Ariadne wasn't the only one who doubted her ears. Alfonso also frowned, not knowing if he had heard correctly.
But once the words were out of his mouth, he was powerless to resist. Alfonso didn't miss a beat and pushed on. It was something he had learned from Yesak.
“That means... Your Highness agrees to the breaking off of the engagement with the Grand Duchess?”
Duke Odes looked at Alfonso in silence. After a long silence, he began a completely different story.
“...Prince. How ambitious are you?”
Instead of responding to the sudden change of topic, Alfonso stared at Grand Duke Odes.
People who are good at talking or are well-spoken often suddenly throw in topics that the other party did not expect in order to gain the upper hand at the negotiating table.
As Alfonso gained experience, he realized that he didn't necessarily have to respond to such people. In such cases, a cold stare was the answer.
But once the words were out of his mouth, he was powerless to resist. Alfonso didn't miss a beat and pushed on. It was something he had learned from Yesak.
“That means... Your Highness agrees to the breaking off of the engagement with the Grand Duchess?”
Duke Odes looked at Alfonso in silence. After a long silence, he began a completely different story.
“...Prince. How ambitious are you?”
Instead of responding to the sudden change of topic, Alfonso stared at Grand Duke Odes.
People who are good at talking or are well-spoken often suddenly throw in topics that the other party did not expect in order to gain the upper hand at the negotiating table.
As Alfonso gained experience, he realized that he didn't necessarily have to respond to such people. In such cases, a cold stare was the answer.
Grand Duke Odes realized that his foolish trick had failed, and instead of demanding an answer, he smiled at Alfonso.
“Well, Prince Alfonso, you are not an ambitious man. If you were, you would have obtained that sword.”
Grand Duke Odes gestured to Khaledbuch, who was hanging from Alfonso's waist.
“You must have been desperately holding on to the throne of the Kingdom of Yesak and not handing it over to the Grand Duke of Yuldenburg.”
“We only distinguish between what we can keep and what we cannot keep.”
Alfonso answered calmly, but without trying to hide his displeasure.
“Asking about ambition is a foolish question. Even if it is the same desire for improvement, if it is in line with one’s own desires, it is not greed but an achievement. If it is beyond one’s capacity, even if it is in the right direction, it is nothing more than a reckless remark that will trouble one’s family, subordinates, and country. The kingdom of Yesak is like an island floating alone in a sea of pagans. It has been acquired, but it will be extremely difficult to defend.”
“Oh my? I thought the Prince would be more serious about his crusade after serving in the army for four years.”
At this point, Alfonso was really upset and glared at Grand Duke Odes. The Third Crusade was not one that Prince Alfonso had wanted to participate in.
And it was certainly Grand Duke Odes who helped Alfonso get dragged there.
It was obvious that he couldn't look at him kindly when he was making sarcastic remarks in front of him, knowing all that.
“I’m sorry. I spoke nonsense.”
The Grand Duke bowed neatly. If he had not had this sense, he would not have lasted this long in the Gallico kingdom under Philip IV.
“Yes, let’s say that the Prince is not without ambition, but is simply a pragmatist. However, shouldn’t you live up to the name of the Holy Sword, which is ‘making the Emperor of the Central Continent’?”
Grand Duke Odes made a bombshell announcement with a smiling face.
“Become the King of the Kingdom of Gallico.”
Ariadne, who was hiding in the closet, covered her mouth with both hands. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.
Anyone who heard these words, not just Ariadne, would have reacted the way she did.
However, Duke Odes, who had spoken such a great deal, had a calm expression on his face.
“The man who holds the thrones of both the Etruscan Kingdom and the Gallico Kingdom is the closest to the position of ‘Emperor.’ These two lands will become the greatest foundation for the unification of the Central Continent.”
Ariadne wasn't the only one surprised by Grand Duke Odes's words.
“Are you talking about treason now?”
There was a rattling sound in Alfonso's voice. As a legitimate Prince, he was not in a position to be friendly with treason. Grand Duke Odes raised both hands.
“Treason? That’s the word used when assassinating a King. I’m only talking about the aftermath of His Majesty’s death due to poor health.”
He tried his best to appear benign, but he didn't spend too much on it.
Even Alfonso, who was not sensitive to other people's body language, could tell that 'poor health' was not necessarily talking about natural death.
“Philip IV?”
“The current King.”
The lack of respect was also evident in Grand Duke Odes's reference to Philip IV.
“He is sick. The diagnosis is....”
He spoke after a little delay.
“Madness.”
Ariadne felt like she had been hit in the back of the head by an unexpected turn of events.
The previous Philip IV was still very healthy when Cesare came to power. He was not due to disappear from history any time soon.
