The Serpent's Enigma

60 | Checkmate

Yuletide = "christmas"

.·。.·゜·༺♥༻ ·゜·。.

November, 1933

ANGLETONIA

Not many people knew and understood Cal's true objective for Seol-il. Philippe, Kym Shion and a few other people were involved in their secret meetings, but that was it. He had told Gigi the night he showed her the maps, believing that he would be better off with his wife's knowledge and blessings. It was all pre-calculated; neatly and meticulously planned.

He first learned of Seol-il's cruel treatment against its working class in his earliest meetings with Dr. Jaeyr seven years ago, and the idea hatched. But for the plan to work smoothly, he needed an insider who was willing to work for him; providing him with knowledge from the inside and being his right-hand man when the deed's done. A local resident with as much hatred as he needed to trump over the Royal Family. Jaeyr then introduced him to Kym Shion.

Of course, he could just march into their border with the strength of Angletonia's military and Seol-il would be brought to its knees in no time. But how would he differ from their malevolent King? Not quite the image he wanted to convey. To assure his popularity, he needed the people to side with him. And what better trigger to make them stand against their rulers than war, famine, disease and disaster?

Since famine and disease were already at play, thanks to the Seol-il ruling class, they needed to set the third in motion; disaster. Kym Shion presented him with intel about an old, damaged dam that's set to break in a couple of years. Cal hated the idea of killing people and having to call it 'casualties', so they forged a plan for it to hit the main routes instead of the settlements. That way, there would still be a crisis on supplies without taking a lot of innocent lives.

His next plan was to build shelters, as a way to present himself and interact with the Seol-il refugees. An antithesis to their malicious King; warm, caring, and humble. Everything he built for them, healing the sick and pouring the soup, wasn't for nothing. With the main roads breached, they'd have plenty of time to mingle with the people without being intercepted by the Royal Family.

Caring for those refugees had served two purposes. The Seol-il government hated foreign interventions; especially since they were taking their people into Angletonian land. It was a huge blow to their ego.

As predictable as they were, they took the bait; attacking the Angletonian border despite their weakening conditions. A few days after he heard about the attack, Cal was quick to set up a large audience in the celebration of Gigi's pregnancy, allowing him to make a public declaration while making it seem like a moment's decision.

A valid reason to attack, for Seol-il was the one who delivered the first blow.

It's checkmate.

"Their resistance is weakening, Your Majesty," the Colonel of the armed forces told him as they stood in the Archambault fortress, watching the front from afar. "Should we declare a ceasefire?"

"Ceasefire? We are going easy on them, or they would have been done within a week of us coming here," one of the lords who stood by said.

Cal silently observed Seol-il soldiers fleeing their burning camps through his binoculars. These were the people who had mercilessly attacked their helpless citizens. "Yes, let's do a ceasefire. Ask one of their people to come over. I'd like to send their King a message."