Tyranny of Steel

Chapter 156: Recovery

At the moment, Berengar was sitting in his castle, having his eye looked over by his court physician Ewald. It had been a few days since his return from the battlefield, and his injury was well maintained due to the disinfectants used on it. Despite the horrendous nature of medieval medicine, the man seemed to be somewhat competent, having trained in his earlier years in the Byzantine Empire; he had access to many of the more enlightened views of medicine from the classical era and the golden age of Islam. As such, he carefully observed Berengar's right eye, which had a vertical slash through it. Though the cut was not deep enough to kill, it had severed his retina and potentially the optical nerve. Of course, Ewald did not know such advanced information; after observing it, he made his diagnosis.

"The eye itself will heal, albeit heavily scarred but you will never be able to see from it again. I suggest you get yourself accustomed to life with only half of your vision before you go on any further campaigns."

Receiving this news made Berengar frown with discontent; as for Linde, she was nearby holding her lover's hand throughout the process. She was more anxious about the results than Berengar himself was. Ultimately Berengar sighed heavily before expressing his views on the matter.

"Such is the price of my arrogance..."

Ever since he had become wounded, Berengar greatly reflected on his prior actions. Despite knowing the danger, and the ability of his brother's swordsmanship, Berengar rushed into the fray, truly believing he could contend with Lambert after only a year's worth of training. After all, he had been overwhelmingly victorious in all his previous conflicts; how could this one possibly be any different? Such hubris had cost him dearly. The price of Berengar's victory over the Teutonic Order was steep; he lost roughly 3,000 men in the battle, his faithful steed Erwin, as well as the function of his dominant eye. After hearing what Ewald had to say, Berengar dismissed him where he was left alone with Linde, who placed a fresh bandage covered in a basic antibiotic ointment.

Since the day that the Alchemists arrived in Kufstein and began learning Chemistry, Berengar had placed them in charge of more than just creating TNT; in fact, a large amount of the chemicals they produced thanks to Berengar's future knowledge was for medical purposes. Such as neomycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin, which were antibiotics used in over-the-counter antibiotic ointment in Berengar's previous life. The worst part of an injury like this was its potential to become infected; as such, Berengar had taken great preventative measures with repeated disinfectants and antibiotic ointment. If his wound were to become infected, the possibility of death was high, and as such, he wished to avoid such an outcome so early in life.

After placing the ointment-covered bandage over Berengar's wounded eye, Berengar began to laugh bitterly as he decided to use his self-deprecating sense of humor to overcome the awkward silence.

"I always thought I would look good with an eyepatch..."

This caused Linde to chuckle as she hugged Berengar tightly and nodded while trying to comfort him.

"If anything, it will add to your regal appearance!"

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After saying those two remarks, the couple returned to awkward silence, where they sat still in the bedroom for a while. While Linde was greatly concerned about Berengar's injury, she was just grateful that he was still alive; after all, if the blade penetrated a little deeper into his eye, it could have killed him. Though she knew injury and death were possible on the battlefield, Berengar had always returned home in one piece in his previous campaigns. Because of this, there was a natural inclination to disregard the possibility. Yet here he was permanently injured from the battlefield; it caused her to be thankful that her man had survived, and as such, she desired to comfort him in his time of need. Berengar, however, saw this as a humbling experience, something from which he could learn a valuable lesson. After all, he still had one eye; thus, he could still function normally once he recovered.

For the time being, Berengar would go through a phase of recovery; he would leave the realm's governance up to his Chancellor Liutbert and the rudimentary parliamentary system he had in place. At the moment, Berengar had two concerns, one of which regarded the construction of his new chalice. For the time being, he had no plans to inform Henrietta that Lambert had come to Tyrol to cause him harm. Instead, he would fabricate a letter from the Teutonic Order "informing" the von Kufstein family of Lambert's death in a righteous crusade. His retired parents and little sister did not need to know of Lambert's actions or the fact that his skull had become Berengar's favorite drinking cup.

The other concern was the construction of an exquisite eyepatch; as such, he began to design a black velvet eyepatch with golden embroidery that was sure to match his regal appearance perfectly. After it was complete, he sent the design to his tailors, who handcrafted the piece for him. The construction of his chalice and eyepatch took a few days, and by the time Berengar received them, he was quite happy with the results.

The skull chalice was hollowed out and dipped in gold, black garnet gemstones were encrusted below the lip of the cup, and at the bottom of the stand which protruded from the stem of the skull seamlessly, as if the entire piece was not actually made from a human skull, but carved out of a block of gold itself. The craftsmanship was of the highest quality, and Berengar was pleased with the result.

As for the eyepatch, it was exactly how he had envisioned and was also a work of art. The eyepatch was an accessory that covered his hideously wounded eye, which had already begun to mend itself; within a few weeks, the gash in the eye itself would be restored, but there would definitely be a scarred pupil and iris. As for the rest of the scar, parts of it were still visible above and below the eyepatch, which Berengar felt gave him a dignified appearance. Overall the wound did not take away from his appearance; if anything, it made him more striking and authoritative; Berengar was quite pleased with how it turned out. If he were wounded anywhere else on the face, his devilishly good looks would be affected.

Linde, who was nearby, witnessed Berengar inspecting himself in the mirror and giggled as she watched the man she loved trying on his eyepatch as if he was a teenage girl getting ready for a date. Noticing that his actions had been observed without his notice, Berengar decided to joke about the whole situation.

"You are going to have to give me some notice in the future when you sneak up on me like that; my peripheral vision is not as great as it used to be..."

Hearing Berengar joke about his condition so casually made Linde feel less melancholy about his injury; Berengar had quickly accepted his fate and vowed to learn from the experience. Yet, Linde had spent the last few days sulking, as if she were the one wounded. After all, she felt as if what happened to Berengar also happened to her; as such, Berengar had spent most of his recovery comforting Linde, despite being the one injured himself. The hearts of women were a complex entity, and Berengar did his best to navigate its stormy seas. Yet, now that Berengar was displaying a smile on his face for the first time since his injury, Linde began to feel her spirit being lifted as well; as such, she began to smile warmly as she responded to Berengar's remarks.

"I will consider that. How is your eye doing?"