Tyranny of Steel

Berengar and Honoria had already begun to sail from the Colony of New Vienna back to the Fatherland. After roughly two weeks, the King and Queen of Austria arrived in Trieste; the moment they did so, a telegraph was sent back to the Capital informing them of the King's arrival.

Berengar decided to take in the sight of progress within the major port city. He witnessed the expansion of the shipyards and the factories nearby designed to produce their components. With a silent nod of approval, he and his loving wife made their way to the train, where they began to depart from the Port City to the Capital of the Kingdom of Austria.

After several hours, the steam-powered locomotive and the train cars behind it successfully navigated its way across the Austrian Alps and into the City of Kufstein, which after all these years had become a flowing metropolis, surrounded by acres upon acres of fertile farmland. Berengar had not made it publicly known that he was gone during his absence. Instead, there was a constant image of him being stuck within the confines of the Palace while being hard at work.

Thus when he stepped off the train, people did not think much of it. Instead, they assumed he had been visiting another city for business purposes. Nevertheless, as per usual, a significant-sized crowd gathered around him and his security detail. After all, it was not every day that the common folk could witness the glorious presence of their monarch.

Having been led by his Royal Guard to the Palace, Berengar quickly opened the doors to his home, where his family immediately greeted him. This was far from the first reunion he had with them after disappearing for months; despite this, it was no less emotional.

Berengar's children, or at least those who could walk, immediately rushed forward into his embrace, much at the chagrin of their mothers who were fighting to be the first to welcome their husband home. However, Berengar did not mind this and welcomed Hans and his sister Helga with open arms. The young boy had a broad smile on his face as he jumped into his father's arms.

"Father! Welcome home!"

Berengar immediately patted the boy's strawberry blonde hair and began to joke around with him.

"Hans, you have grown quite a bit since I last saw you! Before long, you will be fighting wars in my stead!"

This comment brought an even wider smile to the boy's face as he proudly declared his thoughts to his father.

"Don't worry, father! I will show the world the strength of Austria and its people!"

In response to this, Berengar chuckled before rustling the boy's hair once more; after doing so, he shifted his attention to his eldest daughter.

"Helga, have you been behaving yourself?"

The girl was quite timid and hid behind her brother as she silently nodded her head in response to her father's question. Hans immediately noticed this and dragged his sister forward before boldly stating what she had been up to in her father's absence.

"Helga, show our father the picture you painted!"

The little girl immediately shook her head before hiding behind her brother once more. Berengar broke out into laughter as he witnessed his daughter's shy behavior; after doing so, he smiled before encouraging her to show him the art.

"Go ahead, Helga; I promise you I won't be disappointed!"

The little girl looked up at her mother, who gave her a warm smile of encouragement before she reached into her satchel and pulled out a sketchbook where she showed a painting she had made of her family.

Berengar immediately noticed that the only ones in the childish painting were himself, Linde, Hans, Helga, and Ilse; as for Berengar's other wives and their children, they were noticeably absent. When Berengar saw this, he did not mind and instead complimented the girl for her work.

"Very well done; I suspect you will be a great artist in the future."

Truthfully the only thing impressive about the art is that it was a step above what kids her age would usually be capable of creating. Nevertheless, it proved the girl had some natural talent, and if nurtured correctly, she could bring a level of prestige to the von Kufstein name in the future.

Helga smiled and nodded her head in silence; evidently, she was not much of a talker. Having given his two eldest children with Linde the attention they deserved, Berengar immediately shifted his gaze onto his second wife, who wore a pretty smile.

"Welcome home, master..."

Berengar immediately grabbed ahold of the woman and planted a kiss on her luscious pink lips; after doing so, she whispered something in his ear in a voice so low that only the two of them could hear it.

"We need to talk... in private."

Berengar immediately nodded his head in silence upon hearing this before shifting his gaze to Adela. The woman had a pouting expression on her face as she begrudgingly hugged her husband; she began to scold him with a furious look in her eyes.

"I hope you behaved yourself while you were away!"

