Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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He wanted to launch a comprehensive reform encompassing politics, economics, and the military; he wanted to leave his mark on history.

Some people are dead but still alive; some people are not dead but are already dead.

The difference lies in whether one is willing to dedicate their life to a cause, though it's hard to say exactly what kind of cause, since Ronan is a flexible, reactionary bureaucrat whose policies can be changed.

“Get down to business. You’d better replace those people in your Ministry of the Interior,” Dinia said. After being with Ronan for several years, her standards had lowered, but those scoundrels were better left alone.

Ronan shook his finger. "To reform, you have to start with bold villains, then shift the blame to them, pick out some who oppress the people and are corrupt, kill them to appease everyone, and then use properly elected officials to deepen the reforms."

Chapter 259 Letter, Three Things, All About Older Single Women

That evening, Ronan was in Dinia's room. The two had just poured their drinks when Agustina burst in, rushed over, and placed a letter on the table.

Upon closer inspection of the signature, it turned out to be Henry.

Ronan went to the side to get a paper cutter, preparing to open the envelope. Don't ask why he knew where the paper cutter was.

Meanwhile, Agustina was also reporting the situation to Dinia.

As the leader of the city guard of Cardina and the commander of the governor's guard, Agustina was informed by the messenger who claimed to be delivering a message for Henry. The soldiers immediately reported this to her, and as someone who knew that Dinia and Ronan were preparing to depart the next day, she rushed over as soon as she received the letter.

Ronan took a letter opener from the small drawer, opened the envelope, and took out the letter. He, Dinia, and Agustina read the letter together.

The letter is divided into three parts.

The first part is an apology and shifting of blame. Henry begins by saying that he has heard about Louis's affairs and has started a major investigation. The investigation uncovers various forms of corruption among Louis's subordinates, especially the tax officials. It is because of them that a lot of the taxes that should have been handed over to the kingdom have been withheld over the years.

He has already ordered the execution of these corrupt officials, but as the lord, he also bears inescapable responsibility and is willing to pay off all the debts.

At the same time, he was also deceived by Louis and his men and participated in some things that were detrimental to the prosperity and stability of the entire colony. This part is very long, but in short, all the bad things were done by the dead.

After saying all this, Henry said that he had been deceived by Louis and had done so many foolish things, and that he was not worthy of being the Earl. He then offered to relinquish his title and hand over his fiefdom to the Governor's Office.

The second part is long, but the content is completely unimportant.

Because the second part is all flattery. It starts by praising Dinia, starting from when she was still in the orphanage. However, as everyone knows, Dinia was at least one of the bottom ten in the orphanage, if not the worst student. She became a first-class rank at the age of five, but the problem is that when she was first-class, she could only turn herself into a mushroom, and a regular mushroom at that, with no combat power whatsoever.

It's a good thing that Dinya was an orphan who was taken in; otherwise, they would probably have bragged about how she was born with a red glow and lightning. Henry has been bragged about this since she was a child, all the way up to when she came to the colony. Even though Dinya was governor, drinking and eating a lot of meat every day and not caring about anything, he could still smear her as a good leader and a prime minister.

Of all this, Ronan thought the only part that wasn't flattery was that the letter said Dinya was the most beautiful woman on the continent, since Ronan hadn't yet found anyone prettier than her.

After praising Dinia, they started praising Ronan, starting from when he defected, from how he benefited the people of Wright to how he uncovered the truth about Louis's murder. He was practically the conscience of the kingdom and a model official. If the kingdom had more people like him, it would surely become prosperous and strong.

Ronan is known for his thick skin, but I still felt goosebumps.

The only thing that wouldn't give him goosebumps was praising his good looks; there was no way around it, it was just the truth.

The third part is the real focus.

Henry said he had found several colony officials in Weyland and asked them to be witnesses so that both sides could clarify things face to face.

The meeting place was chosen by the Weylanders, but it was located in the southern part of his territory, bordering the governor's domain.

