After shaking King Edmund's hand, Timothy greeted Lady Maria. With her distinctive cane, she walked towards Timothy.
"I suppose I should call you King Timothy now" she said.
"Customs" Timothy shrugged. "Don't blame me" he then smiled towards the old Lady. "It has been a while Lady Maria."
"Ah yes. It has been a while King Timothy. The last time you were here, you were still a Prince, Castonia was still at peace, and Erik" she paused. "Erik was still a freeman." there was a hint of resentment in her voice.
Timothy knew that Lady Maria still harbors resentment towards him. Erik sacrificed his own freedom for Timothy. Timothy knew how much the old lady cares for her son. So even though they were old friends, the relations turned somewhat sour after Erik's capture.
Timothy really felt sorry for her. Being a mother of a hostage wasn't easy. But what Erik did was of his own decision. Timothy did not force or command Erik to do as such. Of course he felt guilty for what happened to his friend and he was thankful. But being blamed for what happened was unfair for him.
Timothy did not want Erik to get captured. He benefited from what happened, but he did not want it. Being the King of Western Castonia, Timothy needed to assert his dominance.
"You have quite the eye for noticing changes Lady Maria. Of course, I noticed some changes too. The last time I was here, Greenwater is still a bustling trade city. Now its dilapidated state makes my heart ache. Luckily, my soldiers and I won the battle of Knightsend or else I couldn't even imagine what disaster could have befallen on the city."
Speaking like this to Lady Maria made him uncomfortable. Timothy respected her and she was his friend. But he wanted her to know that the Timothy she was facing now was different from the Timothy who visited Greenwater three months ago. He is now a King and even a wife of a Marquis shouldn't speak to him like that. Like the extravagance of Vanadis, Timothy had a reputation to uphold.
As a response, Lady Maria gave a defeated smile. "You've grown up Timothy" her voice was so low that only Timothy heard it.
She then clapped her hands once. "Well the number of Kings inside my house just increased to two. Naturally, as the host, I have the responsibility and honor to treat such great men with hospitality. You must be tired from your long journey. I shall have the maids escort you to your rooms. Dinner will be served later."
"Actually, there is a reason why we still rushed towards Greenwater even after hearing the news that the city was saved." Timothy said. "We must return to Solon as soon as possible. My father and brother are currently gathering their army. While I am certain the General Marvin and Earl Mathias were more than able to manage Solon, my absence will surely weaken Western Castonia. We need to make our plans now."
King Edmund nodded. "He's right. We are at war so we can't afford to dally. Time is of the essence and we must act fast."
"Then in that case, we will discuss our shared future in this room." Lady Maria then turned towards her servants. "Bring us the biggest map of Castonia you could find. Also, get the bottle of Angel's Wings in my husband's storage."
After a while, the servants brought a huge and detailed map of Castonia. It was so large that it occupied half of Lady Maria's table.
Five people were seated around the table. All of them held great power.
"Like what I promised, I brought thirty thousand mercenaries with me plus a huge chunk of the Vanadian navy." King Edmund said as he filled his cup with the Hadean wine.
Timothy was about to ask the number of ships in the Vanadian fleet when Arthur Vanadis butted in.
He grabbed the bottle from his father's hands and poured it into his own cup. "And a million gold coins if I may add." He then looked at Timothy. "King Timothy, right? I'll call you Timothy instead. After all, I think we will soon become brothers based on the lecherous way you look at my sister" he laughed mockingly.
Arthur Vanadis then crossed his legs. "To tell you honestly Timothy, I think my father is investing too much on this war. Thirty thousand mercenaries, hundreds of warships and a million gold coins is overkill. Compared to your own resources, our contribution to this war is overwhelming. I mean, not to put you down but what do you have exactly? A single city, two castles and less than twenty thousand men. Not to mention your lack of navy and the fact that you can't pay your army for long."
Timothy saw that Lucia was clenching her fist. She was shaking. "That's King Timothy for you, brother. Don't forget that you are talking to a King." She sneered. "And King Timothy has more than that. His soldiers are tough and experienced, Solon is well-defended, and he has the support of the people."
"Ah, support of the people. How good. How charming. How… intangible. Just tell me the truth that you have nothing." Arthur smiled.
"Easy for you to say. That's because you had never experienced being loved by the masses. Some people in Holm don't even know that you exist."
Arthur frowned. "What did you say? Take that back!"
"May I remind you that you have no right to raise your voice against my future Queen?" Timothy voiced. "Just tell me what you want Arthur."
Arthur calmed down. His face went back to its usual smugness. "Like what I was saying, without us you can't win this war. We have invested too much and we only want something in return. We want something that can make our help worth it. Take this city for example. What a great city, calm and deep bay, excellent location. But I think only an experienced merchant nation could really harness the potential of Greenwater. A merchant nation like Vanadis."
