The winds of the Imperial Capital always carried a certain unspeakable chill, especially recently.

The news of Madam Joseph being beheaded and the Kaladi Clan facing reckoning spread throughout the entire circle of the Imperial Nobility in just half a day.

The rumors ran rampant, and the banquets and salon gatherings in the mansions turned exceptionally quiet.

Everyone was whispering about one thing: this time, the Emperor had acted too harshly.

"No matter the case, they were nobles for five generations... removed without a word, roots and all?"

"Sigh, Kaladi... after all, wasn't someone the Emperor personally elevated."

"Don't forget, this is the third prominent noble purged this year."

"It's still the same... 'balance of power.' In the end, nobody but the Emperor can stand firm."

No one dared openly criticize the Emperor, but beneath the thin veneer of respectful words lay undeniable fear and vigilance.

The veteran nobles understood this reckoning was a borrowed knife to kill, a purge under the guise of rectification, to uproot old forces not birthed from their own origins.

And this wasn't the first time such a pattern appeared.

In recent years, almost every scandal, coup, rebellion, or corruption incident,

a veteran noble's shadow would be found implicated, entangled, and finally swept quietly off the power chessboard.

At the same time, one after another, the "trusted nobles" of knights and frontier military commanders were promoted, ennobled, and granted lands.

The grandiose statement was: "Reconstructing balanced power to prevent local secession."

But in reality, the gears of centralization were grinding down those ancient names rooted for centuries.

......

The study was filled with the scent of sandalwood, the fireplace flickered gently, casting a golden glow on the family crest hanging on the wall.

Duke Calvin closed the intelligence letter in his hand, squinted slightly, and leaned back into the chair.

For a moment, he said nothing.

The news of Joseph's execution and the complete purge of the Kaladi Clan did not shock him much.

The head of the Kaladi Clan...

A typical old-school noble, arrogant, sluggish, relying on old power as a talisman yet failing to see the times had long shifted.

Their defeat was not undeserved.

Calvin took a cup of warm wine, sipped it gently, feeling the warm, subtly herbal taste.

His gaze fell into the fire of the hearth, with a casual poke, a spark cracked from the wood.

"Another mountain has crumbled," he thought silently.

It wasn't fear, just reflection.

Someone like him has seen too many rises and falls.

The circle of nobility has never been a stable fortress but a battleground that constantly collapses and rebuilds.

The fall of the Kaladi Clan was merely another collapse of an antiquated beam.

"The Empire... no longer needs old nobility," he understood in his heart.

Names with whom he once drank shoulder to shoulder, sparred in the Noble Council for years, had now become cold criminals, stripped, shattered, reckoned.

The noble class of the Empire is being reset by an iron-blooded Emperor.

"In another ten years, maybe half the surnames of these great nobles will change," he pondered thoughtfully.

Heavy thoughts swirled in his mind like thick fog.

Calvin watched the leaping flames in the fireplace and suddenly sighed lightly.

"Thinking about these things is truly burdensome." His gaze gradually softened, as another matter surfaced in his mind.

Compared to power struggles, noble infighting, and the Emperor's iron fist, this matter seemed much more gentle.

But its significance for the future was no less than any political duel.

The marriage contract between Louis and Emily Edmund was finally settled.

The marriage between Louis and the daughter of the Edmund Family, after rounds of probing, formal diplomatic maneuvering, private exchanges, and secret letters, finally laid its foundation.

Saying he felt relieved would be an understatement.

On the day the letter arrived, Duke Calvin stood before it, silently for a long time.

He was content with the alliance this marriage represented.

One might even say it was one of the rare successful arrangements he had orchestrated in recent years.

Emily Edmund, he didn't know her at all, just heard that she was decent-looking.

As for his own son... he couldn't say he truly understood him.

Especially Louis in the past few months.

The development of Red Tide Territory, the Battle of Qingyu Ridge, gaining a foothold in the Northern Territory...

One by one, it was as if suddenly, this quiet, almost transparent young man was utterly transformed.

Even though the marriage contract was settled, matters of affection were irrelevant.

This union, from the start, was never about romance but an instinctive self-rescue for both families under pressure.

A meticulously crafted and cold exchange of resources.

The Edmund Family, holding the strongest heavy army in the Northern Territory, known as the "Lord of the North," is practically the local sovereign, although weakened by war in recent years, they remain formidable.

The Calvin Family has dominated the Southeast for a century, controlling eight main ports, and countless trade groups and connections, holding sway in the nobility circle of the Southeast Province.

Both families are part of the Empire's "Eight Pillar Nobles," their bloodline pedigree, military power, and status are top-tier.

But in the end, they share a common weakness: they are both founding old nobility.

In this era of iron-blooded new governance, old nobility is no longer needed; they are nails to be eventually pulled.

And so they shook hands.

Establishing the marriage contract was just the beginning.

What followed was the truly troublesome part.

The wedding process must be splendid, at least on the surface, leaving no room for error.

Both families being old nobility, any mistake would become fodder for gossip.

And at this critical juncture, neither side could afford to lose.

Ceremonies, letters, etiquette, envoys, banquets, not a single one could be omitted.

The official marriage certificate needed to be prepared in triplicate, to be archived by the Imperial Nobility Club, Royal Archives, and each family.

The gift list from the Edmund Family also needed pre-approval to prevent any misunderstandings of "too little" or "too much."

Calvin gently rubbed his brow, murmuring, "Not suitable for me to make an appearance."

He wasn't shirking; he simply couldn't appear.

If he personally stepped into the Northern Territory, even if only to attend a wedding, in the Emperor's eyes, it equated to openly declaring:

"We have allied, Emperor, it's beyond your control."

Too blatant, too risky.

He knew that the Emperor disliked being provoked, disliked being tested, and particularly disliked "camaraderie" among old nobility.

Especially from the likes of them, old nobility who lived too long, rooted too deeply, consumed too much.

Besides avoiding suspicion, there were more pragmatic reasons.

The situation in the Southeast was no longer a fief entirely under the Calvin Clan's control.

In recent years, His Majesty seemed to be playing chess in his leisure, quietly placing one piece after another into the Southeast.

Now, the Southeast Province ostensibly remains under his control, but in reality, it is full of constraints, confined at every step.

If he left for too long, even to attend a wedding, who knows how much of his territory would still belong to him upon return.

Therefore, he couldn't leave.

Not only could he not leave, but he also had to be more compliant and "loyal" than anyone else.

So he needed to choose someone who was not too conspicuous, yet stable enough.

In his mind, Duke Calvin scanned several names, finally settling on a certain figure.

It would be him.

Calvin's lips then curled into a faint, almost imperceptible smile.

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