At this point, the Emperor realized that he had to get Germany's support, and Karl did not object.
To be honest, Karl wished he could just charge in with the Imperial Guard and smash Serbia's head to pieces.
But he worried that a sudden invasion would scare the Russian Empire into declaring war directly. Once that behemoth spanning Europe and Asia mobilized, things would be irreversible.
In the original history, the Russian Empire had hesitated for a whole month, wondering whether to protect Serbia or simply abandon it. But the so-called future is something that can be changed.
As a typical monarchical state, even if the Russian Empire could emotionally understand the Austro-Hungarian Empire, it could completely disregard those insignificant sympathies when national interests were involved.
For them, even the assassination of another country's heir, regardless of life or death, was less important than expanding their influence in the Balkan Peninsula. Serbia was an indispensable pawn in their southward strategy.
Given this, it was impossible to easily gamble on war. Karl could only try his best to push things towards a peaceful resolution.
What's more, both he and Franz Ferdinand had survived. As long as they could end the situation relatively peacefully and remove one of the fuses that originally ignited the World War I, Karl could accept such a result.
However, for Karl, the most troublesome issue was no longer just Germany's attitude.
"Karl...!"
Returning home, Karl was greeted by a worried Empress Elisabeth, his father, his mother, and finally, Zita.
Karl saw Zita's tears falling one by one and subconsciously raised his hand to cover his eyes.
Her husband had only gone to a public event, yet he nearly died in an assassination attempt. What wife wouldn't be heartbroken upon hearing such news?
They hadn't been married long, and their child was still so young.
"Why! Why did this happen! Wuwu..."
Karl immediately stepped forward and hugged Zita tightly.
She clutched Karl's lapels tightly, while her other hand mercilessly pounded his chest.
Bang! Bang!
Uh, this force... no, it seems there's already an answer to who Karl's son will resemble in the future.
The pain in his chest was not light.
If he showed pain from the wound left by the failed assassination, it would only worry her more. Karl could only grit his teeth and pretend as if nothing had happened.
He had indeed been scratched by fragments from the explosion and bled a bit, but the wound was not deep and healed quickly. Besides, Karl was still young.
But it still hurt.
Hiss.
...
—No matter what happens, we will support Austria-Hungary.
The diplomat sent by the Emperor to Berlin returned with the German Empire's famous "blank check."
Even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire chose not to side with Germany, Germany always stood behind the Austro-Hungarian Empire. From the time it suppressed Serbia and the Russian Empire over the Albanian independence issue, Germany had already proven this with its actions.
When the German Empire revealed that almost provocative declaration of confidence, as if asking "do you want to fight hard?", the Russian Empire could only lower its head. Reality is this dirty and despicable, but international society has always been like this: might makes right.
After receiving clear support from Germany, the Emperor issued a formal ultimatum to Serbia.
First, immediately punish all officials involved in the June 28th conspiracy and allow representatives of the Austro-Hungarian government to participate in judicial proceedings. That day was when the Sarajevo incident occurred, and the assassination of the Crown Prince shocked all of Europe.
Second, punish officials involved in condoning the illegal crossing of weapons and explosives across the Serbia-Bosnia border.
Anyone with even the slightest connection to the assassination must be punished, in addition to several supplementary clauses.
Undoubtedly, it did contain content that infringed upon Serbia's sovereignty. But this was an unavoidable choice.
The current Serbian government could not be considered normal. It was helpless against secret organizations like the Black Hand, and even the king's safety and the deployment of border troops could be infiltrated and manipulated.
Under such circumstances, expecting them to investigate and punish relevant personnel on their own would be truly foolish.
How could anyone trust a government where an underground organization could control the functioning of the state apparatus?
However, the Emperor and Franz Ferdinand were originally against war, and since they fortunately survived, from the outcome, this ultimatum was already milder than the version in original history.
Before sending out the ultimatum, Karl personally reviewed the content clause by clause.
Karl thought at the time that Serbia should accept this level, no matter what. The Russian Empire should also understand it to this extent.
After all, Britain and France also did not want this matter to escalate into a full-scale war and were secretly exerting pressure on the Serbian government.
However.
—Serbia refused to accept the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum.
Karl had still underestimated them too much.
These guys are truly abnormal.