Rebecca de Winter: Survival of the Fittest
There’s a question people ask me often, one that never fails to make me smirk and shake my head. I’ve been asked it by all sorts of people, from government officials and my superiors, to random French citizens I happen to work with.
“Why did you decide to become a spy?”
And the answer to the question varies, of course, depending on who’s asking. I’m no fool. I know what any official, what a “loyal” citizen of the French Republic wants to hear. So I’ll spout off about how proud I am to serve the “great Republic of France”, about the fervor with which I seeks out and catch ci-divants and traitors. *laughs* I can make myself out to be the most patriotic woman in France if I want to be.
The true reason is much simpler, though any person who had a scrap of brains would be able to figure it out, and do the same for that matter. I became a spy because it made the most sense. From the moment I heard about the march on Versailles, I knew what side to take. It’s amazing ho easy it is to deduce the winner of a conflict if you’re willing to pay attention. So, I presented myself to the newly-formed Committee of Public Safety, and was soon introduced to the rat of a man who would eventually become my employer, Cityon Armand Chauvelin.
When Robespierre took over and the Reign of Terror began, I didn’t even flinch. In fact, I prided myself (and still do, for that matter) on choosing correctly. If anyone was foolish enough to end up on the Royalist side, or even blatantly stand in the way of the of these bloodthirsty victors, that was their problem.
Not that I have any love for the idiots I work for. Every single one of them is either power-hungry or idealistic to a point that’s laughable. But there are only two types of people in this world: those that know how to survive and look out for themselves, and those that do not or will not because of arbitrary ideals, and I am proud to say that I belong to the former category. And don’t go telling me about your beliefs, your morals. Out there, it’s a world of survival of the fittest, now more than ever, and clinging to your ideals will only drag you down to be trampled by those of us who know better.