Yes, Madam Prime Minister

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What kind of treatment is this? It's retirement treatment. He's not even fifty-five yet, and he looks the same as he did ten years ago. Is he already expecting retirement?

This time, it wasn't Henry who approached him first; rather, he took the initiative to reach out to Henry.

This place was also suggested by him; the target could be Dinia, or it could not.

"Then congratulations," Dinia said after a long pause.

“No need.” Lichfield waved his hand, then changed the subject, “Some people think I treat you as an enemy and can’t let go of you, but that’s not true. I just simply can’t accept losing to you.”

Are there significant differences in meaning between these two passages? Elena felt that way, and Ronan felt the same way.

But Dinya understood what he meant, and Henry understood it even better.

Ronan had encountered far too few normal, truly qualified nobles; he didn't understand the nobles' thought processes.

True nobles generally possess a contradictory personality: they are both magnanimous and petty. They can tolerate being insulted and can tolerate losing to others, but those who insult them must eventually bow down to them, and those who defeat them must be personally avenged.

"Enough with the reminiscing, let's get down to business," Dinia said, but she herself walked aside to look at the ornaments hanging in the villa.

This villa is quite interesting. From the outside, although the building is a brick and wood structure, you can still tell it has a Western style at a glance. It's the kind of flattened triangular-roofed wooden villa.

However, the interior layout, decoration, and furnishings are in the indigenous style, but Dinya finds it interesting not only because of this. She has visited indigenous tribes and seen ancient ruins. The things here are in the indigenous style, but they are primitive without being rough. Instead, they seem to have been carefully crafted in the indigenous style, giving them a primitive and eerie feeling.

While Dinia was looking at her own things, Ronan and Henry were discussing serious matters.

Henry stated from the outset that the contents of his previous letter had been disseminated, and that the colonies should now know about his admission of wrongdoing.

Ronan didn't react at all, because he knew Henry would do this.

Then Ronan began to frantically praise Henry, saying that he was actually innocent and that it was all his men who had deceived him and that it was all the work of his wretched brother Louis. He told Henry not to relinquish his title and give up his fiefdom, but to continue as a count.

Henry could not possibly agree to that.

At first, he didn't react when he received Louis's message, but after being reminded by his confidant and Lichfield, he realized that as long as he retained his earldom and fiefdom, Ronan would do everything in his power to kill him.

Even if he is no longer an earl and has no fiefdom, it still cannot guarantee that Ronan will not kill him.

Ronan followed up, "Since you insist, I have a suggestion. Why don't you come to the Governor's Office? I personally recommend you come to my Ministry of the Interior. If you really don't want to, you can be an administrative assistant."

“I want to go to Venaya,” Henry said.

Resistance is futile; to resist is to court death.

His current plan is to take money and a few trusted confidants to the Vena Federation, become a businessman, and live a life of wealth and luxury.

“Yes.” Ronan agreed, and Henry couldn’t help but show his surprise. But Ronan’s next sentence extinguished his excitement and joy. “The Governor’s wife is an Apostolic Nuncio and can recommend you to take up a post in the Papal States.”

If it were the Papal States of five hundred years ago, no, even three hundred years ago, he would have gone without hesitation. But given the state of the Papal States now, if he went there, he would probably be subjected to a three-pronged approach: atonement, donations, and becoming a bishop in a district within the empire.

Henry didn't want to beat around the bush anymore. "I just want to take some money, find a place to live out the rest of my life in peace, is that not allowed?"

Ronan sighed. "Someone doesn't want you to have a peaceful life."

"He really won't give us that chance?" Henry questioned.

The "he" Henry was referring to was naturally King Lucien.

Having said all that, Ronan didn't care that the Wielanders were still there, and he stopped with the formalities. "Heh, if possible, you would be a model of leniency. That's what you two were meant to do anyway. The ones who really don't want you to be at peace are the people who oppose him."

Lucien wanted to kill Henry and Louis, not because he was afraid of them, but because he himself was not long to live. He was worried that a storm was bound to break out around the time of Ambrina's accession to the throne, and that the opposition would use Henry or Louis as their figureheads.