'Alfonso survived... In the aftermath, the crusade, which should have failed, succeeded, so maybe something can change.'
But she never imagined a butterfly effect on this scale.
“Now that we’re alone, we can finally have a real talk. The Kingdom of Gallico is in shambles. Philip has gone mad, the nobles are fighting, and the seething energy of a growing nation is splattering everywhere, creating discord.”
The Kingdom of Gallico actually prospered with or without a King.
Although it was not as bad as the Yuan history, when the Black Death did not spread to the Gallico Kingdom, there were some parts that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
As the Black Death increased the cost of human life, even in the agricultural kingdom of Gallico, very basic industry and commerce began to develop.
Because it was economically impractical to plow the fields by hand, technologies were developed to assist labor, which made possible explosive growth in productivity over longer time series.
However, simple replication was cheaper than creativity.
Rather than invent new farming tools, the Gallico craftsmen chose to copy the culture of the Moorish kingdom, and as the Moorish kingdom became exclusive to the Gallico people, the target for new cultures changed to other countries of the central continent.
“This country could really move forward with just a little help.”
Gallico, boasting enormous agricultural production based on fertile land, exported grain and earned foreign currency, greedily collecting luxuries, scholarship, and culture from all over the continent.
At present, the Kingdom of Gallico was the continent's leader not only in gunpowder but also in engineering.
“But the King is out of his mind, so I have no power! My main job is not to rule the country, but to stop Philip’s foolishness.”
“Foolishness?”
This clearly meant that Philip IV was up to something.
However, Grand Duke Odes did not say much about that and instead turned the conversation to the King's condition.
“His Majesty Philip IV is in no condition to properly manage state affairs. He cries and laughs every night, and talks nonsense during the day. He occasionally comes to his senses, but the time is getting shorter and shorter.”
Philip IV, when he came to his senses occasionally, would summon the jurists and ask them how the mission he had sent was going.
Philip wanted to do away with one old institution and introduce a new rule.
However, doing so did not increase productivity, and was merely a reward-and-dealing system over who would share what had already been produced.
It was truly a useless waste of national power at a time when they should be supporting industry.
Every time this happened, Grand Duke Odes spent all his energy trying to distract the King by saying that the scholars were lazy and that the results of their work had not yet come out.
At first, it worked, but lately it seemed like Philip had realized that he was being toyed with.
When he came to his senses most recently, Philip IV charged at Grand Duke Odes with his longsword, telling him not to act like he was some kind of person and that he would take his head.
Fortunately, the tranquilizer the doctor had prescribed for the King took effect, albeit late, and he fell asleep on the marble floor with his longsword in his hand.
And fortunately for Grand Duke Odes, Philip IV's moments of lucidity were becoming rarer than his verbal descriptions.
He spent most of his time hugging a pillow covered in an old dress, crying, laughing, and mumbling.
It was a huge task to keep Philip IV out of sight. He was a King by name, so he could not be confined anywhere, and it was a very dangerous situation.
“The King is unmarried and has no legitimate heir. His brothers, Prince Louis and Princess Auguste, have both passed away, so there is no direct lineage of the former King to succeed to the throne.”
As of the current King, there was no one left in the Gallico royal family who was closer to his uncle.
Duke Odes himself was the seventh cousin of Philip IV and should have been the natural heir, but his grandfather, who had lost the succession dispute three generations earlier, was granted independence as the Duke of Valoa in exchange for his life, taking a new surname, and permanently renounced the Briand dynasty's right to the throne.
The King had several cousins left: a Princess from one of the North Sea states, a Prince from the kingdom of Gredo, and Prince Alfonso himself was one of the cousins of King Gallico.
“Become the King of the Kingdom of Gallico.”
“...!”
Grand Duke Odes urged again. It was a sentence that made one doubt one's ears even when hearing it again.
The reason why today's meeting was kept absolutely secret from the outside world, and why Grand Duke Odee was making all sorts of concessions but insisting on seeing Prince Alfonso face to face, was all contained in this request.
“I have no right of succession, but I effectively rule the Kingdom of Gallico. With high probability, whoever I nominate will become King.”
The Grand Duke's tone of speech had become very polite.
“Let’s go into business together. Marry my daughter, Lariesa. I know very well that she is not worthy of the Prince.”
Duke Odes, who had been talking up to this point, let out a short sigh.
“What is there to hide now? My daughter Lariesa is not feeling well at the moment.”
He could not describe it in detail. Grand Duke Odes only conveyed the necessary information for this 'deal'.
