After being forced to step down, the once-annoying nun eloped with me.

The weathered Yang Hao embraced the nun's shoulders, carefully ensuring the trembling girl in his arms was unharmed. Then, in a gentle tone once reserved only for Priscilla and the little queen, he repeated:

"What are you waiting for? It's cold outside, let's go back together."

The knights' kneeling and the lovers of the past are no longer visible.

Now that Teresa was so close, she was certain that he only had eyes for her.

Chapter Nine: Priscilla, how much are you worth?

Yang Hao ignored the existence of the Imperial Knight and his former lover. Now disillusioned with the Roman Empire, he only wanted to live a peaceful life with Theresa.

Clearly, he abandoned the Roman Empire, but the Roman Empire, for the sake of its own destiny, could not abandon him—to be precise, it had abandoned him before, but now it was like a starving dog, eager to invite him back and get some food for itself.

Although Priscilla was saddened by Yang Hao's disregard for her, she still had to stand up at this critical moment.

"Yang Hao! Please let me explain... The people of the Roman Empire need you now!"

She turned back and pleaded, hoping that the man who was carefully examining the nun for any injuries would change his mind and remember the people he had served.

The man remained silent for a long while, then let out a disdainful sneer:

"The common people? The common people? The common people?!"

He lowered his arms from the nun's shoulders, pressed his face close to hers under her worried gaze, and whispered, "Don't worry." Then he turned around and repeated the same word three times.

The common people.

The common people.

As if reminiscing about his past, the man looked up at the twilight sky. Today was a good day. He had chopped a lot of firewood, and if nothing unexpected happened, he and Teresa would be able to get through this cold early spring peacefully.

He no longer wanted to think about the Roman Empire.

But the phrase "common people" spoken by his former lover Priscilla still struck a nerve.

Yang Hao lowered his head, looked at the trampled grass on the ground, and laughed a few more times:

"Hmph... the common people... the common people. Priscilla, do you know who betrayed me first when I led the team to the diocese to negotiate with the Elven Kingdom regarding border disputes?"

Before the witch could speak, Yang Hao began to state his opinion:

"It is the people—ah, the people I have spent countless hours trying to help in every way possible."

I established free medical facilities for them, I created free night schools for them, I even secured disaster insurance and facilities for their farmers, provided them with more jobs, and I tried everything I could to create an opportunity for them to move up in social class. I spent countless hours trying to publicize how beneficial these measures were to ordinary people across the country...

And then what? What did they do?

I underestimated the religious fanaticism of these paramecia, I underestimated their stupidity, I underestimated their greed...

They see all of this as a gift from God, and I can understand that.

I can understand why they can't comprehend the purpose of those dams and underground heating pipes because they haven't been to school.

They sold themselves to nobles and landlords for a dozen or so copper coins, eventually becoming slaves who were bound to them for twenty years and had to hand over 40% of their harvest every year. I can understand that.

They don't understand that the cheap products produced in factories can provide more necessities in winter; they simply think it will lower their income—and I can understand that.

But I fucking can't understand how their character could be so despicable, even worse than a dog's!

Yang Hao roared in suppressed anger, grabbed the Night Witch's collar with his left hand (which wasn't gripping the axe handle), pulled her close to him, and then shoved her forward.

He glared at his former lover with bloodshot eyes, his teeth clenched with resentment towards the common people she had spoken of:

"Do you know that there is a village in the north where the villagers killed a teacher who had gone through great hardships to obtain a degree, yet was still willing to teach the ignorant masses almost for free, all for the sake of two silver coins?"

Did you know that these two silver coins weren't just given to one mastermind, but were shared among two hundred households in the entire village?

Do you know that the knowledge my teachers impart to them is less than what a pastor recites from the Bible? Do you know that my doctors go through countless hardships to save lives, only to receive a "God above" instead of gratitude? Do you know that?!

Do you even know how many people these fucking bastards have hurt and betrayed who helped them? Do you fucking know?

