Tyranny of Steel

Eventually, the food arrived; it was a tray filled with bierocks and two bottles of fresh milk. The bierock was a Volga-German dish from his past life. In other words, it originated from a group of German immigrants who had moved to Russia during the 18th century with the purpose of farming Russian Land. This occurred during Berengar's past life.

They were allowed to maintain their own culture, and as such, some very unique cuisines originated from the Volga-Germans. Berengar could partially trace his ancestry back to these people and had plenty of their recipes within his brain. 

The bierock was a roll stuffed with hamburger meat and cabbage. It may not sound like much, but to Berengar, it was delicious, and it was easy to make. The delicacy had become quite popular as a lunch food within Kufstein and was beginning to spread to the rest of Austria. 

After sitting in awkward silence while eating the food for some time, Berengar finally tried to create a conversation with Honoria, and so he asked something simple about her background. Even though she was lying to him, the girl was not very good at it, and he knew anything he inquired about regarding her past would most likely be accurate.

"So, Lady Valeria, tell me about yourself. Do you have any siblings?"

After hearing this, Honoria was snapped out of her daze and caught off guard. She had not thought too deeply about her background and thus opted to be honest; after all, she did not know how to make up a lie on the spot.

"I have three brothers, all of them older than me…."

Berengar nodded his head at this, though she had no way of knowing he was asking simple questions based on what he knew about the Byzantine Royal Family's makeup, and what she had just said acted as another confirmation of his suspicions.

"What is your relationship with your brothers? Do you get along at all?"

Hearing this, Honoria went silent and began to fidget with her hands, not knowing how to respond. She thought about what to say next deeply before responding once more with the truth. After all, she was growing more fond of Berengar by the day, and it was better, to be honest about small stuff like this than make up a completely fabricated background about herself and have to explain her real past later on. Thus she sighed before entertaining Berengar's thoughts.

"I would not say we get along, but we certainly aren't on bad terms either. Growing up, they mainly left me alone, my father was pretty strict since I was his only daughter, and he made it well known to my siblings that I was special. They looked out for me, but honestly, I think deep down they were deeply envious of how pampered I was."

Berengar nodded his head as he listened to her story; by the look on Honoria's face, she did not want to speak of her past anymore at the moment. However, Honoria's following words shifted the conversation out of his favor.

"What about you? Is Henrietta your only sibling?"

Berengar could tell the girl was honest with him, and as such, he decided to do so as well; his fists began to curl as he reflected upon the past; while doing so, he spoke in a grave tone.

"I had a brother…."

After hearing this, Honoria was naturally curious and thus asked the question on her mind.

"Had?"

To this, Berengar sighed heavily before admitting the truth

"He tried to kill me multiple times; you could say he was envious of me, in so far that he wanted what was naturally mine by right. For this, he was disowned and sent to the Teutonic Order."

Honoria could tell there was more to this story and thus asked about this once more.

"And then?"

Berengar's eyes shifted over to Honoria's as he witnessed the inquisitive gaze in her eyes. However, he ultimately decided not to reveal the result of Lambert's death, at least not at the moment, and thus, he calmly replied to her with a determined expression.

"That is a tale for another time…."

Honoria quickly realized that Berengar wanted to shift the conversation. As such, she asked another question about him; after all, her curiosity about the man would not be fulfilled with a single query.

"So I heard from some people around town that all of these magnificent changes that have occurred in Austria over the past year are solely because of you. Where did you get all of these ideas from?"

Berengar smiled and laughed as Honoria commented on this; he decided to mess around with the girl and leaned in class to her before whispering.

"Do you know what reincarnation is?"

Surprisingly to this, Honoria nodded her head.

"One of my brothers once talked to me about it; he heard about it from some merchant from the far east; it is supposedly the idea that when you die you are born into the body of another person, right? What does that have to do with your ideas?"

Berengar nodded his head while he continued to tease the girl.

"Suppose I were to say I was reincarnated, from the distant future, in a world far more advanced from this one. What would you say?"

Surprisingly the girl did not call him crazy or think he was joking; instead, she took it seriously and looked at Berengar with disbelief. She quickly blurted out the thought on her mind.

"Are you serious?"

With this, Berengar knew he had revealed something he shouldn't have. If the girl believed him, that could create some troubles, and as such, he quickly shook his head and denied the reality. 

"No, I was just joking, Valeria. You shouldn't take comments like this so seriously."

To this, Honora chuckled awkwardly before responding to Berengar.

"Of course! I knew that!"

After saying so Honoria began to pout; she did not enjoy being made fun of, especially by Berengar. Noticing that she was displeased, Berengar made up some story about how he came to understand these things.

"There's a lot of good information in old books. You'd be surprised what you can find in them. I took their ideas, thought about them for a while, and deduced the things I created. Without those who laid the groundwork before me, I never would have been able to dream up of what I know."

Honoria bought this line immediately; it sounded far more feasible than being reincarnated into the past from the distant future. Seeing that Berengar was supposedly honest with her, she began to lighten up. Berengar, of course, took advantage of this to push the conversation back towards Honoria. 

"So now that I have told you something interesting about me, why don't you tell me something interesting about yourself?"

Honoria froze to this; she did not have anything interesting to say about herself, for she genuinely believed that besides being the princess of the Byzantine Empire, there was nothing remotely interesting about her. 

As such, her expression suddenly turned downcast, and Berengar began to change the subject. 

"So these bierocks are pretty good, aren't they?"

The moment Honoria heard Berengar voluntarily change the subject because of her sadness, she felt touched and put a smile on her face while sniffling back the tear that had formed in her eye.

"Yeah, they're perfect. I can't believe your people eat such delicacies daily."

With the simplicity of the meal and the burgeoning middle class, such food was relatively inexpensive, healthy, and exceptionally filling, especially when paired with a glass of milk. As such, the bierock had become a standard item in the hands of those who could afford it.

Honoria shifted the conversation to another question on her mind as she ate from her meal.

"So I hear you weren't always this amazing. Some people even refer to you as a completely different person than you were two years ago. However, nobody ever elaborates, as if they are afraid to speak about it. So I have to ask, what were you like when you were younger?"

Berengar chuckled lightly at this answer; he was not afraid of his past before his reincarnation, so he answered honestly.

"Honestly? I was a weak, lazy fool who tended to throw a tantrum whenever something didn't go his own way. Though I am not proud of it, I have thrown more than my fair share of chalices at people because they insulted me. I am amazed I lived as long as I did because of how much of a pompous ass I was."

Honoria was shocked when she heard this; compared to the man sitting before her, she simply could not believe Berengar was once such a man. Unable to contain her curiosity, she asked about it.

"If you don't mind me asking, what changed?"

Berengar sighed heavily as he looked away towards the mountains in the distance with a bitter smile on his face. As if he was reminiscing about something serious, after doing so he responded in a grave tone.

"Somebody close to me poisoned me, I survived it, and I suppose you could say being on the brink of death, I realized how much I had wasted my life and desired to turn it around. I am amazed at the man I have become in such a short time..."

Hearing this, Honoria's mouth fell agape; however, she was relatively sharp and quickly pieced two and two together despite being naive. She had an awkward expression on her face as she asked her next question.

"Was the person who poisoned you your brother?"

To this question, Berengar sighed as he stood up from his seat and reached out his hand towards Honoria with a bitter smile.

"It is getting late; I will have to answer that question some other time..."

She noticed that Berengar did not want to talk about such a painful topic any longer; thus Honoria grabbed hold of his hand where he proceeded to lift the princess to her feet. After doing so, the two walked back towards the Castle, gazing at each other with affection as they held onto each other's hands like a loving couple.