The Nobleman's Confession

[Sil Dorsett]

Weeks after the heist of Phoebe Covington's yacht, Thomas Whittemore and Princess Alice were in the princess's office discussing their plan to bring the true mastermind behind the murder of Alice's father to justice. They had hit a brick wall; the trick with the bonds didn't yield hard evidence, as an NDF stooge cashed in the bonds and not the man they were both after.

"I don't see any other option, Alice," Thomas said. "I need to confess to your sister."

Only Thomas knew the truth about everything, but bringing it to light spelled doom for him since he was a co-consiprator at the early stages of the plot. Thomas and Alice had been working for months trying to devise some way to pin the plot on everyone involved but Thomas, but the last piece of the puzzle to win an indictment was Thomas's knowledge of the plot and everything he had done. There was no other option.

The next day, the Chamber of Rule housed three chairs; a gilded chair for Claidie, a gilded chair for Alice, and a silver plated one for Thomas. Alice and Thomas were already seated by the time Claidie arrived and silenced the guard that was prepared to announce her arrival. Claidie seemed confused by the arrangement; usually the chairs were fifteen in number with all of the barons sitting. Only one baron sitting seemed odd. Nonetheless, she took her place in a standoff between the nobleman that caused her so much trouble and the sister that seemed too willing to ignore it. Thomas, then, addressed the senior princess.

"Your highness, I've committed a crime, and I ask for your mercy."

 

[Sil Dorsett]

Claidie had a perplexed look on her face, tilting her head and squinting her eyes and she looked at the baron. She wasn't really sure what to make of it. Part of her suspected something trivial that maybe Thomas could have used as more vitriol against the nobility, but part of her also suspected that whatever this was, it was huge, it was about to go public, and confessing early might have been the strategy to quell some of the anger.

"What did you do?" Claidie calmly asked, closing her eyes and restraining herself from making any outburst.

Thomas looked around, noticing that the Prime Minister was not around. "Pardon, but could Miss Ellison be summoned here as well? I think she needs to hear this too."

A marshal at the door was sent to retrieve the minister, who promptly traveled to the Chamber of Law, terminated Prime Minister's Questions, and escorted the minister back to the Chamber of Rule with her notebook in hand. Taking a smaller audience chair, Madeline sat outside of the three chair circle and asked what the discussion was about. She was pointed in Thomas's direction, and she looked at him with curiosity.

"I was involved in a conspiracy to commit sedition and see to the end of the monarchy," Thomas confessed.

Sedition was a serious charge indeed, but the Claidie didn't seem angry; she was more confused than anything. The barons relied on princes and princesses to legitimize their titles and honours, so it didn't make sense to her that a baron would throw everything away like that. Something was off. There was more to the story.

"Start from the beginning. State why you conspired to overthrow the monarchy," Claidie ordered.

"I was promised the return of my family estate near Landereau, which was seized in that uprising. If the country became a republic, I would have been given part of my fortune back," Thomas explained.

"And why do you confess now?" Claidie wondered.

"Because I already did a while ago," Thomas answered.

"Remember how after the incident at the Norvalle National Bank, we interrogated those involved and they revealed that our cousin's yacht was the actual target?" Alice chimed in. "I reached out to Baron Whittemore to let him know about the increased security requirements for the marina, since he owns the stewarding company for several of the megayachts. I let it slip that had testimony that Sam Palmer was behind it. We originally wanted him for questioning about our father's death, but now we had criminal charges against him. We just couldn't find him."

"And even that heist was a desperate move when the original plan didn't seem to be working." Thomas said. "Remember the arranged marriage agreement I made with your father? That was part of it too.

Claidie was taken aback. Years of hatred and dissent against her father and against the nobility was now nothing more than a fabrication, an unnecessary falling out with the family.

"It was believed that you would resist the marriage plan and hold resentment against the nobility and the socialites," Thomas continued to explain. "The high society the few of us enjoy would be under the constant threat of extinction when you would eventually come to power, and we believed that the more you hated us, the more likely you were to actually do it. The whole plot relied on you becoming Princess so that you could end it, turn the nation into a republic, and then what I was promised would be given to me."

