The Martial Unity

It took Rael just a moment to put his old enemy’s plan together.

The truth of the matter was that Rui alone was the one who had committed the fraud without any involvement of the Emperor of Harmony himself. The truth was indeed that Rui had engaged in massive fundraising under intentional and knowingly false pretenses and lies.

It was indeed fraud.

This was the truth.

On top of that, while Rui had done a great job with hiding the truth considering his constraints and pressure, he had not been flawless. He still had left clues and pieces of evidence that could be found if people already knew what they were looking for. There were indeed real, actual clues to the truth even in the public record and intelligence sold by intelligence brokers. They were sprinkled in tiny little pieces, spread out over the information landscape and waiting to be discovered.

However, the report that his old enemy had spread only had false evidence and false clues to the truth. Emperor Rael understood the reasons behind this decision.

Prime Minister Edward wanted the world to discover the real clues and the real pieces of evidence for themselves. To find the clues that were still publicly available but undiscovered so that they could come to the realization that something was extremely wrong. Something that all of them had missed because the truth had been so absurdly inconceivable.

The actual evidence of Rui’s fraud would be so much more convincing if the world discovered it for themselves.

Even if they didn’t uncover absolute proof, just circumstantial evidence and a sound basis for genuine suspicion was devastating.

Because Emperor Rael’s incentives and benefits for allyship were mostly post-war promises that would be delivered after the war was won. In other words, it required his allies to trust, without any shadow of a doubt, that he would fulfill all of his lofty promises after winning the war and no longer needing them.

There was so much at stake that even a slight bit of suspicion would make most parties unwilling to take such an enormous risk and leap of faith.

“He knows that’s all he needs…” A whisper escaped Emperor Rael. “He just needs to tank the world’s faith and trust in me by just enough to invalidate our strategy in this war for allies.”

And he planned on doing that by using fake evidence to manipulate East Panama into finding real evidence, even if circumstantial and inconclusive, and then becoming extremely suspicious of Emperor Rael.

“The worst part is the sheer amount of money that is at stake.”

Countless nations, parties, and individuals had donated massive sums of money to Rui’s campaign for the throne across East Panama. Rui had only refunded Kandrian patrons, benefactors, and stakeholders. He had not refunded international stakeholders and powers.

What would all of them do if they learned that there was seemingly credible evidence popping up all over the place that they all had been defrauded for five years?

Emperor Rael’s expression crumbled with even graver severity at the thought of just how much of an onslaught of backlash was about to bombard the Kandrian Empire.

“Well played, Edward.” A grudging remark escaped him. “Well played.”

“Your Highness, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is being bombarded with an avalanche of inquiries, appointments, and investigative efforts!” the Minister of Foreign affairs cried.

“The Emperor of the Galen Empire has canceled his scheduled appointment with you, Your Majesty!”

“There is a flood of reporters and journalists that are demanding a statement at various governmental institutions, Your Majesty.”

“The Martial Union reports a plummeting day-to-day commission application rate overseas, Your Majesty!”

Emperor Rael immediately jumped back to work with fierce determination while the crisis continued blooming and evolving.

Simultaneously, the investigative report continued piercing deeper and deeper into East Panama and human civilization as it spread more and more shockwaves across the political sphere, the finance industry, and the intelligence communities.

To say the world was horrified was a shock.

The Kandrian Throne War had been a grueling cold civil war between a handful of princes and princesses that had gone on and on for more than a decade.

Countless forces had gained a stake in the battle as they invested in the future of the Kandrian Empire, and countless powers had suffered tremendously when the Emperor of Harmony had magically recovered from a terminal and incurable disease while on the verge of death.

The fact that all of those losses were because of deceit and deception and fraud enraged countless individuals in East Panama.

A truly astronomical amount of investigative efforts were deployed towards the Kandrian Empire, the Emperor of Harmony, and the Void Prince. Countless spy networks, infiltrators, surveillance and espionage resources as well as Martial resources were instantly redirected to verify the veracity of the claims made by the investigative report.

And bit by bit, the very first traces and clues that lent credence to the shocking claims that the investigative report made were found.

This only galvanized the frenzied intelligence community and it began relentlessly digging deeper and deeper.

It was no different from tipping the police with fake and false evidence of murder for an actual murder. Even if the original evidence was false, law enforcement had to follow up on it, and if they ended up finding real evidence of murder, then the original fake evidence no longer mattered. Dug up the soil.

The smell of blood.

A weapon stained red.

It didn’t matter how bullshit the original tip was if there were actual skeletons in the closet waiting to be discovered.

Actual skeletons that would be discovered with countless people searching for them. The geopolitical landscape of East Panama shook as immense political turmoil erupted across it from end-to-end. The consequences of the economic shocks that had hit the Kandrian Empire shortly after the information had spread was just the beginning. They were just aftereffects of the initial shock.

The real consequences had yet to even begin. In the coming days and weeks, East Panama would come to a more definite conclusion and viewpoint and regardless of what it was, the Kandrian Empire’s spotless reputation would be stained with this controversy for centuries to come. The crisis had just begun.

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