Goldie and the Noble Consort
“I’m already aware of that. However, it seems you’re intervening far more than expected.” The Kaiser was taking far too much interest in this side of things.
“His Majesty the Kaiser hopes that Korea will build a navy this time, so that the balance of power in the Far East may be properly established.”
“Korea building a navy, you say.”
Japan had already collapsed, its military reduced to a hollow shell. If Korea were to develop a navy with German support, the balance might roughly be restored. But could Korea’s current scale even support such an undertaking? Assuming I could forcibly assimilate territory comparable to Southern Manchuria, the population would barely exceed thirty million.
“Doesn’t your army already suffice for defense? If you develop a navy to a reasonable degree as well, Japan will never again dare to threaten your country, and China has no room to reform. It would serve as a perfect counterweight.”
What Cooper was saying now could essentially be taken as the will of the German Empire. That was why this man had brought Prince Joachim along. They weren’t just paying lip service—they were genuinely intent on raising Korea up. An army like the France of the East, a navy like the Germany of the East. How peculiar. Still, wasn’t Britain the strongest naval power? Perhaps it would be worth gauging the situation between Britain and Germany— No. With a navy anchored in Okinawa, they wouldn’t simply be wary of Russia alone. They were undoubtedly keeping an eye on us as well. Moreover, if we reached out to Britain, there was no telling how Russia might react. It might be better to draw in every nation possible. Korea would remain unaligned, pulling everything from every country.
If Germany’s proposal was sincere, it was worth considering. Who was leading the Korean Empire’s navy at the moment? If I could firmly grasp both the army and navy, and secure the air force as well, then once all of this came to pass… it wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Not a bad idea.” I nodded lightly. “We can discuss the details through close consultation between our two nations.”
“Ahem. Can’t matters of state be discussed later?”
“Ah, my apologies, Your Highness.”
I had nearly gotten carried away. “Since we’ve come all this way, I’d like to properly tour Count Ok’s country. Is there anything you could show us from Germany’s perspective?”
To be honest, this country had nothing worth touring like twenty-first-century Korea. Seoul and Busan hadn’t developed to that extent yet. At present, even if a German imperial prince were to travel here out of curiosity, all he would see was the life of a backward pre-modern nation. The one saving grace was that at least basic sanitation facilities existed. But did that mean there was abundant food fit for a German imperial prince? Hardly.
I could host a banquet at the imperial palace, but that would have to wait until after he had an audience with the Emperor. Yet the prince showed no interest in meeting the Emperor and instead left everything to me, his eyes sparkling with anticipation. At least there was Sontag Hotel for lodging.
“What am I supposed to do with this?” I scratched my head vigorously. If only this body had been a man instead of a girl who reeked of milk, things might have been different.
I turned my head slightly and found Joachim staring at me, eyes gleaming.
“Your Excellency, the Administrator.” Admiral Cooper of the East Asia Fleet called out to me cautiously. His expression was utterly devoid of expectation.
“Yes, please speak.”
“You mentioned a tour, but this is still an unmodernized country, is it not? Prince Joachim’s visit was also quite sudden. Simply showing sincerity will suffice.”
In other words: We know your country is still an uncivilized, unmodernized nation, so don’t worry about disappointing us—just go through the motions.
“Indeed. After all, I came to see Count Ok, not Korea.”
“No, even so, he is an imperial prince. I intend to observe proper decorum as much as possible.”
Decorum still had to be maintained.
“It’s quite all right. I’ve heard that Korea has nothing to show except for Count Ok!”
Was I supposed to feel pleased or saddened by that? It sounded innocent enough, but perhaps that was simply his honest perception. It wasn’t outright rude, so I couldn’t exactly take offense.
“Then, would you like to tour the imperial palace?”
“Wasn’t there a fire?”
“Ah, yes, there was.”
Not everything had burned down, but showing him an active construction site and claiming “it’s still perfectly fine!” wasn’t an option. The buildings in Hanseong hadn’t even been fully rebuilt from the war damage yet—what good would showing the imperial palace do? There was nothing I could do about this. I shouldn’t have sent Yi Beom-yun back. No, Yi Beom-yun would probably have asked me to handle it anyway.
Should I summon Min Yeong-hwan instead? Tch, that man wouldn’t be much help either. And now Prince Joachim had to show up and make everything complicated.
“Then, please show us around Hanseong, and I’d like to hear about Count Ok’s exploits during the Russo-Japanese War.”
