Chapter 515: You are simply a natural-born Duke! (Two-in-one)

This is truly... too absurd! How can there be such a ridiculous thing?

Looking at the gleaming silver badge on the interface, not only were the nobles in the ward stunned, but Leon, sitting in his wheelchair, was also caught completely off guard.

Just a few days ago, he had broken into the Ryan estate at night, not only killing their first heir but also successively crushing over two hundred core members, single-handedly creating the "Ryan Blood Night" that sent the Ryan family to hell.

As a result, the old Duke of the Ryan family didn't know what kind of madness had taken him; he hadn't even been pushed into the ward for five seconds before inexplicably designating him as the next heir, making him the biggest beneficiary of the Ryan Blood Night incident...

Damn it! Isn't this setting him up?

He was both the ultimate beneficiary and suspected of having the ability to create the Ryan Blood Night; if anyone in the Cleanup Bureau had a normal brain, they would have to send a company of investigators down to check him from the inside out!

"Everyone, please listen to me!"

Suddenly hit in the face by a two-ton hot potato, Leon, who felt no guilt but certainly had a guilty conscience, frowned tightly and hurriedly opened his mouth to refuse:

"I have no interest in this title; why not consider others..."

"Scoundrel!"

Before Leon could finish his sentence, an old man with gray hair and beard, dressed in gorgeous clothing, stood out from the crowd and scolded with eyes full of disdain:

"This is the title of the Lionheart Duke! And it was personally designated by the old Duke before his death! Is this something you can just casually decline with a single word?"

So what does it have to do with you?

As a person who was still considered to have some quality, Leon might have paid attention to his words under normal circumstances, but right now, he was anxious to shake off this hot potato and get rid of the suspicion of creating the Ryan Blood Night, so he wasn't very polite.

"Who the hell are you?"

After saying a response that made the nobles' expressions change drastically, Leon quickly sized up the old man's attire and found a cyan coronet with three single feathers on the badge on his chest.

Although cameras already existed, they were not widely circulated due to their high prices; in many cases, identifying one's identity still relied on documents and badges, so the Kingdom's Badge Law was quite strict.

According to the Badge Law, all badges must strictly follow relevant requirements during production, especially the noble coat of arms representing identity, where the coronet, shield, supporters, and mantle must be complete.

Among them, the most important coronet mark is the badge used to identify the rank of identity. Except for the diamond coronet representing the royal family, the five levels of nobility—Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, and Baron—require the use of colors corresponding to gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin metals, respectively.

In addition, there would be a robin as a badge under the royal diamond coronet, while the coronet badges of the five levels of nobility need to be lined with corresponding single feathers, meaning that nobles are the important wings supporting the royal family.

Among them, the Duke, at the highest rank, has a foundation of five feathers, while the Baron, at the lowest rank, has a foundation of one feather. Those who have rendered great service after inheriting their titles may add an extra feather as a form of additional honor.

The three-feather copper coronet on the white-haired old man's badge proved that he belonged to the third tier of the Kingdom's noble ranks—an Earl—and was the kind of ordinary Earl who had no achievements in his entire life other than inheriting the title.

"Heh, with such a big tone, I thought you were some big shot, but it turns out you're just an Earl?"

In order to shake off this troublesome Duke title as soon as possible and avoid attracting an investigation by the Cleanup Bureau, Leon simply went all out and gave a contemptuous smile at the white-haired old man.

Adhering to the plan of offending as many people as possible—preferably offending everyone—so that they would exert effort to re-elect someone else as Duke, Leon stood up from the wheelchair, enduring the severe pain from his skin, and under the watchful eyes of everyone, walked slowly to the front of the white-haired old man, raised his hand, and poked the three-feather copper coronet on his chest hard.

"A third-tier Earl, and only with the most basic three feathers... so it turns out you're just a small fry?"

Small fry? Me? A small fry?

After hearing Leon's "candid" evaluation of him and feeling the strange gazes of the nobles falling on him, the white-haired old man, who had been poked into staggering back two steps, couldn't help but feel a rush of blood to his head, and roared with his beard and hair bristling:

"You!!!"

"You what you? Am I wrong?"

Due to the fear that the attack intensity was not enough to shake off this unlucky Duke title, Leon secretly switched his badge, equipped the silver-level 【Elite Performer】, then crossed his arms over his chest, raised his head slightly, and sneered with eyes full of disdain:

"A third-tier Earl with three feathers... Heh, don't you know how worthless the feathers given by the royal family are?

