Sovereign

“Gallian military units have now entered multiple major Gallian cities as the Toldoi Crisis continues, with concerns already about these military units conducting brutal suppression tactics against anti-mobilization sentiments. The CFN has officially called the current crackdowns occurring in Gallia a ‘sign of MNs tyranny, even to women’, with a general of the Pozneki Army even making remarks for the need to liberate Gallia not just for men’s sake, but ‘for women’s sake too’.”

- Geopol Press

+++

West Orland

November Palace

“I have the documents prepared,” William reported as he entered the meeting room, where Pristina, Amelie, Jacqueline, and Walter remained to constantly monitor the situation as the situation went by. “We can give it to them shortly.”

“Papers?” Amelie asked. “What documents are you talking about?”

“Oh, nothing, just fabricated proofs about Queen Clericia’s traitorous activities. Sabotaging the GAF. Preventing swift mobilization. Possibly leaking GAF positions to the CFN too. We’re even framing her as the one behind the protests against mobilization. All to prevent a Gallian victory. That and documents about her declining health. Senility. And thus, her contradictory actions and incompetence.”

William placed the bunch of documents on the table in front of them. Amelie, Pristina, and Jacqueline looked at it with suspicion. But Walter, oh, Walter merely grinned at what was in front of him, all while William looked at the four with an empty expression.

“Well, I see that the OPM is an effective independent agency,” Walter laughed. “Ladies, you three ought to give this guy a pat on the back. That’s some quick thinking.”

“William…what the hell is this?” Jacqueline fumed. “You know these are all lies. Who ordered you to do this?”

“I told him to do what he can do,” Amelie said. “But I didn’t expect this. William, will this work?”

“Wait, what the hell? Why is that the question we’re asking? Queen Clericia isn’t some treacherous traitor. This might get her executed or worse!” Pristina shouted. “Can we stop?! This is just adding fuel to the fire. We’re making it worse.”

“Or, Director William here has correctly assessed that giving the GAF even better reasons to depose the Queen of Gallia, and pin the blame of all our defeats on her, is a good idea,” Walter said. “That’s pretty much a good thing. Because we’re already massing forces for the counter-offensive soon. Soon, we will be racking out victories, right exactly when the Queen who presided over the losses is sacked from her command. The new Gallian government will have more legitimacy to rule. That’s a net good for us.”

“We still haven’t even been able to force the Queen out of her residence,” Jacqueline countered. “What if the GAF releases this? That might just make her more adamant about remaining in her post! And so what if we release this? People won’t believe it. They’ll just rally behind her because the GAF will look even scarier.”

“Well, she’s old,” Walter said. “Can’t rally to the side of a woman who died in a staircase incident right after her disgraceful abdication. Depression tends to do that. Makes someone clumsier and stuff. I mean, look at the documents. She’s suffering from dementia.”

“That’s William’s fabricated health report!” Pristina said. “Why would she suddenly slip while climbing a stairway?”

“Well, she can always fall instead from a window out of nowhere. Or choke on her food. Plenty of options that the GAF and William’s OPM can arrange for her. Regardless of what we pick, we need to get her out of the Palace, replace her with her stupid daughter that we can control, give the GAF full control to gain their loyalty, and then give the lady the final lovetap so no one in Gallia can form an opposition behind her. Easy, peasy.”

Walter simply sat on his chair without a hint of disgust at his words. Calmly, he fished for a few documents and laughed a bit as he scanned it.

“Are we seriously planning to not just make her abdicate but assassinate her as well?” Jacqueline asked incredulously. “Your Majesty, you can’t seriously be suggesting this. This is going too far. She…deserves to at least live out her last days fine. This is cruelty.”

“She’s trying…to oppose us,” Amelie said. “If she tries to organize anything that’ll disrupt the war effort, we have to take the appropriate measures.”

“I also suggest that we send in the OPM to wreck the anti-mobilization fools in Gallia,” Walter said. “William, I think your agents can do a lot of dirty job already, no?”

“We can,” William said. “We…actually already assassinated a few of them earlier.”

“You what?!” Amelie asked. “I haven’t ordered anything yet!”

“You said I had to do what I can do to push Gallia to mobilize,” William said, without even flinching at Amelie’s words. “There were some difficult nobles that had the ear of the Queen. I had to make sure they stopped speaking to her. For the interests of our war effort.”

“So…we’re killing noblewomen, left and right already…?” Pristina asked. “Your Majesty, what are we even doing anymore? It’s like…you’re now just being cruel to your fellow women. William, can’t you even think about the lives you're taking? Those people. They don’t deserve to be executed by…by some men from the shadows just because they had a different opinion.”

“Well, their opinions ran contrary to my Queen’s interests,” William said. “If my actions have displeased you, Amelie, I am willing to take full responsibility. You did say that I and the OPM have full independence to act as long as it helps you. I admit I use that independence fully, and while I believe it has yielded great results, I also recognize that my methods may be too bloody for you to accept.”

“Was it really necessary?” Amelie asked. “William…what is the OPM doing?”

