Although
Just as
Four million gold Forde was indeed a colossal sum, but once actual spending began, it didn't go nearly far enough. The two newly established city defense corps, the incentive investments for those opening workshops and factories, the costs of supplying daily necessities to over a million residents across the outer city's twenty-four communities, and the Autonomous Council's own administrative expenses — by his estimate, there wouldn't be much left after another two months or so. That was why the Morant City Autonomous Council had applied to Lorist for another loan of ten million gold Forde.
To be precise, in the current state of Morant City, there was no one other than a sucker like Lorist who could produce so much gold — not even the Sejin Goddess Temple, which was famous for its moneylending. The Autonomous Council that made up Morant City's new power structure was by no means lacking in talent. If they weren't all such staunch free-market advocates, Lorist would seriously have considered recruiting some of them into his family.
For instance, the worldly-wise gang boss Ledos, who had come up through the underworld organizations, the temple representatives, and several well-known old scholars from the outer districts — every last one of them was a cunning old fox. While wielding their new power, they were willing to cooperate with the
Lorist was acutely aware that the current commercial boom and economic recovery in Morant City had been triggered solely by the Norton Family's sales of goods and commodities in the city, as well as the investments in industries related to the residents' livelihood needed to sustain over a million city dwellers. Aside from a small number of residents with an adventurous investment spirit who had taken the first step, the vast majority were still clutching their purses and watching from the sidelines. What Lorist needed to do now was continue investing and leverage the upcoming arrival of private shipowners from the Southern Seas to make large-scale purchases — this would demonstrate the bright commercial prospects to all of Morant City's residents and get them to open their purses and actively throw themselves into commercial activity...
What Lorist had told Manager Speer was the plain truth — he didn't care whether the ten million gold Forde loan would ever be repaid. As long as Morant City developed into a distribution hub and transit point for goods produced in the Norton Family's territories, and the private shipowners from the Southern Seas could be used to transport those goods southward to seize market share from the Commercial Alliance's monopoly, then he was confident that the ten million he invested now could be turned into twenty million or more gold Forde in profit within a year or two, flowing back into the family's coffers.
On September thirtieth, a transport fleet from Hilowas Island arrived at Hidden Gold Bay under the escort of the North Sea Fleet. Because of Princess Sylvia's arrival, Lorist had no choice but to go to the docks to welcome her. Then he saw his wife, Princess Sylvia, and Duchess Windsor appear together on the deck, looking as close as sisters, and walk down the gangway hand in hand...
What in the world? In that instant, Lorist felt as though a gust of wind had scattered his thoughts. Barely acknowledging the greetings from Fatty Shi and Grand Duke Fosta, who had disembarked first, he hurried forward a few steps to meet them, grasping Princess Sylvia's right hand as she descended the gangway.
"Your Highness..." Princess Sylvia hastily released her left hand, which had been clasped with Duchess Windsor's, and offered Lorist a curtsey.
"Why did you come without a word of warning? It's still quite chaotic here..." Lorist reproached her in a low voice.
"I missed you," Princess Sylvia answered playfully, clutching his arm tightly and leaning against his side.
"Oh, you..." Lorist laughed helplessly, then turned his gaze to Duchess Windsor beside them.
"My respects to you, Your Grace the Grand Duke Norton." Duchess Windsor stepped back and likewise performed a half-curtsy, her form standard and flawless.
Lorist inclined his head slightly in return. Nearly twenty years — how quickly time had passed. No one had imagined that their reunion would take this form. Her eyes were still as large as ever, though a touch of worldly wisdom now lingered in her gaze, and her figure had grown more full. Standing before Lorist now was a dignified, elegant noblewoman, no longer able to overlap with the image in his memory of that elfin girl dancing beneath the silver moonlight...
Time flows on, things change, and people are never the same. Everyone had changed. Lorist sighed silently to himself, then said with a smile, "Welcome, noble and beautiful Duchess Windsor. This must be a revisit to familiar ground."
"This city holds the most precious memories of my life. To return to this great city and see an old friend from my youth — I am truly overjoyed." Duchess Windsor gazed into Lorist's eyes as she spoke.
