Tyranny of Steel

After finishing his meeting with Count Otto, Berengar found that he now had unlimited free time; as such, he quickly searched for Adela, where he intended to spend the day playing around with her. He rarely had as much free time as he did while on this diplomatic visit; thus, he intended to make the most of it.

After crossing through the hallways looking for Adela, Berengar soon found himself face to face with Wolfgang, who did not have the most pleasant expression on his face. Instead, he stared at Berengar with an intense gaze of fury, as if his heart contained the fires of Tartarus in its depths. Berengar could tell by the look on his face that Ava had said something; as such, he met Wolfgang's furious gaze with a condescending smirk.Â

Wolfgang, however, noticed Berengar's expression and immediately assumed it meant his guilt as he approached Berengar and tried to latch onto his collar, however before he could do so, Berengar had grabbed ahold of the man's wrist and put him into a wristlock which forced the man onto his knees as he winced in pain.Â

Though Berengar was by no means a seasoned grappler, he had gone through basic combative training in the Army during his past life, and as such knew a few tricks, he could use to subdue an opponent. As Berengar applied pressure to the lock that he firmly grasped onto, he began to chastise the man for his violent attempts.

"You know Wolfgang; it is not polite to assault your superiors for no reason; you should learn your place!"

On the other hand, Wolfgang verbally struck back at Berengar, especially over his claims of superiority; if anything, in Wolfgang's eyes, he was superior because he was born into the position of Count, instead of being an upstart taking advantage of the crisis in the realm.Â

"Superior? Don't make me laugh! You are nothing but a lowly Baron who has risen through the ranks by profiting from the war which ravages our lands!"

Berengar's tongue was as sharp as always; if anything, the words he spoke next hurt the man who was struggling in his grasp far more from the pressure from the wrist lock.

"And yet, I am capable of defending my lands, where you hide in your wife's homeland, allowing your brother to fight your war for you. Now, why don't you tell me the reason that would cause a man in your position to attack me the moment you saw my charming face?"

Wolfgang felt no desire to explain his rage to Berengar, a man he deemed to be a lecherous, amoral tyrant. Thus he responded with vulgarity.

"Go fuck yourself!"

After hearing this stereotypical response, Berengar sighed before completing the wrist lock, where he broke the man's wrist without any mercy. Berengar had learned his lesson about showing compassion to those who sought to do him harm; as such, he was ruthless with how he decided to handle the situation.

After a loud cracking noise emanated through the cold stone hallway, followed by the wailing that sounded as if it came from a wounded pig Berengar released the man and allowed him to wallow in his tears on the tile below. Berengar gazed coldly at the current Count of Salzburg before giving the man a warning.

"I shall remember your attempt to do me harm on this day. When I finally liberate your lands from the Bavarians, I will make sure it is your brother and not you who is named Count of Salzburg. If you come at me again, you will find yourself buried six feet under, in an unmarked grave! Do not test me..."Â

With that brief exchange, Berengar walked away from the man who lay in the fetal position while clutching his broken wrist. Berengar thought nothing of his cruelty; after all, a man like Wolfgang was neither clever nor powerful enough to pose any harm to him. If anything, he had been lenient with his response to the man's violent actions. A broken wrist was by no means a severe injury and would heal itself in time.Â

While Berengar exited the scene with confidence, the Castle guards quickly responded to the sounds of Wolfgang's wailing and dragged him off to the Court Physician. Meanwhile, Berengar continued on his journey to locate Adela, and when he finally found the girl, he noticed she was wearing a white and golden gown while playing the harp.Â

Dressed in such extravagant attire, with a serene expression affixed on her face as she closed her eyes and strung the chord of the harp, almost made Berengar believe that she was, in fact, an angel, not a human. Nevertheless, he knew such a thing could not be the case and nearly stood by and waited for the young teenage girl to finish her rendition of the song that she was currently playing.Â

Adela was utterly unaware that Berengar had arrived and was leaning on a pillar listening to the sound of her music, and as such continued for a while before halting, where she released a short sigh of breath before opening her eyes and seeing her fiance gazing at her with a smile filled with admiration, and respect.Â

The young petite beauty with golden hair and gemstone-like sapphire eyes quickly began to flush in embarrassment as she realized her fiance had been listening to her the entire time; however, what came next shocked her. As Berengar slowly started to clap before escalating into full applause. The words that followed continued to add to her embarrassment.Â

"I must confess I am rather embarrassed as your fiance. To think that you had such talent in the art of music, and I was unaware for all this time. I must say I doubt even an angel in heaven could perform in such a manner!"

