Sovereign

"The Hebei Civil War intensifies! All eyes are now on the burning city of Ginzhu, as the Junta and Empress Li's loyalists fight for Hebei's Financial Capital. Scenes of modern magical weaponry and wands facing tanks and machine guns dominated the bullet-ridden skyscrapers and once-busy streets and highways of the city. Civilians, trapped and unable to evacuate, cowered in the rubble as artillery and gunfire rained on the city they once called home. The MN has already declared Ginzhu as a humanitarian crisis, and urged both sides to establish an evacuation corridor for its millions of trapped inhabitants, which the Junta rejected this morning."

- Geopol Press

"'There must be zero tolerance against aggression', Minister of Defense Geoffrey Heindhöff declared this morning in response to the deal brokered by the Queen with Empress Katerina to cease the Orlish-led Oil Embargo against the Order Pact. In exchange, a ceasefire had been declared between the Kingdom of Gaul and the Principality of Poznek, which could possibly end the Gaul-Poznek DMZ conflict. The OHC (Orlish High Command) appeared to be divided on this issue, with the Chiefs of the Airforce and Navy declaring support to Her Majesty's decision."

- ROCN News

---

Amelie was gone, the young girl thought sadly as she lay down on her bed. So too was Albert, she sulked. In the Palace today, she was alone. And it was Saturday too, which meant there was no school.

Hmm…they're both so mean to me. She said to herself, as she hugged her bunny plushie tightly. Old brother Albert gave it to her before he went to the mean war thing. She named him Luffy, and she loved to hug Luffy because he reminded her of Albert.

Someone knocked on her door.

"Your Highness! Breakfast is ready!" A high-pitched feminine voice declared cheerfully.

"Wait, Marta." She replied loudly as she sat up from her bed. "Can I have five more minutes?"

"Five more minutes?"

"Yes…I'm still not ready for the day. I desire to lie down here. Actually, 30 more minutes please!" And to accentuate her point, she lazily flopped back down on her bed.

"Your Highness, breakfast would be cold by then."

"Then just make me a new one." She haughtily replied back. She was royalty, and when she wanted something, she would get it.

"But there's strawberry cake, Your Highness." She suddenly sat up, a bit of saliva appearing on the side of her mouth. "You might miss it."

"Absolutely not! I'm coming!"

With a rush of delighted vigor and an unbridled hunger for baked strawberries, she rushed out of the door to meet her smiling maid-in-waiting. Marta was a part of the lower nobility, which was generally known as the women's version of the commoner class.

All women held nobility, but not all held an administrative estate. Thus, while they had magic and were thus nobility, in practice, they were not.

Still, Marta, like most women, was loyal to the crown and the nobility they were part of. The many privileges they enjoyed were still above the masses of commoner men after all.

"I knew you would have no choice."

"Cake, there's cake!" She followed the maid energetically. "There's no way I can let that pass. Cake is cake!"

The maid giggled in delight as the two walked through the hallways.

In no time, Alice was sitting on a fine dining table, as she took slice after slice of the cake, utterly ignoring the other food on the table.

"Your Highness, I would advise you to please eat that stew too. It is for your health, after all."

"After the cake."

"Cake is supposed to be after the main course, Your Highness."

She shook her head.

"The cake is the main course! How could a mere stew trump this…magnificent indulgence of mine?"

Marta watched her as she munched down the cake princessly. She giggled.

"Well, I suppose there's no harm in letting you indulge in such sugary things once in a while."

Most times, Alice would enjoy her breakfast with Amelie herself. She would always scold Alice for not eating healthily, and for eating too much sweets and sugar.

But little Alice found such scolding unfair. Amelie too was unhealthy since she was crowned. Most of the time, she would rush to eat breakfast and she would even sometimes embarrass herself with her lack of refinement at the dining table.

She would even skip meals sometimes, because of 'work', and would prefer a quick rush of milk and cereal which she would drag to her office.

At least, she, Alice thought for herself, never skipped meals and ate.

After Alice finished her third slice, she finally began drinking and eating some of the stew. It was beef, and it was savory. She took spoonfuls of it at a time, as it was still a bit hot.

"Hey, Marta. Suppose, when do you think Amelie will return?"

"Tomorrow, perhaps. She did say that the conference would only take 2 days."

"What about Albert? Would he be present here tomorrow at least?"

"Nope, he didn't say anything." Marta gave a thoughtful smile and suggested something. "Do you want to talk to him?"

"I do, but he doesn't listen to my messages." Alice frowned as she crossed her arms. "I would send him dozens of messages and all he would say is, 'That's great!' or 'Great news!' or 'Good for you!'. What a jerk. I showed him videos of my new spells, and that's all he could say?"

"Well, that's quite unfortunate."

Alice continued eating before she looked back at Marta, her head tilted.

"Could I perhaps listen to the news?"

"The news?"

"Yes! I'm the Princess, so I must be aware of what's happening to the Kingdom, right?"

The personal chamber that she dined in was where she and Amelie usually ate, so it was designed for their leisure. A massive flatscreen was present on the wall. It was barely used, but Marta nodded and turned it on regardless.

When she opened it, it was immediately on the ROCN channel. Alice looked at the TV, as it displayed a newsreel from 'Ginzhu'.

