The candlelight flickered, and Antonio's gaze fell on the darkening sky outside the window, his tone suddenly becoming thoughtful.
"Marianne," he began slowly, "do you think… is it possible to bring Paul Grylls to our side?"
Mariana was slightly taken aback, but did not answer immediately. She simply waited quietly for the emperor to continue.
Antonio sighed softly, as if recalling something: "To be honest, at first I thought he was just lucky and happened to win a small battle during the first orc invasion."
He paused, a bitter smile appearing on his lips: "But later I realized that I was terribly wrong."
He turned around, his gaze falling on Mariana: "Did you know that all those new things that have become popular in the capital in recent years—those thin yet durable papers, those kettles that can keep water hot for a long time, those beautifully patterned yet very affordable porcelains… all originated from the Northwest Bay?"
Mariana nodded gently: "Yes, Your Majesty. These all come from there. Merchants from the Northwest Bay sell their goods all over the world by cargo ship."
Antonio nodded slowly, his tone tinged with respect and complexity: "I used to think that true power came from the military, from magic, from political maneuvering. But now it seems that some powers can quietly change people's lives."
He walked to the table, picked up a thermos, and gently stroked the texture on its surface: "Paul Gleman doesn't have magic, but he has other talents—creative talents. He makes things available to ordinary people that were originally only for nobles."
He put down the kettle, his tone becoming serious: "A man like this shouldn't just be a frontier lord."
Marianne listened quietly without interrupting.
Antonio continued, "More importantly, he has a history of feuds with the Papacy in the Bay. If we can get him to join our side, it might provide unexpected help in the war against the Papacy."
He looked at Marianne, a hint of probing in his eyes: "Do you think this is possible?"
After this question was asked, the study fell silent for a moment.
Marianna stood in the candlelight, her eyes lowered, her fingers resting lightly on the back of the chair, her knuckles slightly white. She didn't answer immediately, but let her thoughts sink into that area she didn't want to touch but couldn't avoid—her son.
Paul!
She knew, of course, what he was doing, and that he was fighting a desperate battle against the orcs in the north of Aldor. It was a difficult war, a war of life and death.
She neither wanted nor could she allow him to be drawn into another, more distant and complex imperial conflict.
"Your Majesty," she finally spoke, her tone steady yet carrying a barely perceptible hint of wariness, "Paul Gleman is a vassal of Aldo, the lord of the Northwest Bay. He has no direct vassal relationship with Gabella."
She raised her head, her gaze calmly meeting the emperor's: "His loyalty belongs to Jingyao."
Antonio smiled slightly, seemingly unsurprised by her answer.
"Loyalty can change." He spoke casually, yet with an undeniable air of authority, "especially in the face of prevailing circumstances."
Antonio stood by the window, gazing at the distant night sky.
"Aldo?" He suddenly scoffed, his tone filled with undisguised disdain. "It's just a dilapidated house."
He didn't turn around, but slowly said:
"It's drafty on all sides, the beams and pillars are cracked, and a gust of wind could blow it down. Do you think I don't know their situation? They're in dire financial straits, the nobles are disaffected, the army is outdated, and despite having natural barriers like the Rocky Mountains, they can't even stop the orcs of the plains."
He paused, his tone tinged with sarcasm: "That young king? Hmph, he does want to do something, but alas... his country isn't sick because of one person, but because it's sick to the core."
Marianne didn't speak, she just stood there quietly, listening to him.
Antonio turned around, his gaze cold and stern.
"He wanted to reform the finances, but he couldn't even pay the soldiers in full. He wanted to reform, but he didn't even have the foundation for reform. He wanted to govern diligently, but he couldn't even control his own vassals—Gales, Veblen, Bradley, haha, just wait and see, there will be others in the future."
He shook his head slightly, as if evaluating an actor destined to fail:
"He is not an incompetent monarch, but he is certainly not one who can turn the tide; he is merely barely holding on. The army that was able to defeat Giles is perhaps the greatest achievement he can attain on the throne—oh, and that is also thanks to Gleman's help. I am increasingly looking forward to him."
He looked at Marianne, his tone suddenly softening: "Therefore, I don't think Gleman will remain loyal to such a country forever. He deserves to stand on a bigger stage, not just Aldor, but the continent."
Antonio's words stirred up a long-dormant emotion in Marianne's heart.
She was always calm and restrained, but at this moment, she couldn't deny the wavering within herself.
She was certainly aware of Aldo's predicament, and she also knew that Paul was facing not only orcs, but also the constraints of the nobility, financial difficulties, and the weakness of the monarchy.
And Gabera—an empire that rose to power under the impetus of spellcasters—is slowly but surely reshaping the order of the entire continent with unstoppable momentum.
She looked out the window, where the imperial flags fluttered in the night wind.
"Gabella…" she murmured the name to herself, as if she were getting to know it all over again.
Gabella and the Arcane Order are now one and the same; she fought for them, sacrificed for them, and even distanced herself from her child because of them. But now she's starting to think about a question she's never seriously considered before:
What if Paul were to side with Gabella?
She imagined the scene: a mother at the top of the empire, a son commanding a powerful army; with their union, the Gleman family would rise to glory and become an unshakeable force.
Mariana's heart beat slightly faster.
She knew Paul's character, of course, and that he wouldn't easily betray Aldo, but she also knew that her son was a pragmatic person, someone who knew how to weigh the pros and cons.
If Gabella can truly unify the human world and become the core of the new order, then Paul might be in a better position to follow suit.
More importantly, she could stop hiding her relationship with Paul and stand openly by his side, no longer just a mother who could only watch him from the shadows.
Marianne looked at Antonio. "Your Majesty, why did you bring this up with me alone?"
Antonio smiled.
"Oh, I just thought you and Nathan were more familiar with Aldo, so perhaps you could pass on some information for me."