“That child will probably not be able to bear children. She will have difficulty performing the duties of a normal Queen. I do not ask for much. Marry my daughter and live as a married couple with that Etruscan nobility in the Etruscan kingdom. I will take good care of Lariesa in the kingdom of Gallico for the rest of her life.”
What Grand Duke Odes gains from this proposal is the rule of the Kingdom of Gallico.
He would rather give up his bloodline to power than secure the rest of his life's security.
“Marriage with Laries is... something like a token of partnership. I also need to have a guarantee to guarantee my status after I put the Prince on the throne.”
However, this part was subtle. The reason the King's relatives were given preferential treatment was that they really lived together.
It wasn't easy to murder your wife's father while they were sleeping under the same blanket.
You never know what the person sharing the same bed with you might do while you're sleeping.
In this case, however, although the Grand Duke of Odes had the advantage of being difficult to expel as a governor of a distant land with a different language and customs and having to cross the Prinoyak Mountains, he did not enjoy the usual benefits of an in-law unless he was the father of his real wife.
“I have only one request. The Prince’s successor will be the children born to the women of the Etruscan kingdom. Those children will be my descendants in terms of the family register and will inherit the kingdom of Gallico as well.”
If Grand Duke Odes had one more healthy daughter, he would have pushed her into this position, but unfortunately, Lariesa was the only daughter he had left.
Although he could have adopted a female child from a collateral line and sent her as his foster daughter, Grand Duke Odes decided to make a major concession in this regard to reach an agreement with Prince Alfonso.
The story that the Etruscan Prince had been blinded by the new Countess of San Carlo reached the court of Montpellier across the Prenoyac Mountains.
He had a kingdom, and he had love, and the Grand Duke was sure that this would be an offer the Prince couldn't refuse. However, he also had a compromise in mind.
“Send him to the Palace of Montpellier. I will give him the best education in the Gallico Kingdom and raise him to be the next King of the Gallico Kingdom and the Etruscan Kingdom.”
Hostage.
Only after hearing everything up to this point did Archduke Odes's plan become fully apparent. However, instead of thinking deeply about Archduke Odes's words, Alfonso opened his mouth right away.
“Your Highness, I...”
Archduke Odes raised his hand to stop Alfonso after hearing only this. He had a hunch that the Prince's answer would be a refusal.
“You don’t need an answer right now. We’re planning to stay in Trevero for another ten days, right?”
In fact, there was no need to decide within ten days. It just had to be made before Philip died.
In fact, strictly speaking, the day the Prince decides is the day Philip dies.
“Take your time. Think about it and then give me your answer. We’ve already discussed all the important things. If you write a letter with any content in red ink on a piece of paper and send it to me, I’ll take that as your approval.”
Grand Duke Odes was confident. To expand his territory. To become the Emperor of the continent. This was the eternal dream of every King.
Alfonso may be blinded by love right now and feel like rejecting it.
But if yoy close your eyes at night and look at the ceiling, the vast territory drawn on the map will float before your eyes.
'What man would refuse this?'
He got up from his seat.
“I will go first.”
The Grand Duke of Odes's jacket was a falchion. The Grand Duke's sleeves were cut in the style of the Etruscan kingdom.
“Well, Prince Alfonso, you are not an ambitious man. If you were, you would have obtained that sword.”
Grand Duke Odes gestured to Khaledbuch, who was hanging from Alfonso's waist.
“You must have been desperately holding on to the throne of the Kingdom of Yesak and not handing it over to the Grand Duke of Yuldenburg.”
“We only distinguish between what we can keep and what we cannot keep.”
Alfonso answered calmly, but without trying to hide his displeasure.
“Asking about ambition is a foolish question. Even if it is the same desire for improvement, if it is in line with one’s own desires, it is not greed but an achievement. If it is beyond one’s capacity, even if it is in the right direction, it is nothing more than a reckless remark that will trouble one’s family, subordinates, and country. The kingdom of Yesak is like an island floating alone in a sea of pagans. It has been acquired, but it will be extremely difficult to defend.”
“Oh my? I thought the Prince would be more serious about his crusade after serving in the army for four years.”
At this point, Alfonso was really upset and glared at Grand Duke Odes. The Third Crusade was not one that Prince Alfonso had wanted to participate in.
And it was certainly Grand Duke Odes who helped Alfonso get dragged there.
It was obvious that he couldn't look at him kindly when he was making sarcastic remarks in front of him, knowing all that.
“I’m sorry. I spoke nonsense.”
The Grand Duke bowed neatly. If he had not had this sense, he would not have lasted this long in the Gallico kingdom under Philip IV.
“Yes, let’s say that the Prince is not without ambition, but is simply a pragmatist. However, shouldn’t you live up to the name of the Holy Sword, which is ‘making the Emperor of the Central Continent’?”
