Chapter 93

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Volume 2 + Chapter 93: A Rare Opportunity

“Princess, what brings you and Serra to Corolle?” Lucius asked curiously.

Xia Yi recalled what Xia Lulu had told her.

She was to visit a secret realm.

And that secret realm was very special, only the Dragon King was qualified to enter… It was not widely publicized unless necessary.

“I’m going to a place, which happens to be near Corolle, so I accompanied Serra,” said Xia Yi, “Lucius, just think of me as here to have fun!”

“Really, my daughter, you wanted to come back and see me?”

Lucius was very surprised.

After all, in his mind, his daughter was never willing to come home. Over the years, she had only returned a few times.

And each time she came back, she left in less than half a day.

Serra’s initiative to come home was, in Lucius’s view, as shocking as the sun rising from the west!

“I wanted to come back and see if you were dead. If you were, I’d light some incense for you,” Serra said.

Lucius didn’t mind the aggressiveness in his daughter’s words, instead, he laughed happily, “What, Serra, you say you hate me, but deep down you still care about your father. It’s really comforting. How do they say it these days… Oh right, tsundere! Serra, you’re being a tsundere!”

“Father, the Princess is still here, please restrain yourself. If you continue to disgust me, my emotions might get out of control, and I can’t guarantee what I might do.”

Serra looked at her father like she was looking at an idiot.

“Also, it’s not that I came back on my own, it was sister who asked me to.”

“Is it Lucia?”

“Yes, sister gave me her vacation time and asked me to come back to see you. If it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t want to come back at all…”

Serra was now regretting this more and more. Seeing this father was really annoying, and he was constantly embarrassing her in front of the Princess.

No wonder Lucia told her that she might not be able to resist taking action.

She really wanted to throw him out of the house.

“Oh! So it was Lucia. I was saying, that child is always so cold and has never spoken to me for hundreds of years… But deep down she can’t let go of me, truly a filial child.” Lucius was very comforted, “Serra, am I right? This is also tsundere, right?”

“Ah, yes, yes, yes.”

Serra didn’t understand before why Lucia left Corolle to join the Royal Maid Corps in the capital.

Now, she understood.

It turns out Lucia didn’t want to inherit the family business and ran away.

As long as she stayed in Corolle, her bastard father would definitely hand over the family to his daughter and then go off to enjoy himself.

On one hand, she would have to work hard to manage the family, and on the other hand, she would have to endure Lucius’s behavior, being pointed at and instructed from time to time. Just thinking about it, Serra felt her blood pressure was about to explode.

Fortunately, she was also young and impulsive at the time, and without much thought, she followed Lucia to the capital to settle the score.

If she had stayed, she would have been forced to inherit the family business, and she probably would have been angered to death by her father.

“Serra, you and Lucia have now joined the Royal Maid Corps and should be official members,” Lucius asked, “Serra, what do you usually do in the Royal Maid Corps?”

“The Royal Maid Corps mainly serves the Royal Dragon Family… As for me, I am mainly responsible for taking care of the Princess…”

“Taking care of the Princess? That’s impressive!” Lucius exclaimed in surprise, “Her Majesty the Queen actually entrusted such an important task to you, she really approves of you!”

“The Princess is very outstanding, competent in all areas, full of majesty. The entire Dragon Palace respects her very much. She is self-disciplined and hardworking, simply flawless… It’s me who has caused a lot of trouble for the Princess. Her magnanimity doesn’t mind at all…”

Serra actually said a series of praises for Xia Yi without blushing or skipping a beat.

Xia Yi started to blush as she listened.

Because these words… seemed to be… the opposite of the truth, not a single one was true.

Serra, are you deliberately playing dumb?

“Princess, you’re so excellent!” Lucius was somewhat surprised.

Faced with the gaze of the Cavendish family head, Xia Yi couldn’t deny it and had to stiffly admit it.

“For me, as the Silver Dragon Princess, it’s not so much that I have accomplished these things… For me, it’s a breeze, after all, I am of the Royal Silver Dragon bloodline.”

Xia Yi felt that if she continued to talk, she might reveal herself and ruin her image, so she had to quickly shift the topic.

“Lucius, let’s not talk about this for now. Although I came to Corolle with Serra, it’s just a side trip… But the situation here is really beyond my expectations.”

Lucius’s expression changed, becoming serious, and he nodded, “Yes, Princess, this is the state of this city.”

“I can clearly feel that the emerging nobility in Corolle lack respect for the royal family, and even committed some outrageous acts. Without the consent of the royal family, they arbitrarily modified local laws and started implementing their own rules.”

Xia Yi’s expression was one of displeasure.

“The royal family has never granted these rights to the emerging nobles. They are overstepping their bounds.”

“Your Highness, it’s not just that. The security officers you saw today are actually the current armed force in Corolle. The former law enforcement team was replaced entirely by the current security officers, who were supported by the New Chamber of Commerce. It can be said that Corolle is now almost completely in the hands of the emerging nobles. They control everything in this city,” Lucius explained.

“The emerging nobility can do this? They can even intervene in the selection of armed forces?”

“Yes, Princess. How much do you know about this city?”

“I’ve heard some from Serra. The rise of Corolle is related to the emerging nobles…”

“That’s right, the emerging nobles saw the potential of Corolle and chose to invest here, bringing a large amount of resources to settle here. It was during this period that Corolle developed rapidly and became a major city in the south. As a result, the emerging nobles of Corolle believed that all the development here was created by themselves and had nothing to do with the Royal Dragon Family. They are the masters of this city. As time went on, the faster Corolle developed, the more their desires expanded.”

