France.
Jaime Medina, the current head of the Medina Family, had inherited the title after the old count, Jacob Medina, unfortunately passed away in March of this year.
The Medina Family had been an ally of the Hechingen Royal Family in France, but years earlier, the old count Jacob Medina had fallen from favor for opposing Napoleon III's reforms.
As an old veteran who had followed Emperor Napoleon in those days, Jacob Medina had been deeply dissatisfied with some of Napoleon III's policies, especially his treatment of factions outside the Napoleonic camp.
After falling out of Napoleon III's favor, the Medina Family, already hated by the Orléanists, the House of Bourbon, and the republicans, could only be expected to suffer a grim fate.
Having withdrawn from politics, the Medina Family had declined severely before Ernst's rise, and that decline had been across the board.
Later, after Ernst went to France and reorganized these old family friends, economic assistance—namely their role as the Hohenzollern Conglomerate's agents in France—gradually improved their financial circumstances.
But the price was that they became even more distant from Paris, the political center, because the Hohenzollern Conglomerate's French hub was Marseille, the southern port city.
Under Ernst's support, the group of Hechingen's French allies represented by the Medina Family had already formed a considerable force in southern France.
The old count's death reminded Napoleon III of that stubborn old fellow. Though he disliked him greatly, Jacob had still been an old servant of the Napoleon family. Thus, in June, Napoleon summoned Jaime Medina, the Medina Family's successor, to Paris.
"Your Majesty, although the Medina Family has long ceased to be valued in France, I must still say this: there can be no chance of victory in war. Unless France is prepared for total war, any irrational action