BBYW Vol. 4 Interlude 1 (WN)
Interlude – Flowering Maidens
The Empire’s Red Rose 1
Roughly six months before the current events…
The Baal Empire, the largest power of the continent, was struck by an unprecedented crisis.
The first trigger that led to those events was the passing of the emperor at the time, due to a fatal illness. The following power dispute between the three imperial princes aiming for the throne created a conflict that involved even the neighboring countries.
The armed forces of the empire attempted an invasion of the eastern province of the Kingdom of Lamperouge, but were beaten back by the fierce opposition of the Maxwell soldiers. In that battle Lars Baal, one of the major candidates for the throne, fell on the battlefield.
One of the other two candidates, Grett Baal, broke the seal of a divine weapon and brought down the last candidate, his half brother Cerros Baal, who was aiming for the throne with the help of reinforcements from the eastern Huang Dynasty. With no one left in his path, Grett took the throne for himself.
Grett’s forceful rise to power, however, garnered great amounts of dissent in the empire, yet wielding the divine weapon meant that no one could oppose him: the country was steadily brought to ruin. From lower class citizens to nobles, all the inhabitants of the empire suffered under Grett’s tyrannical rule.
The people protested, plead, and begged for mercy, but Grett paid little to no attention, as the empire and its riches decayed like rotten fruit.
The demise of the continent’s greatest power was deemed inevitable…when all of a sudden, Grett was taken down.
The hand behind the fall of the “False Emperor”, as history would record Grett, belonged to a very unexpected individual.
The fourth child of the late emperor, as well as the only imperial princess.
Rossellia Baal, who would go down in history as the “Enlightened Jewel of Baal”, the first ever female ruler of the empire.
～
In one of the many conference rooms of the Baal imperial palace, vassals in charge of various important offices of the empire were lining documents on the table.
Among them there were not only ministers and functionaries, but also military officers and clergymen.
Such vital members of the imperial government had been gathered that day by the newly ascended empress, Rossellia Baal.
Rossellia had spent most of her life as the imperial princess in a space reserved for her and her servants in the imperial palace, and was never assigned any official duties; because of that, she was not especially familiar with government or military affairs, so she always scheduled large-scale meetings before taking major decisions, in order to discuss which direction the empire should take.
“Let us proceed to the next topic.”
The young female functionary called for the crowd’s attention, with a hint of nerves in her voice.
She had been assigned to this post recently, her talents were recognized by Rossellia herself: as she was born in a noble family of modest lineage, normally she would have never been able to be in such a place.
“Hmm…I certainly understand your reasoning, but does our current budget allow that?”
“That simply proves how important a matter it is. This should not be a problem of money!”
“However, if I may…”
After the young functionary read from her papers, the participants of the meeting started engaging in a heated debate.
“………..”
Empress Rossellia, sitting at the table furthest in the back, was silently observing the debaters.
She wielded the highest deciding power in the meeting, but rarely, if ever, expressed her own opinions. After all participants had the chance to speak their mind, if a consensus had not been reached she gave her final decision.
As empress, Rossellia wielded supreme authority in the empire — yet at the same time ensured that her vassals were free to speak their minds: such an ambivalence characterized her rule.
～
Among the citizens of the Baal empire, public opinion about the new empress was split in two main schools of thought.
One had high expectations towards the beautiful and wise ruler.
Rossellia had taken down Grett Baal, who had stolen the title of emperor through the usage of a terrifying weapon, saved the country and ascended the throne.
The members of this faction saw her as a savior and admired her deeply: incidentally, most belonged to the lower classes.
Rossellia rarely appeared in public before, but often donated part of the fortune assigned to her to orphanages and other public services that aided the needy.
She had thus always enjoyed steady popularity among the masses, who viewed their first empress in history with favor .
The other faction looked down mainly on Rossellia chiefly because of her gender.
Male chauvinism was still a strong presence in the empire: it was rare for women to be assigned positions of authority in the royal palace.
Could a “mere woman” truly be trusted with the title of emperor? The number of nobles and other high class individuals sharing such a view was not small.
Even such opinions, however, would be tolerated — unless they were expressed through antagonizing stances.
Among the nobles looking down on Rossellia, however, some plotted to turn her into their puppet, while others even thought of having her assassinated and replaced.
Rossellia was thus leading the Baal empire into a new era, characterized by her firm support base among the commoners and the treacherous schemes of certain nobles..
The common folk and the nobles, despite the difference in their positions, did have something in common: one unanswered question.
Their attention was focused on Rossellia’s stomach, which had recently grown in size. Who could be the man that instilled a new life in the empress’ womb?