Chapter 27

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Chapter 27: Who Is the Underdog?

"Lieutenant General Catherine, are you okay?"

"No, I’m fine."

Catherine felt dizzy, nauseous, and wanting to vomit. She instructed Mantofel and Kraist to continue training the soldiers while she sat down to rest for a bit.

The crisis between Prussia and Austria was resolved, leading many to take a break to relax and relieve tension. However, the military could not rest and training needed to continue. Catherine arrived early at the camp today, overseeing the training of the Light Cavalry unit of the Imperial Dragoons.

But today, she seemed unwell, unable to stand steadily and experiencing frequent nausea.

This situation has been going on for over two months. Catherine didn’t think much of it at first, she thought it was just the aftermath of the battle in Ingelfingen. She was completely exhausted from that bloody battle, the most tired she had ever been in her life. Catherine believed that the fight had left her unable to fully recover.

However, the recent feelings of nausea and vomiting were becoming more frequent. Catherine started to wonder if she might be pregnant.

After training that day, Catherine gathered a group of court doctors to examine herself. The well-trained doctors speculated that she was already 14-17 weeks pregnant, meaning… she was already expecting a child during the Battle of Ingelfingen.

When Prince Regent Redel heard the news, he was both surprised and worried. He quickly advised Catherine to rest and focus on nurturing the baby, and not to worry about military matters for the time being.

Catherine herself was not very happy about it. She didn’t want to abandon her military duties, but since His Highness ordered her to stay in the palace to nurture the baby, she had no choice but to obey.

The news of Lieutenant General Catherine’s pregnancy started to spread within a small circle. She was pregnant out of wedlock, and everyone knew who the father was, so it wasn’t a secret.

It was this widely known illegitimate child that caused some trouble.

Your Highness the Regent needed to get married. He wasn’t getting any younger at 27 years old, so it was time to tie the knot, whether it was for political alliances or true love. Prussia needed a legitimate heir, and Catherine’s child wasn’t legitimate.

Cabinet Secretary Schultz came to see the prince regent. Even though they discussed official matters, there were hints about the prince regent’s marriage issue in their conversation.

Redel absentmindedly played with a small knife, then carefully sharpened his pencil.

Schultz felt nervous. He was the only one brave enough to discuss marriage with the prince regent. Others didn’t dare bring it up because the prince didn’t want to get married.

But the prince really should get married. He already has a illegitimate child, so he needs a legitimate heir. If the illegitimate child and the legitimate heir have a big age gap, it could lead to bad things happening.

"I want to marry someone I truly love, not for political reasons," Leader One said thoughtfully.

Schultz smiled, "Of course, Your Highness. Marriage should be based on love. Prince Regent of Prussia giving up a political marriage for true love could become a great story."

Leader One asked, "What about Anna?"

Schultz remained elegant but cautious, saying Mrs. Bismarck would be an excellent choice.

"Mrs. Bismarck is straightforward, unique, and her style is very fashionable. She is well-known in the country, and her past actions in her youth are truly admirable. If you marry Mrs. Bismarck, it would be a bold decision, but I support you."

Leader One, focused on his drawing, used the freshly sharpened pencil to sketch musical notes. He was composing a piece of music.

"Schultz, there’s no need for such passive aggression. Just say it directly. You say she is hot-tempered, rude, and impolite, dresses strangely, and has a notorious reputation at home, especially for the silly things she did when she was young that people find very irritating."

Anna could never become a queen or empress because her personal reputation was very bad. The public didn’t know what good things Anna had done, only the foolish mistakes she made, often misunderstanding her actions.

In the list of villains in the German region, Metternich is first, Lora is second, and Anna is third. The first two have already left politics, leaving Anna with the potential to become the top villain.

The Bavarian King appointed his favorite Lora as the head of the government, causing chaos and jealousy, which deeply hurt the people of Germany. If the Prince Regent of Prussia marries Anna and lets her rule…

This was a huge blow to Leader One’s personal prestige and could be a reason for the North German princes to break away from Prussia. Moreover, the idea of a king marrying a minister is not something that traditional human values can accept, neither now nor in the future.

