De Luis’s righteous speech brought a hint of a cold smile to Palmerston’s face.

"Does your country’s business dealings also include the service of assassinating a king? If so, then your country’s business scope is certainly vast!" Palmerston said to De Luis with a sarcastic tone, then loudly instructed the translator beside him to translate this passage into French.

Standing face to face, De Luis naturally did not need a so-called translator; he also understood that Palmerston was merely venting his dissatisfaction.

The dutiful translator translated the entire passage into French, after which De Luis spoke with a stern expression: "Prime Minister Palmerston, you say we assassinated the King of Egypt! Do you have any evidence to prove this? If we indeed committed the assassination, then we, France, are willing to hand over the passage rights of the Suez Canal to the Kingdom of Britain, and we promise to withdraw all business activities in Egypt!"

De Luis was confident that the assassination would not be detected by the Kingdom of Britain and thereby implicate the French Empire government.

He also believed that the old fox Palmerston could indeed sense something amiss, given that this old man was also adept at stirring up turmoil in other countries through intrigue.

After all, Thiers and Muhammad Ali were once coaxed by Palmerston into becoming two enemies of Europe.

It is said that similar substitutes attract each other...pah! People of the same type can recognize each other’s nature at first sight.

How could Palmerston not know what kind of scoundrels Jerome Bonaparte and his clique sitting in the French Empire’s position are?

However, suspicion requires evidence; falsely accusing a small country without evidence may still work, at worst by claiming the other party is harboring weapons of mass destruction.

Accusing a major country of intrigue requires evidence; making groundless accusations would surely result in strained relations between the two countries, thereby disturbing the peace.

De Luis was certain that that old rascal Palmerston had no direct evidence linking the matter to France.

On one hand, he simply did not believe that the Kingdom of Britain’s intelligence network and forensic capabilities in Egypt could help them quickly solve the case.

Nowadays, Britain’s intelligence station in Egypt (more precisely, the embassy) had long been infiltrated by Marcel Yale like sand. If Marcel Yale wished, he could even know the color of the British Consul in Egypt’s underwear. If this were enough for them to catch any holds, De Luis would consider reporting to the Emperor to dismantle the Egyptian branch of the National Intelligence Bureau’s Foreign Intelligence Bureau.

(In fact, intelligence agencies worldwide were in a state of chaos, with each department’s management exceptionally disordered. Absolutely secret letters passed through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs were not encrypted at all and were inept at using new tools like telegraphy. Compared to these inept intelligence personnel, France, with the foundation laid by Fouché and the intertemporal intelligence thinking of Jerome Bonaparte, seemed to conduct a dimensional reduction assault on them.)

On the other hand, the guards who assassinated the (former) Governor of Egypt (King) were thoroughly dealt with by the new Governor of Egypt, Said, on charges of murder, and the bodies were completely cremated.

All clues of the assassination were erased by France; now, unless the new Governor of Egypt, Said, openly rebels, no one could trace it back to France.

If Said dared to rebel, France would not mind settling him before he did so.

The position of Governor of Egypt, if he was unwilling to do it, there were plenty who would be willing.

As De Luis had thought, Palmerston simply couldn’t produce any substantial evidence to prove the matter.

If he had evidence, he wouldn’t be wasting words with De Luis, but would directly demand that the Kingdom of Britain be added to the shareholder list of the Suez Canal.

"As for the current substantial evidence, the assassination was a hasty operation!" Palmerston replied to De Luis.

Seeing Palmerston find no substantial evidence, De Luis continued to speak forcefully to Palmerston: "So, the Kingdom of Britain cannot prove the assassination is related to France!"

"We cannot ascertain if there was support behind the assassination!" Palmerston nodded and said.

"Then, Prime Minister Palmerston!" De Luis’s words carried an aggressive stance, "How can you be so sure this matter must be related to France! Is it merely because Governor Said signed the Suez Canal navigation rights agreement with us? If all this can be considered evidence, then can I presume that your country’s former railway construction agreement with the Governor of Egypt is proof of persecution against Governor Muhammad Ali!"

"That’s different!" Palmerston retorted.

"According to the Kingdom of Britain’s logic, how are these two matters different?" De Luis said indignantly, "If the Kingdom of Britain, thinking itself a major country, can bully France, then I have nothing to say!"

