CH 112

The Schemer is Flustered!

How did this happen!?

In the Kingdom of Remno, there was a man who was called Graham. And this man is at the height of his frustrations right now. He had been contacted by his associates working undercover in Tearmoon. He was informed that their efforts to sabotage the empire had failed, and so he was to proceed with the plans in Remno early.

Are they kidding me?!

Originally, the plan to bring down the Kingdom of Remno through chaos in revolution was supposed to be after the Tearmoon Empire had fallen. It was meant to be a slow and careful process that would take at least ten years. The plan was to slowly corrupt the government to the point that there will be political decay. Then they would water it with the blood of its people, only then will the seed of revolution start. Once this is accomplished, they would be able to harvest the fruits of their slow and bloody labor. Except that now, he has been to do it immediately.

But there is no choice but to do it. I have to make it work.

If he doesn’t move right away, their schemes would be at the risk of being crushed by the Wisdom of the Empire. It took them a long time to infiltrate the Remno government. They were going to be the seeds of ruin that will suck the kingdom dry. But now, they are looking at the blade who will uproot them in one go. That blade, of course, is the Princess of Tearmoon Empire.

And so, Graham was desperate and impatient. But what could drive him to this extent?

It all started at the start of summer vacation… yes, it was the “pen pal letters” between Mia and Abel. Graham and his companions had embedded themselves deep into the kingdom’s government. There were limits to their access. Official missives from the king were out of their reach, but it is easy for them to get their hands and to check the contents of the private letters of the prince and the princess.

After confirming the contents of the letters, they were baffled. What was written there was a love letter that was cheesy. Yes, really cheesy love letters. It was filled with the awkward sentimentality of young youthful lovers who seems to be full of inexperience.

Reading such letters, they let out a sigh of this budding love expressed in immature words. And they never give the letters another thought.

Or not!

Ignoring those letters were something that they definitely did not do! In fact, they were even more suspicious because of it. They read and reread the letters and became thoroughly confused at how innocent they seem to be.

“Will Princess Mia, the Wisdom of the Empire, really send such a cheesy love letter?”

It wasn’t only a single letter as well. She kept on writing to Abel very frequently. It was at an abnormal pace. And so, they did not believe that these are just ordinary love letters. Because of this, they redouble their efforts to decode the messages that were surely hidden within what seems to be innocent wordings. But to their endless dismay, they could not find anything – no patterns, no ciphers, no secret code words…

No matter how much they analyze them, they seem to be just love-letters. They even considered the possibility of an invisible ink that can be revealed by applying heat. But they decided to go against testing them. If someone receives a browned or burnt letter, then it would be obvious that someone has been snooping at their correspondence. All their efforts will go to waste if their cover was blown.

This is why Graham and his conspirators are totally frustrated.

In addition, the gifts sent by Prince Abel just added more to their confusion. Who in their right mind would give a horse shampoo to a teenage girl? It totally does not make sense. Was that supposed to be a coded message to send cavalry? Or to start amassing warhorses? One of them even suggested to pour the shampoo to the letter in case a secret message might appear. Luckily, this person was stopped before it was too late.

If only their collaborators at St. Noel had told them that these two were in the equestrian club and were always flirting. It would have given their minds a break. But even spies had communication difficulties. At the end, they were not able to glean anything from the correspondence between Mia and Abel.

“No, we know one thing for sure. That a highly confidential information is being exchanged between the two. After all this is Princess Mia who dismantled with masterful precision our meticulous and long running plan to topple the Tearmoon Empire.”

“We have to do this now, before it is too late. Before the Wisdom of the Empire arrives and ruins everything.”

In their desperation, they accelerated their plans far earlier than they originally intended.

—

The first step in the plan was to abduct or assassinate a well-known figure who is known to carry the voice of the people. In the Tearmoon Empire, that was supposed to be Outcount Rudolvon. Here in Remno Kingdom, it is the Chancellor Count Dasayev Donovan, who has a reputation for being upright and sensible. This veteran politician, who turned sixty this year, was known as a conscientious man and was opposed to the recent military build-up announced by the King. He was also against the current tax hike. Then they circulate rumors that the king had Donovan abducted and imprisoned for speaking against him.

Next step is to approach the people who have been holding grudges against the current Remno government. Stir up their anger and push them to revolt.  They would not be demanding something outrageous like the overthrowing the government. Their demand would be something simple: “We are fighting to get our beloved lord back. We demand the safe return of the man who was the voice of the people.”

Having a moral cause, the rioters would feel that their cations are justified and would greatly enhance the movement’s persuasive potential. Once they had built up momentum, these angry activists would occupy a town within Count Donovan’s territory. Naturally, the Kingdom of Remno will send troops to supress the rebellion.

It’s a win-win situation from there. If the revolutionaries win the ensuing battle, the rest would be easy. They would loudly announce their victory to the rest of the kingdom and appeal to the masses to join their cause. On the other hand, if the army successfully crushes the rebellion, they could simply denounce the government for tis cruel act of suppression. Once the news spread, it would feed into the anger harbored by the people that will light the fires of revolution throughout the whole kingdom.

At the moment, the first and second part of the plan – that is the kidnapping and occupation of a town – has went really well.

“…No, did it really work as we want it to? It went too smoothly.”

Graham felt a slight sense of discomfort when he saw the reports from his colleagues.

“Peaceful surrender of government facilities… disarming of the garrison without fighting… the results are definitely ideal, but…”

Something is… something is wrong… He couldn’t shake the feeling that they are all dancing in the palm of someone’s hand.

TN: Wow! The author seems to have really researched this. Let me just copy this down on how to start a revolution 101.