Ch.644Episode 23 – The Spy Who Returned from the Cold Country

## Consular Access Rights

There’s something called consular access rights.

When a foreign suspect is arrested or detained by investigative authorities, it’s their right to notify their country’s diplomatic mission (also called consular office) and receive legal assistance.

This access right, typically requested by people who violate unfamiliar local laws abroad, is surprisingly available to government officials as well. And intelligence agencies make the most effective use of it.

No matter what espionage crimes they’ve committed, a foreigner is still a foreigner. If diplomatic relations are respected, consular access requests are naturally accepted without issue.

This has been a long-standing tradition since the Cold War era. Even the KGB during the Soviet era allowed a female CIA intelligence officer arrested in Moscow to meet with her consul.

Similarly, the CIA willingly helped KGB intelligence officers with consular support and even attorney appointments. When this wasn’t possible (between countries without diplomatic relations), they resolved these issues through international organizations.

Of course, when they detained someone at some base for torture, they ruthlessly ignored these rights.

Anyway.

It goes without saying that I also had the freedom to use this right.

Although intelligence agencies like the Guardian Office sometimes ignored this (Russia’s FSB is notorious for this), and they traditionally rejected consular access requests regardless of how much the Abbas embassy protested.

But today was different.

They approved the consul’s access to the interrogation room without much deliberation, in just 30 minutes.

How was this possible?

The reason was extremely simple.

“…So, sir, you’re saying you heard about Elizaveta Nikolayevna’s plan but didn’t participate?”

(You weren’t planning to join Elizaveta’s coup, right?)

“Yes. I was quite taken aback when she suddenly proposed a coup. I just made excuses and stalled, but you misunderstood.”

(I’m telling you I wasn’t.)

“Oh my, you must have been through a lot. That’s good. You did well.”

(Good, let’s work well together from now on.)

The intelligence authorities of Abbas and Kiyen were in cahoots.

In other words, they were playing a rigged game.

## Episode 23 – The Spy Who Returned from the Cold Country

To explain the secret cooperative relationship between the two countries’ intelligence agencies, we need to review how this situation has unfolded.

As soon as I received Princess Anastasia’s meeting request through the Kiyen Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I immediately crossed over to the Empire.

There, I met with Princesses Anastasia, Elizaveta, and Margarita in sequence.

As a representative of the Abbas government, I carefully reviewed the proposals presented by the three princesses.

Interestingly, even before these meetings took place, the Abbas government had already predicted what proposals the three princesses would make.

“In such turbulent times, if a princess with succession rights requests a secret meeting, there aren’t many possibilities. One of them would be instigating a coup.”

Just before departing for the Kiyen Empire.

“What do you mean by instigating a coup?”

“Direct assassination of the Crown Prince, government-level support for succession to the throne, monitoring other royal family members’ movements, things like that. Anyway, the reason I called you today is simple.”

Having arrived at the Military Intelligence Office under the pretext of work cooperation as a former defense attaché, I received orders from Leoni to act with caution.

“If the princess requests our intervention in the Empire’s internal affairs, don’t directly agree to the proposal. Under no circumstances leave evidence that our government participated in the imperial succession.”

“……”

The instruction was neither to accept nor reject a coup proposal.

More precisely—

“Try to persuade the princess to interpret our intentions ‘favorably’ as much as possible.”

“…Are you saying I should deceive her into misinterpreting the government’s intentions? We’re talking about a Kiyen royal here.”

“That’s exactly why we need to deceive her.”

Leoni replied indifferently, leaning to one side.

“Who would be crazy enough to participate in the Empire’s succession change? It’s obvious that if news of our involvement in that conspiracy reaches the Imperial Guardian Office, they’ll immediately find out. Changing the Emperor isn’t exactly a supreme mission worth engaging in all-out war with the Imperial Army.”

From the beginning, the Abbas intelligence agency had no interest in changing imperial succession.

