Duke Calvin unfolded the letter, and after scanning a few lines, his gaze stopped on two words.“Marriage Alliance?!”“Huh?” He nearly spat out a mouthful of tea.“Who? And with whom?”His gaze quickly swept downwards, reading ten lines at a glance, until it landed on °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° that one line.“To marry off his third daughter, Emily Edmond, to Louis Calvin.”He felt his entire body stiffen.He remembered Louis, his eighth son.His initial impression of him was that he had low talent, little ambition, and didn't strive or contend, a typical noble son content to muddle through life.That's why he had sent him to the Northern Territory, considering it a form of waste utilization, as he never intended for him to inherit anything.Later, the old butler Bradley mentioned him a few times in his letters, saying that Louis had managed the messy, remote territory in the Northern Territory in an orderly fashion.He even found a magic marrow mine in the Northern Territory, which conducted monthly transactions with the Calvin Family, providing a significant and stable income.He was satisfied upon hearing this and casually approved some resources, allowing Louis to gain a firm foothold in the Northern Territory.“He’s worth cultivating,” he thought at the time, but that was all.Afterward, he was busy with other matters and didn't pay further attention.In his heart, Louis had always been a usable but not core child.Just a minor piece on the board.He never expected that now, Duke Edmond would specifically propose a marriage alliance, wanting to marry his beloved daughter to him. This was no ordinary move.“Something I don’t know about must have happened.”He immediately called for the butler: “Are there any letters about Louis?”“Yes, Your Grace.” The butler calmly and precisely extracted a letter from the thick stack of correspondence and handed it over with both hands.“This one just arrived today,” he added.Duke Calvin took the letter, tore open the seal, and unfolded the pages, his brows furrowing as he read.This letter primarily detailed Louis's recent activities, and the very first sentence made his eyelids twitch:“Ordered to scout Qingyu Ridge, infiltrated fifty li at night, and led one hundred thirty Knights to capture a crucial enemy stronghold.”Each subsequent detail was more shocking than the last.“Set an ambush, annihilated eight hundred elite wolf cavalry of the enemy, with no casualties on our side.”“...”The continuous influx of information almost made his eyeballs pop out of their sockets.“What? A night raid of fifty li? Leading one hundred thirty cavalry to wipe out eight hundred elites, and everyone survived? What kind of military genius is this?!”“And he was specially awarded the ‘Shield of the North’ medal, posthumously granted a thousand square kilometers of fiefdom, and promoted to Governor of Snowpeak County!?”A Governor at nineteen years old!The Duke gently folded the letter, leaned back in his chair, and lowered his head in thought.This was no longer something that could be described as “good” or “worth noting.”“This isn’t made up, is it?” he murmured, as if questioning the letter’s content.But he quickly calmed down. Even if Louis had the audacity, Duke Edmond wouldn't play along with his performance.The authenticity of these military achievements could be easily verified.“Only nineteen years old, and the Calvin Family gave him so few resources… Yet he managed to turn the Northern Territory upside down, literally fighting his way to become a Governor.”Duke Calvin admitted that he had indeed misjudged him.He suddenly remembered that Louis had always been a bit too quiet since he was young.Unlike the other children who fiercely competed, he was always a step behind, very obedient, as if he had no desires in his heart.At the time, he thought the child lacked ambition, but looking back now…“Perhaps he was faking it! Believing he had no chance to inherit the title, he deliberately pretended to be mediocre, wanting to escape the Southeast Province early to avoid the sibling rivalry, and then go to the Northern Territory to ascend to power?Although he can’t compare to his two older brothers, he can no longer be treated as a marginal figure.”He glanced at Duke Edmond’s letter on the table, his expression gradually becoming serious.He began to evaluate the pros and cons of this marriage alliance.Edmond, known as the Lord of the North, was practically an uncrowned king among the Northern Territory nobles, above almost everyone, an unshakeable core of the entire Northern Land.Although Louis was previously just a marginal member of the Calvin Family, with his military achievements in the Northern Territory, he now possessed a tangible fiefdom and a “Shield of the North” medal.More importantly, he was now the Governor of Snowpeak County.In the North, this was already a considerable force, capable of acting as the Calvin Family’s representative in the Northern Territory.“If this marriage succeeds,” Duke Calvin narrowed his eyes, “it will be a retreat route for our Calvin Family in the Northern Territory.”His Calvin Family in the Southeast Province, while wealthy, had been facing an increasingly grim situation in recent years.The Imperial Family’s reach had extended too far.They heavily favored trusted aides, promoted new nobles, and constantly inserted meritorious nobles and bureaucratic factions into the Southeast border, not to mention the endless rounds of audits and tax increases…Ostensibly, it was to balance power, but in reality, it was about seizing land, people, and profits.The goal was singular: to disarm the noble families.“At the port, three tenths of the profits had to be given up in recent years to support the new nobles in the Imperial Capital,” Duke Calvin sneered.This local magnate of the Southeast was metaphorically having a piece of himself carved off for stew every year recently.If he could connect with this rising force in the Northern Territory, perhaps he could secure more retreat routes before the situation changed.As for the Edmond Family, while they also wished to extend their influence southward, they did not want to be fully embroiled in the power struggles at the empire’s center, and a marriage alliance was an excellent method.Moreover, both their families were among the Eight Great Families, making them a suitable match.Duke Calvin nodded slightly.The only downside was that the Emperor would not like it; he disliked any connections between the Eight Great Families.And the current Emperor commanded immense prestige and acted with swift decisiveness, having effectively rendered the Eight Great Families powerless.Even if the Eight Great Families truly united, they couldn't harm a single hair on his head.So they all endured, and they all waited.Waiting for this aging Emperor to naturally pass away, and for the next Emperor.Preferably, an heir who was easier to manipulate and more willing to compromise would ascend the throne.And that day, it seemed, was not far off.He closed his eyes, recalling his last audience with the Emperor in the Imperial Capital.It was a frail, elderly figure, seated on a golden throne.That year, he was already ninety-seven years old; he wouldn't last much longer.As for the heirs? Each one was more disappointing than the last.The Third Prince, the only one widely favored, had achieved fame in his youth, was skilled in military command, and held immense popular prestige.However, six months ago, during a tour of his territory, he “accidentally” fell into a cesspit and drowned on the spot.Duke Calvin let out a soft snort, his eyes extremely cold.“A Peak Knight ‘accidentally’ falls into a cesspit?”A joke. This was assassination, this was humiliation.Blatantly, in front of the world, humiliating the Imperial Family, humiliating this Emperor.This was likely done by some old noble family, to retaliate against the Emperor.Of course, there were consequences; in the past six months, the Emperor had become even more personally involved in governance, promoting only his trusted confidants, new nobles, and loyal officials from scholarly families.His vigilance against the old great nobles had reached its peak.Therefore, even a simple request for a marriage alliance could arouse suspicion.“This matter must be handled with utmost care.” He sat back in his chair, took out a sheet of paper, and dipped his pen in ink.

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