Chapter 17: 17: The Meeting

“The duke is inside, right?” asked Tim looking at the two guards standing before the large door leading to the duke’s meeting room.

“Yes, Lord!” answered one guard, trying his best to keep a straight face.

“So, can I go?” Tim wanted to meet the duke and apologize for yesterday’s incident but he was nowhere to be found. 

In the morning Tim tried to find him but he was gone to inspect some bridge construction. In the afternoon he went to the office but found the duchess behind the desk, writing something. She told him to go check in the meeting room and thus he was here.

Both guards looked at each other carrying awkward expressions and talked with eye signs which was clearly understood by Tim.

“If I am not allowed then, I will meet him somewhere else.” Tim turned around to leave but stopped once he heard the guard calling him. “Have a good day guys.”

“Lord! You can g-o inside.”

“Really!”

“Ye-s Lord!”

“Thanks, then.”

The guard opened the door and Tim entered inside, where he was greeted by stares of more than twenty individuals, sitting alongside the rectangular table. They were all looking at him with surprised faces except the duke who gestured him to come near.

Tim got closer and soon a chair was ordered for him. He sat down beside the duke who was smiling for some reason, after seeing his son.

“Continue.” The duke said to the council of members who were gawking at the father-son duo for far too long.

“Yes Lord.” A tall man named Martin shook his head in agreement. “So, as I was telling, we are getting less and less food supplies from the Carlstone house with each season. They are always telling us that they are sending the right amount but everything is getting raided by bandits once the convoy enters our region.”

“That’s bullshit.” Retorted another guy with a pumpkin sized head. “There are no bandits left in our region after the purge. They are straight up lying.”

“I definitely agree with you, Lord Wilmore. But it is what they say. Not me. I am not making anything up.” Added Martin, putting down the paper he was holding. “No matter what or how we say their replies are always the same. We have to do something, your grace. Or our people will starve to death.”

The duke nodded with a thoughtful expression on his face as he rested his hands on the table. “How are things with Arlets? Are we getting the contracted amount?”

"No Lord! They too are sending less."

"And what's the reason? The good old less demand and their businesses are going down." 

"Yes Lord! It is their official testimonials. But we highly doubt that. They always take the same amount of resources from us, no matter how bad the situation is. They never stop digging for the very least profitable item." Answered Martin again.

"Hmm." The duke rested his chin on his palms. "Is this all or anything left?"

"There are many things, Lord. But these two require the most attention. Things can't go like this for long." Martin completed his words and the entire council nodded unanimously.

"I am aware of that, Martin." The Lord of the house sighed, leaning on his royal seat. "It is just, we can't force anyone when the emperor is backing them. We are practically dependent on everything. And you already know, beggars can’t be choosers."

"Still, Lord, we have to do something. If soldiers won't get their necessary supplies, they won’t listen to our commands. if peasants won't get food, they will start banditry which would lead to a large-scale civil unrest. Everyone will rebel against us. We won’t be able to stop them."

"That is called a Civil war, Viscount Martin."

"I know that, Count Grims." Replied Martin in an annoyed tone, looking at the middle-aged man sitting opposite to him, who was smirking the whole time.

"Did you?"

"Yes"

"Then why…"

"I am just pointing out things and…"

"Shut up!" The duke slammed his hands onto the table as the room fell silent. "Take your nonsense elsewhere. Don't bicker in my home. Understand."

"Yes Lord." They both lowered their heads and the duke snorted in anger.

“So, has anyone got any bright ideas?” The duke looked at everyone including Leon who was lost in his own world looking at the table cloth.

“We have one idea which can probably solve the matter.” Added Wilmore leaning forwards from his seat.

“Go on.”

“Our plan is that you should hasten the marriage between Marquis Leonhart and the imperial princess Elizabeth. It can probably solve most of our problems as the emperor will be forced to do something to maintain good relations between two families.”

Wilmore presented the idea which was agreed by the council beforehand. And the entire plan seemed perfectly plausible, until Leon came up with some facts.

“Is it a permanent solution?” asked the young Marquis, taking words from his father’s mouth.

“What do you mean?” Wilmore and the others looked at Leon with puzzled expressions on their faces.

“I mean, if my marriage is done within the next month, will it solve every problem our region has?”

“…” All the members looked at each other before fixing their gazes back on the father-son duo. The duke was also looking at Leon with a confused look in his eyes.

