Sovereign

"Give me ten million men, and we shall take Gaul in a month."

- Empress Katerina Ilyenov, one week after diplomatic relations broke down between the Ivory Alliance and the Order Pact.

---

"So that's how it is? No coalition yet?" Amelie followed Walter quickly as he walked through the hallways away from the room. Behind her, Jacqueline quickly caught up.

Once they were a fair distance away from other people, Walter turned around.

"Yep, they still need more meetings, and we are going to be asking for more concessions."

Amelie frowned, while Jacqueline behind her seemed unsurprised. She sighed exasperatedly.

"That's just how they were for months already. It is what it is."

"Alright, what do you want? What does the ORP want?" Amelie asked. This was indeed getting irritating for her.

"We request more positions."

"What positions?"

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Department of Labor."

Both Jacqueline and Amelie raised an eyebrow. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA)? That was quite a tall order. The MoFA was heavily involved in Orlish foreign policy, trade, and diplomatic relations.

Due to the fact that Orland was a matriarchy, naturally most diplomats and the MoFA itself were staffed and headed by women, especially aristocrats.

"I should say, isn't that asking for too much?" Amelie questioned, already skeptical of such an idea. Mainly because the amount of concessions she and the UOP were giving was getting out of hand.

"A lot of my peers in the ORP are military men, who literally had to fight through the Great War because of a diplomatic failure they had no control in."

Well, he had a point, Amelie mused. Still…

"So now, they want to be in control to prevent that?"

Walter thought about it, while he nodded his head a bit.

"That's the idea at least."

Both Jacqueline and Amelie had reservations about the idea. Men… were not exactly good at diplomacy. Diplomats who were men were rare, almost no one in them was trained for it, as Orland's system always relied on women to communicate diplomatically with their fellow matriarchies. The closest male diplomats that existed were businessmen. Even male politicians wouldn't make good diplomats either, as most of them quite literally used violence or the threat of it as a means to enact change.

As shown by the NRF, and to a limited extent, the ORP.

It wasn't fully their fault. Jacqueline knew that men had only ever seen violence and threats as the only way in life. It was beneficial for women - as they had natural cannon fodder for wars. The downside…was this.

"I think we could only agree with that if the Ministry would still be staffed by experienced women," Jacqueline warned, as she was worried that the UOP would reject it outright.

But, Walter shrugged.

"Well, it's a possible compromise. My peers weren't simply proposing it to take control of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I have a strong suspicion that they're just requesting it to show our male voters that we're winning something."

He gave Jacqueline a piece of paper, which she accepted.

"You know, just because most moderate men are turned away by the NRF, does not mean we trust you. The ORP needs to keep its legitimacy as the defender of men's interests, and we can show that best to our voters if we get these Ministries in a coalition."

Jacqueline read its contents, it was a simple message with ball-point ink used, possibly passed to Walter by his peers during the meeting. All it said was, "We can't accept it yet."

Amelie finally understood. So that was it? A propaganda stunt? She supposed it made sense that if the ORP would be in a coalition, they must show their voters that the coalition they entered would be meaningful.

"So more negotiations it is?" Amelie asked as she frowned a bit.

The reply came quickly from Walter while Jacqueline sighed as she crumpled the piece of paper.

"Yep."

What a downer.

…

"Order! Order!" The speaker of the Parliament shouted in vain as Jacqueline and Duchess Flandere argued. All around them, MPs either bickered or cheered for their supported side as arguments and counter-arguments were exchanged.

The Parliament's chamber was spacious, as it housed 180 seats in a semicircle arrangement. In the middle of the semicircle was a table, with two sides that had microphones and a seat. This was where two opposing politicians, usually the leader of certain factions, would argue or deliver their speeches.

In front of the seats and the central table, was the podium where the speaker resided.

She was an old lady, who was known to be a veteran of Orlish politics. She served back when Queen Alorie, the monarch before Queen Areya, ruled Orland.

She was Speaker Elizabeth Luft.

And her words commanded great respect in the chamber. At least, until now.

"Lady Weiss, I'm afraid you will have to retract that insult you gave Lady Flandere. This chamber demands above all, civility."

But Jacqueline wasn't one to back down. She spoke gracefully in response as she faced the speaker.

"Mrs. Speaker, I am afraid that I cannot, in good conscience, retract my statement that referred to her as a 'bitter hag' when she would speak such hateful terms to our fellow human beings."

Now, Duchess Flandere, was, contrary to Jacqueline's childish insult, not a hag. She was still in her late twenties, but regardless, noblewomen were not known for their patience at being insulted.

As such, Flandere's eyes twitched. And she immediately retaliated to attack Jacqueline's honor too.

"Now, now, let me fix your error, you whore." Small gasps came from the seats, mainly from the liberals, while conservative MPs snickered and even sneered at Jacqueline. "Mrs. Speaker, I would caution any of us fine women to refer to men as 'human'. If they are, it would be more accurate to refer to them as sub-human."

Liberal MPs jeered at her in disapproval, but Flandere turned back to Jacquelin and scowled at her.

"Perhaps that's why you are a whore, you love them too much? You love them so much that you would propose to split the budget for saving millions of women, for these bunch of good-for-nothings?"

While Jacqueline's smile faltered a bit from the insults, she regained her composure and snapped back.

"You're one to talk. You refer to yourself as superior because you hold a wand, yet you do not display basic empathy for millions of Orlish citizens. Are you even civilized?" She looked away from Flandere and turned to Speaker Luft. "Mrs. Speaker, should we really follow this bitter hag? Who would treat our sons, brothers, fathers, and husbands like mere toys?"