That much wasn’t difficult. The boy might be a prince, but at least he had some manners in that regard. Since German army officers were also present, it would be a good opportunity for mutual exchange.
“Very well. I’ll request a imperial banquet from the palace for the meal.”
Preparing an imperial banquet wasn’t particularly hard. We would have to let him see our Goldie Emperor anyway. Unfortunately, I couldn’t bore him with stories of Admiral Yi Sun-sin, but if he heard my own tales, he’d probably accuse me of lying and declare he never wanted to associate with Oriental monkeys again. He wasn’t an idiot—there was no way he’d fully believe the things I’d done.
“Then I suppose we must request an audience with His Majesty the Emperor of your country.”
Prince Joachim seemed to be harboring unnecessary expectations of the Emperor. I had a very bad feeling about this.
“Yes, but our Emperor ascended the throne rather hastily, so I hope you will take that into consideration.”
We had no choice but to let him see Goldie Sunjong, and now that had become a problem. I had worked so hard to raise this country’s standing. It would be troublesome if that fool ruined it. Ah, and there was also Lady Eom. If that woman tried to sabotage things, it would be a nuisance.
And just as I expected, it played out exactly that way. When we were granted an audience with the Emperor at Seokjojeon…
“Your Majesty, this is the sixth son of His Majesty the Kaiser, who has come to the Korean Empire on a visit from Germany.”
“I-Is that so?”
Our Goldie was stuttering? He should at least be able to speak properly. Surely I had misheard.
“I am Prince Joachim of Germany. It is an honor to meet His Majesty the Emperor of Korea.”
“I-I am pleased as well.”
Good grief. Our Goldie really had a way with words. His face was tense and twitching—how did that look to others? He wasn’t normally a stutterer. He could speak just fine usually; he was simply a bit slow. In any case, Joachim had come to see me, not Goldie, so it didn’t matter much. Still, he could at least manage to speak clearly, couldn’t he? I was getting rather irritated. I wanted to meet him separately and have a proper talk.
“Your Majesty, there is no need to be so nervous. His Highness the Prince has merely come to tour Korea.”
You’re nothing more than a figurehead. Just exchange pleasantries and keep things formal. If he couldn’t even manage that, it would be disappointing, but what could I do? The country was already doomed anyway. If the Emperor couldn’t even properly receive a foreign prince, then I would have to reconsider a few things.
“I-Is that so.”
God, this was humiliating. Yi Cheok couldn’t speak German, and neither Prince Joachim nor Cooper’s delegation understood Korean, but they would certainly notice the stuttering. Even so, this was unacceptable. I had brought Prince Joachim here—if he was Emperor, he should at least act like one. Lady Eom had probably been pressuring him from behind, demanding to know why the prince hadn’t come yet. At this rate, I would have to resort to threats.
“Your Majesty, it seems we’ll need to construct a few more palace buildings after all.”
More buildings would have to be erected. It was practically a threat to raze the entire palace grounds.
“Ahem! Welcome to Korea. I am Yi Cheok, Emperor of this nation.”
Welcome to the palace of Joseon, stranger. Why did that phrase keep coming to mind?
The one fortunate thing was that Goldie at least understood his life depended on me. He had seen Japanese soldiers’ flesh being torn apart and their brains spilling out right before his eyes. That was probably why he was acting this way. But what could be done? This was the conclusion. He would have to listen to me if he wanted to keep his pathetic throne.
“Even so, it seems rather inappropriate to have nothing prepared for an audience with the Emperor.”
“What do you mean, Your Highness the Royal Consort?”
Lady Eom had to butt in at the worst possible moment. I shot her a desperate glare, silently begging her not to spout nonsense in this setting. She shouldn’t start rambling about displaying imperial dignity just because a foreign prince had arrived.
“Our Korea has a history spanning thousands of years. But when a prince has come all this way, we cannot simply do nothing, can we?”
Though I disliked it, I took on the role of interpreter and relayed her words to Prince Joachim and the German delegation. No one was particularly pleased, but they maintained polite expressions for courtesy’s sake. At least with me present, they could speak more freely.
“Then, what sort of hospitality does Your Highness the Royal Consort intend to offer Prince Joachim of Germany?”
Could we even properly host them? Our already meager resources had been thoroughly squeezed by the Kuroki First Army, which we were still treating as slaves. We would have to make the best of the Three Thousand Li of Rivers and Mountains.
“The imperial family will take full responsibility for the German prince. I ask that the Foreign Minister simply fulfill his duties as Foreign Minister.”
