September 10, 1939
Kassel, 9th Military District, Central Germany, Frankfurt - Dietrich Schacht's Residence The uninvited guest, who had shattered my plans to finally catch my breath and spend a relaxing weekend with Claudia, took a leisurely sip of coffee and opened his mouth.
“Well, it's just so-so.”
“I apologize for our inadequate preparations, as we weren't expecting such an esteed guest.”
Claudia replied with an impeccably polite smile, but I'd bet my life she was incredibly annoyed right now.
What I couldn't understand was that Wilhelm also seed to find Claudia quite disagreeable. But why?
“I heard you're not yet married.”
“She is my fiancée. Given the current situation, we haven't been able to hold the ceremony yet.”
“Hmm, I see.”
Wilhelm still looked displeased.
Seriously, why is this Crown Prince barging in on a Sunday morning and acting like this?
“If it's not too much of an imposition, Your Highness, may I ask the reason for your visit to my ho?”
“Right, I've committed an impertinence with this sudden visit. My apologies.”
The Crown Prince only made a show of a belated apology, then briefly glanced at Claudia before looking at .
This bastard?
“She is not just my fiancée; she is also my most trusted comrade.
If it's a story she cannot hear, then I have no intention of hearing it either, Your Highness.”
For the first ti, Wilhelm seed a bit taken aback by my words.
What, is this supposed to be surprising?
“Hmm, I see. I had no intention of offending you.
But I am a man of the old ways. It's a bit difficult to discuss politics in the presence of an unmarried lady.”
Unbelievable, he's spinning it like that?
I was debating whether to just tell him to get out, to hell with him being an elder and a Crown Prince, when Claudia squeezed my hand once and rose from her seat.
“Then I hope you have a pleasant conversation, Your Highness.”
As if to make a point to the Crown Prince, Claudia went up to the second floor and entered her room.
I erased the plan to go on a date in the park for lunch from my mind.
I'll have to go get a sweet dessert to salvage this ruined mood.
The Crown Prince is an important figure.
As long as he doesn't side with the royalists, compromise should be possible, and I know in my head that he's a crucial party for negotiations, yet I found him deeply unpleasant.
“I've heard that you are the connecting link between the civilian faction and the military in the new governnt.”
“For now, that is correct, Your Highness.”
The only official titles I hold are spokesperson for the new governnt, overseeing radio broadcasts, and Major.
Before the new governnt was ford, I was just a asly Captain.
It's hardly a high rank, so I have no idea what, how much, and how he knows to co here and act like this.
Wilhelm looked at my face, took another sip of coffee, and then spoke.
“Count Blunthal is a close friend of my eldest son.
I'm sowhat aware of what you all have been doing since the Munich Agreent.”
It connects like this?
I was wondering how he knew about a low-ranking person like
and ca barging in, but Count Blunthal was the one who led the raid on Hitler's residence, the practitioner who conspired directly with us during the planning of Operation Widerstand.
If it was him, it wouldn't be strange if he had told the Crown Prince everything about my role in this coup. Though his own fate is currently unknown.
“Count Blunthal is…”
“He is a loyal subject and a noble hero who sacrificed himself for the Empire.”
I was about to express my regrets about his son's close friend being missing, but the Crown Prince spoke as if he were already a dead hero.
Now I was slowly starting to understand exactly why I found him so unpleasant.
“I hear you're not aiming for an Empire, but for the revival of democracy.
Is that correct?”
“That is correct, Your Highness.”
I wasn't even in the mood to deny it, so I just affird it imdiately.
“Wasting ti on pointless mind gas is a sha, and since you've answered honestly, I shall also speak honestly.”
The Crown Prince let out a small smirk at my words, then propped his legs on the table and crossed his arms.
“I have no intention of bringing my father back as His Majesty the Emperor.”
Ha, so that was it.
The reason he'd been so lukewarm towards Dr. Goerdeler and the royalists.
I didn't think he wanted a constitutional monarchy. If he had, there would have been no need for him to join the new governnt.
After all, even if the new governnt talked about restoring the monarchy, the Nazi Party couldn't do anything to the Crown Prince just for that. Making a rash move would only backfire.
