"Eradicate the threat once and for all?"
Baron Pasquier swallowed, his face betraying both nerves and greed.
There was no doubt that Austria was about to make its move. That meant the two sides were finally going to start haggling over the price.
Metternich glanced at Baron Pasquier, who had failed for the first time to keep his expression in check, and couldn't help thinking, Still too green.
"Our position is that we can wipe out the Liberal Cantons that started the war once and for all, then place them under our supervision and educate their people."
Prince Metternich was highly practiced in this sort of thing. In short, France and Austria were acting in self-defense and for the peace of all Europe. They had no choice but to settle accounts with the evil heretics who had started the war.
That way, they kept their own hands perfectly clean. And Metternich was so eloquent that Baron Pasquier felt stirred as he listened, as though they were about to save the world.
But a deal was a deal, and Baron Pasquier knew it. He quickly shook off the emotions he'd just been swept up in.
Metternich's lengthy speech had addressed only the Liberal Cantons. He hadn't said a word about what they planned to do with the Orthodox Cantons.
It was impossible that such an important matter had simply been overlooked. But it was just as impossible for Baron Pasquier to hold back from asking.
"Your Highness, those people who wave the banner of liberty are certainly detestable. But I believe the people of the Orthodox Cantons are pitiable too, and need our two nations to join forces to protect and resettle them."
"But they have done nothing wrong, and the Swiss Orthodox are our allies. The Austrian Empire will not