The Flower Of Eternity
Chapter 25: The Conference

The sun was shining that day. The cold air was a little friendly as a result. Although still no one dared to take off their winter coats in the land of eternal winter. No exception the Tsarina who was walking towards the meeting room. He put his coat together while walking. Two guards opened the meeting room door for her. Anna enters the meeting room alone because she asks Leon to return to her residence to get her the items she needs at the meeting.

Inside the room were already gathered all the high nobles of the entire Imperial Schiereiland, among them the Grand Duchess and Grand Duke Smirnoff, Duke Richterswill, Duke Francis, Duke Montreux, Duke Versoix, Duke Engelberg, among others, General Irene Winterthur and General Tyros Engelberg. Their faces all seemed tense because before leaving, they had already been told that the Tsarina would announce a very important thing. And the only important thing they could think of right now was regarding resolving the matter with the Orient Empire.

If Nordhalbinsel used to be a powerful kingdom in the military field, but had a shortage of natural resources, while Schiereiland had abundant natural resources, then now after the two became one Imperial Schiereiland, the, they had a strong military, ample human resources and abundant natural wealth. That made Imperial Schiereiland could be said to be on par with the Orient Empire. All of them in the room believed that if Tsarina declared war on the Orient, it would be. And they have to be ready to face Orient.

But that's not the only consideration. Schere, which was once the capital of Schiereiland and the center of government and economic center, is still in the recovery stage. Likewise with Montreux, which became the gate of the western border defense directly adjacent to Westeria. The two major cities are still not fully recovered and they lost many valuable soldiers to air bomb attacks and to the events in the Northern Territory and Winterthur.

Meanwhile, their enemy, the Orient Empire had a territory wider than Imperial as well as war vehicles and high-tech weapons. Their natural resources are abundant due to the ever-warm climate. Even though Jungdo City had experienced destruction due to the Morta Bomb, the economy and government of Orient was not at all disturbed.

They will be ready to face the Orient if they have to, but the Orient will always be ready to destroy them at any time.

And that was what made everyone in the room seem tense.

Anna will lead a meeting that contains people who are older than her and have more experience from her. Some had experience attending meetings under King Vlad, King Edward, Queen Eleanor and King Xavier. All leaders before him have different ways of leading. But whenever Anna was nervous or lost her confidence, she recalled Xavier's words first, one day before he was introduced to the entire Nordhalbinsel nobility.

"People make Kings and Queens. Adore them in front, and talk about them in the back. Good leaders are not made, they are born. Some people are born with a good leadership spirit. But all we can do is try our best to know that it will never be enough."

Anna took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. He had been thinking about what he would talk about in that meeting since last night. No. gabe. Even before that. He had thought of everything since before the day Xavier died. But now the problem is getting more complicated because of the Morta bomb explosion. And the bright spot of problem solving that he had initially seen back felt distant.

But still, he had to solve that problem.

"I'll negotiate with the Orient Emperor." Anna said straight away as the opening line. He is not always good at talking or making small talk. They don't have much time for that anyway. The problems with Orient have been delayed too often until the signing of peace is almost impossible under the current circumstances.

For a moment, everyone seemed silent. No one expected war right now, but negotiations with the Orient side were almost impossible.

Finally Duke Engelberg spoke up to represent the unrest of his colleagues, "The emperor has just lost his Empress who is pregnant with his child. The son who should have been his heir, whom he had been waiting for a long time for his presence. I don't think this is the right time to negotiate, Your Majesty."

Irene who supported Anna's plan immediately expressed her opinion, "Tsarina also recently lost Her Majesty and her younger brother, Prince Alexis. I don't think that could be the reason—“

"The Emperor will not approve of anything you offer in a state of mourning, Your Majesty." Duke Richterswill cut out Irene's words. The Ex-Queen threw a sharp glare at her, but the Duke pretended not to see her.

"I'm also in mourning, Duke. But if it's for the sake of my people and my country, I'll put my pain aside. And so was Emperor Haru. Empress Yeon-Hwa and the child she contained were not her first losses. He had lost his wife several times before. He's been through this before. He can't make that an excuse to refuse negotiations with me." Said Anna. He kept from showing his emotions in his tone or expression.

They all went back into silence pondering his words. General Tyros Engelberg broke the silence, asking, "What will you negotiate with the Emperor?"

Anna answered him as calmly as possible, "Respair for their assault on Schere and Montreux."

"There is no evidence that the attack was carried out by Orient, Your Majesty." Duke Nicholas Francis is Anna's former fiancee.

Duke Versoix responded, "They'll refute easily if there's no evidence."

