A citizen of Ostend walked through its packed, chaotic streets with his back hunched.

  He could see crowds of people around him, filled with citizens all milling around a newspaper stand. They were all in uproar, as some of them shouted the news to the rest.

  “The crown princess saves the elves!”

  “The 2nd Group Army is filled with traitors!”

  “They attacked the elves without provocation!”

  “Grand Regent Ludwig made a grave mistake!”

  And on and on did the more passionate members of the citizenry shout. For the past few days, that had been the atmosphere in this city.

  The man however lowered his head. He was just trying to get to work, damn it. Whatever happened with all those nobles and generals didn’t concern him.

  He looked down at his pouch.

  My money’s running dry.

  Prices of bread and food continued to rise in the city. Not only that, but taxes had been steadily raised by the Grand Regent to pay for the war up north.

  Or, at least that was what they said. The man doubted that though, Ludwig and his cronies probably only did that to pay for his extravagance.

  In a way, he too was angry at the regency. But it wasn’t like he could ever act out on that or air it out. Sometimes, the city guards would beat up citizens said to have criticized the government after all.

  But, they’re all defying it now.

  How strange. It wasn’t like back then—

  “Citizens of the Empire!” a voice suddenly interrupted his walk, and the man stopped, looking at the sky.

  Who is that?

  “It is me again—Crown Princess Alexa Theresa von Wolgast!”

  The crowd around him stopped, all looking at the sky. Many immediately smiled, some cheered or roared, but a few like this man could only look at the sky in confusion.

  What the hell…? Is this sorcery?!

  “I apologize that last night’s address to you was way too late at night. Many must have been asleep by then, or I might have disturbed many of you.”

  “Your Highness! Don’t worry, we’re on your side!” one citizen shouted, gleeful. “Screw that Ludwig bastard!”

  “Right, screw the regency council!”

  “Down with the fat old pigs!”

  The man scowled as he looked at the morons shouting that at the sky. Did they have a death wish or something?

  The ‘princess’ voice, which was so far a bit shy, took another apologetic tone before it hardened.

  “So, from now on, I’ll try to do these daily addresses in the mornings while you sip your coffee or take your breakfast.”

  The man cringed.

  Only nobles can afford coffee every morning though…

  “But, I’ll continue to disseminate what has happened in the Letian Region recently. As you may well know, we’ve caught many traitors amongst us who attempted unjustified attacks against our elven brothers and sisters.

  “Many of them are now confessing that once again, Sir Ludwig of the Regency Council allowed this. Citizens, how can we even tolerate this kind of unjustified incompetence?!”

  “We can’t tolerate it anymore!” a young woman screamed, angry. “He’s starving us!”

  “Down with Ludwig!”

  “Please save us, Your Highness!”

  “Of course we can’t! Yet Ludwig refuses to give up power. How tiresome, is it not! So please, put more pressure on him. How will we save ourselves if old men like him stay in power? We can’t. So please, keep spreading this news! We must remain united against those who rule us incompetently!”

  The crowd immediately roared in agreement, while the man looked down with a scowl.

  “Goodness, is this what I missed last night?” he facepalmed. “And did that girl just say she’ll do this daily?”

  +++

  Shut up.

  Shut up damn it.

  Ludwig’s hold of his morning tea trembled a bit as that speech ended. It was now the fourth day since Alexa Theresa began these ‘daily address’ nonsense using that ability of hers.

  Somehow, she was reaching everyone on the continent!

  Ludwig already lifted most emergency laws against criticism in the past few days in response to this to calm the flames. He also tried his best to speak to the people and spread news about himself working to fix the problems of the Empire.

  But it was always being thwarted by her morning speeches. The people were growing angrier and restless against Ludwig’s regime.

  And there wasn’t a lot that he could do. Even his damned soldiers, officers, and guards heard the princess’s incessant ramblings each day.

  And she condemned him again and again, revealing news that shouldn’t reach anyone, and she was doing it as if she were untouchable.

  Well, she was.

  What could he do now?

  The entire narrative of the story was on her side.

