The Northern Border Governor, who shares the same name as my brother, is frantically hinting in the letter that he can’t hold on much longer, that the Golden Ear Plains are near breaking point, and that the Northern Border is about to be finished.
However, he doesn’t mention the actual situation of the war at all. Instead, he makes a big deal about symbolically asking Lilith for help, kindly introducing her to the new model of cannons and firearms from Graywhite Territory.
Want them?
Got to pay.
Aren’t we brothers? Who’s thinking about selling arms to make money when they’re on the brink of collapse? Lilith knows the other party isn’t a fool; the only explanation is that Graywhite still has some strength left, and the stalemate in the Golden Ear Plains is far from pushing Graywhite to its limits.
Or, they might still have plenty of squeezed stocks, and the situation isn’t nearly as dangerous as it seems.
The purpose of this letter is also very clear: it’s a ploy to provoke and fish for reactions.
That’s right, I’m on the verge of collapse, so you all should hurry and ally with the Demon Clan.
The opening part with Lind is less about Graywhite being unable to hold out and more about urging the Royal Capital to quickly throw in their lot with the Demon Clan. However, it’s too straightforward; the tone of the letter is even quite expectant, to the point that anyone completely unaware of the situation could guess there’s a trap inside.
Lilith slumped back in her chair. Did this Northern Border Governor actually say anything about the current war situation in the North? Like what?
Every noble seeing this letter is likely only able to focus on the content they wish to see; those wanting to pull in the Demon Clan will only see that the North is crumbling.
On the other hand, those who don’t want the Demon Clan back deem the trap behind this letter too obvious; it’s plain fishing. What if they’re just waiting for us to switch to the Demon Clan and then find a reason to declare war?
But the nobles wanting to pull in the Demon Clan have a point too; what if the Northern Border Governor anticipated this situation and is instead trying to work against it, saying he can’t hold out when he actually can, hoping to make the Royal Capital hesitate in taking rash actions?
The interpretation of this letter from Lind quickly turned into a complex mess. In the end, it would just be a case of Lind thinking what you were thinking, and this infinite loop continues.
Lilith could even imagine that the nobles would argue fiercely in the meeting.
Soon, Nora also arrived at the Royal Palace, and upon seeing the letter in Lilith’s hand, her brow furrowed tightly.
“Your Majesty, can we keep this letter hidden from those guys? Or can we directly forge a new one?”
Lilith shook her head and said, “No, this letter was sent using the highest level of communication, so everyone in the inner and outer city knows I’ve received it, and right now, I can’t destroy the trust relationship between us and them.”
The main reason the Royal Capital nobles have faith in Lilith is not only because she has the ability and prestige to mediate various forces, but most importantly, her political reputation is very good; there’s mutual trust among various factions. Although everyone knows the New Party belongs to Her Majesty, she never shows favoritism.
Seeing Nora’s handsome face twisted in worry, Lilith could only reluctantly order, “Let’s proceed with the meeting as scheduled.”
Before long, the usually routine roundtable meeting began once again in the Royal Palace.
Naturally, the moment the contents of this letter were divulged, the scene immediately became chaotic.
“The Northern Border is already selling arms to raise money!”
“The Northern Border still has the capacity to sell us arms!”
Both of these logics make sense, resulting in Lind’s letter completely turning into a Rashomon; everyone could only see the side they wanted to see.
Lind’s thoughts have also morphed into a multilayered mess. Whether Lind actually has that many thoughts is unimportant; what matters is that these nobles believe he has such thoughts.
Although Nora is desperately trying to maintain order, she cannot withstand the increasingly chaotic scene. The howling north wind outside not only fails to calm the nobles down but rather fuels the fire, turning the situation into one that could ignite at any moment.
Amidst this chaotic argument, Judith instead began to contemplate, thinking that Lind must have some deep meaning in his actions! But what does it truly mean?
Lind actually doesn’t have any deep meaning; it’s just daily incitement. After all, in Lind’s view, the Royal Capital will sooner or later be the enemy.
Lilith didn’t rush; instead, she swung her feet on the high chair, carefully observing the arguing nobles.
Overall, the New Party is quite opposed to the Demon Clan, and although the Old Party has cut ties, some still have private dealings with the Demon Clan. If the Demon Clan returns, it would certainly benefit the Old Party.
