“...Is there any chance to reverse any of this?”

  “None at the moment, Your Majesty. We may have to deploy the army soon and disperse any potential rebel groups.”

  “I do not wish for that scenario to happen.”

  “No one does. But, at this rate…”

  Max Clausewitz looked down solemnly after delivering his report. Alexa impatiently tapped her pen on her table, a frown on her face. Wilhelm, who was sitting on the desk in front of her, placed a hand on his chin before speaking his mind. As Alexa imagined, he had already prepared certain options for her to take.

  “...We either meet their demands, or we’ll have to crush them by force,” Wilhelm said. “I can deploy the Royal Guard to suppress the further spread of dangerous narratives in our peripheries and, of course, contain the spread of revolutionary fervor in our vassals.”

  “Wilhelm, you know me well. I cannot stomach such a thing.”

  “Maybe you can this time. These people, they aren’t Lotharingians. The empress of Lotharingia only has a direct responsibility to her people, the Lotharingian people. The demi-humans, the elves, the tribal people, and the conquered kingdoms all serve us. If we meet their demands instead of crushing them, then there’s very little reason for us to keep them in our border.”

  Alexa sighed. “Wilhelm, why do you have to be so extreme to give me that binary narrative? You need to use your imagination a little better. Why not treat them as normal citizens too?”

  “They aren’t though. You and I know this. They’re not a part of the imperial core for a reason.”

  Alexa frowned. The demands of the bubbling rebel and opposition groups in the empire’s peripheries were quite simple. Many of them wanted independence, a nation of their own. Others demanded expanded autonomy and citizen rights. All of them wanted to pay no tax to the central government, and many also wished to be exempted from forced service to the imperial military if they had no representation in the Imperial Diet.

  Suffice it to say, not even most radicals seemed interested in meeting this idea. The idea of Lotharingia loosening its reins on the defeated people and kingdoms who feed and give power to its core was outrageous to many. Even Alexa understood how extremely useful these people were. Many of the lands held by these nations had a massive tax base; others had extremely strategic resources needed by the hungry and growing industries in the empire’s heartland.

  Even if I command the affection of my people, I do not command the same reputation outside. In fact, even to this day, even after what Alexa did two years ago to help the elves, their eternal insurgency continued. The Imperial Army, to this day, was still under a protracted military campaign in the lands of the former Letian kingdom. And it was going to get worse.

  Their vassal kingdoms, so numerous in the south, including the largest ones, Galen and Castilla, were also besieged by the same revolutionaries inspired by Henry. Alexa knew this would happen eventually anyway. While she escaped the worst of the revolution in the original Iron Saintess novel, it still didn’t change the fact that this world was at a crossroads.

  The genie was out of the bottle. The idea of popular sovereignty, the idea of nations, of liberty, of the rights of man, and the opposition to the idea that the clergy and nobility should have a tight grip over society were now spread far and wide. When she visited Henry last time, before she left, she actually had a conversation with him about this subject.

  Unlike Alexa, in her past life, who was someone too spoiled to learn of history and politics, Henry understood intimately what was happening and why a revolution cut off Alexa Theresa’s head in the novel. He explained to her that this world before his revolution was one stuck in the old, where the noble houses, royalty, and their stranglehold over wealth, magic, and high levels meant that their rule was seen as natural and just by the masses.

  They had the mandate of the divine, of the sun dragon, the one who was known to be the sole true messenger of the goddess.

  But the sun dragon had not awoken for nearly a decade now and hadn’t granted anyone the holy mandate. Alexa actually thought once that she should perhaps try going to the Alpa Mountain, where every emperor and empress of Lotharingia climbed to confirm its approval and blessings. Henry warned her not to do that, because apparently, Alexa’s house already lost its mandate ages ago, and it was only Phoebe who could reclaim that—the one woman that the goddess would recognize as holy and pure—and she, a member of a house that dragged Lotharingia down into depravity and corruption, would just get struck down once she was rejected.

  “That’s why you only have the ‘Civila Mandato.’ Your mandate isn’t to rule the Holy Empire, but to prepare and stabilize it for the one who is worthy of the Holy Mandate.”

  Henry stressed that ‘Civila Mandato’ and ‘Sankta Mandato,’ the actual name of the Holy Mandate in the [System], were written by the Iron Saintess novel’s author as a brainwashing power because at its core, the author wanted Phoebe to become extremely powerful in the end. Henry, therefore, told Alexa that she should avoid using it, because it would do nothing but drag the world back to the past. He told her too that, in fact, it was why he originally wanted to oppose and kill Phoebe.

  Should she win in the end and restore the Holy Mandate, the revolution described in the novel would die. In the end, the people would just kill an empress to install a new empress.

  There’s no reason for me to listen to Henry’s words, though. I haven’t finished the full novels, so maybe this is all just speculation on his part.

  If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  But…

  Alexa bit her lip. Even if I’m holding onto power right now, I don’t want to drag this world to the past again. No, I should leave a better legacy than that.

  “Wilhelm, Sir Max,” Alexa spoke up, a bit embarrassed. “Tell me, can…can our ‘Holy Empire’ stop being an empire? Not in the sense of naming, or about me being an empress, but, you know, not be that kind of ‘empire.’”

  Max smiled a bit. “Your Majesty, we’re not sure what you’re getting into here.”

