Joseph took the warm teacup from Camellia, gestured for the Director of Security Bureau to sit, and frowned slightly. "How did the situation descend into chaos so quickly?" "It was the Young Italy Organization, Your Highness," Lavalette said. "They seem to have received substantial funding and suddenly began inciting riots everywhere."
Joseph had previously heard reports from the Security Bureau and knew it was an Italian nationalist organization. However, under the suppression of the Northern Italian states, they had always limited themselves to minor covert activities. This time, their nerve had suddenly grown.
Lavalette continued, "There are signs that most of their funding came from within Naples. However, I also suspect that Northern Italian states may be involved."
Inhaling the fragrance of the tea, Joseph considered briefly before ordering, "You may focus the investigation on Sardinia."
The Director of Security Bureau was somewhat surprised. It felt as though the Crown Prince had simply made a blind guess, but he immediately replied, "Yes, Your Highness. I will have the Turin branch gather clues with all its strength."
Of course, Joseph was not guessing blindly.
Historically, the Sardinian Royal Family had been the greatest driving force behind the Italian Unification Movement. The later Kingdom of Italy was, in fact, simply an upgraded Sardinia. And given the scale of the Northern Italian states at present, only Sardinia and Venice had any desire to push for unification—if a small country pursued unification, it was no different from tearing itself apart and handing itself over to a great power.
Venice had always been in a "loosely assembled" state. It was already no easy feat for it to avoid splitting apart; it simply had no ability to pursue unification. Thus, Sardinia was the most likely culprit.
Joseph had once believed that the tide of Italian nationalism