Tyranny of Steel

After being slapped by Linde, and choked out by Berengar. Conrad was forced to return to his room, where he was locked inside for the remainder of the night. Eventually, he fell to sleep, but by the time morning came and he was released from his quarters, he was still fuming with anger over the events that had occurred during the previous night.

Conrad had no say in how his Duchy was being run, Berengar did not inform him of the matters of importance that the man was constantly working on, and as such, Conrad had a lot of free time. However, he was locked away in the Castle of Kufstein without any ability to escape. After all, Berengar did not want the boy causing trouble.

Thus with no authority and no way to entertain himself, the boy became increasingly bitter. As time passed, he eventually found himself bored out of his mind and had begun to behave in childish antics. Yet, those childish antics were always met with a firm slap by Linde. Eventually, those childish antics turned to thoughts of wicked acts.

At the moment, Conrad was walking through the Courtyard, trying to think of a way to get revenge on Linde for how she had always treated him. Eventually, he came across a peculiar sight. Linde was currently putting out multiple saucers filled with milk, and there were a total of three cats who came rushing over to greet her.

The beautiful young woman had a gorgeous smile as she happily petted the cats before allowing them to have some of the milk. Linde was exceptionally fond of cats and had recently taken in a few strays. She made sure that they were given fresh milk from the farm every day.

Berengar had allowed this for three reasons, firstly it made Linde happy, and seeing her happy made him happy. Secondly, he was a cat lover, and as such, he also enjoyed their company. Thirdly, Cats were excellent at hunting pests, and the castle had more than enough rodents running around that needed to be taken care of.

After feeding the Cats, Linde said goodbye and quickly returned to her work as a spymaster; she would be back later that evening to feed the cute little creatures more milk. Seeing the gracious smile on Linde's face as she was around her new pets brought a wicked idea to Conrad's mind.

He may not be able to harm Linde; after all, the guards protected Berengar and his loved ones around the clock, but he could hurt what she cared about. Thus the devious little cunt vowed that later in the day when the patrols had begun to switch shifts, he would sneak into the Courtyard and murder the three cats. Such a thing would surely upset the young woman who had so thoroughly invoked his ire.

After hatching such a vicious plot, Conrad returned to his room, where he began to make preparations. First, he needed a knife, and as such, he headed towards the kitchen where he planned to fetch one.

Thus as Conrad entered the kitchen, he immediately began to behave suspiciously; the kitchen staff all began to question him with their gazes until finally, the boy demanded access to what he desired.

"I need a knife!"

The kitchen staff looked at one another for a few moments before the head chef inquired about the reasoning.

"Why do you need a knife?"

The kitchen staff asking questions immediately caught Conrad off guard; seeing how he never had a servant question his orders, he instantly became outraged and began to rebuke the chef.

"Because I am the Duke, and I ordered you to give me one! Now hand it over!"

The head chef had a look of concern in his eyes as he struggled with the decision. On the one hand, he knew the kid was up to something, and if Conrad did something horrible with a knife he provided, then he would be held responsible.

On the other hand, the boy was right, he was technically the Duke, and though he had no real authority, as a commoner, he could not very well deny the Duke's orders, or else it would expose Berengar's charade. Considering the two options, the chef thought it was unlikely that Conrad would do anything too vile and thus handed him a kitchen knife before warning the kid.

"Your Grace, this object is dangerous; I suggest you be careful with it!"

Conrad instantly ignored the chef's comments and did not even bother thanking the man. Instead, he immediately returned to his room, where he played with the knife; he could already imagine the look on Linde's face after he cut her cats' throats. He longed to see the woman wailing with tears in her eyes like a hysterical bitch.

These wicked thoughts are what kept him entertained until the time arrived. After he noticed the patrols would be switching shifts soon and that the window of opportunity was near, Conrad quietly snuck out of his room and rushed through the hallways as he tried to act normal. Though the more he did so, the more suspicious he appeared.

While walking through the hallways, Conrad hid the knife under his tunic as he carefully pressed forward. Eventually, he ran into a servant girl and knocked her over. Rather than help her up, he glared at her menacingly, and the girl quickly ran away in fear. Unfortunately for him, this was right in front of the Courtyard, where the cats were housed.

However, the boy was not smart enough to realize he had just created a witness who could testify that he was in the vicinity, and thus he proceeded towards the structure that was constructed to act as a house for the cats. When he approached, the little furballs instantly walked out of their home and greeted him while purring. Everyone in the Castle treated them with exceptional care, knowing they were Linde's pets, and thus they were used to everyone being kind.

The naive little cats did not have the slightest clue of the evil intent that Conrad had. Thus when the three cats approached to sniff him, he unleashed his blade and cut their throats, killing them instantly. Their blood spilled across the cold stone floor of the Courtyard and onto his tunic. However, he did not notice this.

In his wicked mind, merely cutting their throats was not enough to indeed disturb Linde; as such, he quickly proceeded to decapitate the creatures and leave their heads mounted on sticks outside their home, with their bodies mangled below. After he had concluded this brutal and cruel act to a trio of innocent cats, the boy fled back to his room with a knife in hand. Utterly unaware that he left a trail of blood in his wake.

Conrad was by no means a criminal mastermind, and despite believing he had easily gotten away with such actions, he had left multiple pieces of evidence in his wake, with even a witness seeing him shortly before the action happened. Luckily nobody saw him on the way back to his room, or else he could have gotten spooked and killed one of Berengar's servants.

Not long after Conrad returned to his room, a horrific shriek echoed across the Castle; it was so loud that even Berengar heard it in his study. He instantly recognized that the voice belonged to Linde, so Berengar quickly rushed to the scene with his sword in hand. However, before he arrived, his guards had beaten him to the area and began to secure the crime scene.

By the time Berengar had entered the Courtyard to see what had happened, the House guards were keeping the scene in check, and Linde was sobbing like a mother who had just witnessed her children's deaths. Nobody dared to approach her when she was in such an unstable condition. Well, nobody other than Berengar. The moment he saw his lover sobbing in such a manner, he dropped ahold of his sword and rushed over to her, holding the weeping beauty in his arms in an attempt to comfort her.

Gazing at the brutal scene before him, Berengar did not believe this to be an attack on Linde but one on himself. To him, it was clear that this was a veiled threat from one of his political opponents. Stating, "If I can get to your pets, then I can get to your loved ones." Thus as Berengar tried to comfort Linde, he began shouting orders to the nearby guards.

"Lockdown the Castle nobody gets in or out until we find out who is responsible for this! As for the rest of you, begin an investigation into this immediately; I want to know who would dare to engage in such a barbaric display within my territory!"

The guards immediately responded to Berengar's orders by pounding their chests in salute and screaming at the top of their lungs.

"Yes, your excellency!"

With that said, the men quickly got to task and began to lock down the castle, quarantine the area, and search for any potential clues. All while Berengar held onto his weeping lover, comforting her to the best of his ability, in doing so, he made a solemn vow.

"When I find whoever is responsible for this, I will make sure they pay with their blood!"