Chapter 16

Princess Marie Louise, wife of Prince Aribert of Anhalt. After the incident with her husband back then in London, she sent a letter apologizing to Frederick for her husband's behavior, but after exchanging letters they quickly hit off and became good friends.

Princess Marie Louise is an elegant woman with blue eyes, blonde hair, and a slender figure.

Princess Marie's POV:

'I can't believe I came here' thought Marie

Suddenly the entrance of the main hall opened and a handsome man with blue eyes and black hair came over her.

"Hello Princess Marie, my good friend. How are you doing? From your letter, I thought you would have been visiting Vienna!" Frederick said with a smile.

"Greetings your Highness, sorry for my unannounced visit. I was planning to visit your country with my husband Ariberth but he met a troublesome matter back in Vienna so he would stay a few more days there." I said frustrated.

"So that's how it is. Don't feel sorry my dear friend you are always welcome in our kingdom although is not as prosperous as London or Vienna, I'll make sure to arrange a nice villa for you two, do you plan a tour around Romania? Constanta's beaches are not bad, I'm sure you will like them!" Frederick said trying to promote their local tourism.

"Thanks, Your Highness, I will be staying here for a few days until my husband arrives, and at that time will be taking a ship to return to London."

"Please stop being so formal, We are friends, aren't we? You can stay all the time you want, this is a huge palace with so many empty rooms. Now, tell me how was your trip? I heard Vienna is declining as time passes. Frederick said expressing his anticipation.

After two hours of conversation, the conversation came to an end when Frederick was called off to an urgent matter.

'I can't believe I came here of all the places I could have gone. That bastard Aribert probably won't try to meet me here after all the shame and humiliation he brought to me, that sick bastard is probably dealing with the aftermath of his disgusting practices.' I thought while feeling rage, shame, and powerlessness.

End of princess Marie's pov.

Frederick was called urgently, it seems that workers rioted in Giurgiu, a city located next to the Danube River and the frontier of the principality of Bulgaria.

Hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor leading to the main hall after arriving Frederick could hear the cabinet discussing.

"What do you mean how can we negotiate with foreign workers? We must grant permission to the local garrison to quell the riot!" The Minister of Defense said angrily.

Several ministers including the deputy prime minister nodded at his words.

"I'm just saying that we don't know why they're rioting, they said that it was for the low wages and high working hours but we didn't pass a bill before about workers' rights? The Minister of Education said calmly.

"The Minister of Education is right, we must act cautiously as it can be a conspiracy to suppress them by force, maybe someone with other intentions is doing all this" Prime Minister Nicolae Ciolacu said with a serious voice.

The minister of Education and the Prime minister were the only ones from civilian backgrounds in the cabinet after Carol I promoted military men to high positions. People always loved heroes, so after the War of Independence the military party was very successful in Romanian politics.

Giurgiu city is located near the Danube River, It can be considered the main commercial city of Romania as its port is used by a lot of export and import businesses. The Danube River goes all the way from the black sea to Germany, If it wasn't for the city's dangerous position as a frontier city with the principality of Bulgaria and that the trading is just limited to a few countries in Europe, Frederick would have prioritized the development of the city instead of constanta.

After all, the kingdom can't fully develop a port city that can be controlled by other countries' trade policies, that's why Frederick is eager to build a huge army and expand to the Mediterranean Sea as soon as an opportunity arrives.

"Then we should send an investigation team escorted by a battalion(1000) of soldiers. It should be enough if they collaborate with the local government, don't use the local garrison, send one from Bucharest" King Carol I said with a stern expression.

After the king gave the order, everyone followed it and quickly came up with a list of names that would form the investigation team.

Frederick was left alone with his father.

"What do you think? Why did the local government send a report so vague about the Bulgarian worker's riot?"

"Father, since we passed the bill protecting Romanian worker's rights, we didn't specify foreign workers, right? It seems some people are trying to cover it, they should have hired Bulgarian illegal immigrants to work for more hours and less wages."