Leader One sighed softly and said, "Then find me a queen, someone pretty, well-liked by the people, a perfect choice like a vase of flowers."

Baron Schultz, "What about Princess Elizabeth of England?"

"Hmm?" Leader One slammed his pen down and questioned, "Didn’t you say last time that this woman would bring shame to me? Why are you still recommending her?"

Schultz was a bit angry, "Your Highness! How dare you accuse me? I have never said such words before. When did I ever say that Princess Elizabeth is impure?"

Leader One’s face was full of question marks, did he misunderstand the last time?

"Princess Elizabeth is a very devout Christian. The palace doctor can prove that the princess is absolutely pure. Everyone knows about Princess Elizabeth’s admiration for you. She has written you over a hundred letters."

Leader One became even more puzzled. Letters? How come he had never heard of Elizabeth writing to him?

"Freeman! Come here!" the prince regent shouted, and from the next office came sounds of chaos and hurry.

"Explain this to me, why didn’t Elizabeth’s letters reach me? How did the royal office handle her letters once they received them?"

Freeman stood by the side of the desk, fidgeting with his hands on the table, looking around nervously and starting to sweat, feeling lost between the prince regent and the Cabinet Secretary.

Leader One noticed that Freeman kept looking at Schultz, thinking that Schultz instructed the blocking of the letters.

Schultz immediately clarified, "It was definitely not me. Your Highness, you know me well, I would never do anything that could risk my head."

Leader One, "Was it Anna who gave the orders?"

Schultz quickly said, "Mrs. Bismarck did not ask Freeman to stop Princess Elizabeth’s mail."

Freeman nodded, "Yes, Mrs. Bismarck asked me to stop someone else’s mail."

Leader One asked, "Who else’s mail did you stop? Oh…I see, if you were asked to stop his, then you shouldn’t have stopped Elizabeth’s, right?"

The situation became awkward, Schultz moved closer to Leader One, and they both glared at Freeman.

Freeman felt nervous, he thought he was in trouble, but he was actually innocent. No one told him to stop Elizabeth’s mail, and he didn’t do it because he didn’t even know about it.

The prince regent receives thousands of letters every month, sometimes even more during special occasions. Clerks and secretaries at the Royal Office go through the letters first and pass the important ones to Freeman, who then selects and gives them to the prince regent.

Since Freeman didn’t remember, Elizabeth’s letter might have been stopped during the initial screening process.

"Hiss…" Freeman suddenly gasped.

He remembered the first week of his job when his subordinates asked how to do the initial screening. Freeman set some criteria, one of which was to throw away love letters, flattery, or obvious attempts to seek affection.

Leader One, "Do you remember now? Where is Elizabeth’s letter?"

Freeman standing at attention, "Your Highness, I will take care of it (it has been lost)."

Leader One, "I’m asking about the letter?"

Freeman, "Your Highness, I will handle it promptly (I will go find it right away)."

The Regent Highness was very unhappy, thinking this young man was seriously neglectful. How could he lose such an important letter, a letter from Princess Elizabeth? She’s not just anybody, how could he lose it?

Um… If it’s letters from leaders of other countries, Grand Aristocrats, or landlords, they would bear family crests or national emblems, and Freeman wouldn’t dare to lose such letters.

But the over 100 love letters from Princess Elizabeth were sent in a personal capacity, she wouldn’t use the royal stationery for personal love matters…

Freeman, this silly young man, didn’t know how to explain, and in the end, Cabinet Secretary Schultz had to speak up for him.

"Your Highness, this is not all Freeman’s fault. Of course, he should be held accountable and punished, but please show some mercy. Freeman is not a handwriting expert, he can’t verify the authenticity of personal letters’ signatures, especially with so many fraudulent letters being sent."

"There are still letters claiming to be from Frederick the Great, saying he has come back to life and needs some money, but we can’t believe everything, right?"