Normally, the attitudes of the New and Old Parties towards the Demon Clan should be distinct, but the actual situation is even more chaotic than Lilith imagined.
Some radicals within the New Party believe they should leverage the Demon Clan to break free from Graywhite’s control over the Royal Capital through the war in the southwestern border. They can contact the Demon Clan while pressuring Graywhite, allowing both monsters to clash in the Northern Border while the Royal Capital merely needs to balance the situation and find opportunities to profit from the strife.
In the Old Party, there are also extreme conservatives who believe the Demon Clan is not trustworthy. They think early declarations are unwise and advocate for a more conservative contraction strategy, suggesting that if necessary, they should even unite with the Church to oppose the Demon Clan, as they did in the past.
The Eastern Border, which has been on Lilith’s list for reduced contact with the Demon Clan, was predictably outspoken in the meeting, enthusiastically supporting the return of the Demon Clan, appearing almost fanatical.
But everyone can understand; after all, there are still normal exchanges happening with the Demon Clan, and among these exchanges, the Eastern Border has the most interactions with the Demon Clan at present.
On the other hand, the Church unusually displayed a very radical stance in the roundtable meeting. The so-called doctrines of the Demon God Church can indeed be deemed blasphemous. Even if the Church is currently weak, it must at least protest symbolically.
The entire roundtable meeting turned into chaos.
Lilith actually supports the conservative strategy within the Old Party more, whether from the perspective of the Queen or the Saintess.
After all, the condition for sitting back and watching the tigers fight is that you must be confident in your strength to tame the tiger. Is the current situation in the Northern Border truly one where one can observe and wait? That’s called raising a pest!
Some people in the New Party are still too young; this radical strategy is something that the Royal Capital has never risked before—it’s purely gambling the national fortune.
But what if the Demon Clan actually wins? If even Graywhite can’t defeat the Demon Clan, can the Royal Capital withstand them?
After observing everyone’s positions, Lilith sighed helplessly and tapped her staff on the ground.
As the staff touched the marble floor, producing a crisp echo, the nobles, who had become chaotic, quieted down.
“I’m very sorry, Your Majesty. As the Chancellor, I failed to maintain order in the meeting.”
Nora led the way in standing up to apologize, and the other nobles also reacted, standing up to bow to Lilith in apology.
“There’s no need, I believe you all are doing this for the sake of the country.”
From Lilith’s perspective, although the situation in the Golden Ear Plains is tense, Graywhite is far from collapsing.
The function of this letter, besides aggravating internal conflicts within the Royal Capital and putting pressure on Lilith, is more about paving the way for future conflict between Graywhite and the Royal Capital.
If Lilith genuinely believed the implications in the letter, it would clearly be tilting towards the Demon Clan, meaning the soldiers of Graywhite would completely demystify the Royal Capital or, rather, the royal family, and the last shred of respect from the Northern Border soldiers and ordinary people towards the royal family would vanish. What king? Not familiar.
Graywhite effectively fabricated a statement: “You from the Royal Capital have allied with the Demon Clan; we are at war with the Demon Clan, so declaring war against you is quite normal, isn’t it?” At that time, Graywhite could easily find an excuse for war against the Royal Capital.
Clearly, there was no need for this. Even if Graywhite directly proclaimed, “I am a barbarian,” there would be someone to defend Graywhite.
But this behavior is really disgusting. Even at this time, they are still scheming to weaken the influence of the Royal Capital in the Northern Border, manipulating the situation in the Royal Capital, and casually creating chaos, all while burying landmines for Lilith.
Dealing with such people exhausted Lilith to the point where she almost cried, regrettably realizing that even if she cried, it wouldn’t matter, and no brother would come out to comfort her.
“But discussing the Northern Border’s issues right now is still too far off.”
Lilith continued, “We should focus on our current enemies, our old opponent, the Anju Kingdom.”
As it stands now, the best approach might be to do nothing. Whatever you throw at me, I just won’t engage, and as for those below, if they want to fuss around, they can go ahead—just don’t involve the Queen.
As for the official stance, Lilith feels it’s better to wait until the two monsters from the Northern Border have truly settled their outcomes before discussing matters.
The nobles also understood the message conveyed by Her Majesty, beginning to feign interest in discussing the Anju Kingdom.
