(Captain Krzysztof Arciszewski / Elisabeth Stuart POV)
"Your Majesty, the ship is already moored, I sent a messenger to Graf Ferber to send carriages." (Krzysztof Arciszewski)
"Graf Ferber? Who is this man?" (Elisabeth Stuart)
"The Ferbers are a family of patricians and merchants, nothing in the city can happen without their knowledge... and Graf Ferber is a friend of Hetman, he is currently the mayor of Gdańsk and together with Admiral Dickmann they manage the Hetman fleet." (Krzysztof Arciszewski)
"Thank you for the information and for the safe delivery of us to Gdańsk, you can be sure that the Hetman will reward you." (Elisabeth Stuart)
"Thank you, Your Majesty." (Krzysztof Arciszewski)
(End POV)
Elisabeth spent the last four days without leaving the bed, the midwife said it was a sign that she was due to give birth, but she could not determine the exact day... with some time left before the impending storm, I moved on to other things.
"It's nice weather today...?" (MC)
"Father, you asked me here to talk to me about the weather?" (Katarzyna)
I was walking with Katarzyna in the garden of my palace... and the weather was pleasant indeed, but my daughter was not stupid and knew there was more to it.
"Sometimes you act like your mother, she didn't like it either... never mind. No, I wanted to talk to you about Prince Rakoczy. You met, what do you think about him?" (MC)
"He is not ugly, he has good manners and he is educated, but..." (Katarzyna)
"...but he looks at you like a bag of gold, not like a wife?" (MC)
"How do you know?" (Katarzyna)
200 thousand ducats and Wallachia... people were able to sell themselves for less.
"I know people like him, but it's not a bad thing, it's even good that he looks at you like that... the more value you have in his eyes, the more he will strive for you." (MC)
"You want me to marry him, Father?" (Katarzyna)
Did i want this? Yes and no. Honestly, the mere thought that such a person would be my family, even for a short time, disgusted me. Politically, however, it was a good step.
"It would make a lot of things easier for me, but it's your life and your decision. I'll come up with other ways to achieve my goals." (MC)
"You said I was going to be a widow?" (Katarzyna)
It's good that she remembers what will happen to young Rakoczy and must understand that her marriage will not be long and happy.
"Yes, in a few years I am going to get rid of the Rakoczy family and I would like you to become the Duchess of Transylvania and Wallachia... and then maybe even the Queen of Hungary, but I promised your mother that you would live happily, so you have to make up your own mind." (MC)
Of course, Katarzyna could only receive the title of Queen of Hungary, or rather Queen Mother or Regent, when she has a son and I get rid of the Emperor, but this will happen in the next 10 years.
A few days later, a messenger from Graf Ferber came to Warsaw with the news that my wife's family had arrived in Gdańsk... it meant that you had to set the machine in motion and pray that no one would fuck anything up... and I had to send Wroński back to Prague.
"Listen carefully. You have three letters here, you will hand over the first with the imperial seal to an Italian mercenary, the second to Saddata, and the third to my Prince Charles, containing information about his mother's arrival in Poland." (MC)
"When am I supposed to go to Prague?" (Wroński)
"Immediately, everything has to be ready sooner, not at the last minute... you will also get some gold for the Italians and tell them there will be a lot more afterwards." (MC)
Of course, the first two letters to mercenaries and Saddata were the most important, the one for mercenaries, containing information about my mother-in-law's and her family's travel itinerary, and instructions on what to do with them. Kill the male descendants and the mother, but the daughters must remain alive... and then it is enough to write a ransom note to my brother-in-law.
The instructions for Saddat were simple, convince my brother-in-law not to pay the ransom, that as future king he had to show his strength and go with his whole army on the kidnappers... and when the time is right, Saddat is to order the Tatars to attack my brother-in-law's army.
Many things could go wrong, but Saddat was an experienced commander, and European armies had no experience fighting Tatars, the added advantage was the surprise and rate of fire of the Tatar bows.
It was only the beginning of my plan, its second phase was that I would personally lead the soldiers to rescue Elisabeth sisters, and on this occasion I will also kill Italian mercenaries, although they do not know about my involvement in the kidnapping, it is better to get rid of the witnesses for safety. By chance, among the mercenaries there will also be letters that confirm that it was the emperor who ordered my wife's family to be killed... Of course, the Emperor will deny it and perhaps many will believe him, but not all ... those who hate him will gain another reason, and among the electors and princes of the Reich, it will spread doubts... as for Tatars. I will leave them to the Moldavian hospodar. When they return from Bohemia, laden with loot and prisoners, the Moldavian army will attack them.