Yes, Madam Prime Minister

Page 547

In the blink of an eye, two months had passed, and it was the end of December in 1785.

After decades of peace, the western continent was thrown into turmoil once more, with France bearing the brunt. A large-scale rebellion erupted in the Rhine region. If Austeria hadn't been caught in the middle between the north and south, the rebels would likely have already joined forces with Austria to the east. And the unrest in France wasn't limited to the north; the south was also in turmoil. Since the time of Ronan, the economy of southern France had been gradually declining due to the decline of Mediterranean trade routes.

The Southerners thought that colonizing the Southern Continent would give them a much-needed respite, but the blood drawn from the Southern Continent was instead channeled to the North. Without colonization, the North declined; with colonization, the North declined even more. Wasn't this colonization a waste of time? So, they once again raised the banner of religion and rebelled.

At the same time, Austria marched north to "reclaim lost territory," but Suleiman invaded the Balkans, forcing Austria to head south to uphold justice.

Given that Villa was a long-established colonial power, it should normally have taken advantage of the situation to invade.

However, it also fell into internal strife, with both the south and the east seeking independence.

While Wieland was busy dealing with colonial affairs, a rebellion broke out in the South Seas, thousands of miles away, and the local forces could no longer suppress it.

Liz's father was in a hurry to leave because of this. Even in this world with supernatural powers, the power of those island nations, or even individual states in India, is insignificant compared to Wieland itself. However, it is a very troublesome thing to travel thousands of miles to suppress the rebellion in the colony.

In short, the entire West is in complete chaos.

At this point in time, Ronan and his party of four landed on the west coast of France and headed east toward Paristo, the French capital.

After a leisurely week or so of travel, the group of four finally arrived at the outskirts of Paristo and prepared to enter the city.

"It's snowing! Haas, it's so cold." Louise instinctively put her hands inside her pockets.

Superhumans are not afraid of the cold, but that doesn't mean they can't feel it.

Snowfall in Paristo isn't particularly rare, but snow in December is extremely unusual, especially with the temperature so cold—definitely below zero—and such heavy snowfall is something even Ronan has never seen before.

“I’ve changed into winter clothes, but it’s still cold,” Liz said, her hands, clad in wool knitted gloves, were in her pockets.

She was the one least used to it. She grew up in a place where it was spring all year round, with only a few rainy days, and had never experienced such a heavy snowfall.

“It is a bit cold,” Lavana chimed in.

Of the four, only Ravana didn't seem to care much. After all, she had lived in the capital of Ross for seven or eight years. Didn't it snow heavily there every winter? But the temperature there was usually only around minus five or six degrees Celsius, while it was probably already minus ten degrees Celsius here.

Louise said impatiently, "Come on, come on, let's go to my house quickly, I want to sit in front of the fireplace and drink hot chocolate."

“Are you sure going to your house isn’t like walking into a wolf’s den?” Liz asked.

"Tch, so what if it's a wolf's den? Are we afraid now?" Louise retorted.

Although their progress in strength basically stagnated in the second month of their two months of training, their strength had already reached a level that even Ronan had to expend a lot of effort to barely suppress. In this vast France, besides that mysterious person, who else could it be?

If the mysterious person arrives, then let's consider it a call for a final battle.

Liz rolled her eyes at Louise. "You're really stupid. What if someone uses your family as leverage? What if your family pressures you? What will you do then?"

Louise laughed. "So, Liz, I said you're a fake nobleman, and you really are a fake nobleman. You've only seen the superficial aspects of nobility. The first rule of nobility is that the family is more important than yourself. The second rule of nobility is that when you are the most important person in the family, you are the family."

“Now I am the most important person in the family. My father, my mother, my brothers and sisters can die at any time. I can kill them myself without any problem. I can rebuild the family in the future, and they will be the great sacrifices.”

Liz looked at Louise in surprise, staring at her for a long time before finally realizing that Louise, who loved to joke, wasn't joking this time.