Timothy saw Lady Maria's face contort. He knew that he needed to act fast or else Lady Maria might smash Arthur's face with her cane.
"If you're asking me to cede Greenwater to you, then my answer is no. The people of Greenwater will not obey Vanadian law." Timothy said.
King Edmund finally spoke. "I apologize for my son's rudeness King Timothy. Sometimes he blabbers nonsense. We can just ignore him." He then looked at Arthur. "Arthur, we are not negotiating, we are planning for war. And even if we were negotiating, we are not shameless enough to ask for a city."
"I'm just making this fair for our side Father. Like what I said…"
"You're right King Edmund, let's just continue" Timothy interrupted. He had enough of Arthur's nonsense. "King Edmund, I will be shameless and ask you to leave your navy here in Greenwater. The Calgarians will surely attack again and only the Vanadian navy could stop them. Is that alright?"
"Fine by me. We need an escape route if we were to be defeated anyway" King Edmund answered. "By the way, what's the situation in Solon? You said that your father and brother are preparing their army."
"They are. That's why we need to start our march towards Solon tomorrow. Hadea, Inkit and Canton will also send soldiers. We will meet them in the city. From Solon, we will strike towards Nirvana."
Lady Maria cleared her throat. "What about Knightsend? My husband can't defend against the Tulosans for long."
"She's right." King Edmund agreed. "Also we can't let the Tulosans strike us from behind. I suggest we send half of the mercenaries to Knightsend. The logistics will be troublesome but Vanadis will take care of it."
Timothy examined King Edmund's offer. Although the support of the mercenaries would more than double the number of defenders in Knightsend, it will weaken their integrity. Mercenaries were loyal only to gold and he was worried about their loyalty. But not sending the mercenaries felt like abandoning Marquis Benedict Connel. In the end, Timothy decided to take the risk and he agreed.
"Now for the last agenda, we will talk about Greenwater." Timothy looked at Lady Maria.
Lady Maria sighed. "Although we tried to remain neutral, that is impossible now considering there are thousands of Vanadian mercenaries inside the city and hundreds of warships inside the port. I have already instructed Prefect Ryon on what story to tell the people. The Connels supported King Leopold and declared Timothy Castonia a traitor. But in less than a week, Timothy Castonia captured the Greenwater. Our family will not support you but if you control Greenwater then that will be no different."
Timothy nodded. Telling such tale will weaken the Connels. The people had already hated them for remaining neutral. Now that they opposed Timothy, the people will be angry towards them. But Lady Maria doesn't care about their reputation as long as Erik will be safe in Nirvana.
"Thank you Lady Maria. You will become my prisoner then. I hope that's alright."
"It's alright. I'll be the best-treated prisoner in the whole world" She smiled.
Timothy again nodded. "So that's it. We will march towards Solon tomorrow, leave the Vanadian navy here, send half of the mercenaries to help the Marquis in Knighstend, and Lady Maria will become our prisoner. I think we're done"
"Not yet Timothy" Arthur again spoke after remaining silent for a long time. "What about the leadership? Who will lead the army?"
"King Timothy of course" Lucia said. She then looked at King Edmund "He has the experience. I hope that's alright with you father"
"I have no qualms about that. I don't know how to lead an army anyway" Kind Edmund admitted.
"I say that's horseshit" Arthur said with hostility. He pointed at himself. "I will lead the Vanadian portion of the army."
"You? Brother, while I admire your confidence, dividing the leadership of the army will just make it less coherent. It's better for King Timothy to have unrestricted authority. He won the battle of Knighstend because he knows how to lead. He is our trump card." Lucia said.
Arthur laughed loudly to Lucia's words. His face then became serious. He was agitated. "Why are you praising him like he's some divine being?! Every word that comes out from your mouth is about him. Don't you see! He's using you. He's using Vanadis to fund his own ambitions!" He stood up and pointed at Lucia's face. "You wag your tail to him like a dog. What? Have you opened your legs to him so many times that you had already lost your mind?! You betrayed Vanadis Lucia. You betrayed Vanadis just to maintain your lustful relationship with this bastard. You are a wench!"
The room became quiet. Timothy filled his lungs with air. Arthur had just crossed the line. The foolish Prince just crossed the line.
Timothy and Lucia's eyes met. They understood each other. Lucia nodded slightly as if giving him the permission to do his thing.
"King Edmund" Timothy broke the silence. "May I teach your son a lesson in respect and courtesy?"
It took a while, but King Edmund nodded.
"Then the three of you should leave us." Timothy said.
King Edmund, Lady Maria and Lucia all went outside the room. Timothy was left alone with Arthur.
He stood up and poured the bottle of Hadean wine into his cup. He then sat on the table.
"So Arthur" Timothy said with a cold tone. "You just called Lucia a wench. That wasn't very nice."