The Prince's Social Ascendancy
The failure of the Lobe acquisition was a painful lesson for Waldemar.
Gold power was clearly a powerful force that could move society, but it had flaws when facing true political power head-on.
As long as he did not reveal his own identity and power.
'It would not be the act of a fool to lay bare all of it.'
Waldemar was not foolish enough to reveal all his capabilities just to acquire one company.
He showed only as much power as he wanted others to see.
He showed only as much power as he wanted others to see.
"Your Highness's financial power? Ah, that is said to be something you built a fortune from by playing with stocks since you were a child."
Waldemar told a reasonable story that everyone could understand.
People estimated his wealth based on that story as around 5 million marks.
That was already enormous for a capitalist, but actually Waldemar's wealth was the highest in the world, treating 10 billion marks or more as pocket change.
'They do not need to know that much.'
Waldemar appealed his ability—accumulating wealth as a child—and busily interacted with salon celebrities.
Of course, simply interacting with celebrities in salons did not immediately earn their approval.
When Waldemar first began his salon activities, he only had the image of a romantic known for his great love with Alix.
"Waldemar? That man abandoned his salon debut for Alix, didn't he?"
"If a man can abandon everything for love, it must be Prince Waldemar."
Most noble ladies in the salon held that view, and male celebrities were no different.
The actions Waldemar showed at the actual salon gathering only reinforced their preconceptions.
Because of this, salon celebrities did not regard him as a serious opponent.
"The title of prince and some money, but still just an immature boy who only sees young girls."
But as time passed, people discovered that the prince was not a normal romantic obsessed with Alix.
The prince was far more witty and humorous than they had imagined, and he showed a deep understanding of economics, politics, and society.
The Waldemar they experienced in person was someone they could be friends with in the salon without any shame.
In addition, conservative party associates who had previous connections helped restore his reputation.
"Waldemar? A wonderful person. Flawless except for loving his fiancée too much."
"Try talking to him once. You'll change your mind."
Of course, they could not remove the romantic image either.
That was something Waldemar himself had given up.
As his reputation improved, people began inviting him to small private gatherings rather than large charity parties or balls.
After checking the status and position of the invitees, if it was worth attending, he gladly accepted.
The invitees were mostly conservative party connections, but there were also invitations from the military.
'Are these Moltke's friends?'
Waldemar accepted the military officers' invitations appropriately.
Private gatherings took the form of salon culture—dinner, music, card games, and political conversation—in private mansions.
"Weren't you familiar with the dignified social culture of gentlemen? This is tradition."
Waldemar did not like Berlin's decadent salon culture much, but he busily made connections for his reputation.
One day in April, Waldemar attended a gathering hosted by conservative party associates and saw them venting their opinions on Russia refusing to extend the Triple Alliance.
"It was an expected result from the beginning. What kind of talk is it to say that Russia and we are allies?"
Most conservative party members were happy with the alliance's rupture, but showed displeasure that Russia had led it.
Even if breaking the alliance, it was a matter for Germany to decide.
"But we should not take this lightly. What if France and Russia unite?"
When participants showed disagreement, one of the ones in the heated debate quietly turned to Waldemar, who was listening quietly.
"How do you think about this issue, Your Highness?"
Waldemar did not think he needed to think deeply about it.
"The rupture of the alliance is extremely natural."
"Your Highness has always claimed that."
People did not find it surprising.
"But I think the chancellor will not simply break the alliance."
"What do you mean?"
Waldemar presented his reasoning based on future knowledge.
"The chancellor will not simply watch the unity of France and Russia. Even if breaking the alliance with Russia, he will conclude a separate security treaty to prevent the unity of Paris and St. Petersburg."
"Isn't that basically maintaining the alliance?"
"If according to my family, Austria will be excluded from the alliance, the structure will be completely different from the previous Triple Alliance era."
Conservative party members immediately showed reluctance to Waldemar's reasoning.
"If according to Your Highness's words, that would be betrayal to Austria."
"Exactly."
Waldemar agreed with their claim.
The Reinsurance Treaty concluded between Russia and Germany in the past was a perfect betrayal to Austria.
It was a fact that even ordinary people could guess that this treaty and the Germany-Austria alliance could not coexist.
Ultimately, the reason Kaiser Wilhelm II rejected renewal was not because he was foolish or bellicose, but because the treaty itself was absurd from the start.
Waldemar shared his reasoning with the conservative party members and fully appealed his insight.
The conservative party members thought Waldemar's speculation was excessive, but they thought the reasoning itself was excellent.
As the gathering ended, the conservative party people who met Waldemar for the first time praised him without reserve.
"A prince with truly good insight. A person worth raising."
