Disappointing Officials

Although this meeting had been convened to achieve Arthur's objective—to help Manuel restore the monarchy—

the atmosphere during the meeting was extremely awkward. The Portuguese officials and Democratic Party members had practically become spectators, completely unable to join the conversations between representatives from the other countries.

Apart from Manuel II, who was also Portuguese, occasionally chatting with them for a few words, the representatives of the other countries seemed to have tacitly left the Portuguese officials out in the cold.

Yet this was a fact that the Portuguese officials and Democratic Party members could not change. Looking closely at the countries represented here, even the weakest were second-rate European powers like Belgium and Bulgaria.

Compared with Belgium and Bulgaria, Portugal could only be considered roughly equal in strength. They were not at the highest level of Portugal's political scene, so they were naturally a level lower in status.

What was more troublesome was that there were representatives from the two great powers of Australasia and the United Kingdom sitting nearby.

On closer inspection, the representatives of these countries were all nobles, and their ranks were far from low. Could ordinary officials like them insert themselves into a conversation between nobles? Of course not.

To be frank, European nobles still possessed a degree of pride. Although the noble class had declined overall, the haughtiness of the aristocracy had not changed much.

But ultimately, this was also a tactic. By using something akin to a show of force, they could achieve their own objective: making Portugal understand who truly controlled the world situation.

At the end of the day, Portugal was merely an ordinary pawn on the world's chessboard. Compared with players like Australasia and the United Kingdom, Portugal had very few choices before it.

Arthur did not care about the final