Tristanian Royal Palace, 1013 hours
"Your Highness, we have two men from Albion who request an audience with you," a servant informed Henrietta, who was currently taking care of some paperwork in her quarters. Putting down her quill in its inkwell, the princess stood up.
"Have they given their names?" she asked.
The servant shook his head. "They have not, Your Highness, but they said that it is an urgent matter," he replied. "From the way they carry themselves, it would appear as though they are nobles."
Henrietta raised a eyebrow before she sighed. "Tell them to wait for me in the throne room while I make myself presentable," she ordered. "I shall meet them soon."
With a bow, the servant left, closing the doors behind him as he made his way to the palace gates, where the two Albionians waited. He motioned for the guards to let them inside, whereupon they were escorted by eight musketeers.
Fifteen minutes later, Henrietta arrived at the throne room to see two young men, one of them a brunette and the other with black hair, wearing cloaks. Upon seeing the princess, they threw off their cloaks, revealing clothes that a noble would wear, and knelt before Henrietta.
The brunette spoke first. "Your Highness, allow me to introduce myself and my compatriot. I am Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, and this is Hugh Percy, Duke of Northumberland," he gestured to his companion. "We bring grave news from Albion."
Henrietta nodded. "A pleasure to meet you. Please, stand." As Arthur and Hugh got on their feet, she took a seat on her throne. "What news do you bring?"
Hugh cleared his throat before he spoke. "Your Highness, as you may already know, Albion is currently in the midst of a civil war. His Royal Highness, Prince Wales, has sent us here to inform you that he is currently holding out against the Reconquista in Newcastle, and that the rebels plan to invade Tristain once all of Albion has fallen into their hands."
Henrietta's eyes widened as she heard the words. Several nobles within the throne room all tried to speak over one another at the same time.
"An invasion of Tristain? Please, tell me that this is nothing more than an elaborate joke!" one nobleman scoffed.
Arthur shook his head. "My lord, I'm afraid that what he says is true. We have spies in Albion, spies loyal to the crown, who have managed to intercept the enemy's plans."
He reached into his tunic and produced a scroll. "And here are the plans," he stated as he presented it to Henrietta.
Narrowing her eyes, Henrietta took the scroll and examined its contents. As she read them, she paled in horror at what she had just found out.
"So it is true," she murmured, as she gripped her scepter.
"Your Highness?" her marshal, Olivier de Poitiers, inquired with a worried look.
The princess rolled the scroll. "The Reconquista have, indeed, made preparations to invade Tristain with a force of 50,000 men," she revealed, throwing everyone into shock.
"I'm afraid that there is another issue, Your Highness," Hugh said as he took out a second scroll. "You are familiar with a Viscount Jean-Jacques Francis de Wardes, correct?"
The princess nodded. "Yes, what about him?"
Hugh handed over the scroll to Henrietta. "He is in Albion right now, according to our spies. And this is what he had been doing."
Taking the scroll, Henrietta took her time in scanning it. By the time she had finished, her eyes were ablaze with fury.
"It appears that Viscount Wardes is working with the Reconquista," she said, causing the throne room to erupt in anger.
"Wardes? You mean to say that the very person who commands our Griffin Knights is a traitor?" de Poitiers growled.
Henrietta simply gave him the second scroll in order to confirm what she had said.
"That bastard," the marshal hissed. "That damned bastard."
Henrietta stood up and approached de Poitiers. "Marshal, what are the current numbers for our military?" she inquired.
The marshal sighed. "We have the First, Seventh, Eighth, and Eleventh Armies with a total strength of 38,000 men stationed along our borders with Germania, under the generals Lannes, Murat, Masséna, and the duke of Richelieu, as well as the Second, Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth Armies with 25,000 men on the Tristanian-Gallian border, commanded by generals Mortier and Friant, and the dukes of Arenberg and Havré. We also have the Third, Fifth, and Tenth Armies with 42,000 men under the duchess of Vallière, and the dukes of Gramont and Grandpre. Our navy, under Admiral Villeneuve, has three first-rate ships of the line, three second-rates, seven third-rates, and ten fourth-rates," the marshal informed the princess.
"Is it possible to reinforce the Third, Fifth, and Tenth should Reconquista decide to push through with the invasion?" Henrietta asked.
de Poitiers shook his head. "Unfortunately, we cannot spare any more men to reinforce the armies that are not assigned to keep watch on our borders. There is a possibility that Gallia and Germania would take this as an opportunity to launch an invasion in their respective areas," he said.
"So we'll have only three armies at our disposal," she mused. She turned to the two Albionians before her. "How can we be sure that you are loyal to the Tudors?" she asked.
Arthur clenched his fists. "The Reconquista have killed several people we were close to. And Hugh and I would be more than willing to help your forces prepare for the invasion," he declared.
The princess stood up. "I would like to speak with you two in private, if you would allow me," she requested.
Both men nodded. "Of course, Your Highness," Hugh said.
Henrietta turned to de Poitiers. "Marshal de Poitiers? I am authorizing the creation of a fifth battalion of Musketeer Knights. I shall also leave the military preparations to you and the rest of the generals," she stated.
The marshal bowed. "Of course, Your Highness."
She turned back to Arthur and Hugh, gesturing for them to follow her.
The three nobles were silent as they made their way to Henrietta's quarters, oblivious to the musketeers who stood guard in the hallways. Upon reaching her quarters, which was guarded by a pair of musketeers, and closing the doors, Henrietta spoke.
"Do you have spies in Tristain as well?" she asked.
