect Prince Wayne!" The Rupert soldier patted his chest and swore to the heavens with an air of unwavering duty.

However, he couldn't help but sigh with a hint of apology, "When I first met the Earl of Princeton, I thought he was a treacherous person, but now I realize I was so judging him by his appearance. He's truly a wonderful person to have gone to such lengths!"

Guard Felin nodded affirmatively and exclaimed, "Yes, the Earl of Princeton is truly a great man!"

Nearby, the Earl of Princeton, who had just returned from the secret chamber, passed by the guard post and overheard the heartfelt praise from the guards, Felin and Luper. He couldn't help but smile slightly, proudly raise his head, straighten his chest, and straighten his back, his gait becoming more imposing.

Of course!

Who in the world doesn't know that I, the Earl of Princeton, one of the 100 most outstanding young people in Victoria, am a philanthropist and a great man?

Chapter Seventy-Four: Gifts, anything can be given away.

Victoria, Earl of Princeton, 5 p.m., June 2.

The Earl of Princeton wanted a cup of tea, so he opened the tea cabinet.

The tea cabinet was empty; the packets of Chinese tea he had just pilfered from his father, the Duke of Normandy's mansion, a few days earlier had vanished. The Earl of Princeton frowned and summoned his butler.

"John, where are my tea leaves?"

John the butler bowed respectfully, looked at the puzzled Earl of Princeton with admiration, and said half-jokingly, "Sir, you're quite the joker. Have you forgotten? You've already given away the tea."

Was it given away?

A question mark popped into the Earl of Princeton's head. When did this happen?

He gave the butler a suspicious look. John's expression was very sincere, and there was nothing unusual about him; he didn't seem to be lying. Besides, John was his childhood friend, and in private, they were more like friends than master and servant. If he wanted tea, there was no need for him to secretly take his tea leaves and tell such a clumsy lie.

In other words, I probably did give the tea away?

The Earl of Princeton carefully recalled his experiences over the past few days. Hmm... it seems like there was such a thing?

Well, he himself couldn't quite remember. He'd received so many nobles these past few days—from dukes to barons, countless honorary lords. They all came to curry favor, bringing gifts, and the Earl of Princeton naturally couldn't let them all leave empty-handed, right? So, he'd have to give out one or two gifts each time. Maybe, possibly, perhaps… he couldn't find a gift that time and just gave one out on the spur of the moment?

The Earl of Princeton sighed helplessly, nodded, and said to his butler, John:

"Sigh, I'm still too tired these past few days. John, please cancel all my meetings today and tell them I have important things to do. I'm going upstairs to get some sleep."

John nodded knowingly, bowed, and said, "Understood, sir. I will call you when the time comes." After saying that, he watched the Earl of Princeton walk upstairs and sighed to himself.

Sigh, the Earl is still too tired; he even forgot to offer the tea to Prince Wayne as a gift. Oh well, it's still early, and Prince Wayne shouldn't be here so soon. Let him get some sleep. As your friend, I'll take care of the rest.

John was thinking when the phone in the hallway rang again. He quickly went over and answered it:

"Hello, this is Princeton Earl's House."

"Ah...it's His Highness Wayne's messenger."

.......

Princeton Earldom, Central Square.

Wayne casually divided the Earl of Princeton's fine Yan tea into several portions and randomly gave them to a few nobles and commoners who were crowding around him in the square. As they shouted "Long live Prince Wayne!" and "Yay!" while carefully squeezing out of the crowd and running happily back to their homes, a satisfied smile appeared on his lips.

Those who have received this favor will become Wayne's best ambassadors. They will proudly proclaim Wayne's high-profile return and benevolence to their relatives and friends, who will then spread the word to their own relatives and friends. One person tells ten, ten tell a hundred, a hundred tell a thousand, a thousand tell ten thousand. Before long, not only Princeton County, but all the other mobile cities in the North will receive news of Wayne's return.

Naturally, they would also know that Wayne had deliberately spread the news secretly through the unicorn that the Earl of Princeton was handing over power to Wayne.

He was certainly not worried that the Earl of Princeton would deny all of this, because he simply could not deny it, nor was he able to deny it.

Since he dared to launch this rebellion to "rebuild the glory of the North" under the banner of Wayne, he naturally placed himself below Wayne. If Wayne had been usurped from the throne by Vina and imprisoned in the Iron Palace in Londinium, as he believed, it would have been one thing; he could have used the pretext of rescuing Wayne to do whatever he wanted. But now that Wayne had returned, there was no reason for him to cling tightly to military power. After all, the soldiers and people of the North were fighting for Wayne, not for the Earl of Princeton.

Moreover, Wayne had prepared a killer move. After conceiving the plan, he ordered Unicorn to collect the Earl of Princeton's notes, and then Unicorn would forge a "secret letter" from the Earl of Princeton to be delivered to Wayne. The letter was simple, summed up in one sentence: "I, the Earl of Princeton, have been utterly loyal to His Highness Wayne, serving him to the death. Now that His Highness is out of danger and has returned to the North, I will naturally return all power to His Highness, serving him faithfully without a single complaint."

The secret letter was forged by Winston himself, and even a master of handwriting analysis would be absolutely unable to distinguish it from anything else. It was 100% "purely handwritten by the Earl of Princeton," written and stamped on the spot, and then handed over by Winston from his left hand to his right hand to announce receipt.

Whether the Earl of Princeton acknowledges the letter or not is irrelevant; as long as everyone in the North believes it to be true, that is enough.

At that time, news from the entire North will converge into a sharp blade of public opinion, held to the Earl of Princeton's neck, threatening him with whether to choose to obediently admit defeat or fight to the death.

