Chapter 15: Chapter 11: Backstabbing on a grand scale ( Conclusion?) (R-18 in the first part)

On the morning of the next day, Rosa is woken up due to a sudden rush of pleasure, her maid is busy eating her pussy out. Rosa is secretly thankful that the room has good soundproofing because her maid is just too good at pleasuring her. She has no idea how long has the maid been doing this, and she doubts she will last much longer.

"Mary... Ah, slow down a bit!" Uncaring for her cries, Mary the maid gently bites on her clit while pushing two fingers inside Rosa. " No! Ahhh!"

Rosa comes, her fluid scores hits on Mary's face who licks them up with a smirk.

The maid says amidst Rosa's heaves, she feels a sense of vindication seeing Rosa's bedraggled state. "Good morning, master. I hope you like the way I woke you up?"

Still bathing in the afterglow of her morning sex, if you could even call it that, Rosa directs a glare at Mary. The maid in response just nods with a mischievous smile. "I will take that as a yes. Come, I will carry you to the bathroom. Let's get yourself clean and well-dressed for the upcoming party."

Having no strength left in her lower body to the maid's usual morning prank, Rosa outstretches her arms, allowing Mary to carry her to the bathroom.

On the way, Rosa says with a pout. " You all are evil."

"Ahaha, that's because you're too cute and fail miserably at trying to be domineering."

Rosa has no retort at that because it's true. Though, this will be a story for another day.

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With the arrival of Princess Rosa Bonaparte, the city is now a hub of bustling activities. People here temporarily forget the looming threat that is the Belkans, even though they will soon be at their gate. Due to the sudden festivity, the security of the city is beefed up but the soldiers' minds are elsewhere, they too got carried away by the atmosphere. Such negligence will be their downfall.

Manning a military kitchen, a chef checks the surrounding for possible witnesses. After making sure the coast is cleared, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a seasoning jar. He then proceeds to pour the mysterious content inside the meat soup. It's planned for this soup to reach the soldiers guarding the gates to the city, they won't know what will hit them, that's for sure.

The chef lets out a sigh before tucking away the tasteless and odorless poison. He rings a bell, calls in his assistant, and has them prepare to send away the soup. After making sure everything is secured and none the wiser, he then begins making new spiked meals. This won't be the first dish he poisoned nor will it be the last for the day. He secretly wonders how his fellow poisoners fare in their respective duties while turning up the flame of the oven.

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Back at Francis's villa. The host of the house is welcoming prestigious guests of the city. Representatives from all walks of life flock to the entrance of the villa, in hope that once they attend the party, they will be able to build rapport with not just the Princess, but everybody else. To be honest, Francis is dead tired of maintaining pleasantry with these boot lickers. Worse of all is the money-grubbers from the Bank, they subtly threatened him that they will complain to the Princess about his delays. Huh, as if they would have the chance.

If it wasn't for Alia which is by his side, he would have gone inside and let Jeremy do all the work. But alas, he manages to soldier through everything, and the guests are all accounted for. Nodding to Jeremy who is standing in a secluded corner, his aide understands the signal and heads out for the kitchen.

"Come on, dear. Let's head inside, everyone should be waiting for Rosa right now." 

Alia holds her husband's right arm while they move to the back of the villa. There, the servants have already set up a proper outdoor party, their guests are already making themselves comfortable. With a quick glance, you can see the venue is divided into factions. Most notably are the Army, Navy, merchants, and industrialists... They each take a corner for themselves as they mingle mostly with the people in their group.

Per protocols, Alia and Francis have to go around everywhere to interact with the guests. This continued for quite a while and after a long period of fake laughs and subtle jabs at each other, the guest of honor arrives. Rosa's entry into the avenue includes a red carpet, a bunches of red roses, and a music band playing a spirited song. The color red on the background suits her white dress very well.

Her slow walk to the main table gathers the wishful gazes of many presents, yet they know better to intrude on her right now. So, her regal walk goes on undisturbed, and soon, she arrives near Alia and Francis.

" Uncle and Aunt, it's a pleasant morning for a party like this, don't you think? I must say you prepared everything too well on such short notice."

Rosa sincerely thought so, her walk wasn't just for show. She used the chance to gather information and she is pleasantly surprised as all of the key decision-makers of the city are there. She grumbles in her heart as she will have to deal with many of them for the rest of the day.

"Well, it's one of the rare chances you make an official experience, after all. We couldn't just do anything as sooner or later, words about you will spread out. By that time things would be much more complicated."

