V2C20

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After

the brief kiss, Leandroth began to look firm but with an edge of desperation.

If she was listening properly, she had been listening to the founding story of

the Barenshiaga Empire (Zuben: Wait. What?).

Before one could notice, they had

gone through chapter one and speedily entering chapter two (Zuben: if you say

so, author-sama)

The

country was advancing at an absurd rate.

Matilda

giggled. It was somehow quite funny.

‘Stop

giggling while I am trying to keep from losing my head.’ She heard Leandroth

growl beside her. (Zuben: Lose your reason. That’s what we are here for.)

Waiting

with bated breath, Matilda ate a pastry and drank some orange juice. She washed

her hands and dried them, and the prayed to the spirit of the forest to thank

them for the meal.

‘Mattie,

are you finished eating?’

‘Shall

we move to the drawing room?’

Leandroth

washed his hands and carefully wiped his hands. He rose quickly and headed for

the drawing room.

‘Your

Majesty?’ she called in askance. They were in the drawing room now, she did not

want to call him by name in public. She preferred separation of public and

private matters.

‘Mattie,

I am not angry with you. I'm just forcibly holding myself back so I don’t jump

on you. Do you have some time?’ (Zuben: Dude, just do it. She won’t mind too

much.)

‘…Yes.’

She did not understand too well (Zuben: Come on, Mattie, you can’t play dense

this long.)

She tilted her head, looking at him.

Leandroth

drew Matilda an armchair. He sat with

across from her with a table between them,

‘Mattie,

you eating the orange out of my hand was a foul. I'm not complaining but I have

been desperately trying to hold myself back with talking…’

It

seemed like a cross between shouting and pleading, Matilda thought as she shank

back in the chair. It was still complaining though.

‘Since

the morning assembly, I was telling myself to endure till night, but it is

practically impossible.’ (Zuben: Why they hell are you holding back. She’s

receptive, no?)

Matilda

really did not understand what he was going on about (Zuben: Matilda! Really?!)

She

rose from the chair and grabbed a sword that was hung on the wall as

decoration. She returned to her seat with the sword in hand.

‘Your

Majesty.’ She called, the sound of the sword being drawn from the sheath echoed

in the room.

‘Mattie,

put that away, you’ll get hurt.’

‘If

you were Ross, I guess there is no reason for getting injured. We are wasting

time. Are we having a meeting or not?’

‘We’re

having a meeting.’ He replied, defeated.

She

put the sword back into the sheath and returned it to its rightful place.

Leandroth

seemed calmer. He poured himself some water and drank it thirstily. (Zuben: Oh

all right then.)

‘Sorry,

I kept you waiting.’

He

lowered his head and when he raised his head again there was no shadow of the

man that was confused about his life earlier, but the young Emperor.

‘Firstly,

we have to decide the basic principles of our actions. Set up guidelines for

conduct, and future plans.’

‘Does

Mattie want to participate in the morning assembly?’

She

stared in confusion and tilted her head, ‘Huh?’

‘The

morning parliamentary meeting. Would you like to see the faces of those oily

politicians in the morning?’

‘If

you are going to ask me that way, no I don’t want to go. But does his Majesty

not want me to attend?’

From

the phrasing, it seemed that he did not think about it too deeply. She chuckled

to herself,

‘Why

would you think so?’ he asked.

‘Because

of the way you worded it, Your Majesty. If you would like me do attend with

you, maybe ask me in a different way.’

‘Yes,

I guess we are in a governing meeting. To be honest, it would be meaningless to

do to that meeting.’

‘Meaningless?’

she repeated. This was the parliamentary assembly held in the Imperial Palace;

a meeting that decided the fate of the empire. The meeting where the high

officials of every governmental arm come together to discuss new laws and

issues, pass edicts and approve projects. (Zuben: They shouldn't have it every

day. Nothing will get done.)

