The secret meeting(1)

I opened the door to enter the room where the secret meeting will take place. The hallway was empty, it must've been the work of the princess to avoid information getting out.

After entering the room I looked around the surrounding only to see a decorated room with nothing but two sofas facing each other and a table in between. The princess was seated on the sofa facing the entrance so the moment I entered our eyes met.

Princess: "Welcome Negative, let us begin!"

Negative: "Yes, lets begin."

I greeted the princess and sat down on the opposite sofa.

Princess: "Do you know why I chose you amongst the summoned ones to talk to?"

I thought about this question a bit and only one answer came to my mind.

Negative: "What makes me different from the other summoned ones... is that I haven't yet affiliated myself with any noble houses or the royal family. Is that the answer to your question??? princess."

Princess: "Indeed, that is what made you stand apart from the other summoned ones!"

Negative: "What is it that you want; there must've been a reason behind us having this meeting...is there not???"

Princess: "Yes there is but before we get to my reason I'd like to ask a question, may I?"

Negative: "Sure go ahead if it's not much I will answer to my full ability."

Princess: "Why didn't you get affiliated with the other nobles in the banquet?"

Negative: "I didn't get affiliated with them because I didn't have enough information and affiliating with them will get me in places I may not want to be in the future. I'll give you an example; what if I get affiliated to a noble house which is in war with another nobles house, I'll get involved or it would be more accurate to say they'll involve whether I want it or not and that's just one kind of a scenario there are multiple cases where something I don't want happens. Now I can imagine your next question being why I accepted a meeting with you and a potential affiliation with you or being misunderstood as me having affiliation with you if the information of me having a meeting with is to get leaked. That is because my instinct as a businessman told me that being with you is way more profitable than the others and the least harmful even if the situation seems otherwise."

Princess: "What do mean the situation seems 'otherwise' "

Negative: "Do you think I don't know how you were being ignored by everyone in the banquet? That clearly demonstrates you political power doesn't it???"

Princess had a sour expression when I reminded her of the political power she possesses but she still agreed with what I said and started explaining to me her situation in depth and why she called me for this meeting.

It seems that the third prince and seventh princess are the son and daughter of the concubine with the least amount of power in the royal harem. The third prince is doing good through his merits and his talents in cultivation but that is not the case for the seventh princess. She doesn't know what is wrong with her body but her cultivation speed is pretty slow due to which her political power has been damaged to the point that her siblings bully her a lot. If not for her brother she would be bullied even further. The bullying itself wasn't meaningless either, it was to show her, her position and to demotivate her from thinking of reaching high on the off chance she gets good and poses a threat to her other siblings in the throne wars.

When she heard about the summoned ones she was happy as she thought this was her chance to get some political power through them and not be further bullied. There was another plus point, the summoned ones didn't know the political situation and will be more likely to ally with her but that plan also crumbled the moment she heard that as a royalty she will have to enter the banquet later than other nobles as a show of dominance and position. Due to this she was not able to ally with the summoned ones before they were already scouted by the noble houses except for him and Sato.

After hearing this all I was silent for few minutes contemplating. It will be bad for me if I were to all with the seventh princess but my instincts have never failed when I was in my previous world but I can't always rely on the instinct which were used for business in this world for a completely different field such as politics.

I came to a decision after some more thoughts

Negative: "I will--"