Tyranny of Steel

The day after Berengar's wedding to Honoria, he woke up next to the young Byzantine Princess with a smile. Honoria was still asleep, and Berengar decided to play a little prank on her. He immediately began to spoon with the girl as he groped her sizeable breasts while kissing her neck.

Eventually, she awoke from her slumber and looked over at her husband. His eyepatch was removed, revealing the heavily scarred sapphire blue eye usually concealed beneath it. Seeing the wound he had received in battle, she carefully caressed his handsome face while kissing him passionately.

With this in mind, Berengar began to insert his member inside her tight, slippery hole, which instantly caused the princess to moan in pleasure. Eventually, Berengar sped up his movements, where he pushed Honoria's face down into the pillow while ravaging her from behind. To Berengar, this was where the fun began.

After playing around with his wife for a solid hour, the couple eventually got dressed and entered the dining hall, where everyone was gathered eating breakfast. Berengar and Honoria sat down at the table and immediately noticed their stares.

Evidently, Honoria was quite the squealer because everyone at the table had awkward expressions on their faces as if they were aware of what the couple had been doing for the last hour or so. Though Berengar didn't mind it, his bride indeed began to blush when she came to realize that she was responsible for the tense atmosphere.

Eventually, Berengar broke the silence by pulling out a leatherbound book and sliding it across the table towards the Emperor. Vetranis was immediately curious as he saw Berengar's actions and instantly inquired about the details.

"What is this?"

Berengar scoffed as he drank from the coffee that was presented to him before answering the Emperor's expression with a smug grin on his face.

"That is everything you need to know about how to feed your people properly. The four-field system, how to produce advanced fertilizers, the means to construct irrigation piping from copper, and a few modest improvements to your tools such as the steel plow; you can consider it my wedding gift."

The men and women present at the table stared at Berengar in disbelief, none more so than Quintus, as the Prince most renowned for successful administration, this leatherbound book was worth more to him than any other text in the world.

Yet Berengar just handed it over as if it was an ordinary object. Despite how it appeared, this book contained critical information regarding the technology and knowledge behind the agricultural revolution. Berengar wasn't simply handing it over as a wedding gift, but as a means to strengthen the Empire.

With the backing of the mysterious tertiary faction, whose aim was to place his and Honoria's future son on the throne. Berengar wanted his child to inherit a wealthy and stable Empire. The construction of the Suez Canal and the advanced agricultural methods Berengar was providing the current Emperor was done so with this potential future in mind.

As for other technology such as superior iron and steel-making techniques, Berengar had no plans to yield those to anyone. After all, his ability to produce vast quantities of high-quality steel gave him a severe military advantage over everyone else in the world.

Vetranis flipped through the book with an astonished expression on his face. Though he didn't understand much of what was stated in the text, he knew people within the Empire who could adequately comprehend it. As such, he was eager to begin implementing such advanced technologies as soon as he possibly could.

With a warm smile on his face, the Emperor began to joke around with Berengar as if they had been friends for a long time.

"I'm glad to see our alliance is bearing fruit already. If I had known that uniting our two households in matrimony would be so beneficial, I never would have betrothed Honoria to that feminine Prince from France."

Upon hearing this, Honoria immediately glared at her father; the last thing she wanted to be reminded of was the fact that she was once engaged to that little twink. However, she was not the only one in a foul mood. Decentius could not stop eying Berengar and Honoria with hatred. He blamed Honoria for his treacherous actions, and now that he knew she was alive and safe, he would not allow her to go unpunished.

After dealing with an entire day dedicated to a marriage he deemed a blight upon his bloodline and the sounds of his sister getting railed by a Barbarian King from the west this morning, Decentius was on the verge of exploding.

Noticing the second Prince's foul expression, Berengar could roughly guess what was on his mind, and as such, he decided to provoke the man further. With this in mind, he took a sip from his coffee before bluntly revealing Honoria's little secret to the rest of her family.

"So... Honoria is pregnant..."

This news shocked the entire family, except for Vetranis, who was well aware of this fact. Honoria began to pout as she gazed at her husband with a furious expression; she could not believe that he would reveal this fact the morning after their wedding.

However, none took it worse than Decentius; upon hearing this news, he choked on the coffee he had taken a sip from; Berengar had intentionally timed the moment of his statement for when the Prince was at his most vulnerable.

After struggling to swallow the remnants of the coffee stuck within his throat, the man quickly began to erupt in a fury; no longer capable of containing his growing wrath Decentius pounded his fist upon the table before screaming at the people he deemed responsible for this atrocity.

"Our noble heritage, which dates back to the glory of Rome, has been forever stained by the blood of a filthy German! You should be ashamed of yourself, you filthy slut! Running away from our glorious Palace to go lie with a dog from Germania!"

Vetranis immediately rose from his seat and was about to chastise his son for his remarks when Berengar calmly expressed his thoughts on the matter with a smug grin on his face.

"Oh, I am a dog now? I'd say that is woefully inaccurate; if you compare the German people to any animal, I'd say a Wolf is more accurate. Wild, cunning, and ferocious but fiercely loyal to their own. I have tolerated your insults to my woman once out of respect for your position, but I will not do so a second time!"

The moment Berengar said this, Decentius gazed at him with a haughty expression before speaking the thoughts on his mind.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about-"

Before the Prince was capable of finishing his sentence, Berengar threw a shovel punch directly across the table and into Decentius' liver. When taking into account Berengar's physique and his adequate knowledge of hand to hand combat from his army days, the second prince of the Byzantine Empire immediately grimaced in pain as he stumbled backward losing control of his legs and toppling over his chair as he collapsed to the ground.

To add insult to injury, Berengar picked up the Prince's plate, which contained his breakfast, and tossed its contents onto Decentius as he laid sprawled out on the ground gasping for air. After doing so, a wicked grin appeared upon Berengar's lips as he uttered the final words to conclude the dispute.

"Clean yourself up; you are a fucking disgrace!"

After saying this, Berengar sat back down in his seat and took another sip from his coffee as if the violent display had never occurred in the first place. The look of contempt on his face for the second Prince did not go unnoticed by the rest of the table.

Even Vetranis was shocked by his actions, but it was not like he could say anything about it. Decentius was woefully out of line, not only as a Prince representing the Empire to its newest and most powerful ally but also as a man. He had to admit if any man had such words to him and his wife, he probably would have reacted violently as well.

Not a single member of the table got up and helped Decentius, the Empress herself, who was the mother to the man, did not lift a single finger and continued to drink from her coffee as if nothing had happened. Meanwhile, Quintus gazed at his brother with a smug expression; it was good to see his rival for power get what he deserved. If anything, this event made the first prince more agreeable to Berengar.

It took a few moments, but ultimately Decentius struggled to his feet, where he immediately barged out of the room, unwilling to say or do anything to further add to the humiliation he had suffered. As for Honoria, she gazed at her brother with a weary expression. She knew he was far too prideful to let this matter go quietly.

As such, she immediately whispered something to Berengar which nobody else had heard. After doing so, Berengar nodded his head before motioning to one of his guards standing nearby. When the soldier approached, Berengar whispered new orders to the man.

"Double the protection around my family; if necessary, use some of the marines on board the Clipper."

Having received his orders, the soldier immediately saluted his King before relaying the message to the appropriate troops. After all, Berengar would take no chances of vengeance upon himself or his family for putting an asshole in his place.  With all of this, the breakfast continued in awkward silence; what was supposed to be a happy occassion was thoroughly tarnished by Decentius and his misplaced pride.

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