Tyranny of Steel

Berengar stared at the map on the table that his third wife Honoria had presented to him. It was a rough chart of the coastline that belonged to the region known as South Africa during his previous life. While he had given Honoria and her crew permission to sail across the world and explore unknown regions, he had no idea that they had made their way to the southernmost end of Africa. 

Having already established a series of colonies across the Americas, the time was ripe to begin the Colonization of a new continent. After all, Africa was a land of vast resources, and during this time, the southernmost tip was sparsely populated. 

A wicked smile curved itself upon Berengar's lips as he gazed towards yet another region rich in gold. He was extremely excited at the prospect of conquering the land and making its riches his own.

"Very well, I will organize an expedition so that we may explore the region, and claim it for ourselves. After all, things are certainly progressing smoothly in the New World. It is time to stake our claim elsewhere." 

Honoria nodded, with a pretty smile on her face. She was happy to see that her husband had the same mindset as she did. After a few moments, she inquired further about the expedition that Berengar had in mind.

"How many troops shall we bring? How many vessels? How long will we stay there? Do you think we will see anything interesting?"

Berengar waited for the woman to calm down before he explained his plans for this major expedition.

"I think a single brigade should be enough to compel any locals to kneel before our might. As for vessels, a small fleet of five warships and ten cargo vessels will suffice. I hear our Shipyards in the Mediterranean are producing a fine number of the new dominion class vessels, however for a venture of this size, we will still have to rely on some of the old clippers."

Honoria nodded her head upon hearing the massive size of the expedition. As for Berengar, he did not plan to set out for at least another two months. To him, there were important things that needed to be done in the Fatherland. Another venture so soon after his newest batch of children was born was not the best idea. Thus he conveyed these thoughts as Honoria was getting way too excited for her own good.

"We will not depart for another two months or so. After all, you still need to recuperate from childbirth, and I have many matters I must attend to. So be patient. The time will come for us to set sail soon enough."

Such a lackluster response caused the young woman to pout like a child, but ultimately she accepted it. Though her crew of privateers was enough to explore unknown regions, it was not enough to conquer or settle them. Because of this, she could not act rashly without the support of the German Crown. 

"Fine..."

Berengar immediately noticed that this result had displeased his wife. In response, he scolded the woman for the lack of care she had shown to her offspring.

"You should spend some time with Alexandros and Helena. You are a mother, and yet you have left the raising of your son up to Linde until now. Perhaps you should spend some quality time with the boy and your newborn daughter."

Such a response shocked Honoria, as she had never really thought about her lack of presence in her son's life. She had always been on one adventure or another since she first gave birth to the boy, much like her husband. It was true that she left the majority of her son's care up to Linde. Upon thinking about this, she nodded her head and took Berengar's suggestion to heart.

'I will do that then..."

After saying this, Honoria left Berengar to continue his work, and travelled around the palace looking for her young son. When she finally found him, she noticed Alexandros was playing with his half brother Kristoffer, who was roughly the same age as him.

She quietly observed the two boys who were spending their free time playing as soldiers around the house. She thought it was extremely cute that her son was dressed in a little German Army uniform while wielding toy guns that mimicked their real steel counterparts. Alexandros pointed his toy revolver towards his brother and called out to the boy after pretending to fire a shot. 

"Bang! I got you Kris!"

The blonde-haired child immediately fell to the floor while playing dead. Meanwhile, Alexandros blew the imaginary smoke out of his toy revolver while cursing the imaginary enemy.

"Filthy barbarian!"

Despite being the son of Princess Honoria and a member of the Palaiologos Dynasty, the boy played the part of a German Soldier, fighting against a "barbarian" which took the form of a Catholic Knight. After playing dead for a while and allowing Alexandros to have his victory scene, Kristoffer rose from his position with a look of envy in his eyes.

"No fair Alex! You have been playing as Germany all day, it is my turn!"

Despite Kristoffer's protests, Alexandros did not change his mind. Instead, he argued with his half-brother about who should play as the germans.

"These are the rules. I get to be the German, and you get to be the barbarian!"

Such an outlandish remark deeply upset Kristoffer, whose cheeks were now red with fury. While curling his fists, the boy called out to his brother and insulted his heritage to his face. 

