Extra 3. Those Two People (1)

January 1908.

After five years, the young king turned around the country's post-war recession, and the declining empire of Cuneo flourished and prospered in a rare peace situation on the mainland.

However, in such a favorable situation, Alex Cune first announced the complete abolition of the monarchy and prepared to change the state system, and then quickly announced his abdication.

"Since the monarchy has been abolished, wouldn't it be strange if I were still in power?"

That's what he said.

At the same time, he abolished the distinction between the nobles and royal families and the common people in terms of their origin and status, and began to revise the law with the parliament, making it clear that there is no nobleness and everyone is equal before the law.

Regarding this series of earth-shaking changes, the parliament was clearly divided into two factions, those who opposed and those who supported.

The supporters eventually won by a narrow margin, and the reform was thus finalized.

Ola and Christine fully supported his policies and actively promoted them.

In fact, the current lineage of the Qiu Ni royal family has long been extinct in name only.

Most of the children left by Soufbi were killed by Lucia.

Ola, Christine, and Alex, three direct descendants, all said they would not continue their bloodline.

The various branches of the collateral family have long been thousands of miles away, and no one knows where they are in some corner.

But even so, those nobles in the Senate who enjoyed aristocratic rights but had no industrial achievements were not happy with this.

They depend on their titles and noble titles to survive, and their descendants also need to inherit the titles, which undoubtedly deprives them of everything.

However, Alex's elimination of the aristocracy only removed the titles and noble titles themselves, and did not mean to deprive them of their property and honor. What they have can be passed on to the next generation through inheritance.

After all, there are many war heroes who have titles now, and he can't and doesn't want to deprive them of their things easily.

There is no doubt that there are many difficulties in advancing this matter.

But Alex was very stubborn. He was determined to give up the throne and vowed to abolish the monarchy.

Even when the public held a march to persuade him to stay, his determination did not waver at all. Instead, he personally went to the streets to give speeches and persuade the public, explaining the significance of this matter.

As for the House of Representatives, it almost unanimously helped Alex push forward the reform.

This is a critical moment for them to turn the tables and become the masters.

In this way, the political struggle, which was more intense than a war, lasted for 10 months. In November, the reform was officially finalized.

Chune changed from an empire to the Chune Democratic Republic.

Several duchies became border states and re-elected their chief executives. Undoubtedly, the people of the states chose the contemporary dukes as their rulers, because their achievements over the years were obvious to all and they were all good candidates.

Of course, some leaders of small territories were reshuffled as a result.

During this period, the basic laws were intensively revised, greatly amended, and many details were added.

It is estimated that courts at all levels across the country will have to work very hard in the next year. All judges and lawyers will have to take the legal examination and professional appraisal again.

For the sake of stability, Alex prepared for his retirement while continuing to handle government affairs until the next leader of the country was elected by the whole country.

Alex has emphasized countless times that he will not run as a candidate.

But when the results of the first experimental area election came out, his name was still on more than half of the lists.

They had no choice but to restart the voting until the valid votes reached 80% before the election was finally held normally.

The Senate and the House of Representatives each have the right to nominate two candidates, so there are four candidates in the first election.

What determines whether they become the Speaker of Congress is the vote of voters in each state.

Except for criminals who have been deprived of their political rights, all citizens over the age of 16 have the right to vote. Even beggars on the street corners will have staff to guide them to listen to the candidates' speeches and vote.

What seemed unrealistic was actually accomplished.

After four months of elections, the first Chief Minister of Parliament was finally chosen in March 1909.

Under the strict rules that the term of office cannot exceed five years, that direct relatives cannot be re-elected, and that they can be removed by the parliament, as well as the pressure of being inferior to Alex, the other party is preparing to take office.

Alex did know this man who was elected. He was about the same age as him, a hard-working genius, with an impressive resume and excellent abilities. In every meeting, he often put forward opinions that coincided with his own ideas. He was famous for his integrity and friendliness. However, he did not communicate deeply with the other party, and it was obvious that the other party was trying his best to avoid having private communication with him.

This is actually a good thing.

Alex chose to trust Norihua's vision. After all, she and the Speaker of the House of Representatives strongly recommended the candidate, and he was elected by the voters.

But he still has to say what he needs to say.

Alex: "Emeyer, although the imperial system has been abolished, this position is equivalent to that of an emperor. From now on, you will shoulder the huge power and responsibility. I am handing it over to you now. If you lead this country to decline, I will not sit idly by. I will come back again and let the people choose."

Emeyer took the seal of state from his hand. It was heavier than ever before. His expression did not change. Instead, he smiled and said, "You are still so considerate. You are leaving me a way out if I make mistakes. Even if I do not do well, I am not afraid as long as you are here."

This is absolute confidence in one's own abilities. If someone else said this, it would just be arrogance, but if that person was Alex, no one would think it was arrogance.

Alex can do that.

He proved this with countless facts.

Alex laughed: "It could also be a threat."

Emeyer said calmly, "In fact, I have been following you since the academy. I have learned a lot from you in the past six years, and I have also seen how much effort you have put into this country and its people. The reason why I decided to run for election is that I don't want the results of your hard work to be destroyed by others, and secondly, to protect this hard-won peace. I have the confidence that I can do it, that's all."

Alex patted him on the shoulder and said, "Then prove it to me with facts. Keep up the good work!"

He has left behind a very good foundation and team for him. As long as he is not a complete waste, he will not mess up the country.

