The ancient castle of Genovia, built against the mountains with a stream flowing in front, boasted an excellent geographical location and surrounding environment.
If other uses weren't considered, it would indeed be a perfect place for a vacation.
However, despite its vast area, the castle actually housed very few people, strictly speaking, only Queen Renaldi and Princess Mia.
As for other members of Genovia's royal family, they generally wouldn't come here unless there was a banquet or they were summoned.
The arrival of Mike and the others added a lot of life to this ancient castle.
...
Ribbons, colored lights... Christmas trees, little stars...
As Christmas approached, the girls, with their own hands, gradually filled the quiet castle with a lively festive atmosphere.
"Over the past six months, Genovia has undergone a significant transformation..." On Christmas Day, Mike, with nothing to do, took Princess Mia to the highest observation deck of the castle for a stroll.
From afar, they could see that the residential area outside the castle had been expanded several times, and the sounds of people talking and laughing occasionally drifted out.
The entire scene was full of life.
"This is all thanks to Paige, and the engineering teams you sent earlier," Princess Mia said, not taking credit for the people's peaceful and prosperous lives.
Instead, she subtly attributed the credit to Mike, as all the changes in Genovia during this period were related to her boyfriend.
The factories built by the King Investment Group's engineering team provided the local residents with another means of livelihood.
As for Paige, who had been there for less than a month, perhaps she couldn't stand the backwardness of this small country, or perhaps it was for Mike's sake.
During this time, she offered Princess Mia many broad suggestions, such as building bridges and roads, and concentrating the population to strengthen the workforce.
Although Genovia's territory was not small, its population was only a few million, which, when concentrated, was equivalent to a medium-sized city.
It could certainly be described as sparsely populated.
And for Paige, with her exceptional intellect, it was not difficult to casually assist such a small country with its development planning.
"Don't belittle yourself; you've already done very well," Mike said, seeing the girl's slight lack of confidence and offering affirmation.
In fact, ever since Princess Mia became engaged to Mike, Queen Renaldi had gradually handed over the affairs of state management to the girl.
Due to lack of experience, Princess Mia, though diligent over the past six months, hadn't actually done much.
In terms of contribution, her efforts were even less impactful than Paige's casual suggestions during this period.
It must be said that highly intelligent individuals like Paige excel at whatever they do.
Compared to her, Princess Mia was indeed a bit "mediocre."
This was also one of the reasons for Princess Mia's "worry."
And comforted by Mike, the girl's mood seemed to lighten, and she revealed, "Grandma discussed it with me; she plans to hand over the throne next year."
"She's certainly at an age to enjoy her retirement, but I'm still worried I won't be a good Queen..."
A Queen not yet twenty years old, bearing the burden of running a country—one could only imagine the immense pressure.
"You actually don't need to be so stressed," Mike said, intimately embracing the girl and whispering, "You're my fiancée, and this is also my home. I'll help you build this place together in the future, and I'll assist you with any problems you have."
This was not merely sweet talk.
According to Mike's previous plan, Genovia would become his "backyard." Improving it naturally was something he needed to consider.
"Thank you, Mike. Meeting you was the best thing I've ever done in my life," Princess Mia, in a moment of emotion, couldn't help but bestow a fragrant kiss.
The feeling of being cared for and cherished was indeed wonderful.
Time flowed on, and Mike, accompanied by numerous beautiful women, spent a refreshing Christmas in Genovia.
And after Christmas, Queen Renaldi, as promised, passed the throne to her granddaughter, Mia.
From then on, Genovia officially became the "private" territory of Mia and Mike.
Considering Genovia's sparsely populated nature, it was well-suited for developing an agricultural economy.
So, not long after, Mike contacted the Kenya family in Minnesota, bringing over Uncle Kenya and his son, Kili, as agricultural consultants.
Their arrival brought not only agricultural planting experience but also a large quantity of crop seeds.
At the same time, various factories of the King Investment Group also took root in Genovia, providing a massive number of employment opportunities.
Coupled with Mike and Paige, two highly intelligent individuals, helping to control the overall direction, Genovia's development directly went on the "fast track."
And with a clear direction for development, the people of Genovia were also stimulated to take initiative.
The harder they worked, the happier they became.
The smiles on the faces of the people grew more frequent.
Facts proved that with Mike's support behind her, Queen Mia's previous worries were completely unnecessary.
Later, with the arrival of the school season, Mike took the time to use the Space Gate to send Collins, Jerry, and Cady back to New York for school.
By the way, he also sent Tina, Jessie, and other girls back to their respective jobs in New York.
As for Mike himself, he took a break from his busy schedule to continue vacationing in Genovia with the three girls from The Plastics.
And Paige, who had been researching artificial intelligence, perhaps found a sense of accomplishment in helping Princess Mia manage the country during this period.
She also chose to stay in Genovia, continuing to research artificial intelligence while offering advice to Queen Mia.
Time slowly passed for another two weeks.
On this day, Mike received a call from Mr. Lundy from the Titanic film crew.
"Is your movie finished filming?" Mike estimated the time; according to Director Cameron's schedule, Titanic should be nearly done with filming by now.
Next, it should be about film editing and promotion.
"The movie is only a few major scenes away from being finished, but there's been a small accident..." Mr. Lundy's tone on the phone was a bit strange: "Due to budget overruns, Director Cameron and Morgan had a dispute, and the filming of the remaining scenes was forced to stop."
Mr. Lundy was now with the King Agency and had been assigned to the film crew, partly to learn Director Cameron's techniques, and partly to represent Mike, a shareholder, to monitor the film's progress.
Now that the filming had essentially halted, he naturally had to report to Mike.
"They had a falling out? Tell me the specifics," Mike asked, concerned.
With Mike's current wealth, he didn't care about the film's profitability.
However, this major film was the King Agency's first step in officially making a name for itself, so even for the sake of reputation, Mike couldn't just stand by and watch the film run into problems.
"From what I understand, Morgan invested in several other small to medium-budget films over the past six months, so he probably doesn't have much capital left," Mr. Lundy revealed in a lowered voice. "But Director Cameron is a perfectionist. He plans to make the remaining scenes of Titanic into classic shots, which will cost a lot more money..."
Well, it all came down to money in the end.
Morgan had cleverly taken advantage of Mike earlier, acquiring more shares in Titanic through a bundled deal.
If handled properly, he could indeed save a portion of the budget and then get a larger share of the film's profits.
However, the problem also lay there: Morgan voluntarily took on the remaining filming budget and promotional costs for Titanic, which also involved some gambling.
And now, he had encountered a director like Cameron, who was very good at burning money when making films.
Now, instead of gaining an advantage, he had to invest more money, and Morgan, who was already out of funds, was naturally unwilling.