Splashing a handful of cold water on her face, the slightly stinging sensation alleviated the sourness in her eyes and the persistent weariness in her head a bit. Forcing back a yawn, Minerva hastily wiped her face a few times with a towel before starting her official grooming and makeup routine.
Until the age of sixteen, such tasks were done by a maid dedicated to those duties. But now, in the era of the republic, royals and nobles are merely status labels without privileges or territories, their practical significance limited to flaunting one's once-glorious family history. Minerva, even though she was a Princess, was now neither a queen nor a regent, but the Speaker of the Senate in the republic. Although she is the head of state and holds executive power, in the tripartite system of the republic, the head of state is merely one corner of the triangular framework of power checks and balances—"absolute decision-making" has become a thing of the past.
