Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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Her smile had a slightly mischievous feel to it, yet her tone and voice were gentle, the kind that brought peace and reassurance.

"What can I do for you, ma'am?" Ronan asked.

The woman sighed softly. "I thought you should be curious about me. For a woman like me who is clearly not a maid, who doesn't even bother to hide it, and who doesn't reveal her identity, you haven't come to find me, or even bothered to speak to me." Her words carried a hint of resentment, implying that she deliberately let Ronan notice her strangeness.

"You recognized me from the start?" Ronan asked in return.

“No, I have never met you, but I once saw the first Queen in history,” the woman said. “It’s truly enviable, it makes one jealous, and it makes one lose the will to enter. Let me introduce myself, Falek Varmyavic.”

The name is quite peculiar. Falek is a relatively common Suleimanian female name, but the surname is a standard Slavic surname.

The woman with this name was also a famous woman, the late Queen Mother Suleiman.

She was Polish, and originally a female slave.

In a way, Ronan's influence played a part in this woman's rise to the position of Queen Mother. During the first war between the Faz Kingdom and the Empire, Poland moved south to guard the emperor's backyard. Suleiman was eventually driven back, but this did not mean that Poland was unscathed. This Queen Mother was captured and enslaved during that time. She was only a teenager when she entered the palace. Falek was the name given to her by the former Sultan. Interestingly, the late Sultan did not change her surname.

Falek's life was like a palace intrigue drama. The old Sultan, who was already quite old at the time, was a notoriously cunning and suspicious man, yet he trusted and doted on her, making her his third wife. However, she did not bear any children for the old Sultan.

Not long after, the old Sultan summoned the crown prince to the palace and had him executed, as well as the queen. The second wife became the queen. After the old Sultan purged the crown prince's core supporters who were quite influential in the army, the new queen's three young sons took over the crown prince's power.

Little did anyone know that before the old Sultan died, he killed the new queen and then made Falek the queen.

Surprisingly, the third son, with the support of Queen Mother Falek, became the new Sultan.

Chapter 638 Palace Intrigue: You've Become a Substitute, Reform?

The old Sultan initially favored Falek because she was indeed likable, young, beautiful, intelligent, eloquent, and could share his burdens, giving him, an old man, a sense of youth. Later, he continued to trust her because she was a woman with no connections in the country and no children, so he could trust her to help handle matters within the palace and even some minor state affairs for the weary old Sultan.

The killing of the crown prince was partly due to the alliance between Falek and the second wife, who frequently slandered him. More importantly, the old sultan himself disliked and feared the crown prince, preferring the sons born to him by the second wife.

After killing the crown prince, the queen naturally had to be killed as well, along with her other sons. Then, the second wife was made queen.

In the final period of the old Sultan's life, he listened to the slander of Falek and felt that after his death, his three remaining sons were still young and that the Queen Mother would likely rule, which was not good. This was because the former second wife, now the Queen, came from a noble family and was likely to live a long time, which would make Suleiman's reforms even more difficult.

So the old sultan killed the second queen and replaced her with the levirate.

The old Sultan was not worried about Falek, because he knew that his three sons, whether the eldest or the second son, would kill Falek, the queen mother who was not their biological mother.

He died, and it's good that the woman he loved most in his later years can go to heaven with him to continue serving him, isn't it?

Unfortunately, in the end, the third son came to power, and Falek took office.

Because no one expected that the Royal Guard and the Prime Minister would support Falek, a woman with no real power.

However, something unexpected happened next. Not long ago, Falek died of illness. Of course, everyone believes that the current Sultan was behind it.

Why does Ronan know so much?

Because after Falek's death, a group of eunuchs were expelled instead of killed. These eunuchs used their knowledge of palace secrets to freeload and even make money.

In the mouths of these eunuchs, Falek was undoubtedly a vicious and cunning woman. She was inherently evil, having schemed her way to the throne at a young age, a master schemer. Of course, the crown prince, who was initially killed, was no better; he was an ambitious heretic, and his mother, the first queen, was also an extremely wicked woman, deserving of her death. The current Sultan's birth mother, though ill-tempered and petty, was not inherently bad; she was simply a bit simple-minded, deceived by Falek, and ultimately unjustly killed.

Honestly, Ronan wouldn't believe these messages weren't spread by the eunuchs at the behest of the current Sultan.

