Valenciano stayed silent, he held back his mind and waited for Vaterian's response.
"Of course, nobody would go into the battlefield with bare hands. I was not an exception." Vaterian said to Valenciano.
"So, you already come out with a plan to get rid of all those persons in such a short time? The time went fast, is the time the young overtook the old." Valenciano was surprised about the intelligence the young man owned.
Vaterian took out the letter he gain from the fight in the alley earlier, he swing it before Valenciano and said to him "I believe you would like to take a look at the key tool for us to get away from the trouble"
Valenciano took the letter, it's been kept perfectly even after many bloodsheds. "This paper was very high quality indeed, might be able to sell at a high price." He inspected the letter and read it through.
Valenciano was a bit confused, he asked Vaterian about it. "The letter is well written, as you told my daughter, it might be sent from the Stadthalter's office, but what could we do? If we sent this letter to Stadthalter he might investigate it but before that, he will kick us out from the city and placed us in danger, and I doubt he will take the investigation seriously, his grandfather died during the siege, you know."
"I didn't mean to give this letter to Stadthalter, maybe you can memorize the other persons in this city that could help us." Vaterian gave Valenciano a hint on the person he wished to give the letter to.
"The Grand duke? No way, you know he was holding a secret hearing with the von Nassau. There had no way we would have contact with them, and the most important part is the Grand Duke won't care about someone being kidnapped in his realm, he only cares about the amount of money in his pocket." Valenciano made his prediction and doubted that it would work, although he never had a conversation with the Grand duke, he knew it from the past events.
"Sigh, seems like you forgot about the most important person in this game, the family Von Nassau. They are one of the four pillars of the kingdom, also the master of the trade." Vaterian revealed his plan, but instantly get objections from Valenciano.
"It just the same story from the Grand duke, they have a secret hearing and why the von Nassau would care about a kidnap happen in Talismania? They are the lord of the NiederWester, not Talismania." Valenciano didn't understand the reasons behind Vaterian's plan and don't think it would work in the first place.
Vaterian smiled, he knew that Valenciano had little information about this country, that's meant he gain the advantage. "Good sir, If you didn't clear about the relation between these two families. Since the civil war 8 years ago, the treaty of Hohenberg was signed. It turned the Von Talismania into the most powerful family in the nation, the exclusive trading right also given to them, which hurt the two Ansbachs families, Von Nassau and Von Oranje. Although they mainly rely on marine-time trading, it still created a crack between their relationship."
Vaterian stopped and pointed at the letter held by Valenciano. "If we were able to give them this letter, they would be very happy to utilize it and may force the Von Talismania to gave out their trading right. The evidence of stopping other merchants to get in this nation would be devastating for the Grand duke."
"Furthermore, this would allow you to trade with other families. You would gain more freedom of movement in this nation." Igor carried on with Vaterian's word, but it only brings more questions to Valenciano.
"But how would it solve our problem? It might make the Grand duke in a bad position, but it won't solve our trouble!"
"Hear me out, Mister de Montferrat. The politic between the noble was complicated, but everyone knew that the Grand duke was greedy. He won't let the trading right go away from him; he was more likely to present a scapegoat to the Ansbachs families. Who was more suitable than the Stadthalter and the person who worked for him? The Stadthalter might survive from the judgement since he was the hero of the civil war, but not for the others."
Valenciano Stood up and hold Vaterian's collar, "You want all those innocent people to die together with the actual people behind? You had no difference with him in my eyes!" Valenciano fell on the bed after shouting at Vaterian, he struggles to breathe and keep his body straight with his hand.
Viridiana rushed into the room, it seems she was outside of the room for the whole time, neither did Vaterian lock the door after she went out. He was expected such an event to happen. Viridiana was extremely worried about her father and try to help him breathe by patting his back, Igor was panicked and had no idea what to do.
Vaterian take off his cloak, below it was a necklace, he took it off and put it on Valenciano's palm while whispering, "The Great Selania, I begged your mercy from claiming the man from his eternal suffer, is yet for him to be sent into the brave new world."
After the prayer, Valenciano started to recover and regain his consciousness. Vaterian took back his necklace and put the necklace and his cloak back on.
"Never know that prayer actually worked, I hope Selania would help me when I prayed to her." Igor was not the first time saw this happen, but he still did not believe it was some supernatural power. If the necklace can cure all diseases, his mother would be saved. He still remembered the time Vaterian pray for Layla, and yet was unable to save her.
"Sir, I hope you understand that was the best solution for us. If you want to fight against a giant, you must be prepared to pay for it. In this case, you are not even the one who pay for it, and those families would only blame the Grand duke, not you. Think about your wife who waiting for your return"
Vaterian keep playing with the word, it seems like it convinced Valenciano, he was not a person that never been through death, but just unable to accept others to die for him." Just once, did you clear about that? Just because of my family, they can't live without me." Valenciano made the hardest decision in his life, and he tried to make him less guilty about it. Igor watching all these silently.
"How should we make contact with the von Nassau then, they were holding a secret hearing with the Grand duke." Vaterian didn't answer it directly but asked Viridiana a question. "Miss de Montferrat, what is the head news for today?"
"The death of Heideriech von Weißburg?" The name triggered Vaterian a bit, but he quickly get back to usual and spoke to Viridiana, "No, the other one."
"The Avant-Grande Prince, the heir of family von Nassau went to the…. Oh!" Viridiana instantly noticed how they should gain contact with the von Nassau. the Musikverein, that was where their hope laid.
"But he just went to an Opera, it should already be over, and he should already be in the court of the Grand duke." Valenciano found a big mistake in this plan, hence he asked about it.
"Papa, the news comes with a timetable, it shows the Opera going for 4 days!" Viridiana answered her father's question, giving Vaterian an easier time to explain.
"Mister Wagner was an ambitious artist, he had worked for this masterpiece for years, sure its length would match to the effort he put in." Vaterian further explained to Valenciano, although Valenciano was curious about, why Vaterian knew about the time the composer used to compose, but he chose to not ask about it.
"But the Heir would be well protected, how should we even close to him?" Viridiana asked Vaterian, if this problem being solved, the whole operation would be perfect.
This time Vaterian chose to not answer the question. "I would handle that; you just need to stay with me tomorrow." After that, he left the room and went down to the ground floor, It's dinner time.