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“Ha! For a country as authoritarian as the German Empire to say such things is laughable. Do you know that your Karl, the Secretary, is called the Red Kaiser?”

It’s already a well-known story.

At the French ambassador’s sarcasm, Rosa Luxemburg frowned.

But it didn’t really matter.

We already had our countermeasures set up when France became this agitated.

“You speak too harshly. However, if France helps us, we can cooperate somewhat to prevent the communists from spreading their revolution to Algeria or Indochina.”

So they’re aiming for Indochina now, huh?

Listening to what was being said now, it was downright absurd.

To say they would help stop a revolution means they have their own demands.

And that demand must be to withdraw from the Ruhr.

The French ambassador let out a deep sigh.

“So you’re wanting us to withdraw from the Ruhr?”

“Then we can use our power. Think about it. Britain no longer wants reparations. We in Germany can no longer prepare reparations either. But doesn’t the Ruhr generate quite a bit of profit for you?”

I knew these guys would act like this.

Those damn Reds.

We should have trampled Kaiser’s Germany and uprooted communism long ago.

But we had no other options.

“The demilitarization of the Rhineland. This must be upheld.”

Rosa Luxemburg couldn’t help but smirk inwardly at the fact she had an diplomatic victory.

Indeed, this is the reality of an imperialist nation.

They had no choice but to be overshadowed by communism.

In the end, France had to admit that it couldn’t keep holding onto the Ruhr anymore and had to pull out.

Of course, if Communist Germany wanted to withdraw from Algeria, it wouldn’t even be thinking about planting communists in the colonies.

With all the communists we had already sent, the colonial communists were starting to put down roots.

Just establishing connections with them would be enough.

One day, when war breaks out with a colonial empire.

On that day of revolutionary war, when countless colonies groan under the yoke of colonial empires and rise up.

After bringing down France and restraining Britain.

Rosa Luxemburg turned her head toward the east.

She would have to head to the land of the Slavs, where the two-headed eagle she thought would never rise again ascends high into the sky.

“So now it’s time for Romania.”

Romania, which Hungary has been actively provoking lately.

What if we could instigate the internal unrest in Romania, which is anxious due to Hungary’s pressure, to spark a workers’ liberation movement? It would be nice to get a hit on Russia.

The German Communist Party was already making many preparations for that day.

Meanwhile, things began to flow strangely in Romania.

Hungary wasn’t invading, but they were engaging in military training at the border, openly eyeing Transylvania.

On top of that, Russia was conducting landing exercises with Bulgaria and Turkey, claiming it was for future landings in Italy, making Romania increasingly uneasy.

For Romania, while there was an air defense agreement in place, anxiety was unavoidable.

Moreover, the Romanian Royal Family wasn’t living in peace either.

After the air defense agreement, Ferdinand I ended up comparing his wife, the playboy Carol, who alone survived, to Anastasia, who pulled Russia up by the collar, and each time anger boiled over toward his wife, Marie, who had a very strong tendency toward infidelity.

How could she be loved by the people as a queen when she was having affairs and even birthing illegitimate children?

The more I thought about it, the more my insides churned with disgust.

Naturally, fights between husband and wife were common, and as her relationship with her husband soured, Marie could only sigh.

In this midst of tension from Hungary’s provocations, it was about time a successor needed to be decided for the sake of the royal family.

No matter how much the marital relationship worsened, this was a matter that had to be conferred.

“We will appoint Mihai as the crown prince.”

“Not Carol?”

“If we put someone who runs around cheating like someone we know on the throne, it will tarnish the royal family’s honor.”

Looking back now, I probably should have thought twice about marrying Marie.

My father-in-law, Duke Alfred of Edinburgh, was against the marriage, and perhaps that was the right call.

“…You made a wise decision.”

“He’s the child who resembles the queen most, yet the queen dislikes him. How amusing.”

It is quite funny.

Instead of doting on her son who resembles her, she dislikes him. Moreover, her friend, Roi Fleur, even revealed that she often disparaged her husband.

“…What should I say I did wrong? That child passed away not long after.”

“Just because he died doesn’t change the fact that you bore an illegitimate child with your lover. And claimed it was my son.”

“I’m truly sorry.”

Marie’s face twisted in dismay.

She was being reminded of something that was already over. While there was certainly some discontent, in the end, having a child through infidelity was an unequivocal mistake; there was no way around it.

But that’s that and the crisis that Romania faced was something that needed to be addressed.

“But, we need to take care of state matters, right? Hungary is definitely aiming for Transylvania. Who do you think stopped the communist revolution?”

“Who do you mean? Do you think Hungary became like this on its own? In the end, I was kicked out of my family for your seduction. After being fleeced so much, it’d be strange if there was no grudge.”

As he was aging, and with the majority of the work falling to the queen, Ferdinand no longer wanted to bear that responsibility.

Of course, Ferdinand became the king of Greater Romania thanks to the queen. But besides that, the situation that had been created was also the queen’s fault.

“Your Majesty!”

“Aren’t the state affairs going to be handled by Barbu Ştirbei (the lover)? You’ve realized the dream of Greater Romania with the seed you planted, so you can handle the crisis yourself.”

After all, the queen would handle everything herself.

All he had to do was pick Mihai as the eventual king, which was much better than Carol.

And this fact also reached Prince Carol.

“The throne is to be given to my son instead of me? Ridiculous!”

Carol was seething with anger, and Hungary’s Miklós Horthy had no intention of missing this situation.

* * *

In 1925, France finally officially withdrew from the Ruhr.

They had managed to extract as much as they could in reparations.

When you think about it, it seems there were negotiations beneath the surface with Communist Germany.

