"This old codger really knows how to put people in a bind!" At Prince Edward's funeral, Perfikot watched as the coffin containing the old prince's body was lowered into the grave, and her expression grew quite displeased.

Just as she said, Prince Edward ended his life according to his own plans, handling all sorts of issues properly, significantly reducing Perfikot's burden with the aftermath.

But likewise, the old prince also left Perfikot with a rather hot potato.

He left a will, adopting Perfikot as his granddaughter and leaving all his inheritance to her, including estates, lands, and various other properties, as well as the knight order and his political resources.

Before meeting Perfikot, the old prince had already arranged everything, informed his close associates, and prepared to transfer everything to Perfikot.

Of course, the old prince didn't intend to directly give everything to Perfikot without seeing her in person first, only after witnessing her performance did he decide to leave it all to her.

As for his own granddaughter, he left her enough wealth to ensure a worry-free life and entrusted her care to Perfikot.

The arrangement for the old prince's granddaughter was straightforward; she was just an ordinary noble lady without much capability or ambition, aside from grieving over her grandfather's death, she had no other emotions and calmly accepted her fate.

Naturally, Perfikot wouldn't shortchange her; after clarifying the situation, she arranged for the lady to be sent to the Northern Territory.

After all, she was merely an ordinary noble lady, and the Northern Territory was large enough to support a few idle individuals.

What truly troubled Perfikot was the various political legacies left behind by the old prince; receiving and organizing these was no simple task.

Even with the old prince's arrangements and planning, and the cooperation of the confidants and subordinates he had left, this was still the political capital of an imperial prince cultivated over decades.

Even though the old prince had always appeared to retreat from the center of imperial power, and hadn't aggressively expanded his influence, it was still a formidable force.

Especially since this force wielded substantial influence in the empire's court and political scene; transforming the prince's party into the Lord of the North's party involved a labyrinth of procedures and tasks.

Thinking about how she was left with such a hefty burden, Perfikot felt overwhelmed by the legal intricacies, and grew increasingly frustrated with the already interred old prince, despite having granted him a peaceful end in the end.

"Had I known, you old codger, would trap me like this, I definitely wouldn't have let you rest easy in your later years! Redhead!" Although cursing, Perfikot nevertheless invested a great deal of time and effort into sorting out the inheritance and various resources left by the old prince.

After all, just as the old prince's last words stated, these would serve her well in achieving her goals.

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Among the legacies left by the old prince, one of the most valuable to Perfikot was his knight order.

Being a member of the Royal Family, the old prince naturally had a knight order under his name, and it had followed him through war, achieving impressive deeds.

Of course, just as the old prince aged and sought to end his life, many members of the knight order too had passed away, with most current members being descendants of the old knights.

Despite that, they inherited a wealth of combat experience from the old knights of yesteryears, fundamentally surpassing Perfikot's White Bear Knight Order.

After all, before being restructured under Perfikot's command, the White Bear Knight Order was just an adjunct to the Seventeenth Guard Division, not an elite troop nor one with a long history and tradition.

Naturally, under Perfikot's personal instruction, the White Bear Knight Order, as one of the few fully steam knight armored orders in the empire, was among the most formidable in combat prowess.

Yet once they took off the steam knight armors, they were still capable, worthy of being called the empire's elite, but still lacked some foundational depth compared to those veteran knight orders.

This foundational depth isn't a quantifiable value, nor is it a sophisticated tactical strategy or unique skill; it's mostly an intangible, non-material asset.

For instance, the accumulated honor of a knight order, the spirit of fighting tenaciously in dire situations, these valuable assets that require sufficient time and ample experiences to gather are the core depth of a knight order.

Even though these might be meaningless to some, for a military force, they are its most treasured asset, forming the army's spiritual core and tradition, essentially the soul of the army when spoken of abstractly.

Armies with honor and tradition possess a more tenacious fighting will on the battlefield, with soldiers having a stronger sense of honor and better comprehensive quality, something proven by years of warfare in this world and Perfikot's previous world.

For this reason, although the old prince's knight order may not be extremely capable in battle, they could at least suppress the White Bear Knight Order if both did not use steam knight armors.

This point did not surprise Perfikot; after all, the White Bear Knight Order's foundation is apparent, even with her help to gain an advantage, the time was too brief to yield much improvement.

The fact that they were merely suppressed and not defeated was already surprising enough for Perfikot.

Now that the old prince's carefully nurtured knight order was in her hands, the combat forces under Perfikot were undoubtedly greatly bolstered, and some existing shortcomings were addressed, giving Perfikot the power to crush anything in her path.

Given her capability, equipping both knight orders with sufficient steam knight armors posed no problem, and two fully steam knight armored orders were an insurmountable obstacle for the empire, let alone anything else.

Besides this knight order, numerous other legacies from the old prince also supplemented what was Perfikot's greatest shortcoming as a major noble of the empire, allowing her at this moment to truly possess everything that should belong to a top imperial aristocrat.

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