Ch.123The Degenerate of Romania

“Huh?”

There’s something interesting in this report.

Apparently, the queen hasn’t said anything about the protests.

The problem isn’t the queen, but rather King Ferdinand of Romania.

Ferdinand’s health seems to have deteriorated significantly.

Well, I think I know why, and considering the original history, I feel somewhat responsible.

I suppose it’s because of his children, wife, and these strange protests happening in his twilight years.

The protesters are essentially saying the queen has been having affairs and that’s why the country is in such a state.

But what can you do?

He should have kept his wife in check. Or at least not been swayed by her to enter the war.

“Sigh. Why did she have to have affairs with other men?”

It’s quite pitiful, really.

Is she that fond of men?

Come to think of it, the Communist Germany side has been spreading ridiculous nonsense that the Tsarina remains unmarried because—like how she supposedly spent nights with common soldiers in military tents during the civil war—she spends passionate nights with White Army generals.

When I think about it, this situation in Romania must also be the work of those German communist bastards.

“Those German reds who dare mention Your Majesty are despicable, but they can be useful at times,” Maria remarked sharply, her expression angry.

I worry the king might die even sooner at this rate.

Surprisingly, this situation might actually die down.

I’m not sure how Beria will exploit this, but Horthy might apply more pressure. And if Britain intervenes, things could get complicated.

“Your Majesty. We’ve received a message from the White Army.”

Around that time, a message arrived from the White Army.

I wonder what message they’ve sent.

It’s unusual to get a message from the White Army at this time.

“What is it?”

“Rumors are spreading that Queen Marie had affairs with communists, and this information has reached the White Army through the local Okhrana.”

Why is this Marie story coming up again?

And if the White Army is bringing this up now…

Could they be using this as a pretext to intervene in Romania?

“This doesn’t seem like something that would normally blow up like this.”

Normally, Marie wouldn’t be the type of person to be caught up in such a scandal. She should have finished her life as a well-respected queen.

Of course, she had lifelong troubles with her children. But despite her affairs, wasn’t she still praised by Romanians?

And now this has led to rumors of her colluding with communists?

I should go to the White Army headquarters to find out more.

* * *

“What’s going on?”

At the White Army headquarters, all the army generals were already gathered, discussing the situation over a map of Romania.

Are they already preparing to tear Romania apart?

What exactly is happening?

“It’s as I reported, Your Majesty. Such rumors are circulating within Romania.”

“What’s the source of these rumors?”

I think I know who it is, but I asked just to be sure.

“It’s Beria, an Okhrana agent.”

Just to be safe, I had arranged for Okhrana reports from Romania to go to the White Army.

Since military intervention might be necessary depending on the situation in Romania, the White Army needed to be informed.

“Okhrana agent Beria. I knew he was up to something, but what has he done?”

His involvement makes this suspicious, but what exactly has happened to cause all this commotion?

“Communists are protesting, and it seems the queen’s side has no intention of suppressing these protests. Beria appears to have exploited this.”

Well, he certainly made good use of that.

Looking at the Black Baron’s report, the content is quite amusing.

Rumors suggesting that a queen who once sold her country to Britain might now sell it to Communist Germany, and various other rumors spread by the Okhrana.

It would have been difficult for the Okhrana to do this alone.

But with communists sent from Communist Germany adding credibility to the rumors…

I can’t believe Beria leaked this.

“So Beria created these rumors.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I see. I understand why Beria did this.

But still, I’m not sure if this gives us sufficient justification to intervene.

“But is it really widespread enough?”

It’s gotten worse, but it doesn’t seem serious enough yet.

If Romania were that fragile, it would have collapsed long ago.

Since the report is quite extensive, I decided to ask the Black Baron.

“According to Beria’s report, things are taking a strange turn. Prince Carol has now become involved in the situation.”

“What?”

Carol is involved in this?

What exactly has Beria done?

“He apparently appealed to the Romanian military for support, saying his mother is that kind of woman.”