So, if he had no intention of playing a leading role in the new governnt and was fine with being a re figurehead, he could have just waited at Oels Castle for us to secure Germany.
But he deliberately left Oels Castle in Silesia, tested the waters from the residence of his estranged Crown Princess, and then ca here himself during the civil war, risking the danger.
“Your Highness, you wish to beco the Emperor yourself.”
“Just as the Count said, you have a sharp mind.”
Now the Crown Prince's actions were beginning to make sense.
Yes, he's in his 50s too.
I can understand not wanting to put his father on the throne at this point.
“Then what do you expect from , Your Highness? As I've said, I have little interest in an Emperor's empire.”
“I want an alliance with your faction.”
An alliance? What's this now? My expression must have been too blatant, as Wilhelm's face turned slightly sour.
“Why that reaction? I can be the most powerful check against the hardline royalists who despise your faction.”
That's true.
If the Crown Prince lends us his support, Dr. Goerdeler's justification weakens.
But—
“Then what does Your Highness desire from us?”
“It's simple. Let the people know that bringing back my father is unrealistic.”
Look at this guy. Is he telling
to openly antagonize the royalists and start an internal power struggle?
“I hear you have considerable diplomatic insight.
Realistically, if we were to bring my father back and revive the Empire, Britain and France wouldn't just stand by, would they? Is that not so?”
“Of course, Your Highness.”
At my answer, Wilhelm began to speak with fiery passion.
“I am different from my father. He just made one blunder after another in the Great War.
If I had run for president during the Weimar era, a madman like Hitler would never have beco Führer! If only my father hadn't stopped ! He won't do! I cannot allow Germany, which has struggled so hard to rise again, to be plunged into danger once more!”
The Crown Prince was getting excited as he spoke. After parting with Tresckow and doing so research, I now knew it too.
He had tried to run as a presidential candidate during the Weimar Republic, but Wilhelm II, who despised the democratic system itself, flew into a rage and forbade it, so he gave up and sponsored Hitler instead.
I can roughly guess how he feels.
"I don't know what you think, but I know reality. I know full well that those so-called royalists who speak of loyalty rely want to reclaim their aristocratic privileges and need an Emperor because they cannot stand being beneath commoners."
So he thought of us, is that it?
“Do you think I don't see their sche to install an Emperor, revive an uncontrollable military to start another war, and then pin the bla on the Emperor! I and the royal family fought on the front lines of that Great War we didn't even start, but our reward was the abolition of the monarchy and those military bastards who started the war and then kept their mouths shut.”
It's certainly hard to say that World War I was started by Wilhelm II alone. But that's not to say the German imperial family bears no responsibility.
“If you agree to take my hand, my Germany will be one where the old order of the Emperor and the nobility and the new order of the democrats check and balance each other. In any case, a monarchy is necessary to control the military.
What I an is that the democracy you all dream of isn't entirely realistic either.”
Indeed, he is facing reality to so extent and, unlike Wilhelm II, is by no ans incompetent.
“When people hear the na Wilhelm, I want them to think of
as the greatest monarch since Frederick the Great, not my father, the Kaiser of defeat. And you are a very suitable talent to beco my Bismarck.”
“A re Major, you say?”
I said a word, baffled by the Crown Prince who was suddenly getting ahead of himself, and he spoke as if it were no problem at all.
“I have watched you all for a long ti through Count Blunthal.
I'm well aware that the so-called leaders of the new governnt were just flashy bystanders. And that in reality, it was you who created the new governnt.”
The Crown Prince was speaking with a passion, as if he had co with the absolute intention of persuading .
It's surprising even to
that the Crown Prince, who had been thoroughly used and abandoned by the Nazis and had remained silent for years, possessed such passion.
“Oster and Tresckow are zealous soldiers, but that's all they are. You, however, have a sense for it.
You are passionate enough to plan a bold civil war, flexible enough to draw in all sorts of factions for it, and seasoned enough to succeed in reversing public opinion when it seed impossible.”
I had never imagined a situation where the Crown Prince would be singing my praises so highly.
“If your origin and rank are a problem, I will have you marry my daughter, Cecilie. If you beco a mber of the imperial family, no one will dare say a word.”