She may have genuinely considered murder, killing her father.

At this moment, Ronan reached out and grabbed Louise's shoulder. "Alright, it hasn't come to that yet. Look at what happened with Liz's father before, weren't we very peaceful?"

Louise sighed. "Liz's father was at best a mercenary, while my father was mostly a devout priest. Can they be compared?"

Ronan stepped forward. “The Knights of the Faith are loyal only to the Pope. Who the Pope is is not important.”

After a few casual words, the four entered the city from the west.

The city of Palistor was covered in snow and ice. To prevent their boots from sinking into the snow, Ronan summoned a floating shield and used it as a skateboard. The four of them stood on it one after the other and used it for transportation.

This former capital city has undergone significant changes in its layout over the past century. Previously, the north housed the royal palace and was the residence of the nobility, while the central area was home to the cathedral and served as the commercial center. Later, the royal palace moved to the southwest, becoming the official residence of the republican government, and the southwest became the political center. The north, however, evolved into a technology, financial, and entertainment district. The central area remained the cathedral and commercial hub.

The area slightly west of the center was a densely populated slum in Ronan's time, a poor neighborhood where ordinary people lived. Ashley was a gang leader in this area when she was young, but now it has become a wealthy area where the Liz family lives.

Not long after, led by Louise, the group arrived at her house. Her house wasn't very big, covering about ten acres, with the main building being a three-story building of 600 square meters.

As soon as the gatekeeper saw her, he ran off to report. Soon, a woman came running over in a hurry, followed by a group of servants.

This woman was clearly Louise's mother. She was blonde with tanned skin, had a slightly Latin look, and looked very young, probably in her early twenties. She was about the same height as Louise, but had a more voluptuous figure.

She immediately hugged Louise, kissing and nuzzling her face against hers, then looked at Louise and said, "Louise, my baby, how could you be so heartless as to leave your mother for so long?"

Louise felt like she couldn't breathe. "Felicia, can you please stop crying?"

Mrs. Felicia looked at Louise with a pitiful expression, "Can't even Mom cry?"

“I…” Louise felt her blood pressure rising.

After a while, Lady Felicia apologized to Ronan and his companions and then invited them in.

The servants rushed over to help carry the luggage.

Soon, they entered the house.

Louise's home doesn't look luxurious, at least not opulent, but a discerning person can tell that many of the furnishings are antiques. These things, like the black pearl necklace around Madame Felicia's neck, have lost their dazzling luster over the years, leaving only a warm and smooth texture.

Well-maintained and well-preserved old things are what the nobility love.

"

Chapter 1274 Family, Parents, Main Topic

Despite the heavy snow outside, Madame Felicia led the group into the living room, where it was always kept warm.

That evening, apart from Louise's father who was away, all the other family members were present.

There are Louise's two older brothers, one older sister, and one younger sister, all of them handsome men and beautiful women with dark skin and white hair.

These were all Louise's siblings. As for her father's other lovers and illegitimate children, they were of course not qualified to be present at this family gathering.

Once everyone had arrived, Louise dispelled the concealment technique she had learned from Ronan and directly released her aura as a sixth-tier transcendent.

Ronan looked at Louise's siblings; they were all young and of low rank.

At that moment, he recalled what Louise had once said about her family.

According to her, her father and mother had a teacher-student relationship. Her mother, Felicia, was much younger. In those years, the couple's relationship was, in Seris's words, inseparable. After getting married, they had children almost constantly, so the age difference between her and her siblings was only one or two years.

The siblings were always fighting and bickering when they were young, but their relationship was surprisingly good.

Ronan seemed to see his children, whom he had in Seris. They had also played and bickered as children, and although they had consciously distanced themselves as teenagers, their relationship remained close.

Later, Ronan's children were brought together in their youth to travel the world with Ronan and their mother, pursuing their studies. But what happened after that is a long story.

