Ah, but I've gathered the Chenier family have a long dubious (a compliment, seriously) history of this kind of thing. Maybe Hireshmont's just a lucky benefactor?
To keep Hireshmont in power? Took a long time for Machiavel to trust Hireshmont. Marche too.
I suspect that if Hireshmont was the leader of any other realm, Machiavel would hate him.
Mutual/Conflicting interests can go a long way to determine relations between two pragmatic people. And while most of my other characters have nothing else on their mind than revenge regardless of cost, Machiavel wants the well-being of his realm before everything else.
