Steel Empire
The Princess Has Arrived

Adela gazed out the window of her luxurious chariot, guarded by her father's entourage of knights. Her golden blonde hair tied into twintails, sparkling in the sunlight that shone down on her face; enhancing the natural beauty of her dazzling sapphire eyes. Despite being twelve years old, she nicely filled the long baby blue dress she was wearing. His perfect hourglass figure would only increase with age. A drop of sweat started flowing from her milky white shoulder as she fanned herself with her beautiful hand fan.

He had crossed a great distance to enter this lowly Barony. Adela von Graz was the third daughter of Prince Otto von Graz, who was Prince of Steiermark. Contrary to her wishes, she has become engaged to her sickly older cousin, who during the last time they met, she seems to be in her last member. Somehow Berengar managed to limp in life until his 20th year.

He had no idea how such a weak and unhealthy youth had survived all this time. However, because of this, he is furious with his father who has used him as a way to get a stake in Kufstein's rich iron mines. As a girl, she was nothing more than a tool for her family to secure an alliance, and she was dissatisfied with this in life.

Nevertheless, she must obey the wishes of her family, and therefore demands to meet the man she will eventually marry. However, to his dismay, his request to meet with him continued to be delayed. For an entire month, he had to endure this behavior to the point where he left his home and traveled across the entire Duchy of Austria to meet him. From his point of view, Berengar's and his family's behavior was unsightly. Clearly, there was something wrong with his health, otherwise, why would his family continue to delay his visit. If she was too ill to travel, then she would convince her father to call off the engagement. No wonder Berengar was twenty years old and still unmarried.

When he entered Kufstein Village, he noticed smoke rising in the air, and initially thought there had been a fire. However, to his surprise, the farmers rushed towards the smoky area within the herd as if something extraordinary had happened. Intrigued by what could interest so many commoners, the young lady ordered her carriage driver to approach the area to see what commotion was going on.

After stepping out of the train and entering the newly built industrial sector, the, his eyes were not interested in the strange machine that produced smoke but in a tall and handsome young man with golden blonde hair that was combed backwards, and sapphire eyes that were perfectly suited to him. Apart from the luxurious clothes he was wearing, the man was standing next to an ordinary farmer who both had wide smiles on their faces.

The young lady did not pay the slightest attention to the farmer next to the handsome young man whom she immediately recognized despite it being many years since their last meeting; he said his disbelief loudly as his cheeks flushed red upon seeing his older cousin who had grown so handsome ever since he last saw her.

"Anger?"

Despite voicing his thoughts, he remained inaudible to the Baron's son who was involved with the actions of the machine in front of him. It didn't take long for the altered Bessemer to dump his liquid steel cargo into a small factory, where it was further processed into bars. Slag, which is produced as a byproduct, is taken and converted into phosphate fertilizers under Berengar's instructions.

Adela was caught in a trance and did not hear a word coming out of Berengar's lips; her body moved itself as it inched closer to Berengar's presence. Yang was still unaware of the contingent of knights paving the way for the Count's daughter.

"Ludwig, you didn't disappoint me. With this steel pool, we can use the advantage to make the mine work at full capacity. We should be able to produce abundant steel within a year!"

However, before Ludwig could respond to Berengar's praise, the young master's attention turned to the girl approaching him and the knights protecting him. He could not explain why but he felt like he knew this beautiful young girl from somewhere. He immediately saw the flushed cheeks and the dazzled look he gave her as he timidly turned his back on Berengar, and towards the ground, he asked the question he had in mind.

"Sound is that you?"

Apparently, she did know this young girl, but she could not figure out who it was, she felt it was inappropriate to ask, she said, but he really had no choice as he was unable to fully remember the identity of the girl no matter how much he tried.

"Who are you?"

Adela instantly felt like her heart had grown three sizes upon seeing Berenger and then fell into a ravine when she failed to recognize him. This bastard had grown so handsome, yet he had not managed to recognize her beautiful face? What is with his thick head!?! Apart from her inner anger, Adela put a smile on her face and graceful actions as she bowed in front of Berengar.