“Mr. Ronan, is there something you need?” Louise’s mother, Felicia, suddenly asked.

Ronan snapped out of his reverie. "Uh, it's nothing, thank you for your concern, Madam."

Dinner was served quickly, and although it was prepared in a hurry, it was still a very sumptuous meal.

After dinner, Felicia, as the hostess, invited Ronan aside, while Louise stayed behind to catch up with her siblings. Liz and Lavana, Louise's classmates, stayed with her.

To avoid making Liz and Lavana feel awkward, Louise's older brother, Bemon, took the initiative and started playing a 3D pinball game in the living room while chatting.

The rules of the game are simple: all the balls float in the air, and each player has several balls in their own base. There is a central area in the middle. Players use magic to knock their own balls into the central area. Once a ball enters the central area, it can launch an attack to knock into other players' balls. Balls that go outside the central area are "dead." Once all the other players' balls are dead, only one player remains, and that player is the winner.

This game first tests the ability to precisely control magic and the ability to analyze and calculate space. Secondly, it may also test social skills. For example, at this moment, Louise took the initiative to act as the referee, and the rest were divided into three groups of two. Playing this game involves both competition and alliance.

the other side.

Madame Felicia led Ronan into the study, where the fireplace, already lit, warmed the room.

The flickering, dim firelight illuminated Felicia's face. She sat opposite Ronan, legs crossed, hands resting flat on her lap. Her entire demeanor had changed drastically. Previously, she had been a carefree, playful wife, overly protected by her husband—a naive, older woman. Now, she resembled a female judge. Without any unnecessary introductions, she began with a statement brimming with information: "I've read all the letters Louise wrote to her father."

The fact that she could read those letters meant that she already knew Ronan, that she was deeply involved in many things, most likely including projects related to Louise, and that she could speak with Ronan on behalf of Louise's father.

"Madam is truly straightforward," Ronan complimented.

“That’s just how I am, and besides, I must thank Mr. Ronan for taking care of my daughter,” Mrs. Felicia said.

Ronan, completely unpretentious, casually reclined, saying, "I thought you, as a mother, would complain a bit."

“The person who sent their daughter into danger has no right to complain, and is not even qualified to be a parent.” Mrs. Felicia’s voice lowered. “To be honest, I didn’t expect Louise to come back. She’s not such a foolish child, especially with you around. Given her temperament, even if she came back, she should have come to demand an explanation, but she didn’t. I can’t even sense any resentment in her. However, this only makes it harder to let go.”

In the end, she couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Did she object at the time? No. Did she regret it? Yes.

If she had to choose again, would she still let her daughter play that role? Yes.

That's how people are.

“Louise is a smart and open-minded girl,” Ronan casually remarked.

Felicia smiled slightly. "Let's get down to business. But may I ask you a question?"

Ronan extended his hand, "Go ahead."

Felicia asked, "What exactly caused Mr. Ronan's conflict with those two people in the company?"

“Two reasons. One is to avenge the blood debt, and the second is that he wants to kill me.” Ronan answered the question simply and directly.

Felicia knew a lot. She knew that the Ronan in front of her was the same Ronan, so Frank was his grandson and Amandina was his son's lover. That's why she was puzzled as to how this situation could have occurred.

"Sigh, it seems that being a parent is really a difficult thing." She couldn't help but sigh again.

Ronan didn't follow up on her sigh, but instead asked, "I'd like to know about Frank and Amandina."

Felicia began her narration.

Her decisiveness wasn't because her daughter Louise had already joined Ronan's bandwagon, but rather for self-preservation.

Faced with someone like Ronan, could she really just refuse to speak?

Moreover, Frank had kept too many things from her husband, which was a clear sign of distrust. Both Frank and Armandina were important figures, and although their personalities and experiences were not widely known, a little investigation would not be difficult to find out.

Therefore, Ronan already knew most of what Felicia said.

What Ronan really wanted to know was the extraordinary power of these two.