Grand Duke Odes made a bombshell announcement with a smiling face.
“Become the King of the Kingdom of Gallico.”
Ariadne, who was hiding in the closet, covered her mouth with both hands. Her heart felt like it was going to burst out of her chest.
Anyone who heard these words, not just Ariadne, would have reacted the way she did.
However, Duke Odes, who had spoken such a great deal, had a calm expression on his face.
“The man who holds the thrones of both the Etruscan Kingdom and the Gallico Kingdom is the closest to the position of ‘Emperor.’ These two lands will become the greatest foundation for the unification of the Central Continent.”
Ariadne wasn't the only one surprised by Grand Duke Odes's words.
“Are you talking about treason now?”
There was a rattling sound in Alfonso's voice. As a legitimate Prince, he was not in a position to be friendly with treason. Grand Duke Odes raised both hands.
“Treason? That’s the word used when assassinating a King. I’m only talking about the aftermath of His Majesty’s death due to poor health.”
He tried his best to appear benign, but he didn't spend too much on it.
Even Alfonso, who was not sensitive to other people's body language, could tell that 'poor health' was not necessarily talking about natural death.
“Philip IV?”
“The current King.”
The lack of respect was also evident in Grand Duke Odes's reference to Philip IV.
“He is sick. The diagnosis is....”
He spoke after a little delay.
“Madness.”
Ariadne felt like she had been hit in the back of the head by an unexpected turn of events.
The previous Philip IV was still very healthy when Cesare came to power. He was not due to disappear from history any time soon.
'Alfonso survived... In the aftermath, the crusade, which should have failed, succeeded, so maybe something can change.'
But she never imagined a butterfly effect on this scale.
“Now that we’re alone, we can finally have a real talk. The Kingdom of Gallico is in shambles. Philip has gone mad, the nobles are fighting, and the seething energy of a growing nation is splattering everywhere, creating discord.”
The Kingdom of Gallico actually prospered with or without a King.
Although it was not as bad as the Yuan history, when the Black Death did not spread to the Gallico Kingdom, there were some parts that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
As the Black Death increased the cost of human life, even in the agricultural kingdom of Gallico, very basic industry and commerce began to develop.
Because it was economically impractical to plow the fields by hand, technologies were developed to assist labor, which made possible explosive growth in productivity over longer time series.
However, simple replication was cheaper than creativity.
Rather than invent new farming tools, the Gallico craftsmen chose to copy the culture of the Moorish kingdom, and as the Moorish kingdom became exclusive to the Gallico people, the target for new cultures changed to other countries of the central continent.
“This country could really move forward with just a little help.”
Gallico, boasting enormous agricultural production based on fertile land, exported grain and earned foreign currency, greedily collecting luxuries, scholarship, and culture from all over the continent.
At present, the Kingdom of Gallico was the continent's leader not only in gunpowder but also in engineering.
“But the King is out of his mind, so I have no power! My main job is not to rule the country, but to stop Philip’s foolishness.”
“Foolishness?”
This clearly meant that Philip IV was up to something.
However, Grand Duke Odes did not say much about that and instead turned the conversation to the King's condition.
“His Majesty Philip IV is in no condition to properly manage state affairs. He cries and laughs every night, and talks nonsense during the day. He occasionally comes to his senses, but the time is getting shorter and shorter.”
Philip IV, when he came to his senses occasionally, would summon the jurists and ask them how the mission he had sent was going.
Philip wanted to do away with one old institution and introduce a new rule.
However, doing so did not increase productivity, and was merely a reward-and-dealing system over who would share what had already been produced.
It was truly a useless waste of national power at a time when they should be supporting industry.
Every time this happened, Grand Duke Odes spent all his energy trying to distract the King by saying that the scholars were lazy and that the results of their work had not yet come out.
At first, it worked, but lately it seemed like Philip had realized that he was being toyed with.
When he came to his senses most recently, Philip IV charged at Grand Duke Odes with his longsword, telling him not to act like he was some kind of person and that he would take his head.
Fortunately, the tranquilizer the doctor had prescribed for the King took effect, albeit late, and he fell asleep on the marble floor with his longsword in his hand.
And fortunately for Grand Duke Odes, Philip IV's moments of lucidity were becoming rarer than his verbal descriptions.
He spent most of his time hugging a pillow covered in an old dress, crying, laughing, and mumbling.
It was a huge task to keep Philip IV out of sight. He was a King by name, so he could not be confined anywhere, and it was a very dangerous situation.
“The King is unmarried and has no legitimate heir. His brothers, Prince Louis and Princess Auguste, have both passed away, so there is no direct lineage of the former King to succeed to the throne.”