Henry's hands trembled as he pulled out a pipe, lit it, took a deep drag, and exhaled a long puff of smoke. "Really nothing to talk about?"

“Leave the money; you can go to Venaya,” Ronan said.

Henry laughed. Without money, how could he survive in a commercial country like Vena? He might as well be dead.

Without another word, Henry stood up. "Let's go." He then walked outside.

At this moment, Ronan and Dinia absolutely dared not kill him in front of Lichfield and the others, so they could only let him go.

As for what happened next, it was done as previously agreed. The Weylanders immediately escorted him to Venaya, and he signed a compensation agreement, giving a portion of his original fiefdom to the Weylanders.

In this way, the charge of treason was directly attached to him, but what could he do? If he didn't do this, he would either die or become a pauper.

Ronan smiled happily. No sooner had Henry and his party and the Weylanders left than he would "search" this house and find evidence of his crimes of colluding with foreign powers and betraying the country.

Then he and Dinia chased after him and killed him, which was what he had previously called "adapting to circumstances".

Just then, Litchfield suddenly said, "You can't leave here."

Chapter 262 You're crazy? I've seen it all before, let's eat hot pot together.

Litchfield seemed afraid of being misunderstood, "I didn't mean to stop you, Earl. You can try opening the door and going out."

Ronan sensed something was off about his words, but Henry, who was in a terrible mood, hadn't realized it yet. He strode to the door, flung it open, and then froze.

It was pitch black outside. It was afternoon, so how could it be dark outside? Besides, when he looked out the transparent glass window before he came over, it was still daytime outside.

Henry took two steps back and looked out the window again. It was daytime outside, but when he walked over, opened the window, and looked out, it was pitch black again.

This darkness is the same as the darkness you see when you open the door. It's not the darkness of night, not the darkness of a locked room, but the darkness of nothingness. This kind of nothingness, where nothing exists, shouldn't exist in reality. This kind of nothingness, where nothing exists, should only exist in people's nightmares.

“Roy Litchfield, you…” Henry looked angrily at Litchfield.

If he still doesn't understand that this guy was behind everything, then he's a fool.

At this moment, Lichfield's niece and the governor's office's administrative assistant looked at him with suspicion. Seeing that he did not explain immediately, the administrative assistant, Lex, spoke up directly, "Major General, what exactly is going on?"

Rita, who was both the niece and the secretary, was equally baffled. She had witnessed everything firsthand. The window was closed, and everything looked normal when she looked out. When the window was opened, it was dark outside. She even tried to use her magic to sense things, but no one outside could feel anything.

Litchfield remained calm. "This is a cursed place, a place where God left his relics. It's one of the few places I know that once you enter, you can't get out."

As he spoke, his gaze fell upon Dinia. "Whoever finds the divine artifact and breaks the curse will be the winner. If we all fail, and we die along with the strongest young mage of the Kingdom of Phos, this is probably the little bit of effort a man who is not yet fifty and is already living a retired life can do for our great King."

“Litchfield, you’ve gone mad, absolutely mad! When you get back, you’ll be fired, you’re sure of it!” Lex, the administrative assistant at the governor’s office, roared in a low voice. Only then did he realize that all the talk about expanding the colony by taking advantage of Henry’s affair, and about creating trouble for the Kingdom of Fass, was a lie. From beginning to end, it was all a crazy scheme by Lichfield for his own selfish interests.

“Go back? I will never go back no matter what. If I succeed, I will be a god among men; if I fail, I will simply die.” Lichfield remained calm. “Sigh, forget it. There’s no point in explaining to a foolish commoner like you who only wants to climb the ranks.”

Rita couldn't believe that the person in front of her was her beloved uncle, the powerful and wise yet gentle and polite nobleman.

“Rita, I won’t apologize to you, because without involving you, the girl I treat like my own daughter, it’s hard to convince everyone that I’m just here to assist in the negotiations. After all, you all think I see Dinia as an enemy,” Lichfield said. Rita was just a tool for him to make others believe that he wouldn’t do anything reckless.

At that moment, the old man who had come with Henry unleashed his magic, his target naturally being Lichfield. However, the instant he released the spell, he was filled with disbelief.

