History Literature / AWomansWork

* AlliterativeTitle

* EvilOverlord: Queen Arrabel is the ruthless monarch of an empire, enough that she'll set up her own incompetent son to get killed, yet is also smart and realizes [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating everyone loathing you will undo any ruler]]. Thus, she is ruthless though also generous with her subjects and even that the more competent heir to a conquered kingdom could succeed her after killing her own foolish son, explicitly dodging everything on the EvilOverlordList.

* PropagandaMachine: Queen Arrabel's gotten most of the bards on her side singing her praises by giving them many benefits, has many schools which indoctrinate children into loyalty toward her, and a recruiter who's very skilled at instilling devotion among her troops.

* GoodIsDumb: The story starts as a Hero tries to challenge Prince Danyel, son of the evil Queen Arrabel, to a winner-takes all duel which can settle their conflict. Arrabel promptly has him killed by a RainOfArrows since he stands right out in the open seemingly not expecting her action.

* EvilOverlord: Queen Arrabel is the ruthless monarch of an empire, enough that she'll set up her own incompetent son to get killed, yet is also smart and realizes [[ZeroPercentApprovalRating everyone loathing you will undo any ruler]]. Thus, she is generous toward her subjects and even makes the more competent heir to a recently conquered kingdom her successor, explicitly dodging everything on the EvilOverlordList.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: The [[EvilOverlord Queen Arrabel]] builds hospitals and schools for her citizens, as this makes her very popular and less likely to be assassinated. It also enables her to influence what the kids are taught, and who gets to be healed.

* DisappearedDad: Queen Arrabel's husband, father of her son Danyel, is dead when the story starts.

* EnlightenedSelfInterest: The [[EvilOverlord Queen Arrabel]] builds hospitals and schools for her citizens, as this makes her popular and less likely to be assassinated. It also enables her to influence what the kids are taught, and who gets to be healed.

* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: [[EvilOverlord Queen Arrabel]] is highly competent, beloved by her people, treats her staff well... and is utterly ruthless to her enemies (and her friends, if she had any). She's the type of person who wears understated, sensible clothing while her son wears flashy, extravagant uniforms because she knows who assassins would instinctively aim at. And then she marries him off to a neighboring country's princess (sole survivor of the royal family), the Queen expecting that the princess will quickly produce an heir, following which the prince is likely to have a fatal accident. Not that she minds, as she thinks the princess has the right stuff to inherit the job of Queen.

* PragmaticVillainy: [[EvilOverlord Queen Arrabel]] is ruthless enough to encourage her not-very-bright son to wear [[BlingOfWar highly decorated bright uniforms]] while she wears something more subdued (because who will an assassin instinctively aim at?) but makes sure her people are educated (at government schools with an approved curriculum), employed, have a good medical system, knows many of her troops by name and rewards them for good work and initiative, and when she conquers a new territory has most of the defeated nobles' property distributed among the lower classes of the conquered country and immediately starts infrastructure programs to help improve their lives. She even allows the odd dissident to make public speeches against her reign, giving her an excuse to remind the "oppressed citizens" that she's made their lives much better. And letting ''them'' beat up the troublemaker. She even encourages this-in the story itself [[spoiler:one of these dissidents is an actress in her pay]]. Giving a speech in front of a hospital.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: [[EvilOverlord Queen Arrabel]] is the head of an aggressive empire that ruthlessly conquers and spreads. She orders people killed with a mere gesture (including a princess who refused to marry her son), kills off heroes trying to stop her, and is quite willing to have her son be a target for assassination instead of her. However, since she provides universal education and health care, a sound economy, a healthy population, and employment training, and doles out praise and rewards when it's earned, her people and army absolutely love her.
* TheWrongfulHeirToTheThrone: [[EvilOverlord Queen Arrabel]] is well aware that her son is not up to her standards of being a monarch and is a romantic idiot. After the conquest of a neighboring kingdom, she notices that the youngest princess (and sole survivor) of the deposed royal family has a very ''practical'' frame of mind and quickly agrees to a marriage to Arrabel's son. The princess is the sole survivor because she convinced her two brothers to launch a failed suicide attack on Arrabel during the family's last stand and arranged for her older sister to be killed. Queen Arrabel cheerfully expects that her son will suffer a tragic accident very soon after their first child is born, making the daughter-in-law the new heir to the throne, and is quite pleased with the thought of having a competent successor. She's also quite careful not to eat any food given to her by her new daughter-in-law.

Written by Creator/TanyaHuff and originally published in the anthology ''If I Were An Evil Overlord'', in this short story an evil queen proves far more competent, intelligent and pragmatic than most {{evil overlord}}s, though no less ruthless. Since its original publication, it has been reprinted in other collections.