And Alex is not particularly worried. As long as he lives, he will protect this country. No matter how many times he encounters danger, he will rush back.

Emeyer looked at him, and his tone seemed to change a little: "I will also protect your stable retirement life."

Alex couldn't help but laugh out loud: "Why didn't I realize you're so funny before, but I like it."

Emeyer started to tidy up the room in a good mood. "That's because I deliberately didn't show it. I don't want to mix personal feelings with political affairs."

Alex helped clean up: "I think I know why they chose you."

They chatted for a while in a private capacity.

Finally, Alex sneaked out of the palace with a few personal belongings.

He quickly changed his clothes, bought some things, and took the train to a remote village in the north.

The houses here are sparsely distributed, with few people and underdeveloped transportation.

He walked along the path to the foot of a snow-capped mountain and came to a two-story villa located on a grass slope that looked like a green carpet.

Behind him was the lake, on his left were large tracts of alpine, cold-resistant plants, and across the lake was a small village. The air was slightly cold but unusually clean and fresh.

At dusk, it is so quiet that people are reluctant to disturb it.

Knock knock.

He knocked on the door.

A series of rapid sounds were heard.

Tick, tick, tick.

It was the sound of light footsteps on the ground.

"Dad! Welcome back!" Ed Yingli ran out and hugged him with a smile on his face.

Ed Yingli, who was only a few months away from turning eleven, had already grown to the height of his chest.

Her long golden hair was the same length as his, tied into a high ponytail. Two golden dragon horns protruded from her head, but they were not aggressive. Her tail was as furry as a deer's antlers and covered with golden scales, swaying excitedly behind her.

Alex smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

Ed Yingli grinned and said, "If you don't come back, I'll starve to death!"

Alex looked up and asked the person inside: "I remember you can cook?"

Inger took the magazine off his face, slowly stood up from the recliner, and said slowly: "The food I cook is not to his liking, so you should cook it."

Ed Yingli curled his lips: "How can I not like it? Uncle Ying, you are talking nonsense. It is obviously you who are afraid of trouble! I have already said that I will help you do it together!"

Inger shrugged without saying anything. He took out a few pieces of stuffed bread from Alex's bag, threw one piece to the jumping Finne, handed one piece to Fantine, then jumped back and poured a cup of tea for himself and Alex.

Ed Yingli helps Alex get something.

Alex smiled and said, "Have some snacks first. I bought some fresh ingredients and we will cook together later."

"Great!"

Ed Yingli ran in skipping.

"Hey, Eddie, your tail knocked over the stool again."

"Oh! This place is too small!"

"Come on, this is a big villa, learn to control your tail."

"Okay~~"

Alex closed the door behind him.

The cabinet next to her was covered with medals and honors, and a thin layer of dust accumulated on them.

The only war correspondent to survive two major wars. Also the only journalist to be awarded the National Medal of Honor.

He is the main reporter, editor and one of the founders of the currently very famous "Man Yue" magazine in China.

Eric Bleacher had wanted to do this for a long time.

I just couldn't find the right time.

She was also busy with political issues some time ago.

It wasn't until the day when the changes to the national system were officially announced that she knew it was time.

"Editor-in-Chief, good morning."

"Well, call everyone over here and I'll have a quick meeting."

She delegated all possible follow-up tasks to several deputy editors-in-chief.

"I'm going to be collecting material in the next few months."

Although as the editor-in-chief, she could try not to go out, but Eric just liked to collect materials in person and she liked to judge some things herself.

“Are you going to make a new column?”

"It's not a new column. It will only have one issue. I'm going to do a large-scale interview with a specialist and then publish a special issue."

"Whose?"

"Alex Chune and Inger Nyka, these two people."

Everyone was stunned.

But they quickly came to their senses, and to Eric, this really didn't seem too surprising.

"Is it because they are both going to retire soon?"

“That’s probably the reason.”

Five years ago, while other media outlets were giving these two men a blast, Eric and his magazine remained silent.

Now that she is about to retire, she has started to take action.

"That shouldn't take several months, right?"

"No, if I were to just interview these two people, I wouldn't have to spend so much time. I plan to start with what people they know, people they don't know, and people from all walks of life think of them."

“Wow, this is a huge project.”

"So thank you for your hard work."

"The editor-in-chief is the one who does it all himself. Now he has to travel all over the country, right?"

"Yes, I'm probably traveling around the world. If there's no emergency, like our company is going to be ruined, don't contact me. I probably won't be able to get through."

"Hahahaha, just relax, leave this to us."

When Eric looked into his personal belongings cabinet, he reached out and touched the simple ring, but the light was still dim.

After the goddess leaves, the ring can be taken off.

Ever since she knew the power of the ring, she rarely used it. That year's Lantern Festival was the last time she used it.

After she was able to take it off, she never wore the ring again. Although Inger said that the ring no longer had magical powers, it was just an ordinary ring.

She still wondered if the reason so many people believed and agreed with what she wrote was simply because of the power of the ring.

Although she knew that even with the ring, there would still be some people who refused to believe it, she couldn't get over it in her heart.

Therefore, the ring is placed here for a long time.

Times have changed. With age and experience, she has come to realize that the two things don't really matter.

It's just some meaningless stubbornness of youth.

Eric hesitated for a moment, then put the ring on the chain and hung it on his chest.

She felt a sudden comfort when she could feel the shape of the ring by pressing her hand on her chest.

Soon, she picked up her bag and walked out of the magazine office.