As Seor continued to wash his face, he looked at Kallian and clenched his teeth. His shirt collar and neatly styled light hair were completely dishevelled. When he stood, his chest was half exposed from the struggle, revealing a body of suitably toned, lean muscles.

Elliope watched without much thought, just in case he tried to resist again. Kallian, watching intently, grabbed the ambassador’s shirt collar as soon as he stood. The ambassador’s bare skin was instantly covered. Seor protested.

Kallian, watching intently, grabbed the Ambassador’s shirt collar as soon as he stood up. The Ambassador’s bare skin was quickly covered. The ambassador protested.

“What now?”

“I didn’t want my wife to see anything unpleasant, so I was hoping you’d clean up.”

“Unpleasant? Who made me look like this…?”

The ambassador muttered a few curses, but Elliope was too busy pressing her palm to her cheek.

Kallian’s blatant jealousy, which he often displayed in such a direct manner, was painfully embarrassing, but strangely, it didn’t bother her at all.

Kallian’s blatant display of jealousy was painfully embarrassing, but oddly enough, it didn’t bother her.

The Ambassador muttered a few words before clearing the table and preparing to sit down.

“I never thought I’d find myself on the side of Illmo’s loyal dogs…”

Elliope nodded at him as if to encourage him to continue. The ambassador, though clearly displeased, served them tea. It was a gesture that reflected his ingrained manners and education.

Sipping the warm tea and wincing at the pain in his neck, the Ambassador began to explain.

“Of course there are factions and power struggles within Seor.”

Kallian shrugged. The ambassador gave him an annoyed look before continuing.

“Currently, the crown prince is the first prince of King Seor, and he has a rival and half-brother, the second prince.”

“If you call him a rival, their powers must be pretty equal.”

“Well, more or less.”

The ambassador took another sip of tea and continued.

“There are only slightly more supporters of the second prince than of the crown prince, who is the legitimate firstborn.”

“Is that so?”

“You know the Crown Prince’s temperament…”

The ambassador frowned at Kallian as he said this. Not long ago, the Crown Prince, unable to control his temper, had suddenly lunged at Kallian, seriously injuring him.

Kallian, however, was calmly stroking the rim of his teacup, unfazed.

Elliope looked at him and continued.

“So you’re with the second prince.”

The ambassador hesitated for a moment. His silence was as good as an admission.

“If you were on the side of the Crown Prince, you would have rushed to the Duke’s estate to protest when Kallian injured the Crown Prince.”

However, even with his position as Ambassador of Seor, he did not force his way into the Duke’s estate. Instead, he seemed to wait for the situation to calm down, locking himself in the embassy and not coming out. In truth, it was almost a neglect of duty.

“You are right, Viscountess.”

The ambassador acknowledged with a calm expression, glancing briefly at Elliope, but quickly looked away when Kallian shot him a sharp look. Adding sugar to his tea, he continued.

“To be precise, our entire family is aligned with the second prince. Therefore, if the Crown Prince succeeds to the throne and becomes King of Seor, we could face a purge.”

“…So you would have preferred it if Kallian had just killed the Crown Prince.”

“Well, if that had happened, it would have been a real war…”

The ambassador clicked his tongue, then continued.

“Anyway… our family doesn’t want a war. There are quite a few anti-regime factions within Seor as well.”

“That’s surprising.”

“Although it is my homeland, Seor’s national strength is not what it used to be.”

Surprisingly, the ambassador admitted it easily.

Though it seemed a delicate subject to discuss in front of a high-ranking commander of an enemy nation, the ambassador glanced at Elliope briefly, pointed at Kallian with a subtle gesture of his chin, and replied.

“It seems you find the loyal dog too cute, madam.”

“Pardon?”

“That dog knows everything I’m talking about. He’s been with us a long time and understands us better than anyone.”

At these words, Kallian looked lazily at Elliope and then spoke.

“The spot disease was actually a disease that spread in Seor a few years ago. It was brought to Elsen.”

It was the first time Elliope had heard this fact. Without any concern, Kallian casually recited the state of affairs in Seor.

“On top of that, there’s been famine and bad harvests, so the atmosphere in Seor has been pretty grim lately. The internal factional struggles between the First and Second Lords have led to the downfall of several old noble families.”

“……”

“As for the soldiers along the border of Seor…”

The ambassador answered Kallian’s words with a slightly annoyed look.

“…morale has been in shambles lately because of that mad dog along the border.”

It was clear who the mad dog was referring to, without needing to be told. Elliope had already seen Kallian turn into a commander, a knight or even an assassin, depending on the situation. It seemed that in front of the Seor soldiers he really was the mad hunting dog.