No, you have no idea...

Since the founding of the Roman Empire, you haven't even left the palace. You're engrossed in studying your night magic within the court, you're obsessed with teaching your mage students, you haven't even personally experienced just how hopeless those beasts are, you're utterly unworthy!

You have absolutely no right to talk about "for the common people," Priscilla... You have no right. You didn't before, and you don't now. You can't even look me in the eye.

What are you worth for speaking up for these beasts?

The end of the year 003 in the Imperial Calendar.

When Yang Hao led his team to the diocese, he worked tirelessly to resolve the border friction between the Elf Kingdom and the newly formed Roman Empire once and for all.

He was betrayed by a group of unruly villagers who offered each of the 766 households in the village a single word of atonement.

All these atonements, when printed using the printing presses of a factory that was still in operation at the time, cost less than five copper coins.

The only consolation for Yang Hao was that his attendants were being bribed with gold coins.

What about Priscilla?

She went to great lengths to speak for the common people of the Roman Empire, but what is she really worth?

Chapter Ten: How much is your loyalty worth?

Faced with Yang Hao's questioning, Priscilla was speechless.

She could only endure Yang Hao's angry rebuke while being grabbed by the collar. She had no ability to think, nor any excuse to refute, because, just as he said, Priscilla didn't even dare to look him in the eye when speaking for the people.

It's simply because everything Yang Hao said was true—the Roman Empire is now like a lump of mud that has been forcibly plastered onto a wall; he brought them into civilization, but they clearly don't welcome it.

The ignorance and ingratitude of the Roman Empire's people have even caused a huge uproar in the neighboring Elf Kingdom. Even the most conservative and traditional elves issued a semi-public condemnation of the Roman Empire two months ago, not to mention other nations that have even a slight understanding of the Roman Empire.

It is said that in the empire of Isgard, across the sea where the scholars fled, even the beggars on the streets scorned the actions of the Roman Empire. Faced with this undeniable fact, no one from the Roman Empire could refute it on any level—except for that nun.

Yes, except for that nun.

Mother Teresa was not a member of the Roman Empire.

After the Tranquility Incident, she went directly to the local population administration to renounce her citizenship as a citizen of the Roman Empire, even though the monastery she owned was not even located within the Roman Empire.

She was the only one among everyone here, besides Yang Hao, who had the right to defend herself. The only wrong she had ever done to Yang Hao was the malicious words he uttered before leaving the village years ago—

"You're speaking up for a bunch of shameless barbarians. Sooner or later you'll slink back home, and those barbarians will stay far away from you."

Barbarian, barbarian... She stood out from the crowd from the very beginning. Back when the Roman Empire was just a tribe, her unusual white hair and gray eyes had already caused the nun to suffer discrimination since childhood, not to mention the [Primal Doctrine] she believed in.

Perhaps Mother Teresa saw the greedy and shameless nature of the tribespeople in this land from a young age.

......

Priscilla opened his mouth, but in the end gave up.

Yang Hao didn't want to say anything more.

Yang Hao shoved Priscilla violently towards the kneeling imperial knights, letting her stumble and fall to the muddy ground. Then, he looked down at his former subordinates and knights with a blank expression.

"So...? Why aren't you leaving yet? Is there anything else you want to say?"

The knights all bowed their heads, ashamed to look Yang Hao in the eye. Although they were not part of the army that had been bought off with gold coins, they had once had wallets full of gold coins at home.

In the Roman Empire today, loyalty can be measured in money.

With enough money, even betraying the wise ruler who helped you rise to power can be a just and upright trial.

Regent Yang Hao fell here—he spent a lot of money to train his own army and used the highest salaries he could offer to win over the hearts of his soldiers, but he never imagined that the nobles and the Pope, who knew better than him how to make money and directly extract wealth from the people, would be even richer than him.

When Yang Hao personally distributed five gold coins as a monthly salary to each Nationalist soldier, the Pope directly shattered the loyalty of most soldiers with a huge sum of 800 gold coins per person. And this was only the first step.