More precisely, while they would closely monitor “who” ascends to the Emperor’s position, they showed no interest in “whom” to place on the throne.

After all, the Abbas government had already been severely burned by subversion operations in the Mauritania continent decades ago.

“We barely got approval for the Magic Tower project despite opposition from the cabinet and parliament. Overthrowing the Kiyen government, which has five major security agencies alive and well, unlike the Magic Tower that’s nothing without magic? Neither the big house nor the small house would suggest such a thing. If they did, the Treasury would obviously cut next year’s intelligence budget.”

“…Isn’t it just that the success probability compared to the objective was ridiculously low, so you didn’t even consider it?”

“Even if conditions aligned perfectly, regime change there isn’t a project we should take on. We have no intention of doing it, and frankly, we don’t want to. That’s still true now. Honestly, I’m afraid the princess’s side might cause trouble.”

“Yet you’re ordering me to leave room for interpretation.”

Abbas had absolutely no intention of participating if a coup occurred in the Kiyen Empire.

If a rebellion broke out, they only planned to pressure the border region with some suitable pretext, or to begin negotiations to obtain the most favorable conditions after identifying who seized power.

But Leoni ordered me “not to directly accept the coup proposal, but also not to flatly reject it.”

What does this mean?

It means testing the waters with the imperial succession candidates.

Since they didn’t know who would become the next Emperor, to secure an advantageous position in future negotiations by forming positive relationships with the Abbas government—

To step back from a coup they had no intention of participating in, while ensuring that even if the coup failed, no blame would fall on Abbas—

While giving the princess the impression that we were cooperating with each other.

And that was ultimately my mission as well.

“……”

A situation where just a few wrong words could entangle the country in another nation’s civil war.

At best, I would be captured by the Guardian Office during practical negotiations, resulting in the Foreign Ministry denouncing Abbas, and at worst, the armies of both sides could engage in all-out war.

At this point,

I recalled advice I had received long ago from my uncle.

Advice left by a former defense attaché to Russia, a Russia expert who had been responsible for Eastern European outposts of the Intelligence Command, while emptying a glass of soju.

‘Hey, do you know what the real charm of your diplomatic rhetoric is?’

‘I know you’ll tell me even if I don’t ask. What is it?’

‘If you choose just a few words ca-arefully, you can ignite others’ happiness circuits like crazy. Even without me explicitly agreeing to what the other person said, they’ll spontaneously combust on their own, that’s what I mean.’

‘…Why dress it up like that when you could just say it’s a good technique for swindling people?’

‘You little punk?’

Nation-level legal contract fraud.

This is the subtlety of diplomatic rhetoric that I needed right now.

*

There’s a very famous saying in the global diplomatic community.

‘Diplomacy is the patriotic act of lying for one’s country, and a diplomat is an honest person sent abroad to lie for their country.’

A monumental saying that when others do it, it’s fraud and double-dealing, but when they openly lie themselves, it’s patriotism and legitimate diplomatic work.

A similar example would be those ghost-like civil servants who normally disregard foreign sovereignty by engaging in assassination, kidnapping, torture, confidential information theft, sabotage, and illegal entry, but come spring, they hand out job applications (with patriotic pay included) to innocent fresh graduates with sugar-coated words like “This workplace is really great~ Come join us^^”.

Anyway.

Diplomatic rhetoric was not a textbook for fraudulent contracts designed for “legitimate diplomatic work” by diplomatic officials… Rather, it was a kind of etiquette designed to reduce unnecessary friction in bilateral relations.

The interesting fact is that the diplomatic community’s unique way of speaking sometimes creates confusion even among fellow diplomats.

Due to misunderstandings about the true intentions contained in a few metaphors and words, there are oc-ca-sionally incidents where people ignite their own happiness circuits in a direction favorable to themselves.

This is a very strange phenomenon defined in psychology as Wishful Thinking Bias.