However, the young Sultan is now in trouble. He is not relying on his own power or political skills to deal with Falek. Falek died suddenly, but her death has left everyone, both inside and outside the government, bewildered. They want to make a move but dare not.

Sultan did not dare to take the initiative, as he had few cards to play and could not predict the attitudes of all parties toward him.

This is why it is said that an eerie silence has fallen within Suleiman.

"You're not dead?" Ronan asked the woman in front of him, feigning surprise.

Falek chuckled and retorted, "You'd believe me if I said I was the Queen Mother?"

Ronan added, "I'm willing to believe such an interesting and bizarre thing, but even though this Sultan is a bit naive, he shouldn't be so easily fooled."

“Magic always brings about the impossible,” Falek said with a hint of mystery.

Ronan blew a light breath and waved his hand, "Let's leave it at that then. Allow me to ask out of curiosity, what exactly are your plans?"

“It’s a bit chilly tonight,” Falek said, turning and walking toward her room.

It's July now, just the beginning of summer. Although the Balkan Peninsula is in the southern part of the western continent, the temperature sometimes drops below 20 degrees Celsius at night. For example, right now, it's not cold, just a bit chilly.

Ronan followed Falek to her room. Like Ronan, she lived in the servants' quarters. The room was just as cramped, with no bed and people had to sleep on the floor.

Entering the house, she took off her shoes. With one hand on the doorframe, Falek bent over, her left leg raised behind her, her left hand reaching into the heel of her pointed, flat-soled boat shoes. In this position, the extremely full, fleshy outline of her breasts was revealed through the thin, dark robe, even faintly showing the outline of her underwear. Her calves appeared outside the robe, and they were also full. Even under the cover of flesh-colored stockings with a silky sheen, they were still somewhat plump. Such fleshy calves weren't particularly attractive on their own, but fortunately, Falek wasn't short, nearly 1.7 meters, otherwise she would have looked short. However, when combined with her undeniably plump and fleshy thighs, and her prominently outlined, large breasts, she perfectly embodied the label of a voluptuous married woman.

Falek hooked the shoe off with his fingers, then switched sides and took off the other shoe in the same way.

After taking a few steps, Falek sat cross-legged on the carpet. "This is an opportunity. There will always be people who can't help but jump out. In the process of me taking back my rightful place, I will get rid of them. My plan is that simple."

"You're really confident. Even though it was your double who died, now he can turn you into a 'double' with just a word."

Ronan said, half-jokingly, that "he" referred to the current Sultan.

Falek remained confident. "He's too naive. He started making small moves as soon as he took office. As soon as I was away, he revealed his reform ideas and took a clear stand against the hereditary governors and the Royal Guard. He said I was a stand-in, but others have to acknowledge it, right?"

"Where does his courage come from?" Ronan asked. Judging from Suleiman's current situation, the Sultan did not seem to be a ruthless person.

Falek explained, "The scholars in the country hope for reform, to make Suleiman a civil service state, where these scholars would only serve as religious personnel and no longer directly influence politics, just like the Kingdom of Fas." The scholars Suleiman referred to were magicians who had mastered fusion magic.

The magicians of the Kingdom of Fas are enviable. They do not directly participate in politics, but only occasionally step in to resolve matters. They do not have to spend energy or be responsible to the country, but they can still influence national policies and protect their own interests and status.

However, such reforms conflicted with the governors and the Imperial Guard.

Most governors were lords; with the civil service system, the lords disappeared, leaving no room for maneuver. And with scholars withdrawing from politics, how would the Royal Guard "purge the court of corrupt officials"? There would be no "offenders" left, not to mention the Sultan's desire to create a slave army to counterbalance and replace them—how could he tolerate that? Without this layer of support, how would the Royal Guard conduct their business? Cutting off someone's livelihood is like killing their parents; even if the Prophet himself came back to life, he would surely agree with this principle.

"I see." Ronan nodded, indicating that he understood.

Falek has a strong following, that much is certain.

Chapter 639 I can't bully a widow; he can still be trusted, intelligence.

Moonlight streamed through the only open window, illuminating Falek sitting by the window and revealing a small section of her calves and ankles beneath her skirt. The stockings on her feet seemed to be coated with a layer of silvery sheen. Her somewhat thick ankles and the faintly visible fleshy calves were not particularly attractive, but they were so alluring that one could immediately overlook the less-than-perfect features and immediately associate them with her bombshell figure, with her thighs and fat buttocks seemingly about to burst out from under the stockings.