Wow, Carol is really stirring things up.

He must have been upset after hearing that Michael would be the successor.

Carol took advantage of the small rumor Beria spread.

No matter how terrible Carol is, he’s still the king’s eldest son. He must have some influence.

If Carol hadn’t been involved, this might have blown over.

After all, she is a woman who had children with men other than her husband.

With her son Carol directly involved, regardless of his motives, the claim that she’s been colluding with communists might gain credibility.

“With the king in such a state, he couldn’t resolve this.”

“Yes. The situation seems to be taking a peculiar turn. Queen Marie apparently tried to resolve this belatedly.”

She probably hesitated to directly address the protests at first, as it would seem like an admission.

It would be rather ridiculous for a queen to personally suppress protests that are too embarrassing to even mention.

If she had left the protests alone, they might have died down naturally, but directly addressing them would make her look foolish.

The problem is that her failure to suppress the protests has led to rumors that she’s actually colluding with communists.

“It seems Prince Carol’s involvement has made things difficult.”

“Prince Carol has requested help from Hungary and Russia. He’s asking for assistance in removing the queen who is allegedly trying to sell the country to communists.”

So this is where Carol explodes.

Did Beria calculate this far ahead?

If so, Beria is truly impressive.

“Hungary has also contacted us, saying it’s time to intervene.”

“Hmm. Would it be too soon to test the waters a bit more?”

“No, now is the opportune time.”

Yes, now is indeed the right time.

We need to resolve everything we can before the Great Depression.

“King Ferdinand still hasn’t made a move. What do you think?”

“It’s certain that he’s not in good enough condition to leave everything to the queen.”

Well, human affairs are unpredictable.

Who could have known this would blow up like this?

“So is this a succession war? Or a war to prevent revolution? Or perhaps a righteous war to prevent Hungary’s forceful annexation of Romania?”

“Prince Carol claims he’s preventing his mother from handing power to communists. He’s asserting his rightful claim to the throne while drawing in the military. The queen’s side seems to be gathering supporters to stop Prince Carol. This would make it both a succession war and a war to prevent revolution.”

This could really lead to civil war.

No, civil war might already be inevitable. Carol has already portrayed his mother as a whore who sleeps with communists. Carol will start a civil war to secure his throne.

So perhaps this is our opportunity.

I’m not sure how Britain will respond, but if we want to take Bessarabia, now is our only chance.

“Well, let’s tell Hungary to move first. We can have them conduct a special military operation under the pretext of helping the legitimate succession in Romania and protecting Hungarians in Transylvania from communist influence.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

That doesn’t sound bad.

I’m sorry for King Ferdinand, but national interests come first.

However, we shouldn’t appear as invaders.

“But we shouldn’t appear to be targeting Bessarabia from the start. We should intervene as if we’re stopping Hungary’s aggressive ambitions.”

Russia isn’t intervening because it wants Bessarabia.

We’re preventing the rise of communism in Romania and crushing Hungary’s aggressive ambitions. That should be enough justification.

“We’ll do so. Then what about our army’s special military operation?”

“I’ll take charge of this one.”

Suddenly, General Ungern stepped forward.

“General Ungern?”

I was planning to assign Anton Denikin, but Ungern?

“I wanted to participate in the Turkish War of Independence but held back. I’d very much like to take part this time.”

Right. That’s true.

Ungern has always been quite bellicose. He’s always wanted to get directly involved whenever an opportunity arose.

He was also disappointed about not participating in the Battle of Moscow.

Honestly, this shouldn’t be difficult. As long as war with Germany doesn’t break out, even Renya Mutaguchi could occupy Bessarabia in Romania.

“Very well. Go ahead.”

Anton Denikin worked hard last time, so this time I should give opportunities to Ungern or other generals.

With Transylvania and Carol rising up internally, occupying Bessarabia shouldn’t be too difficult.

There won’t be a more perfect opportunity than this.

Now, let’s see what happens to Romania.

How will the queen respond?

