Friday, June 21, 2019

░ The Imperial Palace, Thetia, Midona, Empire of Thetia

░ Friday, June 21, 2019

░ At 10:34 am

ODESSA KESTLE

It was the first time since Alex's birth that I was able to rest and start my work a little later. I was alone in the palace. Well, if you take away the 600 employees who were working there at the moment. While I was reading Allan Pham's latest novel, "You Smell Like a Dead Rose," there was a knock on my office door. My butler, Kurt, walked into the room, greeted me, and told me why he had come. Kurt was a 46-year-old man who had been working at the palace since my sacrament. He had quickly worked his way up the ranks and was now the chief butler of the Imperial Palace.

- "Excuse me for disturbing you, Madam, but it will soon be time to leave for the Council of Kings. I would also like to remind you that afterwards, you will have lunch with your mother. Then to finish, you have the Council of Ministers".

I sighed following the announcement of my schedule for the day. Being the Empress is not an easy task and sometimes I wish I hadn't become one. Nevertheless, caring for my people gives me a valid reason to feel useful, and I try my best not to make mistakes. Although every once in a while a mistake can be a positive thing. I waved to Kurt that he could go and went to my bathroom to get ready. I wore a pastel pink dress from Athanase & Anastasia, light purple pumps from Augustus and a matching bag from Virtuose. I decided to put only mascara and a small touch of lipstick to perfect my outfit, then I left in the direction of the palace entrance. Arriving at the stairs, I contemplated the portrait of Thetia Kestle, my ancestor and the creator of this Empire. In this painting, she must have been in her twenties. Her young and sweet face made her look like she was barely 16 years old, but she had this aura of maturity and respect all around her. Everything looked perfect when this portrait was painted, but was it really?

-  "The truth will soon be revealed dear creator..." I whispered.

The guards in the entrance greeted me and opened the door, before escorting me to a car where Luke, one of our bodyguard drivers, and Kurt, who was going to accompany me, were waiting for me.

- "Good morning Madam, I hope your morning went well! "Luke said to me while starting the car with the tinted windows".

- "Good morning Luke, it went by too fast if you ask me. I wish I hadn't done anything today. But hey, it's my duty to keep this Empire in order".

Kurt gave me some administrative documents that I leafed through and completed as I waited to arrive south of Thetia, at the Palace of the Kings where the leaders of the Kingdoms and Counties of the Empire were waiting for me. The Palace was a huge residence dating from the 18th century. Inside, the Council of Kings and Counts took place, but also the meetings of crisis. The house was also used as a lodging for the Kings and Counts on their travels to Thetia, when a crisis meeting lasted several days, weeks or even months. After an hour, I finally arrived at my destination. I felt that the Council was going to be longer than expected with what I was going to tell them...

░ The Kings' Palace, Thetia, Midona, Empire of Thetia

░ At 11:30 am

We reached the Palace of the Kings at 11:30 am. My escort accompanied me from the entrance of the Palace to the inside of the Council Chamber. The large main door opened, and I walked to my seat in the center of the circle. The table was in the shape of a circle, where each King and Queen had in front of him buttons for voting, a microphone, refreshments, and a small fan. Everyone bowed to me, and two of my guards came and positioned themselves behind me. As for Kurt, he left for the butlers' lounge in the west part of the palace.

- "Thank you for being here for this new assembly of Kings and Queens. Let's start the meeting with news from each Kingdom and County. Sir Bentley Of Hatopia, would you do me the honor of beginning? “

- "With pleasure, Your Majesty. So since the new reform, which consisted in creating small businesses in partnership with giant companies, the unemployment rate has fallen sharply. At the beginning of 2018, it was 10.5% and now it is 6.8%. If we continue on this path, I sincerely believe that by the end of the year we will be around 5%”.

- "I am delighted to hear that! Who's next?”

A hand rose to my right: it was Lady Sherley Mosley, Countess of Phuram. She was the youngest of the assembly, 27 years old she was. She had recently ascended to the throne after Sir Charles Mosley, her father, was diagnosed with a cancer, and was unable to continue to exercise his duties.

- "I will speak, Your Majesty. Nevertheless, I do not really have anything important to share with you, for the life on Phuram is rather quiet and without serious problems. I wanted to ask you a question: what are you planning to do for Princess Rila's birthday party? She is going to have the majority, isn't she?”

- "It reassures me that everything is going well on Phuram, it also means that you are up to your new role. Regarding my daughter Rila's birthday, indeed there will be a party and you are invited, because she is going to be my heiress and when the time comes, she will need you and you will need her. Are you asking me this because you have any suggestions for me, Lady Mosley?"

- "Not at all, Your Majesty, forgive me if I have asked a question out of place. Recently, I heard within the walls of my residence that the Princess did not want to celebrate it, whereas this is a major event".

- "Forgive my interruption, but I also heard that in the streets of Torrine”.

- "Sire Philippe Of Uscar and Lady Shirley Mosley, don't worry about it. They are only rumors. I talked about it two days ago with my daughter, and she wants to celebrate, but she is very stressed at the moment with the IDSE (The Imperial Diploma of Secondary Education) coming up".