Ronan pinched his waist to free himself from his desire.

"However, some of the opponents are troublesome, and a weak woman like me is simply unable to deal with them." Falek's subtext was clear: she hoped Ronan and his group would step in. This was probably her intention from the moment she met Ronan.

It's even possible that she deliberately came to run into Ronan and his group. After all, Ronan and his group weren't exactly hiding their whereabouts when they were in the Kingdom of Phos. Anyone with a keen eye could guess their route, and that town was practically the only way to get to Switz.

Ronan neither refused nor agreed, but simply asked, "How troublesome is it?"

"The entire Suleimanian Empire only needs one seventh-tier individual. He has long since withdrawn from worldly affairs, and most of the sixth-tier individuals will not get involved. The only troublesome one is the sixth-tier individual."

Falek replied.

Suleiman's magic can be considered a "removal of the essence and retention of the dross" approach from both East and West. While it's easy to learn, the consequences are endless. For hundreds of years, apart from the prophet himself, there have only been five seventh-tier magicians. This is incomparable to the major powers of the Western Continent and Seris. At its peak, when the Kingdom of Fas was founded by the Golden Eagle Dynasty, it had Orans himself plus five seventh-tier magicians. According to records, Seris at its peak had twenty-eight seventh-tier magicians simultaneously. However, starting more than a thousand years ago, the sixth and seventh-tier magicians of Seris have basically stopped interfering in worldly affairs. The sixth-tier magicians pursue the highest realm, and the seventh-tier magicians seek immortality. Even in chaotic times, these people almost never directly intervene.

“That’s interesting, but I don’t have the authority to make the decision. It’s up to His Majesty and the Prime Minister.”

Ronan said.

Falek didn't believe him at all. After a month or so, couldn't she see that those women actually listened to him? To be honest, she was also curious about Ronan, curious about how he managed so many women. After all, none of them were weak, and they weren't ordinary women who could be easily fooled.

Just as Falek was about to make a joke, Ronan suddenly stood up and said, "It's getting late, let's stop here." With that, he turned and left.

"Stop!" Falek called out to Ronan.

Ronan turned around, somewhat surprised, but didn't say anything.

"You're leaving like this because you think I'm that kind of woman?" Falek questioned, her composure completely broken, devoid of her previous gentleness, replaced only by ruthlessness.

Ronan looked puzzled. Logically, shouldn't he have stayed because he thought she was that kind of woman?

"Do you think my actions at the door were seducing you?" Falek questioned again.

Ronan was speechless.

“Yes, I admit it, but not entirely. Women always have moments when they want to confirm their attractiveness, you know?” Falek made his unreasonable statement sound like it was a matter of course.

Ronan sighed and spread his hands. "I can't bully a widow."

For some reason, Falek was so angry that he laughed in anger, "You shouldn't let a widow continue to be a widow."

“You’re being impulsive. I never accept this kind of deal,” Ronan said directly. “We won’t make a deal with you now either. We won’t appear in our original identities to interfere in a country’s internal affairs. Do you understand?” After saying that, Ronan turned around and walked away without looking back.

Falek was stunned, stunned for a long time, but then she smiled. Ronan was so different, but he also had similarities. There was a downside to wearing long, loose pants, which was that when he stood up, he couldn't be contained at all, especially someone like Ronan, who was as big as a hammer.

Ronan's body honestly affirms her charm, doesn't it?

Before even reaching the room, Ronan met Elena and Agustina.

"I didn't expect you to not stay," Agustina teased.

“Ha, Tina, you don’t understand. He’s already been through a lot during the day, so he’s bound to be less effective this time. How can he let a woman think he’s not good enough the first time?” Elena quickly added her explanation.

“I see. It seems our Mr. Ronan isn’t unwilling, but rather too concerned about saving face.” Agustina feigned sudden realization.

“That’s right, no one understands Ronan better than me,” Elena, the blond-haired woman, said while gesturing.

Ronan wasn't angry after being teased, but he still had to maintain his status as the host, so he snapped, "That's enough. You're just going on and on. Just say what you want to say."

"The commander wants to see you," Agustina said.

“And our Emperor,” Elena added.

Ronan, Elena, and Agustina arrived at Dinia's room and found everyone there. Isabel was sitting in the middle, with a stack of documents in front of her and a document in her hand.

