Faced with Ivanov Gorchakov's rebuttal, Grand Duke Constantine was left speechless.
Although his intuition told him that there must be a conspiracy behind Jerome Bonaparte's peace talks, he could not prove his suspicions.
All signs indicated that Jerome Bonaparte truly hoped for cooperation between the French Empire and the Russian Empire, setting aside past grievances.
Moreover, from a strategic perspective, collaborating with the Kingdom of Britain to dismember the Russian Empire would not benefit the French Empire greatly.
On the contrary, it might make the French Empire the next target of the Kingdom of Britain.
Of course, if they knew that Jerome Bonaparte was colluding with rebels in St. Petersburg, then everything behind the peace talks could be explained.
Unfortunately, they were unaware of this most crucial link.
Almost at a dead end on the Crimea Peninsula, they chose to believe the olive branch extended by Jerome Bonaparte.
