Tyranny of Steel

Linde and Honoria held onto Adela's hand as they dragged her through the entrance of the store embedded within the wealthiest area of Kufstein's trade district. The closer one got to the Upper-Class neighborhoods near the trade district; the more luxurious the shops became and the higher their prices. 

At the top of the trade district, just a stone's throw away from the city's wealthiest neighborhood, was a relatively large clothing shop. This shop catered exclusively to the upper-class women of Austria, more commonly than not noblewomen. It was run by the younger sister of the previous Duke of Austria, and as such, the store was named "The Habsburg's Boutique." 

As one of the last surviving members of the main Habsburg line, Duke Wilmar's younger sister Lyse had moved to Kufstein after the fall of Vienna during the Bavarian Occupation. She was a middle-aged woman who was quite beautiful despite her age.

Lyse was a widow without any children and had only managed to survive the von Wittelsbach's attack because she lived at her family's original residence in Habsburg, Switzerland, at the time of Duke Wilmar's invasion of Austria.

When she heard of her family's demise, she nearly died of grief, however news reached her of Conrad's survival, and thus she made her way to Kufstein to look after her young nephew. Unfortunately, by the time she arrived, Berengar had killed the little brat by pushing him out a window. 

However, Lyse had no clue about the true origins of Conrad's death. Instead, she believed the stories that the boy had killed himself. Choosing to believe that the new Duke and current King of Austria was not the kind of man his enemies painted him as. 

While in Kufstein, Lyse fell in love with the fashion designs that Berengar had come up with and used what little wealth remained of her family's assets to buy a shop. She exclusively dealt with products created by Berengar's garment factories. 

Since opening her shop, she had amassed quite a small fortune and saw many young beautiful women buy her products. However, none were as beautiful as the three women who entered her store on this day. 

While Linde and Honoria had visited this shop in the past, Adela, who lived in Graz until recently, had never entered the store. As such, Lyse, who was sipping out of a cup of coffee and gazing at the returning guests, was quite shocked to see a living angel such as Adela enter her shop. Among the other two women next to her, Lyse knew that the young blonde girl with twintails would one day be the most beautiful of them all. 

Being well acquainted with both Linde, and Honoria the mature beauty graciously approached Berengar's lovers with the intent to inquire about who this little angel was. 

"Linde, Honoria, it has been some time. I am glad to see you have returned to my humble shop. Tell me, who is this gorgeous young woman alongside you?"

The moment Linde and Honoria heard the old women refer to Adela in such a manner, they felt their stomachs churn; this was not exactly what they had in mind when they brought the girl here. Nevertheless, Linde put on a friendly facade as she introduced Adela to the shopkeeper.

"This is Lady Adela von Graz; she is King Berengar's fiancee; they will soon be getting married; as such, we have come to help her pick out some bridal lingerie!"

The moment Linde said this, Adela gazed at her with a shocked expression; she was not informed of such a thing; she thought they were simply there to buy regular underwear; as such, her ivory cheeks began to flush red with embarrassment.

Lyse was a wise, cunning old fox, and she could immediately tell that Adela was surrounded by two wolves who wanted to eat her up. Linde and Honoria may think they were good actors, but compared to Lyse, who had grown up in the Habsburg royal court, they were simply greenhorns when it came to such affairs. 

Seeing that the future Queen of her country was in a rivalry with two formidable beauties, Lyse decided to give the little angel a helping hand. As such, she grabbed ahold of Adela and dragged her away from the other two girls while putting on a comforting smile.

"Come, child, let us find something that will bring out your inner beauty. By the time I am done with you, your husband will be happy to call you his bride!" 

Adela could not resist and was instantly whisked away to a changing booth, the moment she and Lyse were gone from sight, Linde scowled, and Honoria bit her lip; the Byzantine princess was the first to protest the result of the plan. 

"I didn't think the old hag would screw us over like this!"

Linde, on the other hand, simply snorted in response.

"Hmph, it doesn't matter how much help she gets from Lyse; that little girl still can't compete with us in terms of physique..."

While Linde and Honoria were waiting their turn, Adela was stripped naked and covered up in embarrassment. As for Lyse, she closely observed the girl's flawless skin and perky pink nipples. Though she was perfectly straight, even she felt the desire to gobble the young bride up. 

However, she was a professional, so she quickly pulled out a measuring tape before getting down Adela's details. 

"32C-21-32, you, my dear, are an absolute angel. Your fiance is one lucky man; you are perfect in every way!"

Adela immediately began to pout in response to the results. She was the smallest member of her family and the smallest among Berengar's wives; she did not care what the older woman had to say; nothing could make her feel worse about her physique. 

The mature beauty noticed Adela's crumbling self-image and immediately decided to repair it, as such, the woman took matters into her own hands and spanked Adela on her soft bottom, snapping the girl out of her daze. Adela gazed at Lyse's eyes with fury embedded in her own; however, what the woman said next shook her to her core.

"You think just because those bitches out there are bigger than you, that you are somehow lesser than them? Trust me, sweetheart, bigger is not always better; when your man sees you on his wedding night, I promise you the only thing he will be thinking about is you. Those two whores are his mistresses, and nothing more, you are the Queen, and you need to show them their place!"

Adela was shocked to hear the woman speak to her in such a way, so much so that she gritted her teeth before expressing her thoughts.

"They're not just his mistresses; Berengar is going to enact polygamy; he will take them as his second and third wives..."

