Four Major Clans
As she tried to stop running, she slipped by accidentally. Prince Liam quickly grabbed her to prevent her from falling. They both staring at each other with sparks in their eyes. At this very moment, they fell in love with each other. Olena feels embarrassed, pushes Prince Liam away.
Olena smiled and said, "King George and ministers seem thrilled with your idea. For a start, I will donate my villa. You can use it to set up for the research institute and refurbish as you like."
Prince Liam seems surprised. He didn't expect Olena to be so generous.
Olena laughed and continued, "I have just informed my father about it. Before he turned crazy, I told him I wanted to have my name appear on a wall of fame as the major donor. He has nothing more to say. When the ministers realized the historian book's to have my name, they quickly offered donations. You have enough funds now to work at the research institute."
Prince Liam smiled and requested for a meeting, "Let us gather Yoona, Mori, Sora, and Leah...and the ghost, Bobby."
Olena blows the whistle, Yoona, Mori, Sora, Leah, and the ghost appear for a meeting in the longevity palace.
Prince Liam announced, "King George has agreed to proceed with the research institute. We will use Olena's vila to rebuild as the research institute."
Everyone is glad to hear that. Before they continue their discussion, Olena interrupts. She wanted to have dinner with her father today, "I would like all of you to meet the prime minister. We will have dinner with him today."
Olena instructed the servants to prepare a wonderful dinner for them and the prime minister. She requested for the dishes the prime minister loved and prepared a bottle of his favourite fermented alcohol.
She walked to the courtyard to accompany the prime minister while the servants were preparing the dinner.
At the dusk of the day, the sun is slowly setting down, painting a reddish sky. The servant informed Olena they had prepared the dinner. She invited the prime minister to the banquet hall for dinner.
Olena missed her father so dearly. She couldn't resist hugging him. The prime minister smiled and padded her shoulder. He did not expect Prince Liam would hug him. And of course, he doesn't know that Olena had transmigrated into Prince Liam's body.
At the dinner, Olena introduced the prime minister to Mori, Sora, Yoona, and Leah.
The prime minister's heart filled with warmness to join them for dinner, "Thank you for inviting me for this dinner. I am glad to have dinner with my daughter and my son-in-law!"
Prince Liam is keen to learn more about the country, "Father, please let us have more information about the politics of this country? We wanted to plan more for the research institute."
Olena glared at Prince Liam. She doesn't speak in such a manner towards her father. Everyone puts their chopstick down and pays attention.
Prime minister knows they have no experience in politics. He briefly explained, "There are four major clans in Shilla that you need to know. Yoon, Li, Huang, and Song. These powerful clans dominated the country. I am sorry to say this, your highness. The royal family is just a puppet to the powerful clans."
Olena nodded to agree. Prince Liam glared at Olena and wondered why did she agree with him he is a puppet?
Prime minister said, "The Yoon family clan is the most wealthy family in Shilla. They have several armouries and they are developing weapons to supply the national defence. Yoon Clan controls the major port. They are the merchants with exclusive distribution rights. Every import and export from Shilla will have to go through the Yoon clan's administration."
Prince Liam thought of Farah. He remembered Crown Prince Noel has a consort from the richest family in the country. He asked the prime minister. "The consort of crown prince, Farah is from the Yoon clan?"
Prime minister nodded his head, "Indeed. The Li family clan held the military seal. They have about 400,000 troops. They controlled the defence side. The minister of defence is from the Li Clan and the grand marshall is also part of Li Clan."
Prince Liam thought of Julia. He remembered Crown Prince Noel's favourite consort is the daughter of the Minister of defence. He asked, "The consort of crown prince, Julia is from the Li clan?"
Prime minister nodded his head again, "Yes, The Huang family clan. They monopolize the herb supply. The Huang Clan has produced many famous physicians. In the history of their family trees, the Huang clan have produced five queens."
Prince Liam gulped. He asked, "Queen Aliyah is from the Huang clan?"
Prime minister is wondering why Olena asked all the questions but not Prince Liam, "Yes, Queen Aliyah is from the Huang clan. And another clan, the Song family clan involving the timber business and building supply."
Prince Liam shaking his head and asked, "Please do not tell me that the Song clan is related to the queen as well?"
Prime minister chuckled, "Yes, Queen Aliyah's mother is from the Song clan."
The prime minister is trying to hint to them that the queen is someone powerful. He does not want his daughter and his son-in-law to have any controversy with the queen.
Prince Liam realized the queen is powerful, having the four major clans in Shilla backing her, "There is no balance. The rich will be richer, and the poor will be poorer. The system of the country is not good." He finally agreed with the prime minister that the royal family is just a puppet.
Prime minister shakes his head, "You are unfortunately right. The citizens are paying a lot of taxes to the government despite their small income. Many youths are jobless. I hope your research institute may help citizens."
After the dinner, they walk the Prime minister to his carriage and wish him a safe journey home. While Olena and Prince Liam are walking back to the chamber, Olena gives a proposal to Prince Liam, "We need to build the monument as a token of appreciation to the donors. Why don't we make a big pond in the front?"
Prince Liam agreed, "That's your building after all. You can do as you wish. I am grateful for all your help!"
Olena is smiling when she realizes Prince Liam likes her idea, "My father tries to warn you not to fight with the queen. She is supported by the four major clans."
Prince Liam shakes his head, "I don't have any intention to go against her, but we need to help the citizens to grow."
Olena nodded her head, "Alright, I understand."
Prince Liam says, "Don't think so much, we need to start the research institute as soon as we can. Let's go to your villa tomorrow to plan. We need someone to take charge of the research institute."
Olena chuckled, "With the incoming donation, we have more than enough. We can earn money by selling the book and use the money to pay the teachers in the research institute."
Sun is slowly rising at dawn. In the Celestial Palace, Julia visited the queen with a basket of food. This time, the crown prince did not accompany her. When she stepped into the chamber, she went down on her bended knee to give the queen her respect.
The queen is still angry with Julia because she brought the crown prince over. She could not reject breakfast and had to pretend to enjoy the meal.
Julia served the food around the table. She grabbed the queen's hand and brought her to the table. Julia invited Farah to join as well.
The queen took the bowl of soup from the table. She stood up and poured it to Julia's head. Julia gasped in shock and screamed.
"You can enjoy your food!" the queen ranted.
The hot soup burnt Julia's face. Her servants dare not move after seeing the queen burst out in anger. They went on their bended knees and pleaded for the queen to calm down.
The queen yelled. "You are desperate to impress me, huh? Why don't you massage my foot?"
Julia became afraid. She quickly moved near to her and grabbed her foot to massage her foot.
The queen becomes angrier. She kicks Julia, "Did you realize your hand is sticky? Your body smelt of soup? Am I your handkerchief?"
She hastened to the well, to clean herself and burst in tears. Her servants helped her to wipe and brush her hair. Julia begged the servants not to tell the crown prince about the incident today. She worried the queen would kill her.
After cleaning herself, she returned to the queen's chamber to help her massage her foot.
The queen instructed Julia to visit her daily, and she forced Julia to do chores for her. Even though she had about 20 servants. She just enjoyed abusing Julia.
The eunuch felt sorry to see Julia got abused daily. While the queen is away to meet some guests, the eunuch tells Julia, "You did nothing wrong, your highness. It is because you got all the love from the crown prince."
Julia cried and asked, "Are you saying I don't deserve any love from the crown prince?"
He could not argue back, seeing that she is shallow-minded. He gave some hints, Farah is lonely. The crown prince never once visited her chamber ever since she got married to him. Farah complained to the queen about the situation every day.