  “Damn it!” August was red-faced as his fist struck the table. “Did she just call me a pig? How dare she? She’s pushing this too far!”

  “In front of millions no less...no I’m not balding. My wife still likes my hair…”

  Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  “Ludwig! I cannot bear this anymore! She’s trying to overthrow us with words. Can’t you see that?”

  “Yes,” Ludwig snapped out of his earlier demoralized stupor. “But as long as we try to remain calm with our measures, the situation won’t escalate.”

  “The people, they’re not even following our laws anymore! Not even the city’s guards are on our side. They cheer her on every morning!”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Ludwig shook his hand. “So long as our allies in the Imperial Diet have confidence in our government, we’ll remain here.”

  “We need to silence her. Go to Perlenstadt and give her a piece of her mind. She’s supposed to be studying like a good doll, not this!”

  “We can’t silence her,” Ludwig said. “We’ll be turning this cold war into a hot one if we do that.”

  Ludwig took a sip of his tea, trying to calm himself down. The good news about this was that Alexa Theresa wasn’t doing favors for the nobility.

  Many of them were starting to become scared of her as she assaulted their practices as ‘corrupt’, ‘incompetent’, and ‘treacherous’, and a litany of other scandalous descriptions.

  That would mean that his nervous allies would have no choice but to hold on tight to Ludwig’s plans. Should Ludwig fall, it was clear that all of them would be implicated after all.

  Still, while the Crown Princess didn’t hold back with her attacks against Ludwig and his allies, yet,, she always called for ‘legal action’ and ‘stepping down’.

  Not once had she called for an overthrow, instead, all she did was call for ‘accountability’, but to the people, they certainly were now shouting for Ludwig’s utter downfall.

  Plausible deniability. She’s riling up the people against me, but she’s not technically doing anything illegal.

  Unlike the normal citizenry too, she was royalty. That meant she was free to speak out about whatever she wanted, because she simply was above them.

  “Shutting her down might be impossible,” Ludwig said. “But we can still use her actions to rally nobles to our side. We can also just try copying her tactics.”

  “Bribing the newspapers isn’t going to cut it, Ludwig.”

  “But what else can we do?”

  Ludwig stood up, looking at the skyline of Ostend.

  “Once we move back to Perlenstadt, we have to make our case clear. You and I still are the government. No matter what she says, until she’s of proper age, she’s not fit to rule.”

  Ludwig outstretched his arms, convinced of his own words.

  “Yes, that’s right. The Regency Council stands. That simply is the will of the Imperial Diet. Even royalty cannot break that.”

  +++

  Alexa wiped the sweat off her brow after reading another one of the speeches Wilhelm prepared for her in the morning.

  It has been a standard routine for more than a week now. Wilhelm would gather news from his sources about Ludwig’s dirty laundry, then Alexa would announce it for the continent.

  Again, and again, and again. He even constantly egged Alexa to insult him in the face of the public, and for some reason…

  Everyone likes it.

  Yesterday, she tried to take a tour of the Imperial Capital, and the citizens all cheered her on. It seemed that there was much grievance and resentment in the commoner class, and that hearing Alexa personally say it to the world rallied them to her side.

  She could directly see it with her approval screen. The opinion of the commoners of her had been shooting up like crazy recently.

  [STATE OF THE HOLY EMPIRE]

  [THE PEOPLE’S APPROVAL RATINGS]

  [CIVILIAN SUBJECTS: -10/100 (+20) NOBILITY | 5/100 (+20) CLERGY | 5/100 (+25) COMMONERS | -40/100 (+20) SLAVES]

  [MILITARY ORGANIZATIONS: 55/100 (+20) ROYAL GUARD | 0/100 (+20) IMPERIAL ARMY | -40/100 (+25) DEFENSE FORCES]

  [ECONOMIC INTEREST GROUPS: 5/100 (+20) LANDLORDS | -10/100 (+20) BURGHERS]

  [CULTURAL INTEREST GROUPS: 20/100 (+20) THE FAITHFUL | -10/100 (+20) INTELLIGENTSIA]

  [POLITICAL INTEREST GROUPS: -10/100 (+20) REFORMISTS | -20/100 (+20) OLD GUARD]

  I’ve made great gains in the general public. The commoners are now at +30 opinion.

