I Became A Hidden Powerhouse Of The British Empire [EN]: Chapter 478

< The British Empire's Hidden Powerhouse (3) >

“Rudolf to London? Why?”

Those were Emperor Franz Joseph’s first words upon hearing the proposal from London.

“Sending our Crown Prince there for studies? Is this an open declaration that we’re becoming pro-British?”

From Austria’s perspective, it was an absurd request.

Taking key figures from other countries and educating them to be friendly to oneself is a traditional European tactic that has been passed down since ancient Roman times.

For Franz Joseph, the blatant nature of this attempt was not just infuriating, but utterly perplexing.

“Your Majesty, it doesn’t seem that was their primary intention.”

“Not their intention? We conceded once, and now they’re completely looking down on us, making such demands. If young Rudolf goes to London, who will educate him? Naturally, he’ll be surrounded by teachers who are loyal to the British Empire’s royal family to the bone, and then…”

“It wasn’t the British Empire’s royal family’s intention, but rather a request from Lady Gisela.”

“…What? That child? Why would she do that?”

“Since the two of you were so close, wouldn’t she be worried about her younger brother?”

Indeed, it seemed unlikely that the British Empire would make such a brazen request directly.

It was so unlike the methods of Killian that I had heard and seen thus far. I was puzzled, and it never occurred to me that his daughter would initiate such a proposal.

Given the situation, Franz Joseph found himself in an awkward position.

“I wonder what Rudolf wants to do? If he leaves his beloved homeland and goes to London, he might suffer a lot. Wouldn’t he react negatively?”

“He was completely against it initially. But then he said he wanted to go to where Lady Gisela is as soon as possible…”

“What a weakling! A guy who is supposed to be the Emperor of Habsburg still hasn’t overcome such weak tendencies… I can’t help but worry about this.”

Despite the Emperor’s lament, the ministers evaded answering with ambiguous smiles, neither affirmative nor negative.

In fact, Franz Joseph, a military man since his youth, was too oblivious to notice that, to ordinary people, Crown Prince Rudolf’s childhood education amounted to abuse.

The future of the Austrian Empire was difficult to predict even in the short term.

With the intention of bravely facing these difficulties, Franz Joseph and his mother, Archduchess Sophie, strictly educated their successor, Rudolf.

The intention was good.

It’s just that they subjected a seven-year-old child to an education that even Spartan warriors would find terrifying.

“Your Majesty, it seems that the Crown Prince is still suffering from the shock he received as a child…”

“You shouldn’t call that a mere ‘shock.’ Isn’t that child supposed to succeed me as Emperor? If he can’t even overcome that, how can he endure the great weight of this crown?”

“…”

Even so, wasn’t it a bit excessive to send a young child out into the freezing winter to walk through the snow?

Furthermore, he was tasked with developing his endurance by leaving him alone in the forest and telling him to find his way back to the palace. They even replaced the alarm clock with real gunshots to acclimate him to war.

Empress Elisabeth, previously uninterested in her children’s education, was horrified when she learned the truth and screamed at the Emperor.

The Emperor, close to being a man of iron and blood, believed that his son could handle it, but unfortunately, this was a trauma bordering on PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder] for young Rudolf.

Even after barely escaping military training, the situation didn’t improve.

The Empress, who had briefly intervened in her son’s education, stopped paying attention as if she had done her part. Even though military-style education was over, life in the Imperial Palace remained bleak and lonely.

In the meantime, Gisela, with whom he had the only deep emotional connection, went to London and invited him. Unless the Crown Prince had been shot in the head, there was no reason to refuse.

Gisela invited him, Rudolf wanted it, and the British Empire’s royal family granted Gisela’s request, leaving the Austrian royal family with no choice.

“Your Majesty, if we refuse here, not only will the Princess lose face, but so will the royal family over there, who only granted the Princess’s request. Moreover, it would seem that we have rejected the request of Gisela, who will become the Crown Princess of the British Empire, so the optics will not be good.”

“…Yes, that can’t be helped. I should have given Gisela more hints… No, if I had, the Crown Prince over there would have gone wild again.”

The situation was twisted, but there was nothing I could do about past actions.

“Fortunately, they said that they will make every preparation to treat the Crown Prince with care upon his arrival. And with the Crown Prince’s coming, they added that they hope that the friendly relations between the two countries will deepen and that they will support each other and further strengthen the alliance.”

“Yes, they have to do that much. Then, can we assume that they will help resolve the Schleswig region issue?”

Currently, Prussia, the de facto leader of the German Confederation, which is rapidly rising, has swallowed not only central Schleswig but also the north.

If this continues unchecked, they are poised to annex the entire territory of Denmark.

Ostensibly, the British Empire was planning to time its intervention.

The problem was that, regardless of Austria’s stance, Prussia currently possessed the power to forcibly incorporate the entire Schleswig region into their territory.

Dealing with Prussia was already difficult, but if they seized Schleswig-Holstein, the power struggle over the German Confederation would virtually become a one-sided victory for Prussia.

“…In a way, Gisela may have given the home country a chance to breathe. Of course, she had no intention of doing so.”

For Franz Joseph, as well as the royal family, sending the Crown Prince to London first was impossible.

It would have been a tempting card for the British Empire, but they wouldn’t have made such a blatant proposal.

But here, Gisela took the initiative by inviting her younger brother, allowing Austria to reluctantly send the Crown Prince and, in return, draw in the influence of the British Empire.

Considering that this is the only way to minimize the damage to pride and maximize profits, this might not be entirely bad for Austria.

