Chapter 475: High Treason
It was not long after Bruno had concluded his meeting with the Kaiser and the German Chancellor that the left-wing and moderate party members of the Reichstag had gathered inside the building.
Though it was long after official hours, they were here for a single reason: to show solidarity and support for one another in the face of the Conservative Bloc’s long-term hegemony and the Kaiser’s supposed transgressions against the constitution. Or at least, their perception of such acts.
These weren’t monarchists or traditionalists. They had no love or loyalty to the Kaiser or the fatherland. They were socialists in disguise—flanked by classical liberals and nameless dissidents, bound together only by their shared contempt for throne and tradition..
They didn’t give a damn how they got their riches or who they had to bleed dry to acquire them. That was why the new anti-corruption measures—which included repealing the 1906 law that turned politics into a paid career rather than a voluntary act of service to the state—had angered these reactionaries so deeply.
The current leader of the Social Democratic Party, who had risen through the ranks after previous purges by the Kaiser’s secret police, was a liberal in name only. Just like the rest of his party.
After the Russian Civil War of 1905, and Bruno’s slaughter of the Bolsheviks, the SDP survived the outlawing of Marxism in Germany by posing as liberals and burning any member who risked exposing their true colors.
Their current leader was no exception. In fact, the only reason he was standing here was due to the sheer virtue of no solid evidence yet surfacing regarding his true extremist leanings.
This allowed him to be elected by like-minded individuals too fearful to give voice to their real intentions. And now, he was busy rousing the ire of the other politicians with his fiery speech.
"The Kaiser must give us his answer by nightfall! Or we and our supporters will take to the streets to demand an end to this tyranny once and for all!"
Fists were raised in solidarity, and chants echoed in agreement—until a single voice cut through the fervor.
"So it would appear my little birdy was right. It is treason, then?"
The gathered Reichstag members turned in disbelief to see the Kaiser standing before them. At his right was Bruno, now in more presentable attire, a blank military officer’s uniform concealed beneath his pilot’s leather jacket, one that screamed he had not come here as a civilian, but rather as a man of war.
To Wilhelm’s left stood the Chancellor dressed in purely civilian attire. And surrounding the trio were members of the Kaiser’s secret police, armed with the prototype StG-18k rifles—retractable HK-33A4-style stocks, Bakelite furniture, suppressed 12.1-inch barrels, and the new ZF-4 fixed 4x optics.