Because his magic was reduced, and he suffered a strong backlash when he cast the spell, but he was not a user of the Heavenly Oath Magic, how could this happen?

Lichfield glanced at the old man who had just tried to attack him, then turned to everyone and said, "I've already told you, there's a curse here. The stronger the curse, the more powerful the magician. I advise against using magic casually, or you'll die quickly. However, even without magic, you'll die eventually."

His gaze locked onto Dinia again. "This is a race against death, isn't it interesting?"

After saying that, Lichfield tore off his mask and transformed into a young man in his twenties. "Sigh, I'm so tired of trying to make you think I'm mentally depressed and aging rapidly."

This young face is his true face.

Ronan wasn't surprised. On the contrary, he was surprised when he first saw how strong he was and how Dinia remembered his name more than ten years ago, yet he had the face of a middle-aged man. This was because mages almost stop aging once they reach the high level, that is, the fourth level, unless there are special circumstances.

Isn't that what Dinya is like? She's almost thirty, but she still looks like she did when she was eighteen.

Ronan was a year younger than her, but he looked several years older.

At that moment, Dinia looked at Ronan.

Ronan smiled and said, "Why are we making the atmosphere so tense? We've been climbing uphill all this way and we're all tired. Let's grab something to eat and drink first."

They came not only on horseback, but also with two mules, carrying provisions and wine.

Soon, Ronan lit a fire, set up a large pot he had found in the house, put potatoes and dried meat in the pot to cook, threw in a few pieces of cheese, poured in some white wine, added some spices, and then took out a baguette. A cheese fondue was ready.

Henry and the old man beside him could hardly believe it. Were Ronan and the other three deaf? Had they not heard what Lichfield had just said?

Little did he know, Ronan and Dinia were seasoned veterans, experienced in many things, and knew nothing of the gardener, Tyrell. Ronan chatted and laughed with her.

Elena, she too is someone who inherited the power of the moon goddess.

Agustina had never participated before, but since her leader, Dinia, was so calm, she naturally wasn't flustered at all, and was even a little excited.

Lichfield looked at Dinia and Ronan. No wonder she was the woman he considered his rival, no wonder he could even seduce the woman he considered his rival.

He walked over to Ronan and Dinia. "Can we add one more?"

Ronan glanced at him. "Go get your own bowl and fork. By the way, you didn't forget your rations, did you?"

Litchfield smiled, took a large bag out of his bag, and then pulled out a Villa ham. "How about this?" He naturally took out the highest grade Villa black pork ham.

"Come on, come on, let's eat together," Ronan welcomed them. They had only brought dried beef, potatoes, cheese, dried mushrooms, and bread, but no ham or anything of the sort.

Beside them, whether it was Henry, the old man he trusted most, or Lichfield's niece, Lex, the administrative assistant at the Governor's mansion in Weyland, they were all completely dumbfounded.

Aren't they enemies? How come they're eating together?

"How do you know about this place?" Ronan asked Lichfield. He wouldn't be foolish enough to ask for information about the place, because the other party wouldn't tell him anyway.

“I already knew about this place. An unexpected transaction gave me information that allowed me to make a more accurate judgment,” Litchfield replied.

"A deal? The man in purple?" Ronan asked.

“That’s right,” Litchfield admitted.

Ronan forked a slice of baguette that had been cooked until soft and covered in cheese, stuffed it into his mouth, and asked as he chewed, "Have they contacted you recently?"

"No, they should have already left the New World."

Chapter 263 Clashes, Pairings, Starting from History

The cheese fondue was finished, but the drinking continued. Litchfield lit his elegant pipe, taking a puff of smoke and a sip of wine.

Exhaling a smoke ring, Lichfield sighed, "I thought someone like you, Ronan, who always likes to have everything under control, would be furious after realizing you've been fooled."

“Unless someone is omniscient and omnipotent, who hasn’t been fooled?” Ronan retorted, then suddenly smiled. “However, you’re too fond of lying, which is a bad habit. You said you got some information while making a deal with the man in purple, which is a huge underestimation of him. Does the man in purple know about this place, including you?”