De Luis’s words left Palmerston somewhat speechless.

Bully France? What a joke! In the whole world, which country dares to say it can bully France!

Britain is a major country, true enough, attacking on all fronts, but who in France has the right to say Britain attacks on all fronts when France does the same and is also a major country!

"We respect the rights of the French Empire..." Palmerston again preached the old tale that France and Britain should restrain themselves mutually, work together to maintain the safety of Europe and the world, and must not let a small group attempting to disrupt world peace spoil the favorable peace.

Since Palmerston was evasive, De Ruyi simply decided to follow suit and be evasive as well.

The entire meeting began with confrontation and ended with mutual evasiveness.

After the meeting ended, Palmerston was summoned to Buckingham Palace by Prince Albert.

"How did this meeting go?" Prince Albert asked Palmerston with a smile as he sat down.

Palmerston shook his head and replied, "I can confirm that the matter in Egypt is definitely the handiwork of France, but we can’t find any substantial evidence to prove it. Moreover, that guy De Ruyi seems intent on using the Suez Canal to make a fuss!"

"I have a bit of inside information from the German Region. I wonder if the Prime Minister would be interested in hearing it!" Prince Albert inquired casually to Palmerston.

"Of course!" Palmerston nodded immediately, understanding that Prince Albert might know some inside information.

After all, when royal families communicate with each other, they often share things they deem inappropriate to discuss with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The Kingdom of the Netherlands is in secret negotiations with the French Empire!" Prince Albert said as he slowly poured a cup of cold tea for Palmerston.

"Thank you very much!" Palmerston first thanked Prince Albert, then inquired, "What is the Kingdom of the Netherlands discussing with France?"

"This, I am not very clear about!" Prince Albert shook his head, then added, "However, I heard it’s about territorial issues!"

Territory!

Palmerston’s face immediately changed dramatically. His first thought was the Kingdom of Belgium, given that the Kingdom of Belgium was carved out of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Initially, as part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, they had always wanted to reabsorb Belgium.

Moreover, back then, France was also eyeing French-speaking territories of the Kingdom of Belgium. If it weren’t for the Kingdom of Britain, the newly established Kingdom of Belgium would have been divided between the Kingdom of the Netherlands and France. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Could it be that the French Empire wants to launch a war against the Kingdom of Belgium?

"Your Highness, we absolutely cannot sit idly by!" Unable to sit still, Palmerston immediately said to Prince Albert.

"Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, what do you think we should do?" Prince Albert similarly misunderstood Palmerston’s meaning, "Launch a war against France or condemn France?"

"This..." Palmerston hesitated for a few seconds, realizing that at the moment, the Kingdom of Britain seems to have no means against France.

Launch a war against France? Don’t be ridiculous. The Anglo-French Army is currently allied at the Crimean front against the Russian Empire. If they were to start a conflict with France behind the lines, what would happen to Crimea?

By then, the Tsar would probably laugh himself to tears.

For now, Britain’s only ally in Europe is the French Empire. (Perhaps the Kingdom of Prussia counts too)

Even if Britain wanted to re-establish the Anti-French Alliance, it wouldn’t have enough manpower, and given the Russian Empire’s disgraceful performance in Crimea, reopening the Anti-French Alliance would likely end in rout.

Condemn France? That’s even less reliable. What rogue state fears condemnation?

"But we can’t let them simply occupy Belgium!" Palmerston blurted out.

He was met with a surprised look from Prince Albert: "Who told you they want to occupy Belgium?"

"Then..." Palmerston, realizing his mistake, quickly responded, "Could it be Luxembourg?"

"Exactly!" Prince Albert smiled and nodded, "It’s Luxembourg!"

"That’s not acceptable either!" Palmerston responded to Prince Albert.

"Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, what do you think we should do?" Prince Albert returned to the previous question once more.

"We can put pressure on the Kingdom of the Netherlands to make them abandon this deal, while also inciting the German Confederation to oppose it!" Palmerston immediately thought of this plan.

"The Kingdom of the Netherlands is afraid of Britain, but aren’t they also afraid of France? And how do you know the German Confederation will definitely oppose it! Perhaps they would readily agree!" Prince Albert said with a half-smile.