Lyse was quite shocked to hear this. However, she knew that Berengar was not an ordinary man, and as such, she chuckled lightly before responding to Adela's concerns.

"Has he told you that you will be his first wife? His Queen?"

Adela gazed up at the woman and nodded her head slowly; in response to this Lyse grabbed onto her shoulder and gave her a thumbs up.

"That's good, it means you're his number one, and those bitches know it. That's why they dragged you here, to make you feel bad about yourself. How about we show them who's really in charge?"

Adela tilted her head in confusion before asking for clarification.

"What did you have in mind?"

The mature beauty whispered her plan in Adela's ear, causing the little Queen-to-be to flush in embarrassment, however despite this reaction, she still nodded her head with firm resolve.

"Okay, let's do it!"

With this said, Lyse left the changing room and handed a slip of paper off to one of her subordinates. After doing so, she approached Linde and Honoria before asking the two girls.

"Who is next?"

Linde stepped forward before Honoria could jump at the opportunity and was dragged to the next changing room. Honoria began to pout. However, she instantly became furious when Linde looked behind and stuck out her tongue at the young princess. 

Linde was quickly stuffed into the dressing room and disrobed; Lyse was shocked to see how much Linde had grown since her last visit and could not contain her thoughts.

"Good God, woman! What the hell are you eating to grow so much at your age?"

Linde had a smug expression on her face as she asked the mature shopkeeper the thought on her mind.

"What are my measurements?"

Though Linde had guessed that she probably had E-cup-sized breasts by now, she wanted to know precisely how splendid her figure was. Lyse did not hold back the information and quickly replied to Linde's requests; even if she lied to the young vixen, it was only a matter of time before she found out. The Director of Austrian Intelligence's web of information was no joke. 

"34E-22-34"

a smug grin appeared on Linde's face as she quickly commanded the mature beauty to get her something to wear

"Fetch me some bridal lingerie; it won't be long before I have my own wedding, you know!"

Though Lyse wanted to say something to Linde, she chose not to and instead walked out of the changing room before handing another subordinate a slip of paper. After doing so, she grabbed ahold of Honoria and dragged her into yet another changing room before going through the same routine. 

"33D-22-33, you're the same as Linde was a year ago. You three girls, I swear to God. Your man is either blessed by the Lord to snag up you three beauties, or the devil curses him. Only time will tell."

Honoria was far more pleasant than Linde and made a polite request of the old shopkeeper. 

"Can you please fetch me some bridal lingerie?"

After hearing this, Lyse sighed and nodded her head. Afterward, she left the changing room and handed a slip of paper off to yet another subordinate. Before long, her three aides arrived with three sets of bridal lingerie from the store, two of them were the same design, but one was slightly different in nature.

The three sets consisted of a lacey bra, lacey panties, lacey garter belt, and lacey stockings. However, the one reserved for Adela was far more attractive than the other two; if angels were to wear lingerie, they would wear what the woman had prepared for the future Queen. As such, the woman handed the three sets to the three girls through their changing rooms, and eventually, they all walked out simultaneously. 

Linde and Honoria were feeling pretty confident with themselves, and as such, they strutted out with style. Meanwhile, Adela was covering herself up as she walked out with red cheeks. Seeing the other two girls dressed in their beautiful attire made Adela want to die on the spot. She lost confidence after seeing Linde's massive bust heaving out of her pure white lacey push-up bra, with her perfectly toned plump ass displayed through her enticing g-string, which was covered by a lacey garter belt.

Honoria was dressed in a similar set of attire. Though her measurements were slightly smaller, her porcelain skin and white hair blended perfectly with the outfit, creating an exceptionally breathtaking scene. 

Almost ready to admit defeat at the two succubi standing before her, Adela had a downcast expression with a small tear forming in her eye. However, at the next moment, she looked over and saw Lyse with an encouraging gaze, the moment she saw this, she remembered what the woman said.

She was the Queen and the primary wife and as such, she had to hold her head high; thus, her meek posture swiftly turned into one of majestic authority, and when she showed off her assets, the other two girls were shocked to see just how beautiful Adela was. 

The primary difference between the lingerie worn by Adela and that worn by the other two girls was that Adela's was translucent, showing off her perfect ivory skin, her flawless pastel pink nipples, and pristine pastel pink slit. The moment Linde saw this, she knew she was defeated; while she and Honoria shared a similar skin tone to Adela, the girl simply looked like a living angel when combined with her golden blonde hair and sapphire eyes. 

As such, Linde and Honoria struggled to contain their rising anger, they had never expected their plan to crush Adela's self-image to backfire so spectacularly. With a little beauty like her as the main wife, Berengar would surely lose interest in them, at least to some extent. The two women would no longer have a monopoly over the man they loved, and they knew Adela was too much of a prude to share the wealth so to speak. 

Given a few years when Adela fully matured, she was likely to be the most beautiful out of all of them, and that stung. Seeing the expressions on Linde and Honoria's faces, as if they had just witnessed their pet being murdered in front of them, filled Adela with pride; she had finally beaten these two harlots at their own game! 

With this in mind, the girls quickly got changed back into their old attire and did not speak a word to one another as they scrambled to buy enough new underwear to last the test of time. Their shopping spree quickly became a battle to acquire the sexiest wardrobe to appease their man and his tastes. While the War for Austrian Independence was soon coming to its climax, the war for Berengar's heart was far from over. 

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