How had that woman ended up like this? Right—the imperial authority was shaking, so she was trying to resist however she could. I couldn’t say I didn’t understand. In fact, I understood all too well. She was acting out of loyalty to Gojong, desperately struggling now that he was gone. Ah, whatever! First, strengthen imperial power! That was her thinking. She wanted to show the world, both domestically and abroad, that we were an empire with an emperor.
She wanted to put on a grand display. But times had changed. While the imperial family sat around like idiots, I had done everything alone. This country hadn’t survived because the imperial family was blessed with a military official as a subject. It had survived because my army had fought tooth and nail, resorting to even the vilest methods to massacre the Japanese forces.
Perhaps I should just leave them be. The fact that even the German Empire’s prince had come only to see me, and that their delegation had approached only me, was proof that they had no interest in the Korean imperial family. From what they had said earlier, they seemed willing to trust only what I personally dragged them into.
“Regrettably, Your Majesty, they have not come as state guests this time. Of course, we are here to foster friendly relations with Korea, but His Highness the Prince has come solely to see Korea’s Joan of Arc. There is no need for excessive concern.”
“You mean you came to see a mere minister, not the Emperor of this country?”
“That is correct.”
“Look here. No matter how much Germany may be one of the world’s greatest powers, isn’t this rather discourteous?”
Discourteous, she said. She was being far too blunt.
“Discourteous? We have already shown sufficient courtesy to your country. We came here personally to support the Korean Empire in naval matters.”
“Your Highness the Royal Consort, why are you treating the German delegation, who came to maintain friendly relations with Korea, in such a hostile manner?”
This time it was Yi Wan-yong, the Minister of Education. Even Yi Wan-yong looked startled as he glanced at me while addressing the Consort. To think Yi Wan-yong would make such a face. Tsk tsk.
“It is not hostility. This country is clearly a monarchy. If a foreign prince has come as a state guest, then for the sake of friendship between our two imperial families—”
The Consort was desperately asserting imperial authority. She still had her pride, it seemed. She was trying to put on a show of dignity.
“I’m terribly sorry. Our Royal Consort has not yet recovered from the shock.”
At this rate, I would have to clean up after Lady Eom’s mess right here. I should have dealt with that woman properly when the palace caught fire last time. As the highest-ranking elder in the imperial family, leaving her alone had only made things troublesome. I had wanted to preserve the imperial family, but now it was becoming a nuisance.
“We can certainly understand.”
At least Joachim was acting magnanimously, saying he understood. Honestly, he had to understand. Lady Eom was being thoughtless, but I still had to speak plainly. As a member of the imperial family, Joachim had outwardly come to Korea for a tour. His true goal was to meet Korea’s Joan of Arc, but at least on the surface, treating it as a tour preserved his dignity as royalty. If it was framed as a visit to Korea, then basic courtesy toward the host country was expected. Meeting the Emperor first before seeing me would have been proper. Even now, he was being far too shameless. Of course, it wasn’t on the level of Roosevelt’s daughter causing a scene, but at the very least, Joachim should show some deference now. For my sake, he needed to lower his head.
Lady Eom was trying to assert the imperial family’s authority by any means necessary. If things didn’t go her way, she would shift the blame onto me—or perhaps she simply didn’t care if relations with Germany collapsed. Probably the former. Since she already disliked me, she wanted to bolster the imperial dignity while also trying to sabotage diplomacy with Germany and pin the responsibility on me.
This felt like being put to the test every single day. Here, I had no choice but to cover for her with everything I had. Later, I would need to have a serious conversation with Lady Eom—woman to woman.
“The imperial family simply wishes to take good care of the German delegation.”
I forced a bright smile and did my best to smooth things over.
“Understood. Given the recent passing of your late Emperor, we can certainly understand. Your Majesty, thank you for receiving us so graciously.”
Joachim belatedly showed proper respect to Goldie. The German officers who had been wearing uncomfortable expressions followed suit.
“N-No, it’s quite all right.”
Goldie, who had been standing there looking the most awkward and foolish, nodded with a displeased expression.
It was fortunate that Germany had let it pass. Since they had come for balance diplomacy, they were willing to overlook Lady Eom’s whining to that extent. It was utterly pathetic. Regrettably, we were currently in a position where we had to ask Germany for favors. For a country with nothing, we needed the great powers’ mercy. We had to accept whatever gifts they offered.
“Foreign Minister, remain for a moment.”
The Emperor tried to personally escort Joachim away to prevent any further mistakes, but Lady Eom clearly had no intention of letting me leave.