Chapter 462: Reconciliation by Proxy

"It’s been a while, Baron."

"Have you been well? I see you’ve grown a bit of a beard."

"Once I dipped my toes into this world, people treated me quite differently because of my boyish looks. So I started growing a beard to look more mature, but it’s been no easy task."

Leo von Vermeer had changed so much from the soft, gentle first impression he’d made that I wondered how a person could mature this much. The crown prince was slowly shedding his pretty-boy looks too, but this guy was on another level.

"No wonder Hilda was shocked."

"That’s because Lady Hilda only remembers how I used to look."

He was still handsome, but he and the crown prince were both eighteen now, and it was only natural that they’d changed. Their pretty-boy days were behind them. Young men here matured quickly, and by that age many were already sporting thick, full beards.

Vermeer seemed to rather like the way he looked with a beard. Would the crown prince be as shocked as Hilda when he saw Vermeer now? Honestly, I was a little scared I might end up growing a beard like that too.

"I’m grateful you called for me, but I’m not sure I can be of any help."

"Of course you can. If you get close to Lily, it’ll be easier for the crown prince to accept you."

The reason I’d called Vermeer to Rosenheim was to have him help with Lily’s wedding preparations. In other words, the strategy was to have him wait on his "sister-in-law" and score some points. Vermeer looked only half-convinced.

"A reconciliation brokered by family works better than one brokered by me."

"By family? But I’ve never even met Lady Lily."

"You rescued Bodo. That alone is enough."

When Bodo was kidnapped, Lily had been worried sick. I’d originally brought Bodo in as a counter to Angela, but he and Lily had spent so much time together that she’d come to think of him as a little brother.

And since Bodo was selling Lily’s big hit, The Charging Wolf, in Breisburg, he’d probably still be at her mercy even after becoming Viscount Elsheimer. That’s what happens when someone holds your purse strings.

If the house of Viscount Elsheimer became part of the crown princess’s inner circle, that alone would amount to the birth of a new political force—and a very powerful faction at that, connected to two princes.

Vermeer’s expression turned serious.

"That boy really was an important connection."

After all, Bodo had the Euznirk family and the Streit family behind him. Vermeer had probably approached him simply because of the boy’s relationship with me, but he must have realized all over again just how valuable Bodo really was.

"He’s not just some noble’s bastard. That’s why Count Euz took him in as his son-in-law."

"The house of Count Euz, the house of the Baron of Rosenheim, and a close aide to the crown princess..."

"Wouldn’t that make him more than worth your effort?"

"It certainly would. I should build a friendship with him, if only for Lord Franz’s sake."

"It’s not a bad thing for the Mainhof family either. No, it might actually be an opportunity."

"..."

Not only had the Mainhofs taken heavy losses during the Rose Knight incident, but—though it was only speculation—they were also the family Old Man Bertheim had set up as a stepping stone for my rise to fame as the Gale Knight.

And Lady Mainhof, who had handed the family line over to a branch family, had been slowly building her political footing since marrying Vermeer. Above all, she had the advantage of close ties to information brokers.

She was also the one who had connected Vermeer with Lady Mühe. So when I deliberately brought up the Mainhofs, Vermeer clammed up. Unlike her husband, Lady Mainhof had probably known the truth all along.

"Oh my, Brother Wolf. Who is that man?"

Lily was being attended by noble handmaids sent by the royal family, and Angela, naturally, was at the center of them. As the daughter of a prince, Angela outranked the other handmaids by a long shot.

Vermeer bowed courteously.

"My name is Leo von Vermeer. It’s an honor to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Sir Vermeer. Vermeer? Ah! Are you by any chance His Highness’s friend?"

Lily knew of Vermeer. She was close to Hilda and the crown prince, so there was no way she wouldn’t know about him. Yet this was the first time the two had actually met face to face. Vermeer’s expression became hard to read.

I answered for him.

"He was once His Highness the crown prince’s close aide and his dearest friend."

"Really? Once? So he isn’t His Highness’s aide anymore?"

"That’s a bit of a delicate matter. His Highness finds Sir Vermeer a little awkward to be around."

"Hmm, I haven’t heard anything about that."

Of course His Highness wouldn’t tell a woman who loved juicy gossip.

Ever since the crown prince and Vermeer drifted apart, Hilda had avoided bringing it up as much as possible. Given the childhood memories the three of them shared, it must have hurt her. In the end, memories always fade under the weight of reality.

I couldn’t easily butt in either. Close as I was to the crown prince, human relationships aren’t so simple that forced mediation can fix them. So I came up with a little trick.

Vermeer needed to win over Lily, the future crown princess. She had far more influence over the crown prince than one might think, which was obvious from the love letters she’d collected alone.

Fifty of them, exchanged without my knowledge.

Apparently the crown prince and Lily wrote love letters to each other every chance they got.

Hilda and I, by contrast, had exchanged letters only a handful of times.

Back then, paper was a strain on my wallet.

Hmm, maybe I should write to her whenever I head out on campaign?

Anyway, I’d heard His Highness was tearing his hair out alongside the Administrative Minister over the loss of Breisach, yet he was still finding time for all this. That was exactly why he wouldn’t get touchy if Lily was the one mediating.

Vermeer exchanged a few words with Lily, feeling her out. Of course, Lily was feeling him out too. They were only asking each other ordinary questions, but I could see the tug-of-war for the upper hand.

Lily went straight to the heart of the matter.

"So you want to restore your strained relationship to what it used to be?"

"Yes. The baron told me only Your Highness could mediate."

"But what do I get out of it?"

"Lord Franz is my master. So Your Highness is my master as well."

Vermeer submitted to Lily completely. I could see her delighting in having another card to play. In front of me, she was still the girl in white, but in front of others, she was someone else entirely.

That was Lily, the crown princess.

The girl in white was a side of Lily that only our family ever saw.

"Fine. But don’t forget I’m watching you."

"Thank you. Please give me any orders you wish."

"Then be my attendant until the official wedding."

"As you command, Your Highness."

Hmm, judging by how deftly she’d reeled in a subordinate, she’d have no trouble adapting even to a royal palace swirling with political scheming. The top dog in that world was the grand duke, but Lily didn’t seem to fall far short of him either.

After Vermeer and the handmaids were sent out, it was just the two of us.

Lily went back to being the girl in white rather than the crown princess.

"You introduced Sir Vermeer to me for a reason, didn’t you?"

"Do you know what that reason is? Take a guess."

"Isn’t it so I can build him up into a political force that’ll support me at the royal palace?"

"Right. And there are other advantages too."

I told her all about the Mainhof family’s tangled history and how well-informed they were. Of course, I left out top secrets like the truth about the Rose Knight, who was publicly known as a French spy.

Lily’s eyes sparkled as she listened.

"You’re worried I might end up all alone at the royal palace, aren’t you, Brother Wolf?"

"With Offenburg as your powerful maternal family, and with me and the house of Count Euz tied to you as well, the court nobles are going to start trying to keep you in check. You can’t depend on His Highness forever, so you need to build your own independent power base. The Vermeer and Mainhof families will serve you well as your hands and feet."

"Will the Mainhof family do what I want?"

"That depends entirely on how capable you are."

Lily sank deep into thought. Becoming crown princess wasn’t a happy ending. No, the real story was just beginning. The royal palace I knew was a snake pit, rife with scheming and conspiracies.

Queen Gwendirente, who’d been driven out, was proof enough of how cold a person could become. If there was one thing I wanted for Lily, it was that she not be corrupted like the queen, and that she ask for help whenever things got tough.