For instance, it looks like France demanded that communism not spread in Algeria, and Communist Germany accepted that.

—This is what Beria, who has been bouncing around Europe lately, told me.

“France is really foolish. Do they think this will stop communism from spreading in Algeria?”

“Weren’t they just trying to put out the immediate fire?”

“While I understand the urgent fire, it’s the way they withdrew from the Ruhr that’s problematic.”

This is about the eyes of neighboring countries, and because of the anti-French sentiment among Germans, but those guys are not going to uphold their promises.

It’s already the seeds of Reds that have been sown.

Those seeds will soon sprout with the help of the local people. Sigh.

The situation in Romania began to flow oddly.

As Hungary pressured Romania, instability increased within Romania, and there seemed to be many rumors regarding the throne.

It seemed Romania was telling the great powers that Hungary was up to something due to the Transylvania issue, but so what? Nothing changed.

It was hard to believe that Hungary, which was bound by the air defense agreement, would dare to take action—these are just training exercises at the border.

While optimistic, Britain and France were unable to act due to Germany, and from Russia’s perspective, this was a separate issue from the air defense agreement, so the foreign ministry stated that Russia couldn’t easily intervene.

“The movements of Hungary are suspicious. Russia should help!”

“They haven’t even conducted military operations themselves, right? Moreover, the air defense agreement was a pact against the Communists, so we can’t intervene in territorial issues between agreement nations.”

To begin with, Hungary hadn’t launched direct military actions aimed at Transylvania. There was no reason for Russia to act just because of Romania’s suspicions.

On top of that, through the Okhrana, it was found out that Ferdinand and his wife were not on good terms.

I hadn’t even stirred the pot, yet the king suddenly got angry when mentioning the affair of the queen.

Personally, it was incomprehensible to me that someone would give birth to the child of their lover and, thinking back to my past life, living in a world where kimchi soup abounded, so I didn’t blame Ferdinand for being upset, but I wondered if they fought like this in actual history.

In that era in Romania, it was known that a queen could have two boyfriends! That’s the kind of recognition there was.

Ferdinand had acknowledged it too.

“It seems the crown prince and Your Majesty are being compared to each other.”

Recently, Beria, who had been keeping tabs on the royal situation in Romania, presented a report.

This was about the recent situation in Romania and problems regarding the royal family.

That made me a bit curious about what Beria said.

“Me?”

Why am I being mentioned?

“Yes. Since the air defense agreement, the relationship between the couple has soured, and especially since Prince Carol resembles the queen, there have been complaints.”

“Hm. So that’s how it is.”

If it became like that after the air defense agreement, I must be part of the influence.

In fact, it wouldn’t be surprising if I were.

The youngest daughter of Nicholas II led Russia this far, yet their heir is in such a pitiful state.

So there would be comparisons, and since Prince Carol takes after his mother, it wasn’t too far-fetched that there would be arguments along the lines of why he was born that way.

Hmmm. That does make sense.

A child who inherited a wayward wife’s traits must have been a huge burden to Ferdinand.

Personally, if I were Ferdinand and my wife proudly presented the child of her lover to me, I would be extremely angry.

I’d probably have slammed that divorce paper down!

Well, the Romanians praising such a queen seem a bit off too. But that must be overshadowed by her significant contributions during World War I and the immense land acquisition she accomplished.

When you think about it, they did participate in World War I and surrendered to Germany. If you trace the cause, isn’t it thanks to the queen that they entered the war?

In the end, it can be said that all the resentment had built up and finally exploded for Ferdinand.

“If she wants to run around having affairs, she shouldn’t get married like I did. She should elope or something.”

I just can’t fathom why a married woman would behave like that.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh, I just mean if she’s going to mess around like that, she shouldn’t get married. In the end, it’s all because of the queen’s debauchery, right?”

Think about it. If the queen had been completely faithful, Carol wouldn’t have inherited her infidelity, and had no knowledge of his mother’s infidelity, wouldn’t things be a bit more normal now?

That’s why Ferdinand is blowing up too.

“Yes. That’s right. It’s truly amusing. A woman who seduced her husband to get him involved in negotiations and expanded Romania’s territory is suffering because of the child who resembles her. Moreover, her friend even claims that she often talks bad about her husband.”

“Then, there would be problems relating to the throne, and it means Prince Carol is currently dissatisfied, right?”

“Yes. Wouldn’t it be frustrating for my son to be the crown prince?”

“If Horthy does indeed carry out secret negotiations with Carol, the picture she wants will emerge.”

If Horthy approaches Carol directly for negotiations, what could happen? He’s taking away his child’s spot! If Horthy whispers wicked thoughts in Carol’s ear, won’t things change?

“Should we just leave it be?”

“Leave what?”

“What if things go wrong, even just slightly?”

Why is this guy so talkative today?

“You sure have a lot of questions.”

“I-I apologize, Your Majesty.”

But Beria’s words do have merit.

I have no intention of being arrogant like Hitler, who started a war from gambling yet found some luck.

Even if I know the future, a lot can change.

No one knows how this Romania will turn out now.

In fact, when this annoying guy says that, I get a bit chilly.

“Well, there is some validity to it. There could be what-ifs. Carol might naively withdraw completely, or later he could seize his son’s spot. Perhaps Mihai might last longer than expected.”

He might shatter all my variables and maintain the status quo.

Romania could thwart Horthy’s Hungarian army.

Since they’ve trained for so long. Romania might already have prepared for when Hungary invades.

But for that, it’d need a shake-up from within.

Whether it be Carol or the Reds, it wouldn’t matter.

 

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