Tyranny of Steel

Days had passed, and the Royal Clipper had arrived within the boundaries of the City of Constantinople. The moment such a massive vessel came within the city's vicinity, it had caused a great commotion. Until now, nobody had ever seen such an enormous ship before. It was frankly defying what the people of the Byzantine Empire knew about shipbuilding.

Naturally, only one person within the Meditteranean could build such a massive vessel. With this in mind, Emperor Vetranis and his family personally traveled to the docks to meet Berengar and his host. However, the ports in Constantinople were not large enough to accommodate such a large ship, as such Berengar and his host used several of the rowboats on board to reach the docks, while the clipper was anchored further out at sea.

Berengar was first to step on the docks, and as he did so, Emperor Vetrnais went up and shook his hand with an excited expression on his face.

"King Berengar, it is a pleasure to have you within my city. I hope your journey went without difficulties?"

Immediately after saying this, Honoria appeared and stood next to Berengar. After that fateful night where Berengar had disciplined her and the others, she was now far more submissive to her man—standing quietly by his side and latching onto his hand with a smile on her face. Berengar smiled in return when she approached and immediately answered her father's words.

"There were some minor difficulties, but nothing I couldn't handle, right, Honoria?"

Honoria immediately flinched when hearing this; the pain she had felt in her buttocks after Berengar had so viciously spanked her still resounded within her mind every time she thought about the incident. As such, she quickly and obediently nodded her head in response to Berengar's question.

"As Berengar has said, it was nothing we couldn't handle."

Vetranis smiled as he heard this while waiting for the rest of Berengar's host to depart from their rowboats. After all, had gathered, they began to reacquaint themselves with Honoria's family. Interestingly enough, there was one man present Berengar did not recognize; by process of elimination, he quickly surmised that this man who was roughly his age was none other than the second Prince Decentius.

Decentius glared at his sister with overwhelming hatred; if not for this girl and her actions, he would not have been forced into the corner that had caused his treasonous actions. While Honoria was hiding in Austria, getting railed by this Barbarian King, he had butchered his godfather and mentor in pursuit of power.

However, worst of all was the idea that his bloodline was being soiled by the descendent of barbarians who had destroyed the Western half of the ancient Empire centuries ago. It was because of this that he was far from courteous when he was given a chance to speak to Berengar face to face.

"So you are the barbarian who is fucking my bitch of a sister. Congratz, I hope she at least has tight pussy, because that is about the only thing that can make up for the trouble she will inevitably cause you!"

Berengar was astonished that a member of the Imperial Dynasty would speak in such an offensive manner to a foreign dignitary. He was not the only one who was enraged by Decentius's actions; the boy's father immediately raised his hand and struck the prince across the face, causing his lip to bleed as he began to chastise him.

"How dare you speak of your sister that way!?! You call King Berengar a barbarian and yet speak in such a foul manner while greeting a foreign dignitary? You have spent too much time around common foot soldiers, so much so that you have forgotten your etiquette as a prince of the Empire!"

Decentius gazed at his father with fury; he could not fathom that the Emperor would strike his son in front of a Barbarian King from the West. In his eyes, It was simply disgraceful for Romans to lower their heads to the savage Germans.  Apparently, Decentius had not received the memo that the Kingdom of Austria was now every bit the Byzantine Empire's equal, if not superior. Either that or he was too proud to admit it.

Berengar instead had a calm expression on his face. He immediately began to respond to Decentiu's uncouth statement with the dignity of a monarch.

"I am a barbarian, am I? Well, maybe you should treat this barbarian with some respect. After all, it is my Kingdom that manufactures the weapons you have used to achieve your victory in North Africa."

While Berengar knew the truth about what had transpired in Cairo, he decided it would be wise not to reveal his hand and thus provoke Decentius into doing something stupid. At the same time, they stayed within the confines of the Imperial Palace. After all, Berengar did not want to spend his wedding looking over his shoulder for a potential assassination attempt.

Decentius' expression turned ugly when he heard this retort; he had never expected Berengar to respond in such a manner. Based upon his prejudices about the German people, he assumed Berengar would immediately slug him for his vulgarity.

Honoria, on the other hand, was not the slightest bit enraged by Decentius' behavior; throughout her entire life, she was never close with her siblings and was aware that her second brother had long since despised her. The fact that she ran away clearly did not help matters.

Seeing that the atmosphere was becoming tense, Vetranis tried immediately began to shift the conversation to the task at hand.

"Well then, King Berengar, if you and your host are ready, we will be departing for the palace now."

Upon hearing this, Berengar smiled and nodded before he led his family and his royal guards towards the Castle. Though the guards appeared unarmed, they each wielded a 1422 Snub-Nose Agency Revolver in their pockets, as well as several dozen rounds of ammunition. They were also were equipped with a boot knife.

Though the weapons were still in the middle of testing as prototypes, Berengar was well aware of their capabilities and thoroughly trusted that Ludwig's manufacturing capabilities. As such, he had ordered a few of them built prior to this occassion. With this, his guards would have everything they needed to protect him and his family.

Eventually, the Austrian host reached the palace, where they were led to their rooms. Adela, Linde, and Henrietta received their own personal rooms, which were each protected by a unit of the Austrian Royal Guard. At the same time, Berengar would be spending his time in Constantinople within Honoria's old bed chambers.

The moment he and the Princess entered her old quarters. She threw herself onto the bed while her pet eagle Heraclius flew over and perched upon his old post. There was a look of joy on the duo's faces as they reminisced about the past.

Eventually, Honoria's joyous smile turned into a bitter one as she turned around and gazed upon her room. After a while, she finally broke her silence and revealed the thoughts on her mind.

"Everything is exactly the same as I left it..."

Berengar instinctively sat down next to the young Princess and began to comfort her; though he knew a bit about her past, she rarely spoke about it, and as such, he was now fully aware of everything she had to endure. Though he was not the greatest at comforting people when they were feeling down, he tried his best.

"I'm here if you want to talk about it."

On the other hand, Honoria merely nodded in silence as she rested her head on Berengar's chest. They liked that for some time until a wicked smile appeared on Berengar's face; he decided to tease the girl about her punishment from a few nights prior.

"How are your buttocks feeling?"

Honoria immediately blushed and looked away from Berengar's one good eye. She was embarrassed every time she thought about what happened that night. Especially the look of pleasure on Linde's face when it was her turn. She could not understand how the girl's brain worked, considering that there was nothing pleasurable about the experience in her own mind.

Berengar immediately began to chuckle as he forced her to look in his eye; after he did so, his gaze turned solemn as he expressed the thoughts on his mind.

"You know I only did that because I care, right? You girls were out of control, and if I let it continue that way, someone was bound to get hurt. You should remember to behave yourself in the future and not allow your jealousy to take over."

Honoria silently nodded as she heard Berengar speak; she was not mad at him in the slightest; in fact, she was happy that he had taken control of the situation. After her punishment, she had a long time to think about her actions over the past month and realized that her jealousy and that of the others were reaching a breaking point.

It was like Berengar had said if he allowed his women to behave in such a manner for much longer, one of them was bound to hurt the others, or even worse, they might harm the man they loved out of sheer jealousy.

Upon seeing that Honoria had a glimpse of understanding in her eyes, Berengar gently kissed her on the lips for a few moments. After breaking apart, he said the words contained deep within his heart.

"I love you..."

Upon hearing this, Honoria threw away her reservations and pounced on top of Berengar, where she began to kiss him passionately; between her breaths, she managed to mutter the words.

"I love you too!"

What followed afterward only Berengar, Honoria, and Heraclius would know.

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