Strasbourg.
At dawn, Franz woke from his sleep and stretched. He took a deep breath to steady himself.
Waiting was always the most agonizing part. If Britain and France refused peace, Franz could not begin his next plan. But if he started it before dealing with Britain and France, he would be digging his own grave.
He knew Britain and France would eventually make their choice. This war should never have happened in the first place, and now all three sides were losing.
Britain and France had failed to divert their domestic troubles as they had hoped. Instead, their economic and political crises were growing ever worse, and both governments were bleeding money.
The Austrian Empire's prospects looked bright, but Franz alone knew just how swollen Austria—and indeed all of Germany—had become.
Pan-Germanists, militarists, and political opportunists had all come out in force, rabidly clamoring for war. But at this point, choosing to continue the war was tantamount to choosing endless war.
It was still too soon for the Austrian Empire. Of course, he would use this opportunity to lay the groundwork—not only to forestall the radicals, but also to protect himself.
If he blindly obeyed the Great Powers, the most likely outcome was that he would end up with nothing, like most sycophants.
So when the Great Powers feared something, perhaps the best response was to start making plans in secret, even if they were unnecessary. He needed a contingency plan.
The capitalist Great Powers would not spare a country simply because it posed no threat. They would instead drain every last drop of value from it: its land, resources, population, and reputation. Anything could be exploited. There was nothing they could not do—only things one had not yet thought of.
Franz glanced at Fanny Cotte, still fast asleep