The two men nodded. "Yes, they were with us when we managed to escape Newcastle as it was being besieged," Hugh replied. "Although we cannot disclose their whereabouts right now, but you can be rest assured they intend to aid Tristain in any way they can."
Henrietta made her way to a dresser and opened it, pulling out an envelope.
"This is a letter that I have received from Prince Wales two years ago. I would like to request that your spies return to Albion and give this back to him, in exchange for a letter that I sent to him. If it's not too much trouble – "
"Your Highness," Hugh interrupted. "Our spies would be more than willing to carry out such a task, if it means helping out in any way to stop Reconquista from achieving their goals."
He turned to Arthur. "I shall have them prepare within an hour and make sure that everything goes smoothly. Are you coming?"
Arthur shook his head. "I'll stay here and act as the military advisor to Tristain. That is, if the princess would be amenable to such an idea."
Henrietta smiled and gave the letter to Hugh. "Of course. We'll need all the help we can get. Thank you both."
She proceeded to remove a ring from her finger before taking Hugh's hand and placing the ring in his palm.
"This is the ring of water. This should tell Prince Wales that it is I who sent one of your spies to retrieve the letter. Please, take good care of this ring for me until the letter has been retrieved," she instructed the Albionian noble.
Hugh stared at the ring before tucking it inside his tunic. Bowing before the princess, the two Albionians departed Henrietta's quarters and proceeded to begin their respective tasks.
Tristain Academy of Magic, 2132 hours
Upon 3rd Platoon's return to the academy a day before, the rest of the battalion and the Hussars had been shocked and infuriated to discover that a person with Oliver Cromwell's namesake exists in Albion, and is currently in the process of overthrowing the Albionian crown, similar to what the Cromwell they knew had done. Most of the men had expressed their desire to go to Albion in order to find the man and kill him, only for Julius to reject them, explaining that such an action would be likely to cause a diplomatic incident.
Inside Louise's room, as Julius, Travis, and the three company commanders discussed the events that had transpired two days before, the mage's windows suddenly opened. The officers instinctively aimed their rifles at the windows, only to lower them when they discovered that it was only Henrietta, who was paying a visit to Louise.
"Your Highness!" Louise breathed as she knelt before the princess. "What are you doing here at this hour?!"
The princess gestured for Louise to stand, before she spoke.
"Louise, sir Julius, sir Lionel, I have something to tell you," Henrietta said as she walked over and sat on Louise's bed.
The five officers glanced at each other. "We're all ears, Your Highness," Travis stated.
Henrietta regarded him with a sad smile. "I have given this some thought for quite some time now, and I have made the decision to marry the emperor of Germania, Albrecht III, from the House of Hohenzollern."
Travis just stood where he was, stunned at the words. The three company commanders looked at each other, unsure on how to process this information. Julius raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side.
And Louise spluttered with indignation.
"You're marrying into a nation of upstart barbarians that dare to call themselves nobles?! Your Highness, why would you want to have anything to do with Germania?!" the mage cried out.
"I have to, Louise Françoise. I had to agree to the engagement if it means keeping Tristain secure," Henrietta explained.
Travis scratched his head. "I understand that this is a political marriage and all that, but what are we missing here?"
The princess looked down at her lap. "The nations of Tristain, Gallia, Albion, and Romalia were all blessed by Brimir six thousand years ago, or so the legend goes. Only Germania was not blessed by the Founder, hence why the Germanians are treated with disdain," she clarified.
"Your Highness, I know that you're doing everything you can for Tristain, but marrying a Germanian noble?" Louise protested.
Henrietta stood up and approached her friend, clutching her hands.
"Louise, this is a sacrifice I'm willing to make as the princess of Tristain. I have to put the needs of the nation above my own," she said.
Taking a step back, she continued. "Earlier this morning, two Albionians loyal to Prince Wales had come to see me. Albion is in the middle of a civil war right now, and the ruling family is slowly losing control. One of the nobles who came by volunteered to return to Albion in order to retrieve a letter from the prince and to prevent it from falling into the hands of Reconquista. If the contents of that letter were to be made known, my engagement to Emperor Albrecht may have a high chance of being called off."
Tears welled up in Henrietta's eyes. "Louise, I don't know what else to do. With all these problems, I don't even know how to proceed. I… I…"
Louise rushed to the princess and knelt before her. "Your Highness, you don't have to endure all this alone! Please, if there's any way I can help you, just tell me! I'll do it, no matter what!" she cried out.
The princess flashed her a melancholic smile. "Thank you, Louise," she murmured.
With that, Henrietta opened the windows and floated off into the night, taking care to avoid the British troops down below.
For a moment, the room was silent until the three company commanders decided that it was time to call it a night.
"Major?" Julius turned to Lionel, who had broken the silence.
"With your permission, we'd like to check on our men," the captain requested.
Julius nodded, and the three captains, along with Travis, saluted the major, who returned their salutes. As they walked out of the room, Julius took a deep breath, exhaling forcefully.
"Princess Henrietta and Prince Wales… did you know that they're cousins?" Louise blurted out.
Julius shook his head. "This is the first time I've heard of it. From the way the princess spoke about him, it seems that they're pretty close to each other."
The mage shook her head. "I only wish that there was something I could do to help the princess," she sighed. "I don't even know where to start."
"A leader must know when to make a difficult decision," Julius said. "It will only get harder before it gets easier, she'll make it through this. And let me tell you, Louise, you have to stay strong for her. Do you understand?"
Louise nodded. The major turned on his heels and made his way to the door.
"Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning," he said, as he stepped out of her room and shut door behind him.