Sovereign

"Another military intervention! Gallic Armed Forces launched Operation Chasseur this morning against the self-proclaimed Republic of Asturia after another pro-male coup d'etat occurred yesterday that forced the Asturian Regency Council off the Kingdom. Queen Alois has cited the need to contain extremist ideologies as her justification. Already, the GAF had advanced 80 kilometers after heavy fighting toward the Asturian capital of Loviedo."

- Geopol Press

---

Amelie didn't love to smile and wave. But smile and wave she did. Of course, smile and wave, she continued, smile and wave. Must be fun being the most important lady of the Kingdom indeed.

Oh, someone just flashed a camera straight at her face! What an absolutely insolent act! But, do ignore them, her regal bearings could not falter in front of the cameras and the public. And like some attention-hungry celebrity, smile, and wave, she continued.

By the time that her little publicity stunt to support the UOP in their rallies was over, she was completely drained. She completely flopped on the seat of Albert's SUV as she disappeared from the crowd.

"That sucked."

"You had a lot of fangirls." Quipped Albert with a cheeky smile.

Indeed, most of her audience at the rally were fellow noblewomen (most of whom were lower nobility). They were the UOP's main voter base, which the new salty lady's party, the Arcanist Party, was trying to steal from their grasp.

And so was the war at two fronts in these elections. On one hand, Walter Plock's ORP battled the NRF to gain the male voters, while Jacqueline Heiss' UOP battled the Arcanist Party for that sweet sweet vote from the noblewomen.

"At the very least they're still enthusiastic to support me."

And indeed they were. Over the course of the rally, many speeches were made in support of the Queen. Women of all kinds held the party as more of a festive one than a desperate fight against some evil entity (which the 3 other parties loved to do.)

It was utterly peaceful throughout, as the rally called for peace, unity, and the healing of the nation. It honestly warmed Amelie's heart.

"Well, it's nice to see a lot of optimistic women."

"Did you try to swing a girl out of there?"

"Nah, I have Rebenslof with me."

"Gah, you're really disgusting."

She looked away as he pressed on the gas pedal, and she tucked her fancy light blue dress a bit. Quite frankly, Albert's SUV was cramped and definitely not fit for a high-class royal lady, but she preferred it.

Similar to William's SUV, these two dull jerks used a pretty well-armored SUV, but more importantly, due to both of their universal dullness, no one would even suspect that the Queen was in these boring vehicles.

His SUV was quite literally the definition of utilitarian dullness, grey without even a custom paint job. Almost as if it was straight out of the factory lines.

"Anyways, how are you holding up, Amelie?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know you took a lot of rest earlier to get those eyebags off, but you still seem…pale."

She lowered her head with a tinge of shame. She didn't like it, but truly, she had many limits. Each night that she would "take an extra hour" to finish her duties would slowly pile up and take a toll on her health.

Not to mention the morning when she would forsake her breakfast to rush the day's reports and respond to the endless daily issues that her Kingdom faced.

No matter what she did, dozens upon dozens of report documents, requests that needed to be signed, and other paperwork filled her desk. Perhaps, she really needed a lady-in-waiting to aid her.

"I'm…well, I'm handling it well. Yesterday, I slept for 8 hours."

"Oh, wow, how wonderful. You slept with a number that isn't 3 hours."

She crossed her arms.

"Oh come on, are you seriously judging me for that? I bet you barely slept at Ginzhu."

"Contrary to popular belief, military officers do sleep. It's peacetime, so I usually sleep for 8 hours. At Ginzhu, I managed with 6."

"How the hell?"

"Time management, Amelie. Time management. Still haven't graduated from that early University mindset? Dear, the Kingdom is in peril."

"Oh, shut up."

The drive dragged on till they reached the Palace. Amelie indeed felt sleepy on the way, as she imagined how nice it would be to retreat to her bedroom, and just flop like a sack of potatoes in her bed.

Oh…how wonderful…

…

"You two are late!" The little lady, or well, the Princess herself, Her Highness 'brat to the maximum', Alice Ludendorf huffed at the two. Behind her was her maid-in-waiting, Marta, and also a random soldier from William's contingent, Reginald himself, who seemed dead inside.

Amelie immediately leaped to embrace her little sister, while Albert naturally played the role of a pack mule, carrying her fancy bags for her.

William was also waiting at the entrance of the Palace, leaning against the wall on the side.

"Welcome back bro."

"Hey, you call me bro now? That's new."

"Yeah, I sure do. Come on, don't be a stranger. We're on the same side."

"Yeah, sure man." Albert promptly passed through them, while Amelie continued to embrace her little sister, playfully pinching her cheeks.

"Oh, Alice, you've been a naughty girl again, haven't you? Reginald over there seems dead. Didn't I tell you not to abuse the new guards?"

"I wuss nwot!"

William loudly cleared his throat, which broke the good fun between the two sisters. Amelie naturally stood in attention, while Alice remained red-faced and 'angry' at her older sibling.

"Anyways, sorry to break your little reunion, but the Meintz Crisis Group is having another meeting."

"A meeting?"

"Yes, they're awaiting you at the conference room."

Oh well, fun stuff didn't truly last. And she definitely won't be given the luxury of a nice early good night sleep. She gave a smile at Alice, who hugged her dress tightly.

"At least join me for dinner afterward."

