To Yang Ming’s right, the gray-haired female official quickly got into character, beginning to recount in detail,
"Major Yang Ming... Your Excellency the Emissary, the information we currently have is not extensive, and it was all previously required to be kept strictly confidential.
"The incident occurred twenty-one Galaxy Times ago, and we received the news eight Galaxy Times ago. By then, the Sherman Noble Court and the Foreign Affairs Bureau were already involved.
"Princess Emilia is currently aboard the Noble Court’s designated ship, receiving special care. Personnel allowed to interact with Her Highness are limited to healthy females, so security is not currently a concern.
"According to feedback from the Foreign Affairs Bureau, this is for Her Highness’s protection..."
Yang Ming listened intently for a while, extracting several key pieces of information.
First, the Noble Court primarily mediated conflicts between nobles.
Second, the Foreign Affairs Bureau wanted to keep things quiet, as Princess Dana was involved, and she was connected to the ’Vassal Emperor Intelligent Machine Plan.’
Third, the Mensa family head’s stance was ambiguous, not daring to offend the Foreign Affairs Bureau, yet unable to suppress the fury within the family.
The one now demanding severe punishment for Emilia was the son of Earl Mensa, with the right of succession to the next earl.
The conference room gradually quieted down.
Yang Ming sat there pondering, lightly tapping his fingers on the table.
"Give me some history of the Mensa family, just an overview will do."
"Understood, Emissary, here is the family information of Earl Mensa."
A thick stack of projected documents appeared in front of Yang Ming.
The Sherman Empire had existed for tens of thousands of years, starting from the founding Emperor Levi Sherman to the current glory dominating the Milky Way a millennium ago, relying on the Invincible Fleet.
Based on Sherman’s terrifying base of hundreds of Administrative Stars and over two hundred billion people, the population of Sherman Empire’s nobles remained at tens of millions.
Among these millions of nobles, only one percent had the qualification for "hereditary continuation," and most of them were Little Nobles without fiefs.
The Sherman Empire was very cautious about "title inheritance."
Taking the Mensa family as an example, after Earl Mensa selected a successor, only that successor held the title, and other offspring did not receive any lesser titles.
The Mensa family members who wanted to gain titles either went into politics or joined the military, helping the Sherman Empire expand its territories.
The pioneers of the Mensa family made great contributions during the Empire’s crisis thousands of years ago, earning the noble title continuation and a relatively remote Administrative Star as a fief.
—Although it was called an Administrative Star as a fief, what they could actually control was a very small area for building a manor, training the noble’s private army, and it was restricted to areas far from regular cities. The Sherman Empire now operated on the ’Imperial New Calendar,’ with the new calendar issued more than seven hundred years ago during the ’Imperial System Reform,’ which also weakened the power of the Sherman Empire’s nobles, added more restrictions to the noble class, and halved their benefits.
The family currently had dozens of members with titles.
The contemporary Earl Mensa, before retiring, even served as a Commander of the Imperial Fleet, with the rank of Major General.
After an incident where his grandson, the future heir to the earldom, was seriously injured, more than a dozen nobles from the Mensa family arrived at the family manor to resist the diplomatic pressure from the Luofeng Empire.
Yang Ming, after reading the Mensa family’s data, also felt a bit of a headache.
The Imperial Nobles loved to stick together.
The Mensa family had existed for thousands of years, continuously branching out over these years, being a rare true noble lord with the tags of possessing a fief and inheritance, connected to who knew how many Imperial meritorious families.
If this matter reached a deadlock, the Imperial Noble forces would quickly unite.
The Luofeng Empire was just one of twenty-two vassal states of the Sherman Empire.
Going at it head-on wouldn’t work.
Yang Ming leaned back in his chair, yawning from reading documents for too long.
The aunt diplomat said gently, "Your Excellency the Emissary, the best result we are currently seeking is to escort Princess Emilia back home."
"Is there a way to contact Princess Dana?" Yang Ming asked.
"Princess Diana is accompanying Her Highness, and the Princess’s entourage is also beside Her Highness."
An old General from the Royal Guard Army sighed, "Her Highness the Princess is only fifteen; how could she be used to such a spectacle?"
Yang Ming curled his lips, "Only fifteen and already daring to stab someone with a sword; what trouble will she cause when she’s twenty-five?"
A group of Luofeng officials looked at Yang Ming in disbelief.
Yet Yang Ming had no further reaction, quickly saying,
"What we need to consider now isn’t what price to pay using diplomatic means to secure Princess Emilia’s return,
"But to prove that Emilia was acting in self-defense or accidental injury, not intentional harm.
"What did that Earl’s grandson do? That’s the key.
"I happen to know Emilia rather well, and over the past two years, she’s chatted with me more than her brother has... What I mean is, we need to base this from a legal perspective, not a diplomatic one, understand?"
All ten-plus people in the conference room nodded simultaneously.
"But, Your Excellency the Emissary, all the evidence and witnesses are present."
"Even if we approach it from a legal angle, the Imperial Noble Court will surely be biased towards their own."
"No," Yang Ming smiled, "Aren’t we considered one of the Empire’s own? The silver contributions Luofeng has made over the years far exceed the taxes paid by the Mensa family by thousands or tens of thousands of times."