A map was also attached to the bottom of the letter, showing the location of the meeting.

"What do you think?" Dinia asked Ronan.

“He wants to save his life and then take the money abroad, though it’s hard to say which country,” Ronan said.

Henry pleaded guilty and shifted blame, giving up his title, lands, and assets. He flattered people throughout and even asked the Weylanders to be his witnesses. His only goal was to escape safely with the money.

“That can’t be accurate, can it?” Agustina said.

“The decapitation plan is no longer feasible. Right now, the Weylanders are definitely with him, and killing them along with the Weylanders would be too troublesome,” Ronan said.

Agustina retorted, "Couldn't we just kill them all and then say he colluded with the Weylanders to commit treason?"

“You can’t just slap a label on someone like that. Louis died before he even had a chance to make contact with Villa, so the Villa people wouldn’t care if we just slapped a label on them, since it didn’t happen. But Henry did make contact with the Weylanders,” Ronan explained.

To reiterate, if someone hasn't yet colluded with foreigners, you can call them a traitor without question. But if they have, you can't just arbitrarily label them a traitor.

"So, we're going to see him?" Dinia asked.

Ronan took a sip of his drink. "We'll see. We'll just have to improvise."

He hadn't expected the young count to be so decisive, to give up everything so readily, and to be so clever as not to collude with the Weylanders to try to retaliate, but to admit his crimes, relinquish his title, and only want to save his life, even dragging the Weylanders into it.

We can't take action directly now.

"You're coming with me?" Dinia asked again.

Ronan responded, "Agustina will come with us, along with a few mages and musketeers. Yvette will stay behind to oversee things. Faith and a few others are decent fighters, along with Elena and Alice. That should be enough to keep the Governor's Mansion running smoothly."

“I’m fine with it.” Agustina was excited when she heard this and immediately agreed.

She's been stuck in this run-down city ever since she arrived in the colony. Going to the ruins? No chance for her. Killing Louis? Still no chance for her. She's going crazy with frustration.

“Okay, we’ll leave in a couple of days, in the morning,” Dinia decided.

Ronan finished the rest of his drink in one gulp, then said goodbye and left.

After Ronan left, Agustina looked at Dinia and asked, "He just left like that?"

Dinia picked up her glass. "What else is he going to do if he doesn't leave?"

Agustina smiled. "Captain, why are you talking about him?"

Dinia then realized that Agustina's words had a hidden meaning. Bang! She slammed her glass down and glared at her.

Agustina covered her mouth and laughed, "Captain, he even knows where the paper cutter is. He knows this place very well. He really hasn't done anything?"

"No," Dinia replied simply.

Instantly, Agustina's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. Normally, after she spoke to Dinia like that, she should have been met with a barrage of insults and told to get lost. But Dinia's reaction was so indifferent, and more importantly, she even replied that it was no use.

Something big is going on here.

"Commander, you and him?" Agustina asked cautiously.

“I can’t say for sure,” Dinia replied.

The delicate relationship between Ronan and her is indeed hard to define. Lovers? Definitely not. Lovers? Do they even have lovers like that?

Agustina sat up straight, the flippancy in her tone vanished, "Captain, I think you'll be there soon."

“Perhaps.” Dinia said, taking a sip of her drink. “I don’t understand how things suddenly got to this point. I still can’t figure out how I could accept someone like this.”

“That’s what feelings are,” Agustina said earnestly.

Dinia sneered. They were all nearly thirty-year-old single women who had hardly ever been in contact with men. What did they know about feelings?

Chapter 260 Too Much, One Punch, An Old Acquaintance

Two days later, on the morning before departure.

Ronan and his people arrived at the colony in June, and it is now the end of December.

The agreed location was a valley at the border of the Governor's territory and Henry's domain. Compared to the pleasant climate of the eastern coast, the summers here were cool, but the winters were very cold, with temperatures dropping below zero in January and February.