"Don't worry, I surely will. Anyways, I'd be going then."

And with that, she walked toward the Palace, ready to once again plan and plot with her allies.

…

"Well, well, if it isn't the two Royals again. Welcome back, you two!" The gruff voice came from none other than General Victor Albrecht himself. The room was once more filled with Amelie's 'good' allies, all of them prepared to make reports to the Queen herself.

Amelie took a seat at the table, as all the others did as well.

"Very well ladies and gentlemen, so what's our first agenda today?"

"Your choice, Your Majesty," Jacqueline replied as she gave a warm smile. It seemed that she wasn't quite in a bad mood yet. Which was great since a sad Jacqueline would always make a room even more depressing.

Amelie thought of her options. There were still multitudes of crises that plagued her dumpster fire of a Kingdom, and she already doubted the possibility of even fixing most of it without a good decade.

First of all, the extremism of the Army and the Armed Forces. The NRF and their shenanigans. And of course, Heindhöff and his anti-women/anti-royalty/anti-magic/anti-goddess tomfoolery.

And then, there were the two top aristocrats after her. Archduchess Prisinta Dubois and her right-hand woman, Duchess Lorraine Flandere, and their 'return men to rat status' tea project.

And then there was the great Orlish economy being in the proverbial toilet, alongside men's current civil rights situation and general quality of life, now on its 'sewers edition' as the economy refused to recover.

And of course, Orland's foreign affairs. The Empire of Larissa decided to calm down a bit, but then the events at Hebei and more recently, the Kingdom of Asturia proved that the world's headache (and thus Orland's) wasn't over yet.

Indeed, there was a lot of fun stuff on her plate to choose from. Oh, it was a buffet of problems indeed, a premium even.

Amelie made her decision rather quickly. Mainly because the events in Hebei and Asturia really spooked the heavens out of her. Nothing was more terrifying than seeing her fellow Queens and Empresses being absolutely steamrolled by a bunch of angry young men with guns, tanks, and a lot of motivation.

"How is the situation with the Orlish High Command?"

And there, the two main military officers in the room turned grim. Well, it was quite grim indeed.

"Unfortunately, Heindhöff further divided the Army, Your Majesty. His recent stunt made him appear as a staunch defender of men's interests when he took a hardline against the Empress."

"Wait, how?"

"Simple, everyone in High Command hates Empress Katerina. Remember why we started the war? Because we had to defend our allies from the Empress enforcing her conservative demands to repress men."

Oh…Amelie didn't study history. So that was how the war started?

"That, and the fact that we fought her for 3 years that led to what, 10 million dead already? If Queen Areya is hated for sending millions of men to their deaths, Empress Katerina is hated for doing the last part of the deed and killing said 10 million."

Well, indeed, that did make sense. A sense of horror appeared on her face. Her appeasement must have backfired for a bit then. If the military officers of the OCH hated her and she made a deal and shook hands with her…

"But, you shouldn't worry much. A lot of officers also recognized your diplomatic moves to be a rational move to preserve more men's lives. In the end, it should all balance out."

Oh dear, she almost thought she lost the whole army with that. That would be most unfortunate - well, more like dead Amelie-level unfortunate.

"General, no need to scare me like that next time, please."

She almost had a severe heart palpitation with that.

"I'll keep that in mind."

She looked at her two "economic experts", none other than the still depressed and nearly bankrupt Michael Rudolph, and the certified arms dealer - Well Porter.

"Now, what about the economy?"

Michael gave his analysis first.

"Well, to put it in lighter terms, the economy has somewhat ended its absolute free fall. Now, we're stuck in a new predicament."

"What exactly?"

"The fact that the economy is completely stagnated. The bill passed, including all the other measures of Economic Minister Heiss, has so far ended the threat of a complete collapse, but as with many things, that might not last much longer."

At least it's not in complete free fall. Oh, it was dreadful watching all those graphs go down each hour. I didn't know watching lines could be a horror movie in itself.

"Why is that?"

"Well, stagnated economies aren't exactly the best at maintaining high or decent standards of living. We would have to address this eventually."

Plus, his poor corporation was on life support. And that won't change until the economy rebounded. And no one enjoyed the situation of being on life support.

Amelie kept that issue in mind before she turned to Porter. He smiled.

"Well, good news for you, Your Majesty. The Halian Shipyard has so far been unaffected by this catastrophe. We are on schedule to finish the shipyard."

"Oh, thank goddess, finally, good news." She almost relaxed completely and melted in her seat. Thankfully, physics prevented that. "Thank you for that, Mr. Porter."

And then Amelie turned to Halberd.

"Same news as well, Your Majesty. Your continued excellence at delivering the navy's needs has been influential, and naturally, the Admiralty has your back."

Oh, she really wanted to cherish these blessings. The Navy, at last, she had something going for her. Not that they would do much against the Army, but hey, let the poor girl have her celebration.

Her smile was almost ear to ear. Oh, it had been quite a good day already, not a lot of things could possibly ruin it. Or, at least, before she turned to Marie, who was also smiling.

"Unfortunately, Amelie, still no results in the investigations. Our efforts are ongoing, but your mother's death is still a mystery."

Her face was nothing but disappointment. She had at least expected at least some development, but alas.

Nothing.

Way to go, Marie. Way to go. Now my night is ruined again…

She cried in her bed that night, as she grieved and said sorry for her mother.