Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Lucien revealed his original plan.

“Now, the plan has changed, but that’s a good thing. First, Ambrina really likes you, which is not easy. Second, it was achieved earlier than expected, so I have more time to safeguard this system. Third, you are a supporter of this system because you are a proponent of authoritarianism.”

"indeed."

Ronan admitted it.

"Only such a system can ensure further centralization of power. Only centralization of power can truly complete reforms. What democracy and republic are nothing but rotten, fishy-smelling things that those pirate nations learned from the pirates who roamed the Mediterranean thousands of years ago."

The contempt in Lucien's words was palpable.

The pirate nations he referred to were Villa and Weyland.

As for the pirates who roamed the Mediterranean thousands of years ago, they were referring to the origins of civilization in the entire Western continent, those slave-owning city-states that gave birth to countless philosophers.

The reason for saying this is quite simple. To put it dramatically, the Kingdom of Phos is a land where you can farm, unlike some dilapidated countries that are just a broken island covered in mountains, where farming is impossible, a lifelong dream, and the only way to survive is through plunder.

"Feudalism can be abandoned, but a king is indispensable."

"Lucien said."

He had already realized that the wheels of time were rolling forward and could not be stopped. If he tried to stop them, he would not even have the chance to get on the train. The glory of the Freigo family for hundreds of years would be completely buried in history. It would be better to get on the train now, to combine centralization and revolution, and to have the king or queen rule as commoners, so that the Freigo family could be passed down forever.

"That's very well said, Your Majesty."

Ronan praised him, saying he truly admired His Majesty the King for coming up with such a bizarre idea.

Ambrina remained silent throughout, as she was completely bewildered by the two of them.

Chapter 174 Son, Car, Socks

Lucien then raised his glass for the second time, saying, "If only you were my son."

Ronan raised his glass and clinked it against His Majesty the King's. "Isn't my son your grandson?"

"Haha." Lucien laughed.

Ronan is absolutely right; his and Ambrina's son will definitely have the surname Freigo.

"Haha." Ronan laughed along.

Lucien raised his glass again, "Then, a toast to that unborn grandson."

"Cheers." Ronan raised his glass.

A meeting that was expected to turn into trouble ended with a toast between an old man nearing the end of his life and a young man who had just begun a new chapter in his life.

Ambrina felt she should be happy and should laugh, but for some reason, seeing these two men who were so important to her getting along so well, she couldn't quite manage a smile.

On the carriage ride back, Ronan noticed that Ambrina seemed a bit down and asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

Ambrina didn't know how to describe her strange feeling. After thinking for a while, she said, "Ronan, you and him are like friends who have known each other for many years. On the contrary, I just met you and I just met him."

“Because I am his son,” Ronan said.

"Huh?" Ambrina was stunned.

Considering his father's foolishness in his youth, it's not impossible.

Ronan gently pinched the soft flesh on Ambrina's waist. "My dear princess, what are you thinking? What I mean is that His Majesty the King wants to live on in another way, and I am the one who writes his epitaph. He has no special achievements and his reign was not long. If he wants to leave his name in history and live on in the praise of future generations, he can no longer do it on his own. He can only rely on his descendants."

"Only I can write his epitaph that will never be forgotten."

"Of course, if I disappoint him in the next few years, or if he thinks that someone might do better than me, then he may disown me as his 'son' at any time, and then the mage group will come out and blast me to dust."

Upon hearing this, Ambrina instinctively grabbed Ronan's hand.

Ronan immediately grabbed Ambrina's hand in return. "Just kidding, just kidding. Don't be nervous. I'm confident in myself. Among the kingdom's civil officials, I'm definitely the strongest in terms of overall ability."

If his overall abilities are not even comparable to those of a group of feudal nobles, then what makes him a reactionary bureaucrat? Is it because he is young and handsome?

Ambrina abruptly pulled her hand away from Ronan's grasp and fell silent; she seemed to be angry.

Soon after, Ambrina got off the carriage and returned to her residence. Just as the coachman was about to urge the horses to start again, Ambrina suddenly turned around and ran over, saying, "I wasn't angry at all, not at all."

Ronan lifted the carriage curtain and replied with a smile, "I know."

Ambrina smiled, turned around happily, and went back.

After another journey, the carriage took Ronan to the villa.

After taking a shower, Ronan stood in the yard wearing a bathrobe, gazing up at the night sky enclosed by the yard. The twinkling stars in the night sky seemed to be getting closer and closer, as if they were about to fall into his eyes.

Is it he who wants to merge into the galaxy, or the galaxy that wants to merge into him? Ronan didn't know.

Lost in thought, Ronan was suddenly pulled from his reverie when someone appeared nearby.

Ronan turned his head to look at Isabel, who had suddenly appeared.

At this moment, Isabel was dressed in women's clothing. Her eyes were much softer. She wore a white round-neck dress that just revealed her collarbone. Her brownish-yellow hair, tied in a low ponytail, hung down her left shoulder. Under the hem of the dress, a small section of her calf, covered by semi-transparent white stockings, gleamed with a cool, crystalline light in the moonlight. On her feet were a pair of white lace satin flat shoes.