Lorist turned his face slightly, averting his gaze from Duchess Windsor's somewhat fervent eyes. "Is that so? Then I wish you a wonderful and restful stay here. Ah, I've already arranged for a comfortable residence to be prepared for the Grand Duke and Duchess. After several days at sea, I imagine you must be quite weary. Please, step into the carriage — Grand Duke Fosta and Duchess Windsor, Baron Shrade will accompany you to your lodgings. Also, I'll be holding a welcome banquet in two days' time. I humbly request the honor of your presence."
"We are most honored to accept Your Grace's invitation. We shall certainly arrive on time." Grand Duke Fosta stepped forward and said.
Lorist nodded. "Until then, I shall look forward to your coming."
After Grand Duke Fosta and Duchess Windsor had boarded their carriage with Fatty Shi as escort and departed first, the two ladies-in-waiting — Fenagali and Daisy, who had been waiting nearby — finally approached to greet Lorist.
"You two... I really don't know what to say. Sylvia, where's Andabel?"
Lorist found it rather strange that Sylvia hadn't brought her precious son Andabel along this time. She usually kept a close eye on him.
"Darling, I didn't bring Andabel with me. Maria went back to her family to prepare for childbirth, and Anna also returned to Baron Dina's territory for the same reason. Andabel insisted on going along — he's been clinging to his little brother these past few months. Great Swordmaster Cindy went with them as well. I had originally intended to go to the imperial capital, because I received a letter from Sisi. But before we even got there, Sisi had already..." Princess Sylvia's eyes reddened.
Andabel was already over five years old, at the age when children were most lively and active. His little brother — really his elder brother — was Shrofenk, the son born to Lorist and his concubine Anna, three years Andabel's senior. Whenever Princess Sylvia had matters to attend to, she would entrust Andabel to Anna's care. The two boys got along splendidly.
But who was Sisi? Lorist wore a blank expression. It took him a while to recall that the queen who had died of sudden illness was indeed called Sisi. She appeared to be Princess Sylvia's cousin. What puzzled Lorist was that the two cousins hadn't exactly been on good terms — he remembered that time in the imperial capital when Princess Sylvia had slapped Sisi, who was the empress at the time, forcing Lorist to hand over fifty catapults to the
"So... I thought you two didn't get along? How come you left the family's territory to go to the imperial capital for her sake?" Lorist asked in bewilderment.
Princess Sylvia shot him an exasperated look. "No matter how badly we got along, she was still my cousin. I received a distress letter she sent via messenger — I couldn't just ignore that. But... but I never expected that she would actually die like this... There was a baby nearly ready to be born in her womb..."
Princess Sylvia began to cry, tears falling in drops. Lorist hurriedly pulled out every trick he knew to coax her into the carriage. Everything could wait until they were back at Brin Hill.
Now, on the desk before Lorist lay two letters. One was the distress letter Princess Sylvia had mentioned — the one Queen Sisi had sent to her via messenger. The other was a reply from his cousin Chrisya. In the carriage, Princess Sylvia had told Lorist that after receiving Queen Sisi's distress letter, she had been preparing to set out when she happened to encounter a messenger sent by Chrisya, so she had taken the letter along to deliver to Lorist.
Queen Sisi's distress letter described her romance with the knight Vexas and how she had become pregnant — and in truth, this matter was connected to Lorist as well. Over three years ago, when Lorist had been gravely wounded in his battle against the Storm Sword Saint and sent to the imperial capital for treatment, the Great Swordmaster dispatched by the Commercial Alliance had assumed Lorist was recuperating in the royal palace and attacked it. Queen Sisi wrote in her letter that it was on that very night — screams and flames everywhere, dead bodies strewn across the ground — and she had been terrified. It was the knight Vexas who had saved her, leading her to hide in a remote storage room to escape the assassins. And it was on that night that she fell in love with the knight Vexas and gave herself to him...
