"Me?"
"That's right. I have been telling you this. Despite your defeat in my original timeline, you are beloved by your citizens."
Napoleon let out a quiet breath through his nose. He did not look surprised. If anything, there was a hint of weary recognition in his eyes.
"I know," he said. "You've told me that many times already." He paused, then turned his gaze back to Alfred. "But there is something you have avoided."
Napoleon II said nothing.
Napoleon continued, voice calm but probing. "You speak freely of engines, furnaces, coal, factories, roads. You lecture me on economics as if you had been Gaudin himself. And yet…" His eyes narrowed slightly. "You say nothing of weapons."
The silence stretched.
"I find that omission… curious," Napoleon added. "After two centuries, do you expect me to believe war has not changed?"
Napoleon II exhaled slowly. He had known this moment would come.
"You noticed," he said.
Napoleon gave a thin smile. "Of course I noticed."
He stepped closer, boots brushing the edge of the canvas map.
"You tell me how to outproduce Britain. How to surpass Prussia. How to dominate Europe economically. Yet you have said nothing about rifles, artillery, fortifications, powder, logistics." He tilted his head. "You expect me to believe those matters became irrelevant?"
Napoleon II looked up at him directly.
"No," he said plainly. "I expect you to prioritize them."
Napoleon froze.
"And that is precisely why I have said nothing."
Napoleon studied him carefully now, no longer as a child, but as a strategist.
"You think I would abandon peace the moment you place a better weapon in my hands."
"I don't think it," Napoleon II replied. "I know it."
Napoleon did not deny it.
The Emperor's jaw tightened slightly. "You speak as though that is a flaw."
"It is not a flaw," Napoleon II said. "It is who you are. You are a soldier before you are a ruler. A general before you are an emperor. The moment I describe a more efficient musket, a faster cannon, a new doctrine of warfare… you will see the coalition not as exhausted allies, but as unfinished enemies."
Napoleon turned away, silent.
Napoleon II continued.
"And you would be tempted to act. You always are."
The words hung heavy in the air.
"You broke the Peace of Amiens," Napoleon II said quietly. "You broke Tilsit when it suited you. You broke treaties because you believed—often correctly—that your enemies would eventually move against you anyway."
Napoleon's fists clenched behind his back.
"And you were often right," Napoleon II added. "But this time, father, France cannot afford another gamble."
Napoleon turned sharply. "You think I do not understand the cost?"
"I think you understand it," Napoleon II said. "But you would still take the risk."
Silence again.
Napoleon's gaze dropped to the map—France, now smaller. Contained. Pressed inward.
"You fear I will drag France back into war before she has recovered," he said at last.
"Yes," Napoleon II replied without hesitation. "Our treasury is fragile. Our people are exhausted. Veterans are returning to farms and workshops. Bread prices are stabilizing, not secure. Introduce rearmament now, and the burden falls immediately on the people."
Napoleon said nothing.
"And worse," Napoleon II continued, "it sends the wrong signal to Europe. The moment Britain hears rumors of weapons programs, the moment Austria suspects rearmament, the peace collapses. Sanctions. Diplomatic isolation. Another coalition."
Napoleon's shoulders lowered slightly.
"You are asking me to restrain myself," he said.
"I am asking you to win differently," Napoleon II replied.
Napoleon finally looked at him again.
"You truly believe industry will protect us better than guns."
"I believe industry will decide the next war before it begins," Napoleon II said. "A nation that produces twice the steel, twice the coal, twice the machines… does not need to rush into conflict. When war comes—and it will—it comes on our terms."
Napoleon exhaled slowly.
"And when do you intend to tell me about weapons?" he asked.
Napoleon II did not hesitate.
"When France is strong enough to build them without starving her people. When peace has paid its dividends. When breaking a treaty would not risk collapse."
Napoleon studied him for a long moment.
"You are afraid of me," he said quietly.
Napoleon II shook his head. "No. I trust you too much."
That gave Napoleon pause.
"At heart," he said, "I am still a general."
"I know," Napoleon II replied. "That is why I am asking you to be an emperor first."
Napoleon closed his eyes briefly.
"When the time comes," he said at last, "you will tell me everything."
"Yes," Napoleon II said. "When the time comes."
Napoleon opened his eyes again, resolve settling into something calmer, heavier.
"Until then," he said, "we build."
Napoleon II nodded.
"Until then," he repeated..