“Everything,” William said. “We’re gathering every dirt that we can find on every MN leader to better control them. We’re tracking CFN intelligence operatives and assets in MN territory. We’re analyzing any potential threat that may hurt Orland, whether it’s a new weapon or any threatening political developments. And as stated in our objectives, we have to take every measure to prevent it preemptively. Thus, we do what we can to meet that. I’m afraid that usually, those measures can be…quite messy to be reported to your desk.”

“I…” Amelie couldn’t speak. Her paranoia of anything that might come to her was one of the reasons she gave William’s OPM full independence to act on her behalf. She didn’t expect that they were really doing their job messily in the shadows. “Look, just tone it down, please. I don’t want unnecessary bloodshed. Still…is…is all this necessary?”

“Walter’s assessment is correct,” William answered. “Queen Clericia of Gallia has proven herself to be a problematic figure. She has a lot of supporters, and potential supporters once the coup is finished. By the nature of Royalist politics, usually, when the monarch everyone’s rallying behind is gone, the movement shatters into manageable pieces. Princess Louise on the other hand is a lovestruck fool who mostly just plays soldier with her lover, which made her deeply unpopular to the military, and viewed as a mediocre figure in the Gallian populace.

“This places us in a political situation wherein Queen Clericia, yes, an unpopular figure due to protests, will become popular due to the coup because of people sympathizing with her and the nobles naturally coming behind her. Our official replacement, Princess Louise, is a crappy figurehead. And the GAF isn’t exactly a beloved institution of Gallia. Thus, we have to eliminate the only competitor to our alternative to force the people of Gallia to pick the only option we will allow them to have—Princess Louise and the GAF. That’s why I planned to implicate Queen Clericia of grave crimes to the Kingdom ever since we came to the decision to remove her hours ago. We’ll drag her name to the mud, so she can be disposed of easier. Removing any long-term threats to Gallian stability.”

“Will this help in the war effort?” Amelie asked.

“Once Gallian stability is improved with these measures, the GAF will be able to better fight alongside the LEF and the OEF. The combined Gallian–Lorathian–Orlish force will be able to mount a better counter-offensive if they don’t have to deal with behind-the-line political problems. That and, long-term, GAF control will mean that Gallia will mobilize all women. We’d be able to have more meat in the frontlines and the Gallian homefront.”

“So it has come to this,” Jacqueline muttered. “We’re at the point where we’re so cold, that all that matters is the efficiency of our war machine? We’ll just…throw the life of countless important women away brutally, while suppressing the views and opinions of millions of civilian women, to force them to fight?”

“Well, we are at war,” Walter said. “You women gotta do what you gotta do to live. I mean, I’m just saying. The CFN will probably execute us for collaborating with you all if they win, yes. But, you…you’ll be in a longer-term type of a chopping block. If anything, we’re just helping you women by removing the stupid ones in your ranks so you can actually become useful in the fight of preventing you from being pressed en-masse to magical labor regiments.”

“We’re not going to lose badly just because we didn’t do all this,” Pristina said. “We can just make her silently retire. I’m sure she won’t start trouble. I don’t think she’s that stupid.”

“She is that stupid, actually,” William replied. “That’s why the Gallian war effort in both the First Great War, and now is…unacceptably below the standards for a nation under the Ivory Alliance. That’s why while I’m uncomfortable at removing her, removing her is still a way to remove a detrimental element to our war effort. With the current decision, the best we can do is make sure that her removal won’t affect us adversely. We can do that by…this method.”

“It’s an extreme method,” Pristina shook her head. “I can’t. Don’t expect me to authorize this. You all…I won’t sign anything. The rest of you can. I am against this decision. This is immoral.”

“You don’t have to sign anything because I will sign the orders,” Amelie said.

“You will sign an order…to kill the Queen of Gallia?”

“Defense Minister, if I have to, I will. I have signed countless orders that caused the deaths of thousands of my soldiers. Why would I not sign for the death of some Queen if it means the benefit of this nation? She’s not special to me. If she’s a pain in our war effort, then she’ll be treated much like our enemies. To be eliminated until she isn’t a threat.”

“She’s a monarch…”

“And monarchs are no special people to my eyes. She’s a threat? Then she’ll be killed just like the countless CFN soldiers we have killed to win. That’s all there is to it.”

“She’s not a threat…” Pristina muttered. “She’s just a woman trying to live right now. To subject her to this is awful. She was our ally.”

“Was being the keyword there.”

“She still thinks we are her ally. She’s waiting for your call. Waiting for your verdict. Waiting…if she’ll have a chance or not. Amelie, please. Maybe she’ll acquiesce to our plans and…and just stay low once she abdicates.” Pristina begged. “You don’t have to be just as cruel to women just as we’ve been cruel to men. We don’t have to make existence bad for us just to achieve equality.”

“I have no plans to do that,” Amelie said. “But alright. William, tone down your planned…dismantling of her reputation. I’ll…I’ll talk her into cooperating with us. If she calms down and steps back, then maybe, maybe we won’t have to do those measures you’re suggesting.”

William just nodded.

“I’ll see to it then.”