Lucius slowly sat down, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.
"It's simple," he said, enunciating every word. "Since we cannot fight the new order... we join it."
"What?!"
"Join the Marauders Power Company?"
"Lucius, have you lost your mind?!"
Faced with their cries of shock, Lucius raised a hand, signaling for silence.
"Hear me out."
His voice carried an uncanny calm.
"When I say join, I don't mean surrender. I mean... divide."
"Think about it. Which families are still watching from the sidelines? Which have already begun to waver? Rather than let Black draw them away one by one, we should take the initiative and get ahead of them."
"We can send representatives to approach the Marauders Power Company in secret and express an interest in purchasing the Pure-blood Glory Edition System. But on the condition that we receive customized services, participate in the design process, and obtain some of the technical documentation."
A sharp gleam flashed in Lucius's eyes.
"On the surface, we would be extending an olive branch, making concessions. But in reality, we would be infiltrating them, learning their technology, and searching for... their weaknesses."
"More importantly..."
He lowered his voice.
"This will create divisions within the pure-blood camp.
The smaller and medium-sized families that cannot afford ten times the price will resent major families like ours for being the first to defect.
Black and Holmes think they have divided us into ranks with their pricing.
But they have forgotten that the pure-blood families were never a united front to begin with."
A long silence fell over the study.
At last, Old Nott slowly spoke:
"You mean... turn their scheme to our advantage?"
"Exactly."
Lucius nodded.
"The Malfoy family has a connection in the Muggle World..."
"If they can do it, why can't we..."
"Don't forget that