Furina A looked at the sleeping Furina, then glanced at the carriage gradually approaching the Court of Fontaine, and pondered for a few seconds.
She finally went over to Furina, who was lying in the inner space, and gently shook her a few times. As Furina's limbs showed a slight reaction and she was about to wake up, Furina A quickly slipped back to her own section of the red sofa, unwrapped a bag of snacks, and began eating nonchalantly.
"Mmm... mmm." Following a few murmurs from Furina, she slowly woke up. Seeing herself lying in the inner space, she was so startled that she immediately jumped up.
"Oh no, oh no, how did I fall asleep, and even sleep inside the inner space!"
Furina's consciousness immediately returned to reality. Only when she saw the carriage slowly stopping and realized no one was around to wake her up did she exhale a breath of relief.
"So, who woke me up?"
As if realizing a possibility, her consciousness jumped back to the inner space, and her gaze slowly shifted to Furina A.
Furina A: "It wasn't me! I didn't do it! Don't make things up!"
... The next morning, the Hydro Archon's office.
"Ugh, isn't Neuvillette here? Why do I have to come here! There's no trial today!" Furina rubbed her eyes, highly dissatisfied with Furina A's actions.
"Hey! Did you forget? You're supposed to discuss the reforms with Neuvillette today!" Furina A snapped, annoyed. Furina had clearly arranged the meeting time with Neuvillette yesterday, but she had forgotten it overnight.
"Ah, right." Furina remembered and gave Furina A an awkward smile.
"Hmph!" Furina A sat on the sofa, ignoring Furina.
"Knock, knock, knock." A knocking sound came, and Ielle opened the door, stepping slightly inside. "Lady Furina, Monsieur Neuvillette has arrived."
"Alright, I understand. Let him in." Furina instantly became serious, adjusted her attire, and sat up straighter.
Neuvillette slowly walked in, sat down across from Furina, and said, "Lady Furina, I am here."
"Following your suggestion yesterday, I carefully studied Fontaine's current political system upon my return and found that it does indeed suffer from certain drawbacks, such as inefficiency."
"Mhm, exactly." Furina nodded, looking proud. "How could the ideas of a deity possibly be wrong?"
Neuvillette felt slightly speechless at Furina's reaction—praise her twice, and she starts soaring to the heavens... Nevertheless, he continued, "Let us address this issue first. I have already conceived a preliminary idea yesterday."
"That is—the council system."
"The council system? Isn't that the system we already have?" Furina asked, confused. Having dealt with many official documents, Furina had some understanding of Fontaine's current political structure.
"No," Neuvillette shook his head. "To be precise, it should be called: The Pseudo-Council System."
"The original council truly held significant power, but the modified council can only handle minor, ancillary matters. Major issues must be reported and decided upon by you and me."
"Oh, so you mean this current council has almost no major authority, yet it functions to help us handle a lot of troublesome affairs?"
Furina was quite clever; she quickly grasped Neuvillette's meaning.
"Mhm. Now that you understand the concept, we need to discuss this system further, for example, the composition of the council members."
"I envision the council members being composed of the five Chief Justices (the heads of the five major organizations): the Marechaussee Phantom, the Palais Mermonia, the Court of Arbitration, the Court of Appeals, and the Court of Revision. We would also establish a separate Secretariat responsible for recording and relaying information, with the five Chief Justices rotating monthly as the Council President."
After hearing him out, Furina consulted Furina A regarding any potential improvements.
Furina A pondered for a moment, realized there were indeed areas for improvement, and instructed Furina to repeat her words.
"Ahem, your idea is excellent," Furina puffed out her chest. "However, as the Archon Focalors, I have a few proposals for refinement."
"Although the council exists primarily as a functional tool, having only five members is too few. I suggest that 2 to 3 members from each major court join the council."
"Furthermore, the council should be granted the right to discuss certain major national affairs, though without the power of decision. This allows us to consider issues more comprehensively."
"Finally, to prevent the council from misleading us, the position of Secretariat must be filled by the person we trust the most."
After saying all this, Furina looked confidently at Neuvillette, her face clearly saying, "Go on, praise me."
Neuvillette pondered for a moment. When he realized how sound her reasoning was, he was genuinely shocked. He hadn't expected Furina to actually propose constructive suggestions. After this interaction, Neuvillette's impression of Furina had changed.
"Lady Furina, what you said is indeed very reasonable. I will make modifications based on these suggestions."
"Now, let us move to the second item for discussion."
"I personally (as a Dragon) highly appreciate the method used in yesterday's trial, where government personnel acted as the accusers. Lady Furina, do you have any thoughts on expanding this into a new institution?"
Furina hadn't considered this issue, but Furina A had mentioned it to her before, so she immediately relayed the idea to Neuvillette.
Furina: Hehe! Isn't the idea of my other self also my idea?
"Of course, I do!" Furina said, raising her tone slightly. "I will name this new institution the 'Court of Supervision' (Jianlüting), which, as the name implies, is responsible for overseeing the law."
"Its main functions include supervising the legality of trials conducted by the Prosecutor's Office, filing lawsuits against crimes committed by public officials and major criminal cases. It will be subordinate to the Court of Arbitration and operate as a parallel institution to the Prosecutor's Office."
Neuvillette considered the feasibility of implementing this institution. Finding that its establishment could increase the fairness of Fontaine's legal system, he recorded it for further refinement.
"The tentatively named next new institution is the 'Court of Discipline' (Jianjiting). Its main function is to supervise Fontaine's public officials to ensure compliance with laws and regulations, and it possesses certain powers of investigation and arrest."
Neuvillette picked up his glass, took a sip of high-quality Fontaine water, and continued:
"The reason for establishing this institution is the notable disciplinary issues present within Fontaine's civil service. Although those with the most severe problems were tried yesterday, this does not mean others can escape judgment. With this institution, a powerful deterrent is formed against illegal acts by civil servants, and simultaneously, it will expedite the efficiency of handling violations committed by public officials."
Furina agreed with his reasoning, but she added, "Neuvillette, the number of civil servants with existing issues in the current Fontaine civil service is not small, especially among grassroots officials. Their problems aren't severe. If we arrest them all, the operations of Fontaine will immediately cease."
"It would be better to focus primarily on criticism and education for them. During this special period, we can appropriately reduce the severity of the law."
Although doing so compromised justice, Neuvillette had to agree with Furina's point of view.
The young Dragon, newly introduced to society, pondered this.
"Very well, let us conclude this topic here. Lady Furina, do you have anything else to add?" Neuvillette slowly asked.
"Mmm... actually, yes," Furina replied. "I have decided to establish a department directly under me, specifically tasked with addressing and investigating the prophecy crisis."
When mentioning the prophecy, Furina's tone involuntarily deepened.
"Mhm, a very reasonable idea." Neuvillette didn't dwell on it; he was also aware of the prophecy, but he currently didn't know what attitude he should adopt when facing it.
Their conversation concluded, and Neuvillette turned and left. He still needed to refine the laws and seek the opinions of others to finally form a comprehensive new system...