Charles remained silent. The Golden Document—that guillotine hanging overhead. McTavish kept it, not for exposure, but to keep London perpetually on its knees.

"So you agreed to it all?" Charles asked softly.

"What else could I do?!"

The Prime Minister suddenly erupted in anger, smashing his cigar onto the ground, sending sparks flying, "Your Highness! Open your eyes and see! A sports event in Delhi tore off the last facade of the Commonwealth! Scotland is holding a gun to our heads! Millions in England are taking to the streets demanding our resignation! Europe is laughing at us! The United States is playing dead! Mexico is sharpening its knives! What do we have left? Huh?! What leverage do we have?!"

He gasped for breath, his eyes bloodshot, "Right now, we can still negotiate, we can still exchange a 'dignified transition' for some lingering influence. Once they get impatient and come to seize it themselves, then we will be left with nothing! The Royal Family? The first place they'll storm will be Buckingham Palace! Don't you believe it?!"

Charles believed. He believed it all too well. In Mexico, he saw firsthand the power and confidence of that New World, and he also saw the frailty of the Old World, gazed upon with universal disdain.

"When will the White Paper be released?" he finally asked.

"Tonight at eight, prime time. I will make a televised address." The Prime Minister leaned back wearily, "Then, I will resign. The new government—whoever forms the cabinet—will be responsible for finalizing the details with all parties and initiating legal procedures. If it goes quickly, by this time next year, the map of the United Kingdom... will need to be redrawn."

He looked at Charles, his expression complex, "You and His Majesty may need to prepare for a nationwide tour. Not as monarchs, but as... 'Ambassadors of National Unity.' Go to Scotland, to Wales, to Northern Ireland, to every town in England. Smile, shake hands, say some nice words about 'historical ties' and 'shared future.' This is the last value of the Royal Family—to drape a warm, sentimental veil over this disintegration."

Charles stood up. He felt an odd sense of calm, all the anger, humiliation, fear, seemed to have been drained away, leaving only fatigue, a deep, marrow-penetrating fatigue.

"I will convey this to my mother," he said. "As for the tour... wait until you have that 'veil' ready."

He turned and left the office, without looking back.

The corridor was long, the lights dim. Footsteps echoed in the emptiness. As Charles walked, he suddenly recalled his father, Prince Philip, taking him to tour the Naval Museum as a child, pointing to a model of an ancient battleship, saying, "Remember, Charles, an Empire is not built in a day, but it can collapse with just one rain."

Back then, he didn't understand. Now he did.

This rain has been falling for too long. And they had been soaked through, inside and out.

On the same day, Paris, France, in a small meeting room at the Elysee Palace.

The curtains were drawn tightly, shutting out the afternoon sun. There were only three people in the room: President Jiang Zemin, Director of the Directorate of External Security (DGSE) De Villepin, and Director of the German Federal Intelligence Agency (BND) Jinkel—the latter had secretly arrived by military plane.

There were no documents on the table, only three cups of barely touched coffee.

"The British are finished." Jiang Zemin spoke bluntly, his tone devoid of schadenfreude, only a cold assessment, "It's not a matter of if they will fall, but that they already have. The only question is when the body will grow cold."

Jinkel nodded, gently tapping his fingers on the table, "Our people have seen their White Paper draft. Essentially, it's an acknowledgment of a roadmap for national disintegration. Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will gain nearly independent powers, and England itself is facing constitutional fragmentation. The London Central Government will be relegated to a coordinating body."

"What's more dangerous are the external factors," De Villepin interjected, "The military and economic cooperation between Scotland and Mexico is already semi-public. What McTavish got from Mexico is not just missiles, but a blueprint of a complete defense and intelligence system. The Welsh National Party is active in Brussels, seeking 'Observer Status' with the European Union. Northern Ireland's Sinn Fein Party... frequently contacts Dublin and certain overseas forces."

"As for within England," Jiang Zemin added, "that 'English Congress' is establishing a de facto parallel administrative network. Our analysis is that once London formally devolves power to localities, these networks will quickly take over, forming new power centers. At that time, England will no longer be a unified political entity but a cluster of 'community alliances' driven by different ideologies and local interests."

The room was silent for a moment. The speed and extent of the United Kingdom's collapse exceeded their most pessimistic predictions.

"For us, this is both a crisis and an opportunity." Jinkel said slowly, "The crisis lies in the disappearance of an important NATO ally and European Union partner (albeit a constantly disruptive one), which will trigger strategic imbalances. There will be gaps in the defense chains of the Baltic Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, and North Atlantic. The risk of refugees, capital flight, and terrorist infiltration will also increase."

"But the opportunity is greater." Jiang Zemin's eyes sharpened, "In finance, the collapse of London Financial City means opportunities for Frankfurt, Paris, and even Milan. At least a trillion euros in assets and trading activities need new hubs. Politically, with the UK, a perpetual contrarian and U.S. follower, out of the picture, decision-making within the European Union will be more seamless—provided we can stabilize ourselves. Technologically..." he paused, "Mexicans are aggressively headhunting in Europe. They use quantum computing, new energy, smart cities as bait to lure our enterprises and talent. But looking at it the other way, this also offers us a window of opportunity to acquire these technologies."