The most important thing in life is thinking

“Miss Haggia, you’ve worked hard.”

“Please just call me Flora, Madam; ‘Miss’ is too much… these are just things I’m used to doing, not hard at all.”

After having dinner with the guards, Flora Haggia actively helped clear the dining utensils.

This wasn’t Flora Haggia’s maid spirit erupting; rather, she noticed that the servants in the Baron’s manor were few in number and mostly guards disguised as staff, performing their duties awkwardly and with obvious reluctance.

She couldn’t bear to watch and had to do it herself.

“Thank you.”

The Baroness said this unexpectedly.

“You’re welcome, it’s what I should do.”

Flora Haggia accepted the thanks with a smile.

After finishing in the kitchen, Flora Haggia was about to head to the Crown Prince’s quarters when she was suddenly dragged into another room, her mouth covered.

It was Flax Mounten.

As soon as Flax Mounten closed the door, Yuri, the hidden guard responsible for protecting Flora Haggia, shed her invisibility cloak and lunged at his back with a dagger.

Without turning his head, he swept one hand back, effortlessly knocking Yuri aside with a mere gust of palm wind, leaving her unconscious.

Seeing that Flora Haggia remained unusually calm, neither crying nor fussing throughout, Flax Mounten finally released her.

“Why did you do that just now?”

He asked coldly.

“Reporting to Earl Flax Mounten, I am His Highness Ryan Rowland’s head maid,” Flora Haggia said calmly.

“…”

Charlton was speechless for a moment.

As the task executor, the Crown Prince clearly had no intention of acting. For him, the observer, to overstep his bounds and act would undoubtedly be wrong.

Flora Haggia ignored him and quickly went to check on Yuri. Finding that Yuri was only unconscious, she swiftly retrieved the invisibility cloak, wrapped it around Yuri, and turned back to ask:

“Earl, could you help me take her to my room?”

Flax Mounten did not refuse.

Flora Haggia’s room was actually right across; after all, the Baron’s manor wasn’t large or luxurious, and the guest rooms weren’t categorized into different tiers.

After making sure Yuri was resting comfortably on the bed, Charlton intended to leave, but he stopped at the doorway.

“Miss Haggia, I suggest you persuade His Highness Ryan Rowland to make a decision sooner rather than later… The longer this matter drags on, the more troublesome it will become.”

He had now realized that his previous suspicions were entirely unfounded.

The Crown Prince was not only not ruthless but actually a bit too benevolent, even contemplating letting Baron Fate go.

But this was clearly impossible.

“Thank you.”

Flora Haggia wasn’t just being polite.

She knew that Charlton’s best option was to do nothing and say nothing.

And acting as soon as they met was also clearly a good approach.

Not only could it finish the job by killing only Baron Fate, but it could also prevent unexpected situations—when eating with the guards, the Baron’s knights and guards had all returned.

From their gazes and the targets of their murderous intent, it was evident that most of these people were moles targeting the Baron.

So, not long after Charlton left, she also left her room and went to the Crown Prince’s quarters.

“His Highness Ryan, are you there?”

There was no response, but Flora Haggia knew he was inside; two hidden guards were outside the room.

Entering without permission and locking the door, Flora Haggia saw a black-haired young man with a normal expression.

“What are you doing here?”

But his empty, lifeless eyes completely betrayed him.

Recalling the expression he showed during dinner, Flora Haggia grew angry again.

“His Highness Ryan, what exactly do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do?” The black-haired young man scoffed. “I wish I knew…”

“His Highness Ryan, please pull yourself together. Baron Fate is a very important person to you, isn’t he?”

Upon hearing this, a flicker of life returned to Ryan Rowland’s eyes.

Yes.

After his mother died, it was his teacher who first delivered a harsh blow to him.

“Crying is useless. The dead cannot be brought back to life. If you want to avenge your mother, you must live.”

His teacher was never kind, always very strict.

“Discard unnecessary compassion and weakness. Born into the imperial family, what you must learn is indifference and ruthlessness!”

His teacher taught him how to analyze the Emperor’s thoughts and intentions, and how to become an excellent monarch.

He made him understand that this world was so boring.

He let him know that only boring people could survive.

He had always come this far by being so boring.

This was just a part of a boring life.

He shouldn’t and wouldn’t allow himself any expectations.

His teacher also yearned for him to implement everything he had learned.

He couldn’t disappoint his teacher’s lifelong cultivation.

