“Wilhelm, how were the talks with the elven elders?”

  “Wilhelm, have you finished talking to the leaders of Castilla?”

  “Wilhelm, we have to go check the leaders of the beast-kin tribes in the south now!”

  “Wilhelm, what are the current opinions prevailing in the Imperial Diet?”

  “Wilhelm, make sure that every noble agrees to my scheme!”

  “Wilhelm…?”

  “Wilhelm!”

  The past month had been a swirl of activity between the Monile Palace and Perlenstadt. As if driven by a new purpose, the empress quickly began running around the country trying to assess, make deals, and advance a new project of hers. Wilhelm, who was tasked with making sure that it comes to fruition, had the hard job of executing the finer details and minutiae of the empress’s plan.

  Now, a new idea was rapidly gaining traction in the hearts and minds of the people not just in Lotharingia, but in all of Ouria, the sole known continent of the world. It was an idea that was proposed as an alternative to the also rising, popular sentiments of self-determination and independence of the various nations within the empire and its vassals.

  Alexa Theresa, the lioness of the empire, seemed to have fully gotten wind of the desires of the people of Ouria as a whole, and just like last time, when it was the Lotharingian people who first had many grievances against the imperial system, the regal ruler of the people did not block her ears in rejection. Instead, the lioness gave all the tribes, peoples, and others who had grievances to the imperial system an alternative.

  Unity and the right to be recognized and represented as equals to the Lotharingian people.

  The idea that was once only in the papers and proposals of a few academics and theorists in Perlenstadt was now in the forefront of the public consciousness. The unrest and tense situation created by the burgeoning independence movements across the empire already caused many people to feel fear about a new conflict dawning on them—fears about the Imperial Army and rebel groups once again duking it out in the homes and lands of many innocent people.

  But now, everyone was in limbo, because the empress proposed a solution that would essentially bypass that and give the people of Ouria everything they wanted, without violence, ensuring that the centuries of ‘Pax Lotharingiana’ would continue. Wilhelm, Alexa’s right-hand man, was also in the same situation.

  Handling an energetic empress and her mad plans and trying to present and make it work for hundreds of millions of people was starting to take a toll on him. He had not seen a wink of sleep for weeks now.

  Alexa was right now pacing through her office, Adele sighing on the side as Alexa continued to rant on and on about her plans, while Wilhelm, on the side, tried to remain awake while sitting with massive eyebags on his face. Alexa curled her fist, declaring something to herself.

  “That’s why we need Jonathan to whip up his ministers to agree to my scheme! I cannot tolerate opposition from my government.”

  “Alexa, that’ll take time…” Wilhelm said, attempting to defuse her.

  “No can do, Wilhelm. The continental conference is soon. I will meet with all the royalty and nobility of the continent and so many businessmen and established interest groups. I do not wish to embarrass myself on the world stage. We need to be ready to take the charge for a united Ouria, or they’ll lose confidence in us.”

  Alexa crossed her arms, pouted, and sat on a sofa near Adele. “I want to make sure that my Lotharingia is united and committed to this plan. This is the only way to save the empire and potentially expand it.”

  “It’s…truly a grand plan,” Adele said, sipping a tea on the side. “But, Alexa, have you considered that all your subordinates, right now are…a bit…”

  “Tired?”

  “I’m fine,” Wilhelm said.

  “Hmm, now that you say that, Wilhelm isn’t looking too good,” Alexa said, before turning red, embarrassed. “Goodness me. Don’t tell me you’re actually…wait…”

  Alexa stood up, approached Wilhelm, and stared at him with her innocent pinky eyes. Wilhelm naturally retreated down on his seat and tried to look away, groaning to himself. “You’re too close.”

  “No way, is this your limit, Wilhelm?”

  “I said I’m fine.”

  “But you actually look…no, I’m sorry. I guess I really must have pushed you too hard these days. You may rest.”

  “No, I said I’m fine." Wilhelm stood up, stiff and precise, challenging Alexa’s assertion that he was tired.

  Then, Wilhelm smiled a bit at her.

  “Look, as your loyal knight, I’m expected to do everything and give it my all to serve your interests. I am happy that you are happy. Sure, I’m a little bit tired right now; god knows I’ve been running around like clockwork trying to make things work, but your knight is in good shape.”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Wilhelm believed that as a former defense forces officer, his current position was nothing short of luxury. He was a man who had no true beliefs in what he was doing outside of winning for the sake of winning. Now though, he was serving a woman who had a true vision of something more ideal and less cynical than simply ‘winning.’

  Even if my body breaks apart in service to her, as long as her dreams live on, it will be all good.

  It was a mantra that kept Wilhelm on the job, a mantra that whipped him up to be as diligent as possible. He needed to push himself to his limits to make sure that Alexa’s wildest dreams—a beautiful, better, and freer world—would live on. Whether he faced the demon horde, hundreds of scheming nobles and officials, a horde of angry citizens, actual rebels, or treacherous foreign dignitaries, Wilhelm was going to do everything to keep himself standing straight and executing his job.

  It was the least he could do. He was a man unable to dream of a better future, even for himself. What he was good at was executing someone else’s dream, and that was the only way he’d find purpose in life. Perhaps that was why he was even born in the first place. He was always destined to just be a man who paves the path for other, better people to shine brighter than him.