Litchfield feigned surprise, "Oh?"

Ronan continued, “You discovered after the deal that they failed to achieve their goal, and they failed because of us. This place is also a ruin, so we will definitely be interested in it. Even if we refuse the Earl’s invitation, we will still come if you throw out a little bait.”

"However, there's something you don't know. We found something in that ruin, and maybe finding something here will allow us to advance even further." This was pure Ronan nonsense; he just wanted to make the person in front of him wary of them.

After all, Ronan and his companions knew nothing about this place, while the other party at least had some understanding of the "curse" and "divine objects" here.

“What is it?” Litchfield asked instinctively.

"Hehe." Ronan smiled mysteriously. Judging from Litchfield's reaction, he knew that his goal had been achieved.

Lichfield fell silent. Reason told him that Ronan was making things up, simply to prevent him from using his knowledge of the place to harm them. But what if what he and Dinia found in that unknown ruin was really related to this place?

Lichfield didn't ask any more questions. Instead, he lay down on the low, rectangular wooden sofa in the living room and stopped talking.

Ronan and the other three sat on the thick carpet and didn't speak to him again.

After a long time, Henry returned with the old man who had been by his side. A while later, Rita, Lichfield's secretary, and Lex, the administrative assistant at Governor Welland's residence, also returned.

The four of them left two minutes after Ronan and the others started eating hot pot, and only reappeared now. At this moment, apart from the old man next to Henry who had no obvious expression, the other three all looked disappointed and resentful.

Ronan didn't know what they were doing, but he could guess.

During the time the four of them had just left, they were trying to find the entrance to a secret passage, a mechanism, or some kind of magical structure—in short, they wanted to find a way out and leave this dangerous place.

But you could tell from their expressions that they hadn't found anything.

In fact, Ronan knew from the beginning that he couldn't get out. It wasn't that he believed Lichfield when he said he couldn't get out, but rather that this place was different from any other dimension or ruin he had ever been to. The difference was that there was absolutely nothing unusual about the interior. If you didn't open the door or the window and see endless darkness, and if you didn't encounter a backlash when you used magic, you wouldn't be able to tell that this place was any different from the interior of an ordinary building.

The current rule of this villa is: if you don't move, I won't move; if you make any sudden movements, I'll do something else entirely.

The four people standing there, Rita and Lex looked at each other, feeling somewhat lost. They wanted to go back to Lichfield, but they had already fallen out with him. How could they go back? Besides, Lichfield didn't care about them at all. More importantly, if Lichfield uncovered the secrets here, his first thought would probably be to silence them.

Should we side with Ronan? No, that won't work either. He's the enemy. Besides, if Ronan and his group succeed, wouldn't they silence them?

After thinking it over, the two walked towards Henry.

Henry quickly came over to welcome the two of them. After all, Rita and Lex were both high-ranking mages, and in this situation, having one more person meant more safety.

And so, the group split into three groups: Henry, his trusted old man, Rita, Lex and four others temporarily formed one group; Ronan, Dinia, Elena, and Agustina formed another group; and Lichfield was alone in his own group.

Ronan and his three companions went to a large room next door. Ronan sat on the carpet and said, "Let's start by going through the history of this place from the beginning. This place, which is not marked on the official map, is quite interesting."

How could someone as cautious as him not conduct prior research before being invited to an unfamiliar place?

"First, there's a legend. It's said that ten thousand years ago, the first king in the indigenous legends, the son of the sun god, fell in love with the daughter of the demon king. Then, he combined his divine power with demonic power to create witchcraft. Finally, he led the wizards to kill the demons. The last group of demons was all killed by him right here under our feet."

This legend was told to Ronan by O'Hara's father.

"We won't analyze this kind of legend for now."

"Next is a piece of history. Fifty years ago, after the indigenous people's country was defeated, a group of stubborn shamans led a group of indigenous people to this place. In the end, the shamans and those indigenous people were all killed, and their bones are buried here."

This passage comes from the plantation owner for whom Hatch's father worked. This third-generation merchant's grandfather came to the New World when he was young and told Ronan this unrecorded history.

If you only look at the records, civilized people haven't actually killed that many people.