"This is Adela, your fiancee"

Berengar was surprised, he did not expect his visit today. He thought for sure his father had told him that he would arrive tomorrow. Damn it, did that cunning old fox really trap him again!?! He was once again angry at his father, and yet, there was nothing he could do now. Standing in front of him was his fiancee, who if he were to be honest had progressed tremendously, in a few years he would definitely become a KO.

Nevertheless, despite her beauty potential, she had no real interest in him, after all, she was still a young girl, and had yet to become a woman. However, she smiled after learning that her fiance would grow into an amazing woman. After calming himself down, and adjusting to the situation, Berengar put on a proper noble face.

To be honest Berengar had almost no experience in luring the opposite sex, so he had to rely on his only perfect source of knowledge that explained how to win the heart of a young girl. The source was obviously the many shoujo manga he had read in his previous life. Shamelessly, he adopts the behavior of characters from some random manga in his memory who happen to be a prince.

"Sorry lady, I didn't recognize you, the last time I saw you, you were just a child. Now you have become an amazing young woman."

He cringed internally at his acting, but if there was one thing that shoujo manga taught him, it was that if you wanted to win the heart of a young girl, you had to be handsome and charming; and this was the only way he knew how to be charming. If Berengar wanted this engagement to succeed, he would at least have to make the girl feel interested. It worked like a charm, Adela was fully enamored at Berengar's handsome appearance and charming actions. He had completely forgotten the anger he felt not too long ago when Berengar failed to recognize him.

Ludwig who watched the cheap romantic show tried to hold back his laughter while observing the boy's appearance. Lucky for Berengar, this girl was just a child and could easily fall into such a falsehood. Although the longer he stood there watching, the more he realized that he was no longer needed and patted Berengar on the shoulder.

"You don't have to worry, my lord; I can handle the rest of the production myself; why don't you take this girl out to eat a sandwich."

Berengar looked at Ludwig with affection, both knowing that Berengar was more interested in staying and supervising the production of steel and slag, but he was limited by his noble obligations. So Ludwig gave her a reasonable reason to leave him.

"If you insist, I will leave this matter to you, I thank you for your hard work."

Adela looked at Berengar with more interest; despite being Baron's son, she treated the peasants almost as if they were equals. He had never heard of such a thing before. Although most of the nobles would mock him for such behavior, he found the friendly exchange between the two acquaintances quite charming.

Berengar offered his arm to be held by the young woman, whom he received as the couple walked towards the city center with smiles on their faces. During the walk to the sandwich shop Berengar spent time greeting the locals who had passed by, he seemed to use a first name with many commoners, and they, of course, called it the proper designation. respecting position.

Adela grew curious about Berengar's relationship with the commoners, they were not afraid of him, nor were they intimidated by his position. Instead, they willingly walked over and chatted with him, and by extension he. He was unfamiliar with the friendly streets; in his father's domain, the peasants stayed away from the Count and his family, never making eye contact with them. It was as if he had stepped into a completely different culture.

A woman even approached the couple and gave Berengar a rose to give to the young lady next to him; all the commoners could tell from the way Adela dressed that she was obviously royalty. Because of the way he clung to Berengar, they were most likely engaged; therefore, the common people treated him with the same dignity and respect they had given Berengar, who has spent so much time helping develop the city over the past month.

By the time they reached the Sandwich store, Berengar had approached a woman in her thirties who was at the counter running the store when her husband was not around. Her name was Helga, and she was the wife of a local baker. She helped her husband run a bakery and sandwich shop owned jointly by a local baker and butcher.

"My lord, you honor us with your presence."

Berengar smiled back and ordered food for himself and Adela.

"Helga, two of the usual, please."

Helga immediately started to work as she began to prepare food, but not before washing her hands; now, the whole village realized Berengar's health habits and began to implement his clean ways. After serving two sandwiches, each paired with a glass of fresh milk, Berengar paid the woman a white pfennig that was more valuable than the whole meal.

"Save it back,"

he said with a smile and brought food and glasses to the table outside the restaurant. Seeing how it was mid-spring in the Austrian mountains, the weather was more than acceptable to sit outside and eat.