The footage showed helmeted soldiers - men, who seemed to be lying down inside an apartment. There was a massive hole in the wall, which they used to set up their machine gun, the tripod mounted on a flimsy bunch of rubble.

The other soldier who operated the gun seemed to be firing it with a controlled burst at the…somewhere, while the other soldier held the belt of ammunition up.

"The 4th Infantry Division had held this position against repeated loyalist attacks for 14 hours already. Already, the scars of heavy combat could be seen on every building of the district."

The footage immediately changed to a close-up of a tank firing its gun. The tank seemed to have a circular turret, and it advanced through the broken rubble after it fired its gun.

The footage once again changed to what appeared to be soldiers running through the streets in haste, the shots changing again and again from one soldier to another, before it changed into footage of a bunch of armored cars parked near the entrance of a burned-out mall, the machine guns atop them aimed at the sky.

"The war is fought between brothers and sisters, yet it seems that the battle is seeing more dead brothers than sisters."

The footage changed to a convoy of abandoned, burnt-out tanks and armored vehicles on a highway, as groups of seemingly armed women, who held new variants of rifles, the Arcano-Rifle - guns that used magic walked through the highway.

They seemed to be inspecting masses of incinerated, dead soldiers. One of them even poked a corpse, his Kevlar armor completely melted. It almost made Alice look away in disgust.

"Oh, how unsightly, there's war again?"

"Seems so…" Marta seemed grim too as she watched it. Alice frowned as her appetite for continuing that cake turned around before she realized it was strawberry, and decided that such news wouldn't block her way to such indulgences.

"Would Orland be involved? I heard Hebei is a far-away Empire."

"Half a world away, yes, Your Highness."

"So this shouldn't affect us, right?"

"I would hope so."

Alice giggled lightly.

"Oh, come on, don't be so down. If the Great War didn't reach us, this war wouldn't. I'm sure of it!"

Marta smiled in agreement as well, though it seemed that something was wrong with it.

"I'm sure of it too, Your Highness. I think Her Majesty would do everything to prevent another war for us."

Alice nodded, and continued dining.

…

"Oh come on!" A guard, Reginald, shouted at Alice. She was atop a tree on the eastern palace lawns. Alice giggled in amusement at the dumbfounded Royal Guard soldier. For many years, Alice grew up with the all-women Royal Guard. That was until Amelie added these men to the Palace security.

And she enjoyed messing with them. She waved her wand lazily.

"Don't worry, I won't fall."

"And if you do I'm absolutely screwed!"

She grinned playfully at him.

"Yes indeed, Amelie would shock you again and again if I get injured."

"What? No, she won't. Your older sister is a kind woman."

"Yeah, but she turns into a monster if I get hurt."

Reginald had enough of the brat teasing him. The man merely wanted a silent, peaceful day of guard duty. Now he was stuck with a stupid game with the Princess.

It wasn't new to him. The Princess seemed to latch up to him whenever he was on guard duty since day one. At first, he was bothered by it, and he feared her, but as days passed, it became routine for the two to meet and banter.

Almost like they were friends. Still, she sometimes infuriated him.

"Just get down there, now." He growled. The Princess pouted and crossed her arms.

"Fineeee…"

She moved her wand a bit, and a powerful breeze made her float slowly down. Reginald took a small step back until she was on the ground.

"Happy now?"

"Very."

She looked away.

"Why are you old men always no fun? Always so stiff and serious."

"Why do they not have security cameras around here…"

"Because we, the Royal Family, prioritize our privacy." She smiled. "Plus, Miss Lubaine can see the surroundings with her magic."

"Alright." Reginald breathed out deeply. "Anyways, what are you doing around here in this area anyways?"

Alice smiled.

"I was searching for you."

"Ah, so to find me quickly, you flew to a tree, acted like you're in danger, to alert me?"

"Indeed!" She beamed at him, way too positively. Reginald just wanted a peaceful day…

"I don't even have anything else to say at this point."

"Exactly!"

With a sigh, Reginald turned around and began walking away, while Alice skipped and hopped beside him. Reginald kept his tongue to himself, as he tried his best to ignore the storm that followed his poor arse.

"Say, Mr. Reginald?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you serve in the war?" Reginald stopped, then looked at her innocent expression. He signed, and he almost facepalmed.

"Why are you even asking such questions?"

"My, still closed off, are we? I'm just curious."

"Yeah, I served with the 16th Armored Division."

Her lips formed into a circle.

"Ohhh…but I know that already. William and all that!"

Oh, Reginald remembered. William had already talked to both Alice and Amelie.

"But what I wanted to know is what you did in the war."

With this, for a split-second, Reginald's face darkened, before he smiled again. He gave her a simple explanation.

"Oh, me? I was a loader in a tank. There were four of us inside of it, and whenever the tank shot the bad guys, I made sure that there would always be another shell for the next bad guys."

Alice recalled the scenes she saw in the news earlier. Certainly, she saw that those tanks would always fire again and again. So that was what this guy's job was?

"I see."

Reginald nodded and then glanced at his watch. He turned to her again.

"Well, you know, it's already lunchtime. Don't you think it's time for you to skip back to the Palace?"

Alice thought about it before she nodded aggressively. She wanted more cake, this time - chocolate!

"Yes, I should be going then!"