I. CHAPTER 3: LADY PAULINE MARIA DELA RAMOS

Upon Pau’s unofficial proclamation as the new empress, the news immediately throughout their barangay like wildfire. The neighbors, unable to contain their happiness, ran off to tell their friends and relatives about the amazing series of events that just transpired. And they came flocking to meet their new ruler. After all, there was this belief among the Orientals that their liege’s touch was blessed by God, thus, it would bring them luck. However, Ayan had to turn them away, at least, for now. Pau had locked herself in her room for almost an hour now, with her stepsister and Imperial Guard captain Marcel Spitz waiting on her.

Marcel watched the ruckus as it happened. On his hand was his phone, monitoring the social media accounts of nearby people. The first posts about ‘Empress Pau’ were already made, and were gathering reactions and shares. He was just waiting for it to explode in the coming hours.

Just like what they planned before. Soon those crooks back in Manila will make their move.

“…”

The guard captain had already planned the details of their movements. With the 3rd Company of the Imperial Guard under his command, he recruited the help of the Count Sey to fetch the ‘successor’ of Arthur Valiente. The vipers were gathering in the capital, smelling the brooding conflict over the succession. The ducal families began fielding their own candidates, immediately throwing the late emperor’s will out of the window. Nevertheless, he and the guards remain faithful to him; they would make sure that Arthur’s true heir would inherit the Bamboo Pearl throne.

And part of it is to make the people aware that Arthur has already selected her.

“Uh, is there anything wrong with Her Imperial Majesty?” Marcel asked Ayan, who was with him at the living room, waiting for her Ate Pau.

“I guess everything was too much for Ate Pau to take in right now,” she replied. “She does that whenever something heavy happens, like the death of Lola.”

“I-I see…” the guard captain took mental notes of Ayan’s statements; it might come in handy in the future, after all. Seeking to know more about his future liege, he put up another question, “I’m also curious. Your ate, you and your neighborhood; everyone seems prepared to fight anyone that seeks to harm her. Did something happen to you guys before that led to this?”

“Ah yes, Sir,” Ayan revealed. “We dealt with two assassination attempts against Ate Pau before.”

“Two? Can I know the details about it?”

The girl stopped for a moment, as if searching for her memories of the events she talked about. Then, she took a deep breath, and narrated, “The first one happened just last year, around Christmas. We were with other people back then, going around the neighborhood and singing carols. Ate Pau was our guitarist, while I sang, together with other friends. Then, suddenly, a pair of motorcycles drove by and shot at us. As Ate shielded me from the bullets, the boys with us tried to fight back the shooters. Fortunately, no one was hurt when the assassins finally had enough and sped off.”

“Huh? Fight back at your shooters and no one was hurt?” Marcel couldn’t believe what he just heard. “Tell me, how many bullets were shot, or how far they were when they attacked.”

“Hmm…now that I’ve thought about it, it’s quite strange.” The girl then pointed towards the kitchen, which was just a few arm lengths away from them. “There were no fireworks then, as the mayor banned its used because of the war, so there’s no one firing off explosives other than those riders. I’m saying this because I think I heard more than ten shots, and they were just there, approximately the location of our kitchen, from where our spot is.”

“No one was hurt, and the assassins shot at a near point-blank range,” the guard captain could only shake his head. “I don’t know if it can be called a miracle, but to think our future empress is left alive is already a work of the heavens.”

“Well, that’s the first attempt, Sir,” Ayan proceeded to the next incident. “The next one happened nary three months ago. Instead of motorcycle riders, we got two beautiful ladies who were supposedly looking for a ‘bed spacer’ in our community. To be fair, there are a lot of bed spacers here.”

“True. We saw some nearby on the way here.”

“These ladies moved in, claiming that they were studying at the New Philippine Polytechnic University in Northern Palayan City. They were friendly to everyone, including to me; though, I’ve been suspicious of them from the start, not because of the threat to Ate Pau, but there are lots of incidents here involving disappearing children, see? Honestly, we saw that ‘rider attempt’ as a case of mistaken identity, until these two ladies moved in one night to kill Ate Pau. Luckily, the neighbors were alert enough to rush to our help. The assassins escaped, and we’ve been vigilant ever since.”

“Ah, so that’s why everyone fought against us earlier…”

“I’m really sorry for that, but we’re just fighting for our friend, Sir.”

“No, no, ‘tis fine. You only did what you have to, and as her future guards, I—in behalf of my men—are thankful you guys did.”

“But really, until now, we just thought of Ate Pau as some lost kid adopted by Lola Alma,” the girl was in deep thoughts. “That incident with the riders, and the two ladies, they are all making sense now! The good emperor chose her to be his successor!”

“Yes, they were actually cousins,” Marcel revealed. “Lady Pauline Maria is a daughter of the Duke of Batangas, and the baroness of the City of Lemery. Meanwhile, Arthur Valiente was affiliated with the House of dela Ramos thru the House of Santos-Recto, the former governors of the old province of Batangas.”

“Whoa!” Ayan couldn’t keep her surprise. While the fact that her Ate Pau was already an empress was shocking enough, her family background was even more impressive. After all, the new ruler of the Empire of the Pearl of the Orient was difficult to imagine riding tricycles, getting her face dirty with the soil, and even interacting with the common folk like it was the most natural thing.

