chapter 21
21 – Barbarians (1)
At the conference room between the Arit tribe and the Empire, shouts and pointing were exchanged. Duke Flair, who was usually calm, as well as some of the nobles of the Empire who had followed him could not hide their excitement.
At the same time, the Arit tribe chief was still calm.
“Everyone, calm down. It’s not like we’re going to resume the attack right now.”
“I don’t understand. How should the Empire react to the act of advancing the military even though peace talks are in progress!”
“The purpose of simple training. There is no need to attach great importance to it.”
Last night the Arit started to advance again the troops they had left for the conference. No matter who saw it, it could only be interpreted as an intention to move the military immediately if there was no further progress in the talks.
Duke Flair knew that if this meeting failed and the Arit people moved their military, he and his 4 princesses would suffer a huge blow and would have to take responsibility for the war.
So he was using all his might to persuade the Arit chief.
“If the chief tells us what he doesn’t like about the empire and doesn’t show an attitude to solve it, and deploys troops recklessly, there’s nothing we can do about it. We can reach an agreement only if you at least give us a minimum of cooperation to resolve the issue.”
“Since you don’t know what the problem is, you guys don’t have the attitude to negotiate. What if the negotiators of the empire don’t even know what their country is doing?”
The chieftain of the Arit tribe continued his words while glaring directly at Duke Flair. Duke Flair was depressed by his gaze, but knowing that he was the one who should lead the negotiations on behalf of the princess in the delegation, he looked straight into his eyes without being completely pushed by the chieftain of the Arit tribe.
In the midst of such tension, Elysia was looking for the right moment for her to intervene.
“Guests from the Empire. Do you really know nothing?”
The chieftain of the Arit people lamented. His expression, which looked really pitiful, soon left Duke Flair speechless.
Elysia thought that the time had finally come for her to intervene, so she spurred on and got up.
All eyes in the meeting room were focused on her as Elysia’s chair made a rumbling sound and dragged her across the floor.
Elysia was momentarily taken aback by such people’s attention. She was a woman with her status as a princess, but because of her birth, she was ostracized from politics and society, so she was like this. Was
“I know what the problem is. And, albeit temporarily, we have taken steps to resolve the problem.”
Elysia felt a cold sweat run down her forehead.
The few seconds that the Arit chief looked at herself seemed like an eternity to her.
Then the chieftain of the Arit tribe began to laugh loudly.
“Yes, princess. Does that measure mean this?”
And then, what the chieftain of the Arit people took out of her arms was the letter Elysia had written last night.
“No…! Why is it there…”
Elysia couldn’t help but be stunned at the sight of the letter envelope with her familiar seal and imperial family patterns.
It was definitely a letter sent by her to one of the best people in the imperial palace. She never thought she would be discovered by some savage or something.
“Princess. This is our home base. No matter how elite the empire’s assassins are, they cannot come and go to this city without our permission.”
Elysia was taken aback, but soon she came to her senses. She has to figure out why the Arit chief speaks with a negative nuance about what she writes on the letterhead, rather than how the member was captured.
“If you do as it is written and the Empire can focus on its internal affairs, a sweeping cleanup will be possible. But why are you trying to stop the capture of slave traders?”
“Cleaning up the border is natural, but we haven’t done it once or twice. They are secretive and meticulous, and the sweep you are talking about will be a completely meaningless operation.”
“But… you won’t know until you try it.”
Elysia calmly followed her words. Seeing her like that, her chief of the Arit tribe looked at her as if she were her little child.
“We want a fundamental solution, not such a temporary solution. Even if the plot succeeds, the effect will not last even a year.”
At that, Elysia inadvertently grabbed the hem of her skirt. Since she was wearing a dress that was simpler than usual, Elysia could feel the wrinkles in her dress because she was made of a more brittle material, but she clenched her fists even tighter.
She felt ashamed that all the plans she had prepared were exposed, and that she had failed miserably, and that her feelings of helplessness and frustration that she had acted with confidence had failed. It’s because it’s short.
For her, this was the first time for her to try something herself. That’s why, for her, her shock at the failure of her first attempt is bound to come even greater.
Seeing this, the chieftain of the Arit tribe clapped his hands loudly and declared with a voice loud enough to resonate outside the room as well as the room.
“I, chieftain of the Arit tribe, Hryash Kubal, declare! I will give you two weeks to find a solution to this problem.”
And after looking around the crowd, he continued.
“If we can’t make any progress by then, we will move the troops without delay.”
At those words, all members of the empire began to frown. It was because the time of migration was too little time to seek and implement solutions.
“Come on! Then, let’s end today’s meeting here.”
It was only after the chieftain of the Arit people and his men left that the imperial officials were able to lift their heavy bodies.
* * *
Rosemary Camilla was looking at the newspaper delivered this morning with a smile on her face.
“Assault on Lady Rosemary, Lady Argenta? You choose an article title well.”
Actually, she wasn’t beaten, and to some extent Camilla induced it, but the newspaper company, who should know all of that, omitted all the middle parts for a provocative article and put only the provocative ones in the article.
“Camilla, stop liking useless things and see your father.”
Seren, Camilla’s twin brother, didn’t like Camilla’s aggressive confrontation with César. She came to the idea that if she was doing it simply for the purpose of bullying Lady Argenta, she couldn’t stand by any longer.
“My father came to see me as soon as I woke up in the morning.”
Currently, the Duke of Rosemary is not very old, but her health is not very good. Because of this, it was impossible to carry out normal work, so Serene was handling all the work.
“Or help me. Why do I have to work alone?”
“You said you were the successor.”
Camilla stood up from her seat after responding coldly to her twin brother’s comments.
“Come on! Shall we start today?”
“Camilla, do you really have feelings for Lombardy Youngsik? Why are you working so hard?”
I couldn’t understand why Camilla, who wasn’t usually that conscious of Lady Argentia as Serene, would suddenly act like she was going to bully her lady Argentia. Rather, she thought it would be more reasonable to say that Camilla actually had feelings for Lombardy Youngsik, so Serene had no choice but to ask Camilla.
“Well? What do you think?”
Camilla gave her twin brother the sly grin she always had.
“Haa… Ok, do it yourself.”
He gave up trying to find out about her identity from Camilla, knowing that Camilla was doing something like that when she was asked a question that was hard to answer or didn’t want to answer.
“Seren! Good job! Do as you continue!”
“Okay…” Serene sighed, thinking of the many guests that would come to her mansion today.
The Rosemary duchy originally supported the first prince, but it wasn’t a blood relationship, so when the original duke stepped down and Seren seized real power, they didn’t express their position.
That’s why she continues to send nobles from each faction to convince herself.
However, neither Seren nor Camilla felt the need to choose a faction right away, so Seren was walking a tightrope between the two.
“Young master, the Marquis of Haisiri has visited.”
“Haa… Really? You came a little early today.”
Serene thought that the day’s work had finally begun and moved her steps towards her drawing room.