Other nations were in their own share of trouble too. Not only did the Empire have the agricultural and manufacturing power to meet domestic demand, they had glutted on the east—a veritable trove of gold and silver—to pay for their foreign spending too. There were many countries that wouldn’t want to see the Empire exert further hegemony. Even if they couldn’t topple the Empire, they could lay stones or dig holes on the path forward. The Empire employed the same methods, so it was no real surprise.
“We need to find the root of this and get rid of them. It’s clear that some intelligence agencies are at work,” I said.
“The One Cup Clan and Miss Nakeisha are working overtime without sleep, I hear.”
“Yeah. Marquis Donnersmarck is owed more than a few favors all over the region now.”
I needed to help keep the Empire aloft to protect my children, and so I’d stayed here in Marsheim making sure things didn’t go sideways. Lady Agrippina was really a slippery figure—she had drawn up plans which would allow her to benefit even if the Empire royally screwed up. I appreciated the help, but that smirk of hers suggested she was thinking of something untoward. I was sure she was thinking of using the west as a testing ground for some new kind of weapon. This would speed up her own work and allow her to pass along her dull responsibilities to her subordinates; a great result, in her eyes. I supposed I should be happy that she didn’t like to be underestimated. If not, she would have purposely screwed the pooch and accepted a demotion so she could bow out.
“Wouldn’t it be dangerous to have Soult settle quarrels as a stand-in during times like these?” Margit said.
“Countess Homburg is a supporter of Margrave Marsheim and has serious pull in Berylin. I feel confident having someone powerful by her side.”
“Now that he’s an adult, you’re making him work just like you. What a cruel papa you are,” Margit said with a chuckle.
I stroked her head and told her that she was the one who set up the whole thing in the first place, who had set it all in motion. If I’d made different choices, I imagined things would be greatly different right now. In all honesty, I didn’t know if that would have led things toward a positive direction for me or for the Empire.
“That boy needs to learn what a bit of hard work is. When we were his age, we had our own share of hardships, didn’t we?”
“Be that as it may, you’re sending him somewhere quite frightening.”
“He took himself there, the fool. He thinks with his other head. I wonder where he gets it from...”
Margit laughed again and I stroked her lips with a finger. I didn’t think it was that funny.
“If we’re going on an excursion, we’ll need to bring some ground bait.”
“Agreed. There are loads of people baying for my blood, so we need to do some work to reduce the load for our spies.”
It wouldn’t be funny if they were too exhausted to protect the margrave from another poisoning.
“This isn’t my style, but we can stretch it out for a few days. We can leave the kids with someone on the way and do a little hunting excursion, adults only.”
“We can slip out and make use of their weaknesses,” Margit said.
“And seeing as we’re going on a hunt, would you prefer for your new scarf to be made from rabbit or fox fur?” I said.
“Both would be nice,” my greedy wife said as she buried her face in my neck.
It sure was something, being the chief breadwinner.
“We can leave things in Siegfried’s hands while we’re away and make sure Kaya continues her medical treatment of Nanna,” I went on.
There was so much to do. Ende Erde still wasn’t a salubrious place. Not only that, the head of the Baldur Clan, Nanna, had finally started to see the results of her years of self-neglect and the side effects of her new creations; she’d collapsed recently. In doing so she’d thrown the underworld into a bit of a tizzy. She was on death’s doorstep, but we needed to drag her soul back so she could help bring peace to Marsheim. Kaya had vowed to make sure Nanna survived. We still needed to buy a whole bunch of high-quality medical ingredients. It was an ordeal just keeping everything that needed to be done in mind.
“And then, and then...” I muttered.
“You should rest.”
“You think...?”
I enjoyed Margit’s and Iseult’s warmth as I looked past the curtains of my bed. Soon a drowsiness came for me. Before I knew what was going on, the curtains were drawn—enchanted to block out the noise from outside—and my sheets were pulled over me.
“Yeah... Maybe you’re right...”
“I am. So let’s all sleep together. It’s been a while.”
“All right...”
Margit... My beloved partner. Is this how your favorite prey sleeps? Or are you disappointed in what I’ve become? As she gave me a smile that was the same as it had ever been, I couldn’t find an answer. All I could tell was that the warmth of them felt nice. It drew me into the first deep sleep I’d experienced in a long while.
[Tips] Wolf Pack Erich came to be known by this teasing epithet due to his popularity with the ladies and the deeds of his many talented children on his behalf across the known world. The fact that he lived his life without specifying which of his lines was his “true” lineage spoke of the love he held for each of his children.
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