"Ha, I thought you were going to sleep with that woman." Isabel said sarcastically as soon as she saw Ronan.

"Wasn't this an accident?" Ronan felt very innocent. He hadn't done anything, yet he was being criticized. He should have just done it.

"Alright, let's get down to business," Dinia said, no longer in the mood to tease Ronan.

“Isa, he’s still trustworthy in this respect.” His beloved Anri’s words were still pleasant.

Isabel stopped rambling and got down to business, with a thick stack of intelligence data in front of her.

Although she has been retired for several years, as a veteran of the Security Bureau and the head of the intelligence agency who was able to retire alive, Isabel still wields considerable influence within the intelligence agencies of the Kingdom of Fas.

These materials were collected by the Fas Kingdom's intelligence agents in Constantinople, the capital of Suleiman. There were no top secrets; they were all public information, such as price fluctuations, the flow of goods, personnel changes in some institutions, the content of large-scale gatherings, announcements issued by the Sultan, decrees promulgated, and the remarks of a certain sect leader, etc.

In fact, the vast majority of intelligence personnel are just ordinary people who look ordinary and are actually quite ordinary, doing very ordinary things.

The true core of intelligence agencies always lies in intelligence analysis, and right now, the most crucial information is on this piece of paper in Isabel's hands.

“There’s only one important thing: the current Sultan wants to implement an exam system within the Royal Guard and then appoint those who pass the exam as local officials,” Isabel said.

This story begins from the beginning. The Royal Guard, or more accurately, the new army or the Sultan's personal guard, was initially composed of foreigners and infidels. They were nominally slaves, but in reality, they were not. If you were exceptionally talented, it was not impossible for you to become a governor or even prime minister. It was truly a meritocracy. Suleiman was able to rise from a mere tribe to conquer Constantinople and later dominate the Mediterranean. The Royal Guard played a significant role in this.

but……

Chapter 640 The Importance of the Ascension Path: Female "Hidden Gems" – Those of Virtue Should Be Retained

But people eventually degenerate, and systems eventually decay.

Over a hundred years ago, many powerful noble families had emerged in Suleiman, based on families of summoning mages. After all, with four wives, there were bound to be children who could inherit the summoning magic.

With national expansion stalled and internal affairs gradually stabilizing, coupled with the subjective desires of powerful noble families, the path for advancement within the Imperial Guard began to close.

Ironically, many of these wealthy and noble families were descended from members of the Imperial Guard who were "slaves," yet now they are at the forefront of blocking the Imperial Guard's path to advancement.

As for the other group of people who occupy high-ranking positions, they were never really affiliated with the Imperial Guard.

These scholars were all members of religious sects.

Religious organizations can broadly and diligently select suitable candidates, who then begin to study and practice. The outstanding individuals can become apprentices to learn fusion magic.

Scholars are selected and promoted within the sectarian organization, which is a separate system and has no direct connection with the Praetorian Guard, but they still occupy a position.

Under such circumstances, the Imperial Guard, which existed more than a hundred years ago, was on the verge of being out of control and dying out.

Ultimately, the Royal Guard of this world is actually just a group of alien sorcerers and their mage soldiers.

But the Royal Guard has always been a weapon of the Sultan and a tool to counterbalance other forces, and this cannot be abandoned.

Therefore, the Sultan at the time promulgated a new law that allowed the Royal Guard to legally marry and engage in business.

The Imperial Guard was stabilized, but from then on, they became increasingly disobedient.

They've already done the "purging of the emperor's inner circle" more than once.

The current Sultan, in order to gain the support of the Royal Guard, offered them new benefits, including the opportunity to serve as local officials.

Of course, these benefits are essentially taking a cut from the flesh of hereditary lords.

This is precisely the current Sultan's plan. He cannot be at odds with the three generations of power in the country, namely the lords, the royal guards, and the scholars. He has to win over one faction, fight against another, and stabilize the third.

To reiterate, the current Sudanese leader is somewhat naive, but not stupid.

"I'm curious about what the Sultan can rely on to appease the Royal Guard, considering that he's trying to create another slave army, which touches on the Royal Guard's fundamental needs."

Ronan raised a question.

"Servants" are not allowed to allow "masters" to arbitrarily create a bunch of "new servants," as this would violate ancestral family laws and the sacred teachings of the prophets.