Jeanne Ando sat in a conference room with various aides surrounding her. Junia and Jania Hu, the ever cute duo of Adept bodyguards still remained the same after so many years of protecting the Crown Princess.
Only she was no longer the Crown Princess, but the coronated Queen of Andrato Kingdom.
3 years ago, her mother, the previous Queen, had fallen victim to assassination by Fraterina Kingdom's agents, almost throwing the Andrato Kingdom into the internal unrest Jeanne had fought so hard to quell in the first few months.
Fortunately, Fraterina Kingdom had completely underestimated the degree of Jeanne's ruthlessness.
Only a few hours after her mother's death, the 16-year-old Crown Princess had coronated herself by using all the assets and lackeys she had confiscated in the years prior, and forcing those who refused to acknowledge her out of the kingdom by various means.
These were, incidentally, the same fellows who ended up running to Foldo for help.
It was only after she had forcibly stifled any chance of unrest brewing, that she held a public funeral for her mother, two months after her passing.
It had been the last day Jeanne Ando had allowed herself to cry.
After that, her emotions had always been kept sealed within her mind, replaced by a mask to show the public.
Since then her smiles, laughter, frowns, and sighs had all been carefully curated, to only ever display what she wanted others to see to achieve her goals at that point in time.
Jeanne was like a puppet whose strings were controlled by herself. Her choice in manifesting a fake persona for the public while hiding her real thoughts had led to a dangerous situation occurring.
After many months of manipulating herself and those around her, she had developed a split personality disorder.
The real Jeanne, the young woman who was still grieving for her mother, pining for someone to help her shoulder the burdens of a ruler and regretting her actions, had been locked away in her subconsciousness, reliving the best parts of her life over and over again.
The fake Jeanne, a strange amalgamation of her wishes and memories that was focused only on maximizing the benefits for the Andrato Kingdom and resisting outside forces, now controlled her on the daily.
This persona was ruthless, unforgiving to her enemies, but kind and loving to those who truly supported her and the kingdom. It was a troubling contrast because it was a thing that could change faces and moods as it was willing, almost like a sentient machine.
Interestingly, it did not know that it was fake and neither did anyone else. They all believed that this was a natural metamorphosis the former Crown Princess had gone through after enduring all her suffering, which wasn't wrong, yet wasn't correct either.
Although Junia and Jania Hu remained suspicious of the new Jeanne, they ultimately remained fooled.
Right now, Jeanne was listening to the Master of the Treasury and Finances who was listing the budget of the kingdom for the second half of the year, including income and planned expenditures.
When he said something Jeanne agreed with, she would smile beautifully. When it was something she wouldn't accept, she would frown slightly. It was a subtle hint to the Master as to what he needed to amend and what needed to stay without Jeanne having to call him out to the rest.
The Master was obviously smart enough to pick up on these clues, so once he finished his reading, he bowed to the Queen and sat down, making notes about how to please her. Jeanne herself clapped and praised him for his dutiful management of the economy over the years, something the fellow took with pride.
The Master of Foreign Matters rose up next as he began reporting the various treaties, alliances, and changes in the continent of Fallon that had occurred over the past 6 months, highlighting those that Andrato needed to take note of and those that might affect the kingdom directly.
"Cough, as always, the Prince of Hakrian Empire is still hoping to gain your hand in marriage. He has sent over quite a long list for the dowry, including an offer for an alliance to fortify and develop Andrato for the next 20 years." The Master of Foreign Matters informed her.
"We've received the same type of inquiries from the princes of the Girdle, the Yuliann, the Bafira, the Dongato, and the Kirlian Empires, as well as the Derna, the Ferdio, the Riaslin, and the Leedo Kingdoms among others. All of which have provided similar or better dowry offers."
All eyes turned to Jeanne to see her reaction. While she was smiling outwardly, inside her a great storm was going on.
Jeanne's fake personality was built with the purpose to seek Andrato's benefits first and foremost over her own, so a political marriage with a powerful empire would be all it took to turn the kingdom's fate around.
Jeanne knew it and the various Masters here knew it, which was why their eyes fell upon her. Alas, every time this matter was mentioned, Jeanne would quickly turn it down for reasons that baffled the various fellows here.
Jeanne - the outer Jeanne - only knew that whenever she considered this matter, it felt like a powerful slumbering force within her would open its eyes, and if she allowed that force to fully awaken, she would be wiped off the face of Faust!
In order to keep that force or power sleeping, she always turned down the matter and focused on other things. It seemed to be a psychological bottom line she had placed upon herself, though outer Jeanne could not understand why, as she was unaware of the inner Jeanne.
Unfortunately for outer Jeanne, inner Jeanne had a few things she still cared about and considered to be treasured moments in her life. They were mostly moments from her childhood, like the times she had spent with her mother, along with a few other happy times.
One of them just so happened to be her meeting with Darius and that battle of wits they had shared. It had left a seed of affection in her heart that made her feel that he would be the perfect partner for her.
The calamity that had come, had unfortunately wiped such girlish thoughts from her mind, but after the death of her mother, everything had exploded on itself, creating the current scenario.
If outer Jeanne dared to cross anything that was related to these happy moments that inner Jeanne relived on replay, the true her would take over her body and replace the fake persona she had created to handle the outside world.
