Chapter 455: Chapter 455

“My name is Wolfram Heidelberg. Though unworthy, I come as a representative of the Republic, and I pledge my efforts toward forging lasting peace between our nations.”

It was the middle of the fourth month, when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, that the Habsburg Republic sent its envoy. Should I congratulate myself for predicting this outcome so perfectly?

On the surface, they claimed matters of trade, tariffs, and assorted diplomacy as their reasons for coming. But those were nothing more than pretexts. Their true intent was plain enough—they wished to meet the Emperor face-to-face and test the truth for themselves. Before that, however, they would have to get through me, the Minister of Justice.

I welcomed the envoy in my office with a genial smile.

“Chancellor Heidelberg, is it? Your reputation precedes you. I hear you’ve mastered not only the languages of the continent but even the tongues of the demonfolk.”

“Your Grace knows of me? I am humbled beyond words.”

The man broke into a wide smile. He looked to be in his late thirties, perhaps pushing forty.

He was at that crossroads between a handsome youth and a fine-looking middle-aged man. Perhaps he had mismanaged his health a touch, for his cheeks carried a bit of extra flesh, but it lent him a genial, benevolent air that, if anything, worked to his advantage.

In short, he had already secured his place as a founding father of the state while still in the prime of youth. Nor was he alone in this. The Republic’s key figures were all strikingly young. After all, even Consul Elisabeth herself was still only in her twenties. A youthful and competent government, that was the Republic of today.

But competence alone does not guarantee national strength. Such is the tragedy of an age steeped in turmoil.

Wolfram Heidelberg, you of all people must feel this keenly. Once, the Republic was supported by a constellation of powerful allies: the Kingdom of Brittany, the Kingdom of Polish-Lithuania, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Anatolian Empire…….

Now, only the Anatolian Empire remains at your side. All the rest I have deftly severed from you, one by one. To Foreign Chancellor Heidelberg, I must appear as nothing less than a sworn enemy of fate itself.

……So, that is what I am—a man who has managed to bring a scion of noble birth, a prodigy and founding father in his twenties, to utter frustration.

Wolfram Heidelberg was staring intently at my face. Ah, I’d let myself drift into thought again. Lately, I often found my mind wandering even with an opponent sitting right before me.

“My apologies. It’s just…… to receive praise from the famed genius Chancellor Heidelberg—it leaves me a touch embarrassed.”

I offered him a smile, the kind one gives when feigning modesty.

“I have a tendency to think poorly of myself. Truth be told, rather than a prodigy, I refer to myself more as a dullard.”

Heidelberg’s expression turned hard to place. I understood well enough. When someone superior to you speaks humbly, it either unsettles or angers the listener since they have no appropriate way to reply.

I continued, gently, as if soothing him.

“Please, try to see it from my position, Chancellor. Your Republic has far too many prodigies. The Consul herself, General Affairs Baron Wittenmyer, Intelligence Director Schleiermacher—and you, of course. There is no room for carelessness when facing such opponents. To hold my ground against you all, I had little choice but to make a habit of underestimating myself.”

For a heartbeat, Wolfram Heidelberg seemed to forget to breathe.

I had just called Kurt Schleiermacher the head of Intelligence. That was classified information no outsider should ever learn. Schleiermacher’s official title was Captain of the Royal Guards, not Intelligence Director.

From his perspective, it must have felt like a bolt from the blue. The fact that his expression didn’t change at all was remarkable in itself.

“We are unworthy of such praise. How could our modest Republic possibly presume to contend with Your Grace, much less the greatest empire on this continent?”

I took a sip of my tea. It was laced with a sedative. My left leg—replaced now by a prosthesis—had been itching like mad, and Jeremi had prescribed a sedative to calm it. The aroma was pleasant enough; I found it personally satisfying.

“I have long believed, deep in my heart, that of all the nations in the world, only your Republic has the right to stand in the way of our Empire’s future. Take pride in that.”

Wolfram Heidelberg sprang to his feet and dropped to his knees on the floor. He looked pitifully wretched as he spoke.

“We would never defy the Empire. Please believe us. I do not ask you to trust the empty words of a mere man. I ask that you accept this truth: a small state cannot stand against a great power. Hostility when our borders touch would be unthinkable.”

“I see you cast aside your pride in the name of national interest? As long as men like you swear fealty to the Consul, the Republic will continue to prosper.”

Wolfram Heidelberg’s complexion darkened. Even with the foreign minister of an entire nation suddenly on his knees before me, I remained composed. No matter what he said, my resolve to treat the Republic with suspicion was as immovable as stone.

“Why do you guard yourself against us so? We are hemmed in on three sides by the Empire. If you count the Helvetian Federation, we are in truth surrounded on all four. Without the Empire’s benevolence, the Republic cannot even survive.”

“And yet, you once bound yourselves in blood with the Kingdom of Sardinia to the south. When Sardinia faltered, you wasted no time in drawing Anatolia into your camp as the next ally. A most exquisite diplomacy.”

“It was nothing more than the desperate struggle of a small state clawing for survival!”

Wolfram Heidelberg pressed on tenaciously.

It was a curious scene to behold in my office: the Republic’s foreign minister doing his utmost to belittle his own country, while I, the Minister of Justice of their rival, raised it up.

“As proof, recall the Chrysanthemum War. Our Consul never once set the Republic’s troops against the Imperial army. Had we harbored treachery against the Empire, would we have done so?”

“Sardinia’s lands were already ravaged through and through. They had become a rotten rope, ready to snap. Abandoning Sardinia and choosing instead the Anatolian Empire…… a decision cold, precise, and strategically impeccable, was it not?”

