Jeanne turned to Darius and resumed her sunny disposition. "Now that the pests are gone, we can talk… in my room?"
Jeanne twirled her hair and smiled hopefully as she suggested this, but Darius wisely shook his head.
"That would be improper. Surely you have a private meeting room we can use?"
She didn't even bother to hide the look of disappointment on her face, but Darius turned a blind eye to it.
Jeanne put on a weak smile as she gestured. "Yes, we do. Please follow me."
The trio were led to a small meeting room a few floors down. The room had been well maintained and looked quite pleasing to the eye, despite only having some seats and tables for a host to entertain his guests.
Jeanne sat in the host's seat while Darius and his two Branded Servants sat in the guest seats. There was a short period of silence as Jeanne waited for Darius to make his proposal, while Darius himself pondered how to wade this mire he had found himself in.
After some time, he eventually spoke. "Right now, I see that Andrato is on the cusp of ruination. 5 years ago, I had set out to build my own territory and have made some leaps in that regard, 10000 kilometers to the north."
Darius then tapped the table using a finger. "However, I still possess the title of Baron of Andrato, and I cannot bear to see this kingdom fall so easily. As such, I pre-emptively assisted Listo town and beating back its invaders in order to thank Andrato for the shelter provided me in the past."
"However, that alone is not enough to stave off this crisis. At the same time, I also have my own territory to manage, and I cannot make so many enemies of other states when I am in the foundational stage."
He shook his head sadly. "As such, I cannot help Andrato as freely as before."
Darius stopped here, sure that Jeanne should be able to understand his hidden meaning well enough. From the way she was smiling while gazing at his face like an idiot, Darius wondered if her Intellect had dropped below 5 points.
He almost frowned a little, but Jeanne finally spoke up. "As you might know Andrato is a kingdom founded by my ancestor, Julietta, in order to serve as an outpost for Fraterina in observing the Plains of Death."
"Julietta set out with a small entourage that included Master Kubrick, and eventually chose this city's dungeon to set up the capital. It was only after Julietta's daughter came to power that we started breaking off from Fraterina in an attempt to achieve independence."
Jeanne played with her fingernails pointedly. "After becoming the 6th Queen of Andrato, I have become privy to the fact that the reason our kingdom has failed to prosper over the past 300 years is precisely because of the interference of Fraterina."
Jeanne laughed coldly. "They are responsible for the fact that Andrato barely receives exports from the surrounding kingdoms and empires. On the off chance that we do acquire higher tier goods, they are either miraculously recalled or the caravan is ambushed by mysterious bandits that are far too powerful for nobody to have heard of them."
"As such, Andrato had been left to develop everything itself. Our magical knowledge, or schools, or armies, our dungeon management system… everything we've developed locally, which is why the quality is unfortunately subpar."
"However, where there are hardships, diamonds are forged from the coal. We have talents who quickly climb from Amateur, to Journeymen and then Adept stage with chances of going further... yet there are none such people in Andrato, at least on the surface."
Jeanne placed her hands in her lap and gazed at Darius seriously. "Can you guess why?"
Darius, who had been silent as Jeanne's revelations struck him like thunder, spoke almost in a daze. "Because all the kingdoms and empires must have reached an agreement to jointly stifle a new competitor. Having Adepts is fine, but a single Master-stage expert in a kingdom changes their danger rating greatly, so it must not be allowed to happen."
Jeanne clapped with glee. "Exactly! We don't call him 'Master' Kubrick for nothing, but ever since he got crippled by a sneak attack from the Julco Empire, he's only able to muster Master-level power for brief periods of time. The rest of the time he remains 'the strongest Adept'."
Gunner and Xela displayed shocked expressions, as they were also able to follow up on what Jeanne was revealing despite not being as experienced as Darius in such dark matters.
Darius himself sighed and rubbed his brows, understanding fully what Jeanne was trying to tell him.
To summarize, Jeanne was basically saying that she didn't care what price Darius asked for. Or rather that she already knew what he wanted, but she warned him about the dangers of taking them in as a vassal state, informing him about the hidden threats to also his own safety.
She had thrown away any bargaining chips she might have possessed, rather focusing on Darius' benefits, which left him even more speechless. He knew he had a knack to manipulate people to volunteering to further his goals alright, and he had done so to Shanks and Derrick.
However, women like Jorge, Portia, and now Jeanne gave him a tough time doing so.
It wasn't that they were beautiful, no his problem was that all of these women in question were extremely obsessed with him in intense ways.
First things first, an obsession was far from being the same as love, in fact, it was a mental disease. It was not something that should be fostered, but something to be cured, as it could harm the victim and those around them, especially the target of their obsession.
If Darius made the wrong move with them, a catastrophe was bound to happen. Portia was the perfect example of this.
The poor girl had tried to hang herself after being told she would never be able to Darius' love, yet her obsession was far, far milder than Jeanne's.
Portia's was merely a childhood crush turned intense desire, but Jeanne had literally built her sanity and will to live around three things. Her love for her mother, her will to better the Andrato Kingdom, and her wish to spend the rest of her life with Darius.
She had already lost her mother and was about to lose Andrato, so if she lost Darius too… what would this Queen do next?
