This Kingdom Needs a Coup

In the middle of the night, a sudden major incident, as usual, caused chaos.

Wherever they were, as soon as they received the report that the king had fled, they had to drop everything and rush to the royal palace. Without even changing their clothes.

From the crack of dawn to the middle of the night, those who were drinking, those who were dreaming, those who were embracing women—all gathered, creating a scene of utter confusion.

Even so, only those who were somewhat influential in the kingdom’s political scene were contacted.

“Has everyone arrived?”

“It seems so.”

“Then I will explain the progress of the incident.”

Anyway, once everyone who needed to be here, including us, had gathered, Brigadier General Kais, who had been waiting, began the briefing.

“Approximately two hours ago, around 6 a.m., the first witness appeared. A servant who went to greet the king in the morning as usual found the bedroom empty.”

“Who is missing?”

“Six people. Karl VII, Queen Jalomi, one concubine, and three children.”

“So the entire royal family has fled.”

The concubine is one thing, but the current king and queen only have four children.

The eldest daughter is older than the Crown Prince and has been married for a long time.

Excluding the children, the closest royal relative by blood is… a fifth-degree relative?

This means that all those who could normally succeed the throne have disappeared.

“Have you confirmed the escape route?”

“We obtained testimony from the guards who were on duty the previous night. Two black carriages hurriedly left through the Eastern Gate in the middle of the night.”

“What time was it?”

“Around 1 a.m.”

“And they just let the carriages pass at that hour?”

The following statement made me puzzled.

This is a medieval fantasy world. There is a curfew in the city for citizen control.

Except for patrolling soldiers, no one is allowed outside from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m.

But at that time, even though suspicious vehicles appeared, they didn’t stop or arrest them?

“The festival is in full swing.”

“…..Ah.”

“Everyone was excited, cheering, and making noise, so it was impossible to enforce the curfew. As a temporary measure, the guards allowed night travel for three days starting yesterday, but because of that…..”

“Perfect timing.”

Taking advantage of the festival when everyone’s guard was down to escape. What a fantastic coincidence.

No, perhaps they planned it?

If they prepared carriages for escape, they must have calculated the best time to flee.

They might have predicted that the festival would be held to commemorate the suppression of the civil war and acted today. That possibility seems even more likely.

“Escape route? Have you confirmed the direction?”

“They left through the Eastern Gate, so they must be heading that way, right?”

“So you don’t know, do you?”

“….Yes.”

We only know the general direction they went, but we have no information on what happened after that.

“We need to start from scratch.”

They might have faked their destination within the capital.

For example, pretending to go east but taking a detour to the west.

So let’s exclude this information and think again.

“First, they won’t stay within the country. Right?”

“Yes. It’s obvious they have nowhere to go.”

The lords in the provinces, the noble factions, are in no position to take in the king.

Having witnessed how Duke Barellmont and Duke Loengram were destroyed, they wouldn’t invite additional threats.

Taking in the royal family, who should reside in the capital, would be like asking to be killed as traitors.

If they went there, they would either surrender or be sent back to us.

The king must know this, so let’s exclude that.

“Then the question is which country…..”

“First, ignore the north and south.”

“The west is also unlikely. But the king might pretend to be crazy and seek asylum in Daicing or Caledona.”

The north is occupied by the United Empire, and the south by the Republic of Albione, so they are out of the question. They would never be the destination.

Then it must be somewhere in the east or west.

From here, we lack clues, so we have to investigate directly.

“Let’s send pursuit units. We’ll draw two cavalry battalions from the central army and split them to dispatch.”

“I’ll bring a few investigators from the intelligence bureau.”

“They must have used relay stations since they took carriages. Focus the search there.”

Unless they took the royal coachmen, no matter what carriages they used, they would have to stop and change coachmen along the way.

Those coachmen have homes and families, so their working areas are limited.

For example, if they live in the capital, they don’t go beyond a 60 km radius.

According to the testimony, only two carriages were used. No matter how many people they crammed in, it would be impossible to take the coachmen’s families.

Therefore, the royal coachmen would not have participated in the journey to a foreign land from which they would never return.

Unless they were truly fanatically loyal.

Of course, that’s unlikely, so they must have used relay stations.

“Kais, you take command of the pursuit units. Handle the orders and information gathering yourself and just report the results to me.”

“Understood. What will you do now, sir?”

“Well, isn’t it obvious?”

I shrugged my shoulders at Kais.

“From now on, we need to start agitating.”

It’s time to lay the groundwork to prevent any future noise.

* * * * *

Returning to Kamilla’s Mansion, I washed up and dressed properly, then headed to the parliament with her.

Taking my time to prepare, it was already 10:30 when we arrived.

The summoned members of parliament were anxiously waiting for me.

–Click.

“Long time no see, everyone. It seems I’m quite late.”

“Roytel, no, Councilor! What on earth is going on?”

“Why did you call us here on a holiday?”

A barrage of questions from all sides.

I waved my hand to calm them down and stood in the center of the conference hall. At the podium for those proposing agendas.

“Everyone, I understand you must be very surprised by this sudden summons. But please understand that today there was a reason for it.”

“What could possibly be the reason…..?”

“The king is currently fleeing abroad.”

A moment of silence.

Everyone seemed to be racking their brains to understand what I just said.

“…..Our His Majesty the King? To another country?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Without giving them a moment to rest, I pushed on.

–Bang!

“Everyone, this is not just a simple exile. It is a denial of our system and a violation of the freedom and rights of all the citizens of the kingdom.”

I stomped my foot to draw attention and emphasized the impact and significance of this incident.

So that they could understand the seriousness of the situation and the grave sin Karl VII had committed.

“Everyone, we have been exercising the power stripped from Karl von Liudolf on his behalf. But this was not usurpation or treason. It was a reasonable measure for the grave sin he committed.”

I deliberately called the king by his real name and emphasized our legitimacy. To engrave in their minds that we are the good, and he is the evil.

“Karl colluded with the nobles and arbitrarily declared war on the United Empire. He started a war that should never have happened and used it as an excuse to exploit the people. He took their property, their lives, and their futures. For a full decade!

That’s why we stripped Karl of his power. To prevent that tyrant from harming innocent subjects any further, we took appropriate measures.”

I took a moment to catch my breath and clear my throat, then shouted loudly.

“But he has shown through his actions that he does not agree with those measures. He wants to continue sucking the blood of the people and enjoying wealth and glory.”

If he had stayed quiet, we wouldn’t have killed him.

We would have stripped him of all authority and made him a puppet, an old man in the back room, but we would have guaranteed his life.

At least as a symbol of the nation, he had value as evidence of maintaining the monarchy.

But he threw away even the last reason for his existence with his own hands.

“What will he do if he goes abroad? He will surely use the power of other countries to interfere with our nation. He will use all sorts of interests and privileges that are not his to borrow armies and gain support to try to destroy us. He will try to revert this country, which has just normalized, back to the old days and plunge the people into misery.

Everyone, we cannot let this pass. We must stop him before he causes trouble. Before he ruins the country from the outside, we must eliminate any possibility of that.”

I looked at the members of parliament and made my demand boldly.

“I propose here and now. From this moment, strip Karl von Liudolf of all his authority and decision-making power. Completely suspend his qualifications as a representative of state power.

Any laws or treaties that the parliament and the Supreme Council for National Reconstruction do not agree to must not arbitrarily take effect!”

And of course.

My proposal was immediately put to a vote and passed unanimously by the representatives of the first and third estates.

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