Having received instructions from Military Intelligence, I continued my contacts with the princesses, recalling the advice my uncle had given me.

‘You want the Emperor’s position and need help? Yes, well. I’ll report it to my country for now.’

When Anastasia first demanded Abbas government intervention to drive out the imperial succession candidates, I avoided giving a direct answer by saying I would report it to my country—

‘You promise benefits in exchange for corresponding support? That’s beyond my authority… I’ve heard your proposal well, so a positive response from above should come soon.’

When Elizaveta and Margarita revealed their blueprints to me with attractive proposals, I stepped back saying I would review them positively—

‘How much longer do we have to wait for a decision? Well. The Prime Minister and Foreign Ministry are reviewing it positively, but even I don’t know exactly when a conclusion will be reached…’

When asked when a conclusion might be reached, I evaded by saying discussions were ongoing in my country, so I wasn’t sure.

I strictly adhered to using ambiguous expressions as much as possible, completely avoiding intuitive and clear language like “yes” or “no.”

Diplomatic rhetoric is generally like that, but in a situation like this, giving a clear-cut answer would not be wise.

That’s just common sense, isn’t it?

If I were to answer “Sure, let’s do it!” to the princesses’ question “Will you make me Emperor?”

If the conversation were leaked to the press or reached the Imperial Guardian Office, my life would be over that very day.

I would serve prison time in Kiyen on charges of participating in a conspiracy to overthrow the imperial family, and after returning to Abbas, accusations of attempting to change another country’s regime twice would haunt me.

The Abbas government would be no different. In addition to strong condemnation from the Kiyen Foreign Ministry, the international community would say, “Are you up to your old tricks again?” The country’s international credibility would plummet, and the Prime Minister with his precarious political position would clearly have to offer his head.

…But what if I used diplomatic rhetoric?

‘While your proposal is extremely interesting, it will take some time to adequately support it from our government’s side and to prepare the necessary resources and requirements that your proposal needs.’

‘This matter is beyond my authority, so I must report it to my country. For now, I will review your proposal while monitoring domestic and international situations.’

On the surface, it might seem like the Abbas government was saying, “We want to stage a coup! But to help you, we need preparation, and we need to understand the Crown Prince’s movements and our allies’ intentions, so it will take some time!”

But in reality, it gave no confirmation whatsoever.

I said the proposal was very interesting and that I would review it, but nowhere did I actually say we would help.

All I essentially said was, “It’s an interesting proposal. The government will review it. We have our circumstances, so please understand that it will take some time~”

Fortunately, the princesses were quite satisfied with this word-play response.

More precisely, Elizaveta and Margarita were.

They apparently never imagined the Abbas government would deceive them. Considering that Elizaveta even boasted to some of her close associates about securing our cooperation.

“…Are you certain Elizaveta said that?”

-‘Employees dispatched to the embassy succeeded in eavesdropping. The security people had taken measures, but it wasn’t difficult enough to be impenetrable.’

“She took the bait well.”

-‘From her perspective, there was no reason for us to refuse, I suppose. Well, we did hope she would misunderstand that way from the beginning.’

It was an understandable judgment.

After all, there was no reason for the Abbas government not to cooperate with someone who was reasonable and high in the power hierarchy. That was true from a common-sense perspective.

The problem was that the Abbas government had absolutely no intention of intervening in the Kiyen Empire’s succession change.

As I had consistently laid the groundwork, we only wished for the Kiyen Empire to stabilize as soon as possible. Preferably with someone, whether the Crown Prince or anyone else, filling Nicholas VI’s vacant position, and ideally through a peaceful and quiet succession process.

The Empire was already considerably damaged by five years of conflict.

It would clearly take significant time just to stabilize internal affairs, so why would we need to grab a lion by the mane and drag it out of its den when it wouldn’t even come out?

Of course, Elizaveta was not in a position to care about such circumstances.