"If you had not thought that, would Baron Hammerstein have helped the prince in the salon?"
Waldemar's steady activities in Berlin's salons led to a good reputation in society once again.
People now accepted Waldemar as a great salon celebrity in himself rather than just the romantic prince.
"Waldemar? Of course, a dignified and elegant person."
"Not the immature boy chasing after Alix princess?"
"That is what people say when they do not know him well."
Waldemar steadily expressed opinions in the salon every time there was a political event to improve his reputation.
He did not hesitate to give opinions on Bismarck's recent abandonment of the culture war.
*Refers to the struggle between German Chancellor Bismarck and Pope Pius IX over the separation of church and state.
"Is this a politically sensitive issue? So I should speak even more."
Waldemar gave the following commentary on Bismarck's culture war.
"The culture war led by the chancellor clearly achieved certain results. The state deprived religious institutions of their educational rights, controlled the education system, strengthened the marriage system in civil law, expanded the state's administrative power, and strengthened the central government's authority."
"Through this, the state was able to escape religious coloring in public education, streamline civil administration, and change judicial procedures to modern standards. This was clearly a great achievement."
Waldemar recognized the chancellor's merits.
But he had to point out the excesses.
There was no law in the world to recognize only the merits and hide the excesses.
The Chinese Communist Party, famous for being brazen, also evaluated Mao Zedong's merits and faults as "7 merits and 3 faults" (merits 7, faults 3), realizing that faults could not be hidden.
Waldemar coldly pointed out Bismarck's excesses.
"But the culture war led by the chancellor cannot be overlooked in that it divided the country into two."
The Catholic Center Party, which had previously been a medium-sized party, grew into the largest party thanks to the consolidation of Catholic voters, and this party opposing every government policy was clearly not a desirable phenomenon in Germany.
Diplomatically, the culture war also worsened relations with the princes of southern Germany and Austria.
This was not a light matter.
"Ultimately, the chancellor also faced the fact that this was not the right situation and enacted the Peace Law and took a step back. He achieved results, but the chancellor himself also showed a policy where he admitted failure. Evaluating the culture war, merits are 5 and excesses are 5."
Many people showed agreement with Waldemar's evaluation.
Especially conservative party members who had suffered significant difficulties in state governance due to the growth of the Catholic Center Party and their resistance.
Even from the Catholic side, they did not agree with the positive aspects of the culture war pointed out by Waldemar, but gave a comment that the evaluation of the negative aspects was very clear.
Waldemar was able to raise his name value in the salon by discussing Bismarck's culture war.
Waldemar considered this accumulated fame as one means to protect himself.
'If I build a reputation in the salon and gain public trust based on that, no political power can touch me. That's why the reputation in the salon is an important asset.'
Waldemar also had in mind the fact that even the brutal Hitler regime could not touch General Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, a war hero.
At that time, General Vorbeck was not only openly hostile to the Nazis and showed an uncooperative attitude, but also tried to form a political alliance to resist them.
The Nazis, who simply held power and swung the knife of purge at their comrades who were on their side just because they were hindered, could not touch a general who acted so hostilely to them, not because he was just a war hero from World War I.
Vorbeck was a symbol of invincibility that Germany did not lose in World War I, receiving the trust of the German people as a whole.
Public trust.
It was an invincible shield that made even the Nazis, who feared nothing in the world, not dare to draw the sword.
Waldemar wanted to seize the public trust that Vorbeck had occupied.
If he held that, there was nothing Waldemar had to fear.
'If I hold only the people's trust, how can Bill and the government touch my property.'
In fact, Waldemar had delayed his salon debut and accumulated power in the shadows also to carefully prepare an image that would be seen by the German people.
Of course, things went awry and the salon debut came earlier, but the situation was not bad.
Waldemar unintentionally gained the image of a great romantic through his affair with Alix, which won the affection of women.
Although this did not have a good effect on salon activities, through steady efforts, he stacked the image of a wise prince on top of that image.
As a result, Waldemar was able to complete the basic work of an image that could easily receive the love of the nation, more easily than he initially thought.
If he provided an appropriate opportunity to receive the love of the nation, it was not impossible to gain public trust.
'There is also Alix, who is good for stacking people's affection.'
"Your Highness, what are you thinking so seriously?"
"It's nothing."
Alix's deep cobalt-colored eyes held questions, but Waldemar instead extended his arm instead of answering.
"Then let's go say hello."
"Yes, Your Highness."
Waldemar took Alix, who had become skilled in society by now, and went to the salon celebrities again.
To prepare for the era of Kaiser Wilhelm II that was coming.
Waldemar calmly prepared for tomorrow.