Tyranny of Steel

Linde and Honoria held onto Adela ’s hand as they dragged her through the entrance of the store embedded within the wealthiest area of Kufstein ’s trade district. The closer one got to the Upper-Class neighborhoods near the trade district; the more luxurious the shops became and the higher their prices.

At the top of the trade district, just a stone ’s throw away from the city ’s wealthiest neighborhood, was a relatively large clothing shop. This shop catered exclusively to the upper-class women of Austria, more commonly than not noblewomen. It was run by the younger sister of the previous Duke of Austria, and as such, the store was named ”The Habsburg ’s Boutique. ”

As one of the last surviving members of the main Habsburg line, Duke Wilmar ’s younger sister Lyse had moved to Kufstein after the fall of Vienna during the Bavarian Occupation. She was a middle-aged woman who was quite beautiful despite her age.

Lyse was a widow without any children and had only managed to survive the von Wittelsbach ’s attack because she lived at her family ’s original residence in Habsburg, Switzerland, at the time of Duke Wilmar ’s invasion of Austria.

When she heard of her family ’s demise, she nearly died of grief, however news reached her of Conrad ’s survival, and thus she made her way to Kufstein to look after her young nephew. Unfortunately, by the time she arrived, Berengar had killed the little brat by pushing him out a window.

However, Lyse had no clue about the true origins of Conrad ’s death. Instead, she believed the stories that the boy had killed himself. Choosing to believe that the new Duke and current King of Austria was not the kind of man his enemies painted him as.

While in Kufstein, Lyse fell in love with the fashion designs that Berengar had come up with and used what little wealth remained of her family ’s assets to buy a shop. She exclusively dealt with products created by Berengar ’s garment factories.

Since opening her shop, she had amassed quite a small fortune and saw many young beautiful women buy her products. However, none were as beautiful as the three women who entered her store on this day.

While Linde and Honoria had visited this shop in the past, Adela, who lived in Graz until recently, had never entered the store. As such, Lyse, who was sipping out of a cup of coffee and gazing at the returning guests, was quite shocked to see a living angel such as Adela enter her shop. Among the other two women next to her, Lyse knew that the young blonde girl with twintails would one day be the most beautiful of them all.

Being well acquainted with both Linde, and Honoria the mature beauty graciously approached Berengar ’s lovers with the intent to inquire about who this little angel was.