Chapter Text
"Excellent news, Your Majesty!" Ada Engels, the Minister for Finance exclaimed, clearly excited. Jessamine did not share his enthusiasm yet.
"The Treasury reports a twelve per cent increase in its holdings over the past six months!" he enthused. This was indeed excellent news, but Jessamine Kaldwin was an Empress. She couldn't leap from her chair and squeal with delight, while jumping up and down and clapping her hands frantically with a manic glee in her eyes every time she got some good news. Instead, she had to make do with an enigmatic and knowing smile. Also, she was already aware of this little nugget of current affairs.
"Your Majesty, do you realise what this means?" the Minister for Finance inquired with a touch of hysteria, leaning forward in his seat.
Jessamine did know what this meant. She'd studied economics as a girl. Not that you needed a world-class education in economics to comprehend the myriad implications of Yay, we're not broke anymore!
The kind minister took it upon himself to explain it to the her, the Empress. "My Empress, we are now more wealthy than we were before the plague crisis! We have emerged from the shadow it cast on our nation!"
Jessamine didn't consider that last statement to be entirely true, and rightly so, in my opinion. It was true that they were now back on their feet, financially speaking, after the awfulness with the plague. You couldn't argue with the numbers. But as for 'emerging from the shadow it cast'...
It had been slightly over ten years since the first occurrences from the plague. But by ' the plague crisis', the Minister for Finance had been tactfully been alluding to the horrors that followed suit.
At this point, some background information might be helpful, so here it is: Ten years ago, after the plague had ravaged Dunwall for six months, at the behest of the Royal Spymaster, Hiram Burrows, the Empress sent her Royal Protector and secret lover Corvo Attano to seek aid from the other nations of the Empire. During this period, the Spymaster had set into motion a plan to assassinate the Empress. This was especially because she had appointed him to investigate the origins of the rat plague, an appointment that was inconvenient for him because he was the one that started the plague and the consequences of being found out were terrifying.
This conspiracy involved the elites of Dunwall, almost entirely consisting of aristocrats who believed that they would stand to gain from the new regime and the tiny remainder being their helpless servants who had been threatened into being a part of the conspiracy and then blackmailed because they were a part of the conspiracy.
One maid, however, grew sick of this nonsense and revealed all to the Empress. It was easy enough to corroborate the accusations, as a quick search of Burrows' residence yielded a mountain of evidence pointing to all the conspirators, because of Burrows' compulsive need to keep notes on every meeting that took place. After that, it was quick work executing everyone involved in the conspiracy for treason, sedition, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, conspiring to commit the same and dozens of such charges. The trials were by and large dull affairs, but they always ended with some slimy noble being hauled off to face a firing squad, so it was well-worth the tedium.
The upper echelons of Dunwall society were utterly transformed. The traitorous aristocrats had been replaced by ones who had always, they assured her, been loyal to the Empire and who were silently grateful for not being important enough to be roped into the conspiracy. Eventually, political stability was assumed again, the Empress' power was not challenged again and she got herself a better Spymaster.
The plague was not so easily resolved, however, and it took three years for a cure to be developed, and then another two for it to be perfected and by the time all traces of the plague were banished, it had taken seven years and Gristol's finances looked very grim. That is, until Anton Sokolov had discovered a way to harness energy from the flow of the Wrenhaven River, reducing dependence on whale oil and powering the reconstruction of Dunwall. The industries grew again, along with new ones, and eventually Dunwall had enough goods to export and so the trading companies were thriving again.
And so here we are now, in a cautiously optimistic city, possibly on the cusp of a golden era of prosperity, but haunted by the horrors it had endured. Plenty of buildings were still dilapidated, although they would soon be restored. Plenty of businesses still hadn't reopened, although they would soon find the funds to do so. Plenty of people had lost family and friends, but they would never get them back again.
The Minister for Finance was still waiting for Jessamine to match his fervour. Instead, as she politely ended their appointment and thanked him for coming, she seemed to be quieter, lost in thought. As he left, he wondered whether he should bring some charts along next time. No one seemed to be comprehending the enormousness of this news.
Once by herself, Jessamine slumped in her chair and flopped her head onto the ornate desk, sighing loudly as she did so. The Minister for Finance had brought her the precise news she'd been expecting, one that gave credence to the plan that she'd been thinking about for a month now...the reasons for not going through with it were becoming fewer and fewer. It wouldn't alienate the aristocracy, not after all the funds she had given them for restoration purposes, along with awarding abandoned estates to those who she deemed loyal to the Empire. The choice of groom wouldn't be exceptionally scandalous anymore, what the decades-long speculation about Emily's parentage. If anything, they should be happy because this would give them some confirmation...And what better way to herald a new golden era than a royal wedding?
She would have to talk to him about it soon...
That evening, Jessamine, Emily and Corvo were in the residential quarters, having retired there after dinner. Emily was curled up in the armchair by the fireplace, reading. Corvo was on the couch, also with a book in hand, but he was too drowsy to read. Jessamine had ensured that the chefs cooked Corvo's favourite dishes for dinner and Corvo had done justice to the meal, even though he was now suspicious that Jessamine either had some bad news for him, or wanted him to do something for her. Going by past experience, he figured it was the latter. But maybe, he thought, his eyelids drooping again, maybe this time she just wanted me to have a nice dinner...break the pattern...
"Corvo, Emily," Jessamine suddenly announced, after minutes of steeling herself for this "I have something exciting I'd like to tell you." She had a tentative smile on her face. Both Corvo and Emily felt this didn't bode well. Corvo leaned forward. Emily straightened up in her armchair.
"What is it, mother?" Emily asked with some trepidation.
"I met with Mr Engel today. The Minister for Finance." she added in response to their vacant expressions. "We now have more money than we did ten years ago."
"That's wonderful news..." Corvo mumbled, still struggling to keep awake. He thought the lavish dinner was to celebrate this new economic high and was relieved that it was nothing more.
"No, that's not all," Jessamine said, and Corvo's heart sank "We've fought so hard to stay afloat all these years, and now it finally seems like things will be good again. I believe that this is going to be the beginning of a new era. An era of prosperity and peace. Of power and strength. And what better way to start this era than by pledging myself to the man I love? Corvo, I want to ask you this in front of our daughter: Will you do me the honour of marrying me?"
Corvo wasn't feeling drowsy anymore. Emily laughed softly and beathily, as one does in shock sometimes.
"So, Corvo," Jessamine asked gently "what do you say?" she smiled faintly.
Corvo did not return the smile. He was feeling more emotions simultaneously than he'd felt in a very long time. This doesn't go well with having to make important life-decisions.
"I'm...this is...this is too much for me right now. I'm going to need some time to think about all of this." He got up and left the room, not before hastily saying goodnight to Emily.
Which left Jessamine standing in the middle of the room, bewildered and upset. She had expected him to react in that manner, but she hadn't expected it to upset her as much as it was now.
"I think it's a wonderful idea, mother." Emily supplied before getting back to her book. She wasn't especially worried by this little storm-off. Corvo would come around to the idea eventually. And her parents were getting married.