What Xiao Ran said to Cornelia sounded like an implicit threat to her: cooperate with him fully and stop stirring up any other nonsense. Otherwise, he, Xiao Ran, would lead the Crimson Knights out of Britannia entirely, seize Area 11, and establish himself as king. Even if all of Britannia collapsed by then, Xiao Ran's own strength and that of the Crimson Knights would be enough to carve out an entirely new Britannia.
Naturally, Cornelia considered that entirely possible. Xiao Ran's strength had already been proven, and the Crimson Knights had joined the Britannian military long ago, helping Britannia weather who knew how many crises. Their strength went without saying. And since they could produce a unit like the Soul Reaver, which became utterly terrifying in Xiao Ran's hands, that meant the Crimson Knights certainly possessed even greater power they had yet to reveal.
The Crimson Knights had not displayed all their strength. The participants all knew why. It was not just the Crimson Knights; every legion was the same. None of them had truly revealed the full extent of their legion's strength.
In a coalition government like the EU, that was not really a big issue. There were countless reasons and excuses that could smooth it over. But from the perspective of the Britannian Empire, especially from Charles's perspective, it seemed rather inappropriate. What did the Crimson Knights mean by this? They had joined Britannia and received so many resources and subsidies from the Empire, yet they were still hiding their strength instead of displaying it all. Did they have designs on Britannia? Did they have designs on Charles? Or did they intend to threaten Charles, threaten the great Britannian Empire?
So it was only natural that Charles could not trust the Crimson Knights and was unwilling to provide