"Let's get back on topic. What did the letter say, General Dennis?" she continued.
"This is the full decoded message, Your Highness."
As she took it and read through it, she found it was extremely brief and to the point. It was exactly the style of writing she expected from Princess Ming, always formal and stoic. There was not the slightest extraneous word. However, the contents contained a warm familiarity. It might sound crazy, but Elizabeth could almost hear Princess Xiuying's voice as she read through it. What a bizarre feeling was this. Before, she still had some doubts about the authenticity of the letter, but now she felt certain. It was written by the Imperial Princesses!
"A ceasefire, huh?" Elizabeth's mouth curled into a slight smirk as she whispered, "How like them…"
"What are your thoughts about this, Your Highness?"
Clearing her throat and assuming a stoic face again, she replied, "I don't see why we shouldn't trust the Imperial Princesses. They never spoke about cooperation, only a ceasefire. We can remain guarded against each other, while we deal with the Imperial Council. Isn't that the ideal solution to this war?"
"…Your Highness, if I may object…" a brave Legion General spoke up.
"You may."
"Pardon me then, but in an idealistic world, the solution that Your Highnesses speaks of may be perfect, but this world is far from ideal. Let us assume that this letter was really written by the Imperial Princesses. If that were the case, then it is odd that they did things in a roundabout manner like this. Coming with an official messenger from the Li Family would have lent more credibility to this ordeal. Instead, we received the letter from a random passing merchant who was threatened by Protector Chang and Tai…"
"You're suggesting that this was an independent action from the Imperial Princesses, separate from the Li Family?" Elizabeth frowned.
Having experienced the political circle for a while now, she understood the subtle intricacies at play here. The Imperial Princesses sending this letter in secret meant the Li Family would not support their actions. Even though their uncle was the patriarch of the Li Family, either he refused to listen to his nieces, or he lacked the authority to sway the family. Neither option was good because it lowered the chances of cooperation to almost zero. Without influence or authority, what did the title of Imperial Princess mean anymore? It was worth nothing! Elizabeth heard speculations that the Li Family was using the Imperial Princesses' legitimacy to the throne as a cause for war, but who would have thought it was true? That meant those two girls were rendered to nothing more than puppets.
And, of course, she also had to consider the possibility that everything was a trap, created by the Imperial Council. Words were words, in the end. With a bit of deception and technique, it would be easy to forge a letter that imitated the princesses. After all, they were facing against the Imperial Council, supported by three of the Great Nobility Families. The one thing they were not lacking was talent! Although they would never divulge military secrets or anything that would compromise the Alzar Kingdom's position, it was too dangerous a gamble to play off. This was war, not a game! Elizabeth had to treat every decision with the utmost caution and consideration.
This is growing too complicated, she thought with a sigh, as she felt a headache coming on.
There was the Imperial Princesses' matter, the enigmatic Featherwind Sect, the movements of the Imperial Council and the Li Family, as well as domestic matters. She did not forget that the inheritance race was still ongoing! It was the last few weeks of September now, which meant there were a little more than three months remaining before the inheritance race concluded. That was when the Royal Family, Royal Assembly, and the twenty-four Grand Nobility Households would declare the next ruling family and monarch of the Alzar Kingdom! There were so many things to worry about that she felt white hair growing on her head. Was this what it was like to stand at the top and command millions of lives as royalty? Unlike those fantasies, being a princess was truly stressful!
"…I understand," Elizabeth said slowly, sorting out her thoughts. "Let's take this time to carefully consider the benefits and risks of responding to this letter and decide after everyone's had their say. Is anyone in disagreement? If not…"
She thought that their discussion would take half an hour to an hour at most. She never would have thought that it would last for five hours, stretching all the way into the evening! Elizabeth felt like she was going to go crazy hearing the Brigade Commanders and Legion Generals argue back and forth for that long. And the worst part was that everyone had a valid point! This made it ten times harder to determine the correct choice of action to take and made Elizabeth feel like vomiting; her headache was that bad. Although this was not the first time she participated in a high-level strategic meeting, she usually acted as a spectator and left the decision-making to General Dennis or Admiral Aura. She felt neither confident nor capable enough to personally dictate the war! However, when it came to the Imperial Princesses, she felt she had to see it through to the end.
When she returned to her quarters, her friends were already there, making idle talk, while waiting for her. Upon seeing this, a warm fuzzy feeling grew in her chest as a silly smile crept on her face. What a familiar sight this was. She felt like she was back on New Havens, returning to home late after one of her trips to the forest nearby. Her family would be sat around with dinner ready, and as soon as she opened the door, her parents would charge over and give her an earful. There was one time her mother was so angry that she was confined to her room for three weeks straight. Back then, she hated her mother for doing that, but looking back at it now, they were just fond memories of a time long since passed. That was all they were now… memories.
"Huh? What's this?" Elizabeth whispered to herself. Touching her tear-streaked cheeks, she realized she started crying. A year… It really has been a year since her family died.
"Elizabeth?" Benedict spoke up. "What's wrong?"
"Did someone make you cry?" Shirley charged over, full of justice.
"It's okay… I'm fine," she sniffled. Glancing over the table filled with food, she added, "Let's eat because I am starving!"
"We didn't think you would take this long, so we'll need to heat everything up again," Freon gave a low chuckle, but inwardly, he was frowning. Any matter that took this long was bound to be troublesome. Hearing any bad new was bound to ruin his mood.
"Not a problem!" she smirked and summoned a servant to take care of everything. As the heir apparent, this was a natural thing to do.
While the cooks were reheating their dishes, it was awkward and silent as none of the four said anything. Elizabeth did not want to bring up the Imperial Princesses to not worry her friends about unnecessary matters. Her friends were also too hesitant to ask about the meeting because despite being the heir apparent's friends, they were still normal soldiers! It was inappropriate to pry too much. However, Elizabeth believed it was rude to withhold any secrets from her friends. She already treated them as family! After a bit of hesitation, she openly explained everything.
"The Imperial Princesses really did that?" Benedict was surprised. Betraying both the Li Family and the Xingyuu Empire took a huge amount of courage and resolve, all for the sake of peace. He had to look at them in a new light.
"It has to be a trap." Freon shook his head. "We've barely known them for long. Perhaps, this was a plan by the Li Family and the Imperial Princesses to entrap you. I agree with the generals that we should ignore this."
Shirley nodded. "It sounds too good to be true," she said, with a voice filled with suspicion. After her harrowing experiences with the Xingyuu Empire in the past, she thought all of them were monsters in human skin. "What did we decide to do?"
"General Dennis left the decision to me, but I haven't decided yet."
"He did what?" Freon was stumped.
Officially, Elizabeth was the Royal Army General and held supreme authority over the military affairs. She was the commanding officer of the army here! However, he knew that General Dennis and Admiral Aura were the real decisionmakers. The Alzar Kingdom would never trust the direction of the war with a novice like Elizabeth. Therefore, leaving the decision to reply to this letter was both confusing and unexpected to Freon.
"I didn't expect it either," she sighed. "But to be honest, I'm leaning towards replying."
"This is the Xingyuu Empire we're talking about here… Let's not be rash," Benedict began sweating. He was painfully aware of how dangerous Elizabeth's decisions could be after she ran away from Castle Reinhard. If she did another one of her 'great' ideas with the power she wielded now, who knew how catastrophic it would be? It could easily spell disaster for the army!