Adela did not say a word as long as they walked; she observed Berengar's behavior that was far from what she expected from the notoriously lazy and sickly master. He's not what the rumors say. Obviously, someone fabricated a lie about him to ruin his reputation. He would never believe that his personality had changed overnight due to the near-death experience.

Being a noble lady of high repute, she was confused about the absence of cutlery at meals; how exactly would she eat this potion that was referred to as a sandwich by the locals. Berengar smiled at him as he stared at the food intensely, that charming smile almost dazed him.

"What's wrong? You don't like her? You haven't even tried it!"

The young lady struggled to find her words as she stared at Berengar's beautiful smiling face. Eventually, he found his tongue.

"No silverware ..."

Berengar chuckled as he forgot about the nobles' aversion to the way ordinary people behaved. So he decided to take the lead by example as he grabbed a grilled chicken sandwich with his hand and bit it. Adela's face was extremely precious; it was as if she was looking at a barbarian; there was no way she would submit to such rude behavior.

However, after a while of watching Berengar eat the sandwich with a satisfied smile on his face, he could no longer resist the temptation to try the meal. Therefore, he held the sandwich with his tiny hand and took a slight bite. Which almost caused Berengar to choke on his food from laughing; this girl was too sweet. On one hand, he reminded her of the slightly older Henrietta.

The sparkle in Adela's sparkling sapphire eyes lit up as she tasted the sandwich; she had never experienced anything like this before. To be honest, medieval culinary arts were sorely lacking; he had spent a great deal of effort teaching the chefs in his court, as well as the locals, how to make a basic dish from his previous life.

After a while, he saw Berengar watching him and felt ashamed. But he couldn't stop eating sandwiches. Only after he finished everything did he question his gaze

"What do you see!?!"

Berengar chuckled; women, no matter what time they were, were still the same.

"I just think that you're funny, that's all."

Instantly the girl's entire face flushed red as her voice replayed in her head repeatedly. He didn't expect her to say such a thing. His brain practically fried itself thinking about it. Does he have no shame? Although it was not as if he did not like the compliment. It was only after the two of them had finished eating that Berengar gave rise to a noble obligation to be paid.

"Well, I think we should go visit my father so you can pay your respects. God knows he'll be angry because you entered his territory and failed to pay respect to him upon entering."

This made the girl come to a realization from her trance as she quickly realized that she had failed to follow the basic etiquette of nobles. He almost slapped himself for following his curiosity rather than following a schedule. By the way, Berengar twisted it; he might have insulted the authority of the Baron by doing so.

The little girl couldn't possibly know that Berengar was playing a trick on her. Sure, if any other noble were to enter his father's domain and fail to pay his respects, the Baron would be furious, but this was his nephew as well as his son's fiancee. He would easily forgive her for playing around with Berengar upon arrival, especially since that was the concern of her visit. Sieghard would love to know only the two get along.

Nevertheless, the girl began to tremble in fear as she realized the great sin she had committed; she did not know her uncle well, her mother rarely talked about it. He feared retribution for his actions. Seeing the terrified expression on the little girl's face, Berengar grabbed her hand and calmed her down.

"Hey, there's no need to be too scared; I'm just kidding. My dad won't be mad at you for spending the day with me. Believe me; even if he gets angry, I will be blamed. Remember I'm the one who dragged you to lunch."

The little girl wiped away the tears that had formed in her delicate sapphire eyes and slightly sobbed.

"Hm.. Really true?"

Berengar nodded; perhaps he shouldn't play a joke like this on children. After all, noble obligations and etiquette seemed to be a frightening thing for a young girl like her. If he messes up, it affects not only his well-being but also his family.

After wiping the tears from her eyes, Adela got up from her seat and asked Berengar.

"Well, what are we waiting for?"

After which, the engaged couple headed to the Castle, his knight escort following from a distance. They knew if they followed their young woman so closely on her first date, she would be furious; therefore, they stayed behind, watching for her safety from a short distance away so that if trouble arose, it would be too much for them to stay, they can fulfill their duties. Of course, that would never happen in a city that celebrated Berengar as a pillar of the community and not just the son of the Baron.