2. Maddness

I Amelia of Alria Light of Ophelia call upon all of my subjects to remind you that we do not stand alone ,with us stands the world United against the typhoon of evil that rages from the north ,at current we stand together all of us ,why? for we know that to be each and all of our god's will they have chosen us against evil that's why they have brought us together, I tell you this Alria and it's allies today and henceforth we put away our differences to unite together against this evil in our paths may Ophelia, Daria, Sienna, Tengri, grace us with victory all hail the light the sea the angel and the spirits of nature.

A young girl of 8 years of age woke to a bright light pearing from the curtains of her bedroom.

Blond hair which went down to her shoulders ending with tinges of red, eyes a pinkish purple.

Aizel Val Fielstrid 7th princess of Alria.

Beatrix I have awoken she spoke.

A mature woman in a Victorian maid uniform entered immediately from her rooms door.

Good morning your highness she said as she immediately guided the princess to a dressing chamber.

At current the news is that his excellency Archduke Val Maltya has accepted your invitation he shall be coming at once to your palace we expect him before sunset, aside from that there is recent news that war between Arkenshire and Corinthia has resulted in the victory of Arkenshire as such they now claim the Dukedom of Caleth Marquisate of Beauton Earldom of veiland ,County of Velix ,Vicounty of Trix, Michel,barony of lorstein and finally lordship of miklis as part of their empire taking their population to 746 million.

Unfortunate news no matter how I look at it, Aizel went into a deep thought after this since she could speak she had been tutored in politics economics diplomacy logistics and administration as in Alria the throne went to the most competent.

Even if Arkenshire didn't invade Alria would still go into a recession but this invasion would cause a bigger effect.

At current the Duchy of strix had a trade agreement with the Dukedom of Caleth ,Compared to the other nations Alria had only 12 Dukedoms who were constantly trying to keep or overturn the balance of power ,compared to other nations where the royal family was the only ones blessed by the gods Alria happened to be one where the 12 Dukedoms and the royal family came from the dynasty of Fielstrid as such the nation only kept political stability because of this personal union where kinship made it impossible to usurp power as it went against Ophelias teachings, at current the main branch has held power without contest since the empires founding 3400 years ago, yet however the Biggest issue would be that Calina happened to have the same religion ,as them as such they were naturally most intertwined with Corinthian politics and often played a deciding role in choosing the Emperor of Corinthia,it was essentially like Protestanisim and Catholicism except the two branches United and kept friendly relations because they were the only ones who had the same religion.

The Duchy of Calex was known for being the only major producer of artic blue silk aside from Arkenshire, which was the main motivation of the invasion as they wished to keep that monopoly, however the Dukedom of Alexi was in an economic union with Calex for the past four years as such they had grown quite reliant on Calex, while Alria was centralised the empire had seperate economies for each Dukedom in order to insure that no nation could be able to hamper its economy if one nation were to impose sanctions on one Dukedom or economically attack it the other eleven would reinforce that economy and revitalize it while this did create a weaker economy it also gave a failsafe, so what the issue here Alexi going through an economic collapse would greatly benefit the other Dukedoms how so Alexi an insane horde of gems and gold but ,it had recently began to depleet which is why they were trying to change their economy, when they entered into an economic union with Calex it was mainly to jumpstart their change of economic policy, however the merchants and majority nobles wanted to drain all the profits they could they knew that it was only a matter of time before Arkenshire would invade but however Corinthia happened to be stable at the time of the economic union so the basic premise was that Arkenshire would not risk a war with a unified Calina, so where did it go wrong 30 Dukedoms of Calina had recently formed a coalition in order to gain the port of felbourg from Sienna however Maltria also had its eyes set on it and after the thirty Dukedoms were done beating Sienna Maltria attacked their exhausted navy however they had converted many of their trade ships into war ships as the 30 Dukedoms happened to be economic powers, now this port Felbourg was the converging point of Alria Arkenshire and Calia making it a valued port for all 3 nations as majority of artic blue came from there, if it did succeed Calex would become a much more valued land due to the plan being to prevent the sale of artic silk from Arkenshire attacking it's economy and skyrocketing the price of Artic silk giving Calex a bigger monopoly the reason to send Arkenshire into economic turmoil as they lose the ability to sell their most valued material, understandably Arkenshire was not happy about this so when they lost the war and were in economic ruin as Corinthia had converted many of its trade ships to warships even the ones of Duchys that hadn't participated under the Emperors orders so they went into civil strife when they a majority of the badly converted fleet, so when Arkenshire invaded they couldn't raise an army as they lacked the funds to do so after all a peasant levy just wouldn't cut it against a trained army of 21 million.

Now that's where Archduke Peter Val Fielstrid-Maltya comes in his economy mainly relies on serfdom where there is a huge influx of profit for the elite as such the value of their currency is much more higher the others due to it being focused on one certain class as they are the only ones capable of bringing that currency to the market

So the hope is here that the Duchy of Maltya can use their strong currency value to purchase bonds of Alexi in hopes of rising the value once again, while this won't save the economy this will lower the economic crash without a doubt Alexi is a heavily capitalist economy if it were to collapse Alria would lose a good ammount of economic influence over other nations so if the capitalists were to abandon Alexi they would have no choice but to immigrate from Alria as no other Alrian economy happens to support their policies.

All done the maid said as she brought her to a mirror

dressed in a white maxi skirt with golden embroidery of roses a white bodices covered with a sleeveless collar shirt with a mantle buttoned to the front of both shoulders her hair a cherry pink tied in a single knot, with a white bonnet laced inside with lavender tied around her head.

