“Your Majesty, I appreciate that you have a job to do, but I wouldn’t be doing mine if I didn’t advise you against leaving the hospital so soon after the surgery.” the lead surgeon of the surgery said to Alexander.

“Doctor, I understand completely. But I really do have to get back. It’s a matter of national security. And you were the one who said you were really happy with my progress.”

“I did say that, Your Majesty. But I also cautioned against undue stress,”

“Well being the future emperor of the Ruthenia Empire slash the head of state…I’m afraid I’ve got the wrong job for that,”

“Alex is a man of determination,” Sophie joined the conversation, facing the doctor. “You’re not going to win with him.”

“I’m discovering that…Your Royal Highness,” the doctor said.

“Look, doctor, I promise you I will do everything I can to take it easy,” Alexander assured. “Besides, last time I checked, I think I outrank you.”

Alexander winked and his doctor chuckled. He just pulled out his superior rank card and there’s no way for the doctor to counter that.

“Seems like I’m going to concede here. Just make sure that you will avoid stress at all costs. This isn’t a joke, Your Majesty.”

“Of course, Doctor. No pressure.” Alex replied with a grin on his face.-.

The doctor shook his head and left the room. As Sophie shut the door, she faced Alexander who was stretching his shoulder.

But before she could utter a word, Alexander spoke.

“Sophie, I know you’re mad at me, but I really do need to get back.”

“Alex…why are you forcing yourself to work again? Why can’t you just leave it to your ministers? It’s why they were there in the first place,” Sophie pointed out.

“Look, Sophie,” Alexander grabbed her hands, “You must understand where I’m coming from. We are trying to keep peace in our nation that the Black Hand is trying to jeopardize. If I don’t take action now, the whole country could fall into chaos,”

“Alex…” As Sophie was about to reason with Alexander, a knock on the door interrupted her.“Come in!” Alexander called out. The door swung open revealing one person; it was the Minister of Internal Affairs of the Ruthenian Empire, Dmitri Kaniv.

The minister bowed as he walked in and approached the royal couple. “Your Majesty, Her Royal Highness, you called for me?”

“Yes, I do indeed, Dmitri. I would like to have a discussion with you,” Alexander said, shifting his gaze back to Sophie. “Can I have the room…Honey?”

“Yea yea sure,” Sophie nodded before making her leave. Once Sophie left the room, Alexander turned to his minister once again.

“Do you know why I called you here?”

Dmitri cleared his throat nervously, “Is it about the deadline, sir?”

“Partly,” Alexander said simply, “Do you remember our agreement right? Should you fail to track the one responsible, the Black Hand, I’ll have you relieved of your duty,”

Beads of sweat began to form on Dmitri’s forehead when he heard those words. “I’m well aware of that, Your Majesty.”

“And by looking at your appearance, is it safe for me to assume that you haven’t found them?”Alexander questioned.

Dmitri swallowed thickly, “I’m afraid so…Your Majesty. Will I be fired?”

Alexander sighed. “No…I’m taking back my words, Dmitri,”

Dmitri blinked in surprise. “Sir?”

“Can you grab the file on top of the drawer?” Alexander ordered as he tilted his head in the direction of the cabinet. Atop it was a brown envelope.

.

Dmitri walked over to the table and grabbed the envelope and handed it to Alexander.

Alexander opened it up and looked at all the documents inside. Then he glanced at Dmitri and smiled.

“Well Dmitri, you’ve been in service for the Ruthenia Empire for about fifteen years. You have a clean track record and have proven yourself to be trustworthy. Therefore, it’ll be a waste of an asset if I were to fire you, right?”

Dmitri nodded his head slowly, he couldn’t think of anything else to respond to. Hearing that from the prince himself made him feel humbled.

“If you’re wondering how I got this, well I ordered Sergei to look up everything about you,” Alexander revealed. “Just like you, Sergei has been a loyal stateman to Ruthenia Empire and it’s thanks to his efforts that we’re still standing,”The mention of Sergei brought a smile to Dmitri’s face. “Sergei is indeed good at his work, Your Majesty, I still remember the times when he was just a Minister of Transportation. He climbed through the ranks, becoming the Minister of Finance where he pursued modernization by borrowing money from Francois Republic, and at the end, he became the first Prime Minister of the Ruthenia Empire.”

“What I need right now is a capable minister, just like Sergei,” Alexander said. “But since the constitution has changed, where I became the supreme commander in chief of the Ruthenia Empire, his position is no longer needed. Hence, I’m making him the new foreign minister of the Ruthenia Empire.”

“Is the prime minister aware of this?” Dmitri asked.

“Yes, I just told him earlier and he accepted it with an open heart. It’s not like I’m demoting him or something…”

A few seconds passed before Dmitri spoke, “So Your Majesty…I still don’t get why you called me here…Sorry if it sounds rude but is that all there is? You’re taking back your words and assigning Sergei as your new foreign minister?”

“Of course, no!” Alexander said firmly, “I’m here to talk about your ministry,” Alexander said and continued. “In just four months, the Black Hand manages to cause disorder in our country. The first one was me with my parents and the second one is me only. I’ve read everything about the Ministry of Internal Affairs and I couldn’t believe my eyes that your ministry is under-budgeted?”

“It’s one of the issues the ministry is facing, Your Majesty. With not enough budget, we couldn’t get things done, especially on something major like finding the nest of the international syndicate.”

Alexander clicked his tongue. “Well, have you submitted your fiscal budget for next year, Dmitri?”

“Yes sir.”

“Tell me about it.”

“We’re looking for a 300 percent increase on our budget. Your Majesty, the Ruthenia Empire is a massive country, and watching over all of it takes a huge burden on us. We are under-budgeted and understaffed. But if we got the budget that we are asking for, this will give us more staff, equipment, weapons, and other things that could help serve our purpose,”

Alexander placed a hand under his chin as he contemplated. The Ministry of Internal Affairs is equivalent to the Department of Homeland Security of The United States. It was created after the events of 9/11 for counter-terrorism, increasing border security, and handling immigration affairs.

Alexander has long planned to overhaul the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ruthenia Empire. As of right now, Black Hand is the primary threat of the Empire, to counter that, the Ministry of Internal Affairs must be equipped with the right tools and manpower for maximum efficiency. So he won’t press Dmitri about his proposal of a budget increase.

Not only did he plan to change the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but he also planned to change how the government of the Ruthenia Empire.

It was not stated in the new constitution so Alexander has to make a new amendment.

The way the Ruthenia Empire was governed since its inception is ruled by one person, i.e. the Emperor, which is him. It’s too exhausting for him to bear. Every region across the Empire is under control by one entity, the head of state, i.e. him. Imagine ruling 22.8 million square kilometers with you as its center. That’ll be a complete nightmare. So to change that, Alexander will have to divide the Empire into states, and the one who will govern that state is an elected mayor, elected by the people living in that state.

The term is federalism, after all, the Ruthenia Empire is multiethnic and a multilingual nation. The only way to govern such a country is for them to be ruled by a person who understands what they want.

If this is implemented, the workload of the government will decrease, giving him a lot of free time to further his fledgling company.

“Don’t worry, I don’t oppose you asking for increasing your budget. In fact, I encourage it. I will pull some strings to make this work so rest assured,” Alexander said.

“Thank you, Sir,” Dmitri said with a grateful tone. “However, there is one thing I must ask you about.”action

“What is it?”

“The shooter, what should we do to him? He just won’t break,”

“Just keep him alive for now, I’ll deal with him myself.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”