Volume 1 Extra Chapter 2: Princess Adriana

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Princess Adriana, 2nd princess of the Kingdom of Epruilon. Known among the masses as a traitor and the Flower of the Kingdom.

It started back with the death of the king, Anthony II.

He named 1st Prince Phillip Wallace as his successor. However this angered the 2nd prince Joseph who was also aiming for the throne.

The problem was Phillip was the son of the king and a baroness. Joseph was the son of the king and a countess. Joseph outranked Phillip by birth but was denied the right to the throne.

This coupled with Joseph's internal connections with the army and other foreign states allowed him to mass considerable support for a civil war.

The civil war embroiled the nation. Many chose to stand with the Junta instead of the Crown.

Phillip was not very popular since he was viewed as a weak ruler who was influenced by his wife.

However their support waned when she and her brother Andrew entered the stage.

She was quite popular among the masses while Andrew was known among the military lower staff. His ties with the master marshal Erik and the duchess Nina Wallace gave them significant power.

However during the first battle they were crushed.

The betrayal of General Carlos Nelson allowed for their rear to be exposed and they were encircled.

Fearing complete destruction Prince Phillip convinced her and Andrew to flee.

She could remember the remorse in his voice when he steeped himself to his fate.

"Go."

They had fled and were labeled as fugitives.

They were lucky to meet by chance with the mysterious nation of Germany.

This land was supposed to be full of ocean yet a whole continent lay in its place.

It must be divine intervention which allowed them to find such a strong ally in their time of need.

However it came at a price, the whole kingdom.

The 'Kaiser' Wilhelm X greeted them well.

Clean shaven, built, tall and charismatic he had all the attention whenever he entered a room.

His jet black hair make him stand out from the others who had brown, grey or blond hair. They wore strange black suits with armbands displaying their flag on it.

It was apparent what the Kaiser intended when he asked to speak with them in private.

He wanted her hand in marriage.

She couldn't refuse, it was either her or her kingdom. She must save her people from the tyranny of the Junta.

Adriana has no choice but to accept his terms for a marriage alliance although she was puzzled as to why he didn't ask for the whole kingdom. He only wanted useless black liquid fire and other mines without much value.

However she knew that it wasn't a bad trade. She have had friends in her social group who were forcibly engaged to older men. This Kaiser person was considerably young and reasonable.

She deducted that this was not the worst thing to happen to her.

"Dear, are paying attention?"

Adriana came back to reality. They had only been engaged the last week. They still had about a week until the official wedding. She was on the couch in her husband's office.

"Oh sorry, I was thinking about the past."

"Ah, I'm sorry to disturb you."

"No it's okay. I was remembering when my brother died."

The two were quite for a bit. She felt very awkward to talk to a man who she barely knew yet even less she understood.

He did unusual things like speak into a red curved rod and kicked a black and white checkered round object outside with the guards.

It was refreshing to bask in the serenity and peace of Berlin.

She wandered the streets with armed guards and was offered many strange treats by local venders.

Always one of the guards tasted the food in case of poison but there never was any.

Large grey sleek carriages clacked down the many roads in the city. 'Cars' they were called.

She didn't understand how they moved. She did understand how important they were. Horses were expensive but these cars didn't need to be drawn.

Black fire liquid fueled these machines she learned later. Only then did she understand it's importance.

This place was a mini world in itself.

Then she remembered the small round object from earlier.

"What is that black and white thing you kick around outside?"

"Oh!"

The Kaiser's face lit up. He was excited for some reason.

"That is a football. We kick it around for sport. Well there are two goals where we would score points in using the ball."

"I don't understand."

"Uh, ah. How about this. This is a message (ball). Your team must send the message to the castle (goal) on the other side. The enemy team tries to send the same message to their castle on your side. A person blocks the castle and everyone else tries to send the message (score)."

"I think I understand."

"You want to try?"

Adriana looked up to a Kaiser who was much different from before. He was commanding and bold in the presence of military officers and foreign royalty but with his wife his attitude took a 180 degree turn and he turned into an excited child.

Adriana giggled a bit and stuck her left hand out.

The Kaiser took it and they walked from the office to the front yard.

The front of the Reichstag held the camps of the 17th NSS regiment. They were assigned strictly to the Reichstag as guards and personnel in case of an attack.

Several small '3.7 cm Flak 43' anti air guns were stationed on the yard with appropriate personnel.

The auxiliary troops looked up to see their Kaiser and his wife descend down the stairs of the Reichstag and they stopped what they were doing and saluted.

The Kaiser saluted back and approached one of the anti air crew.

"Fancy a game of ball?"

The Kaiser took a white football from one of his guards and popped it up and then caught it.

The flak crew started gathering and formed two teams.

Using the space between two Opel Blitzes on one side and a 3.7 flak gun and a barricade on the other they formed goals.

Wilhelm took the arm of Adriana and they played cheerfully with the flak crew plus a few other officers who joined them.

It was a mess of people running the yard while chasing the ball.

Adriana laughed as her golden hair blew in the breeze which flew into her face obscuring her vision.

There were several instances of confusion where a man tripped over a stationary ammo box and another ran into a Gefreiter who was checking things off a clipboard.

However Adriana was having a great time. She giggled when she got to kick the ball and watched as two men were facing off for control of the ball another time.

It was an interesting display of humanity of the people of her new home. She learned several customs from the soldiers such as trading cigarettes which the Kaiser refused to let her try.

She observed with great interest where a Soldat got the ball and started juggling it with his feet only. The skill and balance displayed by the soldier reminded her of an activity which the did back in the Kingdom.

"Dear, you called this activity football right? It reminds me of Gatrra back home. The ball and feet parts were the same but only one man could have the ball at a time and several others had to steal it from him in order to get a chance at winning. The man with the longest hold on the ball won."

"Hm, that sounds like an interesting sport. Let's try it."

Wilhelm motioned a few soldiers to him and explained the new sport.

They nodded their heads and spoke a bit more before heading back to their respective teams.

Then they gathered into a circle.

One man planted his right foot on the ball in the middle of the circle. Two others broke off from the circle and started to try and steal the ball with their feet.

The three struggled with other men in the circle cheering their preferred player on.

The first soldiers dodged a sweep from the second soldier but got the ball stolen from the third. Then the first and second soldiers tried to steal from the third soldier.

The men watching continued to holler and cheer. Several pedestrians from the street stopped to see what was happening. The guards by the gate also turned to the commotion.

The Kaiser laughed and mingled with the soldiers as well, collectively dodging two of the playing men who crashed into the ring of people.

Then the inevitable happened. After the first group another three replaced them and continued the game.

However one of the soldiers stepped awkwardly and tripped. He fell backwards and landed on the ball.

A loud pop echoed through the yard.

"Aw come on."

"Damn, I didn't even get a chance."

"Oh well, back to work lads."

The soldiers slowly filtered back to their respective posts.

Wilhelm took Adriana's left arm and escorted her back inside the Reichstag.

"Oof, that was fun."

She plopped down onto the couch and put her legs up.

"Ah sorry, I think I cramped my leg."

"No worries, this is your home as well."

Adriana could feel herself at home here. It was peaceful and the people did not seem as dead as in the capital of Minas where only the elites wore faces of hope.

This thing they call 'welfare' is one of the reasons for the peace. The government pays for things like recreational buildings and 'healthcare'. This would take burdens off the people who needed these things.

Adriana recognized how thought out everything was. Designed for maximum efficiency.

Of course her husband was busy making changes and the war was far from over yet.

However she had hope that she would be able to see a peaceful kingdom like this empire was.

"Do you think that you can stop my siblings?"

"Of course, Germany above all."