The Hidden Extra: The Lazy Prince Refuses to Ascend The Throne

”In that case, I’ll take my leave, Your Majesty.”

Roswell clasped his hands and bowed respectfully.

Ragan gave a slight nod, and Roswell turned to leave.

As he opened the door, he found a tall, handsome young man with black hair standing outside.

”Prince Nolan?”

Roswell froze for a brief moment.

Nolan smiled and greeted him.

”Good afternoon, Prime Minister. How are you?”

Roswell quickly composed himself, stepped outside, and quietly closed the door behind him.

”I’m doing well. How about you?”

”I’m doing well, too. By the way...”

Nolan glanced at the door behind Roswell.

”Is my father inside?”

Roswell nodded.

”He is. Are you here to see him?”

”Yes. Would you mind stepping aside?”

Roswell immediately moved aside, allowing Nolan to open the door and step inside.

As soon as Nolan disappeared into the room, Roswell’s expression turned solemn.

”What’s he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be in the eastern region?” he wondered.

Roswell had always been wary of Nolan. Back then, everyone had dismissed him as a worthless prince, but Roswell was the only one who believed otherwise.

In Roswell’s eyes, Nolan was a dangerous man. According to his spies’ reports, Elina’s rise was not only due to the indirect support of the Singularity of Chaos but also because of Nolan’s influence.

Roswell slowly composed himself.

”I need to keep a closer eye on him. If he makes a move against Cedric...”

A cold glint flashed across his eyes.

”...then I won’t stand by and do nothing.”

With a meaningful look, he glanced back at the closed door.

***

”So, why are you here?”

Ragan sipped his tea as he stared at Nolan, who was sitting across from him.

It hadn’t even been half a month since he’d last spoken to the kid, yet here he was again, asking to meet with him.

Ragan had originally intended to send him away. But after giving it some thought, he changed his mind. Nolan couldn’t possibly have come all this way just to chat about nonsense.

Nolan crossed his legs and asked playfully, ”Did you miss me, Old Man?”

Ragan rolled his eyes and said, ”Don’t joke around. I’m busy right now. If you don’t get to the point, I’ll kick you out.”

Hearing the threat, Nolan wasn’t afraid. But he knew Ragan wasn’t joking, so he immediately sat up straight and got to the point.

”Father, I want to report something. The Blue Moon Trading House has made a net profit from the Netherium mine in the Kingdom of Kaldarion.”

”Oh? How much profit?”

Nolan pulled a document from his pocket and handed it to Ragan.

”Quite a lot—enough to support the entire population of the capital for a month,” he said casually.

Ragan: ”...”

The corner of his mouth twitched. Nolan sounded incredibly arrogant.

There were millions of people living in the capital, perhaps even tens of millions.

Supporting the entire population for a whole month would require an astronomical amount of money.

Too lazy to argue with what sounded like nonsense, he opened the document and read through it.

A few minutes later, his expression stiffened, and the hand holding the document began to tremble violently.

”T-Twenty billion... Sharn!?” Ragan exclaimed in horror. He looked up at Nolan, staring at him in disbelief.

”Is this report real? Twenty billion Sharn in less than a year!?”

At first, Ragan had expected the net profit from Netherium to be only a few hundred million Sharn, or at most a few billion.

However, the report in his hands told a completely different story. The profit had reached twenty billion Sharn.

That amount alone was enough to feed the entire population of the capital for half a year.

Nolan chuckled at his reaction but quickly composed himself and said, ”Well? Do you believe me now?”

Ragan suppressed the turmoil in his heart before setting the document down on the table.

”I believe you! With profits this enormous, handing the Netherium mine over to the Blue Moon and White Lotus Trading Houses was the wisest decision.”

Nolan simply smiled without saying a word. From the very beginning, only the Blue Moon Trading House possessed the technology needed to process Netherium.

If the empire had kept control of the mine, all they could do was sell the raw ore, which was worth hundreds of times less than purified Netherium.

”By the way, Father. As agreed, the palace will receive eight billion Sharn. The rest will be divided among the Kingdom of Kaldarion, the Blue Moon Trading House, and the White Lotus Trading House,” Nolan said.

”Of course. As we agreed before, we’ll divide it that way,” Ragan replied without hesitation.

The palace hadn’t contributed anything except granting the two trading houses permission to operate.

In other words, the eight billion Sharn was practically free money.

”I’ll pass this on to the top executives of both trading houses,” Nolan said with a smile.

Ragan smiled back.

”Oh, right. Since you’ve brought such good news, I’ll give you a reward.”

Ragan leaned back in his chair.

”Tell me. What do you want?”

Nolan remained calm on the surface, but deep down, he was overjoyed. Those were exactly the words he’d been waiting to hear.

He leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and slipped his right hand into his pocket.

”Father, I want you to grant me two requests.”

He held up two fingers.

Ragan raised an eyebrow. Although he found it a little strange, he had already made his promise, so he simply nodded.

”Go ahead.”

Nolan smiled faintly.

”First, I want you to be fair.”

Ragan frowned in confusion.

”Be fair? What do you mean?”

”You don’t need to know what I mean. Simply announce to everyone in the capital and several other major cities that you’ll treat all the princes and princesses fairly, even if they make mistakes.”

Ragan narrowed his eyes. He still couldn’t understand what Nolan was getting at.

”Kid, stop messing around.” Ragan crossed his arms, his expression turning serious. ”Tell me. What exactly do you mean by making an announcement like that?”

Nolan waved a hand dismissively.

”Just do it. Don’t worry, I don’t mean you any harm. If I did, I would’ve acted a long time ago.”

Ragan fell silent. He tried to figure out what Nolan meant, but no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t make sense of it.

After a few moments of silence, Ragan took a deep breath before letting it out.

”All right. I’ll make the announcement in two days.”

”No.” Nolan refused without hesitation. ”Make it within an hour. The sooner, the better.”

Seeing Nolan’s unwavering expression, Ragan couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Yet he had no idea what it was.

In the end, he gave in and nodded slowly.

”I’ll do it within an hour.”

Nolan smiled in satisfaction.

”Second.”

He lowered his middle finger and said, ”I want the palace to be placed under a four-day freeze.”

Ragan’s eyes widened in shock.

”A freeze... did you say?”