"The traditions of the past were never really your thing, Sis," Alice pointed out. "I think anyone who really knew you would have expected you to hold referendums on transitioning to a republic. It was all low risk and high reward for Thomas."

"Until you suspected that our father was murdered."

"I didn't even know of the plot to murder Stéphane," Thomas noted. "That must have been the result of him threatening to remove you from the line of succession. That would have ruined everything. That would have created a lot of pressure to see you in that seat as soon as possible."

"And then what?" Claidie asked. "Reforming the government as I did should have ruined it as well."

"And it did," Thomas confirmed, "until Alice's trip to Cogoria. The barons don't exactly consider her a reliable supporter of their lifestyle anymore. With neither monarch being trustworthy in supporting the high society any longer, the plan shifted to ransoming the barons to relieve the pressure on the two of you."

"And the attack on the Phoebe's yacht had something to do with that," Claidie suggested.

"Yes," Thomas confirmed. "The reason the yacht was targeted was to hold Baroness Covington at ransom, the ransom being that of her barony. She would have been released once she signed and sealed a document to disclaim her noble title. The document would have been mailed to you, and with her seal affixed to it, you would have seen it as legitimate."

"With no family among the barons any longer, that probably would have been the tipping point. I was already close to it after Baron Senault's outburst from when I proposed the end of princely decrees. And, I'm still frustrated with how they vote against anything I do even after my compromise. Not having my cousin there would have done it."

"But, the failure of the first attack on your cousin's yacht was the final nail in the coffin for the whole plan. After that, I was given an option to buy back the estate, but it was have been for a ridiculous amount, more than the estate was worth. And, since Sam Palmer was on the most wanted list, I had a feeling I was going to join him, so I confessed to Alice while she was talking to me about the security requirements for the marina."

"That was when I realized we had an even bigger problem than Sam Palmer," Alice stated.

"A bigger problem?"

"I wanted to know where that money was going to go; if it was personal or going to be used for something bigger. So, I had bonds printed and 'donated' them to the Severyn-Covington Foundation. Phoebe convinced her mother to let them mature, while Thomas touted the improved marina security. Combined with the problems at Norvalle National, the fact that the yacht was equipped with hidden safes, and that a yacht was an unconventional site to store valuables in the first place, it was enough to convince Marianne to entrust the bonds to Phoebe and her yacht."

"If you were going to print money, why not just give it directly to Thomas? Why go through all the extra hoops?" Claidie asked.

"I didn't have the money to pay the demand and I said I would get it, without being specific on how I was going to do it," Thomas said. "Being granted it from the government would have looked too suspicious, so that's why we set up the second heist. I had the bonds taken off the ship, and some time later 'audited' the ship and 'discovered' that the bonds were missing. I reported it to Marianne and made sure it got out to the media."

"Since the heist made headline news, it would have looked like Thomas's windfall of bonds was a crime and not a government payout. The bonds were eventually cashed in, and the bank notified me which account they went into," Alice said.

"Whose account?" Claidie asked.

"A corporate account. New Democratic Frontiers. Clement Northway's group," Alice confirmed.

"The mastermind behind the whole thing. He's been wanting to end the monarchy for years, and when he realized he wouldn't be able to get you to quit, he was just going to beat you at the ballot box and try to frustrate you into quitting by overflowing the Chamber of Law with NDF operatives that would just pile on the opposition to your endeavors."

Madeline's eyes opened wide as she gasped. While she was out on maternity leave, she attended an NDF rally to take measure of her competition. She had noted how focused Clement was on ending hereditary rule by abolishing the nobility and the monarchy. Now, she understood why he was using the NDF to accomplish that goal.

Thomas took notice of Madeline's reaction. "That's why I wanted to make sure you heard this too, Madam Prime Minister."