At that moment, in the bathroom, Dinia had just finished brushing her teeth with an ivory-handled bristle toothbrush and was still drying her face with an alpaca wool towel when she heard a knock on the door.

"Come in," Dinia said softly, beckoning with her finger. A small mushroom hand sprouted from the main gate in the distance and unlocked the door.

Ronan pushed open the door and sat down on the living room sofa.

A short while later, Dinia, wearing a light purple lace nightgown, came into the living room and sat down opposite Ronan.

Her hair was unkempt and slightly disheveled. She wasn't wearing anything under her pajamas, revealing her prominent nipples. The nightgown was rather short, but Ronan wasn't interested in looking inside. He was more interested in Dinya's crossed legs, which were still so fair and smooth, like a thin layer of essential oil applied to white cream. The only person Ronan had ever seen who was fairer than him was Ambrina, but Ambrina had brown hair, while Dinya had snow-white light blonde hair, which didn't make her appear as fair as Ambrina.

Dinia pretended not to notice the bulge in Ronan's pants and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Can't I come if there's nothing wrong?" Ronan retorted.

Dinia rubbed her temples. "Have you been having some kind of brain problem lately?"

"Alright, let's get down to business. I don't know if it was Henry's own idea or the strategist's suggestion, but in any case, this tactic of retreating to advance is quite clever. With witnesses present, we can't directly stop him from retreating, but we can control how he advances. He wants to run away with the money? No way."

“This time, I will act as the Minister of the Interior of the Governor’s Office. You will act as the Apostolic Nuncio, not the Governor. Give him two choices: first, stay in the Governor’s Office as an official; second, go to the Papal States to take up a position.”

Dinia is an apologist, though she has never paid attention to this title, but she is one, so she has the right to exercise the rights of an apologist and recommend people to serve in the Papal States.

Henry, didn't you want to give up your earldom? Fine, either you become an official, or you become a monk.

Dinia thought Ronan's idea was excellent.

"Wait a moment." After saying that, Dinia went into the dressing room.

After a while, Dinia came out, dressed in a gorgeous long dress covered in lace and embroidered patterns. The waist was very tight, the chest was very high, and she wore white stockings with jacquard decorations on her legs and ivory white high heels with gold thread on her feet. She also wore an elaborately decorated hat and carried an umbrella. She was dressed like a noblewoman from the capital.

"How about I wear this when we meet?" Dinia asked Ronan.

"Although I prefer stockings without embellishments, I have to say, they're absolutely gorgeous," Ronan exclaimed.

“Your focus is always on these weird places,” Dinia said, returning to the dressing room.

When she came out, she had changed into her governor's uniform, this time with a tall, short-brimmed hat, a fitted double-breasted military uniform, a cape coat, and cropped tights. She was supposed to wear a pair of black knee-high boots, but Dinya wasn't wearing them. Instead, she was wearing slippers, revealing half of her calves encased in thick, flesh-colored stockings that shimmered softly.

"Wear this when we leave, then change into the other outfit when we arrive." Dinia was saying this when she noticed Ronan's crotch was already bulging quite a bit, and she was annoyed. "Can you please stop being so embarrassing?"

Ronan shrugged, indicating his helplessness, "Men are all like this in the morning, there's nothing I can do about it."

"Get out!" Dinia hissed.

“What would I be doing going out? I’m waiting to go out for breakfast with you,” Ronan said. “I can help you with your luggage, and of course, I can also play the role of a servant and help you put on your boots.”

Dinia closed her eyes, took a deep breath, went back to the dressing room, brought out a pair of high boots, sat on the sofa, placed the boots beside her feet, and didn't say anything.

Ronan suppressed a laugh, moved closer, and sat down next to Dinya. He then placed one of her feet on his thigh, and Dinya straightened her foot in response. However, Ronan did not immediately put boots on her. Instead, he gently ran his fingers along the instep of her foot. The smooth texture of the stockings and the thin, soft skin on her instep created a double sensation that instantly captivated Ronan.