Unfortunately, Felicia knew almost nothing about Frank. In her description, Frank was a mediocre businessman, an average researcher, and his supernatural power was only at the fifth level, which was not bad, but far from the top. The reason he had his current influence was because he was Garcia's son and lived long enough to inherit his father's network of connections and accumulate a large number of his own connections.

"Frank is hiding many secrets that nobody knows."

Felicia knew quite a bit about Armandina, even some things that were rarely known. After all, although Armandina was known as the top fighter, she had hardly ever actually fought after reaching the sixth rank; her mere presence was enough. Only a few high-ranking members of the company who had close ties with her knew what the sixth and seventh ranks were like.

That's all I know about Amandina's abilities.

"Thank you for informing me, Madam." Ronan remained very polite. What Mrs. Felicia said was nothing new; it simply confirmed the information they already had.

Chapter 1275 Self-Preservation? Betrayal, Sudden Change

Seeing that Ronan remained calm and did not react to the secrets she mentioned, Madame Felicia got up and said she would get a cup of tea. After a short while, she returned with a tray, on which was a pot of tea and two cups.

With a flick of his finger, a coffee table placed in the corner flew between the two seats, and he sat down and manipulated the teapot to pour tea.

After taking a sip of tea, Felicia spoke again, "I've been away from the company for a long time, and I don't remember many things. I have some documents here that I can give to you."

Ronan took a swig. "This document was specially prepared by Louise's father, right? I guess he wasn't away on a business trip, but was called away by Frank. Before he left, he told you to give me this document if I came."

Felicia's expression froze for a second, then she smiled with relief, as if she had put her mind at ease. "That's true."

“Those in positions of authority always give orders but never reveal anything to those in positions of authority, which inevitably makes those in positions of authority feel distrusted,” Ronan said casually. “Once those in positions of authority feel distrusted, they develop a sense of crisis. When people have a sense of crisis, they naturally seek to protect themselves, but those in positions of authority see this behavior as a harbinger of betrayal.”

"Since those in power have decided that I must betray them, then I have no choice but to betray them, otherwise I'd be a fool."

At this point, Felicia fell silent, her teacup hovering motionless in mid-air.

Why was her husband, Frank's confidant, forced into this situation?

Ronan continued.

“You certainly don’t know what Frank is trying to do, but you should know where he went, madam, right?”

Felicia put down her teacup and replied, “Just last month, Frank said he was dying and wanted to visit the place where his grandfather used to live. So he took a few people to New Sea City. The week before last, he told some of his close confidants and old friends, including senior executives of the company, some business partners, scholars, and even currently out-of-state politicians, that he had made a major discovery in New Sea City and invited them to participate in the exploration.”

"Even if something was discovered, is it necessary to invite so many people?" "Besides, the domestic and international situation has been chaotic recently, and his confusing message makes people hesitant to act. Unfortunately, this matter cannot be refused, because Amandina personally led a team to invite them one by one."

Frank already had leverage or weaknesses over these people, and now that he was a "dying old man," he had no more scruples. What if he really dragged a bunch of people down with him on his deathbed? Amandina just wanted to make sure these people were efficient and didn't try to stall for time.

At this time, a group of high-ranking figures closely associated with Frank gathered in New Sea City.

Ronan had already sensed something was amiss. "It seems Louise's father knew something was going to happen before he left."

"If there's anything else, just let me know. I'll do my best to help you with anything within my power," Felicia said.

If her husband hadn't told her not to act rashly and to wait for his news, and if he still hadn't contacted her by the New Year, and Louise hadn't returned, then the whole family would have left France for the New World; she would have already left with the others. "No need, I don't need you to do anything," Ronan waved his hand and said. "Louise and her two friends will stay here for now. Give me the information, and I'll be back within three days."

The information had been prepared in advance; Ronan took it and flew away to Chang'an.

Right now, everyone on his side is in Chang'an.

During the flight, Ronan opened the box.