“The Count of Sey had lots of stories about Emperor Arthur and Lady Pauline growing up together, see? For all I know, he is their tutor in childhood, and he was one of those who looked for the empress when she suddenly disappeared four years ago.”

“And four years ago was the time Lola Alma found Ate Pau begging for food in the streets of Cabanatuan,” Ayan clapped her hands. “Now it finally connected the dots! Ate Pau is a real big timer!”

“Yes…” the guard captain’s voice trailed off. Deep inside, he still had lots of questions. First, Lady Pauline’s motorcycle-riding ‘assassins,’ and the second, her reason for leaving the comfort of her noble life to live as a commoner.

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***The City of Cabanatuan, a few miles west of the City of Palayan…***

Always a larger city than the provincial capital of Palayan during the pre-war days, Cabanatuan entered military history as the site of the 1945 Raid at Cabanatuan. It was a World War 2 rescue operation that involved U.S. soldiers and Filipino guerillas that saw the liberation of USAFFE personnel that became prisoners of war after the 1942 Battles of Bataan and Corregidor against 10,000 Imperial Japanese soldiers garrisoned in the area. Locally, Cabanatuan had also achieved significance, as it also served as one of Emilio Aguinaldo’s First Republic capitals during his escape from pursuing American forces at the height of the Filipino-American War of 1899-1901. Cabanatuan also saw its use as Nueva Ecija’s provincial center before it was moved to the planned city of Palayan.

Nowadays, Cabanatuan straddled on the official borders of the Empire of the Pearl of the Orient and the Sixth Philippine Republic. Crossings divided the place, where the larger central-southwestern half fell unto the jurisdiction of the Orientals. Still, as farmlands surrounded the city on its outskirts, Filipino and Oriental farmers often crossed borders without daily oversight from the border officials.

As it was already evening, farmers were on their way home.

“Pedring, want to have a drinking session later?”

“Yeah, but I’ll ask my wife first!”

“You better hurry up then! My wife’s going to cook us some pulutan—”

The merry conversation was cut-off when the farmers heard the distant sound of helicopters approaching from the farmlands. Soon, their straw buri hats were blown off by the powerful winds whipped by the rotor blades, and their pet carabaos were uneasy. From where they stood, the farmers could only make out the silhouettes of the aircraft hovering a few meters up the ground, as well as the soldiers jumping off at the middle of the farm paths.

The head farmer—curious of what he was seeing—came forward to greet the armed men. “Sirs,” he began, bowing to show his non-hostile intent, “I believe you landed on the wrong spot. This is a farmland.”

However, the soldiers said nothing. Instead, they fired their rifles, riddling the man’s body with bullets within a minute. When his companions realized they were dealing with the enemy, they broke into a panicked scamper, leaving their draft animals. But the Ilocanos trained their weapons on the hapless men, and killed anything that moved.

The orders of the Ilocano commanders were clear: “Addakami ditoy tapno patayen ti dragon ken dagiti tattaona! Dimo ipalubos nga asinoman ti pumanaw iti daytay a lugar!” (We’re here to kill the dragon and his people! Do not let anyone leave this place!)

There was no military unit near that city, save for the few Filipino border guards manning the outposts on the other side. They could only watch helplessly as the Ilocano army destroyed and torched every standing structure in Imperial Cabanatuan.

Author's Notes:

Bed Spacer - is a business in the Philippines where a person would move in and stay within a house with others, often occupying a single bed to sleep.  Said people would commonly be outside working and will just go home to sleep.

USAFFE - or the United States Army Forces in the Far East, is the army meant to defend the Philippines (which was then a Commonwealth Republic under the United States) from Imperial Japanese aggression during the Pacific Theater of World War 2.  It was headed by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, until he relinquished that position to Gen. Jonathan Wainwright before he escaped to Australia on the lead up to the Fall of Bataan (April 9, 1942) and Surrender at Corregidor (May 10, 1942).  Most of the Cabanatuan POWs were survivors of Bataan and the subsequent Death March.

The First Philippine Republic - is a fledgling state founded by Emilio Aguinaldo at the twilight of Spanish colonial administration in the Philippine islands, just before the turn of the 20th century.  It grew from the KKK revolutionary movement (the good one) of Andres Bonifacio (a self-educated leader whom Aguinaldo had executed in a power-struggle), and was helped by the Americans overthrow the Spaniards, in exchange for their cooperation.  Aguinaldo, seeing the Americans as his 'friends,' modeled the Philippine Republic after the American one, though in a twist of fate, it was the Americans that led to its downfall after they bought the Philippines from the Spanish for 20 million dollars.  The First Philippine Reublic is Asia's first modern democratic republic, and the US caused its downfall to satisfy its imperial ambitions, when they captured Emilion Aguinaldo in Palanan, Isabela in 1901 at the end of the Filipino-American War.

Buri hats - is a type of straw hat from the Philippines, made from buri palm leaves.  During the years of the Philippine Revolution and the First Philippine Republic, buri hats were included in Filipino Republican Army uniforms, since its materials are abundant here.

Ilokano/Ilocano - is an ethnic group in the Philippines, often populating the northern regions of the island of Luzon.  They are known for being cheapskates, as their mountainous geography offered a few access to goods enjoyed by the people of Central and Southern Luzon.