 

[Sil Dorsett]

The plot was one matter, but as Claidie would soon learn, history was as much of the cause of her father's demise as the murder itself and Clement's ambitions. She was in the dark, though, and her lack of understanding of the entire story left her confused and questioning. The story didn't make sense. Something was missing.

"How did you lose the estate in the first place?" Claidie wondered. "If it was yours, you could have just had the police boot Northway out of it."

"I think a bit of a history lesson is in order," Alice suggested.

"History lesson? What don't I know and why don't I know it?" Claidie asked her sister.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want the investigation compromised," Alice replied, and to her surprise, her sister seemed understanding. "As far as why you were never told in the first place, that's on your bad schooling."

"There was a rebellion about a century ago. Back then, the districts were baronies, administered the thirteen barons directly on behalf of the prince," Thomas explained. "They had a bit of leeway in how they acted, and had the right to enact various local laws. My ancestors increased taxes on the public to compensate for their estate taxes owed to the prince, and when the people found out about it they weren't pleased."

"Is this why the barons don't have authority over their namesake baronies anymore?" Claidie asked. "I always wondered why the titles remained in name only."

"Indeed. Landerau fell into rebellion, and Prince Aubin, the national army, and the local militias all refused to intervene, not wanting to shoot their own citizens. My estate was seized and my family run out of the barony." Thomas continued.

"To prevent the rebellion from spreading, Aubin removed the remaining barons from direct authority over their baronies and formed the Chamber of the Nobility, creating a second parliamentary house," Alice added on. "It protected the families and the estates of the remaining barons. But the Deschamps family, which eventually became the Whittemore family through marriage, never had their estate returned. It fell into the district administration's possession."

"Which meant eventually Northway became the executor of the estate," Claidie inferred.

"Exactly," Alice said. "Aubin ordered the incident be omitted from the history curricula as not to give future generations any bright ideas. Public schools and private academies were forbidden from mentioning it. Only palace tutors could teach it to future princely children, and when you were moved into a private academy, that's how you didn't learn about it."

Claidie paused for a moment, her mind overloaded with all of this new information and stories of history swept under the rug. She tried to piece the events together one-by-one. The events of a century ago and the ambitions of an anti-monarchy extremist doomed her father and her family, and she was left to pick up the pieces.

"So let me let this straight..." Claidie said, as she started to seek confirmation of the timeline of events, "A rebellion occurred, your family lost the estate and my ancestor refused to seize it back for you. Instead, he removes the barons from power to calm the people down. Clement Northway comes around a little less than a century later to offer you the estate in exchange for your help to have every hereditary position in the government abolished, including the other barons and the crown. You put enmity between me and my father, more so than there already was, and then Sam Palmer kills my father to ensure I make it to the throne."

By now Claidie's voice was gradually rising in anger and disbelief. "Then Palmer orders a strike against the "Princess Liselle", Phoebe's yacht, to hold her hostage until she disclaims her title, hoping that'd be enough for me to do Clement's work for him. And then, when that doesn't work, only then does he try to do things the legal way. Am I understanding all this right?"

"Essentially, yes," Thomas confirmed.

"Alice, when we're done with this meeting, we're going to the courts to get an arrest warrant for Northway," Claidie ordered.

Claidie, by now, had stopped making eye contact with anyone else in the room, staring out the palace windows, in complete shock. With Northway's fate essentially sealed, her thoughts now returned to Thomas and his involvement in the plot. There wasn't a need for him to be put on trial; he already asked for her mercy. He participated, but he eventually confessed and provided what was needed to put the mastermind away. "Was there a need for him to be punished?" she thought. A minute went by, and Claidie turned back towards Thomas.

"You've asked for my mercy, and I'm inclined to give it," Claidie told Thomas. "Ultimately, your confession today will bring this seditious plot to an end. But, I can't ignore what you did and what you tempted my father with. I also can't forget that all of this ended with my father dead and me on a throne that, because of what you and my father agreed to, I didn't want. My decision is this..."