Fooling around to collect taxes, pretending to provide disaster relief, or even sending a big gift when the Princess was born can all get a feather from the royal family. You are already at such an old age, and there are only three feathers on your badge; if you aren't a small fry, what are you?"

"I... I..."

"I what I? If I were you, I would have slit my throat long ago!"

With the help of the silver-level 【Elite Performer】, Leon's rather handsome face revealed heartfelt disgust and disdain that cut to the bone.

"Believe me, die early."

After reaching out and patting the white-haired old man's sagging face, Leon leaned over and suggested sincerely:

"Looking at your energetic appearance, you can at least continue to waste food for another twenty or thirty years. If you hanged yourself today, you would probably save the Kingdom a large sum of money, which could be considered a bit of a contribution.

Think about it, if the royal family knew you had made such a great contribution, and if they were happy, they might reward you with a bird feather; then wouldn't you no longer be a small fry? Wouldn't doing so be the best of both worlds?"

Nonsense! Absurd!! You deserve to die!!!

After being subjected to this mockery that exhausted all means of insult, the white-haired old man, whose face had turned purple, just wanted to object, but he saw Leon's eyes.

Two parts disgust, three parts disdain, and the remaining five parts were full of sincerity.

This damn dog thing was actually telling the truth! He truly believed from the bottom of his heart that a "small fry" noble like him was really more valuable dead than alive!

"Heh... heh..."

After being subjected to a sincere critical hit from Leon's eyes, a belly full of scolding and even the most vicious curses were instantly stuck in his throat, turning into blood pressure that exceeded two hundred in an instant, and a mouthful of sticky, hot yellow phlegm that burned his heart and lungs, causing the white-haired old man to roll his eyes and kick his legs, falling backward on the spot.

Holy crap?!

Not expecting that after only two sentences, the old man would be -1 on the spot, even Leon was taken aback and instinctively took a step back.

"You all saw it! I just poked him twice with my finger, he fell down by himself!" "..."

Yes, we all saw it; you indeed only poked him twice with your finger, but you just stabbed him at least a thousand times in the heart with your mouth!

The vast majority of nobles wanted face, or at least wanted face on the surface. Seeing the old man who had only scolded the other party once, only to have his face stripped off and be scolded to his nose, and then faint on the spot after two sentences, the dozens of nobles in the ward immediately fell into complete silence.

This newly appointed Lionheart Duke really had a bit of a reckless meaning. With the white-haired old man's warning in front, if they went up to speak, and were also insulted by someone in front of so many in-laws, would they still be able to live?

After waiting for a short while, except for a few familiar nobles who called people to carry the old man out, the entire noble group maintained silence with great tacit understanding. Although no one stood up to scold Leon again, no one suggested changing to another heir, highlighting a direct default.

Anyway, this was the Ryan family's heir, not their own; if he caused trouble, it wouldn't fall on their heads. As for the face of the nobles... Heh, compared to actual interests, it wasn't worth a single copper wheel!

If the succeeding Lionheart Duke was a shrewd and capable person, everyone might have opposed it. After all, the more Ryan industries the new Duke could protect, the less they could divide. But now...

Looking at the new Duke who chose to brazenly offend the in-law family at the time when the Ryan family needed support the most, and could even be said to be throwing a tantrum in public, the eyes of the dozens of nobles couldn't help but reveal satisfaction.

It's quite good; this kind of greenhorn who has no city, no brains, and is arrogant is the most suitable person to succeed as the Lionheart Duke right now!

It's just that after a month or two, when everyone has divided up the Ryan family's industries, his time as Duke will be over, right?

There were not many real power figures in the Ryan family who could have a decisive influence on the succession of the title.

Except for the old Duke who "strongly supported" Leon, the rest of the people were first killed or crippled by Bobby Ryan, and then "crushed" by Leon. The remaining ones were just a few kittens and puppies, and they were either long-term power-relinquishers or old and frail. The most influential people left were the group of "in-laws" in the ward.

Ignoring the strong opposition of the new Duke himself, the Ryan family's in-laws didn't even spend five minutes deciding to follow the old Duke's last wish, letting Leon, who had black hair and black eyes and didn't look like a "Ryan" at all, become the new boss of the more than 90,000 little golden-haired people in the Ryan clan.

This is truly... too absurd! It's simply like child's play!

