68 Closer to God
'They are like hungry beasts,' Felipe chuckled as he watched his people eat the three cookies that they had been given.
"You outdid yourself," Felipe said to Miranda, the wife of Wilfred who, despite cooking all day yesterday and to dawn, looked presentable and well groomed.
"Thank you… your majesty."
"Cranberry, right?" Felipe said as he snaked on his own cookies, which unlike his people's were 9.
"Yes… Raisins are expensive… I had to pull some favour… Uh." Wilfred said before his wife tugged him, telling him to stop talking with physical violence. Miranda was sporting a head covering almost like a hijab; nonetheless, her body was in a deep red one-piece dress with a long skirt.
"They were not in stock unfortunately." Miranda said with a smile.
'Huh, marriage life… they seem pretty healthy.' Felipe thought as their small quarrel reminded of something he has not even consider, of course he was going to get married to Nancy, the daughter of the guy who will breed his horses, yet he did not find anything that would actually make him act like Wilfred acts around his wife.
"Hopefully your majesty likes them." She said as she added almost like a Chinese merchant ready to make a sale.
"Love them. Look at that bag." Felipe said to them as he went for another cookie. "That is 20 Pounds." He said as he digged into the cookie.
"…" They were both quite surprised as there were multiple coins in multiple denominations.
"Small coins, less trouble." Felipe said as he put his hand over his mouth to prevent looking disgusting.
"This is quite a lot." Miranda said quite impressed as it was indeed quite a lot of money for cookies.
"Make it as an early investment… please, travel to London and go to the embassy and give them my card." Felipe said as he took his card holder which it was the replacement for a wallet; there were not many bills at that time, and even if they were, there were more of a bank note than anything else, so he refuses to carry bills.
Miranda took the card carefully.
"If my ambassador is not dead… which I hope it is not as have not been told he is, then there should not be any trouble for a substantial role and administration advisory into the creation of a business… if that is the path you two are willing to take." Felipe said as he went for another cookie.
"Thank you!" Miranda said as she began to somehow cry while at the same time she cleaned her tears furiously not wanting to be seen like that.
'Huh… an ambitious wife… a good husband… good recipe.'
He felt some envy, he felt it in the simplicity in which they operate, such small things were very impressive to them. 'Nancy… she is determined to be a wife… Maria… she must have had a similar relationship with her husband.'
Felipe with his finger he quickly wiped what looked like early signs of tears. 'Fuck… war is truly annoying.'
--
Felipe did as planned and left for London in the very early morning.
They were escorted by two warships following them at a relative far distance.
But the coastal winds were able to easily transport them all the way to the the eastern side of the country while they saw the incredibly white cliffs of Dover that the Romans once saw after arriving to the isles.
"Well, this is something." One of the soldiers said as he looked at the plums of smoke coming from the city of London.
"An industrialized city… where things are in constant making machines and things are done… the heart of a super power." Felipe told them.
"That is how Bogota will look like in the future?"
"Most likely." Felipe said with a bittersweet tone. "Manufacturing on the middle of the mountain is not most cost efficient, we will probably do it in the zone near the coast… Bogota will be reserve for administrative capabilities and such… If things go as planned to become the next super power in the world."
"Then it is better not to be a super power… the heavens have turned black." One of the soldiers said quite amazed by the whole thing.
"We live above the heavens…" Felipe reminded them about the fact that the capital of the empire was in a plateau roughly 2 kilometers above the sea level. "Closer to god you may say."
There was silence and only the wind against their ears made things hard to hear. The buzzing crowds of people in the shores of the river could be hear and some distant metallic sounds was always there.
"It is good to know that my Ambassador has not been killed." Felipe said as he saw the the colourful soldiers and the flag of the empire flying at a close by dock. He recognized the fat man, though he looked more British than Spanish, he remembered meeting him for the first time, no person more from the country side there was none, now he looks like an aristocrat.
It was not long before they docked the ship and Felipe could not resist himself from going forward and shaking the hand of Aurelio, the ambassador to the United Kingdom.
"Miss you old friend."
"The sentiment is the same, young master… right, you are now Gran Duke." The old man despite showing quite the upmost respect, he was still way more familiar than a subordinate should be with the next emperor, yet those who knew would not see that as weird, after all, Aurelio helped him fight for the throne in the newly created country as Simon Bolivar Slaughtered Troops across what is now Imperial lands. "Your Majesty."
"Hehe, I am glad you are not dead, I was fearing that my letter would notarrive to you on time... Was there any attempt from your part?" Felipe asked happily.
"There was! But no one messes with my tea without me knowing about it Hehehe."
Felipe smiled at it, after all, he remember how Aurelio would only drink a native alcohol beverage that belonged to the per-columbian native tribes that has popularized too much across the empire—Chicha.
"I see I bet on the right horse."
"Of course, unlike Sergio… I have maintained my weight on check." He said as he referred to the ambassador to France. Felipe knew very well as he has had correspondence with him addressing the intake of many sweet foods.
Aurelio quickly changed his face to a sad one. "I am sorry about Mauricio, sire."
"I am under attack… I have taken a big risk from which I can not longer shy away… the French already probably know about it…" Felipe felt quite vulnerable as he confided in his friend as he looked at all the people surrounding them.
There was quite a huge crowd yet the sea of people were being held by British soldiers, the ones with the hats made out of bear skins and red uniform.
"Sergio has been quite outspoken about it." Aurelio said as he knew very well, now basically the entire world knew that the Colombian Empire was going to back Haiti against the French if they were to ask for payment in their absurd loan after independence.
At the beginning no one took it seriously, but as time passed, things became more and more solid. The Colombians have shown their ability to go against Spain nonstop until the very fucking end; though Spain has been in a decline, they were still not the people any random country would mess with.
If there were to be a conflict between France and Colombia, the most likely thing would be a naval warfare, it would mostly end into a complete one sided warfare, never the less, the news about the tight relationship of the crown prince with the USA president and the fact that he has given quite a speech at the USA congress was now grounds for the possibility of them allying to enforce the Monroe Doctrine over France.
The Monroe doctrine basically states that intervention in the political affairs of the Americas by foreign powers is a potentially hostile act against the United States. The creation of an absurd debt was not political per say, but everyone knew how unfair and crippling it would be to a small nation such as Haiti.
So, over a month, the fact that the Colombian Empire has decided to take Haiti into their wing has become a laughing matter to a possible costly fight in which there would be zero gain, thus creating higher stakes to the French.
"Right…" Felipe did not say anything as he was hypnotized by the sea of people fighting among each other trying to get a glimpse of himself.
"Your Majesty, this is not the best place to actually be talking about these affairs… The Embassy has already prepared a room." Aurelio felt the gravity of the state of mind of the prince and became quite concerned--He was witness of the rise of the Aragon Dynasty, he has been alongside the young kid that evolved into an actual prince, so he knew how strong and powerful the personality of the young man can be.
"Right." Felipe repeated as he looked back at his people already trying to look professional making him chuckle a bit.