The senior princess rose from her seat, telling Thomas to unseat himself and kneel, as if to humble him. Thomas's judgment was upon him, and he felt his heart beating heavier and faster. The princess wasn't known for her mercifulness towards the nobility, and so he had no reason to believe today would be any different. He was in fear of losing everything; a cruel irony considering all he went through to recover what belonged to him and his family.

"Thomas Whittemore, you asked for my mercy, effectively pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit sedition. Ordinarily, the punishment for sedition is ten years confinement. Given the mitigating circumstances in your case, I instead sentence you to two years confinement, suspended on the condition that you testify as a prosecution witness in Clement Northway's inevitable trial. If that trial doesn't happen, whether by him pleading guilty or through his death, your obligation will be satisfied. I am also stripping you of the title of "Baron of Landereau", but will allow your son Sebastien to succeed you and take your place in the Chamber of Law immediately. Is this agreeable to you?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Thomas affirmed. "I am forever indebted to you for your kindness."

Avoiding jail and only losing a title to his son filled Thomas with relief. Though the mark of shame of being a convicted felon would remain forever, he could at least move on past the dark days of his life. Redemption would come soon enough once his old carrot-dangler looked justice in the eye.

 

[Sil Dorsett]

Political rallies held months after an election used to be unheard of. Normally, election season didn't start until a quarter before voting day. The "New Democratic Frontiers" party was fully aware of this fact and knew that the only way to gain ground against the two established parties was to be a disruptor. "Disrupt, or be disrupted" was one of the taglines of their leader. The NDF strategy was to ignore tradition, be bold, and raise as many eyebrows as they could. Holding rallies in the off-season was part of the plan.

On the border of districts 11 and 14 was the township of Branaire, with a population of over thirty-three thousand. On this occasion, it played host to one of the NDF's rallies and their attempt to solidify the western vote for 2021. Clement Northway was on stage, giving yet another one of his incendiary soapbox rants.

"Those who have or are given power are the ones afraid to lose it," Clement said, part of the way through his speech. "I think everyone here expected Princess Claidie to just walk away even when our flawed laws favored her. But, that's not what happened, was it? Since she was gifted her power, she had no motivation to let it go. She will not let it go until we pry her hands open and grab it from her. It is our right to decide who leads us. It is all of us who have the responsibility to walk up to her and say... "We don't need you anymore.

"We'll take it from here. You go have fun. We'll do the real work," he said, waving his hands in a dismissive shooing motion. Clement didn't stop there. Claidie wasn't his only concern. He recalled the various conflicts up north that solidified monarchist positions. "We're lucky, though. Nobody here within the past couple of decades died trying to maintain our nation's namesake family's iron fist over us. Look north towards Prydania and Norsia and you can't say the same about them. The syndicalists and communists had the right idea tearing down the high society classes, but boy did they screw the pooch in trying to keep the public in good spirits. That's the real reason they lost. Monarchy was just the object that the resistance held onto.

"We do not have to be like that. We can do it right. We can all have a voice and not be made to obey the words of one man or woman, whether Chairman or Princess. If you don't like the Prime Minister, kick her out in 2023. If you don't like the NDF party's president, join us and kick him out too. Take control. Everyone here has that opportunity."

Clement was nearing the end of his pitch when several police cars with lights on parked behind the gathered crowd. A squadron of officers made their way through and around them, and within a minute was making their way up to the stage. Clement stood in place, taunting the officers as they approached him.

"Has the tyrant bitch finally had enough of me?" he asked, through the microphone so all could hear.

The lead officer refused to answer, sticking to the script he was ordered to follow. "Clement Northway, you're under arrest for sedition and conspiracy to commit murder..."

As the officer read Clement his rights, he shouted over the officer and to the crowd "Today, I become a martyr for your freedom!" as he was whisked away to the back of a waiting cruiser.

