Tyranny of Steel

Berengar carried his little sister Henrietta up the stairs to her room as if she were a princess. Now that he thought about it, she was indeed technically a princess. Thus, he had a smug smile on his face as he thought about his sister's prestigious position, resulting from his actions in this life.

Henrietta had no idea what her precious big brother was thinking about as he dodged the ongoing conflict downstairs in the dining room. However, seeing him smile as he carried her away to her quarters was enough to make her happy thus, she clung closely onto his chest and engorged herself in the warmth that his body was exuding beyond his clothing.

Eventually, the King and his Princess made their way into the girl's quarters, where Berengar tucked the allegedly intoxicated young woman into her bed before kissing her on the forehead. He was prepared to leave her behind and head back to the dining room until the moment she grabbed onto his sleeve.

As Henrietta did so, her cheeks were flushed red with embarrassment; however, she had decided to make the most of this moment and thus she made a request of her brother for the first time in a long time.

"Big Brother, will you stay and tell me a story like you did when I was a kid?"

Berengar chuckled as he heard this before sitting down on the bed next to his sister and began spinning a tale about himself from his previous life. He did not know why, but he had an overwhelming desire to spill the truth about his past, even if it was in the form of a bedtime story.

"There once was a boy named Julian who grew up in a faraway land. In this land, there were hundreds of millions of people, and most of them lived their lives without achieving anything of significance. They were truly Cogs in the machine and never managed to move the dirt necessary to bury them."

At this point, Berengar's expression began to shift from nostalgic to slightly distressed. He remained silent for a few moments as he struggled to come up with the words to express the cruelty of the life that he was forced to endure in his youth during his past life.

"This boy came from an impoverished family and was bullied by his peers due to the lack of income that his family had. You see, in this society, the average person lived a life of such wealth and luxury that they tended to take everything they had for granted. The average household lived in such levels of prosperity that even the noble houses of our society could not compete with them.

However, as a result, those at the bottom of society could not afford the lavish lifestyle of the middle class, and thus they were often ridiculed for it. While other kids were receiving the latest fashion and newest toys, Julian was forced to endure through the years making us of the generous donations from those better-off families.

After being ruthlessly berated by those kids his exact age, he would come home to an empty dwelling, where he was forced to cook his meals and clean for himself. However, things were not all bad. He managed to get close to a pretty girl and become her friend. He would even spend hours of his day teaching her how to do her school work.

Years passed by, and Julian had entered his teens; in doing so, he had fallen in love with this girl who was his only friend. One day, there was a big dance to be had at the school, and Julian decided to muster his courage to ask his friend out. However, despite his feelings for her, things did not go as expected. Do you know what her response was?

I am sorry, but I could never go out with someone as poor as you...

Julian was heartbroken; however, the worst part was that their friendship rapidly deteriorated after that until a point where they barely talked anymore. The moment this girl got herself a rich boyfriend as she had wanted, Julian came to a decision, and that was that he would make something of his life, and not live a life of poverty like his parents.

So you know what he did? He spent the next four years dismissing his social life and working hard so that he would have the ability to get into a good college. He also worked on his fitness to ensure a healthy body and mind. After all, no matter successful he was, he would never be able to get a decent girlfriend if he was a fat tub of lard, or so he believed.

However, when the time came to go to university, he selected the Military Academy. Why would he do that, you might ask? Because he could not afford to be in debt for the rest of his life for going to his first choice of a university!

You see, universities were costly in this Kingdom, so much so that you would be selling yourself into debt for decades to afford the tuition fees. However, the military academy was different; they would practically pay for your entire expenses, so long as you pledged to serve eight years in the armed forces after graduation. The difficulty was that the military had a very low acceptance rate, luckily Julian had graduated High School with high enough marks that he was accepted!

Thus Julian spent another four years of his life doing nothing but studying hard to complete his education as an engineer. During this time, he had met a few acquaintances who helped him along his path but in the end, he had never really developed any long-lasting friendships or relationships with women, for that matter. By the time he knew it, those four years passed by, and he was sent into the Army as an Engineering Officer.

After graduating from the military academy and entering his service, he performed excellently at his job, and things were starting to look up in life. However, years of maintaining a distance from others had crippled his ability to form any lasting bonds. Thus he struggled to bond with those beneath his command on any meaningful level. Despite this, he was making a good salary as an officer and was even awarded for his efforts..."

Henrietta could see the pain on her brother's face as he continued the story; however, despite this, she was thoroughly enthralled with the tale and eventually asked for him to continue.

"What happened next?"

Berengar could feel his entire life flashing before his eyes as he reminisced about his past life especially the painful death at its end; after several moments, he finally collected his thoughts and stood up from the bed. After doing so, he ended the story with the truth.

"It is quite tragic, during his last deployment, a month before the war was supposed to come to an end, he was killed in an attack by the enemy while working on a construction project that wasn't even needed to begin with. So much potential, gone to waste... But I guess that is life..."

Upon hearing this ending, Henrietta burst out into tears; she did not know why this story had troubled her to such an extent. However, after listening to her brother tell that tale as if it were about himself, it had broken her heart. The very idea that Berengar had to go through life alone, with such difficulties nearly took the young Princess's breath away.

The young King of Austria noticed his sister's distraught behavior and immediately rushed to comfort her; he climbed into bed beside her and hugged her as he stroked her silky hair while reassuring her that things were for the best.

"Do not cry, my sweet little sister; death is not always final! For all that we know, Julian was born again in a different world, where he used his vast knowledge to become a mighty King and lead his people to glory!"

Henrietta felt better after hearing this and started to giggle; she wiped the tears from her eyes with her dainty hands before gazing at her brother in his deep sapphire eye. As she did so, she made a jest of her own.

"Kind of like you? Huh, big brother?"

Berengar smiled and nodded his head before responding.

"Just like me..."

After saying this, Henrietta wrapped her arms around Berengar and swiftly fell asleep in his arms. Seeing that the girl was utterly unconscious, Berengar sighed before commenting on the situation.

"At least let me get undressed..."

After saying this, he broke free from Henrietta's grasp; the moment he did so, the young woman began to frown in her sleep as if she was aware that he had escaped. Upon seeing this, Berengar sighed before stripping out of his luxurious clothing until only boxer shorts remained. After doing so, he climbed back into bed with Henrietta and kissed her on the forehead; after reflecting upon his past and current lives, he muttered the words in his heart.

"Sweet dreams, my precious little princess!"

Having uttered these words, Berengar soon found himself falling asleep beneath the warmth of the down covers, with his little sister latched onto him like a lamprey. He would sleep this night in her bed, completely forgetting that he had left his wives, along with the French Prince, downstairs.