Alia knows that she is poking at Rosa's sore spot by saying that. Hence she has a smirk etches on her face.

Her eyebrow twitching, Rosa says. "Speak honestly, you just want to see me get frustrated and chase away the annoying flies, isn't it?"

"Fufufu, who knows?" Alia tilts her head innocently.

Seeing the two women playing their usual cat games, Francis turns to look at Mary, Rosa's maid, in the hope for her to intervene. Mary just wrily shakes her head, leaving the task of interrupting them to fall on Francis's shoulders. Sighing to himself, Francis interjects. "Girls, I know you didn't have enough time to chat yesternight but there's time and place for everything. Now, the guests are getting restless so can we shelve this for later? I promise you will have all the time in the world to ask questions later." 

The two ladies look at each other, then nod. Little did they know at the time, Francis's promise has a deeper meaning.

" Phew, thank you."

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Rosa, who is now standing on an ivory stage, addresses the crowd below her.

" Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you all for gathering today this early. Knowing that many here still haven't gotten their breakfast, I will keep my speech short." Rosa holds up her glass of red wine. " We are here for many things, some for connections, some for favors. But most are here for me, in fact, you're here to either make yourself useful to me or use me for your gain. And I accept that, so long as you can impress and work for the betterment of our nation as a whole, I see no reason not to answer your expectations, so long as they're reasonable. With that out of the way, let's us dine, I promise you the chefs of this house are even better than the ones at the Royal Palace!" 

Rosa raises her glass as a toast and so does everyone else. After that, in a very pleasant mood, they feast on the delicacies of the sea, presented by the famous chefs of the Francis family. A few, having had their fills or just light eaters in general, start making their way around the venue to spark, hopefully, happy-ending conversations.

Thankfully for Rosa, nobody gathers enough courage yet to talk to her so she has been able to enjoy her breakfast in relative peace. While eating with the help of Mary, she has been exchanging words with Francis and Alia at the table.

Rosa twirls her soup for a bit. " Uncle, I heard that there's a snag in transporting our money away from here, what gives?" 

"Ah, that issue," Francis feigns a thoughtful look. " it all boils down to the lack of security. After all, it's too risky to move that much money on such short notice, which is why I haven't signed the order for it yet."

Rosa raises her head to look at Francis, she questions whether her uncle's hands are truly tied. " Really? Don't we have both the Army and the Navy here? We can just have one of two ferries the gold away, no?"

Francis, having figured out before that she would ask that question, looks at her as if she's an idiot. " I guess you haven't heard the news, or at least, not everything then. White Rock has fallen, and it fell in one day. This means this city will be their next target after the enemy recuperates. Now, by sending away one of our primary defenders, we risk lacking in numbers to counter the Belkan attack. Between losing the gold and the city, which is more preferable now?"

Stunned, Rosa asks. " Wait, you mean that they still have the strength to aim for this place next? Haven't they taken heavy casualties or something? The enemy did push this far with only a single division, after all."

Shaking his head, Francis replies. " I'm afraid that is too far away from the truth. The enemy division somehow limited their casualties to a bare minimum, meaning they only need a few days to regain full combat strength. By the time they attack, it's questionable whether this city will be able to hold out or not." He pauses a bit to think about the ships stationed at Arash. " You can argue we use our destroyers to speed run the transfer process but make no mistake, they are ill-equipped to carry such a load. Belka won't sit by either as they will send their air force out to get them."

Rosa pales. She blames her stupidity for thinking that this trip will be simple but in fact, it's not.  If she insists on pursuing her agenda, she will leave the city at the mercy of Belka. And suffice to say, she wouldn't want her second home to be razed to the ground. Yet, she truly cannot let the gold at risk of being seized by the enemy. The Bank of Denver stashes away enough values to revitalize Ustio's crippling economy, and in the long run, such a thing is crucial for her vision. 

Biting her lower lip, Rosa's brain turns into overdrive, trying to think of a way out of the predicament. Sadly, she can't really find a solution as she is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She's not much of a military genius but she can think up a few things.

One is that there will be no reinforcement for Arash, not any time soon, as the frontline armies are all bogged down by the Belkans. This leaves Arash wide open to be attacked by that lone division. As far as she's aware, the only army left to support them is one composed of reservists, and even they will be days away to get here. Getting everything out by ships is possible but they only have a few destroyers at hand. She would rather have the ships here, providing the city with naval gunfire support.

