Chapter 502: Whimsical Negotiations
Pétain sat across from Bruno in an undisclosed location within the Swiss city of Zurich. The two of them could not be any more different. Pétain was aging, and dressed superfluously, as if he were the embodiment of 19th century French "martial excellence."
He was prideful, boastful, arrogant even. One could tell by the haughty curl of his lips and the heavily maxed mustache that perched above it.
Bruno however arrived in a civilian three piece suit. He was not here as a man of war, but as a diplomat of the Reich. Though he was 40 years old, he looked a decade younger, yet there were two lifetimes worth of wisdom in his azure blue eyes, and nothing but humility to match.
Pétain immediately broke out into the discussion, making his intentions clear.
"Frankly speaking, the only reason I agreed to meet with you is because you’re the bastard who seized Paris and made my life the living hell it’s become"
Bruno smirked when he heard this, before responding to Pétain’s "praise" with a lackadaisical response.
"Technically speaking my good friend Generaloberst Heinrich Graf von Koch was the one who led the 8th Army and its surrounding of Paris, rather I arrived just in time to negotiate its surrender."
Pétain gazed in Bruno with utter contempt, everyone knew that Bruno had been granted control over the theater and the invasion. Heinrich may have led the army that got there first, but he answered to Bruno, and Bruno devised the strategy that ended in France’s defeat.
Even so, Pétain didn’t dare call Bruno out on these words. Rather, he was quick to demand a point of these discussions.
"Fine. Have it your way. Regardless of who gets the credit..., can you at least tell me now that I am here across the border, why you called me out for this clandestine meeting?"