Meanwhile, everyone in attendance had plenty of time to process what happened. "Was the sedition charge fair? Didn't he have the right to speak out? Is freedom of speech dead?" some in the crowd thought. Others recalled the other charge: Murder, or at least conspiracy to commit it. Nobody knew at that moment what that charge was for, and who he allegedly killed or had killed. The people of Branaire left the rally with more questions than they came with.

---

A week later, Clement was taken to a courtroom in Norvalle, with one of his alleged crimes being a crime against the principality. Standing in front of the judge, he listened as the charges were repeated: Sedition, and conspiracy to commit murder, specifically the murder of Samuel Palmer. He knew right then that his gamble with Whittemore backfired.

The judge then asked for Clement's plea, and his answer shocked the courtroom. "I plead guilty, and appeal to the mercy of Her Highness, Princess Claidie."

 

[Sil Dorsett]

Chateauroche Oubliette, a dark blight underneath an otherwise bright cityscape, often housed housed the principality's most irredeemable criminals. When one was deemed beyond the normal means of penance and salvation, they'd be cast down into the basement of the city's prison. People would often joke that those sent there are never seen again, forgotten, given a virtual death sentence. The reality was that it was just another cell block, just without natural sunlight and dimmed lighting, designed to make those inside regret the choices that sent them there.

Clement had been there for three days since making his plea for mercy. Neither princess was amused by his antics and both agreed to order him there. They wanted to see if a few days in the oubliette would break him before his hearing in front of Claidie and give him a taste of what might be his home for some time. With the hearing only a day away, though, Clement was moved back upstairs. He had a visitor, one he did not particularly care to see. On the other side of the glass wall, with phone in hand, a now former baron was waiting. He was all smiles in his tweed suit, knowing full well how he had escaped the same fate as Clement.

"I should have known, really, that you were going to sell me out," Clement begrudgingly reflected out loud to Thomas. "How come you're not back here with me? Royals and nobles protecting each other again? I guess I really have failed, at least in part..."

"I think giving me what I wanted was the mistake that'll see you put away for a long time. See, once I had my estate back, I didn't need to protect you anymore for anything," Thomas explained.

"Right, and the money was..."

"Real, but traceable and removed. NDF's not keeping a thing."

"And you keep your estate and your title."

"Not quite. I had my title stripped from me."

Clement was confused. He knew how valuable a noble title was for inflating the status of one's brand. It didn't make sense to him that Thomas would so easily risk it if it was indeed at risk. He thought Thomas was working side-by-side with Claidie, but now that didn't seem to be the case.

"So, if you were risking punishment, why'd you do it? Why'd you confess?" Clement asked.

"Clement, there's one thing you've forgotten, and in forgetting it yourself and making me do your dirty work, you actually helped Claidie forget it too," Thomas replied. "See, that whole thing about noblemen and women being nothing more than socialites trading sons and daughters around? That's just a myth; a myth you bought, and a myth Claidie bought too. The truth is, after the rebellion in Landereau, we made sure not to repeat our mistakes. You didn't even consider the causes we champion now, the philanthropy we engage in, the employment and training opportunities we give, the leadership guidance we provide."

"All so you can stitch your pockets with golden threads."

"So that we give back the country we call home. And what have you done? You've made people distrust the elected politicians and look to Her Highness for guidance. You did the exact opposite of what your goal was."

"I inspired people to stand up for their right to have a choice!" Clement furiously yelled at the top of his lungs while standing and throwing his fists down on the desk. He stood there, looking down to the ground, shaking in anger before sitting back down. "The people deserve to have a choice, and they'll have it. That was my goal all along."

Thomas leaned back in his chair squinting and raising an eyebrow, stunned by what Clement had said and moreso by the fury in which he said it. He sat in his chair for a few moments before standing up and putting his coat on. He didn't need to say anything more; he had his revenge.

"Make sure to tell her that at your hearing," Thomas suggested. "Remind her why her father died. See where that gets you."

