“The votes are in. There are four hundred twenty ayes, against not a single nay.”

  The speaker of the Imperial Diet, an old man from the Margraviate of Linde, bashed his gavel on his desk. Its sound echoed throughout the silent halls of the Imperial Diet; the meaning of the vote today was practically felt by every representative inside.

  “The Imperial Diet is now hereby dissolved until the Regency Council, or the next sovereign, calls in a new delegation from the Imperium’s principalities. Everyone, you are all dismissed.”

  On the side, Grand Regent Philip von Ludendorff, who was appointed just days ago by the Imperial Diet to this position, grinned to himself. He watched as the noblemen, wealthy businessmen, lawyers, and various other appointed representatives of the Imperial Diet cowered in the presence of the military.

  As Wilhelm directed, Philip finished taking full control of the Imperium in the crown princess’s name. By intimidating and locking down every representative of the Imperial Diet in its halls, Philip was able to send dozens of bills and decrees straight into its throat.

  The body, as the Imperium’s official legislature, was the organization capable of creating the laws and policies that governed Lotharingia. At least on paper, usually, the Emperor or the Empress was capable of passing decrees that sidestepped the Imperial Diet.

  But the Imperial Diet still controlled the Empire’s finances. They were the ones that raised taxes and controlled where the treasury's funds were directed. So while it did not have a stranglehold on the Imperium’s government, it still was capable enough of exerting its influence.

  In many ways, the previous regency council by Ludwig was one of those. They appointed their own to rule Lotharingia, and the Imperial Diet was extremely supportive of Ludwig, enough that technically, in the past years since the Emperor’s death, it was actually the Imperial Diet that ruled the Empire.

  Now though, the winds have changed. Their corruption and dirty business have been aired to the people by the crown princess. Worst of all, many of them were dishonorable knaves that threw their own when they smelled the shifts in the nation.

  It was why both Philip and Wilhelm agreed that if the nation were to move forward, the rotten Imperial Diet had to go. But before that, they used them. Wilhelm bribed, intimidated, and forced the hand of hundreds of representatives first to let Philip in.

  Then, Philip, now the Grand Regent, forced the Imperial Diet into a perpetual session. Every bill passed gave him more and more power; he even secured bills that would fund the Imperium for the next two years.

  Each voting session increased the ayes. First, many resisted, with only two hundred and sixty voting in favor of Philip’s bills. Then it rose to two hundred and eighty. Then three hundred. Then four hundred.

  As a final encore, Philip made the boldest move in the name of the crown princess. He forced the vote for a bill that would dissolve the Imperial Diet’s current form and give the office of the Regency Council the power to issue decrees as they liked.

  “Now, all of them finally voted yes,” Philip laughed to himself before straightening himself. “Get the word out to Wilhelm. Let him know that our part is done.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The person behind Philip, a knight captain from the Royal Guard, nodded, jotting down notes on a paper in her hand. Meanwhile, Philip walked up the stage, eyeing the speaker of the Imperial Diet briefly.

  The man took a deep breath before vacating his seat. The old man practically grumbled while walking past Philip, his face screaming ‘shame on you,’ but there were no words exchanged, just the silent passing of power from the speaker to the new grand regent.

  Once Philip placed a thick book containing the outlines of their plans for the Holy Empire on the podium, the gathered representatives all stared at him with bated breaths. He calmly flipped through the pages before raising his chin.

  “Brothers, sisters! Today is a great day!” He opened up. “The goddess has blessed us with two heroines—Her Royal Highness, Alexa Theresa von Wolgast, and Her Holiness, Phoebe d’Lumiere, the crown princess and the saintess, respectively. In this time of darkness, they act, they fight, and they speak for all of us. And just like the good people of this nation, they demand one thing: the rejuvenation of Lotharingia.”

  Philip slammed his fist on the podium.

  “From now on, that will be the mandate of my government. I promise you all that we will not fail you. We ensure that each day, we will work hard to create a nation worthy to be handed to Her Highness. No matter how hard the traitors try to sabotage us, the glory and honor of Lotharingia will be restored, starting from today. I say again, our greatness will be restored. Long live the Empire!”

  The crowd remained silent. Philip waited, his eyes twitching, causing the soldiers surrounding the representatives to stiffen their poses. Then, he calmly laid his hands on the podium to press his last words.

  “Long live the Empire!”

  And the crowd replied, forced.

  “Long live the Empire!”

  From now until Alexa Theresa’s coronation, Philip’s—or more accurately, Wilhelm’s—junta would reign supreme.

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  +++

  Alexa was barely awake when their horses finally reached the camp of the Army of the Leine. It was lucky that they had absolutely no incident throughout their travel, as that meant that Alexa managed to sneak in a few naps while she was on Wilhelm’s horse.

  But now that they were in the camp, she finally was forced to dismount. She was a bit dizzy when her feet touched the cold ground, enough that she almost slipped.

  Until she felt two hands holding her shoulders.

  “Easy now,” Wilhelm said, a bit panicked. “You’re still not used to not sleeping enough at night, huh?”

  Alexa tried to snap herself back awake and straighten herself enough that Wilhelm could let her go, but she still had to stifle a small yawn from her lips while Wilhelm grabbed the reins of his horse.