"... Truly, I'm stumped. I thought the situation wasn't that bad at the front. What about you two? This city is a death trap now that it found itself in this quagmire. I would rather you come with me on the aircraft outta here if possible."

Alia and Francis just smile. " Sorry to say this but we're staying. My wife and I poured our very heart and soul for the city to be like today. One way or another, we need to make sure this city stands proudly and not fade away into obscurity."

Hearing their replies, Rosa sighs, though she is happy that her uncle and aunt have such spirit in their eyes. She's about to say something when she feels a bout of drowsiness. Feeling weak in her lower legs, she directed a glare to her maid, Mary. Fully intended to blame her for the predicament she is in, and yet, what she sees scares her. Mary is falling onto the floor, unable to move a muscle, save for the guards, you can say that everybody is experiencing the same delibating effect. Alarms ring out in Rosa's mind so she turns to the only one that can cause this issue and get away with it.

"...Uncle!?"

Francis, wiping the grease from his mouth with a tissue, responds. " Yes, dear Rosa? It seems that you have questions."

Alia, a bit panicking, runs to Rosa to help her sit up straight. Alia and Francis are safe because they didn't consume the poison. "Dear, what's going on? Why is everybody like this?"

" Don't worry, I will answer your queries in due time. Now, I must clean up the venue and have the guests move to a secure site. I promise that everything will be fine."

At the end of his words, soldiers appear from the woodwork and start apprehending the guests and sending them away. Leaving only Francis, Alia, Rosa, Jeremy who is now carrying Mary, and the newly arrives Rommel.

Rommel, with a suave smile, says his greeting to the people remains. " Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Colonel Erwin Rommel, an officer of the Belka Reich. I would say that it's a pleasure to formally meet you all but" Rommel looks around the mess of a venue. "it seems that such sentiment would be off-putting."

" You!" Rosa, quickly figuring out everything at Rommel's introduction, direct her shocked gaze at Francis. Not just her but Alia and Mary too.

" Me what?" Francis raises an eyebrow. " If you're talking about me colluding with Belka to stage this whole getto, then yes, you're 100 percent correct." 

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He turns to Alia to assure her as he sees her increasingly frantic expression. " Alia, you can calm down, no one here will be hurt. This is for the better good of you and your kin, trust me on this."

Alia opens her eyes in shock but then she lowers her head, deep in thoughts. She's too confused to come around to the idea but Francis thinks she will accept his decision after everything cool down. As for Rosa, she can't say anything as she's unable to comprehend the meaning of Francis's words.

Francis sighs seeing his wife keeping mum, he moves on to talk to Rommel. " Colonel, I trust that the men are in place?"

" We've got the army and navy personnel surrounded and their lodgings were taken care of. You just need to give the words so that we can arrest them."

" Good, let's set out. The faster we do this, the sooner I can explain the situation to my family... That's if they can accept me after everything." 

Francis laughs wrily and mutters the last part only for Rommel to hear. His fellow Colonel pats him on the shoulder for his sacrifices. Rommel then gestures toward Alia and the rest. " Do you want to bring them together with us?"

Francis shakes his head. " No, I will have Jeremy bring them back to their room where they will be protected."

Rommel nods as he watches a few servants carry Francis's family back inside the villa. They need not see the upcoming backstab in motion.

Withholding another sigh, Francis alight from the villa to his command post together with Rommel. By now, the city should be noticing the effect of the paralysis at work, saying it will cause unrest is an understatement. Francis needs to quickly take a hold of the situation, preventing people from notifying the outside world is a must. So the first thing he does is to secure the incapacitated personnel and block the gates heading outside the city, even the harbors are sealed off. As of now, the only way out is the military airbase which is also under Francis's control.

Officially, he addresses the city people via radios and speakers that a saboteur poisoned the soldiers' supplies, incapacitating them yet they can recover. A city-wide lockdown is underway to search for the culprits, he promises the citizen that by the end of the day, an answer will be given. Thus the citizens are none the wiser that they have fallen under a ploy.

Using said excuse, Rommel commands his and Francis's men to secure all of their objectives, and checkpoints, and regularly conduct patrols and house searching to keep up the ruse. By the end of the day, a few planted criminals are brought in front of the city square, charged with crimes they didn't commit. Though, to make sure they cooperate, Francis made backstage deals with them. He promised them new identities along with their families, with proper compensation, of course. That's why, by midnight, everything calms down and allowing Francis and Rommel to head back to the villa. Rommel did contact the Belka Princess about his success, now they need only wait for the division's arrival.

