Queen by accident

Fifth part: distaste

  The first light of day wakes up our princess at around six o'clock. She turns towards the other wall, trying to get back to sleep, however she finds this simple thing to be too difficult. She finally decides to get dressed after half an hour. While her servants are dressing her, one of the guards outside the apartment informs those inside:

  -Minister Mavrenkov is here and demands an audience!

  -Let the minister in and tell him to wait for me in the salon.

  -Yes, princess.

  Wearing a light-blue dress, Princess Wilhelmina goes into the salon to finally meet Minister Mavrenkov. Many things have been said about the man who takes everything far too serios and seriously too far: Count Vasyli Alexandrovici Mavrenkov. The corpulent man waiting for her is in his early fifties with his gentle eyes being his most prominent trait. He greets her with a reverence:

  -Good morning, Your Majesty! Apologies for disturbing you so early!

  -There is no problem, minister. Would you mind accompanying me during my breakfast?

  -Not at all... I always enjoy discussing important matters during a meal!

  It should be noted that if there is something in the Know World that Minister Mavrenkov loves more than his family or country, then that is food. The difference between the two eating styles could not be more different: while the princess already knows what she'll pick and chooses only a handful of dishes, the count has to constantly force himself not to choose anything else because he has already finished eating what a normal person would consider a breakfast.

  -I can tell you are still hungry, minister.

  -Oh! Well... Both diplomatic and aristocratic etiquettes dictate that I should consider what I have already eaten to be enough... I have to think about my dear Carole... She has been trying to help me lose some weight for over six months now...

  -Are you actually trying to lose wight? The princess asks while giving her best not to laugh.

  -I did lose eight kilos in the last two months alone, so one could say I'm making progress. We have chosen to change what we normally eat gradually and it has been working so far. Restarting my passion for tennis and taking a few walks now and then certainly helped, but I am certain we have better things to discuss...

  -Of course... Apologize...

  -There is nothing to apologize about... Now, I have putted together a list with all the important people who would be present at your father's funerals... The king of Povern will send his youngest son, Prince Maximilian to represent his kingdom, the douches of Spen will be present in person, the Fonarian Empire will be represented by its ambassador – you'll meet him today – and there is what we, at the ministry, call an "unexpected surprise" Empress Fereena Alexia Sevreria of Bulder-Gator was visiting a friend and will also be present at the funerals...

  -Tell me more about the empress.

  -It is wildly known she's quite kind, although her kindness has limits and no one who ever dared defying her lived for long. I had the honour to be invited at one of the famous imperial receptions in her summer palace juts outside the Gnorian capital. It is rumoured she's over one thousand years old and that she is cursed to be forever young. I don't know what kind of curse that is to be honest! I think you'll get along quite well, if the empress wishes to acknowledge your existence. Like any woman, she's like the weather. You can never know when everything is about to go South. But I am getting ahead of myself... It would be better to talk about the people you are going to meet today. The first one scheduled is, of course, Consul Benedict. His main concerns will be our current trading agreement. I suggest keeping the current terms. If new proposals are brought up, I recommend consulting with Minster Abareto from the Ministry of Trade. I would like to take part in your second meeting, the one with Ambassador Nepodoplus. I am certain he'll try bullying us into renegotiating our treaties with the Fonarian Empire. The third meeting is the one I find it to be the most unusual... We are one of the few kingdoms which decided to have diplomatic relations with the orcish kingdom just North of our borders. They are savages, yet your father's good will towards them made what we could consider just animals to try having manners when visiting us... For start, when they first send us a delegation, the orcs agreed to bath before appearing before the king, an extremely rare case of orcish compliance with a foreign demand. Nevertheless, they are a fiercely loyal and reliable ally.

  -I had little idea about my father having any allies...

  -They are our only ally at the moment. Now that the Principality of Nehdor has been temporary annexed...

  -Excuse me, count... Did you just say "temporary"?

  -Well, the king planned to pass the throne there to the rightful heir, Prince Alexei Buznetzov. He's only 2, so we have to wait two more years before handing over the land, still we are already working close with the Buznetzov family to assure a smooth transition...

  -I don't want any "transition" to happen, minister. We have already taken the land on the battlefield. What could stop us from keeping it by the force of arms?

  -Although it is not within my responsibilities to inform Your Majesty about such things – because you do have access to the my ministry's library, hence you can see for yourself any treaty you want – I find the need to explain why we invaded in the first place. Prince Vasyli Buznetzov was murdered by socialist revolutionaries in his own capital. The assassins formed a new government and called it the "Committee for National Salvation". This "committee" tried and failed to put its hands on the rest of the ruling family. Unfortunately for those socialists, our military attaché in Werdorf urged the Buznetzovs to take refuge into our kingdom and even provided them his own carriage so that no one would dare stopping their escape. They managed to pass the border and alerted us about what was happening, so we invaded not to annex or occupy an independent state, but to bring back the old order in what was looking like a tinderbox right at our doorstep. The most important detail - one about you will never hear in any similar situation provided you'll choose to isolate yourself at your chateau – is our commitment to restore the Buznetzov rule. This is what gave us legitimacy to send an intervention force and put an end to that monstrous affair. This and the committee's choice to behead our military attaché once it was discovered he orchestrated the ruling family's escape. Poor Colonel Nouchy...

  -And I am supposed to simply comply?!

  -The Principality of Nehdor has been our ally for more than a century and it will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. I know I may defy aristocratic etiquette, still I have to ask you to leave the things as they are. You are young, inexperienced and ... missing critical information about most of our foreign affairs.

  -From what can I see, count, you are used to defying aristocratic etiquette. All I'm asking you for know is to at least address me with the proper title.

  -Apologize, princess!

  - "Your Majesty" would sound perfect.

  -It will, after the coronation.

  -In this case, I have to ask the Ministry for Foreign Affairs to take care of our diplomatic stuff until the coronation because I am not this country's ruler, apparently.

  Minister Mavrenkov's confidence flew out the window in mere seconds:

  -I am afraid I don't understand...

  -The people I have to meet today, they are here to meet the person in charge of our foreign affairs and that, Minister Vasyli Mavrenkov, is you.

  -They... They are here to meet the monarch...

  -My father is dead and I am not crowned yet, so make do with what you have and inform Chancellor Bruchnof about my wish of not meeting him again until the funerals. You may go now. Good day!

  -Very... I mean... The ambassador... Nevermind... Good day, princess!

  If there is something our Minister Mavrenkovis leaving out of his equations – equations that are otherwise quite balancedpolitically – then that is not Princess Wilhelmina's youth or inexperience,rather her distaste for people who try to undermine her. It is this distaste that drove her away from the king's court in the first place.