“But I have a perfectly fine fiancée.”
At my answer, Wilhelm glanced towards Claudia's room with a thoroughly displeased look and spoke.
I wondered why this guy didn't like her, but was it because he intended to make
his son-in-law from the start?
“My daughter is quite beautiful, but if you still prefer your fiancée, then just marry my daughter. You can keep her as a mistress.
Isn't that how high society works? My wife is an excellent Crown Princess, but as a woman, she lacks charm. I will gladly acknowledge it.”
“Hah…”
“If an imdiate decision is difficult, think it over carefully. Marrying my daughter will be a great help to your future.
In the end, what's important to those damn nobles is rank by bloodline.”
The Crown Prince, as if his throat were dry, drained the completely cold coffee and frowned.
Ah, coffee that's gone so cold its aroma and taste have vanished. Just thinking about it tastes bad to .
“You'll need ti to think for now, but given the situation, I'd appreciate a quick decision if possible.”
“No, Your Highness.
I will answer you right now.”
Wilhelm frowned at my words.
“Do you truly think this is for the best?”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Wilhelm ran a hand through his hair and gave a bitter smile.
“Well, fine. Let's hear the reason.”
“Then, with all due respect, Your Highness. Britain and France will oppose the restoration of the monarchy itself, not just the return of the forr Emperor.”
Crown Prince Wilhelm's expression turned uncomfortable at my words. Of course, his accession to the throne is a different story from bringing back Wilhelm II himself.
The Crown Prince is already in Germany, and if we were to suddenly declare him Emperor, Britain and France's response would be delayed, so they might react lukewarmly.
But that is rely a possibility.
Unlike during the Anschluss or the Munich Agreent, their patience has reached its limit, and their war preparations are well underway.
Who can be certain they will stand idly by if we give them a pretext here?
“I have no intention of making a gamble that entrusts the fate of Germany, which we have painstakingly saved from the clutches of the Nazis, to Britain and France.”
He frowned and stared at
silently before opening his mouth.
“But couldn't we overco that diplomatically? You are, at best, a Major.
Having many connections and having power yourself are clearly different things. Imagine how much you could accomplish as a mber of the imperial family and as my chancellor.”
“Your words are correct, Your Highness. But that would also be a betrayal of the people who dream of a revived democracy and have trusted and followed .
Furthermore, just as Your Highness is reluctant to rely on the royalists to seize power, I too do not wish to beco soone easily disposed of by depending entirely on you for my foundation.”
He couldn't refute it.
His proposal is quite sweet to the ear. It would empower
and leave room for the civilian faction to exert so influence and be appointed even under a monarchy.
But in the end, wanting to check the royalists with my support and that of the civilian faction ans he doesn't want either side to escape his control.
“Moreover, I have no desire to serve soone who tells
to make a mistress of a person who believed my words and risked her own life to co this far with .”
If she hadn't connected
with the Frankfurter Zeitung, if she hadn't helped
get back on my feet after I fell apart after the Munich Agreent, if she hadn't assassinated Ribbentrop based on nothing but my uncertain words.
The '' who is here now, our new governnt, would not exist.
“Rather, let
make a proposal, Your Highness. Reign as an honorable Emperor in the people's democratic governnt, but do not rule.
If you do so, the House of Hohenzollern, free from the worries of tyrants or inept rulers, will be beloved by the German people and will endure for a long ti.”
Crown Prince Wilhelm let out a hollow laugh.
“You've just kicked away the chance to be rembered as the great chancellor who raised a glorious Germany under the rule of a great Emperor.”
It's not that I believe democracy is absolutely superior to monarchy.
History proves that a dictatorship under a wise ruler is far more beneficial to a nation than a shoddy democracy.
If it weren't for this era, this Germany.
He might certainly have beco a decent Emperor.
But in an era like this, in a Germany like this, his competence could instead be a poison.
A nation already industrialized and inflad with nationalism cannot be completely controlled by an absolute monarch, and to overestimate one's own abilities is a recipe for disaster.
“I hope Your Highness can beco the great Emperor you desire.”
“Hah. I hope the German democratic governnt you desire can be born.”
Picturing the Germany each of us desired, we turned our backs on one another.
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