Steel Empire
Recuperation

Right now, Berengar was sitting in his palace, his eyes examined by his court physician Ewald. It had been a few days since he had returned from the battlefield, and his injuries were well preserved due to the disinfectant used there. Despite the gruesome nature of medieval medicine, the man seems somewhat competent, having been trained in previous years in the Byzantine Empire; he is; he had access to many of the more enlightened views of medicine from the classical era and the golden age of Islam. Therefore, he carefully observed Berengar's right eye, which had a vertical slash. Although the wound wasn't deep enough to kill, it had severed his retina and potentially damaged his optic nerve. Of course, Ewald did not know such advanced information; after observing it, he made his diagnosis.

"The eye itself will heal, though it is deeply wounded, but you will never be able to see it again. I'd suggest you familiarize yourself with life with only half of your vision before proceeding with further campaigns."

Receiving this news made Berengar frown in dissatisfaction; as for Linde, he was nearby holding her lover's hand during the process. He was more anxious about the outcome than Berengar himself. Finally Berengar let out a heavy sigh before revealing his view on the matter.

"That's the price of my vanity ..."

Ever since he was injured, Berengar had thought highly of his previous actions. Despite knowing the danger, and his brother's swordsmanship abilities, Berengar rushed into the battleground, completely believing that he could compete with Lambert after only a year of training. After all, he had been extremely victorious in all the previous conflicts; how could this one possibly be any different? Such arrogance harmed him greatly. The price of Berengar's victory over the Teutonic Order was very expensive; he lost about 3,000 men in battle, his loyal horse Erwin, as well as the function of his dominant eye. After hearing what Ewald said, Berengar dispersed it where he was left alone with Linde, who put on a new bandage coated in a basic antibiotic ointment. 

Since the day the Alchemists arrived in Kufstein and began studying Chemistry, Berengar has put them in charge of more than just creating TNT; in fact, Berengar has put them in charge of, the vast amount of chemicals they produce thanks to Berengar's knowledge in the future are for medical purposes. Such as neomycin, bacitracin, and polymyxin, which are antibiotics used in antibiotic ointments sold freely in Berengar's previous life. The worst part of an injury like this is its potential to become infected; therefore, Berengar has taken great precautions with repeated disinfectants and antibiotic ointments. If his wound was infected, the chances of his death were high, and therefore, he wanted to avoid such an outcome as early as possible.

After placing a bandage covered in ointment over Berengar's injured eye, Berengar began to laugh bitterly as he decided to use his self-deprecating sense of humor to overcome the awkward silence.

"I always thought I'd look good with blindfolds ..."

This caused Linde to chuckle as she hugged Berengar tightly and nodded while trying to comfort him.

"If there is, it will add to your majestic appearance!"

After saying those two statements, the couple returned to an awkward silence, where they sat quietly in the room for a while. While Linde was deeply concerned about Berengar's injury, she was only grateful that he was still alive; after all, if his blade penetrated a little deeper into her eyes, it could kill him. Although he knew injuries and deaths might occur on the battlefield, Berengar had always returned home intact in his previous campaigns. Therefore, there is a natural tendency to ignore that possibility. Yet here she was permanently wounded from the battlefield; it caused her to be grateful that her husband had survived, and therefore, she wanted to comfort him in times of need. Berengar, however, saw this as a humbling experience, something from which he could learn a valuable lesson. After all, he still had one eye; 

For now, Berengar is going through a recovery phase; he will hand over the royal government to Chancellor Liutbert and the basic parliamentary system he has. At present, Berengar has two concerns, one of which concerns the construction of his new trophy. For now, he had no plans to tell Henrietta that Lambert had come to Tyrol to harm him. Instead, he would compose a letter from the Teutonic Order "telling" the von Kufstein family about Lambert's death in a true crusade. Retired parents and younger sisters need not know Lambert's actions or the fact that his skull has become Berengar's favorite drinking cup.

The skull cup was hollowed out and dipped in gold, the black garnet gemstone was encrusted under the lip of the cup, and at the bottom of the stand protruding from the skull rod smoothly, and at the bottom of the stand, it was as if the entire passage was not actually made of human skulls, but was carved from the golden beam itself. The workmanship was of the highest quality, and Berengar was pleased with the result.

As for the blindfold, it was exactly as he had imagined and also a work of art. The blindfold was an accessory that covered his severely injured eye, which had already started to heal on its own; within a few weeks, the wound in the eye itself would recover, but there will definitely be injured pupils and irises. As for the other scars, some are still visible above and below the blindfold, which Berengar says gives him a dignified appearance. Overall the wound did not take away from his appearance; if anything, it made him more conspicuous and authoritative; Berengar was quite pleased with the result. If he was injured elsewhere on his face, his evil good looks would be affected. 

Linde, who was nearby, watched Berengar examine himself in the mirror and giggled as he watched the man he loved try his blindfold as if he was a teenage girl getting ready for a date. Realizing that his actions had been observed without his notice, Berengar decided to joke about the entire situation. 

"You should give me future notice when you sneak up on me like that; my peripheral vision is not as great as it used to be ..."

Hearing Berengar's jokes about his so relaxed condition made Linde feel less sad about his injury; Berengar quickly accepted his fate and vowed to learn from the experience. However, Linde had spent the past few days sulking, as if she was the one who was injured. After all, he felt as if what happened to Berengar had also happened to him; therefore, Berengar spent most of his recovery to comfort Linde, even though he himself was injured. The female heart was a complex entity, and Berengar did his best to wade through its ocean of rocks. However, now that Berengar was showing a smile on his face for the first time since his injury, Linde began to feel her spirit lift as well; therefore, she began to smile warmly as she responded to Berengar's remark.

"I'll consider it. How's your eye condition?"

Heard smiled as he looked at himself in the mirror

"It'll be fine; it'll only take a few more weeks for healing."

because of this, Berengar removed his blindfold and replaced it with a clean bandage. For now, blindfolds have to wait; regardless of how great it looks, healing is a greater priority than aesthetics.

Finally weeks passed, and Berengar did not tell Adela of his injury. Until he is fully healed, he will not worry about the girl; after all, he will not worry about her, he might do something stupid like escape the security of his family's castle and travel alone to Kufstein during this dangerous era of civil strife. Because of this, she spends a lot of time with Linde and their son, Hans. Berengar was very happy with the time he spent during his recovery weeks, as he was usually so busy that he could not spend as much time with his family as he wanted.

The time he spent with his family was filled with happiness, and to be honest, he was grateful for the reprieve from the hustle and bustle of a Tyrant's life. Things were going well in the world, but in the end he had to shorten his vacation because the after-effects of the battle with the Teutonic Order were far greater than he had anticipated before.