Sovereign

"The world needs to know - the junta would not step down. We have to resist for our rights at all costs!"

- Imperial Princess Xue one week after the Hebei April Coup.

"Insurrection triumphs in Southern Hebei! The Hebei Junta has lost control of over half of the Empire since the coup to pro-imperial rebels. The Mandate of Nations has already urged its member states to evacuate their civilians from Hebei due to fears of escalating violence."

- Geopol Press

---

Walter Plock believed in a lot of things. Men's rights, worker's rights, proper private property rights, human rights, civil rights, you name it.

But the core tenet of ORP - and thus his ideology - had always been the idea of Orlish Republicanism. It was one of the few universal rallying symbols for men and even some of the middle-class women, mostly the lower nobility who do not hold land or estates.

While the ORP had always been dominated by men, as the party itself was born out of the battered men's rights movement before the war even began, it never barred entry for women, nor had it ever turned its back on them.

So there he was today, campaigning in a rally for the elections in a venue almost half filled with women. He didn't expect this much to be here, he expected it would be mostly young men down here.

"...And that's what the ORP stands for! We aim to abolish the fat and outdated aristocracy, for one goal. To establish true equality and democracy in Orland. And to defend and uphold our three core ideals…"

And the crowd followed him, shouting the 3 words with him, even some of the women.

"Liberty, Equality, and Brotherhood!"

Cheers erupted from the crowd as he stepped off the podium. More ORP politicians stood and gave their speeches, as he walked off toward his vehicle to leave the rally. He waved his hands at the press and the crowds that cheered him on, with a bright smile that he kept on his face.

Yep, I need to change the last part from brotherhood to unity or something. That's a lot of women…

Lines of guards kept his path open to his convoy. Beside him also were some of the senior members of the ORP. Most notably behind him was Adrian Haufmann, known as the main strategist of the ORP, and also his close friend.

A cunning propagandist, Adrian Haufmann engineered the reputation of the ORP meticulously, especially during the war as the premier vanguard of men's political interests.

Right now, however, his plate is full, as he had to manipulate their supporters to stay with the ORP as they negotiated for a coalition government with the now weakened UOP.

"You know, we've been gaining a lot of women in party memberships," Adrian said with a smile. "Ain't that great news?"

"We're still down in the polls."

"The party leadership chose this." The two stopped in front of their SUV as men in suits opened the door for them. "You chose this."

Walter turned to Adrian. He seemed every bit of an old-fashioned businessman. Well, that was who he was. With his mustache and monocle, Adrian owned major corporations in both Eirhow and Rebenslof and had always been a staunch supporter of private interests in the party.

It was also why he became useful. The man knew how to sell - and he sold the ORP and its message to the resentful, and angry masses of men.

"The coalition is our only way of being in the next government." He gave him a neutral look. "You're gonna have to make do with that."

"I'm just saying, no one can blame me for us bleeding so much support. It could have been worse."

The two entered the SUV before it drove forward. Adrian subtly handed Walter something. It was a check. Walter narrowed his eyes as he read it before he slipped it into his pocket. Walter chortled slightly. It was 'business' with his fellow party members again.

"Don't worry Adrian. The Queen's pumping money on your corporation soon."

Adrian laughed, pleased with the returns of his 'investment'.

"Must be a blast having the young Queen's ear, huh?"

He didn't reply. These arrangements were good for his pocket, but he didn't exactly love it. He was a crook, and he knew it. The ORP at its core was a bunch of populist crooks. It was the party of greedy private corporations, such as Adrian's.

Still, men would vote for them. It was a pretty ugly situation for them. They only had two options, the bloodthirsty NRF extremists, or the greedy and shady ORP moderates.

Still, Walter didn't like this fact about his party. He did this to gain patronage and support from the corporations. He made a deal with the devil, and it could backfire anytime soon.

"She will listen to me. She has no other choice. She needs us."

"Even that high and mighty UOP is falling apart." Adrian chuckled as they passed through a road still filled with debris from the strike. "Do you still remember when we were still starting out? They were so untouchable, now they're begging for us."

"I'm surprised you didn't turn that into a propaganda spin."

Adrian shook his head in distaste.

"Oh, that's too amateurish. Young men read too much into tiny details nowadays. They'd be against the coalition if we didn't look like best buddies."

Walter pivoted his head away from him as he chuckled a bit. He was right.

…

Amelie silently peeked at the windows from her office. The Ivory Palace and its surrounding areas were already cleared, yet the scars of the protests and riots were still there.

The Rotwein Royal Bakery, just a few blocks away from the Ivory Palace, which her family owned, was still filled with broken glasses, broken equipment, trash, and much more debris.

For days she had craved the cakes that the bakery baked, but it wasn't operational. So she had to make do with the less desirable ones from other sources. Or from the Palace cooks.

Oh, who am I kidding? It's still fancy. Why am I down because of this? I eat cereal on my breakfasts occasionally for heaven's sake.

Though, that was more of a desperate decision she would take when she needed to bunker up and burn herself from work in her office, not an actual course of action that she loved.

