Tyranny of Steel

Adela struggled to fall asleep, a lot had happened in the last few days, and she recently only became aware that her fiance had returned from the Lordship of Wildschönau after a botched assassination attempt. Yet other than spending many hours explaining the exact situation to his father, Berengar made no attempt to visit her. Instead, he went straight to the bath to cleanse himself of the filth that he had garnered throughout the time in the cavern. Afterward, before she could approach him and check to see how he was feeling, he went to his bed chambers, where he was reportedly resting. The young girl had heard that Berengar was injured and needed rest, but she did not know to what extent; as such, she worried deeply about his health.

The reality of the situation was Berengar ’s full attention during and after the bath had been captured by Linde, who was secretly bedding Adela ’s future husband behind the scenes. Nobody was aware of the illicit relationship between Berengar, and Linde, especially not Adela. She was not the type of girl to accept her future husband to be playing around with other women, even if she was too young to take their place.

Eventually, Adela could no longer take the heartache of being incapable of seeing her dearly beloved, who, as far as she was aware, was hospitalized in his room at the moment. As such, she got out of bed and dressed in a white lace nightgown that was appropriate for the time period. It was only after she had tidied her appearance did the young lady depart from her bed chambers and silently make her way to Berengar ’s room. Her actions, if spotted, would surely cause a misunderstanding, and rumors were bound to flare. Luckily for everyone involved, nobody had witnessed her depart from her quarters. She quickly found herself in front of Berengar ’s door, where her heart began to beat rapidly. She had never visited his room after hours before; she wondered if he was asleep or not. After taking a few moments to calm herself, she lightly knocked on the door.

…

Berengar was in the middle of playing with his favorite toy when he heard a knock on the door; he was in no position to answer it at the moment, as there was a divine beauty ”sitting ” atop his lap. He could not fathom who would possibly be at his doorstep at this hour aside from Linde. However, he made sure to motion with his hand to Linde to cease her activity and stay silent. After making sure the girl ’s lips were sealed, he just about called out to whoever was at the door when he heard a soft feminine voice with which he was all too familiar from behind the door.

”Berengar, are you awake? Are you okay? I didn ’t get to see you when you returned… Can I come in? ”