And observing everyone’s reaction, Leon spoke in a bored tone throwing himself back on his chair.

“Come on guys. Be a little realistic. We are not playing games here. Probability won’t work when millions of lives are at risk. We need a concrete plan, not some random ideas.”

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“With all due respect Lord, why do you think our plan is random? Think a little, it can work. You just have to ask the imperial highness for…”

“And she will ask his father who will happily agree and the end. We all live happily ever after, right?”

“Ye-… No!”

“This is why I said, your plan is just random.”

The duke sighed witnessing his son’s wording and the bewildered reaction of his advisors. But soon his indifferent face returned as Leon spoke again.

“Let’s get into some details. So, when did our region start having these problems?”

“After the thousand days war.” Wilmore answered followed by the nodding from all the council members.

“It all started four years ago when the emperor provoked the Northern Coalition and got his ass kicked. Then he annexed the former duchy of Vilestone to cover his loses and placed all his faults on Duke Vilestone’s head before executing the entire ducal household, right?”

“Yes!”

“Then most nobles in the entire empire got scared of the emperor and his moronic ways. They started supporting us which threatened the Elysium’s regime. Right?”

“Yes! But why are you reciting history?” Wilmore questioned, as he was unable to understand the point of this conversation.

“You need to understand your past to fix the future.” Leon sighed leaning forward on the table. “And I guarantee, most of you have learnt nothing.”

“What do you mean we learned nothing?”

“I mean, the emperor is key to all our problems and using Elizabeth as a leverage against him won’t work.”

“You are telling us that the emperor is responsible for all of our issues.” Retorted Martin, raising his tone a little, looking flustered.

“Yes!”

“Why…”

“He is right! The Emperor is doing all this. He told those two to send less supplies.” Grims spoke in a tranquil tone, particularly focusing on Martin.

“But… but we are paying them every penny.” The viscount cried. “They can’t possibly do that.”

“That’s why your sister calls you a child.” Grims muttered under his breath which was perfectly heard by Martin.

“What?”

“Do you honestly think, this world is full of rainbows and sunshine, huh Martin?”

“No.”

“Then stop acting like a five-year-old and listen to what Marquis has to say.” The Count added, massaging his forehead. “Please continue, Lord.”

“Both Duke Arlet and Marquis Carlstone are loyal to the Elysium family. And they are our biggest trading partners. The emperor is directly ordering them to send less supplies to weaken us from inside. The growing civil unrest will kill our duchy without any involvement of him or any third party. Thus no one will be left to challenge his so-called regime, or that's what he thinks.”

Leon completed his sentence in one breath and everyone left staring at him with wide eyes. His descriptions of things were fairly accurate but he was not someone who would pry into these matters. And when did he even learn about political affairs, leaving his lavish life?

“All in all, we need to come up with a permanent solution to our problems. Things are already bad and if we have to get out of this hell, then we will have to do something drastic. Something big and risky to solve our problems once and for all.”

Leon finished, letting out a deep breath and soon the entire room was filled with affirmation from all the council members including the duke who first found everything surprising but soon accepted the situation. His son was never dumb to begin with.

“Lord, can you clarify what you mean by drastic? Surely you don't mean to start a civil war right?” Said a man who went with the name Heins and was the Captain of the Knight Order of the dukedom.

“I never said, we need to fight another war. We just have to break some promises.”

“Promises?” The duke who was silent the entire time mumbled.

“Yes, Promises. The promise to sell our resources to someone else. The promise to buy food from someone else. The promise of job security. The promise of safety. The promise of a not so stressful life.”

“I don’t understand Lord. Perhaps you mean we need to reform Trinity.” Count Grims appeared a bit confused but it did not take him long to figure out the meaning behind Leon’s words.

“Exactly!”

“With utmost respect, your grace, that is too risky. It is practically beyond our capacity to interfere. We can’t just change it without thinking about the future. It is the sole reason we have survived for this long” Heins responded with a worried look on his face.

“And if something is not done soon enough, it will be the reason for our demise.” Leon's tone was icy as his face carried an emotionless expression.

“But…”

"Well, gentlemen, I think we have discussed enough for today." The duke said, cutting Heins’s words. “And it is getting late. Go rest for today. We will continue tomorrow.”

"Yes Lord."

Everyone left the room, after bowing to the duke and Leon. The door was finally closed, and a brief father-son talk began.

“Leon, when did you become so much of an avid politician?”

“I…”

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