After a moment of distraction, Ronan asked, "Your Highness, what brings you here so late?"

As if by magic, Isabel produced two tickets. "Please go see a play."

“Then I need to change my clothes first,” Ronan replied with a smile.

Ronan deliberately took his time changing clothes, but Isabel was standing in the yard, and he couldn't sense any agitation from her magic, let alone move away.

It seemed she wouldn't leave just because she was being deliberately left out. Ronan instantly sped up, quickly changing into a beige shirt, overalls, knitted stockings, burgundy calfskin ankle boots, and a cape-style cavalry short coat before emerging from the room.

At this moment, Isabel also changed her clothes. She tied her ponytail back and wore a police officer's flat-brimmed hat. Her coat was cut in the style of an aristocratic officer's uniform, but the gorgeous decorations were removed. The chest panel was changed, and the waist was fitted with a leather belt, which further accentuated Isabel's feminine figure.

She wore black, tight-fitting capri breeches and black knee-high boots. Perhaps she was in too much of a rush when she put them on, and her movements were too clumsy. A small part of the breeches on her right leg was not fully tucked into the boot, and a small patch of her leg was exposed between the breeches and the boot. This small patch of skin was clearly covered with a layer of flesh-colored stockings.

Ronan was also surprised that Isabel had specifically changed into a pair of flesh-colored stockings when changing her outfit.

Noticing Ronan's strange gaze, Isabel looked down and realized that part of her riding breeches was not tucked in. She quickly used her hand to tuck the breeches in.

Isabel stepped forward and extended her hand.

Ronan said, "A handshake is unnecessary."

Isabel immediately revealed her true colors as a wicked woman: "Who's shaking hands with you? I want you to grab my hand so I can cast a spell."

Ronan reached out, relaxed and not resisting, and was about to grab Isabel when she suddenly grabbed him back, pulled him outward, and Ronan was directly entered a dark, alternate dimension.

A spherical space with a diameter of no more than three meters, the inner wall of the sphere is cold and hard.

Not long after, the inner wall of the sphere suddenly began to soften, becoming semi-liquid. Ronan began to slowly sink as if he were in a swamp. But strangely, Ronan could not dig out a piece from the softened inner wall as if he were digging out a piece of mud from a swamp. His hand entered the inner wall of the sphere as if he had entered a completely empty space.

Soon, the inner wall of the sphere completely vanished, and Ronan fell out of the sphere. When he looked again, he found himself in an unfamiliar place.

The ground here is slippery, it's very noisy and smelly, and there are a lot of people. Some people are leading cattle and sheep, some are carrying chicken and duck cages, and some are pushing carts piled with vegetables.

Isabel beckoned to Ronan, "Let's go."

Ronan followed, and soon he determined where they were: a transit point for meat, poultry, eggs, and vegetables.

Livestock are slaughtered here late at night, vegetables are transported here, and then transported to the market at midnight.

After a few steps, the two saw a man wearing a linen short-sleeved shirt, tied at the waist with a hemp rope, without trousers, and wearing straw sandals. He was bowing and scraping to a short, stout man who looked like a bulldog and had a black armband on his sleeve. Then he took out a copper flintlock coin and prepared to hand it to the bulldog-looking man.

Chapter 175 Cooperation, Contrast, Stage

"Wipe it clean," the bulldog-like man said menacingly.

The man in the linen clothes quickly wiped the copper coin clean with his clothes and handed it over again.

The man resembling a bulldog took the copper coin and kicked the man in the burlap clothes to the ground. "New dog, you don't know the rules. You don't even know you should wipe the copper coin clean. Get out."

The man in the linen clothes did not get up immediately, nor did he dare to utter a sound. Instead, he bowed respectfully and then scrambled away.

Isabel quickly caught up with the man in the linen clothes, and Ronan followed closely behind.

The man in the linen clothes noticed the two men following him and immediately turned around. Upon seeing Isabel and Ronan's attire and their demeanor, he bowed deeply. "My lords, I, I..." he stammered, trying hard to recall what he had done wrong.

To Ronan's surprise, Isabel crouched down, applied her enchanted hand to the wound the man had scraped on the ground, and gave him a simple massage.

"Alright, your injury will heal relatively quickly. Remember to wash it with clean water when you get back," Isabel said.

"Thank you, madam, no, lady, oh no, madam." The man only realized Isabel was a woman when he was expressing his gratitude.

The man was only 1.6 meters tall, not even as tall as Isabel, who was 1.65 meters tall.

After expressing his gratitude, the man left quickly. Although he was very grateful to the kind lady, he was genuinely afraid of the nobleman.

However, the man discovered that the woman and the man were still following him.

“We’re also going to Lars’s Shop to eat,” Isabel said.

The man in the linen clothes stood frozen in disbelief.