 

[Sil Dorsett]

The barons, legislators, cabinet ministers and advisors all congregated in the Chamber of Rule, directed to individually assigned seats by the palace guards. Legislators occupied the right while the ministers and such occupied the left. None of them knew why they were called. All they knew was that they had been called; summoned by Princess Claidie to attend to her. Conspiculously, the place where the thrones sat only had one seat, and its rightful owner had not yet come to take it.

While the Prime Minister was chatting with the members of parliament, Princess Alice sat closest to the throne on the right side next to her aunt, Marianne. Not knowing anything about what her sister was doing, she picked the brain of her wise advisor, hoping she understood what was about to happen.

"If this is what I think it is, I haven't seen a proper Princely Court since your father was around," Marianne guessed. "If she comes in wearing a regal gown, it'll be a first, and I have no idea why she would."

As if on cue, the back door to the chamber opened, and a herald stepped forward. Everyone stood, some more hesitantly than others, unsure of what was going on. With a boisterous voice, the herald announced the arrival that all awaited. "Her Royal Highness, Claidie, Princess of Sil Dorsett," the herald yelled.

Claidie walked in slowly, stoically gazing at each and every member of her government, totally emotionless. With scepter, gown, cape and crown, she took the throne she owned alone. The others sat down, as stoic as their ruler, but the younger sister Alice remained unseated.

"Your Highness," Alice addressed her sister, seemingly yielding to her authority, "given that we and the Prime Minister agreed two years ago to act as a unified body, shouldn't we stand with you in today's proceedings?"

"Today's agenda only requires one of us to sit here," Claidie responded. Calling out to the sentinels at the chamber door, she ordered that the session begin. "Bring in the defendant."

The doors opened, and Clement Northway was escorted through the center aisle, cuffed and chained by hands and feet, and the princely guard covering the four corners of the box around him. Standing in the center of the room, he fixed his stare straight ahead at the woman who unknowingly ruined everything for him. The parliamentarians were in shock. The sentencing of an admitted felon didn't require their presence, but it was clear what was going on. This was a demonstration. This was Claidie asserting herself. This was Claidie showing exactly how serious she could be.

"At last, we meet for the first time," Clement said with a hint of contempt towards his adversary.

"For the last time," Claidie said, correcting her foe.

Judgment day had come, and everyone was about to bear witness to it.

 

[Sil Dorsett]

Reading from a traditional sheet of parchment sent by the court, Claidie coldly read the charges handwritten upon it for all to hear, and the nature of the princely court was made even clearer.

"Clement Northway, the court has sent me word that you wish to plea for mercy, in effect pleading guilty to the following charges... Conspiracy to Murder, specifically related to the murder of Samuel Palmer, and Seditious Conspiracy. We'll begin with the first of these counts...

"You've plead guilty to being a principal actor in the murder of Samuel Palmer, through either planning or ordering the commission of the crime. The court recommended sentence for this act is imprisonment for no less than twenty and no more than forty years. Why do you ask that I reduce this?"

"If I may ask," Clement countered, "how is it that I was even charged with such a crime? On whose word do you have it that I orchestrated it? How do you even know he's dead? Was a body ever recovered?"

Claidie paused for a moment, arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, bewildered by Clement's defense before revealing all she knew. "An eyewitness came forward," she announced, referring to the former baron Thomas, "and two others, your associates, confessed."

"But do you have a body?" Clement pressed on. "You have the words of felons, do you have proof of it?"

"If it's not true, then you should have plead 'not guilty' in court and let a jury decide. It's not for me to assign blame and determine guilt," an agitated Claidie replied. "When these matters come to me, my duty is to show mercy or to condemn. So I ask you again... Why should I show you mercy for this crime?"

"Because you can't make a fair judgment without knowing the whole truth!"

She tensed up, paralyzed by anger. She knew he was right, and she knew what Clement was trying to prove: that an old tradition was flawed and rendered obsolete. The plea for mercy itself had a vulnerability. She knew that if one tradition was shown to be faulty, every tradition and every custom was at risk. As much as she bucked tradition before, this was too much for one moment. She had to think on her feet and make it right to mitigate as much damage as she could, even if too much had already been done.

