On the 24^th of December, the year 1897

Vienna, Austria Empire

It is early in the morning and Crown Prince Justinian is already working on the huge pile of documents that he needs to review and sign this day. Count Karl is also working at another table with another pile of documents that are stacked. They can only work this every time they return to Vienna and the papers that need to be signed are piled on and becomes a mountain when they return.

“Your Imperial Highness, you should rest and prepare for the imperial ball later this evening.”

“Count Karl, I’ll stop working at noon. We have limited time to finish everything before we’ll return to Berlin. The next time we will return here might be we are at war.”

Count Karl can only agree with what Crown Prince Justinian had said. Even though this day is a holiday and as a monarch he should rest and enjoy for there is an imperial party and ball in the evening, the Crown Prince instead chose to work in his already short free time.

The dedication of the Crown Prince to working and serving the country moves the Count that who is also inspired to work the day before Christmas. The Austrian Empire would have a bright future, the Count thought inside his mind. Even if the Crown Prince has some flaws and is rough on the edges, he is still a capable and good person to be emperor. At times, he may be reckless and childish but when things need to be done, he can do the job well. The Count believes that Austria would be in good hands under the Crown Prince in the future.

“Count, any news from the Ottomans?”

“There is a possible armed conflict between the Ottomans and Montenegrins Your Imperial Highness. After the assassination attempt against the Sultan, the Ottoman Empire has become more brutal in its actions. The Principality is the one who is suspected to be the perpetrator of the assassination.”

“That’s good news for us.”

“Yes, Your Imperial Highness. The Ottomans would be distracted by this turn of events so that we can gain more time to build up strength. Maybe they even stop in their aspiration to invade Austria.”

“That would be impossible Count. Sultan Abdul Mehmed V wants to be like his ancestor, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, and conquer large swathes of land and now he is eyeing Hungary and maybe even Vienna.”

“How did you know about that Your Imperial Highness?”

“I… just feel it… It is always the dream of Ottoman Sultans to conquer Europe and it will never change even until this day.”

Crown Prince Justinian can’t say that he knows this detail about the Ottoman Sultan because of his past life. He can only reason it out through instinct and feelings which is not a very good indicator.

“By the way, what is the situation at the border?”

“It is still tense Your Imperial Highness. It is like anytime the Ottoman army would just invade our borders. We already deploy most of the troops in training near the border so that they can immediately respond if there are any incursions. The only problem is that our railway lines and roads to the border are still incomplete Your Imperial Highness.”

The Austrian Empire’s roads and railway lines on the border are still insufficient for the massive deployment and movement of Austrian armies. The only solution that the Austrians can offer is expanding the numbers of military horses for large-scale movement. But still, it is not enough to cope with such deficiencies. There are even some areas that are mountainous and the only way to move is to travel on foot. The Austrian soldiers are still lacking with mountainous divisions that are still being trained in the Austrian Empire Alps.

“The only thing we can do is just hope that everything would be finished before the invasion. How about the Hungarians who want to revolt? Any new information about their movement?”

“There are some small movements Your Imperial Highness. But we have been able to limit their influence in Hungary. Only the Hungarian nobles and liberals are planning to join the revolt, and most of the normal people are loyal to the Emperor. But in exchange for that, we earn the ire of the Hungarian rebels, they think that we are assimilating the Hungarian people into the Germanic race.”

In order to fully eradicate and use the Hungarian revolt to full effect, they just allowed the rebels to organize a rebellion in the region. The Austrian wants to fully destroy the enemies within the Empire in one swoop and the Hungarian rebellion can be used to identify which are the traitors and not in the Austrian Empire.

Fortunately, the imperial edicts and policies that Emperor Franz Joseph implemented are good for the common people and that makes them more supportive and loyal to the Imperial Family. The decades of making their lives better had made the people indebted to the Imperial Family and the chance that they would join in the rebellion is low.

“So far everything is good and on track, but that’s what is scary, everything is so smooth and easy that it seems we are just being manipulated.”

The Crown Prince and the Count continue their talk when there is someone who is knocking on the door. They both look to the door and wait for the guards to speak for the purpose.

“Your Imperial Highness, His Majesty the Emperor is here,” said an Austrian soldier who is guarding the door outside.

After hearing that the Emperor is outside and coming in, the two immediately stand up and salute to give their sign of respect to the Emperor. The Emperor signals them to lower their hands and sit back to their sit. Crown Prince moves away from where he is sitting to give his chair, the most important one, to the Emperor.

“It is good to see you my grandson, Justinian.”

“The honor is mine, Your Majesty.”

“Stop calling me Your Majesty… we are not in a formal occasion or meeting. I just want to talk with you as a grandfather to his grandson. You can just call me grandpa like when you are still a young lad.”

“Okay grandfather… How are you, grandpa? Is your health still okay?”

“Yes Yes… hahaha… I’m just very happy to see you back here together with your sister, and also to Karl to be here. We can only see on special occasions or Christmas, it is just sad.”

Grandfather looks at Count Karl when he said his name. The Count then slightly bows to the Emperor to agree with what he had said.

“Me too Grandpa… It is really good to be back home. I feel safe and reassured whenever I’m back here in Vienna. The beautiful architecture and the cheerful people of Vienna make me happy and comfortable.”

“Hahaha… if there is something that didn’t change from you… it is that you have still your way of words, and you are really good at flattering others. Hahaha…”

“I’m just saying the truth grandfather.”

“Hahaha… by the way, I heard you brought a foreign girl from the far east here in Vienna. She and her family are even staying in one of your villas.”

Both Crown Prince Justinian and Count Karl are stunned when the Emperor talks about Lin. Crown Prince Justinian knows that someday the Emperor and other people here in Austria would ask about her that he is preparing how he would respond when the time comes.

But the reality is truly different from fiction, all the preparation and scenario that he envisioned are all down the drain when he is asked by his grandfather. The Emperor looks at his grandson and sees that he is having a hard time answering his question, he never expects that he would be having difficulty with just a simple question. That further increase the interest of the Emperor in the girl in question that he wants to meet her personally.

“Did you invite her to the ball tonight?”

“Yes, Grandfather. I am planning to introduce her later to our family and acquaintances. His father also needs to be at the ball tonight to meet with the delegations from the Qing Empire, Kingdom of Siam, and Meiji Japan.”

“That’s good… I can’t wait to meet her. I heard a lot of stories about her from your sister. I hope that she would be comfortable later in the ball… Hmmm… you better stop working for today and go and meet her now so that you can both prepare for the imperial ball.”

Crown Prince Justinian is astonished at how carefree his grandfather is treating this issue. This gives him hope that maybe his family would approve of his relationship with Lin, but he knows that it is still early to tell his family about his relationship. He wants to make sure that everything would be smooth the time he would tell them.

“Yes, Grandfather”

The two then stand up to go outside the office and leave. Crown Prince Justinian signals Count Karl that he can stop working for today to also prepare the ball. Then, the Emperor and Crown Prince Justinian continues talking while they were walking. The atmosphere between the grandfather and his grandson is very harmonious and comfortable and the people who see them feel glad that their two monarchs are in a good relationship with each other. It makes the people assured that the future emperor of the Empire would be like the current Emperor who is very good to the people and there would be a smooth transfer of power. A peaceful transition of power would be good for the peace and order of the empire.