Adela could barely look at Berengar while in such a flustered state; her cheeks were as red as roses as she heard his praise. It had been so long since she had last seen Berengar before he arrived in Graz that she was greatly concerned about him, now seeing him with an eyepatch, she realized that he had suffered in her absence while she stayed locked up in the Castel of Graz like some form of fairy tale princess.Â

Thus Adela rose from her seat before slowly approaching Berengar; when she arrived before him, she reached up and wrapped her palms around his face while staring into his one good eye with a worried expression on her face.

"You have suffered dearly during my absence, haven't you?"

Berengar wanted to bluff his way through her statement, but in truth, life had become rather difficult since he lost the use of his right eye. As the young girl gazed at him with empathy and compassion, he finally lost control of his tough facade and smiled bitterly as a gloomy expression took hold of his scarred yet, handsome visage, doing so, he nodded, which confirmed to Adela her suspicions.Â

Thus she hugged onto Berengar tightly in an attempt to cheer him up before gazing up at him with an adorable yet inquisitive gaze.Â

"Can I see it?"

Berengar instantly knew what she was referring to, and as such, he quickly released her grip before placing his hands on his eyepatch and slowly lifting it off of his head. Though his right eye was closed, it eventually opened, revealing an intact but scarred eye. The ugly gash that had initially been there during the early days of the injury was replaced with a verticle scar that connected the gap between the scarred portions above and below his eye.Â

Adela had held her breath throughout the slow reveal, but now that she was looking at Berengar's injury, she realized it was not as hideous as she had thought it would be; as such, she released her breath before attempting to cheer Berengar up by complimenting the look.

"It is not ugly like I expected it to be; I think it gives your charming appearance the character of a battle-hardened veteran!"

Berengar chuckled bitterly in response to her words before revealing his innermost thoughts.

"It is not the appearance that bothers me; it is how difficult it has become to function normally. I still can't ride to the forefront of the battlefield like I used to. Instead, I must allow my commanders to lead my troops into battle while I sit back from afar like a coward. Tell me, Adela, how can I be a great man who inspires men to follow him into battle if I am incapable of doing such a thing?"

Adela finally understood what had been eating at her fiance this entire time; Berengar was the type of man to lead by example. At the moment, war was raging at his borders, but instead of leading the charge, he was sitting back in Kufstein eating luxurious food while drinking the best beer and wine.

Despite this, his forces had to endure the onslaught of an enemy determined to bring down his realm. To Berengar, there was nothing worse in this era, where battles were primarily fought in close proximity than hiding far from the warzone allowing your troops to fight in your stead. To him, it was the act of a coward, and as such, he had felt that he was cowardly in his actions.Â

After overhearing Berengar's concerns about his current position, Adela put on a bright smile as she informed Berengar of what she genuinely thought about him.Â

"What makes you great is not only tied to your victories on the battlefield or how you lead your men into the fray. Rather it is in large part due to the expense you have gone to ensure that your people benefit from your conquests and the wealth you gain."

Adela took a brief pause to compile her thoughts and then continued her rant about Berengar and how she and many of his supporters viewed him.Â

"What you have done to Kufstein, what you are doing to Tyrol, and potentially one day even all of Austria is something no other man in this era can achieve.  So you have suffered a minor setback, did you not tell me that Alexander suffered multiple mortal wounds, and yet he always recovered to lead his troops into further glory?"

Eventually, she finished her speech with words of encouragement to Berengar, ones that he would forever remember inside the depths of his heart.

"You will recover from this, and when you do, all of your enemies shall remember the bravery and fortitude that you use to rally your troops to victory!"

Having heard Adela speak of him in such an honorable light, Berengar instantly felt like the weight that had been secretly hanging from his heart had finally released its hold over him. As such, he thanked Adela by hugging her tight into his embrace and kissing her on the forehead before complimenting her.

"You are the perfect wife, did you know that??"

This response immediately caused Adela to blush as she quickly glanced around to see if anyone was watching the romantic display; after realizing that nobody else was nearby, she finally relaxed and enjoyed the moment.Â