When he thought of Princess Limepale’s face, his heart suddenly felt heavy for no reason.
She wasn’t as blatant as Montiel Zelma, but she didn’t show any signs of being cunning either.
In the first place, Arkan couldn’t sense anything strange about the Princess, but that fact made him feel even more uneasy.
Grand Duke Joelvi of the duchy was a cautious man. There was no reason for such a person to send his beloved daughter to Vetor with only a maid for no reason.
The Princess apologized for not being able to come to the Grand Duke and his wife, or the successor, the young Duke, but that might not have been true.
In other words, the Grand Duke might have intentionally sent the Princess instead of the young Duke while sending the apology.
But why? Arkan thought. The young Duke, the Grand Duke’s son, was still young, and he had heard rumors that he was ‘immature’ for his age.
So maybe he sent his daughter to prevent a mistake?
“Take her to the reception room.”
Plat immediately retreated. Arkan wiped his ink-stained hands on the cloth, but it didn’t come clean easily.
He dropped a few drops of oil and tried a few more times, then threw the cloth aside as if he was going to quit and went into the reception room.
Princess Limepale was alone. Not only was she without her tall, strangely-looking maid, but she didn’t have a single attendant.
If Plat hadn’t been there, Arkan thought that meeting the Princess would have been very uncomfortable.
“I heard you wanted to see me.”
“Yes, I have something important to tell you.”
The Princess’s voice was cheerful as always, but Arkan realized that her gaze, looking straight up at him, was firm as if she had made up her mind.
The biggest possibility that came to Arkan’s mind at that moment was that the duchy’s finances were in dire straits.
Grand Duke Joelvi wasn’t a man without a sense of reality, but he hadn’t had the luxury of knowing the duchy’s situation in detail recently.
It wasn’t just the duchy, after his marriage had achieved the goal of the entire alliance, the meetings that had been held repeatedly were postponed and the friendly exchanges of the past were slowly disappearing.
Just as he didn’t know that Kensilom and Etonhorn were conspiring with each other, Arkan didn’t know that there was a problem in the duchy.
The maid brought out two cups of warm tea. It was brewed weakly so as not to disturb his sleep.
When Arkan offered it, the Princess held the cups in a very upright posture, took a sip, and put the cups down.
However, there was no formal compliment about the taste or aroma that usually followed.
As if drinking tea was the limit of her leisurely socializing, she sat up straight as soon as she put the cups down and began to speak.
“I think you must have been very embarrassed by my sudden visit. Not just now, but the fact that I suddenly visited Vetor must have been embarrassing.”
Although it was a sharp remark, Arkan nodded indifferently, not taking much notice.
It was something that didn’t need to be said.
Limpale smiled faintly at Arkan’s indifferent attitude.
She had always looked like a lively, curious girl, so her current serious attitude, befitting her age, felt strange.
The Princess took a deep breath and spoke.
“What I’m about to say is not just my will, but the will of the Grand Duke. I came to ask Your Majesty the King of Vetor to further strengthen the alliance with the Duchy on behalf of my father.”
Arkan was surprised inside, but he kept his eyebrows together so as not to show it. He then carefully observed and examined the princess’s expression.
He had to wonder if this was some kind of trap.
After the incident at Kensilom and Etonhorn, Arkan felt that his inner self had changed a little.
He had hoped that if he could enjoy endless peace by blocking the Empire’s advance, trust between the two would be strengthened, but in fact, it was nothing more than a vague hope, and he could not help but admit that the method he had chosen was a temporary measure. He remembered what Erdene had once said to him.
$Do you think there will never be another war?"
He had never thought of such complacency.
He had expected that Tenek would reveal new ambitions at any moment, and he had also thought that he had to prepare for it.
What Arkan had missed was that not only Tenek but also the other allied nations had extremely short patience.
In less than a year, there had been several disputes that had occurred because they were only trying to gain their own interests.
There must have been some that had not even reached Vetor, and if all that was added up, he might have to say that the alliance was already meaningless.
Although it was once solid, it crumbled faster than a sand castle.
