Tyranny of Steel

Honoria stood aboard the bow of her vessel as she gazed upon the coast of Trieste. It had been a relatively short journey of eleven days; during this time, she had made her way back home without incident. The only downside to this was that her husband, the King of Austria, had stayed behind in the new world.

This caused her to be deeply concerned for his safety; not only did she not trust the native peoples of Vinland, but she also had a sneaking suspicion that her man was hooking up with the native whore she left him with. While she had told him not to do so, she knew that he would, and despite her protests, she was more open to the idea than any of his other wives would be.

Still, that did not mean that such a thing did not annoy her; in fact, she found it to be quite irritating that Berengar would sleep with any woman who met his fancy. Still, she knew he was that kind of guy when she married him, and thus she could only blame herself. If she had wanted a perfectly monogamous life, she would have married someone who fit the bill.

Thus she was in a rather foul mood as she docked in the main port of the Kingdom of Austria. After she and the sailors had finished tying up the ship, she hopped off the vessel to the shipbuilding factory. Her first order of business was to give a letter to Evio, the lead shipwright of the Kingdom of Austria.

After walking across the largely industrialized port city, the third Queen of Austria forced her way into the primary shipyard of Triest. Upon witnessing Honoria's entrance, Evio halted his actions and hurried towards her. The Venetian shipwright showed immense respect to the woman who had become known as the Scourge of the Mediterranean.

"My Queen, I thought you were on a secret mission alongside the King; why have you returned so soon? Did the quest turn out to be a failure?"

Honoria shook her head in response; a broad smile appeared on her pretty lips as she confidently handed over the letter to the man who was responsible for the construction and retrofitting of her vessel. She remained silent as the man continued to read the letter's contents; with each sentence, his eyes grew wider as he began to speak in his native tongue.

"Dear God, he found it!'

Immediately the man performed the sign of the cross before gaining control of his emotions and speaking in a language that Honoria could understand.

"I will begin retrofitting the five frigates that his Majesty has requested at once. It will take a while, as I am currently working on several projects. Because of this, I will have to retrofit these ships one at a time. At a minimum, it will take me half a year to do so, at most a year. During this time, I suggest you slowly ferry across the men and supplies the King has requested in that vessel of yours!"

Honoria nodded in response to this before thanking the man for his efforts.

"Thank you, Evio, you are a hard-working man, and without you, Austria would lack its powerful navy!"

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The old Venetian shipwright merely smiled and nodded his head before dismissing the Queen.

"Well, if there isn't anything else you need, I should get back to work on constructing this steel behemoth that his Majesty has requested of me!"

Honoria gazed upon the partially constructed hull of the SMS Adela with a bitter smile on her face. The first of the next generation of Naval Vessels was already under construction, despite being the Queen of the Seas Berengar had named this Light Cruiser after his first wife. For whatever reason, she resented this fact.

Honoria suspected that Berengar had named the Light Cruiser after Adela because she was the primary wife. Of course, if she had known that Berengar named the Light Cruiser after Adela because she had the smallest bust of his women, and the Light Cruiser was armed with the smallest guns, she would probably break out into laughter.

After observing the newest ship and its ongoing construction, Honoria nodded her head in silence before departing; she had much to do while she was in Austria; rallying forth the soldiers and supplies was just a part of it. However, she had a week to fulfill these obligations; as such, she decided the first thing she would do was visit her baby boy who she had left behind, to go on this journey.

After taking the train back to Kufstein, Honoria found her way into the palace. As she made her way to her son's personal quarter's she found Linde inside breastfeeding her child. The moment Honoria saw this, her expression sank; she knew that Linde was practically a milk cow and that she would be the one feeding Alexandros while she was away, but to witness such a thing brought complicated emotions to her heart.

When Linde saw Honoria enter the room, she was filled with shock, so much so that she almost dropped the child. It took her a second to retain control over the boy as she quickly approached her rival. Linde immediately asked the question, racing across her mind with an excited smile on her face.

"Is he home?"

However, the moment Honoria shook her head, Linde began to pout. Instead of dwelling on the disappointment, she began to switch the subject to something more productive. Something that she had wanted to discuss with the Byzantine Princess for some time.

"Honoria, what do you think of Henrietta and Berengar?"

Honoria did not immediately understand the question and thus raised her brow before asking for clarification.

"What about them?"

In response to this, Linde sighed as she looked around to see if anyone else was watching; after doing so, she lowered her voice and whispered in her rival's ear.

"You know... together..."

Honoria's cheeks flushed red when she thought about the idea of the two siblings being together as a couple. She had never really given it much thought before. The fact that Linde was asking about this, meant that the redheaded vixen was cooking up something behind the scenes. The Byzantine Princess immediately narrowed her gaze and frowned at her rival before asking the question on her mind.

"What did you do, Linde?"

Linde continued to clutch Honoria's son to her breast as the boy fed; as she did so, she wore a smirk before acting innocent.

"Nothing... All I did was have a chat with our sweet little Henrietta, and I'll have you know that she is very determined to be with her big brother. So I was merely asking for your opinion on the matter..."

Honoria could tell that Linde was outright lying to her, but she did not want to call her out; thus, she sighed heavily before leaning against the door and gazing at Linde with a calm smile.

"Unlike you and Adela, I'm not as possessive of Berengar as the two of you, I may scold him for sleeping around, but at the end of the day, I know what I signed up for when I agreed to be with him. Hell, he is probably screwing one of the natives of Vinland as we speak.

With that being said, I think there is no way that a sis-con like Berengar is ever going to approve of a man beside himself being with his darling little sister. He may be in denial at the moment, but eventually, he will come to realize that he is every bit in love with Henrietta as she is with him.

So I think he should stop avoiding it and accept his feelings; who cares what anyone else thinks? Watching my husband stepping on eggshells pretending as if he doesn't have feelings for his sister is more of a turnoff than the idea of the two of them being together as a couple..."

A wry smile appeared on Linde's luscious lips as she heard Honoria say these words; she nodded her head before handing over Alexandros to his mother. After doing so, she approached the Byzantine Princess and kissed her on the lips before whispering something in her ear.

"That's why I love you, Honoria; you're such a freak! So we agree, yes? Henrietta must get together with Berengar!"

At this moment, Honoria realized why Linde wanted their husband to get together with his sister; as she understood Linde's intent, she began to chuckle before shaking her head.

"You are such a bitch..."

Linde wore a sultry smile as she pulled up her dress to cover her substantial bust; after doing so, she began to walk out the door before leaving behind a single sentence.

"All is fair in love and war..."

Honoria shook her head once more as she reflected on Linde's comments. The woman intended to weaponize Henrietta against Adela in the war for succession. However, considering that Alexandros and his future siblings were destined to battle for the Byzantine Throne, Honoria did not care in the slightest who won this conflict.

Unlike Linde, she had a more altruistic motive in assisting Henrietta with her goal of becoming her brother's mistress. In the Pirate Queen's eyes, when two people were in love, they should be together, no matter what anyone else thought. She considered Berengar's hesitancy on the case to conflict with his more appealing characteristics.

She wanted to see her man take charge and do as he pleased, not cower in fear of what others might think of his actions. Thus, despite playing into Linde's hands, Honoria ultimately decided to assist the Princess of Austria in her quest to seduce her brother.