“The Consul must have been preoccupied at the time leading her legions. Chancellor Heidelberg, it must have been you who negotiated with the Anatolian Empire in her stead. Splendid work. In the end, your Republic gained a far stronger ally than the one it lost, without sacrificing a single thing.”

It truly was remarkable. The Republic had handed over Venice to Anatolia. A city of vast wealth, yes, but not their territory to give—it belonged to Sardinia. In other words, the Republic had struck a diplomatic bargain with land that wasn’t even theirs.

Shameless, audacious, and skillfully done. Elizabeth’s talent never ceases to astound me. I almost envy it.

“Your Grace…… what must we do for you to believe in our sincerity?”

“Sincerity? I don’t follow. I dare say, no one else on the continent understands the sincerity of your Republic as well as I do.”

“Dismantle every fortress crowding your borderlands. Disband the Anatolian mercenary corps stationed in Venice. And keep your standing army at no more than five thousand at all times. Do that, and perhaps I’ll find it easier to trust you.”

“Those terms…… are impossible to fulfill! Please, Your Grace, show us some mercy!”

Wolfram Heidelberg struck his forehead hard against the floor. The thud was loud enough to echo, even through the carpet. There was no pain in it, but the sight of him bowing so desperately was pitiful.

I looked down at him in silence.

“Your Republic has made a grave mistake.”

“My adopted daughter sought asylum in your land. Do you truly believe I chose her as my successor for no reason at all?”

Wolfram Heidelberg didn’t so much as twitch. His whole demeanor made it seem like he hadn’t the faintest idea what I was talking about. Of course, this man, too, was a master of stagecraft. My wariness only deepened.

“I fear I cannot grasp Your Grace’s meaning.”

“Then think of it as nothing more than me muttering to myself. The two people I fear most in this world are your Consul and my adopted daughter. If your Republic had truly no will to stand against us, you should have sent her back the moment she sought asylum.”

“Your Grace, I swear to you, I—”

I turned my teacup upside down.

The crimson tea streamed across the carpet. Heidelberg was struck dumb by my rudeness.

“You are mistaken, Chancellor. By setting foot in this Empire, you have already completed your mission.”

For the first time, a genuine flicker of confusion crossed his face.

“Your Consul has known for some time that I discovered my daughter’s whereabouts. She must have suspected long ago that Rudolf von Habsburg was a puppet corpse. None of this is new information to her.”

The man’s eyes wavered. He most likely did not expect me to come at him from this angle.

“But still, the Consul deliberately sent you as her envoy. Do you understand what that means?”

“She is asking me a single question: will you wage war, or will you not?”

For example, suppose I let Heidelberg meet the Emperor. We use Ivar’s puppet to deceive them. The Republic cannot pin anything on us and will be forced to back down—peaceable resolution achieved.

But in that case, Elizabeth will almost certainly kill Barbatos and Daisy. Naturally. If they can’t be used as leverage against us, then Barbatos and Daisy are nothing more than dangerously useless explosives.

I could almost hear Elizabeth’s voice, vivid in my ear:

— Dantalian. As you know, I have Barbatos and your adopted daughter. Will you publicly declare that the Emperor is a corpse-puppet? You needn’t announce it. But if you do not, those two will die.

Wolfram Heidelberg himself was nothing more than a threatening letter written in a language only the Consul and I could read.

Of course, Heidelberg knew nothing of the truth. That was precisely why I informed him. How pitiable—being used as a puppet by the Consul and me without even realizing it.

“You will be allowed an audience with His Majesty the Emperor this evening. Do not worry. Use any artifacts you like. And then, tell the Consul that the Emperor is a puppet corpse.”

Try starting a war, then. That was my reply.

I had already persuaded the Elector Demon Lords. Mercenaries had been gathering for days. If need be, we could launch into war again. We also have ample justification. We could claim we were recruiting mercenaries to suppress rebels within the Empire, and that would remove suspicion from neighboring states.

Elizabeth has two choices.

Either she quietly returned Barbatos and Daisy to us.

Or she publicly exposes that the Emperor is a puppet corpse and marches us into war.

If the latter happens, we will categorically reject the Republic’s claims. We will instead expose the Republic as Barbatos’s abductor and strike back. Neither side will concede; it will become a mud-slinging brawl.

Complete submission, or total confrontation.

I welcomed either outcome. I would just respond according to Elizabeth’s decision. If Barbatos and Daisy are returned? I’d stage another public execution—no great trouble at all.

If it turned into a war of revelations and reciprocal attacks—then I would steamroll them with overwhelming force.

I’d hire Helvetica mercenaries and buy soldiers across the continent. Let the Anatolian Empire or anyone else support the Republic as they please. Neither the Habsburg Empire nor the Frankish Empire could bar my way before. Why should Anatolia be any different?

“Just so you understand, depending on how you respond, the Empire will enter into all-out war with your Republic. It’s a simple binary choice.”

“Please, discuss this deeply with your Consul and send us your reply.”

A shadow fell across Wolfram Heidelberg’s face. Get full chapters from novel·fıre·net

TL Note: Thanks for reading the chapter. I’ve just been so stressed lately since that shitty Nexon thing earlier this month that my schedule has been thrown out of whack. I’ve worked another 2 consecutive weekends, which I would normally reserve for translating DD. But because of work, I just get too burnt out by the time I finish my quota that I want to relax and not think about translating for the rest of the day. It’s been really annoying.

I’m always praying for things to calm down, but it feels like things just keep escalating. Is this how being a member of society normally feels? I wanna go back to my NEET life… but money is money.