Tyranny of Steel

Within the confines of the dining hall of the German Imperial Palace, the von Kufstein family sat together and dined for the first time in a long time. Berengar gazed at his children and smiled. It had truly been some time since been together with all of his kids in one place. While the German Emperor was inspecting his children, one boy in particular was digging into his food with an ecstatic expression. 

Hans, much like his father, was an avid eater, and thoroughly enjoyed the foreign dishes that Yasmin cooked whenever she found herself in the kitchen. Taking a lesson from his father's playbook, the Crowned Prince smiled and complimented the chef for her skills. 

"Mommy Yasmin, your cooking is amazing, as always!"

Such a compliment caused the Moorish Princess to grin in delight as she tussled the boy's strawberry blonde hair. After doing so, she served up another slice of roasted lamb for her husband's oldest son. 

"I'm glad to see that you like it so much Hans, here have some more..."

Hans did not hesitate to take a bite out of the succulent lamb. While this was going on, Linde was glaring at her son. The boy was so quick to compliment Yasmin's cooking, but not her own. Thus, the redheaded vixen hurriedly shoveled a pile of Käsespätzle that she had prepared for this occasion onto her son's plate, as if she were competing with the Moorish beauty. 

"Hans, have some of mommy's Käsespätzle, I'm sure you will enjoy it just as much as Yasmin's lamb."

Hans did not deny his mother, and quickly took a spoonful of the noodle dish and ate it with a delighted expression. 

"Thanks mommy, your cooking is good too!"

As per usual, the boy acted his own age around his parents. Neither Linde nor Berengar were fully aware of just how intelligent the boy was, or the schemes that had festered in his mind. As for the Emperor, he frowned as he saw his two favorite wives compete for his son's affection and not his own. Thus, he decided to stir the pot by turning to one of his other brides.

"Honoria, can you be so kind as to pass the liverwurst and rye?"

The young Pirate Queen immediately understood what her husband's intentions were and pulled out a slice of marble rye bread that had been toasted to perfection. She skilfully slathered the liverwurst onto the toast as if it were cream cheese. After doing this, she fed Berengar herself, immediately causing Linde and Yasmin to look at her strangely.

"Here daddy, let me feed you!"

Berengar eagerly took a bite from the treat and nodded his head in satisfaction. While this was going on, his daughter Helga observed his behavior and struggled to prevent herself from scoffing. She may be young, but even she could see the mind game that her father and Honoria were playing on her mother.  As if right on cue, Linde pouted and offered her Käsespätzle to Berengar as well.

"My love, won't you do me the honor of giving me your honest opinion on my dish?"

The German Emperor smiled as he took a spoonful of the cheesy noodle dish and dined on it. He struggled to contain his satisfaction from becoming visible as he pretended to mull about for some time before giving Linde a shocking answer.

"I think you overcooked it. I give it a six out of ten..."

Linde gazed in shock towards her husband, while the other girls laughed at her misfortune. Berengar had deliberately given her a poor review just to see this reaction, and it worked like a charm.

As Linde was pouting like a child, an unexpected visitor appeared. Her cat midnight ran into the dining hall with its tail puffed out, and jumped into his master's lap. Not far behind, it was a playful wolf pup chasing after the cat with a happy smirk on its face. 

When Linde saw this, she immediately scolded her son for letting his pet out of its cage.

"Hans, what have I told you about letting that thing run about freely? I don't care what your father may have told you. That is a wild animal, and it should be treated as such!"

Hans felt a headache was about to come over him as he heard his mother's complaints. Since he had gotten the wolf pup, he had been training it to obey his commands daily. Despite its origins in the wild, the creature had become rather tame and was practically no different from a common domesticated dog. 

Despite this, Linde seemed to have a problem with the creature, whether it was an internal dislike of canines as a whole, or simply the fact that she feared the beast; she had done everything in her power to keep the prince's pet caged up and away from the family. 

Despite this, the hound walked up to its master and sat while wagging its tail, waiting for the boy to give it a command. When Berengar saw this, he was rather surprised. This pup was only a few months old, and yet, it was behaving like a well trained golden retriever. Was this thing really a wolf? However, in the next moment, the boy shocked his father even more when he gave a command to his pet wolf.

"Wulfgar, lie down!"

The wolf's ear's immediately perked up as it heard this command, before quickly obeying it. It lied down and rested its head on its paws as the creature waited for his master to finish his meal. With a satisfied smile on his face, Hans countered his mother's complaint.

"Mommy, look, Wulfgar is well trained. He would never hurt anybody that I did not command him to!"

Berengar gazed at the beast with a curious expression. He did not expect his young son to have such an affinity with animals. Thus, he wore a smile as he tried to convince Linde to accept the wolf. However, when he gazed over at the woman, she was gently petting her black cat while glaring daggers at the hound. Before Berengar could utter his decree, Linde barked at her son.

"Keep that ravenous mutt away from my precious midnight, and away from your siblings while you're at it. If something happens to any of them, I will hold you responsible!"

Berengar immediately grabbed hold of Linde's hand and tried to calm her down.

"Dear, the wolf seems to be well trained. I doubt it will pose a threat to our children or your cat. It appears like he was just playing with midnight. There is no reason to be so upset. "

Despite Berengar's words, Linde refused to concede on this issue. In her eyes, no matter how tame the beast, maybe it was still a wild animal. She could never trust such a creature around her children or pets. If not for Berengar's insistence on allowing the boy to keep the wolf, she would have personally disposed of it long ago. 

In Hans' eyes, his mother was simply being unreasonable. He knew full well how disciplined the creature was and suspected that his mother simply did not like canines. The fact that she witnessed his pet obey his commands so thoroughly, and still demanded to keep it away from his siblings, showed just how biased the woman was.

However, he knew this was a battle he was not going to win. Taking this into consideration, Hans rose from his seat and bowed to his mother and father, taking the initiative to lock his pet wolf away for the time being.

"Alright mommy, I will lock Wulfgar away, if that's what you want."

After saying this, the boy called for his hound and ran off towards the courtyard where its own quarters were. Once Hans was out of earshot, Berengar sighed before gazing upon Linde with a stern expression.

"Did you really have to force the boy to lockup his pet? It seemed completely obedient to me."

Linde merely rolled her eyes at her husband before taking a sip from her glass of milk. After doing so, she responded in a haughty tone.

"No matter how tame it may be, that beast is still a dangerous wolf. It needs to be properly locked away so it can harm none of my children. I will make this abundantly clear. If Hans gets hurt because of that creature, I will blame you till the day I die..."

Berengar merely sighed in defeat before responding to his wife's criticisms.

"Very well..."

After saying this, he dug into his food once more, not willing to waste the energy on such a pointless matter. Having seen how well the boy commanded his pet, Berengar was certain that the creature would not harm his son. However, Linde was right about one thing: they should keep away such a dangerous beast from his other children.  Thus, with this argument out of the way, Berengar continued to enjoy his meal with his entire family. It was a relatively peaceful afternoon in the life of the German Emperor.