Tyranny of Steel

Currently, Linde stood face to face with Adela, the day would soon come for Adela to return home, and she was currently in a heated debate with her rival. The little girl had for quite some time had suspicions about Linde and Berengar and their illicit relationship. However, she had been in denial up until this point. Currently, the two conflicted with the fact that Adela would be returning to her homeland, while Linde would remain in Kufstein, which acted as a thorn in Adela's side. Constantly reminding her of the possibility that Berengar would sleep with the teenage temptress if she left the two of them alone.

Lambert's accusations at the scene of his conviction also left a lasting impression on her. He seemed to be certain that Berengar was the father of Linde's child, and such Adela had grown quite vicious in the little scuffle between the two girls. Berengar, of course, was not present for the conflict. Otherwise, he would have acted as a mediator and gotten the two of them to calm down. However, since she could not do so, Adela began to raise her voice at Linde in her frustration.

"What right do you have to stay in Kufstein now that your fiance is gone!?!"

Linde sneered devilishly at Adela, she knew the little girl was jealous of her, and she was not afraid to shove it in Adela's adorable little face as she deflected the question.

"Oh, my Adela, are you perhaps jealous?"

The very idea that Adela would be jealous, while accurate, infuriated her, and she quickly latched onto the bait; she was not an experienced debater, as could be seen by the ease of falling prey to Linde's trap.

"Jealous? That's preposterous. Why would I be envious of you!"

Linde leaned in close to Adela, showing off her mighty bosom in an act of superiority as she taunted the girl further.

"Obviously, you are jealous of the fact that I get to stay here by Berengar's side while you have to go back to Graz. Don't worry; I will take good care of your fiance while you are away..."

The strawberry blonde-haired vixen purposely emphasized the last part in great detail as she whispered in Adela's little ear in an attempt to infuriate her further. Though Linde had accepted her role as the lover and that she would never be Berengar's bride, she still found teasing her master's little fiancee to be delectable. Of course, if Berengar were here to witness such a scene, he would punish Linde for her actions.

Adela's face grew red like a strawberry as she envisioned all kinds of naughty things between Linde and Berengar and immediately felt embarrassed. She began to stammer as she found it difficult to form a sentence in her disrupted state.

Y... You... You harlot! How dare you!?!"

Linde's face was no longer grinning with satisfaction but had turned furious as she gazed at Adela with the intent to slap the little bitch. Being referred to as such a term greatly offended Linde and her pride as Berengar's lover; after all, she had only ever been with one man. Nevertheless, she refrained from backhanding Berengar's fiancee as she knew he would be genuinely displeased with her actions if she did so. Thus she forced herself to calm down and refute Adela's harsh words.

"Oh little Adela, you are quite wrong about that; I have only ever shared my body with one man. I am quite the opposite of what you claim..."

Due to the cryptic nature of Linde's refutation, Adela could not help but blurt out the question digging at the very essence of her soul.

"Oh yeah, and who might that be!?!"

Linde was waiting for this response and ended the argument with another vague answer that was sure to antagonize Adela further; this was her way of punishing the little girl for daring to call her such a wicked term.

"I'll leave that up t your imagination."

With that said, Linde walked away from Adela with a sinister smile on her face; she knew she had won this argument. Of course, Adela was fuming with fury as she watched Linde leave her behind. However, she quickly realized that she had never been able to get the answer from Linde about why she was allowed to stay in Kufstein. She could not help but curse herself after Linde had disappeared.

"That bitch!"

On the other hand, Linde had pressing matters to attend to and proceeded to her quarters, where she began to communicate with her subordinates in the spy network she had helped establish, informing them of boosting propaganda efforts across German-speaking regions. Sooner or later tales of Berengar's benevolence to his people and the crimes he suffered at the hands of his little brother with the backing of the church would spread by word of mouth through Tyrol and Trient, from there travelers and merchants would spread the stories across the entirety of Greater Germany. These stories of Berengar's treatment of the common people within his realm would make the Barony of Kufstein, a common destination for refugees when the war finally broke out. Even Linde had no idea how effective these stories would be as they were passed around inns and taverns across the land.

On the other hand, Adela was ruing the forthcoming day when she would have to return to Graz and was currently spending more time with Berengar; at the moment, she was complaining about Linde and wanted an official answer from Berengar on why she was allowed to stay.

"Berengar, why is Linde allowed to stay now that Lambert is gone and disowned? She's no longer engaged and has no further ties to this Land!"

Berengar saw the pouting face of Adela and could not help but pinch her cheeks as he reprimanded her for approaching Linde about such a question.

"I know you're jealous, but don't worry, she has a valid reason to be here. Her father was a backer in my brother's plots and does not trust I will continue to conduct business in good faith now that his involvement has been revealed. Thus he has decided to leave her here in Kufstein to oversee our trade. Besides, it's not like she can get married anymore now that she's pregnant. The least I can do is take care of my ba... brother's bastard considering that he is no longer around to raise it."

Berengar almost had a Freudian slip at that moment, and it did not go unnoticed by Adela, who frowned deeply as she heard Berengar proclaim that he was going to be raising Linde's child. She cursed that she was still too young to get married; otherwise, it would be her who was pregnant with Berengar's child at the moment. Such thoughts immediately caused her face to flush red with embarrassment. She quickly stormed out of Berengar's room in an attempt to hide her shameful thoughts, leaving Berengar staring at the doorway, thinking to himself.

'What did I do to upset her now...?'

The minds of the fairer sex were truly unfathomable to men...