"We cannot send our army there, we have to stop the war."
"Damian–what are you…?"
And the conference hall turned upside down.
"Isn't that a kid's voice?"
"A kid's voice?"
"How come there's a kid here?"
–Bang!
Duke Desdemona slammed the table and shouted furiously.
"Then can you explain why we have to stop the war when the tangible proof is speaking; pointing out that the Yovanny Kingdom is the culprit."
A voice echoed.
"That's exactly what they want us to think."
"What do you mean by 'they'?"
"Our real enemy."
"And who are they?"
"As for now, I don't know who they are. But we have to watch out for them, they are dangerous."
Duke Desdemona burst into laughter at Damian's answer. Several nobles followed Godwin's actions and snickered filling the room.
"You dare to say that we have to stop the war when you, yourself, are not sure about who is the real culprit either, huh?!"
"Haa…"
Dariush let out a sigh and massaged his temples. If he had known Damian's intention was just to cause a ruckus, he wouldn't let him attend this conference.
In the end, he opened his mouth because he could no longer see his child being ridiculed right under his nose.
"Prince Damian, are you aware of what you just said?"
"I am."
And distinctive clatters occurred; creating a commotion.
"Prince?"
"What is a Prince even doing in here?"
Dariush raised his hand and the chaos faded, shifting into complete silence.
"Prince Damian, can you explain in a more specific way why we can't continue our war with the Yovanny Kingdom?"
"With pleasure, Your Majesty."
Damian paused before continuing.
"As we already know, the Yovanny Kingdom has forfeited from the war. Then, why did they suddenly attack our Refugees Camp?"
Godwin immediately cut off.
"Of course, it's to avenge their humiliation! What else?!"
"Duke Desdemona!"
And finally, the Emperor's voice struck down like lightning; he lost his patience. Dariush gazed at his golden eyes coldly.
"Be quiet for a moment, will you?"
Godwin clutched his palm as they exchanged stares for a few seconds and the ambiance of the hall grew uncomfortable somehow.
"Cough, cough!"
Gideon let out two fake coughs to distort the mood and fortunately, Godwin was willing to back down before throwing his face sideways.
"You may continue, Prince Damian."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
And the white-haired boy's lips quivered as Alexander eyed him intently. He had been trying to ignore it for the past few minutes but now, he couldn't take it any further.
Irritated by the action, Damian spun his head and snapped at his brother.
"You'll burn a hole in me if you keep gawking at me like that!"
"Tsk."
Alexander clucked his tongue in annoyance and turned away.
"Prince Damian?"
"Y-yes, Your Majesty, I will continue."
"Please."
And he picked up where he left off.
"Let's say that the Yovanny Kingdom's motive is revenge just like Duke Desdemona stated, but, no matter how much I think about it, it's strange."
The audience patiently waited.
"What I'm trying to say is; if they really are seeking vengeance, shouldn't they be hiding their identity? If only one wore the national coat of arms of the Yovanny Kingdom, then that would be much more convincing. But, why did all of them wear it, which indirectly shouted, 'We are from the Yovanny Kingdom! We were the ones who attacked the Refugee Camp!' In my opinion, it doesn't make sense at all."
A dead silence fell as the audience now drifted into their thoughts and Damian continued.
"And the oddity doesn't end there. If they are indeed the Yovannian's knights, then how on earth could two thousand men trespass into our territory? Due to it being impossible to traverse Téras forest I will skip it, but perhaps someone from the Marines could enlighten me?"
All eyes switched to Sir Hervey. He sighed and glanced at the Emperor then Dariush nodded; beckoning him to answer the question.
"Your Highness, I sent two fleets every day to patrol our seas even before the war started. There's no way an unknown ship could escape the surveillance of hundreds of our galleons."
"Sir Hervey, are you sure about this?"
"Certainly, Your Highness."
"Very well, Sir Hervey. Thank you so much for the reply."
"My pleasure."
Damian's blue eyes swept through the audience below.
"Then, I hope this explanation is enough to validate that the culprit is not the Yovanny Kingdom."
The thing Alexander learned from the past was, whenever that woman from that shitty organization got involved, she wouldn't use any normal scheming; just like this.