Soon, the man in linen clothes arrived at Lars's shop, followed by Ronan and Isabel. It was hardly a shop at all; it was just a tiny room facing the street that served as a kitchen, with a few open-air stalls outside.

A sign stood at the entrance that read, “Lars’s Little Shop: A copper flintlock pistol, a potato pancake, a bowl of batter, and unlimited pickles.”

Isabel led Ronan to a seat, but the two of them, who were about to sit down, quickly got up and ran away. The table, which originally had a small stool, was now only occupied by Ronan and Isabel.

Isabel gave him two copper musket coins.

Soon, two large bowls of batter and two potato pancakes arrived, while the pickles had been laid out on the table beforehand.

The batter had little flavor and wasn't fragrant, but the portion was very generous. The potato pancakes were extremely oily and contained a filling that wasn't meat, but rather chopped beef liver and onions. If more spices had been added, it might have tasted better, but the owner clearly hadn't used much. Ronan is sure that these potato pancakes will become unpalatable once they cool down a bit.

As for the pickles, they're incredibly salty, so salty that if you only eat a tiny bit, you'll feel like you're drinking half a bowl of porridge.

However, Isabel ate the coarse food without showing any signs of distress or pain.

After that, the two got up and left.

"So, do I seem a little different from what you thought?" Isabel asked.

“Yes, a little.” Ronan admitted that this was different from the princess he remembered.

"Heh." Isabel smiled faintly. "Guess who that person in the linen clothes is."

"A farmer selling vegetables?" Ronan replied tentatively.

“No, he’s a vegetable vendor. Farmers are much worse off than him,” Isabel said. “If you work a day and only have enough to eat for one day, you’re definitely not a farmer. You have to work hard for five days to have enough to eat for three days. That’s the life of a farmer.”

“This vegetable vendor probably buys vegetables from farmers every day and then brings them here to sell. For him, it’s better to eat nearby than to go home and cook. That’s what we just ate. He only eats this one meal a day, then goes home to sleep, goes to buy vegetables in the afternoon, and eats something for free at the farmers’ houses. You wouldn’t believe it, would you? This ragged, servile man might be just as fierce as that bulldog-looking man in front of another person.”

"This is just how this country is."

“My dear sister, it’s ridiculous that you think rural life is just about raising livestock, farming, and sitting there singing when you have free time. Does she think this country is a paradise without villains?”

As Isabel continued speaking, she brought up Ambrina again.

Ronan asked, "Is this the play that His Highness wanted to bring me to see?"

He didn't react much because he knew all these things, and he even knew from the beginning that the man in the linen clothes was not a farmer.

Isabel suddenly changed her demeanor, skipping over to Ronan like a playful young girl, and shaking her finger, "Of course not."

After saying that, Isabel once again went ahead to lead the way, and Ronan once again had no choice but to follow.

Soon, Ronan followed Isabel to a place that was a small hill. After Isabel handed over two tickets, the two walked along the sloping path and arrived at an open-air platform that was higher than the surrounding area.

In the distance, there is a stage that has been set up.

Lighting up indoor theaters at night is a hassle, but it's much simpler for open-air theaters.

“This place, you can sneak in without paying, right?” Ronan said.

This small, protruding hill, though there's only one main path, is easy to climb from all sides.

“Yes, but there aren’t many people who evade fares,” Isabel replied.

After a while, the show began. It turned out to be an opera, which really startled Ronan. To perform outdoors and have so many people hear it, they must have used some kind of amplification magic prop developed by the church. As for the actors, people who can sing and dance are not rare, but the orchestra playing the music on the side is very valuable. These days, only the rich can afford to hire an orchestra.

But Ronan just saw that the tickets for the performance were two bronze muskets each, and with many people sneaking in without paying, the ticket revenue for this performance might not even be enough to support the orchestra.

The performance began, and Ronan temporarily suppressed his questions.

The plot of the play is not complicated, and there are not many characters.

The opening scene takes place in a small rural town not far from the capital. A young boy and girl express their love for each other. The girl has long, beautiful hair, and the boy is tall and handsome. The boy promises to marry her, and the girl is overjoyed. After they part, the boy sings, and the girl sings too.

During the song, the boy expressed his desire to give the girl a beautiful hair clip as a wedding gift, while the girl expressed her desire to give the boy a pair of riding boots.

In the second act, the girl's father is informed by a tall, thin man that the lord is going to exercise his right of first night and that the lord is a very perverted person. The girl's father panics, and in the end, the tall, thin man tells the girl's father that if he gives him three silver dragons, he will settle the matter for him.

In the third act, the boy returns home and tells his mother about his plans to get married. His mother just sheds tears. Then the boy goes outside to sing in the fields, while his mother sings inside the house. The two are far apart in the play, but on stage they are simply on opposite sides, each singing a line in turn. The lyrics of the two songs correspond to each other, and in the corresponding songs, the boy's family's bitter past is revealed.

Many audience members around raised their hands to cover their mouths, afraid of making a sobbing sound.

Chapter 176 plot, edited, cannot be agreed to.