fandomhigh | Guiding the Powerful Yet Incompetent, Tuesday, Second Period

Yennefer was positively beaming as she greeted the class today. "The castle has awakened this morning to the news that the queen has been safely delivered of a healthy baby..."

Yennefer paused and took a deep breath, and the smile fell off her face. "Girl. The new princess joins her five sisters in the nursery." She cut a glance over at the king, sulking upon his throne. "Did I happen to mention that this is the sort of kingdom where only men are dubbed fit to rule? I don't suppose it came up until now.

"Now, his majesty here has several options in this situation. He could change the law of succession. Some other kingdoms already allow rule by women, and he has several lovely, intelligent daughters." She looked at the king again and felt compelled to explain, "...they take after their mother. He could cross his fingers and hope that the next one is a boy, solving the problem, or that the queen dies in childbirth, leaving him free to remarry. Or he could decide that this is all the queen's fault, as obviously the man has nothing to do with whether a baby is a boy or a girl, and he needs to get rid of her immediately and find a new wife who will give him lots of sons!" Yennefer gave her students another smile. This one was bitter and mocking. "Guess which option he's chosen.

"Again, within the umbrella of 'get rid of the queen,' the king has multiple options. He could reason with the queen and convince her it's for the best for everyone, and quietly divorce her, setting her up with her own household and all honors. He could unilaterally divorce her, bulling it through the courts despite the objections of the faith and her noble relatives. He could accuse her of adultery, manufacture evidence, and execute her. Or he could hire an assassin to get rid of her quickly so he can just move on with things. There's a lady in waiting he's got his eye on." Yennefer gave the king a contemptuous look. "Again, you can guess which option our sovereign with impulse control problems has chosen. Your job is to talk him out of it, of course...and probably most of that last list, as well. Best of luck."

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"I'm with Lana." Shocking, Yana, really. "Though I don't see why one of us just doesn't take over as regent. We don't need the queen, if she doesn't have the fortitude for it. I don't want to force her into anything."

Yennefer opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. She pondered her reply for a moment. Finally, she said, "You know what, I hadn't considered that option. The organization I belong to would take steps to remove me if I set myself up as a regent under such circumstances--we are meant to guide, not rule. However, you are not bound by the strictures of Aretuza, so there's nothing blocking your plan. You will still need to first gain the queen's support, if you don't want her to turn around and throw her lot in with the so-called rightful heir, the king's cousin Gilbert. I haven't programmed Gilbert yet, but let's just assume he's worse."

Edited 2020-09-29 16:42 (UTC)

Illyana picked at the sleeve of her hoodie for a bit, looking thoughtful.

"I'm technically a queen, though not of anywhere he'd know about," she said finally. "I don't really want to be in charge of anything, but better one of us as regent for the queen after his unfortunate disappearance than letting him continue at this rate. By trying to temper his impulses, we're making things worse."

"That's an idea," Lana said, nodding. "I'd hate to rule, but it has to be better than this. Does the queen have any advisors who'd be better at it? Maybe if we get them involved, they could help put the king off for now and help with the coup."

"We can rope in the noble who's tapestries he wanted to steal. There's no way he was oblivious. Any noble who isn't obviously his friend who would have been taxed badly for his war, or been forcibly conscripted," Illyana mused. "And we have got to get guards for the Queen and the daughters. I don't trust him not to just try and wipe them all out."

"Definitely," Lana said. "If there aren't any who are loyal specifically to her, I can always convince them to be."

"The queen does not have advisors, as it would be unseemly for a lady to have such a thing. The queen has ladies in waiting...which means the queen has a bevy of the daughters and sisters of the richest, most powerful men in the kingdom around her. The trick will be convincing these men to support our cause, and not to put themselves forward as appropriate alternate kings.

"One thing I would strongly recommend is ascertaining the position of the lady in waiting I mentioned earlier, the one the king wants to marry once he's knocked the current queen off. She could be an enemy to your cause...or she could be an ally. Does she want to marry the king and be queen? Or has she already realized that might be a bad deal, because..." Yennefer gestured to the king. "Well."

"Well, once the queen is a widow, they're certainly all welcome to try to woo her," Lana pointed out. "Or her daughters."

She nodded thoughtfully. "We'll definitely have to speak with the lady in waiting, yes. If she's at all intelligent, it shouldn't be hard to convince her to help us. And if she's not, she won't be much of a problem." She sighed. "I hope she isn't actually in love with him."

Guiding the Powerful Yet Incompetent, Tuesday, Second Period

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