The Princess and The Tailor |Park Jeongseong|

28

A meeting ensued as the queen sat next to her father and Wilson.

Wilson stared at the queen as she calmly went through the papers that were set in front of her.

"Your highness, the war is looking good on our side now." The colonel informed as he took off his hat. "Two of the Maignes troops on the west side have retreated."

"That is amazing news." The former king spoke as he smiled softly.

"I believe the effort of the men being sent played a huge part in defending our country, and all the lives lost will surely be for a good cost."

Hazel looked up at the mention of lost lives in plural.

"How many men have died exactly?" She asked softly, watching as the colonel looked down to the table.

"About 1,000, your majesty." He said sadly as he looked up at the princess.

"At least they died to protect our country. There is no greater honor than that. I'm sure some of these men had nothing going for them either way." Wilson stated as he raised his eyebrows without any empathy.

The princess glared over at him.

"I believe these men had families. And if they didn't have families, they had jobs. Lives to live."

"Their families can live without them-"

"May I remind you that we live in a society where men are considered the sole providers for their families, and women are demeaned for having hard labor jobs?" The princess exclaimed as she almost turned her whole body to face the prince.

Wilson stayed quiet as he glared back at the princess.

"I'm sure you don't understand as your brain might be the size of a pea. But these families have no financial support if these men are in graves." Hazel continued as she turned to sit straight again.

Everyone went quiet as they were in shock at the way the princess addressed the prince.

Hazel looked at all of them and let out a sigh.

"What do you suggest we do about the families, your majesty?" Someone from the table asked the queen.

She was caught off guard, as this was the first time during the entire meeting that she was addressed for her opinion on an issue.

"First of all, you should inform the families. Second of all, we should start hiring more women in other grounds besides housekeeping. There should be an equal pay law set, which will take a while, but it is very much needed-"

"Women don't belong in the working fields."

The queen turned her gaze to the end of the table, to the old man with a general uniform on.

"Your mindset seems to be either outdated or just very dense; I'm starting to consider that it is not a very good idea to have you sitting at this table." Hazel said sternly.

The man bowed his head at the princess as she turned back to look at the center.

"Women can work just as well as these men. As I was saying, there are many women who are willing and able to work in other fields, but men don't give them the opportunity to. I believe there should be an equal pay law set for these women to be able to support their families."

The table was quiet again as the princess waited for a response.

She contained the urge to roll her eyes as she realized that for these misogynistic pigs to understand, she needs to speak it in their one-sided language.