"That's not fair! Both of my parents are German, but you're a half-breed! If anyone should be the barbarian, it is you!"

Clearly Kristoffer knew how to get on Alexandros' nerves, because the boy immediately dropped the toy gun and charged at his brother with his fists raised. Neither of the two boys had properly learned how to fight, yet aside from wrestling with their older brother. Because of this, it turned into a comical fight as both sides basically grabbed onto each other and rolled around on the ground. Alexandros was screaming the entire time.

"Take it back! Take it back! I am not a half-breed!"

Honoria's heart nearly broke when she saw her son being picked on for being half Roman. She immediately broke the two apart and tried to settle their differences. While lecturing Kristoffer for his errant words.

"Alexandros, Kristoffer, you are brothers! You shouldn't be fighting like this! Kristoffer, it is not polite to refer to your brother as a half-breed. Apologize immediately!"

However, Kristoffer refused to relent on this issue and immediately fired back at Honoria.

"Shut up! You're not my mom! So what if I call him a half-breed? It's true, isn't it?"

This statement took Honoria by surprise. She clutched her wounded heart as she heard the boy insist she was not his mother. Though Kristoffer was not her biological child, she had always treated Berengar's other children as her own, so why was the boy being so vicious to her? Meanwhile, Alexandros was still trying to claw his way towards his brother with a fierce glare in his eyes.

"Screw you! I'm not halfbreed! I'm a proud German!"

The fact that her own son would reject his Roman heritage added further insult to injury as Honoria fell into a state of depression. Had she really neglected her son so much that he wanted nothing to do with her family line?

Ultimately, the commotion between the two boys caught the interest of Berengar's other wives, with Adela and Linde arriving at the scene with shocked expressions. Adela glared at the scuffed appearance of the two boys and immediately inquired about what had transpired.

"What's going on here? Why are they like this?"

Honoria struggled to hold back the tears in her eyes as she attempted to explain the situation to her husband's other wives.

"They got into a fight because Kristoffer called Alexandros a half-breed."

This caused a state of confusion in Adela's mind, as she did not understand why that would cause Honoria's son to behave so violently. It was the truth, after all. However, Linde had a rough idea of what was going on in Alexandros' head.

The truth was that Linde had always been the maternal figure for Alexandros, going so far as to call him her "precious baby boy" like she did all of Berengar's sons. In fact, Honoria had seldom been a part of her son's life, and had left every part of his raising up to Linde.

Honoria only really showed up in the boy's life occasionally when she was returning from an adventure. When she did, she usually came bearing presents, but then would immediately spend as much time as possible with her husband. Because of this, the moment Linde entered the scene, Alexandros ran towards her, and hugged her tightly while sobbing. 

"Mommy, Kristoffer is being mean to me! He called me a half-breed!"

Upon seeing such a thing, Honoria's heart nearly shattered. Even though she had been the one to separate the boys, her own son did not make a single attempt to confide in her, and instead called another woman "mommy" while crying in her bosom.  Linde had a perplexed expression on her face as she tried to comfort the boy and hand him off to his biological mother.

"Alexandros, you know I love you as if you were one of my own sons, but you should be with your actual mother right now. You know Honoria is the one who brought you into this world, right?"

Alexandros stared at Linde in disbelief before setting his gaze on Honoria, who looked like she was about to cry. It was true that he and that woman shared the same hair and eye color, but he had never thought of her as a mother, more like an aunt who visited on occasion. To find out that Honoria was his actual mother shattered the boy's entire perspective. At his age, Alexandros was too immature to accept the truth, and instead further dug his head into Linde's bosom and denied reality. 

"No! Linde is my mommy!"

Upon hearing this, Honoria could no longer hold back the tears in her eyes, and cried profusely. She could not stand the sight of her own son calling another woman "mommy" and fled from the scene in haste. Linde tried to call out to the woman, but it was no use. She was already gone.

"Honoria, wait!"

Ultimately, Linde was left to look after Alexandros and patch things up between him and his brother. Honoria, on the other hand, ran off to the Palace Gardens, where she wept like a child. The only one to keep her company was her oldest friend, Heraclius, who had flown by her side when he realized something was wrong.