Still…she really wanted those darn cakes. She was still royalty after all.

Someone knocked on her door. Immediately she tapped her clothes a bit to make herself look presentable. She would usually wear a suit herself nowadays, in an attempt to look more "professional".

She opened the door, and it wasn't who she anticipated. It was Halberd and Albert, and behind the two was Adelaide, who seemed to be in distress.

"Um…problem?"

"Well, more like a developing situation, that's about to turn into a problem." Albert quickly answered.

"The Larissans are acting strange," Halberd said. "One of my patrolling Frigates was rammed by their corvette 300 miles off the coast of northern Lorathia."

"...Does the Admiralty know?" Amelie asked.

"Yes, that's why I went here. They're asking what to do."

"What did Alexa say?"

"She's still on the way here."

Amelie glanced at Adelaide. Her eyes practically asked the question already.

"No, the public doesn't know." She seemed stiff. "Yet."

"...I see."

Great, more headaches for me, please.

…

"So what you're saying is, there's a chance that the Larissans want round two?" Alexa asked after Halberd wrapped up his presentation. It mainly showed the suspicious activities that the Imperial Fleet conducted around Lorathian waters for the last 2 months.

It was already a bit cramped inside Amelie's office, as Alexa, Adelaide, Albert, and Halberd discussed the situation when another set of knocks sounded on the door.

"Come in," Amelie said, her voice raised a bit for them to hear, and the door opened to reveal an old man in white naval officer dress and a middle-aged man in blue air force officer dress. The two bowed when Amelie looked at them.

"Your Majesty! The Orlish High Command sent us!"

The navy guy spoke first. "I'm Rear Admiral Frank Harper."

"Lieutenant General Joseph Kessel, at your service, Your Majesty." The air force guy said.

Amelie didn't know how to react. The OHC sent them? They wanted to talk to her? Her?

Well, to be fair, our ship did get rammed out of nowhere.

She nodded.

"Please get in. I'm open to your thoughts about this situation."

They closed the door and rushed to her desk. The two of them looked at each other with a hesitant face, almost as if they wanted someone to speak first. But it was only for a brief split second before Joseph looked at Amelie and spoke.

"Your Majesty, we need your approval for a certain operation. High Command is requesting it, for national security."

Alexa scowled at them and closed the distance between her and Joseph. The two turned to her.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. What operation are you rascals planning again?" She looked at the document that Joseph was holding. She extended her hand toward his direction.

"Hand that over."

"But it's for Her Majesty-"

"Just hand it over, I am merely checking it."

With great hesitation, the air force general handed it over. Alexa gave it a quick read, before she looked at the two, appalled.

"A pre-emptive strike? Who's the genius who made this?"

"Minister Heindhöff, ma'am."

Halberd raised an eyebrow. That didn't make sense. The Admiralty discussed caution in their meeting two hours ago. Why would they suddenly decide on this?

"I think we should contact General Albrecht first." He said as he walked toward the two officers.

"Sir, General Albrecht is still en-route to Halia."

"Then how did High Command decide this?" The two looked at each other, realizing the strangeness of it all.

"Sir, Heindhöff and his officers met up already in haste. They said a decision must be made immediately." Frank said, also confused.

So that was what it was, Halberd realized. The bastard wanted to rattle things up and make a decision for High Command quickly while the officers that didn't like him weren't there yet.

And since the issue was about national security, to deny them would be an uphill battle that would discredit the moderates in front of other military officers.

Halberd veered around to face Amelie.

"We have been outsmarted again, Your Majesty." He cracked up angrily. "Heindhöff, you dirty bastard."

"Hey, um, I just wanted to say," Amelie said, still unaware of what was really happening, although she had a slight idea that Heindhöff was playing some nasty games again. "They rammed our Frigate, but I don't think a war is necessary."

"Yes, that's exactly what we would do, we won't go to war for this," Halberd said. "But once this goes public, including High Command's threats, and then our response to play it off diplomatically instead, we'd look weak at the public and the military again. While Heindhöff would look strong."

Alexa groaned, her face slightly red.

"Oh come on, you've gotta be kidding me."

The two officers were wide-eyed, then turned to Amelie, who seemed to have buried her head in her hands for a while.

"Um, Your Majesty, what is your decision?"

She weakly raised her head and looked at Adelaide, who seemed to be furious as well.

"Adelaide, get the delegates ready. We're meeting that brat again." She looked back at the two officers. "No. No pre-emptive strikes. The military has no authorization."

"We understand, Your Majesty. We shall relay this to High Command." The two saluted before they turned around and left the room in confused haste. Halberd seemed to be standing with a neutral expression, the same as Albert, who merely crossed his arms.

"We're going to High Command for now, Your Majesty."

Amelie looked at Albert. She seemed to be begging him to help her salvage it. A sarcastic answer came.

"Yeah, sure, Amelie. High Command will listen to some lowly commodore."

Jerk.

"For now me and Albrecht will talk this out." Halberd declared. "That's all for now."