The Pope has plenty of money; he could even turn those 800 gold coins into a monthly salary. But Yang Hao and the Roman royal family don't have that kind of money. They still need to spend a lot of money on national development and reducing taxes to improve people's livelihoods. The outcome is well-known, so I won't elaborate.

He could promise the Nationalist soldiers a better world ten or twenty years from now, but the Pope's promise of 800 gold coins a month for twenty years was clearly more convincing than Yang Hao's promise of a better world.

Thoughts and honor were crushed by the weight of gold coins, and loyalty shifted from one master to another—yes, the Nationalist soldiers were as untrustworthy as the Empress's uncle and General Dreschka had warned against. They could be bought off once by a lavishly wealthy cult leader, and naturally, they could be bought off a second time.

So they were dismissed—and the next day they became the papacy's protectors, the private armies of nobles and landowners, or at worst, the elite troops of warlords, or mercenaries who sailed overseas.

Although the Imperial Knights here were not dismissed, the actions of their comrades and their silence back then meant that they could only remain silent by kneeling when facing Yang Hao.

A long time passed.

Knight Robert spoke on behalf of his men:

"Your Majesty, I—"

"Don't call me Your Majesty. I am not the Regent now, and I will never be the Regent of the Roman Empire again." Yang Hao raised his hand in denial, showing physical disgust when he mentioned the term "Roman Empire." "If you have something to say, just say it; if you have something to say, just say it; and then get as far away from me as possible."

"But Your Majesty... if you don't return, the Roman Empire will soon collapse and perish due to internal and external troubles!"

"Good riddance."

Yang Hao's answer left the witch and knights frozen in shock. They had never imagined that the Regent's loathing for the empire had reached such a level.

The regent shifted his focus from the nation to his own immediate territory, but right now the Roman Empire needed his attention.

So after a long silence, Knight Robert decided to use this last chance to plead:

"Your Majesty, the Imperial Council has already conceded!" Knight Robert, kneeling on the ground, earnestly stated, "The Royal Family is willing to exonerate you, the nobles and landowners are also willing to make concessions for you, and even the Pope and General Dreschka acknowledge your achievements! They are willing to pay a great price for your return!"

Moreover, Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Queen now needs your guidance, and those persecuted scholars and Red Cross doctors also hope that you can guide them back to the right path!

If you don't return, the entire Roman Empire will be torn apart once more by this calamity, and we will return to the chaotic era of fighting our own battles. Not only the elven kingdoms of the north, but also the powerful nations across the sea will seize this opportunity to launch a new war against us...

At that time, the nation will cease to exist, the entire land will be devastated, and even the barbarian tribes driven to the north will risk returning south... For the sake of this land, I implore you to return like lightning!

Knight Robert is perhaps one of the few far-sighted knights among the Imperial Knights. Having served Yang Hao for a long time, he has learned how to "foresight" and, to some extent, how to "predict" the future based on the current national situation.

It was precisely because he saw the bleak future of the Roman Empire that he was willing to do anything to bring Yang Hao back.

It seems that a certain word in his vivid and expressive speech triggered the regent's memory.

Yang Hao sighed heavily and muttered:

"Barbarians? Barbarians... Ha, weren't you barbarians back then? The only difference between you and the barbarians was your language. I never imagined you'd reach a point where even the barbarians had to worry about you, ha..."

Then, Yang Hao walked up to Knight Robert with the axe in his hand:

"Interests? Favors? Sir Robert... I don't want to be too rude. I'm no longer swayed by promises from a piece of shit. As for favors? Don't you think they owe me enough already? I no longer expect you to repay what you owe me, but I never expected you to force me to settle things evenly, did you?"

"His Majesty..."

“Sir Robert, I once shielded you from a barbarian's axe. I still remember your vow.”

As he spoke, facing the kneeling knight Robert who offered his weapon with both hands, Yang Hao simply raised his rusty woodcutter's axe: