The Bretonian ambassador to Rheinland was a former Rheinland citizen, a refugee who fled his homeland a few years before the Nomad War, having sensed that nothing good was coming. His name was Edward Leopold. In Rheinland, he graduated from the local Hochschule among the best in his generation, and promptly applied for the Cambridge University, where he was accepted and went to study Foreign Relations. Able to discern where Rheinland was going, he decided not to return and stayed in Bretonia after his studies. He met other Rheinlanders on Cambridge and connected with a secret imperial society, thanks to which connection he was appointed as the new ambassador when the Rheinland Empire was restored. He likes to boast to his friends that he once met the Rheinland emperor on a lecture, who was at the time a Cambridge professor, but he doesn't see this as more than a joke and is very well aware that the emperor probably wouldn't recognise him. To someone who doesn't know him, this could describe him wrongly, because he rarely joked. And he's never had many friends.
At this time, Leopold was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on New Berlin, waiting seated in front of the minister's office to be received.
Kasimir Gorman, a short, lean man, completely bald, with a meticulously groomed mustache. Seldom seen without a pair of frame-less glasses and a brown leather messenger bag. His stride has a slight limp, a byproduct of a sporting accident from his youth. Kasimir could hardly be described as youthful-looking, yet the man is barely in his mid-40s. A long political career has left its marks.
He was hurrying down the hallway, he was expecting to meet someone. Not too far behind, followed by the familiar sound of high heels hitting a stone floor, was his assistant Mrs. Lang. She was hurrying to keep up with Kasimir. Despite his limp, he was an agile man in good shape. As the two made it down the hallway and into a small lounge in front of a door, the door had a brass plaque with "ministry of foreign affairs" engraved in it, a familiar person was seated to the right of the entrance.
Kasimir slowed down and proceeded towards the man. Right arm stretched out, to greet the man.
"Guten tag Herr Leopold, good to see you"
Herr Leopold responded in kind, as the two exchanged customary handshakes.
"Herr Gorman, Herr Leopold, please this way", Mrs. Lang directed the men towards the office.
As the two men entered the room, she changed a small digital display outside the room to "Ongoing meeting", before closing the doors.
The ambassador looked to the right when he entered the room. The portmanteau was on the left. He was used to being followed by a mild case of bad luck. In fact, when he walked from the embassy to the ministry, which would normally not take much longer than 10 minutes, he was caught in a blizzard that stole his umbrella. And when he climbed up the stairs, he ran into a servant, who spilled coffee over his already wet fur coat. But Leopold's stiff upper lip, acquired during his studies on Cambridge, shrugged off all of these inconveniences indifferently. His thin, well groomed mustache that pointed upwards, indicated a presence of diligence and determination. Dr Edward Leopold was not a man of luck, but of design.
He hanged his coat on the portmanteau and immediately opened the subject that he was sent for, all in German. A drop of coffee fell on the floor.
"I am afraid that this time I don't come with matters as pleasant. I congratulate Rheinland for its reunification, but Bretonia finds the Holstein Accords mildly worrying. Point 1.1 claims a part of Omega-3 as Rheinland territory and refers to the Rugen Accords, yet the Rugen Accords mention nothing alike! Further, Point 3.1.7.1 plans a military rebuilding programme, yet it is our estimation that the Rheinland Military is on par with other Houses even after the Civil War, so we are wondering against whom this buildup is meant. We are worried that it might start an arms race, and it is obvious that this suits nobody. And finally, there was an incident in Cortez involving the BDM a few days ago, and I would like to talk about it once we have addressed the first two points."