CHAPTER HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE
The next day was a long one, while Xavier was going over negotiations with the other aliens, I was charged with going over the administrative system to make adjustments.
For example, people worked every single day here on Zorvath so when I declared that it was going to be five days instead, there were mixed reactions.
“Your Majesty, this will affect the economy grossly. We should consult the King first before making any final decisions,” the secretary of state, who had been a torn in my side said.
“What makes you think he won't share my views?” I asked him, frowning.
He was a tall ky'rhan with piercings on his lip, nose and eyebrows. He also looked like he slept in the gym with all the muscles threatening to tear through his shirt.
“He's a ky'rhan and he'll understand that more work equals more productivity. None of these rest talks makes any sense,” he reinstated, and I heard murmurs of agreement from the rest of the heads of departments with us.
I sighed, rubbing my forehead in frustration.
“So here's what we're going to do, hm?” I started, looking him in the eye. “We'll call my husband, the King and he'll have to pause his meeting with the emissaries from neighboring planets so he can decide on something he already commissioned me to decide on. But here's the catch,” I continued, looking across the faces of the men and woman surrounding me, their attention piqued. “You'll be the one doing the talking because if I do and he agrees, you'll call him a weakling, so present my opinions to him as though they were your own, and if he agrees, you'll lose your job,” I finished with a smile.
“Is that last part really necessary?” The ky'rhan in charge of agriculture asked, his hand gripping his tail.
They tend to do that when they are nervous.
“It's a necessary part I'm afraid. I can't work with men who think I'm nothing more than a sex object and incapable of smart decisions. Everything in the entire Drakkonian library is in my head. Add that to the capital library back on earth, so I do know what I'm doing, but I won't stop you from being sexist. Just don't do it around me.”
“I... I apologize for the oversight Your Majesty,” the Secretary quickly said, “I won't undermine your authority like that again.”
I nodded curtly, letting go completely, and although I knew he wasn't truly sorry, one because I knew the video of me and Xavier working together to kill that beast went viral, and also, we needed to retain the current staff while working things out gradually.
It would be a lot more work to get to know new people and build trust with them over handling something of this magnitude.
The generals would be coming in at night so they could be properly sworn in across their various regions.
“Something else we are going to be working on is decentralizing power,” I started, crossing the working hours situation off my list.
“I don't understand,” Minister for Defense interrupted me, frowning.
He was a muscular ky'rhan with grey teeth. Bulky, too, and he reminded me of the Drakkonian general that had kidnapped me.
It was crazy that the incident was just over two weeks ago and now we were here, building our dream world.
“You guys are doing a great job in your respective ministries, but you need people at the grassroots, so there's a correspondence. You need to ensure all your decisions are meeting the needs of the people and not just the capital,” I explained, and I could see a few heads nod, but some weren't pleased with this idea.
“But don't you think it's important to not fix what is broken?” The defense minister questioned. “I mean, we've been doing everything well for centuries before you all crashed into here. Why change a system that clearly works?”
“A system that works?” I snapped, done with his attitude. “You couldn't even defend yourself against fifty rocket ships that we attacked your defense system with! I went through so many reports last night, and you've been failing woefully at protecting the locals from wild animal attacks, desert marauders, and even alien attacks happening right under your nose! Your health system, just as your defense system, is only for the wealthy, your education system only teaches basic stuff, and you have the worst technology on this side of the galaxy, all washed in the green broth of misogyny, so tell me, Minister Kayan, what exactly is not broken?”
“We apologize for his misbehavior, Your Highness,” the only woman among us besides me spoke up. “From my time with these men, I've learned that they rattle easily at the sight of anything or anyone they cannot understand and you are a real enigma. Hopefully, we don't have such lashouts again, ministers, as she has proven she's worth her salt,” she finished, managing to rescind my anger.
She was in charge of architecture, which was why the planet looked like it was perfect, but right under these shiny houses and architectural advancement lay a decaying planet, just like we'd thought.
“It's alright, I just hope we can actually give actual, honest opinions about the things I'm trying to make better instead of attacking me directly for wanting things to be better. It won't be easy or comfortable but it's worth doing, please?” I begged with a pleasant smile.
This lessened the tension in the room considerably, enough for me to continue with the list I had with me.
By the time evening rolled by, we had gotten through half of it. I did get constructive criticism and critical thinking like I'd hoped for, making the meeting work out better afterward.
Xavier was still the king even though he treated me like his half, so I did need to take the files for him to sign into law or finance. I was bad in that subject even though it was all over my head.
All of this made me miss Anna, she would kill to build a word from near-crash.
When I got back home, Xander was crying.
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