Tyranny of Steel

Berengar was within his study, smoking a hemp cigarette as he gazed upon the documents in his hands. Although he had spent a few days reacquainting himself with his wives upon returning from war, the work of a ruler was never truly fulfilled. Thus once more, he had thrust himself into the endless throes of paperwork. 

After exhaling a large puff of smoke, the young monarch heard a knock on the door. Refusing to put out the cigarette, Berengar responded before taking another hit.

"It is open..."

Upon saying this, the door crept open to reveal his first wife Adela, who was dressed in a sapphire gown. Upon seeing his lovely wife enter his room, Berengar assumed that she was here to make amends. However, the sentence she spoke was anything but.

"There is a visitor here for you; they claim to be a part of the French Royal Family..."

There was a look of utter disgust on the young woman's face as she said this. Berengar was quite surprised to hear this; the French Prince had arrived quicker than he had estimated. Thus he decided to put out his cigarette in his ashtray before standing up and approaching his young wife.

"Lead the way!"

Adela rolled her eyes before departing from the Office with her husband in hand; before long, they arrived in the Great Hall, where Berengar gazed upon a small host of visitors. He searched for the French Prince but could not find him. However, his eyes fell upon a beautiful young woman who was exceptionally petite; this woman had honey blonde hair and emerald green eyes and was dressed in the current fashion trends of Austria.

Berengar mistakenly assumed this person's identity to be Princess Sibilia. Thus, he approached her and bowed before introducing himself. The stunning French woman held out her hand with a pretty smile upon seeing this, and Berengar placed his lips upon it. After doing so, he made his introduction.

"Princess Sibilia, I must say you are as beautiful as the rumors have claimed. However, I am a bit confused. I was led to believe that Prince Aubry would be the one to visit?"

The woman presumed to be Princess Sibilla immediately giggled in an effeminate manner before covering her mouth. After doing so, she spoke in a high-pitched voice that matched a woman's.

"Your Majesty, you are not mistaken. I am Prince Aubry de Valois, and I must say you are as handsome as the rumors say!"

Berengar immediately felt his mind shatter as he heard these words and struggled to mask his disgust in his actions. Did he seriously kiss the hand of a man? Meanwhile, Adela was in the corner smirking at his actions, thinking to herself.

It serves you right for being a playboy.

Of course, Berengar had no way of knowing what his wife was thinking and instead began to pull away from the effeminate French Prince awkwardly. 

"I apologize for my actions; I assumed you were your sister... Tell me, Prince Aubry, why are you here in Kufstein, and why are you dressed like that?"

Prince Aubry continued to smile as he placed one of his dainty hands on his cheek; after doing so, he twirled around in his dress before leaning in close to Berengar. 

"What's the matter? You don't like my appearance?"

The young Austrian King was immediately put in a difficult spot, this was, in fact, the Prince of a neighboring Kingdom, and he had to, for the time being, maintain diplomatic ties with them. After all, his plan for fracturing the French Kingdom relied on putting on the facade of friendly relations with his eventual neighbor to the West. 

Despite this, he immediately tried to distance himself from the effeminate Prince. However, the moment he did so, Aubry followed him and latched onto his arm with a sultry smile before asking the question on his mind.

"We can discuss business later; why don't you show me around this wonderful Palace of yours?"

Berengar had a distressed expression on his face as he looked over at his wife with a pleading gaze in his eyes. However, despite this anxiety, Adela merely scoffed before walking off. She knew Berengar would never sleep with a member of the same sex, and thus this was her punishment for him bringing home another wife without notice. 

Thus Berengar was forced to endure being a tour guide for the Prince of France. The first action that the young monarch took was to introduce the current location to his guest. 

"This is the Great Hall, where my throne is present. Frankly, I don't stay here often and am instead usually found in my Office."

Aubry took this comment with great interest; after all, his father, the King of France, was practically glued to his throne, and it was where he usually conducted business. To see that the mighty King of Austria rarely used his throne room was unique in the boy's mind. 

On multiple occasions, Berengar tried to wrest his arm away from the effeminate Prince; however, every attempt to do so was met with fierce resistance and a warm smile. It became abundantly clear what this trap's intent was, and the King of Austria made a silent vow not to fall prey to his tricks. 

However, since this guest was a member of a foreign Royal Family, he had to show some restraint in his action. Thus he kept a calm facade as he continued to walk Aubry through his palace and show him every quarter of his court.

After entering the dining room, Berengar and Aubry witnessed Honoria eating lunch; the moment she gazed up and saw her ex-fiance locking his arms around her husband, the food fell from her hands and onto her plate. She was stunned to witness the sight and immediately got up  from her seat where she rushed over to Aubry and slapped the Prince across his pretty face. After doing so, she began to curse him out.

"Get your hands off my man, you filthy tramp! Who the hell let you into this palace?"

Though the French Prince was enraged that a woman would behave in such a manner towards him, he refused to let go of Berengar's arm and instead put on a cruel smile as he mocked the Byzantine Princess.

"Oh Honoria, it has been some time since we last met. I am glad to see you found yourself a husband. However, there is no reason to be so jealous; Berengar and I are just getting to know each other, isn't that right?"

Berengar smiled awkwardly as he heard this. Ultimately, he decided it would be best to separate from Aubry now that Honoria was enraged and thus pushed him aside before scolding his guest.

"Honoria is right, I didn't want to say anything because you are a guest, but your actions are rather inappropriate. It would be best if we kept a safe distance between us..."

Aubry immediately puffed out his cheeks as he began to pout; he could not believe that Honoria had gotten in the way of his plans yet again. She seriously had the worst timing. Of course, what came next further aggravated the French Prince. Honoria immediately wrapped her arms around her husband and kissed him passionately before giving Berengar a fair warning.

"Don't fall into this boy's trap. I know you are not that type of man, but I have seen many otherwise normal men fall prey to his spell!"

Berengar chuckled before patting Honoria's head; as he did so, he spoke the words that would make Aubry all the more determined to seduce him. 

"Don't worry; I'm not like that. You would only have to worry if he was a woman!"

Of course, this statement did little to ease Honoria's anxiety, and thus she opted to stay with the two men during the duration of their tour. So long as the effeminate French Prince was in Austria, she would keep her eyes on him.

Unlike Adela, and Linde, she did not trust Berengar with Aubry; after all, she was too aware of how captivating he could be to other men.  After touring around the entire Palace, Berengar introduced Aubry to his room before giving him a little lecture.

"These are your quarters for the duration of your stay in Kufstein. You are free to walk about the city and do as you please so long as you don't violate the law. Though you can eat at any of the wonderful restaurants in our city, I encourage you to be back at the palace in time for dinner at roughly 6:00 PM."

Aubry silently nodded his head before sitting on his bed with a smile; as he did so, he made an offer to Berengar, which greatly disgusted the young King.

"I'll be fine; you can leave now unless you want to stay and give me a message?"

Berengar immediately rejected the French Prince's notions and departed from the room. He swore that no matter what it took, he would not fall prey to his schemes. After all, he was not that type of man. Of course, the moment he left the room, Aubry began to pout and swear to himself that he would accomplish his objective. Thus a battle of seduction between the French and Austrian Crowns had begun.

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