As intelligence flew about like snowflakes, Charlotte learned why Grand Duchess Mesu had rebelled.
—For a Legendary Warship!
Byron's vampires had played a very dirty hand.
They had promised Grand Duchess Mesu a Legendary Warship.
Well, not Byron's Bismarck!
It was the personal vessel of His Majesty Julius Axel of the Empire of Fars—the Fontainebleau!
Grand Duchess Mesu's treason had actually been a long process, not a spur-of-the-moment decision.
The Empire's forces had always been divided into the Royal Knight Regiment, nobles' private knight orders, and local troops. Every nation on the Old Continent recognized private noble armies as legitimate. The Northern Fleet had always been a private fleet. Although it obeyed the Fars royal family's deployment and fought for the Empire, it belonged neither to the royal family nor the state, but solely to the Mesu Family.
At its peak, the Mesu Family's Northern Fleet had been half the size of the Imperial Navy.
But since its failed exploration of the Sea of Fury, the Northern Fleet had been in steady decline, shrinking to one-sixth the size of the Imperial Navy.
After two great naval battles, the Mesu Family had suffered grievous losses. Three Magic Alchemical Warships had been sunk by the Byronians, and its strength had declined to the point where it was inferior even to Menilman, the rising star of the Imperial Navy.
If the war continued, the Mesu Family's downfall was all too easy to foresee!
Using two Magic Alchemical Warships as their opening offer, the Byronians secured the chance to negotiate in depth with Duchess Mesu. They also lent her six Saint Rank vampires, coordinating an inside-outside attack with Grand Duchess Mesu to seize the personal vessel of His Majesty Julius Axel of the Empire of Fars—the Fontainebleau—from Minfoster Port, Fars's largest harbor!
Once Duchess