“The emerging nobility united to establish the New Chamber of Commerce, integrating all resources, using the power of capital to manipulate the armed forces from behind the scenes for their own use. As long as they throw enough money, they can do many unimaginable things. This is just one of them. Other aspects are also extremely outrageous, such as replacing the entire judiciary with their own people, using security officers to defeat all forces opposing them, and using both methods to formulate new laws to exclude dissidents, completely controlling the city.”

After listening to Lucius’s explanation, Xia Yi was shocked. This was not just ordinary nobility, but clearly establishing a state within a state.

Have these new nobles gone mad?

If discovered, they would definitely be beheaded.

“Why are they so brazen?” Xia Yi asked in confusion, “If they are exposed, once our royal family sends troops…”

The little princess’s words trailed off.

If it really developed to this situation, how could the emerging nobility possibly surrender obediently? Wouldn’t this be equivalent to an internal war within the dragon race?

“Because the emerging nobility want to gain more benefits, once they taste the first sweetness, they can’t stop. They know it’s dangerous and there’s no way out, but they still choose to chase after benefits. They also know in their hearts that they are not recognized by the royal family, but their business can bring benefits to the royal family.”

“Princess, haven’t you heard a saying? If there is a 100% profit, they will take risks; if there is a 200% profit, they will despise the law; if there is a 300% profit…”

“They dare to trample on all the rules of the world. That’s the emerging nobles.”

Lucius spread his hands.

“So that’s how it is,” Xia Yi pondered. “Is there any other intelligence?”

“No, Your Highness.” Lucius shook his head.

But Xia Yi still felt that there was something fishy, that the reason behind it was not that simple.

Because even if it was for the pursuit of interests, it was only a matter of the emerging nobles.

But at that time, she came into contact with the servants of Ascension Casino, who dared to be disrespectful to the Royal Dragon Family… Could it really be that they only relied on the backing of the emerging nobility to make such statements, without any fear of retribution?

It seemed there was a deeper reason.

“The problems in the south, there’s more to it, right?” Xia Yi said, “Lucius, what are you hiding?”

“This…”

Lucius furrowed his brows, hesitating to speak.

“Princess, your intuition is very sharp. There is indeed another extremely important factor that led to Corolle becoming like this… But it involves some taboos that cannot be discussed. I really can’t tell you. Perhaps you need to interact with the people of Corolle yourself to understand…”

Lucius suddenly became enigmatic, which made Xia Yi very puzzled.

What was it that made him so evasive?

She was representing the Royal Dragon Family, and the Royal Dragon Family was questioning him. This was a good opportunity to show his position and loyalty… Instead, he was beating around the bush. Wasn’t this completely suspicious?

“Sigh.” Serra sighed.

Xia Yi looked towards her personal maid.

That’s right, Serra was born and raised in Corolle, she must know.

“Serra, just tell me directly!”

“…”

Serra hesitated unusually.

“Serra, if you don’t tell me, I will be angry!”

“Princess, this has to do with a former member of the royal family…”

Serra’s expression changed.

“Hero Frey.”

“Frey?”

Xia Yi was stunned. She never thought she would hear this name here.

Frey, the hero of the dragons, was also Xia Lulu’s elder brother.

Once, Xia Yi sneaked into the Royal Library and obtained the biography of the past Dragon Kings, from which she learned about the past history.

Frey was once hailed as the hero of the dragons and was the candidate for the next Dragon King… However, due to a series of maneuvers by Xia Lulu, he ended up dying at Xia Lulu’s hands, thus falling.

“Your Highness, you may not be fully aware, but in the south, many dragons know the story of Hero Frey,” Serra said, “There was a great war between the Dragon Kingdom and foreign races. The Black Dragon King personally led the battle, but due to his old age and declining strength, as well as being conspired against, he was seriously injured, which greatly affected the pride of the dragons, and the southern border was almost invaded by foreign races.”

“It was at this time that Frey stood up, marched southward to battle, defeated the enemy, avenged his father, and liberated the southern border from the shadow of invasion, including Corolle.”

“For the dragons of the southern border, Frey was like a hero… Known to all, recognized by all, admired by all. Everyone believed that Frey would inherit the throne of the dragons, become the new Dragon King, and lead the dragons to a new era of glory. But then…”

Serra stopped here, closed her eyes, and said no more.

In fact, Xia Yi already knew what happened next.

“There’s no need to force yourself to continue, Serra. I know the history that follows.”

“Princess, I’m very sorry. Due to the Queen’s order, no one is allowed to mention these past events… If you want to punish someone, please punish me alone. This is my personal will and has nothing to do with the Cavendish family,” Serra pleaded.

“Serra, how could I punish you for this!” Xia Yi laughed, “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Xia Lulu. It’s okay, don’t be so nervous… After all, I insisted on making you speak. If Xia Lulu wants to punish you, I’ll be the first to disagree!”

“Thank you, Your Highness.” Serra bowed.

Now, the little princess understood why Corolle had such an attitude towards the royal family.

In their eyes, it should have been Hero Frey who became the Dragon King… But he died, died in a conspiracy, and Xia Lulu was the usurper in the conspiracy, not recognized.

Therefore, the actions of the new nobles lacked any respect for the current royal family.

Everything made sense now.

The situation in this city was indeed much more complicated than she had imagined.

But she also gradually realized this.

Since the emerging nobility had formed the New Chamber of Commerce, so blatantly disrespecting the royal authority, committing the great crime of usurpation, they had become a huge hidden danger, and it was absolutely impossible to let them continue to act arbitrarily.

Then, as a representative of the Royal Dragon Family, she could not ignore this situation and had to impose sanctions.

If she could deal with all these people, wouldn’t her prestige within the dragon race skyrocket? The name of the Silver Dragon Princess would surely resound throughout the Dragon Kingdom!

Heh heh heh.

This is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Emerging nobles, you will become my stepping stone.