In response to this, the young Austrian King wore a mischievous smile before addressing his wife's concerns.

"Of course! Who do you think I am? Some kind of playboy?"

Adela merely rolled her eyes when she heard this and handed her two children off to Berengar. These two babes were still too young to speak; despite this, Berengar showed them affection by kissing them on their foreheads before handing them back to their mother.

After doing so, he approached his fourth wife, Yasmine, visibly pregnant; her round belly contained the fruits of their love. She wore a satisfied smile on her face as she greeted her husband.

"Welcome back, husband; I hope that your travels went well?"

The young Austrian King nodded his head and hugged the woman and kissed her on the cheek before responding.

"Of course!"

Before he could speak any further, Berengar noticed Henrietta running down the stairs at full speed; the girl immediately jumped into his arms and knocked him to the floor while latching onto him like a lamprey.

"Big brother! You're finally home!"

A defeated smile spread across Berengar's face as he tried to struggle out of his little sister's embrace; this girl was seriously too forward. If only they weren't blood siblings, then maybe he would consider being with her. However, his parents had confirmed that they were blood-related, and they wouldn't lie to him... would they? After all, he would think he would remember if she was adopted...

After thinking about this for a few seconds, Berengar finally ripped himself away from Henrietta's grasp before flicking her on the forehead.

"Behave yourself; I have only been gone for a few months!"

Though Henrietta wanted to protest, she did as she was told, thus leaving Berengar to dust himself off and stand proudly once more among his family. After doing so, he made a bold declaration to the members of the von Kufstein Dynasty.

"How about you all go wash up and meet for dinner? In the meantime, I have something important to discuss with Linde, so I will see you all in the dining room shortly after I have concluded my business with her."

Though the other women in his harem were impatient, after all, it had been many months since they last saw their husband; they could tell by the glint in his eyes that something serious had occurred. Thus they obediently nodded their heads and did as they were told.

As for Berengar and Linde, they walked to his office; it was only after the door was sealed behind them that Linde began to reveal what had transpired in her husband's absence.

"I've got some bad news and some worse news; which do you want to hear first?"

Upon hearing these words, Berengar frowned before sighing heavily and answering the question.

"Let's go with the bad news first."

There was no hesitation on Linde's part. Instead, she immediately began to clarify what she had been made aware of.

"Princess Sibila of France is on her way to Kufstein, evidently after that boy Aubry failed to charm you, she had decided to come in person..."

A loud scoff resounded in the room as Berengar heard this; he immediately began to unfasten the medals around his neck and break open his collar as he sat back in his leatherbound chair and relaxed.

"What do the fucking French want from me now? I have already given them weapons, and the munitions to use them! If that harlot wishes to meet with me, she can get in line! Now, what is this worse news you have to tell me?"

Linde bit her lip as she struggled to express the thoughts on her mind; after a few moments of steeling her resolve, she quickly spouted out the ongoing situation with the Byzantine Empire.

"Our retaliation on the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Honoria has gotten a bit complicated..."

Berengar's brow immediately raised as he heard this before speaking in a cold tone.

"Go on..."

Linde could tell that her husband was not pleased with this news and thus immediately began to confess to what had transpired.

"Decentius was in the room when the bomb went off. He has been permanently maimed, but he has survived. Luckily, we were able to pin the responsibility of the attack on the Mamluke Sultanate, but I am certain that Emperor Vetranis suspects our involvement. Relations between our Kingdom and the Empire in the East will be strained for some time."

Silence existed in the King's office for some time before he finally remarked.

"Is that all?"

Despite his calm tone, Linde knew a hint of fury in his voice; as such, she bowed her head respectfully before speaking her mind.

"I will assume full responsibility for this failure..."

Berengar scoffed as he heard this before uttering the words on his mind.

"You are dismissed, Linde..."

Linde quickly left the room upon hearing these orders, leaving Berengar alone with his thoughts. After several minutes of silence, he finally let out a sigh before expressing the words on his mind.

"It looks like things are about to get interesting...."