Yet, as soon as Francis opens the door, the first thing that greets him is a slap. A hard one that makes Rommel, who is by his side, flinches. Knowing better than to say anything, Rommel is wise to keep his distance. A notion that Francis is a bit thankful for.

Smiling wryly, Francis speaks up as he looks at his wife. " I guess I deserve that."

Jeremy, who has now just arrived behind his wife, says. " Sorry, sir, your wife was very persuasive."

Alia nods at that. " I own half of this house so I have my rights." She then yanks Francis's ear and pulls him inside, leaving a bewildered Rommel to look at Jeremy. By all intent and purpose, Alia should still be incapacitated.

Jeremy just shrugs. " Don't look at me. Just be glad that she isn't zapping us right now. Follow me, they should be gathering in the study."

Nodding his head, Rommel follows Jeremy up a floor, reaching the spacious study of the villa. Inside the study is Francis, who's now holding his left cheek, a glaring Alia, a contemplating Rosa, and a wary Mary. They all sit around an ivory table with Rommel and Jeremy being the last ones to take their seat. All the males sit in opposition to the females, a setup that's also signifying those that are in the known and those that are not.

" Well, explain." Alia gives the males here a look over. For whatever reason, her gaze is damn suffocating.

In response, Francis sits back straight and looks into Alia's eyes. " Firstly, this is Colonel Erwin Rommel, he has introduced himself early in the morning but has yet to say the reason he's here. While I can't give you the exact number of soldiers, he has led his men to infiltrate the city yesternight. His task, before, was to support the upcoming Belka attack on the city. Though with my help, we took control of the city without any bloodshed, and by the end of tomorrow, Arash will be welcoming a Belka division with open arms." Francis raises his hand to block the protest from Rosa. " And before you say anything, listen to my reason to do that first."

He turns to his wife. " Alia, I think it's about time you tell them the truth."

She squints. " What does that have to do with you betraying Rosa?"

" Really? You of all people should have figured out my purpose long ago."

Alia pauses for a few seconds, and quickly, she connects the dots. It's not like she's held no suspicion about Francis before. In fact, she did notice some of his clandestine activities, yet, she thought it was the nature of his job to hold some secrets. Now she realizes that it was Francis making preparation for today.

Sighing to herself, she looks at Rosa and Mary. " Don't be alarmed, just know that whatever happens. I've and always will treasure my relationship with you, Rosa."

Alia then undoes her illusion, revealing her orange fox ears and tail, much to the shock of Rosa and Mary. " As you can see, this is my true form, a kitsune. And this is probably the biggest reason why Francis did what he did today."

As if refusing to believe it, Rosa shakes her head with a struggle, until she says. " You... how? All this time, you were faking everything?!"

Alia refuses. " No, dear. Aside from hiding my true race, everything I showed and done for you were true. You're a smart girl, I think you can see whether I'm honest or not."

Meanwhile, Rommel and Francis watch on, waiting for Rosa to process the revelation. Francis thinks to himself that Rosa can take it in a stride, she was never known to be a racist, after all. It's just that today has been a tiring day for her.

After a couple of minutes, Rosa has done rebooting her brain. She exhales the breath that she has been holding in just to not scream out loud in rage. Such a thing is an action she never allowed herself to do, she needs to listen to the end. "... Say it, uncle. What does this have to do with you betraying the country, betraying me...?"

Francis calmly answers. " As a matter of fact, everything. Look, I love Alia with all my heart, and you know that. Back when I first met her, I accept her for everything she represented, knowing fully the consequences of doing so. So believe me when I say that I will do anything to make her happy, and that includes making a sanctuary, here, for people like her. People that got displaced during the Great War, people that were being hunted for slavery, people that couldn't make it to Belka soil... Yet, no matter how hard I try, humanity's darkest side keeps rearing its ugly face. With my brother assassinated and the Prime Minister taking hold of power, sooner or later everything will come crumbling down on us."

Francis takes a breath then continues. " Which is why I started searching for alternatives until I was approached by a Belkan, an agent under the leadership of Belka's only Princess. Together we plan everything till this day. I was the one that shared secret military intelligence, I was the one that commanded sabotages of our supply line, and I was the one that thought of this backstab. Everything I did, was to make sure the Princess of Belka, and her division, can take control of the city. Thereby putting us under her protection. Thus, she will guarantee the longevity of everything we built, while she receives this money-making machine in return."

