Although the Northern Border has not officially separated from the Kingdom at present, and this title of Governor was given by Klan initially.
But everyone knows that when the Northern Border unifies, with the current state of the Kingdom, independence is just a matter of time.
Lind spoke with Lilith’s adoptive brother; both sides would at least avoid making things too embarrassing. At worst, the relationship between the Northern Border and the Kingdom would be an allied one.
Thinking carefully, if calling him “brother” could at least nominally tie the Northern Border to the Cape Kingdom, it doesn’t seem so unacceptable after all.
If Augustine and the others were to forcibly oust Lilith under such circumstances, they would have to consider the attitude of the Northern Border, and this move might even directly spark a conflict between the Northern Border and the Kingdom.
After all, this subtle alliance is a personal alliance with Lilith, not with the entire Royal Capital, which has nothing to do with Augustine and the others.
From now on, Lilith’s position would become more secure.
But what benefit would it bring to Graywhite Territory to acknowledge this sister? Simply doing it to disgust those Old Noble families seems a bit too casual.
Ultimately, this matter is a game of power balance over the Royal Capital, with each party having their own balance demands. Graywhite Territory’s demand is that the Queen cannot fall before the Northern Border unifies, the Royal Capital cannot have internal strife, and at least the southwest must be stabilized.
But at the same time, Graywhite Territory also does not want the Queen’s power to become too great; aside from the Church and the New Party, nobody really hopes for the Queen to truly restore the Kingdom’s glory.
Considering all this, Lind still intended to refuse. After all, Lind felt that merely giving the Royal Capital a slight loss in military resources would be enough; truly forming an alliance would be somewhat restrictive in the future.
There are many ways to politely decline, after all, this proposal is a bit abstract; the Northern Border has not split yet in name, and acknowledging the Northern Border’s Governor as an older brother, Your Majesty, is out of place.
Just as Lind was preparing to start writing a letter of refusal, Lena came to ask Lind for approval of the latest experimental funding.
While Lind was reviewing it, Lena curiously picked up a letter from the Royal Capital and started reading it, as only Lena could casually browse through Lind’s documents in the territory.
Seeing Lena’s interest, Lind began to explain the current situation in the Royal Capital, intending to get Lena’s opinion since she might be the person in the territory who understands the royal family the most due to her past experiences at the palace.
Although Lena seemed to not fully grasp the political relationships he mentioned, Lind assured her that this alliance could be accepted or refused, and he had ways to handle it; Lena just needed to express her opinion.
After some difficult consideration, Lena asked in confusion, “Why not accept? That’s the Queen wanting to be our sister!”
To be honest, for that Lilith who had taken away her former fiancé and kicked her to Graywhite Territory, Lena had long since moved on. If it weren’t for Lilith, she wouldn’t have met Lind.
But upon hearing that response from Lind, he smacked his forehead—indeed, Lena hadn’t understood any of his earlier points; all she had grasped was that the current Queen wanted to be Lind’s sister.
Lena had no idea of the high status she held in Graywhite Territory and still retained traditional noble ideas, thinking the Prime Minister was the highest position, while the King was an existence even higher than the Prime Minister.
Tia, who was engrossed in a history book on the sofa, couldn’t help but chuckle.
But Lena continued, “Lind, think about it. The Queen’s status is so high now and she wants you as her brother; that must mean she has it tough in the Royal Capital! I never liked the royals; they always whisper behind your back, sharp-tongued and mean, with only a handful of good people.”
“Those royal family members probably don’t like the Queen very much now, so she’s coming to us for help. It’s not like we really have to do anything; we should support her more.”
Hearing this, Lind suddenly realized.
Of course, if Lilith’s power was growing and her position was becoming more stable, then Augustine and the others should be the ones who were anxious, and why should he be in a hurry?
Augustine would certainly be thinking of all sorts of ways to pull Lilith down, while Graywhite Territory could just watch from the sidelines; moreover, promising this request could even look more like fanning the flames.
Just like when Lilith was newly designated as a Saintess, it seemed to expand her power, but in reality, it was provoking Augustine’s sensitive nerves.
Lilith’s legitimacy is completely in the hands of Augustine and the others; although she seems to hold great power now, she couldn’t even fully purge those Old Nobles, let alone deal with Royal Augustine. The Queen’s power is entirely illusory, which is why she has to resort to such absurd methods to seek external help.
Lind realized he had overthought things. He thought he was on a high level of understanding, but it turned out Lilith and her Prime Minister might only be operating at a basic level; she might truly just have found herself unable to deal with the royal family and urgently needed means to solidify her throne.
The mere fact that such an abstract and somewhat ludicrous proposal could find its way into a diplomatic letter already indicated a problem; Lilith’s situation in the Royal Capital might not be as optimistic as imagined.
Perhaps because Lilith’s proposal was so abstract, it reminded Lind of his younger sister, causing him to become dazed momentarily.
He believed Augustine could endure being pushed around forever, letting Lilith become a woman like Wu Zetian; it would be better to believe that Lena had offered this idea after perceiving everything.
Even if Augustine were to turn into monstrous beings, as long as they slightly challenged outsiders, then if Lind downplayed his relationship with the Queen, he wouldn’t have to worry about leading anyone to be deceived.
Unless Lilith dared to take drastic action against the royal family, but if she really did, Lind could sever ties immediately. What Lind needed to do now was to escalate the conflict without letting it explode.
Ultimately, regardless of which side won, Lind could directly declare that he was purging any side of the Persuader; it didn’t matter which side was purged, what mattered was how loyal Graywhite Territory was, right?
The only variable is religion, but would the Church of the Light Goddess really tear its face with Lilith and Augustine? Moreover, the Church no longer enjoyed its former glory and, with ongoing secularization, could hardly muster even a holy army.
Right now, the Goddess Church might be relying on Lilith’s power, or in other words, supporting each other with Lilith.
“I see now, Lena, you are a genius!” Lind exclaimed with excitement, hugging Lena as he cleared his thoughts.
“Since you’ve said that, we must take good care of Her Majesty the Queen of the Royal Capital.”
After Lena left, Lind picked up his pen and began to write a reply to his “younger sister.”
Tia, curious, asked, “Aren’t you planning to rebel? Now that the Queen is your sister, how can you rebel in the future?”
“Precisely because the Queen is my sister, I can rebel with less psychological burden.”
As Lind pondered the wording of his letter, he said, “If someone in the Royal Capital bullies my sister, isn’t it reasonable for me to go over and teach them a lesson?”
“If the Royal Capital sends troops to obstruct, that just shows someone is trying to sow discord between us siblings, doesn’t it?”
“And then after entering the Royal Capital, I…”
Before Lind could finish, Tia interrupted, “Alright, I get how you’re thinking; you humans are even more shameless than I imagined.”
“No.”
Lind said with a serious expression, “It’s highly probable that these things will really happen.”
Thinking of this, Lind recalled his younger sister from his past life, wondering if she had gotten married by now and hoping she hadn’t been taken away by some yellow-haired guy.
