The night itself was rather uneventful, with the small band taking a detour in the town after their official business was concluded for the day. While the Aucurians obviously did not treat the Regent as a noble, the currency she had with her was enough to ensure service to her and her aides being the best money could offer. Naturally, after several servings of fine beverage, only Anteko and the towering man remained lucid, while the two younger servants failed to stay awake before their departure back to their rooms for the night.
As per protocol, the topics covered in the Summit had already been briefed to Anteko before her arrival. Concerns over the apparent insistence of the Aucurian host to force human rights as a whole into the agenda was problematic as ever. While the Regent was quite aware of pragmatism in politics, owing to her education as the heir to the throne once, it was of little use when interacting with ideologues that characterised Aucuria - it was irrelevant enough to afford being idealistic at the cost of practicality.
Perhaps as expected, Uspelevičius opted for what was essentially a preaching to the crowd - delivered to other leaders of the world instead of his own constituency. As her interpretor struggled to convert his words into Literary Tuthinan despite lacking many native terms in the lexicon, the Regent remained calm as she sipped her drink, occasionally resting her pen onto the paper to take note of his points.
It was apparent that the host was quite serious about including a rephrased Declaration of the Rights of the People in that of the Summit, with a "draft and proposal" already on the table before the actual discussion began. At least, he had the courtesy of mentioning the possibility of it being ignored while still signing the declaration - part of her expected that he would rather remove polities that do not satisfy his standard just to have all remaining leaders agree to his terms.
"Our gracious host has the gratitude from His Most Serene Majesty for sharing his eloquent view on the subject at hand. Unfortunately, he does not necessarily share the same view." The Regent decided to entertain the host, both out of his hospitality and, frankly, entertainment - any noble worth their salt in the Empire would have to enjoy a good debate, despite what the stereotype of autocracy in the world said otherwise.
"There is little doubt that the Declaration of the Rights of the People is held dear by the general population of Aucuria, as well as countless individuals beyond its border." Although filtered through the interpreters, it appeared that the Regent opted for saying "Deklaracija Žmonių Teisių" directly instead of any translation it might had in Literary Tuthinan. "However, despite - or perhaps precisely because of - the claim of it being 'basic, natural, inherent, universal', its legacy in the Tuthinan Home Islands does not necessarily paint the same rosy garden as our gracious host did."
"It is unfortunate that the honourable Zīgfrīdas Liuterauskas, being a guest to the previous monarch, would have to endure an unexpected prolonged stay during the most turbulent and bloody time of our history." "God-Emperor", a more accurate translation of the monarchical title of her country, would probably not sit well with all other leaders anyway. "That said, he did provide an intriguing glimpse into the mentality of those who were inspired by the Declaration on the archipelago at the time."
"Granted, as mister Liuterauskas concluded in his work - which this one is quite certain that our gracious host had sampled before - the arguments offered by the rebels are not as infallible as they would have liked. However, millions of lost souls could attest that the supposedly universal values that our host would like the leaders of the world to accept did not manifest in the same universality." The Regent takes a sip of her drink, giving precious time for her concise native language to be converted into the more lengthy foreign tongues. Her composure was not harmed in the slightest, possibly to the surprise of Uspelevičius. "In other polities, it may or may not satisfy the ideals of those who created the Declaration about two centuries ago. However, past implementations of it within the Empire resulted in arguably the antithesis of reducing 'pain and suffering' for the general population."
"Beyond what could be objectively observed, His Most Serene Majesty's and his loyal subjects also could not, in good faith, agree to the view of our gracious host that the Declaration describes some form of inalienable natural rights for all human beings. On a physical level, such statement is factually incorrect, as all of those rights can be deprived and denied, either by the authority or, in some cases, others. In fact, is it not true that such deprivation and denial in many polities - some of their leaders present in this very room - that concerns our gracious host in the first place?" Anteko takes another pause for a drink. Times like this made her wish they would serve alcohol in the Summit proper, although it might not be wise to serve some of the more volatile leaders alcohol when in discussion of controversial topics like this. "On a metaphysical level, since my ancestors ventured across the continent against all odds millennia ago, our civilisation has always held the belief that natural rights do not and should not exist. More accurately, it is in our belief - from His Most Serene Majesty himself to his loyal subjects - that such rights only exist in relation to duty, and thus would be more fittingly translated to 'privilege' instead."
"Indeed, despite usually left unstated, the same idea permeates many other polities, some of which our gracious host has invited to this Summit itself. Some call it civic responsibility, some call it civic duty, but the fundamental idea is the same: rights cannot and should not stand on its own without sacrifice in relation to it." The Grand Princess concluded, taking a seat after the last syllable left her lips. "As such, His Most Serene Majesty considers it against our sense of morality to agree to a message that, in our view, violates the sacred moral fabric of our society of all levels. I highly doubt our gracious host, himself being a proponent of respecting the will of the people, would like to make the mistake of enforcing an incompatible idea to an unwilling people he sought to cherish."