"Burned?"
Duke Phoenix's first reaction upon hearing the news was that Small Earl and Lin Qi were far too bold.
This was no longer the Middle Ages. Nobles often settled their grudges through war, and he had thought the two sides would merely engage in a little back-and-forth.
He had not expected their first move to be so terrifying.
He removed his glasses and looked at the sky outside, somewhat dazed.
He remembered... It should have been just after dinner, so why was the darkness so oppressive? He took out a pocket watch set with many jewels and handcrafted by a famous master watchmaker. It was already nearly nine o'clock.
To Duke Phoenix, he might have merely lowered his head to deal with one matter—or perhaps had not dealt with anything at all.
Yet when he looked up again, it was already nine.
As he lamented how quickly time passed, he leaned back in his chair and asked wearily, "Did you go to the Fire Station?"
"Yes!"
The butler answered truthfully.
Duke asked again, "How many people died?"
There was some barely concealed sarcasm in his tone. In his view, people had certainly died this time, and quite a few of them.
If this matter was not handled properly, it would become an international joke and expose certain truths about Gefra—things they least wanted to show the world.
Of course, this was also why Duke Phoenix could stop mediating. As long as one side went too far, he would have grounds to intervene and forcibly end this "war."
He could even use the pressure of international opinion to eliminate one side outright!
They could not allow the actions of a tiny minority to provoke malicious speculation about Gefra from the International Community. That would be unfair to all Gefrans.
This