[ The lords being universal - that gets a slight smile from him even if it's lost on Sylvain at this moment in time. It's likely true there's overlap, but the Alliance doesn't - didn't - have something to unify around like Faerghus has its ideals. In the end, even the ruling lords had to be convinced to do more than look out for their own interests. And of course, Claude was no different when it came to that since he was busy bending them to his will.

The politics of each nation are hardly something he wants to focus on. It occurs to him, and not for the first time, that the two of them share this particular set of tools as something in common. It starts with reading a room, certainly. But then it spirals out from there: the ways to pry into what it is someone wants without showing any intentions, a careful cataloguing of whether it can be used since that's what goes along with being predictable in his mind. There's other ways to ask about that than outright, however. ]

And if it's somehow not obvious what they're after, then it's easier still to put on a smile and charm them. People would be shocked if they ever realized how much they give away without even knowing it then all for a little flattery.

[ It's cynicism hours in this room considering Claude's just going to embrace it. What's the point in pretending like he doesn't understand what Sylvain's saying? That might've worked a few months ago, but it's not lost on him it won't now. ]