CH 458

As a finance official, Taike’s thinking was quite clear.

This kid called Lin Xiao was just a normal investigator, he wasn’t handsome, nor did he have any wealth or power. Yet he wasn’t respectful in his words toward Claire and planned to use ways to punish her for dozing off, this meant that Claire respected and trusted him, she really treated him like a teacher!

What was more strange was that with Claire’s personality, she would never let a man easily touch her body, but this time she didn’t mind at all with Lin Xiao. That meant their relationship was already intimate and wasn’t just normal friends that just meant, perhaps they were already…

Just as Taike thought, since Claire personally admitted they did a lot of things together last night, that meant she was using a subtle way to announce to everyone Lin Xiao’s identity! He wasn’t just an investigator, advisor, and teacher, but also her lover and future husband!

“Uncle Taike, w-what are you talking about!?”

How could Claire not understand Taike when she saw his expression? She immediately panicked and sobered up and quickly denied it. She explained that nothing happened between them and they were only up late last night looking through documents and preparing for the meeting.

Taike was skeptical of her justification, as well as the others, but regardless of the truth, at least everyone knew that this normal youth wasn’t simple and they had to respect him.

“Cough, cough… okay, okay, it’s time, we should start the meeting!”

Claire endured the shame and coughed to change the subject then announced the start of the meeting but was stopped.

“Princess, grand marshall Barrett, and many generals haven’t arrived yet.” Hardy who has been silent for a while quickly reminded her.

“Uh… why haven’t they arrived yet?”

“Not sure. Grand marshall Barrett is busy so being late is natural. Since they haven’t arrived yet, princess, why don’t you let us report the results of our discussions to you?”

“Now?”

When she heard that Claire stopped and sneaked a look at Lin Xiao. She was able to calm down after getting confirmation from him and got ready for battle.

Hardy saw all of their small movements but didn’t mind it. He naturally knew Lin Xiao and Claire would have prepared a lot last night and planned to show off their abilities, but he wasn’t concerned at all.

He knew well what Claire was like, she may be seemingly untamed, rough and called a Leopard queen, but she was still a little girl. If the situation surpasses her expectations, she would get lost and be easily led by the nose.

Even if she looked over a lot of important documents with Lin Xiao’s help last night, she’s still never personally been to the battlefield and she was also busy with the plague before so didn’t know much about the frontlines, so her temporary classes weren’t as much as what Hardy knew.,

Most importantly…

Did you think a meeting was just simply presenting data and reasoning? No!

The information and data you possessed were just a bargaining chip for the negotiations, the real meeting was about conversation and debates!

And the technique of conversation was Claire’s biggest weakness!

She was still inexperienced and didn’t understand the techniques of debate and everyone here was experienced especially Hardy.

So Hardy didn’t take Lin Xiao seriously and planned to follow their original plans and take care of Claire!

“Princess, the situation right now is too arduous, I and several generals along with the officials have all discussed it and come to an agreement that we should quickly have peace talks with the rebel army!”

“Yes, General Hardy is right, we can’t continue this war!”

With Hardy in lead, Taike and the others all started firing off toward Claire.

Not enough funds, supply shortage, numerous displaced citizens, our domestic economy is a mess, our people are almost out of food, where would we get the money to fight a war? Presently, the top priority is to stop the war and recover our domestic economy!

Just like Lin Xiao anticipated, they kept respecting the same talking points over and over, although it was exaggerated it was still the truth so it was understandable that they wanted to stop the war.

But Claire definitely couldn’t agree to it!

If they wanted to have peace talks with the rebel army, then they would have to cede the land, pay reparations, and withdraw the defensive lines. This kind of phony peace wouldn’t last long and it also showed the royalty’s weakness and incompetence. So Claire would never agree to something so humiliating!

“Uncle Hardy, Uncle Taike, I understand everything you’re saying! But, I definitely can’t… can’t… hm, it’s just… ahaha, w-what was I going to say again?”

After hearing their report, Claire was filled with righteous indignation and wanted to argue with them about what was right! But she suddenly heard Lin Xiao cough next to her then she immediately perked up and shut up.

“Hm? Princess Claire, what’s wrong?”

Hardy glanced at Lin Xiao and didn’t know why he kept coughing and continued to question Claire.

“It’s nothing…”

“If that’s the case, then do you agree with our conclusions earlier?”

“Well…”

“Lack of support, the people’s suffering, do you still insists on going your own way?”

“Of course, I know everyone’s suffering! But I think we should… cough, cough, no, no, wait a second.”

Claire almost got angry again but stopped herself before Lin Xiao had to remind her. She cleared her throat and changed the topic. That’s right this was the first technique Lin Xiao taught her, not arguing.

Lin Xiao strictly ordered Claire that under no circumstance should she argue with them! No matter if they want to sell out the country or not, don’t argue no matter what!

Lin Xiao knew that they would come prepared and with Claire’s abilities, if she tried to argue with them she would be completely KOed in just a couple of back and forths.

“I understand everything you’re saying… uncle Hardy, uncle Taike, you’re all pillars of my country, and troubled by the country’s affairs, and I’m touched, with you here, Gotham Kingdom can surely get through this!”

Although Claire didn’t understand what use these pretty words had, she still recited the words Lin Xiao made her memorize.

After those words, it was extraordinary, the Leopard Queen knows how to be considerate of her subordinates? No one was expecting it, originally everyone wanted to refute her, but their vigor lessened a lot after hearing those words and also started being polite.

“Princess Claire, we feel ashamed for your consideration! If we have to talk about who’s tired, then you’re the one that’s most tired!”

“Yes, yes, the princess is helping the king with politics at such a young age, it must be difficult.”

“Princess, you must pay attention to your health!”

After that, the atmosphere became more harmonious.

All she did was recite something Lin Xiao told her to memories and it defused a surrounding offensive. Because of how effective it was, she trusted Lin Xiao even more.

However, their offensive wasn’t that simple.

“Princess, since you can understand how hard it is for everyone, then you should immediately announce the end of the war and proceed with peace talked with the rebel army!”

Hardy took advantage of the flow and got back on topic and pressured Claire.

But Lin Xiao also expected this.

“You’re right, peace talks do sound like a good method.”

“Really? Princess, does that mean you agree?”

“No, I never said that, I just said it sounds like a good method.”

“Princess, then you…”

“I mean, um… hm.” Claire glanced at Lin Xiao and summoned the courage to continue reciting her lines, “Your plan sounds good, but it lacks a specific implementation plan, there are a lot of details that need to be discussed further, it cant be easily accepted.”

“Ah? Do we need a specific implementation plan?”

“Of course! Are you planning on talking with nothing?”

“No, of course not, but we still don’t have one yet…”

Taike and the others all quieted down. They were just focused on persuading Claire and didn’t prepare any specifics.

Furthermore, it’s not too late to decide on the specifics later, if Claire wants it now, how would they be able to give it to her?

As everyone was silent and anxious, a man spoke.

“A specific implementation? I have one!”