This wasn’t because she lacked the insight to read international situations, but because she had lost the luxury of understanding the Abbas government’s intentions.

“According to the High Priest, the Republic of Ashtistan will not support Princess Elizaveta. Yes. This is interpreted as the background for her desperate attempt to eliminate Princess Margarita.”

The High Priest, a traditional ally of Kiyen who was supposed to play an important role in her blueprint, had pulled out.

After having her request flatly rejected, Elizaveta proposed cooperation to the Abbas government even through lies, and when I kept delaying my answer and buying time, she became impatient and took the reckless step of instigating her sister’s assassination.

“According to the original plan, she would have drawn in Ashtistan to confront us and then withdrawn troops from the Mauritania continent. But when the High Priest objected, saying what did it matter whether they withdrew troops or not…”

-‘She was worried that her attempt to recruit us through lies would be discovered.’

“She probably thought if her diplomatic abilities were judged inadequate, Abbas would start looking for other options. Having obtained advance information that Princess Margarita would contact me at the ball, she must have become anxious.”

-‘Eliminate a strong competitor, shift the blame and charges to the Crown Prince. Smarter than she looks. Quick to respond.’

Her judgment was swift and her decisions bold.

Nevertheless, the government did not withdraw its existing plan.

The higher-ups were actually pleased.

Because the perfect opportunity to shift responsibility had conveniently rolled into their arms.

*

The day after the Imperial Security Police arrested the only daughter of Count Zubov on charges of instigating assassination.

I received a call from Clevins.

-‘I received the report. One of Elizaveta’s closest confidants contacted the Security Police?’

“Yes.”

-‘I’m on my way to meet the Director of the First Department and the Kiyen Consul General stationed in our country. He’s a senior official from the Guardian Office dispatched here.’

His business was brief and clear.

-‘I think our friends there would also find the photos you uploaded interesting, what do you think?’

“I know you’ll hide the source when you pass them on anyway. I don’t mind.”

So we leaked some information to the Imperial Guardian Office.

The fact that Elizaveta’s closest confidant had a secret meeting with the Security Police.

The fact that many of the officials who appeared at the same location coincidentally ended up handling Angelica Zubov’s case, and so on.

The Imperial Guardian Office, caught off guard by the Security Police’s unexpected investigation announcement, showed surprisingly little reaction.

However,

“…As the investigation proceeds, there may be related parties who need to apply for consular access rights. I recommend reviewing the relevant provisions in advance.”

“Suspects? Witnesses?”

“Whatever they may be, I carefully mention that our judicial authorities’ prosecution opinions will be in a direction that considers the impact on relations between the Abbas government and the Kiyen government, in a fair and just manner.”

A few days later, the Consul General who requested another meeting with Clevins left after making this statement.

And as time passed, today finally arrived.

“…No. What kind of chicken leg is this? It’s not goblin food, is this a pigeon or what?”

Visiting the Imperial Guardian Office interrogation room accompanied by the consul, who was the Royal Intelligence Agency station chief, I paused while scribbling my signature on the statement and waved a half-bitten chicken leg.

For reference, the consul was sipping a carbonated drink with his arm draped over the chair back.

The Imperial Guardian Office investigator, who was chewing on chicken breast, wiped the grease from his hands with a tissue and handed me a pen.

“Here, here, and here. Just sign the marked sections.”

“After writing this, I can go home, right?”

“Yes. Would you like the investigation result notice sent to the embassy? Or would you like to take it with you when you leave?”

“I would appreciate it if you could send it to the embassy.”

The time it took from arrest to consular access request, suspect questioning, return home, and the decision not to prosecute (due to lack of evidence or failure to meet crime requirements) was just 9 hours.

After going through a swift, reasonable, and fair investigation process that rivaled a drive-thru service.

I finally succeeded in,

“Take care~”

“Get home safely.”

Securing a free pass to Elizaveta’s personal guillotine.