Ch.264To the Edge of the Cliff (4)

[“Since my duty in this fallen empire seems to be complete, Your Majesty, please accept my loyalty.”]

[“…Duke. No, Father-in-law. What is the meaning of this?”]

[“Please do not cast me aside. Here, I present a list of nobles who share my sentiments.”]

I really… have no idea why my father-in-law was acting like that.

He came all the way to Dijon despite his poor health to openly pledge his loyalty in front of everyone, making it impossible to sweep the matter under the rug.

What’s worse, he brought loyalty pledges from other nobles as well, which only intensified the aftermath.

[“Look! The nobles have recognized Your Majesty’s virtue—”]

[“Enough, enough! We are in a state of war, so assemblies cannot be permitted! Everyone disperse!”]

Ugh, it’s dizzying just thinking about it again.

The way everyone took my father-in-law’s loyalty pledge and inserted their own interpretations to create novel theories makes my skin crawl.

What was it… Andy Warhol? They say once you’re famous, you get applause even for defecating—that seems to be my situation now. Though receiving a foreign noble’s loyalty pledge isn’t exactly an insignificant matter.

‘…Anyway, what should I do now?’

Having received such a formal loyalty pledge, I can’t just pacify the mobs and return things to normal like with the letter I sent to the Holy Empire’s Emperor. Actually, I’m not even sure if the Holy Empire would accept that.

From the Holy Empire’s perspective, I armed peasants, used them as vanguards to invade the Empire, and intimidated nobles to steal their vassals.

If they want to end the war, they’ll surely demand the return of the “traitors,” which is obviously a request I cannot grant. I can’t reject nobles who have pledged loyalty to me.

‘I could just ignore it… No, that’s impossible. The peace treaty is important.’

There’s a famous quote from Machiavelli that says you can start a war at will, but you cannot end it at will.

No matter how strong or numerous your forces are, if the enemy nation doesn’t want peace, the war won’t end. This maxim applies even when you’ve destroyed the enemy nation or occupied their entire territory—the inhabitants of occupied territories transform into partisan or resistance militia, causing endless battles.

It’s no coincidence that the Nazis, after conquering France, created the puppet state of Vichy France and made a show of signing a peace treaty. Without such measures, the occupied territories in France would have been overrun with resistance fighters, causing endless headaches.

In theory, you could end a war on your terms by killing all enemy forces and any civilians who rebel… but that level of firepower wasn’t available on Earth until the early 20th century, around the outbreak of World War I.

Moreover, going beyond killing to outright massacre requires crossing two massive mountain ranges—moral conscience and cost—and even after that painful crossing, there’s no benefit to be gained. No sane person would have reason to do such a thing.

For these reasons, a peace treaty with the Empire is not just essential but absolutely necessary. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life—or Lothar’s life—suffering from Empire guerrillas.

Sigh… I should send a letter to the Holy Empire’s Emperor explaining my situation and requesting dialogue.

I doubt the undoubtedly furious Holy Empire Emperor will accept my request, but since taking this position, I’ve realized that without information exchange, we’re bound to misunderstand each other. It’s better than not sending anything.

“…Could you repeat that?”

“The Holy Empire has accepted Your Majesty’s request and sent a reply suggesting we set a date for negotiations. It bears the Emperor’s seal, and judging by the appearance of the messenger who delivered it, it was certainly sent by the Emperor.”

I thought so, but… what’s this?

Wait… why would they accept? I did send the letter, but this makes no sense.

……….

“Greetings, Sovereign of Lotharing. I am Lorenzo Spinola, Chancellor of the Holy Empire, entrusted with full authority for these negotiations.”

“…Pleased to meet you. I am Claude, Emperor of Lotharing.”

“Sovereign,” huh? He really doesn’t want to acknowledge me as Emperor.

Well, if any other country had spoken like that, I would have taken offense, but I can understand the Holy Empire’s position—acknowledging my imperial title would spell the end of their nation.

He didn’t call me King of Lotharing, just Sovereign, which is something I can certainly overlook.

“I chose to participate directly in these negotiations to avoid any distortion of intentions through intermediaries… but a plenipotentiary representative? The Holy Empire’s Emperor must be quite busy.”