  That was why…

  “I’ll make sure that Lotharingia will stand united behind you before the conference,” Wilhelm declared. “...I promised to never fail you once again after my disgraceful cowardice before the civil war ended. I will never back down from that.”

  Alexa’s eyes softened, shaking her head.

  “Wait, don’t tell me, you’re still hung up on that incident?”

  “A good knight never forgets the times when he is less than honorable to his master.”

  “Ugh, cut that kind of talk, please. I said forget it. You did nothing wrong that day!”

  “I did not believe sufficiently in your abilities and made a mockery of your attempts at winning the war by trying to block you, all because I believed that you’ll fail. I intend to never underestimate you and your vision again.”

  Alexa smiled before forcing a frown again. “Grr…don’t butter me up as a reason to keep overworking. Okay, you underestimated me back then, but that was that. Now, it’s me overestimating you.”

  Alexa suddenly took Wilhelm’s hand, inspecting it for herself. Immediately, Wilhelm recoiled, trying to pull his hand back, but Alexa’s grip was surprisingly strong.

  “A-Alexa, I’m not wearing gloves…”

  “That’s why I’m checking,” Alexa said, frowning as she looked on it. “These hands have been working so hard for me for years now, and so far, all I’ve done is to pile up more work on you. I fear that I might lose it soon.”

  Adele then threw her two cents in the mix, all ignoring the two and looking at the windows instead. “Isn’t that why we hired Sir Henry, though? To punish him by pushing a lot of work into his hands?”

  "Yes, but…” Alexa’s two hands held Wilhelm’s, and Wilhelm almost felt his heartbeat as he watched the empress worrying for him. Finally, he managed to pull his hand away.

  “I’ll try to sleep a little longer tonight,” Wilhelm said. “But, anyway, I’ve taken note of your new orders and goals. I assure you, it will be completed soon.”

  “Wilhelm.”

  “Yes?”

  Alexa looked up at him, seemingly apologetic, but, instead of chastising him, she just gave him a tiny smile.

  “I don’t know where I’ll be without you. Thanks so much. For everything.”

  Wilhelm, whose heart and mind had been overworked at trying to make everything work perfectly well for Alexa, felt like all the pressure and burden placed on him melted then and there. Just seeing Alexa, smiling happily and thankfully, seemed enough.

  Maybe this was also why he worked so hard. The euphoria of seeing this was simply too addicting. A smile grew on his face before he bowed respectfully to her.

  "You're welcome. It’s my greatest honor.”

  +++

  “Word on the wire. The ‘continental conference’ is set to begin within a month.”

  “Madness. Why are many of our members being swayed by it? This is just trickery from the vixen’s mouth?”

  “Hush! Everyone knows the empress isn’t that bad of a person. Maybe she’s being genuine…?”

  “They say that they propose to give every nation in the federation two representatives each so that we all have equal voices in the union. But then, Lotharingia itself has four times the population of the next largest nation. Wouldn’t that mean that they’re sacrificing themselves on the altar of unity?”

  “There’s no way she’s genuine, gentlemen. Remember our focus. The total liberation of the proud nation of Galen.”

  The discussion between the group of men gathered in a coffee shop in Lauris, the royal capital of the Kingdom of Galen, ended. It was a gathering of not just a few disaffected commoner businessmen, lawyers, bureaucrats, officers, and intellectuals. Within them too were many noblemen, even a duke of the kingdom.

  Pinned on the duke’s tricorne was a cockade that depicted the three colors of the new flag proposed by the growing revolutionary movement in the largest, southern kingdom of Ouria. He was an old nobleman, a man who had, in his entire life, worked tirelessly for one goal: to liberate his people from the puppet kings of Perlenstadt.

  He was someone who was willing to sacrifice his noble title if it meant freedom and independence from Perlenstadt. He was the Grand Duke of Foch, Maxime Louis de Foch. A hardened man in the war against the demon horde, where thousands of Galenian men were drafted each year to defend Lotharingian lands from the demon horde.

  There, for two decades, he was said to have served as the overall commander of the Galenian contingents of the defense forces before disagreements with the late emperor booted him out of his position. Since then, the soldiers of Galen who served in the defense forces were ordered and used by predominantly Lotharingian commanders.

  “Remember what they did to our motherland! They’ve taken half of our lands as their own and left us, the rump state of a once great kingdom, with nothing but half of our territory. Then, they take our sons for their war, our tax, our grain, and our riches as tribute, and then, they humiliate us by picking our kings who will lick their balls!”

  A nobleman in bearing, Maxime was not. He barely considered himself ‘noble,’ for there was nothing noble left in the indignity that Galen went through under Lotharingia’s thumb. He was, first and foremost, a Galenian. The patriotic fervor in the old man’s voice and mad ramblings was enough to snap back the minds of the people in the coffeehouse.

  “I will soon attend the continental conference, and I promise to you, gentlemen, that there will be no tolerance of this talk over there. Our demands have been clear and simple. Remove the puppet king and return our lands. That’s it. Nothing more, nothing less! If they do not wish to meet those demands, then we will enforce it ourselves!”