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Forged in Iron and Ambition (Web Novel) - Chapter 980: Duty Above All
Chapter 980: Duty Above All
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Bruno hung up the phone after speaking with Claire and leaned back in his seat. At the end of the day, he was a pragmatist above all others. He viewed the world through what one might refer to as a hard realist lense.The House of Orleans had been chosen to replace the failing republic as a means of stabilizing France and binding it to Germany for generations.
There were other pretenders, like the House of Bourbon and the Napoleonic line. But each of them presented certain difficulties at a symbolic level.
The Bourbons would be considered a restoration of France to its pre-republican state, and in many of its own citizens’ eyes could be considered a reassertion of national destiny. One Bruno would deny them.
The Napoleonic line would be interpreted as a reclamation of imperial glory, and France was never going to be given that chance now that it had challenged Germany three times in less than a century.
So the Orleans had been chosen not because they were most capable pretenders to the absent French throne, but the most coercible.
But they had failed in their duties. Versailles, ever a beacon of decadenc,e and performance, had corrupted them as much as it had centuries before.
They did not follow the model of new nobility, one based upon merit and duty, that Bruno had forcefully instilled into the Reich.
And now the people of France were seething with discontent. Bruno was naturally aware of what Claire had warned him about before she ever picked up the phone. But to him it wasn’t among a list of priorities, because if the French ever raised in rebellion against the Reich’s puppet, they would face the brutal, swift, and overwhelming might of the Reichsheer.
However, Claire had proposed an interesting solution. She wanted to reform the French court from within the Palace of Versailles. And the pettiness of the Orleans princes had given her the perfect opportunity.
It was an unexpected response, but a welcome one. Because of this, Bruno sat back in his seat and drank from his glass of liquor.
A subtle smile etched itself upon his aging and withered cheeks. As his truest thoughts escaped his lips in a hushed whisper.
"You really are a von Zehntner, after all....
---
Claire’s reaction was a mirror of Bruno’s. She sat back in her room and poured herself a drink. She usually abstained from alcohol together, but tonight she wanted nothing more than a fine glass of cognac to help her thoughts settle and her heart to calm.
She had talked to Bruno for the first time in years. Though he had promised to fulfill a promise to her, the conditions of her choosing. She had expected some resistance.
And yet, he seemed all too compliant. It didn’t make her uncomfortable or dreadful. No, it filled her with a sense of remorse.
She looked over at her desk, the invitations from the von Zehntner house pinned to the mirror that sat upon it.
Gifts upon gifts lay piled, and unopened in the corner of the room. Birthday, Christmas, and a few other holidays in between, gathered across the years since she had left. The personal letters containing the pleasantries and well wishes of the von Zehntner family still tied to the ribbons that held it all together neatly and professionally, equally unopened as the wrapping itself.
She took a sip as the words flooded in her mind.
And Claire, you should speak with Karl-Franz
She rested her head in her hand after shaking it. Sighing heavily, a weight that had been heavy upon her for years breaking with a scoff and the wiping of a single tear.
"I’ve been a damn fool... I really should go home for a visit. I’m sure they’re all waiting for me just like Bruno said."
---
Karl-Franz was alone that night. A cigarette in his hand, and a glass of liquor in the other as he smoked off the edge of his balcony.
The clean city lights of Innsbruck at night illuminated a beautiful picture beneath the stars and the moon.
The Tyrolean Royal Palace was stationed in the hills above the city. The view was heavenly, celestial even. And yet it did not give Karl-Franz solace.
The nicotine didn’t stop him from feeling restless, the alcohol did nothing to numb the void feeling in his gut.
He had retired from the military. A career he had enjoyed, to pursue the path to power. To prove himself as more than just a soldier in the eyes of his family.
And that had not sat well with him. He would likely never see the men he had bled beside again. He would also have to become another man entirely to interact with the civilian world that he had spent his entire adult life, thus far, shielding from the horrors of reality beyond the sanctuary of their borders and the prosperity within.
Just like how when he was at the cusp of manhood, he had given up the idea of marrying a woman he had begun to catch feelings for, whom he knew he was compatible with, once more he had forsaken his own happiness out of duty to his family. Duty to his folk, his fatherland, and Reich.
He sighed and shook his head as he tapped his cigarette into the ash bowl resting perfectly balanced on the railing of his balcony.
Karl-Franz then took a sip from his drink, finishing it off as if it were as smooth as water. After which he said nothing, as he turned back to his room, collecting the mess he had made and disposing of it, before retiring for bed.
A new day would rise with the dawn, and with it so too would his responsibilities return. And so he slept. While those in the city below pursued their own happiness, he sacrificed. Because two men with wealth and privilege, duty stood above all, lest they be corrupted by the power they wielded and in doing so dooming the realm as much as themselves.