Before he knew it, Ronan had already started touching her, kneading and rubbing, and even unconsciously pulling Dinya's feet inward, little by little, closer to his crotch.

The moment they touched, Dinia kicked him in the face. "Ronan, are you really going to have a meltdown?"

"I'm all better now, I'm all better now," Ronan said hastily, but his grinning face suggested he might do it again next time.

Seeing that Ronan didn't go any further and obediently put the boots on her, Dinya breathed a sigh of relief. If Ronan had gone any further, she really didn't know whether she should have refused.

Dinia got up from the sofa to get her luggage, when Ronan suddenly pinched her butt hard.

Touching him once was one thing, but pinching him, and even squeezing him hard, so Dinia raised her hand and punched Ronan in the stomach.

"Annoying." Dinia picked up her luggage and left.

Ronan rubbed his stomach and stood up. Although Dinia often hit him, she never hit him hard, and this time was no exception.

After having breakfast, the group set off.

Ronan decided against bringing the original five musketeers, except for Agustina, who insisted on coming along. Since Ronan had no family after his transmigration, Elena was to him a mix of daughter, sister, and lover. Her insistence immediately softened Ronan's heart, leaving him with no choice but to temporarily add another burden to Alice's burden.

The group set off on horseback and traveled for a day. As the weather turned cold, they all put on wolf-skin coats.

The next day, the weather was unusual; it started to snow lightly.

Two days later, the group arrived at the agreed location.

Like most mountainous and forested areas in this new continent, there was no trace of human presence here, let alone roads. Despite the weather, we still saw many wild animals along the way.

After climbing a gentle uphill slope for several hours, we finally arrived. It was a small, protruding hill with a concave basin inside. There was only one opening for easy access, while the other three sides were steep mountain walls.

In the middle of this small basin, a two-story wooden building covering a thousand square meters is our destination.

Upon entering the large wooden house, Ronan and Dinia's group soon met each other.

Henry had five people on his side: himself, an elderly magician, and three young people who were only novice magicians.

On the other side, there were three people from Weyland. The leader was a middle-aged man in military uniform, and a man and a woman beside him were also in military uniform.

The middle-aged man extended his hand, which was covered in a black leather glove. "Long time no see, Commander Egis, oh no, I should call you Governor."

Dinia shook hands with him briefly for two seconds. A clash of magic seemed to shatter space. Apart from Ronan and the old man next to Henry, everyone else present was as if they had encountered an earthquake and almost lost their balance and staggered to the ground.

Chapter 261 The Past, Talks Broken Down, You Can't Leave

“No need. I’m here in a personal capacity. Hello, Brigadier General Litchfield,” Dinya replied.

“Ha, thank you. More than ten years have passed, and I’ve been promoted one rank. I’m a major general now,” Litchfield said with a smile.

But even Elena could tell that it was sarcastic.

Rita, Lichfield's niece and secretary, and Lex, the administrative assistant to the overseas governor of Weyland, both believe that the major general still can't let go of what happened more than a decade ago.

Lichfield became a brigadier general at the age of thirty-five. The reason is simple: he was an upper-class nobleman in Weyland and a playmate of the king's brother-in-law. Of course, he was excellent in terms of personal strength, military ability, and political acumen. He was able to rise so quickly because of his lineage and connections, but he was able to rise because he was indeed capable.

More than ten years ago, during that war, he was the logistics commander, responsible for transporting supplies and soldiers. Being in charge of logistics might not sound like much, but this position could only be held by someone who was highly trusted by the higher-ups.

In the end, there's not much to say about his fate; everyone knows it. His fleet was destroyed by the mage legion led by Dinia. This cut off an important supply line and retreat route for the Weyland army. Weyland didn't want to continue fighting like this, so they signed a ceasefire agreement and left in disgrace without gaining any benefits.

Lichfield remained at the rank of brigadier general for ten years before being promoted to the New World. He held the highest rank in the New World, but he had no real command of the army, such as naval commander or fortress commander. He was still in charge of logistics.