Oh My, I Messed Up the Story

When I found Marcy, she seemed even more high-strung than I was. She was whipping cream so forcefully that it was a miracle it didn't all splatter on the person rolling out dough next to her.

I felt an instant sense of camaraderie and walked over since she was focusing too intently to see me wave. "Hey Marcy, are you too busy to make some jam-filled powdered donuts for a hungry pregnant lady?"

She gave me a strained smile, not bothering to stop her whipping frenzy. "I'm never too busy to help a pregnant woman in distress. I can get started on them as soon as this cream is done. Someone else can fill the cream puffs for Princess Rosenia."

Apparently Marcy was already in the middle of making doughnuts for someone else because she began cutting circles out of the dough the kitchen girl next to her had been rolling out. She heated a pan with a shallow layer of oil and began dropping the dough circles in it.

She anxiously called for someone to go find her the raspberry jam before sighing and leaning against the counter. Poor thing. She really was more stressed than me.

I supposed it made sense because this proposition had originally been her idea. Of course Marcy would be heavily invested in the outcome. The lives of her friends, family, and neighbors might be about to improve drastically.

"Breathe, Marcy," I reminded her.

She fiddled with a strand of hair that had come loose from her braid. "Sorry. I just—"

"I know. No need to apologize. Mariela was getting annoyed with how anxious I was too. It's why I offered to come get these myself."

Marcy bit her lip and nodded, unwilling to speak more in case any more of Sigmund's agents were in the kitchen. He was in court right now but there was no telling who might report back to him later. We could still get in trouble as long as he was the crown prince.

I didn't like this either. The waiting. The suspense. We wouldn't know what had actually gone down until the end of the day.

===

Al got a lot of strange looks as he sat down in court that morning. He had never been present to a single court session before even though everyone there recognized him on sight. The useless third prince.

He didn't care what people thought of him anymore because he had a purpose. He would not spend the rest of his life wasting away in this castle like he had always assumed would be the case. He had a civilization to rebuild.

Ignoring the stares and whispers was easy when he thought about how Katie was anxiously waiting for news. He would not disappoint her.

Since the king was sick in bed, the archduke led the proceedings. He droned on about how important the nobles were to deciding things for the kingdom and a lot of other self-important drivel.

Al shifted uncomfortably in his seat as a few other resolutions were brought up. When it came time to vote for the one to add commoner representatives to the court, many of the higher nobles expressed their outrage.

"We cannot do such a thing!"

"It would undermine the entire court system."

"Who proposed this plan?"

Franz spoke up seriously. "Duke Renaya, our entire economy is reliant on the work done by commoners. Word gets around; conditions have not been so great for them in the past few decades. If we do not wish to see a riot on our hands, it is important to keep them appeased.

"If you read over the plan carefully, you will see that there are only a set number of representatives based on land-holding nobility. They will not outnumber us but will still feel satisfied that their interests are being represented."

It was actually rather clever to phrase it this way. Now it seemed like this was merely a symbolic gesture and it would not be possible for their votes to count against the nobles' even though that wasn't true.

Al didn't like his foster brother as a person but he couldn't deny that he occasionally had good ideas. Maybe he would make a better king than Sigmund after all.

Duke Renaya and a few of the upper nobility calmed down once Franz explained things to them but Sigmund was glaring daggers at him from across the table. He hadn't been able to figure out what his younger brother was doing beforehand but he understood his intentions immediately now that they were out in the open.

When the vote was cast, they barely managed to pass by two votes.

The breath Al didn't realize he had been holding in came out in a whoosh. They had actually done it. Months of hard work and stress had paid off! Katie would be so excited…and nervous because of what came next in the novel.

It was decided that the nobles would send word back to each of their territories right away so the people could elect their leaders before the court session was finished for the spring. A few more resolutions needed to be passed but Al didn't really pay much attention to them and voted as he saw fit on a case by case basis.

Franz radiated undeniable smugness and he was tempted to roll his eyes. Today had been a victory but the war wasn't even close to over yet.