To sum this up then, the Yovanian's Knights never crossed our sea; their Kingdom never dispatched troops into our territory, it was that damn society who attacked the Refugee Camp while pretending to be them.
To the extent that they sparked a war between the two countries, it was unmistakable that the thing they were looking for had been confirmed to be in the Yovanny Kingdom.
As you could see, that was one of many crazy evil plans they pulled just to secure the item they were trying to collect, and what Alexander had to do was stop them.
'Like hell, I won't let them obtain it.'
Unbeknownst to him, Alexander's heart raced when a thought kicked in. He was wondering, did the past also roll like this?
If the answer was indeed like that, then, wouldn't that mean he had massacred innocent people?
Alexander was dumbfounded by the revelation. He clenched his teeth and clutched his palm tightly.
'How dare they! How dare they make us kill innocent people!'
Not to mention he even got a title for slaughtering them.
'War hero? War hero my ass!'
The beast in his heart was raging uncontrollably and his blood was boiling just thinking about it.
'Those bastards! I won't forgive them! I will hunt them down this time! Just you see!'
Suddenly an audience with blonde hair and blue eyes raised his hand, it was without a doubt Gideon and he spoke.
"Your Highness, I have a question."
Damian answered delightfully.
"Please go ahead."
"Let's say that we signed a treaty with the Yovanny Kingdom. What benefits will we gain from it?"
"Before establishing it, I recommend that His Majesty make some demands. For example, have them pay for the monetary compensation or have them send their troops when we request reinforcement."
Gideon leaned against the chair. Well, it would be nice to have support equal to the number of Chrono's knights.
'Doesn't that mean we can double the number of knights on the battlefield? How tempting.'
The corners of Gideon's mouth tugged and nodded his head in satisfaction. However, Darius added.
"Truthfully, our Empire isn't short of money."
Damian responded.
"Your Majesty, it doesn't have to be money, maybe we could send our Ambassador there to find out any valuable resources they have and make them pay with it."
The white-haired man's lips lifted, he somehow enjoyed it and began his queries once more.
"Very well. But, what if they disagree with our terms?"
"Then make them choose, be razed to the ground, or agree to our demands. How dare they toy with our mercy on them."
Alexander and the rest of the audience were astonished, they didn't expect to hear such words from a 6-year-old boy.
Of course, that was just a mere bluff. Damian wished Dariush to stop the war no matter what. But, in his opinion, the Yovanny Kingdom would agree to anything the Empire asked of them.
They thought that they could finally match up with the Chrono Empire just because they fought for more than five months. Unbeknownst to them, Dariush had prepared a trump card.
Furthermore, once they saw the true might of the Empire, they realized they were nowhere near them, and immediately ran away with tails between their legs.
–Claps –Claps –Claps
"Pfft. Hahaha!"
Yet, different from the other people who fell silent, the Emperor laughed merrily while clapping his hands.
Damian's forehead furrowed upon witnessing his father's weird behavior and he spun his head toward Alexander; their eyes met.
"Why is he laughing?"
"He was amazed by your answer."
"I wonder, what's so amazing about my answer?"
Alexander just shrugged. Let alone others, he was also surprised!
Dariush stopped laughing and said.
"Very well, my son. I will consider it."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
A voice coming from Duke Desdemona.
"I'm sorry to ditch the pleasure but can we talk about the identity of our 'real' enemy?"
Damian facepalmed, then he eyed his brother. Receiving the lengthy stare, Alexander was taken aback.
"What?"
"Your grandfather is really annoying."
The white-haired boy let out a tired sigh.
'Why does the old man keep pushing me?'
"Well, he's a militant man, what can I do about it? It's his personality."
Alexander's reply was not helpful at all and Damian massaged his temples.
As the Prince remained silent, Godwin called out to him once more.
"Your Highness, I'm asking."
"Since I have never met them, Prince Alexander will answer your question because he's the only one fighting them."
Alexander looked at him in disbelief.
"Why did you drag me into this?"
"Just deal with him! Urg, my head!"
Of course, Damian was faking it. As his knowledge of the dark organization was limited, he was wondering if he could make Alexander spill the beans without blatantly asking him.
Now that he stood in the presence of the Emperor and the Elders, Damian's heart jumped with pleasure at what kind of information Alexander would share.
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