Willing to Be Human

"Save... us?"

Small Earl stared blankly at Lin Qi, and even the Former Countess looked at Lin Qi in bewilderment.

The fact that the elder had betrayed the interests of the nobles had spread throughout the Empire within a single day. Even the commoners knew about it. Yet Lin Qi's words plunged the mother and son into confusion.

After about ten seconds, Small Earl shook his head dejectedly. "I don't understand, Mr. Lin Qi. They've deprived us of a Minister of Finance who could have wielded great power among our ranks, taking away a force we could rely on. That's clearly damaging our interests, so how could it possibly be saving us?"

In the eyes of the vast majority of nobles in the Privy Council, Small Earl had voiced exactly what they were thinking. Once one of them became Minister of Finance, the other Privy Council nobles could be placed in important positions throughout the various financial departments.

The Privy Council would have a spokesman among the ministers, someone who could speak before Your Majesty the Emperor. They could even use this as a starting point to place Privy Council nobles in important—or less important—positions in other departments.

Many people viewed this confrontation between the Emperor and the Prime Minister as an opportunity for the Privy Council nobles to rise. It was also the only time in many years that the Prime Minister and the Emperor had both agreed to let the Privy Council submit a list of ministers.

Yet such an excellent opportunity had been rejected by the elders on the grounds that they "couldn't produce a recommended list." To make matters worse, they even planned to propose that His Majesty the Emperor let the Prime Minister concurrently hold the position!

If there were no shameful transactions involved, then