This time, Duke LaBon was genuinely subdued; he was thoroughly subdued.
Expecting to be heavily utilized by the King, he thought he could return to the center, only to find himself thrown against the Spice Group all alone.
But since he was already in the game, there was no reason to back out now.
Thus, he planned to first kidnap King Gigi and take away this leverage of Horn's, making the negotiation positions more equal for both sides.
Then, he intended to use this King Gigi incident as a pretext to create a false impression that the Holy Alliance was humiliating Falan.
He planned to let the family propagate rumors widely within Falan, saying "The Thousand River Valley people are ungrateful" and "The Thousand River Valley people don't know how to say thanks."
He aimed to use this tide of public opinion to silence the Falan nobles, leaving them helpless in trade negotiations.
