1740 His Move
Not long after his final meeting with Prince Raul, the news about the awakening of the Emperor of Harmony was announced across all of Kandria, evoking immense bittersweet celebration.
While not to the extent of Prince Raul, it was clear that Emperor Rael had earned a lot of love from the citizens of Kandria.
"His Majesty has returned!"
"All hail the Emperor of Harmony!"
"May Emperor Rael live forever!"
While the common folk celebrated cluelessly, the powers of Kandria grew uncomfortable. Many had hoped that, given that he had been sleeping for more than two years, this truly would be the eternal sleep phase of the Eternal Dream curse.
Most people had treated it as much.
Yet the emperor had woken up again this late in the game.
The Cold War had been going on for about seven years now, reaching the endgame where the victor would emerge decisive.
Many forces were confident they had a good grasp on which prince or princess would ascend the throne and which royal's ass they needed to kiss.
However, a new variable had returned to play.
The Emperor of Harmony.
The faction that was displeased the most was the Raijun Faction.
This was because they had the most to lose by the reintroduction of this old yet powerful variable.
There was one thing that everyone considered.
What if the Emperor finally decided to support one of his children?
This was certainly not the first time that he had been awake. The Kandrian Throne War had been sparked when a year-long coma had frenzied the royals into almost triggering the war for the throne until it was revealed that he was not dead yet, merely under the effects of the Eternal Dream disease.
In the seven years since then, he had been drifting in and out of sleep as his condition worsened, slipping away from the public eye and refusing any meetings. He never named his chosen heir.
Although the Kandrian government did not officially recognize an 'heir,' it would still mean immense informal support lent to whoever earned his approval.
Potentially, it would bring bring the many supporters the Emperor of Harmony over to the faction of the heir, massively boosting their campaign.
Prince Raijun undoubtedly was most afraid of this happening, since the probability of him being chosen was only one in seven. If anybody else got the title or crown prince or crown princess, they would gain a surge in progress that would match the one he got from becoming a Martial Squire.
Except he was being bombarded with almost bloodthirsty sabotage attempts from four of his royal siblings.
Prince Rajak and the Underworld were even more displeased by the revelation of his awakening.
There was absolutely no chance that they would be chosen.
Each of the seven royals had their own considerations.
"This might be our only opportunity," Prince Randal narrowed his eyes. "That bastard Rui Quarrier is threatening us with the Martial Union. The only one with the power to protect us from that threat is Father."
At the moment, the four puppet royals were completely alone and isolated inside a highly sensory-insulated zone.
Not even their Masters had been permitted to be privy to this conversation. The four royals did not trust them enough to discuss this sensitive matter.
His three sisters took his words seriously.
"We need to appeal to Father," Princess Ranea narrowed her eyes. "Surely he won't forgive the Royal Family being blackmailed."
"It would be in his interests to ensure that the candidates for the throne are free of blackmail," Prince Rafia emotionlessly stated.
"…Father is not that soft towards us," Princess Raemina shook her head as her wide eyes intensified. "He may very well choose to abandon us to the fate of being controlled for the rest of our lives. This is an outcome of our failure."
Her words hung in the air.
"We need to win him over," Prince Randal's eyes narrowed. "Together, we represent a large portion of the stakeholders of Kandria; he cannot ignore us. We just need to adjust our policies to ensure that he isn't dissuaded from supporting us which we can use to dismiss Rui Quarrier's blackmail leverage with the protection of the Emperor."
While the four of them cooked together a plan in absolute secrecy, many other players moved around, making small adjustments to their plans and strategies, factoring in the decisions of the Emperor of Harmony.
The Kandrian Throne War almost entered a bit of a standstill as people waited to see.
They were waiting to see if the Kandrian Emperor would do something now that the Kandrian Throne War had escalated to close to critical thresholds.
With the advent of Raijun's breakthrough into the Squire Realm, the Kandrian Throne War had almost reached a point of no return.
If the Emperor did not act now, then Raijun was destined to eventually usurp the throne after the Emperor died.
The royals temporarily paused their campaign, and the stakeholders of Kandria temporarily paused negotiations with the royals.
For the first time in more than seven years, silence ran through the political landscape of the Kandrian Empire.
Even the Martial Union held its breath.
Was something bound to happen?
Days passed.
A week passed.
Nothing.
The air of anticipation was fading.
Just as all of East Panama concluded that the Emperor was not to move, a sudden shock spread through the political landscape of Kandria.
An announcement.
An invitation.
Not just any invitation.
And not just to anybody.
The Emperor of Harmony had invited all the powers and stakeholders of Kandria to a gathering where to bear witness to his addressal to the royal family, to all those who bore his blood.
The Martial Union, the cabinet of ministers of the executive government, the generals of the Royal Army, the chairmen of the top one hundred corporations of Kandria, the Martial families of the Kandrian Martial community, the Kandrian Seafare Association, the leadership of the Kandrian Ruffians, national banks, national labor union leaders, and many other nationally relevant Kandrian powers.
He had even invited people with open-secret ties to the Underworld, such as Chairman Charles DiVilliers!
The Kandrian Empire shook as the Emperor of Harmony made a move!
