Chapter 112 A Glimmer of Hope

The orange glow of the sun streamed through the window, falling directly onto Alexander’s face. He sat up and opened his eyes, taking a deep breath before turning his head to look at where Sophie was lying in bed with him. Her blue hair was spread over the pillow, covering most of the white sheets below her. His eyes traveled down to her bare skin which was illuminated by the golden rays that were coming from the window, making it seem like the only thing in the room was them. His heart fluttered, as he always did when they slept next to each other.

She snuggled closer into his chest and smiled, bringing a hand up to stroke his cheek, running the pads of her fingers across it softly. Her touch sent shivers down his spine, but not in an unpleasant way. It felt nice, but also quite warm. It made Alex feel safe and relaxed.

Speaking of relaxation, Alexander realized something and looked at his wristwatch.

“So I slept for almost eight hours eh? Not bad…” Alexander yawned, shifting so his arm went around Sophie’s body. She hummed, tightening her arms around his torso.

Alexander looked out the window again, watching how the sun was slowly rising behind the horizon.

The rising sun only means one thing, it’s work time. Alexander sighed, sitting up, scratching his bum and rubbing his neck. He couldn’t enjoy a single day off anymore. Every day is just more work. This week was supposed to be him enjoying his break with Sophie for his honeymoon.

But no, the Black Hand interrupted his plans again and now they are pushing him to the corner where he’ll have to make a decision that could either be beneficial or detrimental to the Ruthenia Empire.

He decided to stand up but Sophie’s wrapped arm tightened around his waist, drawing him back to his position on the bed.

“Sophie…sorry, but another time. I’m sure my work has piled up the moment I took a sleep,” Alexander whispered, gently removing her grip and putting some distance between them.

Sophie’s face fell, but then she shrugged and said: “Okay.”

Alex leaned down, giving her forehead a soft kiss, and smiled as he heard a giggle from the girl in front of him. As much as he wanted to stay in bed, cherishing the moment, he couldn’t just do so.

He walked away from his bed, took a bath, and dressed for work.

He then proceeded to his office, walking past the guards who saluted him.

He walked into his office, closing the door behind himself. There, he sat down at his desk and stared ahead blankly while playing with his pen.

He ignored the newspaper that was from yesterday, the bombings made frontpage news with photographs of the devastation and victims inside.

Alexander got sickened from what he has seen.

What to do? Should he call his uncle again for a situation update or wait for his ministers to arrive in his office to give him an update about the situation? Well, Alexander chose the latter and simply passed the time by playing with his pen, spinning it in circles in his hands as his mind ran with ideas.

At that moment, Alexander came up with a new idea. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is doing its job fantastically by protecting the Ruthenia Empire from within, but what about external threats aside from military conflict? A threat that could implicate the Ruthenia Empire just like how the Black Hand did just three days ago?

In his original world, there is one agency that was created for that task, it’s called the Central Intelligence Agency, or the CIA for short. This agency is responsible for collecting, analyzing, evaluating, and disseminating foreign intelligence, and to carry out covert operations domestically and abroad. As far as he remembers, the CIA has five priorities: counterterrorism, nonproliferation of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, warning/informing American leaders of important overseas events, counterintelligence, and cyber intelligence.

But in this world’s era, three out of five of those priorities apply. Terrorism has been the main threat to Ruthenia Empire aside from geopolitics, he could really use some CIA right now so this thing would never happen again.

Alexander began drawing up a draft as he waited for his ministers to arrive.

Thirty minutes later, Sergei arrived in his office.

Alexander looked up and stopped what he was doing, smiling at the other man. “Good morning, Sergei. Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

“Unfortunately, Your Majesty, I haven’t. I was swapped with meeting with the ambassadors from all of Europa asking us the same thing…if we are the one who blew up the Deutschland Empire.”

Alexander let out a forced chuckle “I’m sorry to hear that. You know what…you can have a rest after debriefing me,” he offered.

“No. I’m fine, Your Majesty,” Sergei humbly declined.

“Sergei…I’m not suggesting, I’m ordering you,” Alexander corrected sternly. “You’ve gotten good at being able to take care of yourself during these meetings but sometimes your lack of sleep isn’t going to get you anywhere. Freshen up your mind so that you can work effectively.”

“Well, I will do so, Your Majesty,” Sergei conceded as he bow. He looked back up and began. “Anyways, Your Majesty, I have something to report about the Deutschland Empire.”

“How are things going there?”

“It’s developing, Your Majesty. The Deutschland Empire declared martial law, and the military has been mobilized to control civil unrest. They also began investigating the series of explosions. And speaking of explosion, there was another one…”

“Another explosion?” Alexander repeated, his brows furrowing. “There’s another attack?”

“According to the reports, the unexploded televisions that were seized from places and burned in the streets by demonstrators have caused whatever that is behind the exploding televisions to go off. The fire must’ve triggered the real cause of the explosions, adding more to the death toll…”

“So my assumptions are correct. The television was somehow tampered with.” Alexander rolls the pen between his fingers.

“So it seems, your majesty,” Sergei nodded.

Alexander clicked his tongue “Simply denying our involvement won’t convince the Deutschland Empire…Looks like the only choice for us is to prove that we aren’t the one who caused this tragedy.”

“But how, Your Majesty?”

Alexander leaned back to his seat, intertwining his fingers together, “I’m thinking of sending a covert team in the Deutschland Empire to investigate…”

“But won’t that be a good idea? What if the Deutschland Empire caught them?”

“Should one of them get caught or killed, the Ruthenia Empire will disavow all knowledge of the operation. Simply put, those agents will be a ghost the moment they take the mission. But I wish we won’t have to resort to that.”

“I understand, I think you should discuss this with the Minister of Internal Affairs,” Sergei said.

“Of course, for now, let’s do this diplomatically, how are things with King Licht?”

“He will talk with Kaiser Wilheim to convince him that we are not the cause. Also, I suggest that you contact Princess Diana to help us out of here. I believe you two are friends right?”

“Well, you could say that…I will try that, thank you, Sergei, you may now leave.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

***

One hour after the second explosion, in Deutschland, Austrea, Norway, and cities close to Ruthenian borders.

The military organizes bomb disposal squads to begin seizing and confiscating television sets.

The men work carefully to not jostle whatever is inside the television that caused it to explode.

They brought all the television sets they could find to the ordnance testing areas to be disassembled and each part examined closely.

Soon they found the cause of the explosions, the radio control explosives.

They are defused and rendered safe, the things are photographed by investigators.

The evidence is then reported to the Kaiser who then informs Alexander of their findings.

It seems a joint investigation might happen between both countries.