[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-heir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens":3,"chapter-heir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens-heir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens-chapter-65":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Heir to the Kingdom of 1.4 Billion Citizens",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2270940,4434,"Chapter 65: Happiness So Great She Fainted","heir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens-chapter-65",65,"\u003Cp>“Grandpa Fran.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the dim dungeon, Eli watched the old man who had raised him since childhood tightly gripping his throat, his eyes filled with fear and confusion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Gah!” His eyes bulged instantly from lack of air, shock and agony twisting across his face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He simply could not understand why his own grandfather would kill him with his own hands.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had never done anything wrong—just opened a few brothels and formed a gang, and he’d paid his taxes properly!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why…” His voice trembled as he tried to ask for an explanation, his hands grasping uselessly at Fran’s arms, the touch like gripping a rotting oak log.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His feet kicked wildly, trying to break free from the deadly grip, but all effort seemed futile.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The air grew thinner, his vision blurred, and Eli’s consciousness began to unravel.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Memories from his past flashed like a spinning lantern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before age six, he lived a luxurious life in the castle, envied by countless others, with a clear future ahead as the lord.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until his father was caught in an affair with his aunt and hacked to death by his uncle, and he himself was thrown out of the castle like trash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, Grandpa Fran took him in; back then, he had once dreamed of revenge, spending every day swinging his sword without rest.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until one day he saw a maid’s naked body.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sword practice, women, sword practice, women, women, women.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without realizing it, he had become addicted to lust, utterly drained of all energy, even forgetting his father’s murder.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Perhaps this is punishment for my laziness.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eli Hughes stopped struggling; soon his consciousness fully dissolved in the agony of suffocation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Ah…” Fran stared for a long time at the youth he had strangled to death, then let out a long sigh.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He pushed open the dungeon door and walked before Kallen and Danielle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncle, shall I help you?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Danielle’s slender fingers traced lightly in the air, and a ball of searing fire coalesced before her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Marsha family had, since ancient times, been masters of fire, even taming the Flame Fox, a fire-controlling beast.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Never mind, don’t want you two arguing later.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fran stretched his limbs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Under the second cabinet in the last room on the third floor of my house, you’ll find all my coins and a Strength-Enhancing Potion—for Hayden to use when he grows up,” Fran said calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Kallen, the honor of the Hughes family rests on your shoulders—make sure Hughes is raised to the rank of Count!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ll be watching you from the nether realms!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He roared these words, then slammed his head hard into the stone wall beside him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud. Thud. Thud!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After several heavy impacts, the stone wall dented, and the old man finally collapsed, bleeding from his head, his breath gone moments later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Kallen, a hardened man, couldn’t hold back his tears at this bloody scene.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Uncle!” Danielle had already collapsed onto Fran’s corpse, weeping uncontrollably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For the sake of that Strength-Enhancing Potion, she decided to cry with at least a little sincerity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Black Wolf Castle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was deep night, yet the great chandelier’s candles in the main hall still burned fiercely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Mingyu sat on the main seat, while Kallen and Danielle stood respectfully on either side.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two young maids stood below the main seat, each holding a wooden box.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Highness, these are the masterminds behind the brothels and gangs in the territory—Eli Hughes and Fran Hughes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Danielle spoke, then raised her hand in a gesture to open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maids opened the wooden boxes, and a heavy stench of blood filled the air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside were two severed heads—one an old man, one a young man—one with peaceful closed eyes, the other with eyes wide open in death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Close them,” Xia Mingyu said, suppressing his nausea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The maids quickly shut the boxes; if they opened them again, even they would vomit from the stench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hughes… are they also from the Hughes family?” Xia Mingyu asked involuntarily.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, Your Highness. They are a branch line of the Hughes family—Fran is Kallen’s uncle, and Eli is his nephew.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Please, don’t blame the Hughes family for their crimes,” Danielle whispered, her lovely face filled with apology.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Uncle. Nephew.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s patricide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hearing this, Xia Mingyu stared at Kallen in shock, and though the smile Kallen offered was forced, he still held it under Xia Mingyu’s gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Mingyu: “...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He realized he had underestimated the allure of a kingdom with 1.4 billion subjects offering its heir as a godfather.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To achieve this, they would unhesitatingly slaughter even blood relatives.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But at least the outcome served justice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Highness, here is all the information on the criminals in the dungeon and their crimes.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kallen handed Xia Mingyu a thick stack of papers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Highness, to confirm the criminals’ guilt, I employed interrogation and citizen testimony, personally overseeing to ensure not a single innocent was wrongly accused,” Danielle added.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had spent these days locked in the interrogation rooms and dungeon, even personally torturing some—she’d nearly stunk to death!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for judging truth from lies, I’m fairly confident. Please trust me, Your Highness,” Danielle smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since childhood, she had learned to lie; the criminals’ desperate, convoluted lies to escape punishment were transparent to her—she didn’t even need to hear them, just look at their faces to see through them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Mingyu flipped through a few pages; the dense list of crimes made him frown.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Excellent. You’ve truly been righteous!” Xia Mingyu sincerely exclaimed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If all nobles across the land were like Kallen and Danielle, this continent, soaked in crime and tears, would be transformed overnight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But such a thing was impossible to replicate—he alone could not become godfather to every noble on the continent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your Highness, the judgment of these criminals is entirely in your hands.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“As for little Hayden…” Danielle leaned forward, asking cautiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her beautiful violet eyes fixed anxiously on the black-haired youth on the throne, her lovely face tense with dread.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her shoulders were taut, her heart pounded as if about to burst from her chest, her breaths short and shallow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With Hayden’s entire future at stake, even her usual calm had shattered—she felt as if her heart were being crushed in a fist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Until\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Next month, for Hayden’s infant honor ceremony, I will keep my promise and serve as his godfather,” Xia Mingyu said calmly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She had heard it with her own ears—the Prince’s vow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ah!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What bliss! What honor! What beauty!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thought that her newborn child would become the godson of the future ruler of the entire Eastern Continent flooded her soul with an unprecedented wave of happiness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thud.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Overwhelmed by happiness, Danielle fainted onto the floor.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1115,"2026-06-19T22:18:43.340Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","022258d200d0ad7033cab5961e04ddc8b393cd04f2e41ae8fd0cd225ae950dc5","heir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens-chapter-66","heir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens-chapter-64",186,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fheir-to-the-kingdom-of-1-4-billion-citizens-cover.jpg"]