"You're right. And the truth is what matters above all else," Claidie stated. "I therefore decide the following..." She paused for a moment to ensure she had everyone's attention. "... that the case be sent back to the courts for a proper trial. A plea of "Not Guilty" will be entered on your behalf, and should you change it again to a guilty plea prior to the conclusion of the trial, you will automatically be sentenced to the maximum of forty years imprisonment with no chance of parole. Do you understand?"

"Fine," Clement replied. "I've already won that one..."

"Now, count two of the indictment..."

 

[Sil Dorsett]

"You've pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, as you attempted the overthrow of the lawful government of the nation through manipulation, coercion, and perfidious acts," Claidie said, reading from the charge sheet again. "The law mandates a mandatory punishment of ten years imprisonment. Why do you ask that I reduce this?"

"I don't. As a matter of fact, I don't care whether you do or do not," Clement responded, mocking the proceedings. He smiled, knowing the doubt he sowed during the first charge could save him again. It was his last chance to win and see his plan to completion, and he was confident.

"Then we're done here," Claidie replied, annoyed by the game Clement was playing. "All you've done is waste my time, and in turn, I've wasted everyone else's."

"But see, that's where you fail to understand the point of all of this," Clement asserted. "This isn't about trying to get off easy. This is about finishing what I started. In this very chamber, I call on you and your sister to abdicate and abolish the monarchy."

The parliamentarians' jeers drowned out all the noise in the chamber, the barons and baronesses rolled their eyes, but Claidie hardly moved. She just sat there, glaring at Clement. "So that's why he pleaded for mercy. Just to get to me," Claidie thought to herself. She contemplated just saying "no" and ending the assembly, but she saw an opportunity. She grinned noticeably and gently motioned for everyone to settle down.

"And what is your reasoning behind that?" she asked, expecting a long-winded tirade. She wouldn't be disappointed.

"Because you and your sister, or hell, anyone in your family for that matter, hasn't earned the right to govern. You haven't earned the favor of this nation, instead only enjoying a relaxing life as socialites, holding parties for your wealthy friends."

"Are you just going to repeat your campaign speeches, Mister Northway? I've heard them before," Claidie interrupted, sparking laughter from the crowd.

"Governance by the people is the natural evolution of orderly societies," Clement said, carrying on and ignoring the interruption. "What I did was the right thing to do because it was the only way for our nation to advance, knowing how resistant your family is to letting go. Think of all the other monarchies who don't exercise absolute power, but let their people govern while they remain symbols of the state. They do this because they know rebellion would otherwise be imminent."

"But you're not asking for us to transition to a symbolic monarchy, you're asking for the total absolution of it here, so what's the difference?" Claidie inquired.

"Because you, nor your family, nor these barons, nor any other king, emperor, what have you, is deserving of any special privilege just for being born into the correct household," Clement answered. He then pointed to Madeline, sitting in the front row as he continued. "Prime Minister Ellison has more right to be afforded any 'privilege' than you. She may be young and inexperienced compared to most of everyone here, but at least she earned the right to sit where she sits by winning the favor of the people. You, on the other hand, ignoring the fact that you probably knew how stupid the system was anyways, fled from public life. How long were you gone? What did you do? Nobody knows and nobody cares. But, then, one day you just show up and it's 'All bow down to me!', and all you had to do was wait for your father to die."

While Claidie was biting her lip, trying to hide her anger, she found herself unable to contain the wrath of the assembly. The boos, jeers, and cries of "Shame" were neverending, and even the princess standing and quietly motioning for everyone to calm down wasn't enough. An MP from the Foundations party even took off one of his shoes and threw it at Clement, though it was a bad throw and missed, but lead to his removal from the chamber by one of the bailiffs regardless. Chaos reigned. "Order!!!" Claidie bellowed a few times with as much volume as she could before the assembly finally gave her a chance to respond.

