Watching the Empire's horses come up slowly with the Duchess General at the front was something of a weird feeling. For a month, I had driven Doorknocker into her without remorse or holding back. The things that she said and did for me for a month on end were something that would make any woman blush. Even many men would blush at the things we did together.
Now we were on opposite sides of the negotiating table again. I stood in my Elite Army uniform and ensured that I looked like I was unbothered. The Duchess General did the same as they approached. When they dismounted together, I could see that some of her Aides were watching the Duchess closely. It was not like before, when you could clearly see and feel the fear they felt for the Duchess General.
I put that aside as it was not my issue at this point, and it was for the Duchess herself to deal with. I could not help but wonder if my thoughts from earlier today were correct. The Duchess, probably unaware of my thoughts, walked up and frowned at me as she turned and walked into the tent. I followed her inside, ignoring the Aides and those entering with me.
This was a formalization of the discussed bet, probably, and we sat down at the table. "Duchess General, I hope you got enough rest," I said, my voice a little coy with a smirk, "After all, the bet was one of endurance," I added, and saw her Aides frown while the Duchess kept her face completely impassive.
"I rested fine, thank you, now," She said, pointing to the paper in the middle, "Let us go over the negotiation terms and finalize them. The Emperor has given me permission to sign the proper terms for this deal with the finalization of the third party, so that we may gather proper parties together so that we can begin the months-long journey of asking every slave if they wish to stay or go," The Duchess said.
It was true, we would not be able to formalize any peace treaty without this happening, and I nodded. "Alright, I cannot help but agree with you. Let us go over the details. In summary, in exchange for returning our people from slavery, whether they be from our nation initially or born from our people and bred in the Empire, or even sold to the Empire from another nation. Or any other combination, no matter HOW many generations have passed since they lived in our lands, we will have the right to ask if they wish to leave the Empire and return to their ancestral lands in the Beast-kin Nation. With the third party being representatives from the Demon Lands that have already accepted this responsibility," I said, "In exchange, all C-ranked and lower prisoners of war will be returned to the Empire. These prisoners of war will be returned upon all three parties agreeing that a suitable sweep of the Empire's slaves has been done and that a proper questioning of their intentions is complete. We will also concede that a certain B-ranked individual be returned and all the properties that she was captured with to be returned immediately in a show of good faith." I finished with a smile.
The Duchess nodded and pulled up the paper, and what began was details and writing corrections. It seemed that because of the lack of understanding from one of the writers, the contract had some accidental mistakes that I seemed to have overlooked. With some details changed and grammar changed in order to get what we actually meant onto paper properly, we looked at an edited decree.
"Are these agreeable terms to the Empire?" I asked slowly, and the Duchess looked over them and nodded slowly.
"In the Emperor's name, I can sign this before we start to move the negotiations along." The Duchess General said, and the Aides nodded as if they had a say.
"Good, then let's sign them," I finished, and that began the long ceremonial process of the Duchess signing it, then me, followed by Isabelle, then my mother, just to make things seem to have more power behind it. Then the Swordsmen that stopped me from touching the Duchess after the month came out and signed it.
When we all signed it and a copy for the Empire, we all finished with that, and I nodded.
"By the end of the week, you will have the Crown Princess in your hands again," I told them and then leaned back, "Now with that out of the way, what would the Empire like to bring these negotiations to?" I asked my voice coyly as I leaned back and looked at the Duchess General. I pushed my chair back and spread my legs, letting her see the outline of Doorknocker as I leaned back.
It was a power move, and letting them guide the talks meant that they had to push forward something that they wanted to talk about. It let us know their priorities, and that was part of the game these high-stakes discussions began at.
They were going to either bring up something inconsequential or something that they know we will push back on. If they bring up something important, like the B-ranked Soldiers we hold, we can judge how anxious they are about them. The Duchess clearly noticed this, and she also looked down and noticed Doorknocker outlined a little in my pants. Her eyes only glanced at them for the briefest moment, but I could see her eyes once in a while want to dart down.
Or I could just be imagining things.
"We would like to discuss River access to Border city and checking on the humans there to see if they are being treated fairly," The Duchess said, suddenly, clearly surprising her Aides, who looked at her weirdly.
Even I was surprised, and I smirked.
That was the one thing that I did not expect these talks to lead to.
Sure, maybe in my previous world I would expect something like that. But the Empire? With people who seemed to enjoy our control over them over their own race? That was something that was out of left field, and the contempt that I expected from them was not there.
The Duchess was up to something, and I could not help but wonder what it was.
Something in me sparked as I looked at the Duchess, and she smirked as she knew she caught me off guard.
No, she was smirking that she caught everyone by surprise, and that seemed to satisfy her more, and I knew something was up and that I had just been brought into a dance. The question was: Who was the Duchess General Dancing with?
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Hey Everyone,
It seems that the weeks have been passing by quickly, and I have had full work weeks. Sorry for the delays. Double release this week to make up for last week. I hope you all enjoy!
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