His oppressive aura made me break out into a cold sweat .
âAre you protecting the individuals who attacked your nation?â
âAt first we abducted him as a prisoner of war, since heâs someone who attacked our country . But when you ascended to the throne we discussed this...although the first prince has undergone a difficult time, in the end he understands his standing and begs us for forgiveness, relying on us entirely now . â
âYour ability to attract the hearts of others is quite formidable . â
âNot at all . Hearing you had become the king of Acacia...how did this happen? It seems there are other successors to the throne before you . â
My question prompted the first change in Prince Majidâs face .
âPlease donât ask any further, or Iâll have to treat this as an attempt to interfere in our politics . Weâll have to respond with hostility . â
âI see...â
My smile only became more difficult to read .
Finally seeing the reaction I wanted in him made me happy .
âYouâre quite frightening . Do you always resort to threats of force? Like you just did...â
I purposefully only said half of what I meant, but it was enough for him to understand .
That referred back to when he said he wasnât the one attacking our land, something I didnât trust .
But since I didnât say it out loud, he couldnât accuse me of anything .
âI just brought up a question . But of course . Honestly it doesnât matter who the head of your nation is, no matter if itâs you or the first prince, who is now indebted to us . I donât really care what happens there . To be frank, Iâve already made preparations to invalidate any effort you might make to militarize in the future . These preparations are already beginning to take effect right now . â
The middle-aged man behind him shuffled around .
Although Tanyaâs expression didnât change, I could tell she was alert at the sign of his movement .
My mother by my side displayed the same beautiful smile .
I stared at him, wanting to see what he would respond, but instead he burst out laughing .
âOh dear, youâre quite frightening . â
When he raised his hand, the middle-aged man stopped moving .
âOn the other hand, wouldnât I be a good king to your side? What do you want from me?â
â1 . 5 times the reparations you suggested, and a contract guaranteeing peace and trade between us . â
âAll right . You really have done your research . â
The results of us investigating these attacks on our territory turned out the fact that the party behind it was quite similar to our countryâs second prince faction, even their movements .
Even the actual situation was similar . They started out well, but lost organization and then destroyed their own plan, resulting in their properties being taken away .
And Prince Majid used the confiscated wealth as reparations...but of course, not all of it, only around 40% .
The amount of 1 . 5 times what heâd suggested came from Tanyaâs subordinates, who investigated the country and estimated Prince Majid would be able to accept .
Judging from his reaction, the estimate was accurate .
âAnd next is the trade agreement as well as the peace contract...excuse me for asking, but do you have the power to make decisions on these matters as the leader of a territory?â
âCurrently a substitute leader, actually . â
âExcuse me, then . Do you have the power?â
âIf I do, can you sign and agree to these terms immediately?â
â...Yes . In my position, I donât wish for more conflict either . â
âWell then, please confirm . â
While I said this, Tanya produced three related documents .
One was a national document signed jointly by Dean and Lady Letticia, describing this whole incident and their decision to let me handle the situation .
And the second and third were the trade agreement and peace contract .
âHow shocking . I didnât know you had nationally signed documents . â
He chuckled, not looking shaken at all .
âIndeed . After all, in dealing with Prince Majid, we canât be rude . â
âHahaha...looks like weâve been had . But what I said was the truth . After confirming everything here, Iâm open to signing and agreeing . â
He read each of the documents very carefully from the beginning to end, didnât seem to find any issues, and signed off .
âHow speedy . â
âBecause they were appropriate in content . If there had been something odd, I wouldâve reacted accordingly . Looks like youâve done your homework . â
âThank you for the praise . â
I signed below his signature on the documents .
After that for the sake of recordkeeping we gave one copy to him and the other to Tanya for safekeeping .
âWell then, itâs time to hand Jalal back to us . â
âAh...I havenât finished with all my terms yet . â
Prince Majid seemed taken aback...but not a moment later, he sighed .
âYou really donât let go, do you? Then tell me . â
âThe final thing is that we hope your nation can reduce the tariffs on certain items we trade by 5% . The list is here . â
âThis is quite another request . â
âIs that so? If you agree, weâll lower our tariffs on certain products too . â
Prince Majid closed his mouth, closed his eyes .
Immediately everyone went quiet .
To avoid distracting him, everyone stayed silent .