Though

Barenshiaga was a hereditary monarchy, the Emperor alone cannot move the

country. Things need to be done in conjunction with the leaders and the nobles.

The Prime Minister and the Secretary of State and the deputy, the Vice Prime

minister (Zuben: We are going to list every gorram ministry aren’t we?), the

Ministry of Divinities and their seconds, the department of defence, the local

government representatives, and so on and so on. (Zuben: I really could not be

arsed to list every arm, leg and toe ministry in Barenshiaga. Believe me, they

are many and with good reason, but chai, no need. We get it.)

Black

and white, left and right, up and down; every angle has not be thought through.

The number of attendees change depending on the agenda of the assembly. Everyone

cannot always attend, but the attendance is usually about fifty people and up.

‘There

is meaning in going to observe. It is usually planned by the officials but it

is not a very fruitful meeting because they all spend their time arguing and

the chairman just bangs away at his gavel.’

Leandroth

truly had a mean mouth.

‘Anyway,

I just need to show my face from time to time to chair the meeting. It would be

good to attend the next one. I just have to get you out of it in one piece. You

may have to dress up.’

He

said smiling at her, like a shark. She felt uncomfortable.

Why

did she have to dress up to attend an assembly?

‘I

want to streamline the systems we have in place. I would also like women to

participate in politics but since I only just took the throne, it may still be

premature to begin such a task. It would be too hard to convince the peerage of

changes that need to be made. Although you and I are of similar opinion, it

would be hard to change the deep rooted attitudes towards women in government.

Still conscious reform needs advancement, don’t you think?’

‘I

did manage to change the law so that a woman can succeed her father’s title.’

It seemed that he was praising himself.

‘If

you want to participate in the governing, I would probably have to arrange

things, but changing things that are already in-place is more difficult than

creating something new, don’t you think?’ he said as he heaved an exaggerated

sigh.

‘It’s

all so troublesome; I want to leave everything to you.’ He said

‘Are

you getting depressed again?’ she asked.

‘No,

this is a partnership. There is a department for ceremonial matters, they

require things to be approved by officials, confirmation of attendees to

ceremonies, arrange for the ceremonial clothing and so on. So, I'm going to

assign you to head the ceremonies department.’

‘Apart

from that, we need to create the medical wing for the palace, staff

dormitories, and the offices for the Ministries of Justice and Education

respectively. Plan the Imperial palace administrative structure and how they

relate to other government agencies…all very troublesome.’

Matilda’s

head was spinning.

‘Well

need a department of works and maintenance, a new ceremonial hall but we’re not

in a hurry for that…’

An

organisation chart had begun to form in her mind, but Leandroth was going too

fast for her,

‘Wait

a minute, you’re going too fast!’

‘Please

speak a little more slowly with a lot more explanation. In proper order!’

(Zuben: Nooooo!)

‘The

Barenshiaga Empire is too different in structure from the Kingdom of Icecoreta.

I want to know what you want from me?’

‘That

is not completely the case, is it?’

Leandroth

tilted his head looking at her.

‘What

do you think about “peace”?’ he asked

‘With

you, I want to create peace in Barenshiaga for at least fifty years.’

Matilda

absorbed Leandroth’s clear words, it made her breathless. Peace for fifty

years.

For

Barenshiaga, they have been constantly at war. The peace currently being

enjoyed was rather new, and very precious.

‘I

do not want to fight another war. I want the country to have enough food to

satisfy our citizens, a good standard of living where they can pay their taxes

without trouble. It is going to be difficult.’

She

understood very well the difficulty of what Leandroth wanted. To maintain

peace, would depend of the skill of diplomacy when dealing with the other

countries. They have a well trained military, but it can’t get too large or

there would be worry about paying them feeding them and outfitting them. You

can’t discharge them en masse because you could get attacked.

She

came to sit closer to him and held her hand against his cheek.

