He was staring at Anne, who pointed a finger at herself blankly.
“Me?” she asked, perplexed.
Marius nodded. “This is awkward for me to say, but you still are the seventh imperial princess.”
“Indeed. Though admittedly, I’d like to forget about my status.”
She sounded firm; obviously, she was off the record and keeping her position a secret (though her identity wasn’t all that much of a secret since she didn’t disguise herself). That didn’t matter here, though—we were discussing highly confidential matters anyway, and anything said wouldn’t leave this room. There were no concerns of our conversation being recorded either, so unless it was written down somewhere, everything would be hearsay.
As an imperial princess, Anne must know the weight of what she just said, though...
Camilo and Marius weren’t the only ones present—the margrave was too, and the idea that Anne wanted to abandon her title must’ve been big news to him. If Anne was serious about her claim, the margrave would, undoubtedly, find a way to allow her to officially live in the kingdom, no questions asked. But neither Camilo nor the margrave seemed eager to take advantage of Anne’s words, and they seemed as unfazed as Marius went on with his request.
“In other words, you’re higher ranked than the envoy,” he said.
“As long as my older brothers and sisters don’t come,” Anne replied.
She was the seventh imperial princess, and as her title implied, she had six older siblings. I think I’ve heard of two of them, but she must have quite a few older brothers too. And in terms of hierarchy, they ranked above Anne. Roughly put, those closest to the throne wielded more power, and if she had any younger brothers, they would rank above her too.
“Any chances that they might make an appearance?” I asked.
Anne shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
She gave an exaggerated slump of her shoulders. Anne had journeyed to my cabin for negotiations, so it wasn’t totally implausible for the sixth imperial princess to come with the envoy. But I was aware that Anne’s case was exceedingly rare and just an exception to the rule. The imperial family won’t leave the imperial stronghold so easily...that is, barring His Imperial Majesty himself.
“Then let’s disregard that possibility for now,” Marius said with a smile. For a moment, the air of the room softened. “In short, I would want you to escalate this matter as a person of the empire.”
Anne narrowed her eyes. “And how exactly would that benefit the empire?”
Before she’d joined my family, she’d occasionally shot us this look, reminiscent of a predator who’d spotted its prey. Anne’s query was an exceedingly simple one. Sure, if she made a fuss, the kingdom could rally behind it and make it into a noble cause. But if the kingdom were to use the intricacies of the imperial princess’s backing to make their argument, any responsibilities that came from it would partially fall upon the empire. And so, needless to say, the payment had to be worth the risk—Anne clearly wasn’t willing to agree to this scheme with nothing in return.
“I’ll prepare a fitting reward,” Marius said. “I can promise you that.”
“And there’ll be a reward for us too, right?” Anne asked.
The two parties smiled, and while it seemed like an amicable conversation, the air was anything but.
“They’re like a snake and a hawk glaring at each other,” Samya muttered.
We all discreetly nodded in agreement.
“Yes, of course,” Marius replied with a nod of his own.
I wasn’t sure if he hadn’t heard Samya’s observation or if he’d decided to ignore it, but Marius pushed the conversation along. The “us” Anne had referred to wasn’t the empire, but our family—Forge Eizo. Frankly, we’d actually received quite a bit of kindness and goodwill from the kingdom. A man like myself, who supposedly hailed from the Nordic region and had provided little to no information about my history, was allowed to live in a mysterious place like the Black Forest, no questions asked. My circumstances were beyond suspicious.
Usually, I’d be tied up and sent back to the Nordic region or be forced to live in the city and kept under strict surveillance. Admittedly, the forest I lived in was a place of secrets within the kingdom—or at least within the area around the city—and it was fairly dangerous too. The perfect place to keep a person hidden from the populace. Still, I felt like this was a give-and-take relationship. I was probably one of the best blacksmiths in this world, though I had my cheats to thank for that, and I provided my goods almost exclusively to the kingdom. I also wasn’t involved in many (only some) political affairs, likely thanks to Marius and Camilo protecting me as much as they could.
And I would bet that the margrave didn’t want to upset Marius either. If Marius strongly requested something, more often than not, the margrave would give in. The two were now related, after all. And who could blame the margrave for spoiling the young, up-and-coming noble whom he had once taken under his wing? The count had now become a part of the margrave’s family. But of course, I suspected that the margrave had plans of his own.
I knew that it was all thanks to the efforts of Marius and Camilo that I wasn’t dragged into any troublesome affairs, and since I was indebted to them for that, I really didn’t need much in return. But saying that here would be a bad call. Practically my entire family (barring Samya) has recently been telling me to take anything people are willing to give me. They’ve been nagging me to no end. And so, I remained silent at Anne’s request.
“First, I can provide the empire with seeds that’ll allow you to grow crops even in the valleys of your nation,” Marius said.
Anne gasped, wide-eyed. “Really?!”
This was a big get for the empire. The landscape there was mountainous, and the flatlands were desolate. Those crops could be a genuine boost to their national power.
“Of course. And we won’t just give them to you,” Marius replied.
“What do you mean?” Anne asked.
The count glanced at the margrave, who gave a composed nod.
“The republic has been acting pretty suspicious these days,” Marius divulged.
“Oh?” I replied. The republic shared borders with both the kingdom and the empire, according to my installed knowledge.
Anne furrowed her brow slightly as she stared at Marius. “Didn’t they maintain a neutral stance against the kingdom and the empire?” she asked.
“Indeed. They were supposed to, at least,” Marius replied. “But recently, they’ve been gathering some troops.”
“They still need weapons and armor, don’t they? I heard that the republic doesn’t have much stockpiled.”
“Precisely.”
As they moved the conversation along, I couldn’t hide my shock. How do the kingdom and the empire both know all this highly confidential information? Are the two nations adept at gathering intel, is the republic just full of openings, or is it a bit of both?
“Ah, I see now,” Anne said with a nod.