"Hatred or jealousy," Claidie contemplated. "I think that's the core question at hand. I understand your gripe, Clement. I know how it seems archaic that one man or woman be elevated above others for no reason beyond inheritance. And I can understand how you feel frustrated that despite me knowing these things, I haven't done anything about it. But, you should know that such a drastic change will not come without its detractors. I'm sure my sister would not have appreciated losing a birthright promised to her to my whims.

"Your frustration does not justify how you tried to upend the order of our society. Rather than gather people to petition the government for a change, you sought to change it through trickery and deceit. Instead of gathering thousands of petitions asking that I put the fate of the monarchy in a referendum, you instead preyed upon my youth and my tendency to question everything, hoping for a sudden, impactful, ill-conceived, and potentially dangerous course of action. And ultimately, your course of action resulted in a murder. I may have had difficulties with my father and the manner of which he raised me and governed this nation, but none of that meant he deserved to die."

The room was silent as Claidie sat back down on her throne. She closed her eyes and spent a minute thinking to herself, contemplating an appropriate punishment for Clement. She tried to recall how her ancestors might have handled the case. She also looked around at the congregation, gauging their feelings. Alice seemed angry and hoping for something severe. Many of the elected representatives, Madeline included, seemed like they were trying to be emotionless. Clement continued his staredown with the senior princess, though it was ultimately ignored. With her thoughts gathered, Claidie rose again.

"Clement Northway, I see no reason to grant you mercy. For the crime of seditious conspiracy, I hereby sentence you under the law to ten years imprisonment," Claidie declared. "Bailiff, return the prisoner to Chateauroche Oubliette while he awaits trial for the other charge."

Realizing the futility of speaking out any further, Clement was silent as he was lead out of the chamber. Claidie also left the chamber without another word, not even bothering to dismiss the rest of the government. Alice walked over to Claidie's seat and called the assembly to order, only to then formally send them back to their own chamber, before following her sister out the door she exited through.

 

[Sil Dorsett]

Three weeks later...

Chateauroche Oubliette was just as dark as the first time Clement was put in. Most of the day, he would lie in bed. No television to watch, no books to read, just waiting to either die or be released, the latter of which was still a long ways away. He kept a smile on, though, believing his self-proclaimed martyrdom was only the beginning of the end of the monarchy, and praying that others would follow him.

A guard approached Clement's cell. "Northway, visitor," he yelled. Clement was escorted upstairs once more and put behind safety glass, and again was greeted by the former baron he once tormented. Clement remained quiet though, keeping his smug smirk and looking down at the desk rather than look at Thomas. He had nothing more to say, and figured he'd just let Thomas rant.

"Twenty to thirty-five years, eh?" Thomas muttered. "If you think about it, I guess it was a good thing for you that I didn't tell you or her that they found the body. She would have put you away for the full forty, no parole, if she knew. Instead, you just got dinged as a contributor."

Clement kept silent.

"You know, this whole thing pretty much ruined the NDF. Maybe even ruined the whole republican movement. They are going to need some serious rebranding if they want to keep their seats in 2021. I mean, hell, to even get the attention of foreign governments and be banned... that's rough. I mean, that can't be what you expected to have happen, right?"

Clement still kept silent.

"Of course not," Thomas said, answering himself. "Your movement is dying, and your favorite princess is coming around and actually working with her peers now, finding something fair for us all and not just looking to punish us. Her sister even told me she's even contemplating a full pardon for me. I'll get my voting rights back, my gun license... maybe not my title, though. My son will probably keep that."

Clement still kept silent. Thomas realized he was on a monologue and that Clement didn't have an interest in saying anything or listening. He knew it was time to go home.

"You put so much into that girl hating her father over an arranged marriage proposal. You banked the whole thing on that. You pushed me so hard to get that done, you thought it was a thing of brilliance, and look what happened to you. The funny thing is, Clement..." Thomas said, as he put his coat back on and walked to the room's door.

"I was going to ask Stéphane about it anyways myself."

~fin~​