“Get out.”

So he said this to the blonde girl who wanted to obstruct him.

“I won’t just go back like this.”

Still so annoying.

But this annoyance was merely a ripple in his boring life.

It wouldn’t change anything at all.

Nor should he change.

Nor could he change.

Nor could he change anything.

So he tried to lift the blonde girl and just throw her out.

Throw her somewhere he couldn’t see.

That way, he wouldn’t harbor any false hopes or unnecessary thoughts.

“Your Highness, are you going to defy your true feelings and kill Baron Fart?”

But he couldn’t lift her at all.

This had little to do with her resisting.

His hands were weak and powerless.

But this was meaningless.

He had to do it.

His teacher had already made his resolve.

“Baron Fate doesn’t want to die at all! He brought his pregnant wife to the dining room, letting us see this affectionate scene, precisely to beg for mercy!”

Foolish.

How could his teacher do such a thing?

Even if he did, it was just to deceive a fool like you.

Even if he did, it was merely because he thought he was soft-hearted and wanted to continue to sway and test him.

The facts proved that he was indeed still far from ready.

He must correct himself.

He must become boring.

Become ruthless, become indifferent.

Become exactly like that damned old man.

Speaking of which, this was also a test from that old man.

If he failed the test.

He would lose everything.

Everything he had now would be lost—

“His Highness Ryan, does your ‘everything’ not include Baron Fart?”

“…”

“His Highness Ryan, haven’t all your efforts been to protect what’s important to you?”

“…Shut up.”

“I won’t shut up!”

The blonde girl said emotionally.

“I know Baron Fate only wants to use our sympathy to beg us to protect his wife and child after killing him…

But this is just his desperate measure. What father doesn’t want to see his child born with his own eyes!”

“Who, knowing they’re destined to die, would only have a child at this age!”

“He doesn’t cling to power or covet wealth, he doesn’t exact heavy taxes, he allows various factions to place their people around him, and he has no complaints about his fief being right next to a ducal territory that views him as an eyesore…

He strives to remain mediocre, showing no ambition…”

“Baron Fate has always held hope for the empire!”

Ryan Rowland completely lost his temper.

“What do you know? You know nothing! I came here this time to—”

“Your Highness, from the very beginning, you came here to save Baron Fate!”

The blonde girl said decisively, “Even now, you haven’t changed!”

Ryan Rowland was stunned.

He didn’t understand why, after hearing all those words, the blonde girl could still make such a judgment.

“What a person truly wants to do isn’t judged by what they say, but by what they do.”

But in the blonde girl’s eyes, there was no confusion whatsoever.

“Your Highness already knew there were issues with Baron Fate’s subordinates, which is why you said it was very dangerous and asked me to be careful before we left… isn’t that right?”

“And you intended to secretly take the Baron away, completely disregarding the mission and not caring about it at all, which is why you were so angry when Baron Fate was set on dying… isn’t that right?”

Ryan Rowland was furious again, but more so filled with grief and unwillingness.

“So what? What good is knowing? My teacher, for my sake, is willing to sacrifice himself!”

“What can I do!”

How could Ryan Rowland not see that Fart had been desperately trying to survive all these years, yet the order he received this time was to push his own teacher to his death!

And Fart, knowing this, still chose to fulfill his wishes!

“No, there is a way… His Highness Ryan, were your orders truly to kill Baron Fart?”

Ryan Rowland was stunned.

He had a similar dialogue with his teacher not long ago.

“Is your mission truly just to do this much? What about the duke of the neighboring territory?

Why don’t you try to also consider the goals you want to achieve!

Why don’t you try to utilize everything that can be utilized?”

The difference was, he had no words, no solution.

No, he hadn’t even bothered to think or find a way.

He remembered the distant past, the question he had posed to his teacher.

This is the best course of action right now.

You can only do this at present.

His teacher had answered that way.

He actually knew.

That wasn’t the only way.

It was just that he was too weak back then.

He could only do that.

And then he kept doing it that way, even after he was no longer as weak as before.

Habit became second nature.

He got used to boredom.

Got used to compromise.

Got used to being too lazy to think.

He had become the person he hated most.

He had always thought he would be different from that old man.

What had he been doing before?

What was he doing now?

How could he have strayed so far from his own pursuits?

He was truly ridiculous.

However, the blonde girl was not laughing—

“His Highness Ryan, you can do it… your past efforts will not betray you!”

Instead, she was full of expectation for him.