Chapter 1712 - 135: Whirlpool

"Dong! Dong! Dong!"

In the early morning, as the sunlight cascaded from the sky, the Golden Palace’s gates connecting inside and out slowly opened to the rhythmic tolling of bells, resembling an entrance from one world to another, unveiling before the carriages approaching.

Although called "carriages," in reality, all these vehicles were pulled by Cardinals.

In recent years, under the advocacy of the Empress, the Cardinal Association has conducted a thorough reform of Nali’s transportation. Of course, there were obstacles and it was not achieved overnight. Particularly the Chief Finance Minister, who, upon seeing the financial reports showing the purchase approval of Cardinals compressing the budget, almost burst into tears but had to eventually abandon his argument after numerous debates with the Minister of Environment and Health.

The primary reason being he could not oppose the Empress, and secondly, he was indeed fed up with the notorious smell of horse manure on Saint Nali Street.

After several carriages came to a halt, the door of the leading black carriage opened outward, and out stepped an elderly yet sturdy white-haired man, none other than the newly appointed Prime Minister Ooni.

This old man seemed to lack any particular skills, yet surprisingly became an evergreen figure in the turbulent political environment, witnessing batch after batch of people fall like straw, while he remained steadfast and even rose through the ranks, ultimately becoming Prime Minister in his sixties.

This was entirely due to Ooni possessing a skill none of the previous Prime Ministers could match: extremely outstanding observational skills.

Not only towards people but also situations.

This innate ability not only enabled him to secretly maintain a mistress and male lover for years behind his wife’s back in private life, but also allowed him to remain secure under Elizabeth’s rule.

This ability had become his passive instinct, and it was such this morning too.

As soon as Ooni stepped down from the carriage, inhaling the first breath of air outside the Golden Palace, he felt a heaviness in his chest, as if a sense of weightiness before a torrential downpour.

He reached out to rub the air but didn’t feel the moisture he expected, so he could only grunt and turn to look at the few carriages parked behind his.

At this moment, the doors of those carriages also opened, and a few "big figures" from Nali stepped down.

With just one glance, Ooni lost interest in looking further.

Minister of Defense Pietro, Foreign Minister Shu Ji, Director of Secret Affairs Albert...

These are the relevant figures in the complicated and numerous matters of the political arena, even one of them appearing would give him a headache, let alone all being gathered together now.

He sighed inwardly, yet his expression remained unchanged, watching them come over to greet him,

"Good morning, Prime Minister."

"Prime Minister."

"Hehe, good morning."

Ooni chuckled, walking with hands behind his back along with them toward the inside of the Golden Palace, but it seemed aside from this initial greeting, Ooni didn’t say anything further and just walked ahead.

As the others walked, they exchanged glances and, after covertly exchanging opinions, the Minister of Defense spoke first,

"Just yesterday, the Prime Minister was summoned by Her Majesty, and today you’re called in for the routine report again, what hard work Mr. Ooni!"

"...Just trivial matters, compared to you bunch of ’Dangerous Elements,’ yesterday’s financial meeting was even more of a relief."

"Not at all..." Minister of Defense Pietro gave a wry smile but still went on to ask, "I’d imagine with Mr. Ihsan’s capability, yesterday’s financial report must have pleased Her Majesty, right?"

Ihsan is currently Nali’s Chief Financial Minister, and it was he who delivered yesterday’s report.

But as previously mentioned, Ooni possesses exceptionally acute observational skills, and he practically understood instantly what the other party intended to ask.

Ooni blinked, then noncommittally replied,

"Pleased yesterday doesn’t guarantee pleasure today, that you understand, Lord Pietro."

"..."

Ooni left the other ministers behind swiftly walking toward the inside of the Golden Palace, as if not wishing to converse excessively, leaving the others to exchange glances before hurriedly following.

The reason Ooni did so was simple, because he observed that these ministers had grievances against Queen Elizabeth, and it seemed it had reached a point of no return...

The outer courtyard of the Golden Palace was livelier than usual, Ooni noticed, as he observed Inner Court Officials brushing past in the palace.

It seemed Her Majesty had driven all the Inner Court Officials to reside in the outer court, for reasons unknown.

As they passed, two Inner Court Officials standing in the corridor were whispering to each other, yet Ooni only caught a few fragments,

"Is it true, did you see it?"

"Absolutely true, I believe our being moved out of the inner court is certainly because of this reason..."

"Could it be that Her Majesty really..."

"Otherwise why did Her Majesty secretly kill all her dogs before? Dozens if not a hundred, my goodness, I heard they were all buried in the inner court’s grass, who knows why all those cute little guys had to be killed, but I think it’s related to our move out..."

"Shh!"

The two whispering Inner Court Officials fell silent as they noticed the ministers walking into the palace from outside the gate, lowering their heads and busying themselves with their tasks.