Tyranny of Steel

Shortly after Berengar had finished his meeting with the Grand Duke of Moscow, Princess Veronika entered his office. She had a pouting expression on her cute face and seemed to be filled with indignation. Berengar could only guess that Hans had said or done something to piss her off. Sure enough, the adolescent girl immediately began to complain about her fiancee.

"Your majesty, the Prince Hans has done something indecent to me!"

Berengar could only sigh as he rested his head in the palm of his hand. Whatever Hans had done to the girl, it had clearly been something significant for her to come crawling to the Emperor while seeking restitution. However, before he could inquire about what the little bugger had done, the Princess of Bohemia exposed the boy's shameful actions with an embarrassed expression on her face.

"Hans flipped up my skirt!"

Such information stunned Berengar. This was such a petty matter that he felt like he shouldn't be the one responsible for handling it. After all, he was an emperor. Thus, he stared at the girl in disbelief before commenting on the situation.

"Is that all? If so, go find Linde and she will scold the boy. I don't have time to waste on such frivolities."

Veronika could hardly believe that Berengar was leaving this matter to his wife. After all, she felt as if she had been shamed greatly. She immediately began to protest Berengar's unwillingness to discipline his son, but before she could utter a word, the man held his hand up and glared at her.

"I'm busy. If you want to complain some more, go find my wife. I'm sure she would be willing to listen to all of your petty problems, unfortunately I do not have the time to bother."

Upon realizing that she was being a nuisance, Veronika nodded her head silently with a downcast expression on her face before departing from the room. It was only after she had entered the hallway that the man known as Igor, who acted as the Grand Duke of Moscow's personal advisor, approached her. Veronika had a sense of fear in her mismatched eyes as the stranger approached her with an awkward smile on his face.

"The Grand Duke of Moscow Casimir requests your presence. Please, follow me!"'

Though Veronika wanted to resist, she could tell by the cold glint in the man's eyes that he was not making a simple request. As such, she nodded her head in silence, and followed him to the quarters that Berengar had allotted to the Grand Duke. After entering the room, Veronika saw the boy staring out the window. He had an icy expression on his androgynous face as he shifted his gaze towards the young girl.

"Tell me, miss, what is your name?"

Veronika did not know why this strange-looking boy had requested her presence. Perhaps he knew she was the Princess of Bohemia. She glanced back at the entrance, which was being guarded by Igor, and noticed that her escape route was cut off. She had no choice but to tell the boy her identity.

"My name is Veronika your highness, may I ask why you have brought me here?"

The cold boy slowly approached the girl, the slightest hint of a smile etched itself upon his lips as he closely examined the Bohemian Princess. She was truly the type of girl he desired, and he did not hide his feelings.

"You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. Are you a servant of the Kaiser, perhaps?"

Veronika was taken aback when she heard the Grand Duke did not know of her position. She was not the slightest bit interested in the boy's flatter, nor did she hide her disdain as she responded in a haughty tone.

"I am a ward of his majesty Berengar von Kufstein. I am the last Princess of the Kingdom of Bohemia, and the fiancee of Prince Hans von Kufstein. If you reason for bringing me here is indecent, I will tell my father-in-law, and he will have your hands removed!"

The sudden shift from meek to bold shocked the Grand Duke of Moscow. He could hardly believe that this young girl was the Princess of Bohemia, a Kingdom that was now a part of the German Empire. Currently, Berengar held its crown, along with Austria's, and nobody had heard about what happened to the previous Monarch's family after the Kingdom fell to the Hussites. To think that Berengar was keeping such a young beauty to himself made Casimir's blood boil.

Casimir was a man who foolishly did not fear Berengar, perhaps because his realm was so far away from the German Empire that he believed himself to be safe. It was because of this that he grasped hold of Veronika's wrist and pressed her against the wall. He was just about to force a kiss on her when the girl slapped him across the face, leaving a bright red handprint.