Gisela had no intention of doing so, but unintentionally, she became indispensable not only to the British Empire but also to her hometown of Austria.

* * *

Prussia, the de facto leader of the German Confederation, is crushing Denmark and is on a roll.

However, war in this era was not like in the past, where they could simply absorb the territories they occupied.

If they planted a flag in Denmark and declared annexation, all the countries in Europe would rise up and object.

No matter how victorious a country was, it could only take a small portion of the territory, and even then, it had to guarantee clear legitimacy.

“First, let’s decide to incorporate Holstein into the home country. Austria and Russia won’t be able to strongly oppose this much. The British Empire and France won’t raise any objections either.”

Following America and Asia, Bismarck, the Iron Chancellor [Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia], who is expanding Prussia’s territory even in Europe, carefully placed chess pieces on the map one by one.

“But Holstein and Schleswig, which have clearly expressed their intention to join the home country, are a little different. Public opinion in the south is being organized, but resistance in the north is still strong.”

“Prime Minister, then how about sending more Holstein residents to the south and forcibly merging them around there?”

“That’s not a bad idea, but Russia and Austria continue to insist that Schleswig should be independent or remain in a personal union with Denmark. If we openly ignore this public opinion, there is a high possibility that the situation will not flow in a pleasant direction.”

Russia and Austria were no longer that scary on their own.

Austria was already leaning so far that it was a weakling that would fall if we landed a proper punch, and Russia was a scarecrow that couldn’t do anything unless we invaded them.

However, if these two countries rapidly became closer due to Prussia’s actions, it would be very difficult.

In that case, we would have to have the support of France or the British Empire, but they didn’t seem to have much intention of doing so.

Still, if we proceed smoothly, we will be able to induce the British Empire to intervene at an appropriate level and divide the territory as initially expected.

In exchange for the British Empire’s intervention, we will take Greenland or Iceland, and Prussia will be able to get Schleswig-Holstein.

The Schleswig region is a bit tricky, but if the British Empire takes Greenland, wouldn’t they turn a blind eye to us swallowing it?

However, an unexpected obstacle appeared in front of Bismarck, who had finished all his calculations.

“…The Austrian Crown Prince is going to London?”

“Yes. It’s breaking news confirmed today!”

“What nonsense… Given His Majesty Killian’s personality, he wouldn’t openly tell them to send the Crown Prince? Did Austria propose sending the Crown Prince to study abroad? Those guys… no, they wouldn’t do that?”

“I thought it was strange, so I checked with the embassy, and it turns out that it was organized by Princess Gisela, who is scheduled to become the new Crown Princess.”

“Huh… this is an unexpected variable.”

It was quite common for the Crown Prince to study abroad in another country, but this was a bit different.

Wasn’t Crown Prince Rudolf just a young boy of about twelve years old?

Taking a child who has not yet fully established his own values is completely different from a fully grown adult studying abroad for a while.

If a boy of that age grows up in a foreign country, his perceptions and tendencies will inevitably become synchronized with the British Empire rather than Austria.

For the British Empire, it was as if they had completely grasped not only the Habsburg Crown Princess of the next generation but also the Crown Prince of Austria.

Beyond simply being a blood alliance, they had seized a golden opportunity to completely transform the next generation of emperors into pro-British factions, so how could they not take advantage of this?

If he were Killian, he would keep Crown Prince Rudolf close to him like his own son and make him love the British Empire more than Austria.

“Princess Gisela… I heard that she was timid and weak because she didn’t receive much affection from her family since she was young, but was I wrong about this?”

“No, that was definitely the case.”

“But what is this? Didn’t she make a subtle move that would satisfy both the British Empire’s royal family, to which she will belong, and her hometown of Austria?”

This will inevitably put a brake on Prussia’s plan to swallow Schleswig whole.

The British Empire would not do anything to trample on the face of Austria, which sent the Crown Prince to London.

At least Killian, whom Bismarck knew, was not the type to wipe his mouth and pretend not to know, even if he gave less than he received.

“Isn’t it just a coincidence? Princess Gisela is said to be close to Crown Prince Rudolf, so she may have just been worried about her young brother. She pushed things forward without much thought.”

“Without much thought? Are you kidding me? How could a member of a country’s royal family move with such a light heart!”

Bismarck scolded the analysts with anger in his eyes, asking what nonsense they were talking about.

“It could be a coincidence. It could be a fluke. But always keep in mind that if you continue to make such naive judgments, you never know when you will be backstabbed.”

Perhaps he had been underestimating Emperor Franz Joseph.

Who knows, he may have been pretending not to know anything while raising his daughter into a cold-blooded strategist behind the scenes.

“What is certain is that the fact that he brought the Crown Prince to London at this time, of all times, means that Princess Gisela has the wisdom to read the situation.”

“It’s certainly too coincidental to dismiss it as a coincidence.”

“That’s right. So we must not delay our vigilance against Austria even for a moment.”

It was unlike him, who is called the Iron Chancellor, to have not considered these variables based solely on external information.

Bismarck strongly reprimanded himself and raised his vigilance against Princess Gisela to the maximum.

Now that I think about it, I should have thought it was strange from the beginning that Killian had chosen Gisela as the Crown Princess.

He, as well as his successor Edward, are all political masterminds with brilliant minds, so if they liked them, Gisela was likely to be in a similar category.

From now on, I will never let my guard down.

On Bismarck’s forehead, looking at Austria on the map, deep ravines were being dug like the Dover Gorge [a region of the English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France].