Father wishes to use my blood oath to prevent the recession yet what shalt be asked by my uncle in exchange.

Your current schedule happens to be unoccupied with only Archduke Maltyas arrival to be of Importance.

How shall we spend today your highness.

I wish to start off with a glass of tea at once with exactly three spoons of sugar no milk and breakfast out in the balcony.

At once Beatrix said bowing before walking backwards out the door.

What a nightmare this is going to be, to her she was in no position of power nor was she experienced enough to come up with a solution that could stop the recession without causing any other negative ripples.

Your highness Beatrix returned almost immediately carrying a tray with a glass of tea on it.

Now do make haste with breakfast.

We shall thank you for your patience Beatrix responded as she opened the balcony and carrying a table and a chair outside.

Aizel sat down outside of the balcony staring at the bright Alrian weather.

In terms of natural geography Alria had a huge advantage their nations geography was mostly a flat fertile land rich in ores which normally would seem like a bad thing due to how easy to invade such a land would be but however it was surrounded by coastlines in all but one side and after those coastlines came the only mountain ranges in Alria.

The only side where they did not happen to have a mountainous range was the unstable Corinthian empire And that too was defended by a desert making their geography very ideal however in recent times Arkenshire had begun expanding towards its west where Calexia lied and of the territories they were taking they were slowly advancing towards Alria through the coast of Corinthia.

Understandably the leadership is not pleased by such a development and is trying to fund and stabilize Corinthia in order to create force capable of contending against the centralised power of Arkenshire.

It's a horrible struggle she muttered, Calexia will regardless always be in civil war the reason they fund that coalition is because they don't want to engage in a direct war no one had been happy with the hegemony held by Alria so it was obvious that if they were to engage in a direct war the other powers would engage as well as such Alria was desperately trying to keep anything that people could use to justify a war against them away.

But now that their central economy was under threat they would no longer be able to fund a foreign economy while theirs was in a recession, the capitalists of Alexi would undoubtedly drop all their employees to avoid paying them and with such a large ammount of unemployment in one go would cause a mass immigration as Alexis entire economy was based this way so in order to get new jobs they would have to immigrate, this would cause the price of labour to lower which would cause strikes over the decrease in wage s and would also cripple Alexis economy even further as they lost the bulk to their work force, so what now they need someone to bail them out the entire empire needs it to happen but everyone is just waiting for someone else to do it so I guess this is where my blood oath comes in dosent it father wishes to have my uncle Maltya bail out Alexi ,though I wish to keep the oath in the end none of that matters am just the daughter of a 3rd concubine.

Your highness breakfast is ready as she heard followed by knocking.

Bring it in Beatrix.

The maid pushed a cart forroward filled with a full course meal and tableware and began to lay it ou on the balcony table.

What a pointless day, Aizel mutterd out loud.

If i may your highness.

You may Beatrix you needent ask.

We have a long list of intriguing activities you may undertake on your day off.

No Beatrix it's not that , it's just the only event of importance today for me isn't even one that actually involves me I'm just following orders in the end aren't I.

It is a great honour to serve Alria, your highness.

I know yet I wish I had a choice,I am to be married to an Arkish prince as a mere hostage and what than not even my husband shall have eyes for me,I shall be detested by all.

With all due respect your highness you act too much like an adult it is not in your best interests to spend your youth so seriously, and regardless you will be traveling to Arkenshire for 5 years soon won't you.

It's nothing short of a hostage exchange Beatrix we get their eldest Grand Duchess they get a random princess if it weren't for their defeat they'd never accept such a humiliating proposal.

Now do leave me alone I wish to enjoy this meal by myself.

As you wish your highness.

Aizel ate her breakfast in utter silence only contemplating a method entertainment, until she finally decided to read on Arkenshire she was to be sent as a political hostage in a few months.

After finishing her meal she got up and left her chambers, outside stood her maid.

Beatrix clean up my room I shall be in the library and do send someone to fetch me a glass of water will you.

At once your highness.

Aizel made her way to the library and immediately began to search for book on Arkenshire until a maid entered.

Your highness where shall it be placed.

Just place it on that table over there, oh and by the way fetch me a book on Arkenshire.

Aizel made her way to the table and sat down, sipping on a glass of water waiting for the maid to return.

Your highness I believe this is what you desire the maid approached her holding a thick dusty book.

Aizel grabbed it and opened it, upon reading its contents she responded good now leave me be.

Like a statue she read the book only moving when the need to flip it came.

I shall take my leave now.

Arkenshire currently the only northern nation it is mainly composed of a mountainous terrain which is most of the time however this is only a thin stretch of mountains the rest are all flat lands after that, but due to the harsh climate they have been unable to properly search for resources and generally happen to fuel their economy from the unique artic silk only found in their cold climate and bits of Corinthia and through their large gold deposits which they essentially have an unlimited ammount of.

The monarchy follows a system of absolution which in the past has resulted in some of the most humiliating disasters in history , but it is simultaneously the most stable nation with only a single civil war recorded which was caused over a lack of an heir for the original dynasty.

Even with their harsh climate they are current have the highest birth rate which so far is their main strategy when fighting a war which is just have a larger army, Corinthia is unable to use this strategy however due to it's decentralised state and constant civil wars which keeps it from reaching a higher population.

Aizel read the book till the day had passed and the bright yellow was replaced by an orange light.

Your highness his grace Lord Maltya has arrived.

Inform I shall be there at once.

She could only sigh as she knew her one oath would be given for a cause she wasn't involved in, yet what was her fate just a political hostage in the end.