From the letter, it was clear that Queen Sisi had no idea of the knight Vexas's true identity, believing him to be an ordinary bodyguard knight. When she became pregnant, she had harbored fantasies of eloping with the knight Vexas once the child was born, finding some unknown place where the two of them and their child could form a happy family and live a blissful, peaceful life. For that, she was willing to abandon her title as queen and be nothing more than a happy little woman at her beloved's side.
Well then, it was that wretched Lorist who had butted in yet again and shattered Queen Sisi's beautiful dream. If the Norton Family's forces hadn't deployed, the Second Prince would have had to fight on the Mana Hill Plains for at least another year. That would have given Queen Sisi ample time to give birth and do her utmost to persuade the knight Vexas to elope with her. Vexas had rejected her proposal to elope before, but this time, Queen Sisi believed that her beloved would agree to flee with her for the sake of their love's fruit — their child.
As it turned out, Lorist had led the family fleet to a decisive victory over the Commercial Alliance's North Sea Fleet, landed at Hidden Gold Bay, captured Morant City, and forced the Commercial Alliance's forces to retreat to Mawiflin Province — ending the standoff on the Mana Hill Plains between them and the Andinak Kingdom noble coalition led by the Second Prince. With the Norton Family's forces holding the Mana Hill Plains, the Second Prince had led his army back to the imperial capital.
After much deliberation, Queen Sisi realized that the only person who could save her from certain doom was Princess Sylvia, the cousin she wasn't particularly close with. The reasoning was simple: Princess Sylvia was the wife of Lorist, the Pillar Sword Saint. If she were willing to speak on Sisi's behalf, then regardless of whether it was the Second Prince or Grand Duke Fisablen, they would have to consider Lorist's standing and handle the matter with due care. As long as things could be delayed until the child was born, then Queen Sisi could face death without regret.
This was the core message of Queen Sisi's letter — to let her give birth before dealing with her crime. The child was innocent. She no longer complained of the knight Vexas's cruelty; instead, she had placed all her hopes in the child about to be born. If her title as queen could be stripped and she could leave with her child, then even living in a slum would be paradise to her.
Queen Sisi had entrusted this distress letter to the messenger three days before the Second Prince's arrival in the imperial capital. The loyal messenger had then traveled without rest for twenty-one days before reaching Wrathbear City in the Northland, delivering the letter to Princess Sylvia. Moved by the maternal love that radiated from Queen Sisi's letter, Princess Sylvia had decided to set out immediately for the imperial capital to save Queen Sisi's life. Because she was in a rush, Princess Sylvia had entrusted her beloved son Andabel to her godmother, Great Swordmaster Cindy, and had them accompany Anna to Baron Dina's territory.
To save time, Princess Sylvia had chosen the route of sailing from North Sea City to Hilowas Island, then going ashore at Kilin Port and traveling on to the imperial capital — this would cut at least seven days off the messenger's route. What Princess Sylvia hadn't expected was that by the time she reached Hilowas Island, the news she received was of Queen Sisi's sudden death from illness. If Duchess Windsor hadn't been on the island as well, Princess Sylvia would have long since broken down in uncontrollable tears.
Now, having arrived at Lorist's side, Sylvia had finally let her guard down, her true feelings pouring forth as she wept for Queen Sisi's tragic fate — crying until she was exhausted, at which point Lorist carried her to bed, where she fell asleep.
Lorist shook his head and sighed for a time. This Queen Sisi had at least fought once for love and freedom, but her luck had been poor and her ending tragic. Moreover, her love had been rather blind — she hadn't even figured out the true identity of the man she loved.
Opening the letter from his cousin Chrisya, Lorist found that Chrisya stated with great certainty that the knight Vexas was the Second Prince's illegitimate son. When the Second Prince was still young, his mother had passed away, and he had been raised under the care of one of his mother's young maidservants. Although she was merely his mother's maidservant, she was ten years older than the Second Prince. It was on his sixteenth birthday that the Second Prince had relations with this maid, who had been like a mother to him, and the following year, she gave birth to the child Vexas.
The problem was that this young maidservant had already been taken as a concubine by his father, the Prince of Andinak. When the affair came to light, the Prince of Andinak was furious, ordered the maidservant executed, and handed the child over to a