Princess Limpale said,
“Your Majesty must have guessed it. You’ve actually been through a lot. The alliance in the interior began to crumble when the threat of the Hirschsten Empire disappeared before our eyes. Do you know that Kensilom is reaching out to Vinotin after Etonhorn? The King of Vinotin is, I’m afraid to say this out loud, a weak-hearted and spineless man.”
Arkan agreed with that opinion.
It was because of that kind of person that he was able to keep Erdene on the battlefield for a year during the final stages of the war.
When Tenek ordered him to send his troops, he did, and when he ordered him to retreat, he retreated.
No matter how secretly the alliance and Tenek had made a deal, it was pitiful that he was acting as such a reliable puppet.
If Kensilom had brought in Vinotin after Etonhorn, there would now be three countries, excluding Vetor.
One of them was the Duchy of Stradhog, which had a long western border with the sea.
It also had a long waterway leading to the sea, and a wide river flowing up to Vetor, so it was rich in salt and fishery resources, and it was also advantageous in terms of transportation.
The Princess continued.
“In fact, the places most frequently exposed to damage from Hirschsten were the Kingdom of Blatcherd, Kensilom, and Etonhorn. The neutral zone between them that was created long ago has long since become useless. It was only natural that Kensilom and Etonhorn joined hands. Now that the pressure of the Empire has disappeared, those two countries have the largest territory and population among the seven kingdoms. It seems that it took longer than I thought to persuade Vinotin, who was caught in the middle.”
Arkan laughed.
“Then the Princess expected the alliance to fall apart sooner than this.”
“Yes. I thought that Kensilom would attack Vinotin or pressure Blatcherd right after Your Majesty married.”
Blatcherd had a territory smaller than the Duchy of Stradhog, but it was a country with advanced engineering and science.
When the Empire attacked Blatcherd, it was more interested in their advanced weapons than in land or resources.
The King of Blatcherd was a man who was more interested in his own research than in politics, and he showed a somewhat superficial appearance even during meetings.
In short, he was a man with shallow political opinions.
Arkan knew why Limepale suddenly wanted to meet him.
Arkan and Etonhorn had already tried and failed once, and they had not given up and had drawn in Vinothin.
If they had just stayed still, the problem would have gotten out of control, and Vetor could never handle it alone.
Arkan said, gathering his thoughts,
“May I ask why Grand Duke Joelvi is joining Vetor? The duchy borders not only Vetor but also Etonhorn. They would rather have tried to win over the Grand Duke before Vinotin. Am I wrong?”
“No, Your Majesty. You are correct. After Kensilom and the King of Etonhorn joined hands, an envoy from Etonhorn came to see my father less than two days later. However, they failed to achieve their goal.”
“Why?”
Said Limepale.
“When the great enemy called Hirschsten fiercely attacked the inland, not only Vetor but all the people of the inland joined forces to stop them. The boundless peace in the inland that His Majesty Arkan had intended has faded away due to pragmatic people, but the Duchy will not betray its duty and faith in the alliance.”
Grand Duke Joelvi chose Vetor over Etonhorn and Kensilom.
Then Vetor could no longer wait.
If the game had already been decided, quickly determining one’s position could have led to a favorable outcome.
Arkan, who was narrowing his brows with a thoughtful expression, said,
“Good. I will accept the Grand Duke’s will that the Princess conveyed. Please convey my gratitude and goodwill.”
“I will do so.”
Princess Limepale smiled brightly as usual.
“Etonhorn, Vinotin, Kensilom... This is a headache. All three countries border the empire, so it will be easy to contact the empire without the eyes of Vetor or other countries. We can leave Femens in the south alone for now, but if we think about the future, we will have to persuade the King of Blatcherd.”
Arkan muttered to himself.
Princess Limepale also nodded in agreement with his words.
The Princess’s eyebrows rose as she looked down for a moment.
“The problem is that His Majesty the King of Blatcherd is not very interested in such matters. I think maybe he doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
He had expected that Tenek would reveal new ambitions at any moment, and he had also thought that he had to prepare for it.
What Arkan had missed was that not only Tenek but also the other allied nations had extremely short patience.
In less than a year, there had been several disputes that had occurred because they were only trying to gain their own interests.
