“Madam Jeanne,” said Hakuya. “While they pay lip service to the Mankind Declaration, the Principality of Amidonia has been engaging in all of this skullduggery behind the scenes. It’s hard to see how they can talk about revenge against our kingdom after all this.”
“Even when it comes to that revenge, they only bring it up when it benefits them.” I glared at Julius as I spoke, following Hakuya’s example. “‘Our country is poor because of the kingdom, everyone goes hungry because of the kingdom, our people suffer under their heavy toil because of the kingdom, the heavy taxes we levy go to the military and not the people because of the kingdom.’”
“What are you getting at?” Julius demanded.
“It’s awfully convenient,” I said. “If you just use that excuse to pay lip service to the theme of revenge, you can hide your policy blunders and redirect the anger of your people towards Elfrieden.”
“You cur! How dare you say that!” Julius exclaimed, dashing towards me.
“Sir Julius!” Jeanne snapped, stopping him again. Then she turned an equally harsh glance in my direction. “Sir Souma, I believe I asked you not to agitate him.”
“…Sorry,” I said. “It’s just that we want you to see that we’re furious with Amidonia’s behavior, too.”
“That… I can understand,” said Jeanne.
“Thank you,” I said. “Now, I have a proposal.”
I turned to them, as if saying, Now, it’s time to get down to business.
“Could we have Sir Julius leave the room?”
Julius’s face contorted with rage. “Don’t be absurd! Why should I be removed from negotiations that will determine the fate of my nation’s capital?!”
An intelligent and beautiful face showing all that anger was at least fifty percent more intimidating than an ordinary person’s would have been. Before coming to this world, I’d probably have been overwhelmed by his threatening attitude, but… now I had spent around half a year as king, dealing with far scarier people such as Gaius himself, in matters of life and death. After all of that, this level of intimidation wasn’t enough pressure to faze me.
“It’s simple, really,” I said. “I don’t even need to negotiate with Amidonia to begin with.”
“What did you say?!” he shouted.
“I am at the negotiating table because I want the Empire to recognize my sovereignty over Van,” I said. “The Empire takes the position that they can’t recognize the changing of borders due to the exercise of force, so they’re here to negotiate because they want me to return Van, right? In that case, the matter can be settled entirely through negotiations between the kingdom and the Empire.”
This had always been a negotiation between the kingdom and the Empire. The principality had never been more than a sideshow. If his resentment was going to stop the smooth proceeding of the negotiations, I would be happier to see him removed from them. Jeanne seemed to understand this, too.
“…Sir Julius,” she said. “Could I ask you to let me handle this?”
“Madam Jeanne?!” he exclaimed. “But…”
“These negotiations will go nowhere with you both at each other’s throats,” said Jeanne. “The Empire does not wish to spend its time mediating other nations’ disputes. I will definitely reclaim Van, so I would like you to leave this to me.”
“That’s… very one-sided of you, isn’t it?” Julius asked angrily. He seemed ready to keep arguing, but Jeanne cut him right off.
“Then the Empire will have nothing more to do with this matter, and you will be welcome to negotiate for yourself. In my personal opinion, the fault lies with Amidonia on this occasion. We are doing what we can to help you because you’re a signatory to the Mankind Declaration, but if you find yourself unable to trust us, the Empire will withdraw from these negotiations.”
Julius knew the principality could not reclaim Van on its own. If the Empire hinted they might withdraw from the negotiations, there was nothing he could say.
Julius looked anguished, choking out the words, “You will… get Van back for us, yes?”
“I swear it on my sister, Empress Maria Euphoria’s, name.”
“I’m counting on you.” Julius bowed his head to Jeanne, then left the audience chamber.
After we had seen him off, Jeanne and I looked to one another and sighed.
“…I’m sorry,” said Jeanne. “Our signatories can be such a handful.”
“…I feel your pain.”
We both smiled. In order to hide our true feelings, both of us had naturally put on a smile. The dangerous air had vanished from the room, but the air was still as tense as ever. No, if anything, it was more tense now than before.
These talks would decide what was to come from here on for both the kingdom and the Empire, so that was probably inevitable.
“Did you deliberately agitate Julius to set the stage for this, perhaps?” Jeanne asked.
I shook my head with a wry smile. “I meant most of what I said. Thanks to his father and him, the kingdom’s recovery was delayed, and I had to do a lot of unnecessary work. I wanted to vent a little.”
“Is that so?” Jeanne said, not seeming to care all that much. Then Jeanne brought one hand to her chest, giving a polite bow. “Let me introduce myself once more, Sir Souma. I am Jeanne Euphoria, emissary of the Gran Chaos Empire. I come representing my sister Maria Euphoria.”
“Welcome, Madam Jeanne,” I said. “I am the (provisional) King of Elfrieden, Souma Kazuya.”
To start things afresh, Jeanne and I had reintroduced ourselves.
Jeanne had been a little taciturn before, but she now took on a cheerful tone, completely at odds with that. She smiled to Liscia who stood beside me. “I’m relieved to see you are well, Princess Liscia.”
“You seem to be in good health yourself, Madam Jeanne,” Liscia said, returning the smile.
“Hm? You two were acquainted with each other?” I asked.
“Yes,” said Liscia. “We met just once, when we were little. Before the Demon Lord’s Domain appeared, I believe?”
“Yes, it was,” said Jeanne. “If I recall, it was the time I forced the minister in charge of talks with your former king, Sir Albert, to bring me along. Because of our close age, we played together.”
I see, I thought. When they’re both royals, they have those sorts of connections, huh.
Then, Jeanne eyed Liscia’s body up and down and said, “You must be even stronger now than you were back then. I can tell just looking at you.”
“I could say the same of you,” said Liscia. “Back then, I never did manage to land a single hit on you.”
Whoa, hold up! How did we get from the two of them playing to them landing hits on each other?!
“You two were way too tomboyish…” I muttered.
“Even the mild-mannered Marx was mad at us that time,” said Liscia nostalgically.
“Our foreign minister was in tears, too,” Jeanne chuckled. “Ha ha ha!”
No, no, that’s nothing to laugh about… I felt bad for Marx and this minister for the Empire whose face I’d never even seen.
“Well, anyway, that’s enough reminiscing about old times,” Jeanne began. “I think it’s about time we talked heart-to-heart.”
“I know,” I said. “Let’s move somewhere else, for a start.”
I wanted to take this chance to speak frankly with the Empire. In order to make that possible, the meeting site needed to be a spot where both sides would feel comfortable. I was going to want a pen and paper, too.