Chapter 214: Westphalia 4

After the light greetings, the group entered the reception room inside the prince’s palace.

There, Friedrich and Santana took separate rooms to converse among themselves, while Cazerus and Elizabeth also found separate spaces for conversation between the women.

This was the first time the two women had directly met.

However, since their husbands were already quite friendly, the shared thought was that the women might as well deepen their acquaintance as well.

As a result, having set up guards outside the entrance, they calmly began conversing with tea cups and snacks laid out before them.

“I have heard much about you, Madame Cazerus. They say you met Lord Santana Andreas in quite a unique way?”

“Yes, that’s right. I happened to meet him by chance during a brief childhood escapade. After going through various processes, we ended up bound by a political marriage.”

“How remarkable… it sounds like a story from a fairy tale.”

“But you, Madame Elizabeth, are said to have an excellent relationship with Lord Friedrich. You even have as many as 13 children, I hear? I can only envy that.”

“Hohoho… We have been married for so long, and my husband is quite extraordinary in many ways.”

Elizabeth spoke with a slightly reddened face, full of pride.

Although there were political aspects too, the number of children she had borne far exceeded any other noble houses on the continent.

Moreover, she still maintained her feminine beauty despite all those childbirths.

In that regard, Cazerus genuinely felt envious of the woman before her.

“I too have been married to Lord Santana for over two years now, but there has been no news of children yet. In that sense, I can only envy you in many ways.”

She too wished to have children with Santana as soon as possible, but it had not been so easy.

Moreover, sitting right beside her now was the formidable rival Estel, who had just recently married Santana.

From that perspective, the sight of Elizabeth with so many children despite having no concubines made her an ideal wife in Cazerus’s eyes.

On the other hand, at Cazerus’s heartfelt praise, Elizabeth showed a slightly pleased smile, while also revealing a hint of ‘envy’ herself.

“You honor me with those words. But is it not you, Madame Cazerus, who is the wife of the renowned Lord Santana Andreas? A husband with the ability to shake the entire continent’s landscape… Personally, I have long envied that aspect.”

“Ahahaha…”

Cazerus awkwardly laughed at the rather tricky compliment.

Although she could not openly express it, as Elizabeth said, Santana’s abilities were already widely acknowledged across the continent.

The man who had effectively led the decade-long war according to his will.

Nearly all his plans had succeeded, with the result being the tremendous butterfly effect of the Emperor’s downfall.

Yet… on the other hand, the accomplishments of Elizabeth and Friedrich before her eyes were utterly meager.

Their first move of liberating Bohemia ended with Friedrich’s recklessly moved Palatinate forces suffering immense losses.

Furthermore, during Friedrich’s absence, the Palatinate fell to the betrayal of the mercenary king Mansfeld they had hired, leaving Friedrich’s family reduced to guests in Lorraine.

Subsequently, Elizabeth’s ambitious alliance with Chris IV of Marck to turn the tide also ended in complete defeat, unable to even approach the Palatinate.

At best, they managed to maintain their position by winning the defense of Lorraine, but even that owed greatly to the information and tactics provided by Santana in advance, so it could not be considered entirely their achievement.

One side experiencing endless success, the other only failures – between these two, Elizabeth could not help but feel a profound sense of inferiority towards Cazerus.

‘In terms of command, my husband may be one step above, but at this conference, most of the Heretical Alliance’s voice will inevitably go to Santana… his accomplishments have been too remarkable… Ah, if only my husband were a little smarter than he is now, it really would have been better. How did it turn out this way…’

Although she truly loved her husband and had endured these painful times together, she knew Friedrich’s limitations better than anyone.

Excellent in command, appearance, and character, but ill-suited as a ruler in these troubled times.

He had the charm of a man, but lacked the charm of a statesman.

Hence, Elizabeth had made various efforts to compensate for her husband’s shortcomings, but the results were failures not much different from his own.

Feeling regret at that fact, Elizabeth quietly sipped her tea.

And so, with a light yet wistful smile on their lips, the two women felt a tinge of bitterness over what the other had and what they themselves lacked.

“I tell you, even I was terrified back then. Watching all those massive armies being swept away by the river in Lorraine… even though I wasn’t on the receiving end, it was still a hair-raising sight.”

“It must have been quite a spectacle. I too wished I could have seen that scene, it’s a pity I missed out on such an interesting sight.”

Friedrich animatedly recounted his exploits against General Spinola in Lorraine.

Listening to him, I spoke with sincere envy:

“Although I had set up that situation, in this world devoid of TVs or cameras, all I could see were mere scraps of paper reporting the results of battles, not the actual scenes. Even the battle in Bohemia was obscured by fog, preventing me from fully viewing it.”

“Not being able to directly witness those large-scale battles was simply regrettable from my perspective as someone with such romantic notions.”

After roughly finishing the tales of past events, I began discussing the upcoming conference with Friedrich, my comrade in the same Heretical Alliance and ally.

“First of all, if nothing else, Your Highness must regain ownership of the Palatinate. With the Kingdom of France already occupying the Lorraine region, if the position of the neighboring Palatinate becomes shaken, France’s power will grow unchecked.”

“I understand your point. Even if I give up everything else, I will never concede on the Palatinate. That land has belonged to my family for generations. I will not let anyone take it away.”

“Yes, it must be so. I too will do my utmost to assist in that regard. And one more thing…”

“What is it? If you have another request, please say it.”

Effectively having no other desires beyond regaining the Palatinate, Friedrich replied.

However, as the Prince-Elector of the Empire and the leader of the Heretical Alliance, his authority could not be ignored, and I felt the need to make maximum use of it.

‘Give what must be given, and receive what must be received. That is the basic principle of a transaction. In that sense, I… Bohemia cannot miss this opportunity.’

Historically, conferences of this scale were rare occurrences, but at the same time, Bohemia had never before held such a significant voice.

Moreover, although not present here, we had the backing of another major power, the Dragonian Empire.

From that perspective, ever since acknowledging and accepting my identity as the son of Bohemia’s ruler, I had begun preparing to achieve a certain goal I had long envisioned.

That was…