Published at 30th of May 2026 7:08 am

Chapter 962: A New Foundation

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The Luftstreitkräfte had not been mobilized for combat operations in nearly half a decade. That did not mean for one second, however, that their capabilities had degraded. In fact... they had vastly increased.

Supersonic jets screamed through the skies above the jungle, launching strafing runs of napalm over thousands of targets. The damage was severe, so much so that the locals would think twice before attacking another convoy bearing the banners of the Wolf.

Bruno didn’t know how many had died in the process in an asymmetric campaign, the line between a civilian and an insurgent was so thing Bruno never pretended to recognize it.

Villages burned, towns were rendered uninhabitable, and survivors fled into the jungles hoping the canopy would shield them from the wrath and fury of an all-powerful God provoked from its slumber.

It wasn’t a war, it was divine retribution. The jets that screeched through the skies louder than screaming eagles disappeared as quickly as they came.

Leaving only a permanent reminder on the Earth that to attack the Reich and its people was a fight that couldn’t be won and would take everything from you in the process.

Bruno didn’t think much of it after the order had been given. He instead finished his work for the day and returned to his home.

There he found an unusual scene. In his living room, his grandson Karl-Franz sat while chatting politely with a woman that Bruno knew all too well.

Princess Isabelle d’Orleans. She and her family had travelled from Versailles to Innsbruck to meet with Bruno, but Bruno had been in Berlin until now.

The girl was far more well mannered than the last time Bruno had met her. She did not speak unless spoken to, brought up no uncomfortable topics, nor did she assert her own family’s primacy or prestige.

She sat there and listened to the formal small talk that existed in Royal Courts, and entertained her future husband like a proper fiancee should.

It was almost a night and day difference from the time Bruno had first met her.

Of course, Heidi approached Bruno the moment he entered the scene and handed him a stein of beer. Shaking her head, she lamented the situation.

"She isn’t Claire... but the girl isn’t bad. I think our poor boy can be happy with her if he tries."

Bruno looked over at his wife, and she shot him a snarky smirk. Of course, she knew about the conversation he had with Claire.

He sighed and shook his head, accepting the drink with a wry smile on his face, taking a brief and shallow sip before dragging Heidi into his arms, letting his thoughts escape under his breath as the two of them approached the sofa.

"After all these years, I still don’t have the slightest clue how you do it...."

Heidi looked up at Bruno as they walked together, mildly amused by his statement.

"Do what, exactly?"

She may have known the answer, and Bruno may have known that she knew the answer, but he said it anyway as he looked down at her and took another sip from his stein.

"That little trick you play, where you seem to know everything said by those who live within these walls."

Heidi laughed and broke away from Bruno’s embrace, sitting down politely and gracefully by his side.

All the while the King of France shot him a silent nod, which Bruno returned before setting his focus back on his wife who mocked him ever so playfully.

"Oh? Perhaps I’m a witch, one who cast a spell on this place, so that I am constantly alert by every bit of gossip and scheming that occurs beneath its roof."

Only a slight chuckle followed Heidi’s statement as Bruno shook his head.

"Perhaps that is the best answer I will receive in this life."

Heidi rolled her eyes and snatched Bruno’s beer from his hand, stealing a sip before giving it back.

"It was obvious, I know you don’t like to hear it, but you get a bit... moody... when you have to deal with heavy subjects. Claire is a wonderful girl, and will always be welcome in our home, but she wasn’t a princess."

Bruno looked over at his wife with a scrutinous gaze, sipping his beer in silence as he let his thoughts fester. A look that only provoked his wife into protesting.

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Bruno sighed, he had no choice but to say it now, even though he knew it was probably better not to.

"How can you say that when you weren’t a princess when we married?"

Heidi scoffed and leaned back on the sofa, placing her legs on Bruno’s lap, as she relaxed on the other side of the loveseat, mocking him with her expression.

"I was always a princess, you just put a crown on my head and gave me the title I always was meant to have."

Bruno wanted to say something, but he couldn’t find fault with the words. Technically speaking... her father was a prince, and she was his illegitimate daughter, so from a certain standpoint, even if not legally, she had the blood of royalty in her veins.

But Heidi didn’t let him think it through any longer as she dropped the humorous pretense and got serious for a moment.

"In all seriousness, Bruno, are we really going to sit here and pretend things are the same as then? You were the 9th son of a Junker, I was a bastard daughter. When we married nobody cared, and it meant nothing to anyone but the two of us. When we allowed our eldest son to marry a woman of his choosing, we still weren’t at the place we are now. But look around you, You’re a king, your sons and daughters are princesses, your grandchildren too. I hate to say it, but we’re now those old fools who marry their descendants off in political games. We don’t have the luxury to let the members of our house choose their own spouses out of love anymore."

Bruno sighed and nodded. He agreed with everything Heidi said, it was his reasoning behind why he did what he did. He just didn’t expect Heidi to also be mirroring his thoughts so perfectly.

She stopped relaxing and shifted her position of so that she could lean in tight to him. As they watched the next generation of their family begin to form.

Bruno then broke out into mild laughter out of nowhere, causing his wife to look up at him as if he had suddenly lost his marbles.

"What’s so funny?"

Bruno really didn’t want to say, because he knew this one would really provoke his wife’s fury. But he couldn’t help it.

"Nothing... It’s just that you’re not actually a princess anymore, are you? You said it yourself, I’m a King now... which means you’re my Queen consort?"

Heidi actually looked offended at the remark as she recoiled at the thought.

"Don’t call me that, it makes me feel old!"

This only made Bruno laugh harder, and Heidi more outraged by his response, especially when he spoke his thoughts once more without concern for her potential retaliation.

"Old? We have great grandchildren now...."

Heidi raised her finger in protest as she opened her mouth. And then shut it completely, averting her gaze entirely from anyone and everyone present. Blushing as she soon buried her head in her husband’s shoulders, much like she used to a lifetime ago when they were both two young fools in love.

"I’m not old...."

Bruno didn’t retort this time, he just held his wife tight and appeased her as he knew it was better than to keep the conversation alive.

"Yes dear, you’re not old, and I’m still a soldier...."

They didn’t say anything either, any everyone else pretended not to see their shameless and open displays of affection. Only Isabelle said something, and not in a voice that could be heard.

"Is this how they normally act?"

Karl-Franz hadn’t even noticed Bruno and Heidi playfully fighting on the sofa, he had been around it his entire life. Now that he noticed the scene he just sighed and shook his head before returning his attention to his own fiancee.

"The two of them have apparently been like that since before I was born. Believe it or not, their relationship is stronger than just about anyone I know. This is simply how they display their affection...."

Isabelle looked over at Bruno and Heidi, a King and Queen who lived without restraint and communicated by verbally sparring. And yet they seemed happy. Then she looked over at her own parents, prim, proper, and exquisite. And yet they barely even looked at one another.

She didn’t know how to express the sentiment that formed deep within her own mind at that moment. She didn’t have the words to do so. But one day she would look back and say that this moment would be the foundation of her future relationship with Karl-Franz.

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