[Claude notes that sudden subject change, too, and he grins openly. He has a feeling he just called Hubert out, and that's infinitely amusing.
But his entertainment is quickly sidelined by Hubert...revealing something that's clearly not from the same timeline as Claude, and he sits up with immediate interest. (And, maybe, a bit of an inward wince. Apparently, some other version of himself had messed things up pretty badly if he got brought before Edelgard and had to ask for mercy...)]
I guess that means I lost in your version of events. [He says this lightly, as though that's not a whole story begging to be told.] I'm touched you guys would leave me alive, honestly; I wouldn't have expected it of either of you.
But here's where I tell you that while we might come from the same world, actual timelines of events between people from the same worlds appear to be...flexible here. [He rests his chin on his hand, with a rather satisfied smile.] The last I heard of Edelgard, the Kingdom and Alliance had joined forces and crushed the Imperial army when I baited her into attacking Derdriu, and we even knocked Lord Arundel off the board in the process. She was licking her wounds back in Enbarr last I heard...but then I hadn't paid her much attention recently when I ended up getting hauled to this place.
[Claude's not usually one to offer information for free, especially to a potential enemy, but there's absolutely no strategic disadvantage to telling Hubert this. In fact, it offers him a distinct psychological edge. Hubert has to process a whole lot of information very quickly, and question just how much of it might be true and what Claude could stand to gain by lying to him. And if it hints that even if whatever Claude Hubert was familiar with might have screwed things up, this Claude is perhaps even more formidable than Edelgard...well, that's to his advantage too.
Also, it's just plain satisfying. He'd hate to have Hubert underestimate him. He likes to keep the man nervous.]
no subject
But his entertainment is quickly sidelined by Hubert...revealing something that's clearly not from the same timeline as Claude, and he sits up with immediate interest. (And, maybe, a bit of an inward wince. Apparently, some other version of himself had messed things up pretty badly if he got brought before Edelgard and had to ask for mercy...)]
I guess that means I lost in your version of events. [He says this lightly, as though that's not a whole story begging to be told.] I'm touched you guys would leave me alive, honestly; I wouldn't have expected it of either of you.
But here's where I tell you that while we might come from the same world, actual timelines of events between people from the same worlds appear to be...flexible here. [He rests his chin on his hand, with a rather satisfied smile.] The last I heard of Edelgard, the Kingdom and Alliance had joined forces and crushed the Imperial army when I baited her into attacking Derdriu, and we even knocked Lord Arundel off the board in the process. She was licking her wounds back in Enbarr last I heard...but then I hadn't paid her much attention recently when I ended up getting hauled to this place.
[Claude's not usually one to offer information for free, especially to a potential enemy, but there's absolutely no strategic disadvantage to telling Hubert this. In fact, it offers him a distinct psychological edge. Hubert has to process a whole lot of information very quickly, and question just how much of it might be true and what Claude could stand to gain by lying to him. And if it hints that even if whatever Claude Hubert was familiar with might have screwed things up, this Claude is perhaps even more formidable than Edelgard...well, that's to his advantage too.
Also, it's just plain satisfying. He'd hate to have Hubert underestimate him. He likes to keep the man nervous.]