“…Yes, His Majesty has many matters to attend to, so he granted me full authority for these negotiations.”

‘Many matters to attend to? While doing absolutely nothing but lounging around?’

According to intelligence, the Empire’s Emperor has lost all motivation and is just wasting time in leisure.

Yet he claims to be too busy to send a plenipotentiary representative? Even knowing I would attend personally?

This can only be interpreted as fear keeping him away. His days in Dijon must have been quite traumatic.

Well… if he had come, I was planning to give him some of that grape jam he loved so much as a gift. What a shame.

“Ahem, I trust you have already received and reviewed my position in advance.”

“Of course. However, since people’s thoughts can change at any time, I would appreciate if you could confirm your position here.”

“That’s a reasonable request.”

He’s quite meticulous.

Well, despite suffering a crushing defeat, he’s the figure who stepped forward to reform the Empire, enabling the conscription of hundreds of thousands of troops. Such thoroughness is to be expected.

“My thoughts remain unchanged from what I wrote in my letter. I propose maintaining the content of our previous treaty, recognizing the autonomy of vassals who have pledged loyalty to me, and otherwise ceasing hostilities and restoring the previous borders. Would that not be satisfactory?”

“…The return of the vassals must also be included. They are traitors who must be judged by imperial law, and the mobs who committed atrocities in the Holy Empire, brutally slaughtering nobles, must also be punished under imperial law.”

“Hmm…”

Is he genuinely making this claim, or just pushing hard to gain an advantage in negotiations?

According to my intelligence, Lorenzo is the type who would discard tradition like an old shoe for the sake of practicality. So why make demands he knows I won’t accept? Ah, it’s a negotiation tactic.

I should play along for now.

“That is impossible. These nobles pledged their loyalty to me of their own free will, independently of this war. If I were to ruthlessly cast them aside, wouldn’t my reputation and prestige plummet? As for the mobs, while they violated Holy Empire law, they also violated Lotharing law, so that too is impossible.”

“…”

Yes, I know I’m hardly qualified to speak about reputation, but could you please stop staring at me silently like that?

“Of course, I understand this damages the trust between neighbors. Therefore, I offer something of value to the Empire in exchange.”

“…If it’s enough to compensate for the loss of vassals, I might consider it.”

“How about this?”

I had anticipated this situation and ordered my officials to investigate items we could offer as compensation. Fortunately, their work wasn’t in vain.

“Let me see… Gasp!?”

“Isn’t this more than adequate? It will surely be of great help in post-war reconstruction.”

I focused on providing grain to solve the famine caused by failed harvests, along with seeds and various tools, structured to ensure the goods wouldn’t end up primarily in nobles’ hands. The quantity might be somewhat excessive… but I’ll consider it atonement for the Empire suffering through two wars due to my mistakes.

Besides, it’s not good for a neighboring country to suffer too much poverty.

Poverty narrows people’s thinking, and that narrowed thinking often leaves only aggression.

“T-this is— Ahem, Your Majesty. However, regarding the vassals—”

“I don’t enjoy unseemly negotiations that chase every last detail. Wouldn’t it be better to be satisfied with this?”

“…”

Lorenzo’s mouth snaps shut instantly.

Well… I understand that gradually increasing demands is the traditional negotiation method, but one should read the situation.

What if he had pushed for more here?

“And if these negotiations are accepted, it would be good to proceed with the succession of titles that has been suspended. Of course, the princes haven’t grown enough to be independent, so I intend to send regents to govern until they become proper adults. What do you think?”

“…That is impossible. Such regents would strongly reflect the Lotharing sovereign’s intentions, which would be no different from acknowledging a foreign ruler’s governance within the Holy Empire.”

“What if the regents weren’t determined unilaterally by me, but through negotiations with the Holy Empire? Also, distribute the resources as the Holy Emperor sees fit. For the suffering common people rather than nobles, of course. Is there any other issue?”

“…No, let’s proceed that way.”

Look at him trembling with fear that I might use these resources to restore the princes’ territories rather than for the entire Empire.

Why would I do that? I could just send resources directly if that were my intention.