Leopold sneered. "I see. So why did you call us here today? Surely it wasn't just to have everyone listen to a speech?
"I admit that Mr. Kossuth's speech just now was very impressive, but everyone has heard this sort of speech until their ears have grown calluses. How about trying something new?"
Kossuth's expression turned terrifyingly grim. He could hardly say that he had previously worried they were unreliable and might turn traitor at any moment, but now that the Austrian government had confiscated their lands, they were all in the same boat.
It was enough for everyone to understand such things without saying them aloud. If they tore through the paper window, how could they get along afterward?
Do not assume that these great nobles were truly tigers fallen onto the plains, fit to be bullied by dogs, merely because they appeared to have suffered heavy losses and been badly weakened. In truth, the power in their hands was not weak in the slightest.
"Your Grace, enough!"
"Austria has already raised its butcher's blade. What we need now is unity. If you want to pursue responsibility, I can resign.
"Gentlemen, if anyone believes himself capable of leading the Hungarian Republic out of this predicament, I can yield the presidency and let someone more capable take the position!"
In his fury, Kossuth simply threw down the burden in a fit of pique. Everyone present changed expression. At a time like this, the presidency of the Hungarian Republic was no easy post to hold. At the very least, Duke Leopold had no interest in it.
Everyone knew that being president of the Hungarian Republic was no easy task. In history, after the Austrian government decided to suppress it by force, the Hungarian government shut its doors, and only then did