"But we have proof." Grand Duchess Smirnoff said confidently. She then turned to look at her husband sitting next to her. Ludwig nodded, supporting her in gesture and with a loving look. Constanza continued, "We can prove that the attack was indeed carried out by the Orient." Added.

"What evidence?" Ask Duke Richterswill.

"Grand Duke, did you take him?" Anna asked Ludwig.

"Of course, Your Majesty." Said Ludwig who then went forward and handed a paper scroll to Anna.

"What's this?" Duke Frederick Montreux, half-brother of the late General Arianne.

Ludwig answered that question. "The blueprints of the flying vehicle that bombed Schere and Montreux. She was given a note and signed by Empress Dowager Reina. He named this vehicle Hagane-ryuu or in the language of the Ilbon Orient tribe it means Steel Dragon."

And with that explanation, the entire room was filled with conversations of the nobles with each other. They wondered where and how the second son of the former King of Nordhalbinsel had obtained the scroll of paper belonging to Empress Dowager Reina. Constanza turned to her husband and smiled proudly at him. Given that evidence, they believe they can negotiate with the Orient.

Duke Richterswill still did not seem satisfied with the evidence, he said, "Your Majesty, we are a land full of witches. The emperor will probably doubt whatever evidence we have."

Anna held back her smile. He knew someone would question the evidence. He had also prepared for the next step if the accurate evidence he had was unable to convince both the nobles and Emperor Haru.

"Not if we can prove it." Said Anna. He then looked one by one at all in the room while counting the time in his heart. Leon should have returned from his current residence. "Do you know about the eyeballs of the Goddess of Truth Aletheia?" Ask later.

Duke Nicholas Francis, Duke Montreux and Duke Versoix seemed to be shaking their heads because they had never heard of the legendary magic item. But others in the room recognized it through legends told by their parents as children and through stories circulating in the community.

Most Nordhalbinsel people know the legend of the goddess Aletheia who came down to earth and gave her eyeballs to be owned by humans because at that time the earth was full of lies and slander. Aletheia's eyeball became a symbol of absolute truth and honesty that was later used in all trials to determine who was honest and who was lying. But due to the greedy nature of humans, they try to have Aletheia's eyeballs in various ways, stealing, cheating and even killing. Until finally one of the eyeballs is destroyed and can not be used. The other remaining eyeballs were entrusted to a witch from the Grimoire Clan and kept for hundreds of years until Aletheia's eyeball was owned by Eleanor Winterthur and kept in the Winterthur residence.

But no one knows about the existence of Aletheia's eyeballs are still intact. They all assumed that Aletheia's two eyeballs had been damaged and lost. No one knew that one of Aletheia's eyeballs still existed and was well guarded to this day.

"It's only in the legend." Duke Richterswill.

"It's not a legend." Said Leon who was suddenly already in the room with his teleportation magic. He held Aletha in his right hand. The crystal ball was burning blue, signifying the honesty and truthfulness of the holder. "It's real." Added.

In a moment everything in the room was glued staring at the blue crystal ball in Leon's hand. Aletha showed the truth that all who saw her wanted to know. And just then, as Anna looked into the truth that Aletha had shown in a matter of seconds, Anna saw all the truths she had never known.

Although only a few seconds short, Aletha was able to show the truth of a long secret that she had never known.

And the new truth he knew grew his hope.

Anna was now staring at everyone present in the meeting room. They were all fixated on the truth in Aletheia's Eyeball.

"Aletheia's eyeball will be able to prove everything" Anna said, pulling everyone back to the current reality after a few seconds of glued to Aletha. "The emperor will not be able to deny it."

When he said that, one by one the plan began to be neatly arranged in his mind.

"What if the negotiations with the Emperor do not go smoothly and the Emperor still wants our territory?" Ask General Tyros. "We have to have a plan B."

And of course Anna already has a plan B. "I will not give them a little bit of our land and water. I will defend this country and its wholeness." Anna said firmly. Everyone seems to agree with him.

Leon looked at her proudly. He now again saw the figure of the leader he had not seen for a long time from Anna. No longer the grieving woman who nearly committed suicide that night, no longer the woman who almost lost her mind as a result of drowning in grief, Leon now sees the sun rising from Anna's eyes. A new beginning, after a long darkness.

"And if they were to declare war?" Ask Leon. More to clarify Anna's intentions to everyone in the room. Their leaders are not afraid of anything.

Anna smiled at him, "Let the war happen. We won't fall for them." Anna looked back at everyone in the room. "If Orient is indeed planning to attack us, if that is indeed their main goal, then any such negotiations will not stop their pace. If it's a war they want, we better get it ready as mature as possible. We're gonna fight them."

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