This was a perfectly legitimate and open strategy. Without firing a single shot or shedding a drop of blood, Wayne was able to manipulate the situation and force the Earl of Princeton to make this lose-lose choice.

"This is wisdom!" Ernest, a master of military strategy, couldn't help but think. He had no doubt that if all of Prince Wayne's arrangements were ever revealed to the world, this war without gunpowder, and the application of this strategy, would definitely become a required exam topic for every student at the Royal Military Academy in the future!

only.....

Ernest looked at Wayne's outstretched hand, his face contorted with distress. He pulled a pocket watch from his pocket, turned his back, and carefully removed the diamonds from it one by one. He then put the watch back in his pocket and gently handed the diamonds to Wayne.

But how will I end up in history books and textbooks?

Prince Wayne's wallet?

Wayne accepted the diamonds, glancing at Ernest with surprise. He seemed equally surprised that the Duke was so generous, offering such high-end items as diamonds. Ernest gave him an approving look. Not bad, quite bold! He turned around and, under Ernest's pained gaze, distributed the diamonds one by one to the nobles who were present to him.

Upon receiving the diamond, especially the one bestowed upon him by Wayne, a younger nobleman nearly cried out in surprise, gesturing wildly. Fortunately, an older nobleman beside him stopped him in time, thanked him sincerely, and stepped back.

Wayne nodded to them with satisfaction, watching them leave with great pleasure.

Winning public support by spending a little money is the cheapest thing you can do.

Thinking this, he looked at Ernest again, only to see Ernest shaking his head with a bitter face and pointing to his large gold tooth. The subtext was: I really don't have any left. If you still want it, I'll have to pull out my gold tooth right here and now. I just don't know if anyone wants this thing.

Wayne nodded, both amused and exasperated. He glanced at the large group of nobles waiting to be received, rubbed his nose, and pondered where to get money next.

Ernest had squeezed her dry, Winster had sensed something was wrong from the start and slipped away, Surtr was still eagerly waiting for him to pay her wages to buy her ice cream, and Mudrock was still working for Wayne for free, vowing not to take a single penny of wages until he paid off the money for the prototype power armor he was wearing.

It seems like there's nowhere left to make money? But ending today like this is too early.

After much deliberation, Wayne turned his attention to the Earl of Princeton.

Well, since we've already set a trap, let's make it as thorough as possible.

"Ernest, connect me to the Earl of Princeton's mansion."

"Wayne gave the order," Wien instructed. Ernest nodded in confusion but didn't ask any further questions. He simply did as instructed, answered the phone, and handed it to Wien.

"Hello, this is Princeton Earl's House."

"This is Wayne Bruce."

“Ah! It’s Your Highness Wayne. I’m sorry, I’m John, the Earl’s butler. The Earl has just fallen asleep. If there’s anything you need, I can pass it on. If you need to speak with him, I can go and wake him up.”

Just fell asleep? Wayne chuckled. He had been worried that the Earl of Princeton would be driven to desperation by his underhanded tactics, but it seemed that the Earl was unaware of what had happened.

That's great! We definitely can't let such a good opportunity slip by!

Wayne said directly:

“Mr. John, it’s a pleasure to meet you. As you probably already know, I plan to convert the Earl’s mansion into my temporary residence and the headquarters of the Northern Army. The conversion is a long process, but we can start from the first step. I have already contacted a renovation team to come to the Earl’s mansion. Could you please cooperate with them to clear out the furnishings, furniture, and all the decorations in the mansion?”

“This…” John hesitated for a moment, but quickly nodded. Prince Wayne was right; renovation was a troublesome matter, and it would indeed be much easier to clear out unnecessary things as soon as possible. Since His Highness had already sent a renovation team, it saved him the trouble.

As for whether to inform the Earl of Princeton, John hesitated for a moment, but decided to wait until he woke up. He was already exhausted enough these past few days, and if he knew that Prince Wayne was going to renovate the Earl's mansion, his loyalty would surely tempt him to personally participate and offer advice, which would really wear him down!

As his housekeeper and friend, I shouldn't disturb his hard-earned rest time. I can't help it, John has to go to great lengths for his friends.

"I understand, I will cooperate."

"Butler John said," Wayne nodded, hung up the phone, and looked at Ernest.

"Get ready, take the steam-armored squad to the Earl of Princeton's mansion."

Ernest immediately became serious upon hearing this and asked:

Is war about to break out?

Wayne smiled and waved his hand, indicating that he shouldn't be nervous, and explained:

"No, they're going to raid your home."

"Remember to bring all the looted items to the square. I think the people of the North will be very interested in the treasures that the Duke of Normandy and the Earl of Princeton have accumulated over the years."

Kal'tsit, who had listened to the entire process of Wayne's propaganda campaign and fabricated evidence from the very beginning, felt a cold sweat trickle down her temple. Even though she was over a thousand years old and boasted of her vast experience in dealing with people, she couldn't help but want to curse the heartless Wayne on behalf of the Earl of Princeton.

Get the bamboo shoots!

Chapter Seventy-Five: The Lord Doesn't Care

The Earl of Princeton woke up to find himself likely kidnapped. And his kidnappers were probably quite powerful, as the place where he was being held was as big as his house.

Wait a minute, this bed...this floor.....

Is this his home?

Count Princeton stood at the bedroom door, looking out into the empty corridor, then back at the lavishly decorated bedroom. For a moment, he felt a sense of disorientation, as if the door he was holding was not a bedroom door, but a portal opened by some unknown Originium Arts—on one side was a noble mansion filled with an air of elegance and luxury, and on the other was an open-air corridor of an apartment building in a slum.

Where is my Letanian spell recorder?