"Bastard! What do you think you are doing? When the Kaiser finds out what you have tried to do to me, he will not be merciful!"

However, Casimir was far from pleased. His eyes had a murderous glow to them as he punched the girl in the gut, sending her to her knees.

"You fucking bitch! How dare you treat me this way! Do you have any idea who I am?"

Coincidentally, as this was ongoing the Prince Hans had rounded the corner and walked down the halls. He noticed Igor standing guard at the door and immediately became suspicious. After hearing screaming come from inside the room, he rushed over to see what was happening. Though Igor tried to prevent him from interfering, Hans made a bold threat to the man.

"If you do not get out of my way right now, I will have your manhood fed to the pigs!"

Normally such a threat would be laughable coming from such a young boy. However, Hans had pulled out a boot knife and held it firmly against the man's junk. The Prince had just come back from the Cadet Corps, and was heading towards his room that was in the same hall as Veronika's to wash up and get changed. When the man saw the blade pressed against his family jewels, he immediately broke out into a cold sweat, however he did not move. Instead, he called out to the Grand Duke, informing him that he had a visitor.

"your highness, the Prince is here to see you!"

Casimir had a grim look on his face as he gazed over towards the boy Hans, who held a blade to Igor's groin. With a wicked smile, Hans inserted the blade into the man's loins, causing him to scream in pain and fall to his knees. He ruthlessly ripped the blade from out of the larger man's body and wiped the blood on Igor's shirt before approaching the Grand Duke of Moscow. Upon seeing the murderous glint in Hans' sapphire eyes, the young Grand Duke released his grip over Veronika's hair and stumbled backwards.

"You little monster! What have you done?"

Hans was in no mood to spar with words and quickly approached the adolescent boy after gazing upon the state of his fiancee. Veronika had been beaten by Casimir, her hair was messed up, and blood was spilling from her lips. Such a thing could not be forgiven. Because of this, Hans closed the distance between him and his target with the blade held in one hand.

"Your dare to lay a hand on my woman? Bold... truly bold... Since you have committed such an unforgiveable act, I will not be merciful."

Casimir was shocked to see the young boy speak in such an educated manner. He tried to resist, but Hans kneed him in the groin, dropping the boy to his knees. He grabbed hold of the Grand Duke's medium length hair with one hand and brought the blade close to the boy's lips.

"I'm going to give you a permanent reminder on your face as to why you should not fuck with Germany, you stupid Slavic dog!"

After saying this, Hans carved away at the edges of the boy's lips with his boot knife, creating severe lacerations that were eerily reminiscent of a certain comic book villain from Berengar's past life. The boy screamed in pain as his face was disfigured by the German Prince.

While this was happening, Veronika gazed in astonishment at the lengths Hans was willing to go to, to avenge her. Though she had prevented Casimir from stealing her first kiss, she had invoked his ire and had suffered his wrath. Had Hans not arrived when he did, it was likely that she would be severely beaten, and perhaps even raped.

All she could do was watch as the young boy who was her fiancee mutilated the Grand Duke of Moscow, who was a boy several years older than him, and much larger. After Hans had finished with his little art project, Casimir was lying on the floor crying in a pool of his own blood, while Igor was struggling with the loss of his balls. Hans shifted from a cruel expression to a concerned one as he checked on Veronika's condition.

"Veronika, take my hand. Let us leave this place and go see Ewald. He will make you better!"

Upon seeing the kind and concerned look on Hans' face after his valiant act of defending her, Veronika felt as if she had suddenly developed feelings for the boy who had just previously lifted her skirt and made her cry. Hans did not wait for an answer and quickly led the girl away from her captors. When the Imperial Guard finally arrived on the scene, they would be dumbfounded by the events that had occurred. After maiming the Grand Duke of Moscow and his military advisor, Hans would garner a nickname among the servants of the Royal Palace, and that was the term "Little Monster."