As of the current King, there was no one left in the Gallico royal family who was closer to his uncle.
Duke Odes himself was the seventh cousin of Philip IV and should have been the natural heir, but his grandfather, who had lost the succession dispute three generations earlier, was granted independence as the Duke of Valoa in exchange for his life, taking a new surname, and permanently renounced the Briand dynasty's right to the throne.
The King had several cousins left: a Princess from one of the North Sea states, a Prince from the kingdom of Gredo, and Prince Alfonso himself was one of the cousins of King Gallico.
“Become the King of the Kingdom of Gallico.”
“...!”
Grand Duke Odes urged again. It was a sentence that made one doubt one's ears even when hearing it again.
The reason why today's meeting was kept absolutely secret from the outside world, and why Grand Duke Odee was making all sorts of concessions but insisting on seeing Prince Alfonso face to face, was all contained in this request.
“I have no right of succession, but I effectively rule the Kingdom of Gallico. With high probability, whoever I nominate will become King.”
The Grand Duke's tone of speech had become very polite.
“Let’s go into business together. Marry my daughter, Lariesa. I know very well that she is not worthy of the Prince.”
Duke Odes, who had been talking up to this point, let out a short sigh.
“What is there to hide now? My daughter Lariesa is not feeling well at the moment.”
He could not describe it in detail. Grand Duke Odes only conveyed the necessary information for this 'deal'.
“That child will probably not be able to bear children. She will have difficulty performing the duties of a normal Queen. I do not ask for much. Marry my daughter and live as a married couple with that Etruscan nobility in the Etruscan kingdom. I will take good care of Lariesa in the kingdom of Gallico for the rest of her life.”
What Grand Duke Odes gains from this proposal is the rule of the Kingdom of Gallico.
He would rather give up his bloodline to power than secure the rest of his life's security.
“Marriage with Laries is... something like a token of partnership. I also need to have a guarantee to guarantee my status after I put the Prince on the throne.”
However, this part was subtle. The reason the King's relatives were given preferential treatment was that they really lived together.
It wasn't easy to murder your wife's father while they were sleeping under the same blanket.
You never know what the person sharing the same bed with you might do while you're sleeping.
In this case, however, although the Grand Duke of Odes had the advantage of being difficult to expel as a governor of a distant land with a different language and customs and having to cross the Prinoyak Mountains, he did not enjoy the usual benefits of an in-law unless he was the father of his real wife.
“I have only one request. The Prince’s successor will be the children born to the women of the Etruscan kingdom. Those children will be my descendants in terms of the family register and will inherit the kingdom of Gallico as well.”
If Grand Duke Odes had one more healthy daughter, he would have pushed her into this position, but unfortunately, Lariesa was the only daughter he had left.
Although he could have adopted a female child from a collateral line and sent her as his foster daughter, Grand Duke Odes decided to make a major concession in this regard to reach an agreement with Prince Alfonso.
The story that the Etruscan Prince had been blinded by the new Countess of San Carlo reached the court of Montpellier across the Prenoyac Mountains.
He had a kingdom, and he had love, and the Grand Duke was sure that this would be an offer the Prince couldn't refuse. However, he also had a compromise in mind.
“Send him to the Palace of Montpellier. I will give him the best education in the Gallico Kingdom and raise him to be the next King of the Gallico Kingdom and the Etruscan Kingdom.”
Hostage.
Only after hearing everything up to this point did Archduke Odes's plan become fully apparent. However, instead of thinking deeply about Archduke Odes's words, Alfonso opened his mouth right away.
“Your Highness, I...”
Archduke Odes raised his hand to stop Alfonso after hearing only this. He had a hunch that the Prince's answer would be a refusal.
“You don’t need an answer right now. We’re planning to stay in Trevero for another ten days, right?”
In fact, there was no need to decide within ten days. It just had to be made before Philip died.
In fact, strictly speaking, the day the Prince decides is the day Philip dies.
“Take your time. Think about it and then give me your answer. We’ve already discussed all the important things. If you write a letter with any content in red ink on a piece of paper and send it to me, I’ll take that as your approval.”
Grand Duke Odes was confident. To expand his territory. To become the Emperor of the continent. This was the eternal dream of every King.
Alfonso may be blinded by love right now and feel like rejecting it.
But if yoy close your eyes at night and look at the ceiling, the vast territory drawn on the map will float before your eyes.
'What man would refuse this?'
He got up from his seat.
“I will go first.”
The Grand Duke of Odes's jacket was a falchion. The Grand Duke's sleeves were cut in the style of the Etruscan kingdom.
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