December, Year 1028 of the New Calendar.
Orrben was a reporter for the Mole Newspaper.
The Mole Newspaper was a second-rate local paper in Plymouth, mainly publishing business information and gossip.
That winter in Plymouth was colder than usual.
Together with reporters from other media outlets, he had been crouching outside Mitra Palace for a long time, clutching cameras, flashbulbs, shorthand notebooks, and fountain pens in reddened hands.
He and his peers waited in silence like hunters in the jungle, hoping to hook a major scoop.
"Phew, phew..."
As he stamped his feet and blew warm air over his red hands, a colleague beside him leaned over. "Orrben, want a cigarette?"
"Thanks!"
Orrben accepted the cigarette, lit it with the other man's match, and after taking a drag, felt as though much of the cold had been driven from his body.
At that moment, he heard the colleague who had offered him the match speak in a puzzled tone. "Honestly... I'm still shocked... His Majesty actually granted a woman the title of countess. It's a hereditary title, with a seat permanently reserved in the House of Lords! And... it actually passed in Parliament! Could that Lilliat Sothos be some hidden tycoon who bought off every political party and the royal family with one million—or even ten million—Gold Pounds?"
This newly ennobled countess was undoubtedly the most explosive news in Plymouth right now.
Countless merchants and members of the middle class... took her as their role model and envied her good fortune.
Even if they could uncover and publish the tiniest scrap of information, even a third-rate newspaper would sell out tomorrow!
"Heh heh..."
Orrben elegantly exhaled a smoke ring. "As far as I know... this countess made no political donations. On the contrary... she may even receive a fief."
"A