Henry welcomed the flattery of the surrounding nobles without reserve, raising his cup again and again. His forthright manner elevated the atmosphere even further.
No one disliked a bold, valiant, and generous noble, especially one who had earned his rank through military merit. Only those degenerate nobles who had turned entirely to commerce insisted on observing etiquette in every matter.
Of course, it was still best to maintain proper etiquette before the king. You could compete with close friends to see who could eat more, but you should not make a fool of yourself before someone of higher standing.
"By the way, you just said that the descendants of the Kiev Prince had been discovered. How were they found?" After drinking two or three rounds with the many nobles, Henry suddenly asked the northern noble.
"Huh? It seemed they wanted to take advantage of the Empire's foreign wars to restore their country. Maybe three northern legions had been withdrawn, making them think they had a sliver of a chance?
But did they not stop to consider why the northern nobles would support their restoration? Just because they were descendants of the former princes of Sturgia Kiev Rus?"
Fas snorted with laughter, his words laced with contempt. "Those gray livestock were beaten so badly by us that they fled to who knew where. They may already have frozen to death on the snowfields farther north.
The nobles of the Sturgia Region are now all noble Imperial nobles. Yet these remnants still dream of splitting the Empire apart."
Henry wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth, unable to understand what these people were thinking.
Henry only knew that the Sturgia Kingdom had been modeled after the Kiev Rus Principality, and that it had already been conquered by the Empire in