There must have been some that had not even reached Vetor, and if all that was added up, he might have to say that the alliance was already meaningless.
Although it was once solid, it crumbled faster than a sand castle.
Princess Limpale said,
“Your Majesty must have guessed it. You’ve actually been through a lot. The alliance in the interior began to crumble when the threat of the Hirschsten Empire disappeared before our eyes. Do you know that Kensilom is reaching out to Vinotin after Etonhorn? The King of Vinotin is, I’m afraid to say this out loud, a weak-hearted and spineless man.”
Arkan agreed with that opinion.
It was because of that kind of person that he was able to keep Erdene on the battlefield for a year during the final stages of the war.
When Tenek ordered him to send his troops, he did, and when he ordered him to retreat, he retreated.
No matter how secretly the alliance and Tenek had made a deal, it was pitiful that he was acting as such a reliable puppet.
If Kensilom had brought in Vinotin after Etonhorn, there would now be three countries, excluding Vetor.
One of them was the Duchy of Stradhog, which had a long western border with the sea.
It also had a long waterway leading to the sea, and a wide river flowing up to Vetor, so it was rich in salt and fishery resources, and it was also advantageous in terms of transportation.
The Princess continued.
“In fact, the places most frequently exposed to damage from Hirschsten were the Kingdom of Blatcherd, Kensilom, and Etonhorn. The neutral zone between them that was created long ago has long since become useless. It was only natural that Kensilom and Etonhorn joined hands. Now that the pressure of the Empire has disappeared, those two countries have the largest territory and population among the seven kingdoms. It seems that it took longer than I thought to persuade Vinotin, who was caught in the middle.”
Arkan laughed.
“Then the Princess expected the alliance to fall apart sooner than this.”
“Yes. I thought that Kensilom would attack Vinotin or pressure Blatcherd right after Your Majesty married.”
Blatcherd had a territory smaller than the Duchy of Stradhog, but it was a country with advanced engineering and science.
When the Empire attacked Blatcherd, it was more interested in their advanced weapons than in land or resources.
The King of Blatcherd was a man who was more interested in his own research than in politics, and he showed a somewhat superficial appearance even during meetings.
In short, he was a man with shallow political opinions.
Arkan knew why Limepale suddenly wanted to meet him.
Arkan and Etonhorn had already tried and failed once, and they had not given up and had drawn in Vinothin.
If they had just stayed still, the problem would have gotten out of control, and Vetor could never handle it alone.
Arkan said, gathering his thoughts,
“May I ask why Grand Duke Joelvi is joining Vetor? The duchy borders not only Vetor but also Etonhorn. They would rather have tried to win over the Grand Duke before Vinotin. Am I wrong?”
“No, Your Majesty. You are correct. After Kensilom and the King of Etonhorn joined hands, an envoy from Etonhorn came to see my father less than two days later. However, they failed to achieve their goal.”
“Why?”
Said Limepale.
“When the great enemy called Hirschsten fiercely attacked the inland, not only Vetor but all the people of the inland joined forces to stop them. The boundless peace in the inland that His Majesty Arkan had intended has faded away due to pragmatic people, but the Duchy will not betray its duty and faith in the alliance.”
Grand Duke Joelvi chose Vetor over Etonhorn and Kensilom.
Then Vetor could no longer wait.
If the game had already been decided, quickly determining one’s position could have led to a favorable outcome.
Arkan, who was narrowing his brows with a thoughtful expression, said,
“Good. I will accept the Grand Duke’s will that the Princess conveyed. Please convey my gratitude and goodwill.”
“I will do so.”
Princess Limepale smiled brightly as usual.
“Etonhorn, Vinotin, Kensilom... This is a headache. All three countries border the empire, so it will be easy to contact the empire without the eyes of Vetor or other countries. We can leave Femens in the south alone for now, but if we think about the future, we will have to persuade the King of Blatcherd.”
Arkan muttered to himself.
Princess Limepale also nodded in agreement with his words.
The Princess’s eyebrows rose as she looked down for a moment.
“The problem is that His Majesty the King of Blatcherd is not very interested in such matters. I think maybe he doesn’t even know what’s going on.”
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