‘It

seems to be a really daunting task as you say. What

do you think of this? Partial dismissal of the soldiers to their respective

homelands to form Home Guards? In their respective, towns and villages, they

would be organised to agriculture and forestry, and masonry. We maintain the

power of the military while putting them to use. The most important is food, so

securing harvests and animal husbandry would be first on the agenda, but at the

same time we must keep natural resources in balance.’

She

wondered what about peace, and what it was.

‘When

the war is over, there are a lot of people who would lose their jobs. When

these people are let go, there might be civilian unrest. Is there room to hold

the army we have no use for?’

‘It

will be difficult to maintain the peace in that situation.’

‘Yes.’

She replied, she held her finger to her lips as she looked thoughtful.

As

he watched her, Leandroth’s gaze grew heated.

‘I

was thinking I like talking with you about governing.’

‘To

be honest, your idea is sweet, but there are areas where you don’t know the

current situation, but I think it has appeal.’

‘I

guess so.’ She wondered whether she was being praised or her if idea was being

dismissed.

‘You

can’t get too proud if you say something good.’

‘Well…’

she said lost for words.

‘You

don’t have to win. No matter how much you win, if you win by cowardly means it

is unacceptable to the citizens.’ (Zuben: I don’t think they care, as long as

they don’t get assimilated and their way of life doesn't change, a win is a

win)

‘If

I did something like attacking during peace talks, I would not hear the end of

it.’ (Zuben: Here we go jumping from topic Q to topic A with no proper lead

through!)

‘To

be honest, that kind of sneakiness is what I am good at.’

‘It’s

nothing to be proud of,’ she said. Her head hurt. (Zuben: So does mine.)

‘So

for you to tell me to worry not just about the humans but also the animals in

the forest is kind of asking a lot.’

‘It

would be good to leave the formulation of a plan to one of the officials and

give them plenty of money.’

Very

well.

‘I

want you to be someone who will be written about in history books for future

generations, a fierce Empress. I want you to become someone who manipulates

national affairs behind the scenes.’

How

did he expect her to become such a cunning woman?

‘For

now, I want you to think about peace and how we can best begin the process.

Since we are planning on redoing the current organisation structure, with this

in mind, we can plan on the reduction or armaments and soldiers. It’s alright

even if it is an ambiguous proposal, we can work on it and use it to maintain peace.’

‘When

is my deadline?’ she asked.

‘Hmm,

I think it would be nice to hear your proposal on the wedding day. But you will

not have to do it alone.’

‘I

plan to use the plan you think of. It’s more fun to think about travel plans

for two than for one, don’t you think?’

‘There

will be many things to do; you’ll have to understand how this country runs,

what the needs of the average citizens are, the difference between the cities

and villages, we will have to handle feeding the nation and repairing and

creating roads. The organisational changes cannot happen overnight.’

Matilda

watched Leandroth speak in dismay. She heaved a deep sigh,

‘I

really don’t have much time. It might be impossible to participate in the

morning assembly.’

Leandroth

gave a chilling smile.

‘You

still want to attend?’

Looking

at the smile, she wondered, was he testing her?

Even

if she participated in the political arena, did it make sense? Even if she was

allowed to speak, just as Leandroth pointed out, would she simply be seen as ‘sweet’

and not to be taken seriously?

She

had no idea. She did not understand the situation right now. And she had a

tendency to dream.

Will

she be told “This was not a place for girls to play” like she had been shut

down many times before?

She

tilted her head this way and that in thought. She closed her eyes and took a

deep breath. She opened them and looked at Leandroth,

‘When

we wake up you always tell me, “You can sleep a little more,” it seems like my

well being is important to you.’

She

turned to Leandroth, who was holding his reddened face in his hand,

‘Mattie,

be prepared not to sleep tonight. I hope you understand that you caused it.’

‘Not

sleeping is not good for your health.’

‘Enduring

is bad for my health.’

Just

then there was a knock on the door, and Leandroth’s aide called him back to

work.

Zuben: My head hurts...