* * *

The situation in Romania continued to deteriorate.

Or rather, the citizens were fine as usual, but the prince who was dissatisfied with his son being passed over for the throne had risen up.

“My mother is a woman who would sell herself to communists! Isn’t it obvious when she passes the throne to my son instead of me, the eldest son? She plans to give young Michael the throne and surround him with communists to hand Romania over to them!”

Under Carol’s influence, the media’s portrayal of the queen began to change strangely and rapidly.

She was already a queen who had led the country to join Britain’s side in the war.

So this time, she might sell Romania to the spreading communism.

Or even if she doesn’t sell it, she might create a communist regime.

What’s to stop a queen who’s so infatuated with men that she’s had children with other men from falling for communists?

“Don’t be swayed by Carol’s words!”

Queen Marie appealed to Romanians not to be swayed by Carol’s words, but then a Romanian man, bribed by Beria, made a confession.

“It’s true! I seduced the queen! Even the queen agrees that what Romania needs now is communism! Workers of all countries, be eternal!”

Of course, this Romanian was someone Beria had bribed—a poor Romanian whom Beria later secretly disposed of.

What started as a small spark gradually grew larger.

The military also split into factions supporting either the queen or Carol.

Meanwhile, Prince Carol secretly negotiated with Hungary, which wanted Transylvania.

“If you recognize my legitimate claim to the throne, I will return Transylvania.”

Horthy of Hungary accepted Prince Carol’s proposal.

With Ferdinand bedridden, the opportunity came sooner than expected, but such a perfect timing might not come again. So Horthy accepted Carol’s offer.

After secretly dealing with Carol, Horthy finally felt the time had come.

“Due to the concerning situation within Romania, we, Hungary, declare a special military operation to protect Hungarians in Transylvania!”

Regent Miklós Horthy of the Kingdom of Hungary declared a special military operation and immediately led Hungarian forces into Transylvania.

In response, Russia announced its intervention in Romania.

“The queen, dissatisfied with her husband’s Anti-Comintern Pact, has brought in communists, and circumstances clearly show that the Romanian queen has colluded with communists, as evidenced by Prince Carol of Romania! However, as Hungary has also clearly shown aggressive intentions, we, Russia, declare our intervention in Romania as peacekeepers to mediate!”

The Russian White Army, commanded by Ungern, landed in Romania by sea and quickly occupied Bessarabia.

“Romanian soldiers, listen! Due to the terrible events in your royal family that have divided the royal house and led to Hungary’s intervention, we have intervened to prevent the situation from escalating further!”

Faced with the sudden intervention of Russian forces, the Romanian army, which had been walking a tightrope between the queen and Carol, couldn’t even properly resist and was disarmed by the Russian forces that had intervened as “peacekeepers.”

“Hungary and Russia have entered our territory! Please help us, Britain and France!”

Romania appealed to Britain and France for help, but the response was lukewarm.

“We’d like to help, but…”

“The problem is we’re not in a position to do so.”

Britain and France were not in a position to exert pressure externally due to colonial issues, and with news that German communists had indeed been caught in Romania, they couldn’t prevent intervention under the Anti-Comintern Pact.

Above all, since the Russian army had responded to Hungary’s intervention in Transylvania by entering as peacekeepers rather than using force, they couldn’t judge it as having aggressive intentions.

Of course, anyone who wasn’t a fool knew that Russia intended to take Bessarabia this time.

“Shouldn’t we stop Russia’s expansion?”

“We’ll have to wait and see. We’re not in a position to help anyone right now.”

Besides, Romania had taken advantage quite a bit in the past.

Even if Ferdinand hadn’t agreed, hadn’t Romania been crushed without properly fighting alongside its allies during the Great War?

Romania had taken advantage quite a bit.

Therefore, Britain and France had no particular intention of intervening unless Romania was about to be destroyed.

From this perspective, it seemed like Romania’s internal problems could be managed peacefully somehow.

But there was another issue.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_II_of_Romania