From the officer who pushed Leon into the ward, learning how the new Duke was chosen, the Minister of Defense felt both excited and annoyed.

What's exciting is that his daughter promised him that Leon was definitely not the kind of person who would lean toward the nobles. Rather than worrying that he would collude with the old nobles after becoming Duke, it's better to worry that he would directly flip the table, or even collude with the rebels to have another blood night, wiping out all the Ryan family's in-laws in one go.

If Miss Yisha's judgment is correct, the successful rise of such an "un-noble" Duke is definitely a huge help to the Princess's reform. Having an "insider" in the impenetrable Upper Academy is equivalent to stabbing a knife into the heart of the old nobles.

As for why he's annoyed...

"Your Highness! These old nobles must be dealt with as soon as possible!"

Looking at the Princess with a calm face behind the desk, the old man couldn't help but say with eyes full of anger:

"The Ryan family's sphere of influence is in the Department of Road Administration and the Military Department, mainly in public facilities and arms procurement. However, the core power of these two important departments is firmly held by the old nobles, and they can even transfer them privately without appointment! You can only stamp and agree to the candidates they choose! How can this work?"

"Well, I will, but not now."

The Princess behind the desk said calmly while flipping through the "new Duke's" file:

"These old nobles are rotten meat parasitic on the Kingdom and must be cut out, but if they are not cut out well, the wound will bleed endlessly.

My father once drove three consecutive Ministers of Finance out of office and cleaned up many small and medium-sized families, trying to control the Kingdom's financial power himself, and then he faced extremely fierce counterattacks.

The result of their contest was that the entire Kingdom's finance was paralyzed for half a year, and a total deficit of nearly 600 billion was exposed one after another, almost dragging the whole thing down. The war of defending the country six years ago couldn't even make up for the military expenses, and the deficit caused has been accumulated until today."

When she said this, she stopped, picked up a pen and marked something on Leon's file, and then continued to speak:

"So you must never be in a hurry to do such things. If the price of cutting out the old nobles is to make this country temporarily paralyzed, it will only cause greater disaster, so you must take it step by step.

And the current situation is actually just right, especially our new Lionheart Duke... Hmm... Do you know what he once said?"

Looking at the place circled with a pen on the file, the Princess recited in a calm tone:

"As for the royal family and nobles, they are just a group of lice growing in the crotch. Once they suck blood until it hurts, they should be grabbed and crushed to death!"

?!!!

Completely unaware of Leon's "rebel" identity, the Minister of Defense was shocked after hearing the Princess's words.

However, just as he wanted to say something, he saw the Princess's usually stable corners of her mouth actually lift up slightly imperceptibly.

"Although the metaphor is a bit bad, it's not wrong."

Not angry because she was compared to lice in the crotch, the Princess closed Leon's file, opened the report on the succession situation, and then smiled and said:

"Lionheart Duke... Hmm... Louse-heart Duke... Thinking about it carefully, it's really ironic.

This Duke who sees nobles and the royal family as lice has now become one of the strongest lice in this country, with the ability to suck blood from the Kingdom. I really want to see what he will do...

Oh, by the way, look at this."

After handing over the report in her hand, the Princess, who usually frowned, actually laughed rarely, then pointed her finger at the record on the report and told it with great interest:

"The Earl who was scolded to faint on the spot by him actually put a cabbage in his bedroom and then declared to the outside world that Leon Ryan's Lionheart Duke would definitely rot faster than his cabbage!"

Cabbage... meaning at most two or three months?

After taking the report and looking at it, the Minister of Defense couldn't help but frown, thinking of the way his daughter's eyes lit up when she mentioned Leon.

"Your Highness Veronica..."

The Minister of Defense sighed in his heart, and then took the initiative to ask:

"How long do you think he can last as Duke? After the Ryan family is divided up, will he be liquidated?"

"Liquidation won't happen."

The Princess thought for a while and shook her head:

"Except for the Earl who was offended to death by him, other nobles won't care about an empty-shell Duke, but the Ryan family may not really live longer than that cabbage.

After losing the clansmen of the Military Department and the Road Administration Department, the Ryan family's influence in the Military Department has completely bottomed out, and there is only one seat in the Upper Academy left in the political circle. The commercial aspect seems to have something, but it is all supported by taking orders from the Military Department and the Road Administration Department.

Military, political, and commercial, the Ryan family now occupies none of them. What kind of person must it be to support this stall that is about to collapse?"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 516 =====