"The Soren Family?"
List tapped his fingers against the chair, the crisp echoes seeming to stir old memories.
He was no longer the boy he had once been, and his perspective had become far more profound.
The goodwill of those at the top might fall upon people at the bottom, but it was difficult for it to last.
Because most people at the bottom could not hold on to it.
But Baronet Soren had caught it. He carefully stayed within his bounds. He might have appeared to be nothing more than a minor noble, but his children... had gained the capital to turn their lives around.
Imagine this: if he had devoted himself wholeheartedly to scheming and leveraged that tiny bit of favor from the Eldest Imperial Prince, could he really have become a Baron or an even greater noble?
Imperial titles were not that cheap.
More likely, he would have received a business deal, then lost contact with the Eldest Imperial Prince—and he would not even have his current standing.
Did people really think being a neighbor was that important?
To the Eldest Imperial Prince, it had merely been a place to stay. Only because Baronet Soren had turned it into a friendly neighbor's home did it become his residence.
So even though he had never once asked the Eldest Imperial Prince for anything, others would still give him opportunities out of respect for the Eldest Imperial Prince's neighbor.
Solon, who had never begged anyone for help, had thus become a Baronet.
And his children had become friends with members of the imperial family, squeezing into circles they could never previously have reached.
Call it the cleverness of a small man, or call it the luck of a small man. In any case, now... the Soren Family had truly