Palace of Versailles, France
Emperor's Office
One Week Later
Napoleon hadn't put the reports from Japan aside.
If anything, he had gone deeper into them.
The stack on his desk had grown. Notes were added. Details connected. What started as a simple report had turned into something larger.
Now it was a pattern.
A direction.
He stood over a large table, maps spread wide across it. Japan was marked clearly. So was China, its ports already tied into French routes.
And beyond them—
Joseon.
Charles-Louis stood across from him, holding a thinner set of papers this time.
"You've got everything?" Napoleon asked without looking up.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Napoleon nodded slightly.
"Alright. Walk me through it."
Charles-Louis opened the report.
"Joseon—the Kingdom of Korea—has kept itself isolated for a long time," he began. "In some ways, even more than Japan."
That made Napoleon glance up.
"More than Japan?"
"Yes."
Charles-Louis shifted his grip on the papers.