"I thought the same but that's normal practice everywhere that's why I ordered to send an investigation team to find the reason, at least 30 thousand Bulgarian workers are participating in the riot, and to organize such a massive number in a "city" of less than 70 thousand people is too exaggerated."

June 21st, Bucharest-Giurgiu railway line, Romania.

Vasile Mihai is a common name fitting a common-looking man, Vasile is an outstanding official contrary to his ordinary appearance, he was sent by the central government to investigate irregularities in Giurgiu port city.

Vasile Mihai's POV:

In the train, the investigation team with a group of 50 soldiers were heading to Giurgiu city. Vasile decided to split the battalion before coming here after some consideration.

"Chief, are you sure just bringing 50 soldiers with us is enough?"

"That's right sir, it was reported a riot of at least 30 thousand people, How could we suppress the riot just with 50 soldiers?"

Everyone on the team looked at Vasile with worry.

"Calm down, we aren't here to suppress the riot by force, our mission is to investigate what's the cause and report it back to the central government,"

"Furthermore, you aren't allowed to say that there's a battalion of soldiers outside the city. We need to find the instigators before calling them in, is meaningless to arrive with the army and disperse the rioters while the masterminds run away." I said sternly.

After the investigation team arrived at the railway station, they were received by the major and a few more government officials. After a few formalities, they went straight to the main topic:

"Gentlemen, we are here representing His Majesty the King to investigate the causes of the riot and if possible quell them. Can you please give us more information about what's going on?" I asked

"Chief Inspector Mihai, the riots started on the 18th in the afternoon at first we tried to quell them by ourselves but things got out of control fast. A lot of Bulgarian immigrants were involved in the riots only a minority of Romanians joined." said the local Police Chief

"We also tried several times to dialogue with the rioters but to no avail. In the report to the central government, we recommended bringing the army directly to expel the Bulgarian Immigrants from our kingdom not an investigation team" expressed the city's Mayor his dissatisfaction.

Vasile listened all to what they had to say and it's the same as in the report. He thought for a moment and quickly came to a conclusion.

"Don't worry gentlemen, just cooperate with our investigation so we can quickly quell the riots."

The next day, Vasile sent a small group of investigators to interview locals and if possible the Bulgarian immigrants in secret.

It turns out that at least 60% of the "Bulgarian" immigrants were Romanian ethnic group that lived in Bulgaria and the reason for their riot was that a local business hadn't paid their wages for months also the 30,000 rioters were only 6,000 at most, and after some inquiries, there are several more irregularities.

Luckily the central government didn't approve the local garrison to suppress the rioters otherwise it could have caused a major problem instead.

"Do you mean that the local government is selling work permissions?"

"Yes chief, the Bulgarian workers said that a few days ago they figured out that these work permissions are meant to be given free for Romanian ethnic people, also the local government even conspired with a French mining company to send "illegal immigrants" to work as miners for 40% of wages required by law.

The new law specified that each region must have a clear record of local workers and immigrant workers to regularly check at their workplaces. The local government went as far as selling the work permissions and those who couldn't afford it were "helped" in finding a job that could help them pay.

"As we dig deeper, we discover more irregularities and crimes than expected. Report it back to the Royal Palace, don't report to the central government."

'If I guessed it right, the central government knew about what was going on here but the king might be unaware of it, the royal family is getting more influential every day it's a good choice to be on their good side ' I thought.

End of Vasile Mihai's POV.

Carol I put down the report he received from the investigation team and was extremely pissed.

"Do you mind explaining this to me, my reliable and loyal ministers?" King Carol I, questioned while emphasizing "reliable" and "loyal".

"Your majesty is that local government that's corrupted, we should arrest them and send a replacement as soon as possible."

"That's right, your majesty these people must be punished as soon as possible"

Several ministers voiced their opinions.

'It seems other than the big landowners, our kingdom has a lot of more internal problems' thought Frederick

"Alright them, let's do as you said."

After everyone left, Crown Prince Frederick and King Carol I were left discussing something that would bring huge changes to Romania.

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Author note: The prime minister and Minister of education are fictitious characters that never appeared in history.

(2) nope, Princess Marie isn't MC's future bride, I might use her in the future for something else.