For another hour, each Kingdom and County shared their information and important events that had taken place in their country. Then came the turn of the two Counties at war, Goston and Youmor. The two leaders of these Counties were two men of the same blood, their ancestors were brothers. In the 1910s, Goston and Youmor were united into a single county. When Earl Henry of Welch died, his two sons fought for the control of the territory. The Empress, my grandmother's mother, made the decision to cut off the County, and the two brothers took back part of it. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the two brothers from starting a war that cost the lives of almost 100,000 people. My grandmother, Mrs. Octavia Kestle, sent troops from the Imperial Army to protect the inhabitants and to dissuade the two brothers from continuing. Nothing could be done about it. There have been tensions and confrontations on the county border since 1910. Nowadays, the conflicts have been hushed up, however, when the news of the nationality of my husband Ernst Kestle was revealed to the public, Goston's hatred of Youmor grew. Indeed, the Emperor was originally from Norbury, a town located in the north of Youmor. Together with Tregaron, Norbury were Youmor's largest cities in conflict. Goston took my marriage with Ernst as a betrayal, and Youmor as a victory. Nevertheless, it had nothing to do with it. Of course, my husband was defending his hometown, but in no way supported this war.

- "I'd like to get the human toll of Goston and Youmor for this semester".

The Assembly fell silent at the change in my tone of voice. The first hours were filled with gaiety and joy, but I was not laughing. My objective was to put an end to this conflict before my daughter took over. This was going to be a difficult task, since each Count was more stubborn than the other. Neither Earl Clint Welch Of Goston nor Earl Gregory Welch Of Youmor dared to reply. They knew that if they answered me, I would get angry. The problem was that I was already angry, not rather furious. Seeing that none of them were going to speak, I asked the others if they had any information, especially the Military Kingdoms such as Saratis and Osaris.

- "Sire Darren Elliot Of Saratis, do you have any information that could potentially answer my question?"

- "Yes, Your Majesty. Three months ago, we deployed new troops near the border of the two counties, more precisely in the town of Doneton which was particularly impacted. One of our lieutenants reported to us that troops from Goston had used chemical weapons, including gas, on several towns and villages on the border".

- "I also got the same information from our troops stationed around the border. The number of victims is increasing day by day. In the last six months, we had recorded about 10,500 civilian and military casualties. In this semester, the number has doubled".

I turned to the two counties concerned hoping for explanations, but as I expected, I was greeted by silence.

- "Sire Eliot Of Saratis and Sire Chad Pittman Of Osaris, do everything you can to get information on these chemical weapons, and you will report them back to my brother’.

- "At your orders, Your Majesty!"

- "May I say something else, Your Majesty?"

- "Go ahead, Sire Derrick".

- "I think that since March or even April, the cities located in the East of the counties in the conflict zones are more and more affected. There have been bombings that could be heard from Algan".

- "All right, thank you for telling me that, Sire Derrick Wolf Of Emphasa. I would like to warn Youmor and Goston, I will end your conflict this year whether you like it or not. We are going to toughen our containment measures, so you had better find some common ground quickly. If there's no improvement by August, sanctions will fall".

- "It's not fair! There is no way we would collaborate with such bloodthirsty brutes Your Majesty!"

- "Count Gregory Welch Of Youmor, don't make me repeat myself."

- "Why August your Majesty? It is much too short!"

- "My reason... I will open our borders Earl Clint Welch Of Boston."

Once again there was silence in the room and looks of incomprehension and confusion came over me. I explained to them in more detail my project that had been troubling my mind for several years now. I had several fears about this exposure to the world, such as the fact that we are not accepted, that we are discriminated or that they are trying to attack us.

- "Why now you may think. The Empire is powerful enough to now face the other kingdoms in the North of the Empire. Thanks to our correspondents that we have sent over the years, we have been able to obtain information about each country, their technologies, their economies, their customs, and so on. Nothing keeps us from continuing to hide. Then, I think that my people, the people who trust us, have the right to know their origins. Imagine what our exposure could bring us: a massive development of tourism, culture, international trade, an important rise in the economy and therefore in the standard of living, etc.".

- "I agree with you. In fact, for many years now, I've been hearing my children who are in university questioning our origins and the hypothesis that we're not the only ones."

- "I understand the opinion of Mrs. Faith McMillan Of Prucan, but what would we do if he attacked us? If this immense Empire of Edios attacked us? Do I need to remind you that we are about 80 million inhabitants and that on Edios, there are 900 million! And on Acora 1 billion!"

- "I hear your fear Sire Francis Brennan Of Varial, but despite the many risks, I think we should do it. We will proceed with the vote and then you can go and return to your activities".

Everyone lifted the box with the two voting buttons. One was blue for "approve", the other white for "neutral" and the other red for "refuse". When everyone had finished voting, I turned on the video projector and the results were displayed: 16 for, 0 neutral and 0 against. It had never happened that everyone agreed, but it meant that they were all willing to take risks to ensure the influence of our Empire.

- "I'm surprised but pleased. Let's not waste any more time, this afternoon I have a meeting with the ministers, and I will talk to them about this project that you all approved. As soon as it is approved, I will make a special interview that will be broadcast throughout the Empire by Monday, June 24. Following this announcement, I will open secret files of the Imperial Archives on the origins of this Empire, and I will publish on social networks and in the press Thetia Kestle's Diary”.

- "Historians are going to have a lot of work, and I don't even want to imagine poor Josie Sykes having to remake all the school curricula with the Imperial Education".

- "We're all going to have work to do, so let's get started! You can go now”.

Our butlers came back to pick us up so that we could each go back to our jobs. Kurt told me that he had made a reservation at the Jewellery for lunch with my mother. On the way there, I couldn't help but smile with joy that the news had been well received. My daughter, you will surely have to deal with crises that no Empress since Thetia in 1262 and Grace and Athea Kestle in the 16th century had to handle and contain.