After Dereck, Samantha Miller, William’s aunt, and Anastasia’s younger sister, was formally appointed as the minister of finance. The responsibility of overseeing the empire’s treasury, taxation, trade routes, commercial policies, and economic stability was now entirely under her control.

According to Anastasia, Samantha had spent years managing the Miller family’s business affairs and merchant networks. Among everyone currently available to them, she was undoubtedly the most qualified person for the position.

William did not disagree with that assessment.

Earlier, before the ceremony, he had genuinely been concerned about the empire’s financial situation. Rebuilding an empire required absurd amounts of wealth.

Armies needed salaries, cities needed reconstruction, roads had to be repaired, and the administrative system itself would consume resources endlessly. Without proper economic management, the empire could collapse before it even truly stood.

At one point, William had briefly considered placing Emily in charge of the ministry.

However, after giving it proper thought, he dismissed the idea almost immediately.

Emily was talented, perhaps frighteningly so, but she was still inexperienced. Throwing such an overwhelming burden onto her shoulders now would only crush her beneath responsibilities she was not yet prepared to handle. Talent alone was not enough to manage an empire’s economy.

She still needed time to grow.

William simply decided that he would nurture her abilities carefully and make proper use of her talents when the time came.

After Samantha, the ministry of agriculture was handed over to his grandfather, Elion.

Initially, the old man had refused any position of authority altogether. He was still recovering physically after everything that he had gone through, and he clearly wanted peace more than political responsibility. Anastasia eventually compromised and assigned him the quietest department available.

Agriculture was important, but compared to military affairs, diplomacy, or internal governance, it was far less chaotic.

And with that, the conferment ceremony had finally come to an end.

There were still several departments left without suitable candidates. Until capable individuals could be found, those responsibilities would temporarily remain under either the Empress or the Prime Minister.

By the time everything concluded, William felt mentally drained.

He eventually walked through another section of the palace before arriving at the chamber assigned to him by Maris, who was currently acting as the temporary manager of the imperial palace.

The moment he entered, William found himself genuinely impressed.

Despite the chaotic state of the palace, Maris had managed everything with remarkable efficiency. The room had been cleaned thoroughly, and every detail was organized in a way that exuded royalty and luxury.

Strangely enough, however, the palace lacked the usual presence of maids and butlers.

A large-scale emergency recruitment process was still underway.

Initially, William had been extremely concerned about the possibility of spies, assassins, and traitors infiltrating the palace staff. Such methods were common in every political struggle. Servants moved freely through restricted areas, overheard sensitive conversations, and often became invisible to the people they served.

Because of that concern, William had decided to share the abilities of his Omniscient Eyes with three people.

Maris, Tamasya, and his mother.

Maris was overseeing recruitment operations, so she needed the ability to identify lies, hidden intentions, and suspicious thoughts. The Omniscient Eyes would allow her to judge loyalty more effectively than ordinary interrogation methods.

As for Anastasia and Tamasya, these two women were his family.

William never saw any reason to hesitate when it came to strengthening them.

Even so, he deliberately avoided showering them with too many abilities at once. He did not want to explain the full truth behind his powers, cheats, and the Supreme System itself. Those secrets were deeply connected to his past life, which was something he preferred to keep hidden for as long as possible.

Recently, however, one particular notification had left him feeling slightly uneasy.

The system had informed him that Tamasya could now communicate with Orion directly and even access certain parts of the Supreme System itself.

William still did not fully understand the implications of that development.

In the end, he simply left the matter to Orion and stopped thinking about it too deeply. If Tamasya ever chose to confront him regarding his secrets, then he would tell her whatever truth he was willing to reveal. Anything he wished to keep hidden, he would simply refuse to elaborate on without shame or hesitation.

After all, Tamasya herself concealed parts of her own past from him.

That alone made the situation fair enough in his eyes.

Pushing those thoughts aside for the moment, William recalled the reactions of the three women when he had bestowed the Omniscient Eyes upon them. Each of them had expressed their gratitude differently, yet all three had clearly understood how valuable such an ability truly was.

Things became even more interesting afterward.

When William voiced his concerns regarding spies infiltrating the palace staff, Anastasia had merely chuckled before calmly instructing Maris to allow any discovered assassins or spies to enter the palace anyway.

William had been completely appalled by the suggestion at first.

He genuinely thought his mother was joking.

She was not.

Anastasia explained her reasoning to him, making him surprised.

Once spies were identified, there was no reason to reject them immediately. Allowing them inside the palace would provide an opportunity to monitor their reporting methods, discover their employers, and trace hidden networks operating behind the scenes. After gathering enough information, they could quietly imprison the infiltrators and replace them with agents loyal to the empire.

Or perhaps, if possible, they could even turn the spies against their original masters.

Though Anastasia herself admitted that the latter option was far less likely. William had been genuinely surprised by the brilliance of the idea.

Of course, Anastasia still did not know that William possessed a far more terrifying method of control—the slave mark.

After hearing her plan, William calmly explained the existence of the Slave Mark and reassured her that he could personally handle the task of flipping enemy agents whenever necessary.

The brand allowed him to forcibly enslave others if required.

More importantly, William’s servants and slaves could also spread the mark under certain conditions whenever he was absent. That was precisely why he had stationed the entire Dawn Legion nearby in preparation.

Any suspicious servant, spy, or infiltrator identified by Maris would quietly be subdued by the legion before being converted into one of William’s own loyal subordinates.

And if someone powerful enough to resist the Dawn Legion appeared...

Then matters would become simpler.

Such an individual would either attempt escape or retaliate violently. In either case, William would immediately become aware of the disturbance and intervene personally.

Knock, knock.

Heavy knocking sounds suddenly echoed as a visitor appeared behind the door of his chamber.

William’s expression darkened slightly. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

He was exhausted beyond measure and had no interest in entertaining visitors right now.

Without even bothering to rise from the bed, he casually extended his spiritual energy toward the entrance and unlocked the door remotely.