"Your Highness, Freeman had no choice this time, I believe he will learn his lesson."

Leader One also agreed, asking the Director of the Royal Affairs Office to carefully examine Princess Elizabeth’s personal seal and handwriting. In the future, all of you will have your salaries deducted for two months, and the Director will have a year’s worth deducted.

The prince regent then asked, "Oh, isn’t Princess Elizabeth unusually beautiful? That realistic portrait…"

Schultz explained that the realistic painter chosen before was personally selected by him to be the finest in Prussia. However, Mrs. Bismarck paid great attention to the painting and demanded perfection from the artist. Perhaps due to Mrs. Bismarck’s high standards, the portrait had some slight deviations.

Schultz softly called out, and the guards who had been waiting in the corridor brought ten portraits.

This time, Princess Elizabeth looked very beautiful, with a gentle and dignified ladylike appearance.

One oil painting in particular caught the prince regent’s utmost attention.

Elizabeth had her golden wavy hair swept to one side, with a tilted hat on her head. She wore a blue winter gown of the English royal family, complemented perfectly by a shawl with the cross of St. George, her makeup and jewelry all reflecting elegance and luxury.

It looks familiar.

Leader One held up the portrait, suddenly laughed, and decided to marry you, Elizabeth came to marry him, and would get along very well with Anna for sure.

"Let Elizabeth have time to come and play, the engagement and formal wedding can wait until the people need some fun."

Schultz smiled, "Yes, Your Highness."

If Leader One’s life was a campus romance novel, Elizabeth’s character and appearance would undoubtedly be the leading role.

But Leader One’s life is not purely beautiful and small. His main character can only be Anna. Even though Elizabeth seems to have won a big victory on the surface, she is actually a loser…

Schultz and Freeman walked out of the prince regent’s office.

In the corridor, Freeman asked quietly, "Is Frederick the Great really resurrected?"

Schultz (with a look of amusement) replied, "And if he is?"

Freeman worried, "We must find a way to put Frederick the Great back in his tomb, as his reappearance will surely threaten the position of the prince regent."

Schultz, "You…forget it."

Anna from Prime Minister Palace quickly learned about the prince regent finalizing his engagement, she didn’t react much. She had previously tried to stop this engagement, but now she won’t, first because she accepted the reality, second because…

Anna murmured towards the direction of England, "Come on, child, become a caged canary, a queen in a seemingly glamorous vase. Perhaps you will be satisfied with your later life, but I sorrow for you."

"You came here, you can’t get anything except a title. Leader One won’t put you first, the one who sits in the first place can only be me, because I can give him a child that no one else can."

"Our child is named German Empire."

Some say she wasn’t angry, but she was actually angry. Anna took Catherine to tour and vacation on the coast of France, their relationship suddenly improved, and they went out to play together.

Well, things are not busy recently, a series of events have just ended. Anna wants to rest well, and Catherine too, so let the two of them go play.

There isn’t much official business to deal with in Prussia. Everything is progressing steadily under Leader One’s well-designed grand strategic guidance. The Cabinet and the Royal Affairs Office can handle these orderly affairs.

Leader One had nothing to do and lots of energy, so he started doing some of his hobbies.

Writing, drawing, and music were hobbies of Leader One, apart from being a prince regent, mainly because of his childhood education from some great masters.

Your Highness the Regent was composing a song during this time, feeling that Prussia’s military music was too few, too plain, and lacked a unique signature.

So he decided to write "Glory of Prussia", also known as Prussian Glory March, a song that was often referred to as an epic insult to France in Earth’s history, but Blue Star’s Leader One planned to write it in advance.

However, after so many years of time travel, many memories on Earth had become fuzzy, and the melody of that song was almost forgotten. Leader One spent days writing the music notes but felt that it wasn’t right.

He hummed the melody while holding the music notes:

Dung dung dung dung dung dung

Dung dung dung…

"This sounds like Roman music, not the epic insult to France."