With the long-winded explanation out of the way, Francis heaves a sigh of relief. Keeping such a thing secret cost him no small amount of mental power. Finally, he can at least have peace of mind.

As for Rosa, nobody knows what she's thinking as she hangs her head low. Hence no one says a word until Mary manages to shake her out of silence. Jerking her head upward to face Francis, she wanted to curse at him for betraying her trust. And yet, all she manages to do is putting up a very tired smile. " This game of yours, how long have you been doing it?"

" You can say that I've been playing it ever since I married her."

" I see..." Rosa struggles to hold her tears back, she chokes on her words but still manages to say. " The reasoning behind your action... It all boils down to the incompetency of the Crown. Mine, incompetency. Where I've tried harder, maybe we wouldn't be separated by this table, no? Well played, uncle. Well played..."

Francis shakes his head. " That's where you're wrong, Rosa. Even if you are the one in power, you lack the means to change the world's sentiment as a whole. I would have aligned myself with Belka sooner or later, just to give my wife peace of mind. You're talented but you're only one person, were you not so attached to that crown, maybe you would have been sitting by my side."

Rosa pauses then she laughs, it's a bitter laugh full of derision for herself. Francis is right, she chases the Ustian crown with a passion, what goods she does for the people, is but secondary. This is why she put the matter of discrimination in the back of her mind, and now, it has come to stab her in the back. She knows full well that this is the end of the line for her. The crown she dearly wished for will be forever out of her grasp. Belka will not let her go so easily, and by the end of everything, Ustio may not even exist. At that time, what reason does she have left to live for?

Alis, ever the perceptive woman, slaps Rosa out of her dark thoughts. " I wouldn't jump down that rabbit hole if I were you."

Stunned, all Rosa can say is. "... Alia?" Yet she quickly realizes why she slapped her. " Yeah, I guess I deserved that... Thank you."

" You're welcome, if you need another one like that, just call me."

Alia's words manage to etch a smile on Rosa's face. " I will, trust me on that. So, what next?"

Francis looks at Rommel, understanding that his time has come, Rommel speaks up for the first time in the meeting. " While I can somewhat get the spiraled that Princess Bonaparte here delved into. I wouldn't want to make any assumption so can you tell me a bit more about what was on your mind?"

"...In short, my reason to exist, the Ustian Crown, will forever be out of my reach since you already captured me."

" Ah, I see. Well, it's a good thing that I contacted the Princess I serve under then." Rommel reaches into his pocket and pulls out a sealed envelope. He presents it to Rosa before saying. " This is for your eyes only, your Highness. If need be, we can leave you in private for now. My only advice, knowing Princess General, is that she always planned ahead. So whether you accept it or not, the outcome will never change. It's best to capitalize on this opportunity, Princess Bonaparte."

Rommel and Francis stand up, they're preparing to help Alia and Mary to move to a different room when they hear a tearing sound. Rosa has torn open the envelope, revealing a handwritten letter inside. She unfolds the letter and is pleasantly surprised by the very beautiful and organized handwriting. Rosa assumes that it's her Belkan peer that wrote the letter, and in no time at all, she's lost in thoughts while reading the letter.

Rommel and Francis, seeing that Rosa has chosen to just ignore them, shrug. They sit back down on their chairs before resuming answering Alia's and even Mary's questions. It was tough being grilled by two pissed-off women so Rommel threw Francis under the bus by saying. " I'm only following my Princess General's order, what happens next were due to Francis here. I only cooperated to give him more manpower."

Francis pales visibly at the sudden betrayal, he's now alone in dealing with the two tigresses while Rommel calmly sips his tea. The Belkan Colonel is satisfied to see his diversion tactic worked splendidly. Thankfully for Francis, the mental torture is cut short when Rosa burst into a lively laugh without a care in the world.

For Rosa, she can't believe what she just read. The content was so ridiculous that she imagines the girl must be from another world to even plan such crazy moves. Heck, she's tempted to question Rommel whether his Princess General was a maniac or not but considering her feats up till now... Well, it's worth a shot even though everything could come crashing and burning.

Rosa stops laughing to catch her breath, yet, she retains a calculating smile on her lips. She stands up, with a bit of a struggle, and heads to the fireplace before throwing the letter and envelope inside. Everyone else in the room watches the burning papers, waiting for Rosa to explain what just happened.

" Well then, Colonel Rommel, your Princess says that you will be needing my help should I accept the offer." Rosa sits down, this time with her legs crossed and her fingers interlinked with each other. She smiles confidently and says. " You now have my attention."

 

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