Tyranny of Steel

Several days passed since Berengar and Itami signed their peace agreement, and before long, the two monarchs were back in Kufstein, where Berengar quickly got back to work. While the Kaiser continued to fill out paperwork throughout the day, Itami herself had begun spending most of her time becoming acquainted with the German language.

While Berengar spoke both Japanese and modern English, and was thus able to communicate effectively with Itami, the albino beauty did not wish to rely on a translator for everyday conversation with the staff of Berengar's palace.

Thus, she spent several hours studying the German language with the aid of her divine mirror. Which greatly enhanced her ability to comprehend the foreign tongue and its script. By the time Itami had used up all the artifact's stored power, the sun had begun to set, and thus she set out from her seclusion to find Berengar and test her newfound knowledge of his mother tongue.

Itami made her way through the halls, where she found Berengar emerging from his office with an exhausted appearance on his otherwise handsome face. The man was craning and messaging his neck, which was naturally the result of spending the past fourteen hours in a chair.

Just when Itami was about to surprise Berengar with her understanding of the German tongue, the man walked off and continued through the halls of his palace with a determined look on his face. Convinced that he was about to do something important, Itami pursued him through the corridors from afar, hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever the Kaiser was about to do.

Soon enough, Berengar found himself in front of an open doorway, peering into a room with a silly smile on his face. Unable to contain her curiosity, Itami approached the doorway to the best of her ability without alerting the man to her presence where she saw his warm gaze landing upon a beautiful young redheaded girl roughly the age of thirteen who was in the act of painting a marvelous picture.

Helga's canvas was stained with oil-based paint as she made soft strokes with her brush. The objects of her artwork were lying in front of her. There were two leopards lying in the center of the room on a finely woven rug in front of a fireplace, where many of the Princess's other esteemed works hung above.

One of the leopards was quite large, and obviously a full-grown adult. He lay in a relaxed pose on the rug with his paw placed firmly upon a much smaller beast of its own species who was clearly a cub, holding the child in place to ensure that it did not misbehave.

Immediately, Itami noticed that the small leopard was the mischievous little cub named Spots, who had left a thorough impression on her during her first night in Kufstein. The larger leopard swiftly took notice of Itami's presence and raised his head while glaring at her, however he detected no hostility from the albino beauty, and thus corrected his posture so that he maintained the previous pose.

The young girl was too engrossed in her activity to notice the sudden movement, and thus continued about her latest work. Suddenly the sound of music appeared within the hallway, which Helga clearly took notice of. As she listened to the song and hummed its tune, her cold exterior melted away, leaving a warm smile on her pretty face. She continued to paint her masterpiece without ever realizing that her father was standing in the doorway, watching her with a gentle gaze in his mismatched eyes.

Itami had become lost in thought, wondering perhaps if the girl purposely left the door open, waiting for the music to begin. The Japanese Empress had spaced out so much that by the time she regained her whereabouts she noticed that the object of her stalking was already gone, moving down the hallway towards the origin of the sweet music where he stood in the doorway with the same gentle smile he had while watching the redheaded girl paint.

As a result, Itami quickly pursued the man, and stared into the doorway where she saw two young children, one she recognized to be Kristoffer, the other, however, was a young and doll-like girl who was anxiously trying to keep up on her violin with the boy sitting in front of her.

Though Kristoffer could not see the girl behind him, he could tell that she was struggling to keep up, and thus he lowered his tempo with a warm smile on his face as he spoke to the girl with a tone filled with kindness.

"I know you can do this Astrid, if you can play the piece slowly, then it is only a matter of time before you can match my tempo. So how about we just take it slow for now until you get the hang of it?"

Upon hearing this, Astrid wore a pretty smile and blushed slightly as she continued to play the piece at her own speed. Something which Kristoffer had matched perfectly. However, Itami was quite shocked that she had understood what the boy had said, proving that indeed her German lessons were coming along nicely.

Both Berengar and Itami continued to watch the two children play the rest of the song in silence. Once completed, Astrid put her violin down and sat next to Kristoffer on his bench. In an act which shocked Itami, the doll-like girl pecked the boy on his cheek, causing him to blush in embarassment. In response to this, Astrid merely giggled childishly as the two children sat in silence while staring at each other with loving eyes.

When Itami saw this scene unfold, she felt as if she had been stabbed in the heart. This damn brat was not even twelve years of age, and yet he already had a better love life than her! How was that even possible!?!

Unable to continue looking at the little lovebirds flirt with each other, Itami scrambled off, and found that Berengar had shared the same mentality. It was only now that she realized that Kristoffer was probably the kid whose music she had randomly insulted in front of Gerhard during one of their previous encounters.

Having met the sweet child and witnessed his warm and gentle personality, Itami now understood why Gerhard was so protective of the boy. Which caused her to feel a deep sense of shame as she followed Berengar through the hallway, where she rounded the corner and immediately halted in her tracks when she heard a large shout come from the other side of the hallway.

"Daddy!"

What Itami witnessed was a young tan skinned girl with golden hair and amber eyes run up to Berengar and glomped him. The man chuckled and shook his head as he embraced his daughter, realizing that he had been spotted in the act of observing his children.

Zara had a wide smile on her face, as if this were the happiest moment of her entire life. She continued to hug her father with a fierce grip. Obviously, the little girl did not want to be torn away from the man's arms. Berengar proceeded effortlessly to pick the young girl and kiss her on the forehead while wearing a heartwarming expression on his face.

"Let's go see what your big brother is up to."

After saying this, Berengar continued to carry his young daughter in his arms throughout the hallway. As Berengar walked further down the corridor, Itami noticed that his prior weary expression had completely vanished after spending the slightest bit of time with his kids.

It was only now that the albino beauty realized that Berengar probably had more important things to do than test her new understanding of the German language, and thus had a sullen expression on her otherwise pretty face while she walked through the hallways and returned to her quarters alone.

For some time, Itami sulked in silence, thinking about all the misconceptions she had about Berengar and his unorthodox family. Though the man was a polygamist, he genuinely seemed to care about each and every one of his women. The fact that he worked a minimum of twelve hours a day, and continued to check up on each of his kids, showed that he was at the very least a father who loved his children.

Perhaps Itami was mistaken when she had assumed that the Kaiser was some womanizing playboy. Actions often spoke louder than words, and though Berengar had defended his unusual lifestyle during their previous conversation, he had still been unable to convince Itami that he was anything but a man who used women for their bodies.

This perception had completely and totally come crashing down, along with Itami's entire perspective of Germany and its mighty Kaiser, as she struggled to cope with the deep sense of envy she was feeling at this very moment. Though she did not realize it yet, Itami had begun to see Berengar with a hint of attraction, rather than the disgust she previously felt for the man.