Kennard was leaving.
This was not a recent development. Years ago, Kennard had raised the possibility with Xu Yi in person; it had simply drawn ever closer to reality over the past two years.
Kennard had served as the Xinfei Merchant Guild's chief executive officer for more than a decade.
Throughout those years, Xu Yi had controlled the Xinfei Merchant Guild's overall direction and strategies, but Kennard had largely handled their implementation and the guild's operations from top to bottom.
It was no exaggeration to say that if Xu Yi was the Xinfei Merchant Guild's soul, then Kennard was its brain. His importance went without saying.
The impact of Kennard leaving the Xinfei Merchant Guild was equally obvious.
Xu Yi dearly hoped that Kennard would remain with the Xinfei Merchant Guild until he grew old, and Kennard wanted the same. However, as the Emma Family's heir, Kennard had family responsibilities he could not escape.
Years earlier, the Emma Family had already urged Kennard to return and help develop the family's interests, but he had refused.
Then, two and a half years ago, Kennard's father, Count Emma, had suddenly fallen seriously ill, and his health had steadily deteriorated ever since.
Both Count Emma and the rest of the Emma Family therefore hoped Kennard would return to take charge of the family and fulfill his responsibilities.
Faced with such a compelling obligation, Kennard had no grounds to refuse.
From that point onward, Xu Yi had begun preparing a successor for Kennard, while Kennard had gradually handed over his work.
The main reason the Xinfei Merchant Guild had completed its restructuring two years earlier, spinning off many of its departments into independent merchant guilds, was naturally to give those departments more room to grow. But Kennard's impending departure had also been an important