  Alexa fidgeted with her fingers. “I want…I don’t like the idea of the ‘imperial core’ existing. I don’t like that only our fellow countrymen benefit from being inside my realm.”

  “...What are you even proposing?” Wilhelm asked.

  “Give them all representation,” Alexa grinned. “And end all laws that are unfair to them. In fact, I think I have a good plan here. Since, well, our Holy Empire is more like a bunch of nations under Lotharingia, what if all these nations have equal representation in a body similar to the Imperial Diet?”

  “...There’s certainly been limited talk about that, actually." Max placed a hand on his chin. “I have read certain publications in Perlenstadt about academics and theorists giving proposals about what to do with the peoples of the continent?”

  “And what is that?”

  “Well, they propose a ‘federation’ of sorts. A continental federation, Your Majesty, of different semi-independent states, all united under one empress. Like an alliance of nations, but deeper than that. Maybe we’ll even let our vassal kingdoms join in if they want to. It will be a united ‘Ourian Federation’ of the Ourian continent.”

  “Ourian Federation, hmm…” Alexa mulled that name, looking down on her desk.

  “Don’t tell me you're considering this,” Wilhelm said, laughing at Max. “And you, you read too much nonsense.”

  “I simply expand the reach of my meager mind, Sir Wilhelm. As you well know, I’m a commoner, so reading the mad writings of our intellectuals is an exercise to better myself.”

  “Heh, well, I was born a noble. I absolutely have no intention of learning about their crazy theories and ideas.”

  “I think it’s a good idea,” Alexa said. “Who would even be against such a thing? With this, I can even expand my empire’s borders by inviting our vassals to join in!”

  “Lady Alexa…” Wilhelm’s face darkened. “...Can we just crush the rebels and be done with it? That’ll be really, really simple, please?”

  Alexa’s smile widened as she pointed at him.

  “Wilhelm, I think you’ll have a lot of work ahead of you.”

  “I love work, but I think this is a bit…”

  “I want you to make my wildest dreams possible. Make me a federation where all nations feel equal in it, Wilhelm, and I want to be its empress. Yes, I want this to be my legacy!”

  Max seemed like he regretted telling Alexa all this, while Wilhelm simply gulped.

  +++

  The crown prince of Galen…

  Was currently prostrating himself in Alexa’s presence. The throne hall of the Monile Palace was silent. It was still early morning, so the light filtering through the massive glass panes was nearly golden and radiant, illuminating Alexa’s graceful figure as she sat on her throne. She was currently looking down at the crown prince, Jean Pierre de Galen, one of the original romance targets of the Iron Saintess novel.

  With his blue hair, blue eyes, and generally handsome looks, he was extremely popular with the ladies of the Grand Academy back then. Originally a bit of a womanizer, in the story, Jean eventually became Phoebe’s most ardent follower, his noble grit and determination shining through in the story as Phoebe took the fight against the original evil version of Alexa Theresa.

  He was also the man that Alexa Theresa was supposed to chase back then, because he was quite handsome, and he was going to be the king of Galen, their largest vassal kingdom. Only a future king, after all, was fit to be wed with Alexa Theresa, and, in the original story, Alexa Theresa chased it so hard because she wanted to fully absorb Galen into the Imperium proper.

  Such a truth was not the case anymore. The story had shifted its path so far. Alexa Theresa wasn’t an evil tyrant who wanted to have her man and his land by force anymore; in fact, she wasn’t even interested in him. Second, the Jean in front of her was a man who never became friends with Phoebe, and thus, he was never ‘fixed’ by her.

  Here, the crown prince of Galen was just a pathetic young man, kneeling and groveling to a foreign empress.

  “Your Imperial Majesty,” Jean spoke up again, his voice trembling in fear. “I did not mean to offend you. I merely—”

  “The idea that I’ll deploy the Imperial Army of my nation to put down the citizens of Galen in a bloody suppression offends me. Whether that is your intention or not.”

  Alexa’s tone, with the regal bearing of a lioness angered by its unruly cubs, forced Jean to plant his head harder on the floor. She impatiently continued tapping her fingers on the armrest of her throne, her face resting on her other hand as she sighed.

  “Good sir, you need to stand up,” Alexa ordered. “Your people will not want their ‘sovereign’ to grovel to a foreign monarch. Have respect for yourself.”

  Immediately, Jean stood up, trying his best to remain straight as his face darkened. His visit had been an utter disaster. Threatened by a potential revolution in his homeland, he had travelled here, personally, arriving at the Monile Palace to make a seemingly normal request from his liege, considering Galen was Lotharingia’s vassal.

  He wanted Lotharingia to put down the unrest and rebellion in his lands. Such a request, with any type of vassal-to-master arrangement, wouldn’t be met usually with an immediate affirmation from the master. After all, no master would want to have their vassal lose its lands and power.

  But Alexa was different. She was not a monarch of the old times; no, she was someone who followed the march of time.

  “I will not put down your people,” Alexa declared. Immediately, despair overtook Jean’s face.

  “But Your Majesty—”

  “So I have two propositions for you." Alexa stood up, planting her scepter on the ground. “You will either capitulate to your people, accept their demands, and abdicate the throne, or…the Kingdom of Galen will be the first nation to sign a treaty with Lotharingia to create a new united Ouria.”

  She smiled.

  “Choose well, but do not be afraid. Both options mean a new dawn for millions of souls yearning for a better world.”