  While they were walking straight into the camp, with soldiers arriving to help them out, Alexa fully opened her eyes. “Sorry, I’m fine now.”

  She tried to put on a brave face, especially when behind her, Phoebe caught up. The saintess was somewhat energetic, even after riding for hours, while Adele had eyebags on her face.

  “Alexa!” Phoebe stared at Alexa’s face. “Oh my, you and Adele really need sleep.”

  Alexa waved her off. “It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Adele! Can you please ask the folks around camp to prepare us breakfast?”

  “Sure,” Adele replied, trying to keep herself composed and straight.

  On the other hand, Alexa looked around as they reached the main camp. The tents set up by the soldiers last night were already being taken down, many of them preparing and cleaning their weapons as others cooked meals in their pots and saucepans.

  It was a chaotic place, with people moving everywhere, most of them barely regarding Alexa’s entourage as they moved through the camp. The only ones who went straight to them were officers, many only briefly saluting Wilhelm while others gave him reports and pieces of paper to read on the way.

  Alexa gravitated close to Wilhelm as he silently scanned a document in his hands, deeply curious as a small smile appeared on his face.

  “Wilhelm…” Alexa called out. “What is it?”

  “Nothing. Just a report from Philip, the new grand regent. Oh, have I told you about that?”

  Alexa shook her head. She did hear that Ludwig’s government collapsed earlier, but nothing more than that. She was too busy dealing with the mutineers from the Second Continental Army and trying her best to motivate the soldiers of the 2nd Group Army.

  So, Wilhelm slowed down his walking pace as he began explaining things to Alexa. It seemed that Ludwig had already been replaced by Wilhelm’s close ally, and now, they had full control over the government.

  But, as the details continued to flood her sleep-deprived mind, most of them were lost into a vague slurry, as she barely understood things. The only thing she fully understood was that Wilhelm was ‘cleaning up’ the government, so to speak.

  But then, his final words caught her attention, enough that she snapped awake again. “Wait, wait. What do you mean that you ordered your guy to dissolve the Imperial Diet?”

  “Oh? Yes. About that, they’ve got a lot of traitors inside, and besides, they’re just a roadblock to your rule,” Wilhelm chuckled. “Not to mention, they’re all appointed back in your father’s reign. So I removed them; it’s up to you to reinstate them later on. I think you deserve to have a clean slate when you’re crowned.”

  Alexa was growing horrified by his words. Did he just…establish a dictatorship on her back?! Well, now that she thought about it, that was exactly what happened in the Iron Saintess novel.

  But what Alexa didn’t expect was for him to talk about it so casually. It was as if he was just discussing another tactic to be deployed against an enemy army. It was ludicrous!

  “I-is there anything that’s not a red line for you?” Alexa asked, her eyes wide.

  Wilhelm, on the other hand, glanced at her with a stupid face. “Red line?”

  “You just…dissolved the people who vote for things and stuff!”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah?!”

  “Wait, am I not supposed to do that?” Wilhelm held his chin, frowning. “Your instruction said that all I have to avoid is killing people. I’ve so far followed it religiously. That’s the ‘red line,’ right?”

  “Wilhelm…” Alexa exhaled tiredly. “Are you saying that it’s fine to do everything else as long as it doesn’t kill people?”

  “...It’s the only thing you told me to avoid.”

  Alexa facepalmed.

  “Next time, please don’t make me look like I’m a tyrant. Maybe you are one, but I am absolutely not. Fix that problem once we’re done with Henry, okay?”

  “I will see to it, Lady Alexa,” Wilhelm replied, now sounding more deferential.

  “Good god, you’re difficult.”

  She rolled her eyes. Soon, they were near the tent where the command staff of the Army of the Leine was conducting a meeting. Alexa tried to fix her dress a bit by patting and straightening it to make herself presentable.

  On the sides, as Alexa’s entourage walked in two files, junior officers outside of the tent formed a small row, saluting Alexa and Wilhelm’s team stiffly. She wanted to wave them off so that they’d continue in their duties instead, but she decided to just go with the flow.

  Wilhelm stopped in front of the tent, looking back at everyone after grabbing and whispering at one of the junior officers on the side, who seemed a bit nervous as he looked at Alexa, Phoebe, and Adele.

  “If anyone needs to take a break,” Wilhelm patted the back of the young man, who wore circular glasses. “Lieutenant Siegfried right here can help you out. I only really need Alfred with me. Hey, get them food and stuff, you hear?”

  “Yes, sir!” The young man nodded profusely. “I know where the—”

  “Forget about it.” Alexa walked past Wilhelm and the junior officer. “I need to hear everything about your planned battle.”

  “Where Lady Alexa goes, I go,” Phoebe said, shaking her head at Wilhelm shyly.

  “Fine,” Adele eyed the junior officer. “Let’s go. Find me where the cooks are. My friends need to have a wonderful breakfast.”

  Wilhelm, on the other hand, sighed. He seemed like he truly wanted Alexa, Phoebe, and Adele to take a rest.

  Wilhelm resigned to just patting the young officer’s back again as he looked at Adele. “Don’t be too harsh on him. He seems new in the army.”

  “Tch. As long as he’s not a clueless peasant.”

  “Oh, come on. Not even Alexa uses that word anymore.”

  “Hmph. You dragged us here, so it’s your fault, Sir Wilhelm.”