  Even slaves and defense forces soldiers’ opinions of her improved because of Alexa’s propaganda campaign.

  But now, I’m underwater with the nobility and the clergy. I’ve taken hits with the old guard, and the landlord too.

  Surprisingly, ‘the faithful’ took a positive stance. Considering the slight drop in the clergy’s opinion of her, she thought she’d take a hit with the country’s more devout people too.

  But it seemed to be the opposite.

  “I guess it makes sense if the faithful are the average person…”

  “What are you mumbling about?” Wilhelm asked, grinning a bit.

  Alexa immediately turned red, stammering.

  “A-ah, nothing—”

  “Calm down,” Wilhelm patted Alexa’s head gently with the rolled paper containing the speech. “You did well.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep.”

  “I see…”

  Even if a bit discouraged, those words from Wilhelm eased her heart a bit. These days, he was becoming her most reliable ally, up there with Phoebe, Adele, and Alfred.

  Of course, Wilhelm was still suspicious, but there was no denying how effective his strategies were.

  Not to mention, if I remember this correctly, this strategy is something used back on Earth a lot.

  The fact that he immediately grasped that tactic centuries before mass media, all because Alexa had an ability that closely resembled it, made Wilhelm look more like a true monster in Alexa’s eyes.

  He was a monster truly capable of subduing his enemies with every measure available to him, whether it be a battle of spells and swords, or a battle of words.

  And a monster on my side…

  Alexa kept her hand to her chest, breathing deeply, before speaking.

  “Alright,” her tone was now clearer. “Now that we’re done here, I shall go to my classes. I believe you have work to do too.”

  “Right, of course.”

  Bidding her farewells to Wilhelm, Alexa left her office with Adele, before meeting up with Phoebe. They happily chatted in the hallways about the first subject of today, which would be mathematics.

  Around them however, Alexa could see that the atmosphere from the noble students was dropping. Many still of course bowed in her presence or talked praises about her.

  But it was becoming increasingly strained, forced, and truly, truly fake. They must be getting worked up by Alexa’s morning speeches.

  As they turned a corner, someone suddenly appeared in front of Alexa’s path. Flanked by two girls, in the middle, was a woman with pale golden hair and a beautiful face that matched that of Alexa and Phoebe.

  She was Ludwig’s daughter—Elisabeth von Kassel.

  “Your Highness. I’m glad to meet you today,” she greeted with a little curtsy, her voice elegant and enunciated. “Say, are you perhaps free to converse with me this afternoon?”

  There was a fake friendliness in her tone, as it was clear that she regarded Alexa now with a measure of hostility.

  But of course, for a noblewoman of her rank, it didn’t show.

  “Ah, it’s you,” Alexa narrowed her eyes at Elisabeth. “What do you want?”

  “It’s simple,” Elisabeth looked at Adele and Phoebe. “I just think, perhaps you and your most honorable friends would like to have a little tea party with me. See, as the eldest daughter of the House of Kassel, I of course have high importance business with you, so we can discuss it in a most pleasurable setting.”

  Elisabeth tilted her head with faux innocence.

  “Will you please grant me some of your time, most gracious Lady Alexa?”

  Tsk, she’s praising me too. No, I must resist…

  “F-fine,” Alexa answered, internally regretting it a bit. “I will hear you out today.”

  “My, you truly are the most benevolent noble of this day and age!”

  “Why, of course I am!” Alexa’s tone became more lighthearted.

  No way, don’t fall for her trap! Resist! She’s just fake praising you.

  “Your Highness, you truly are the greatest amongst our generation. I can’t contain my excitement to hear your wisdom!”

  “I-is that so? Well, I suppose I also am now looking forward to gracing you with my presence.”

  “Truly? Truly? That sounds wonderful, greatest princess!”

  And with those words, Alexa completely fell to Elisabeth’s trap, hook, line, and sinker.