The arguments and shouts grew in the chamber. The entire Parliament was entirely made up of women, with 159 seats held by the UOP, the rest filled by various independents.

In just seconds, both the liberals and conservatives were already at each other's throats. The liberals argued that the conservatives were evil, greedy, and disgusting. The conservatives would bite back and call the liberals soft, weak, and a disgrace to the goddess.

It went on and on, as the speaker shouted at her microphone to regain a sense of order in the chamber, her voice cracking a bit. "Order! Order! You are all acting without decorum in the chamber. Order!"

"Look at this, this is a disgrace!" Flandere cursed, and Jacqueline turned to her with an annoyed look. "We are noblewomen here, yet look at us! Don't you see, we are being manipulated by those men. They are dividing us and sowing chaos! And now, we can't even keep to basic etiquette!"

"Respect? Etiquette? You're asking for that when Orland burns? How can we respect you when you act this way?"

"Order! Lady Heiss, you need to calm down, you too Lady Flandere. We can put our points down with grace."

The jeers and sneers slowly stopped, while Jacqueline shook her head.

"Mrs. Speaker, I'd like to ask her. What exactly is her gripe against men that she would actively reject this bill?" Flandere immediately grabbed her microphone to respond.

"The reasoning is clear as day fellow ladies. Men have demonstrated themselves to be violent and barbaric on the streets. Because of their General Strike, our economy is in tatters. Traitors do not deserve aid."

The conservatives once again applauded, while the liberals heckled and jeered. Jacqueline still stuck to her plan to appeal for empathy as she pressed on.

"Mrs. Speaker, such notions are clearly incorrect. The General Strike began after the bill that 'stabbed them in the back' was passed. If this was done to us women, we'd react the same way."

"Objection! Objection! Mrs. Speaker, her words are mere lies." Flandere turned to the MPs and now, she spoke softly. "Ladies, unlike men, we are graceful, civilized, and less violent. We all know that if this situation were reversed, we would never be burning down our great nation."

There was a bit of silence from the MPs. For some reason, even the liberals agreed with her point, so they found themselves in an awkward position.

But then a boo came from the seats.

"Bullshit! If I was starving to death on the streets, I'd be rioting too!"

"Hear hear!" Shouted the liberals, as they immediately turned to support their more extreme member, even if they didn't fully agree with her. The conservatives gave them looks of disapproval, as they once again jeered back to call them 'improper women.'

The speaker had enough.

"Order! Order! This ends here, it is clear that division still exists. We shall vot- Order! Order!" The two sides continued heckling each other, even when the speaker called for them to stop. Still, eventually, although slowly, the less active ones stopped which lessened the chaos.

But there were still the outliers.

"Order! Lady Russein, no need to stand and shout." The conservative noblewoman frowned as she sat back down after being called out. "You too Lady Prot, you are way too energetic with the shouting, perhaps you should cut down on your sugar intake young lady."

"But she was spouting nonsense!" The liberal MP, Lady Prot retorted as she pointed at a conservative MP before she sat down as the chamber finally turned silent.

"No need for aggression in the chamber, young lady. That's good. Sit there and calm down."

Jacqueline subtly wiped some sweat on her forehead with her handkerchief as the speaker continued.

This is tiring.

"Now that all of you are done being a bunch of schoolgirls, we shall hold the vote for the Revised Economic Bill to settle this deadlock. Clear the lobbies! You all have 10 minutes!"

The MPs stood up in unison, as they began to leave the chamber to cast their vote. Jacqueline passed Flandere as she walked to the left, where the lobby to vote for 'yes' was located.

Flandere gave her a sideways glance as the two passed each other.

"Jacqueline, you will regret this."

Jacqueline didn't bother to look back, but she stopped.

"You're splitting, aren't you?"

"It's you and your faction's fault." She heard her footsteps as Flandere continued walking forward, and so did Jacqueline, who followed the trail of liberal MPs leaving the chamber to vote yes.

Then I have no regrets.

…

Two women who held the vote count stepped forward toward the speaker's podium. The silence in the Parliament was deafening, and Jacqueline instinctively held her breath as the speaker calmly took the two pieces of paper.

What would happen now would be the culmination of her and Walter's hard work for the last few days. Would the bill be passed? Or not? Would men be saved from their economic woes? Or not?

Would Orland devolve into a worse situation? Or not.

A million thoughts plagued her mind, as she felt dozens of eyes glare at her from behind, and from her side too.

Flandere.

The leader of the conservatives glanced at her ever so slightly, and she noticed it. The anger from her that seared. She was angry at her. At them.

Stay mad, bitter hag.

Speaker Luft looked at everyone, and calmly, she announced the results.

"The results of the vote…" She paused, and every woman held their breath. "123 ayes to 57 nays. The bill passes."

Cheers erupted from the liberals, as many of them embraced each other at their landslide victory. Even Jacqueline could not help it, as a tiny smile of triumph graced her face.

She looked at Flandere, who seemed to have closed her eyes as she looked down.

"Alright." She clenched her fists. "I see how it is, so you all think that you won?"

She slowly looked at Jacqueline, as a cruel smile grew on her face.

"No, you did not."

Immediately, conservative MPs stood up and picked up their briefcases, belongings, and documents, all of them. In seconds, the 57 MPs angrily walked to vacate the chamber, passing through the wide-eyed liberals.

It was clear as day.

The UOP had split in half.

But Jacqueline had one response to Flandere as she turned to leave.

"We did."