“Besides, ever since His Highness the Crown Prince was injured, the soldiers have been flocking to ask for their discharge.”

“……”

“Both Seor and the Empire need to strengthen their foundations. If they rush into war now, only innocent people will die.”

“It sounds as if you hope for peace.”

“Why else would I have accepted a position like ‘Ambassador’ and come here? Despite my appearance, back in Seor I’m a noble son of a respected duke’s family.”

“……”

“The second prince has the same thoughts. He wants to avoid conflicts as much as possible.”

“Is that so?”

The Ambassador stirred his tea until the sugar dissolved, then continued.

“Then, through our intelligence network, we received an anonymous tip that the Crown Prince’s faction was planning to spread a disease in the Duke of Illmos’ territory.”

Although the mysterious nature of the anonymous tip bothered him, the Ambassador added that the information wasn’t entirely false.

Elliope asked,

“Why try to spread it specifically in the Duke of Illmos’ territory, especially in Elsen?”

“The Crown Prince’s faction is pushing for war with the Empire to unite their lacking support base.”

“…create an external enemy to solidify internal support.”

As a duchess, she had learnt a little about such tactics during her training. If there was a significant backlash from the vassals, or if public opinion deteriorated, you could create an external enemy. It was one of the ways to protect the Duke. When she heard this at the time, Elliope immediately thought that the external enemy referred to was herself.

In fact, it was true. There was no one who could be a more public enemy than a fake princess who didn’t come from the Duke’s territory. All the hardships she had endured proved this.

“If the disease spreads to the neighbouring duke’s territory and weakens his strength, it would certainly make it easier to invade… And besides, Elsen is now the land of the hunting dog.”

The ambassador didn’t hesitate to call him that and looked at Kallian again. Kallian smiled, as if he found the look ridiculous.

“It seems that it was originally planned for later, but since we found out first and took action, he must have been in a hurry, so he decided to spread the disease and run away.”

“And you came to Zenya to clean it up.”

“Yes. That poor herbalist was originally one of the Crown Prince’s spies, but I spent a long time carefully persuading him to switch sides.”

“But no matter what, a spy is still a spy.”

“Damn hunting dog.”

The ambassador gritted his teeth and snarled.

“I don’t understand how you try to solve things by talking.”

Kallian shrugged. The Seor ambassador sighed deeply and shook his head.

“Anyway, now you understand. I’m honestly here to mediate a conflict, not to start one. If that damn hunting dog over there would just stop acting impulsively…”

“……”

“Ah, speaking of which, I hear they want to take it to a military tribunal? Good luck with that, hunting dog.”

At the ambassador’s mocking words, Elliope interjected.

“I need a little help with that part.”

The ambassador’s expression quickly turned strange. Kallian, who had been twirling his dagger, shifted his gaze to Elliope.

“The military tribunal won’t happen unless Seor’s side protests. It would probably escalate into a diplomatic issue, which is probably why talk of a tribunal has come up.”

“……”

“Unless Seor formally objects, this matter will not go to trial. Am I right in assuming that?”

The ambassador put down his teacup and crossed his legs.

Elliopé continued.

“Join forces with the Second Prince’s followers in Seor and bury this case.”

The ambassador turned the corners of his lips. The man who had previously maintained his decorum suddenly wore an arrogant expression as he looked at Elliopé. There was a hint of sly amusement in his narrowed eyes.

“And why should I help you? From Seor’s point of view, it would be advantageous if Ilmos’ hunting dog disappeared.”

“……”

“Just because I tried to stop the Elsén spot disease doesn’t mean I want to side with the hunting dog…”

“The enemy of my enemy is an ally, isn’t he?”

Elliopé lifted his head slightly. The light streaming through the large window of the official residence settled in his green eyes.

“Indeed, this incident could be used to put pressure on the Crown Prince. One might ask how he could have acted so recklessly.”

“…….”

“In truth, the Crown Prince bears considerable responsibility for this matter. Since it’s a delicate matter to formally challenge the Empire, we would be willing to settle for a mere symbolic protest.”

Elliopé slowly closed his eyes before opening them again.

“That’s not a bad suggestion for you either, Ambassador, as a supporter of the Second Prince. If Kallian is indeed dragged into a trial… the Grand Duchy will be shrouded in an even greater shadow of war, and the resentment of the domain’s people towards Seor will only intensify.”

The light scattered across her lashes left a long afterimage.

“You said you wanted to avoid war, didn’t you?”

The Seor ambassador did not take his eyes off her. Elliopé whispered one last thing.

“Surely you must have that much ability – after all, you are an ambassador, aren’t you?”