Steel Empire
Bring the Child to Me

Gisela instantly felt her heart break upon hearing Berengar's terrifying words. He immediately knew what the young man wanted to do and was beside himself with that information. Berengar intended to endure Lambert's efforts in his life until he came to power so that he could free his father from the guilt of the death penalty against his own son for the crimes he had committed. He knew Lambert was guilty of heinous crimes, but he could not bear to see him executed as a common criminal. Therefore, he begged Berengar to save his brother's life.

"Heard... He's your brother!"

Berengar shook his head as he rejected his mother's wounded pleas for mercy.

"If I let him live, he'll just put more effort into my life. He has powerful allies, and they will continue their efforts to put him in the seat of power in Kufstein. As long as he lives, I am not safe in this world."

Lucky for Lambert, though, his mother was quite insistent and quickly mastered her common sense and came up with an alternative option that would allow Lambert to continue living while giving up his claim on the land and thus prevent his allies from conspiring against Berengar. He looked at Berengar with a level of determination that Berengar had never seen from the woman before.

"We're going to show this information to your father, and he's going to force Lambert to take the oath of the Teutonic Order. He would spend the rest of his life in a true crusade to redeem himself!"

Berengar wanted to reject this idea, as he knew this could potentially allow Lambert to return to Kufstein with a formidable army of warriors on his back. However, when he saw the desperate look in his mother's eyes, he couldn't help but give up. After all, she still had a great sense of guilt from dying in her previous life without giving her parents grandchildren, she could not imagine it. The grief they had suffered due to the death of their only child. He did not want his parents in this life to suffer in the same way. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh and hugged his mother tightly.

"Alright, we'll do it your way ..."

The light of hope returned to Gisela's eyes as she received a loving embrace from her son. After a while, Berengar released his loving mother and took the evidence. He won't wait any longer, now that he has changed his plans, the sooner Lambert is removed from the family, the safer he is. Therefore, he gathered his witnesses, including Linde. Although it took several hours for Arnulf and Ingbert to arrive at the Castle in Kufstein; therefore, Berengar spent time with his mother, trying to ease his anxiety.

After the men arrived, he walked into his father's study with witnesses and evidence in hand and slammed them into the Baron's desk, which was busy examining various reports. The old baron looked at his son with a puzzled expression and asked.

"What's this?"

Berengar was not long-winded; he quickly and efficiently explained his case against Lambert while his father examined his material.

"Over the last few months, I have been gathering evidence against Lambert and his treasonous activities. On three separate occasions, he has made efforts on my life, two of which have almost succeeded. He had been assisted by the Count of Tyrol and other nobles. within this domain. Ingbert was once one of his allies and could bear witness to such a deed. Linde, the eldest daughter of Prince Lothar, can also bear witness to his father's plan with Lambert to eliminate me, establish Lambert as the future Baron, and hand over our enormous family resources to Prince Tyrol! As for the death of the late Marshal, Arnulf here had suspicions that his father knew about Lambert's mistake and was permanently silenced by him and his allies!"

Sieghard was surprised when he saw such information, but the evidence did not lie; finally after processing this information for a few minutes, Sieghard came to the conclusion that Lambert was guilty, and that he was guilty, even his own fiancee had turned against him and his father. The only problem was that he could not understand why. Therefore, he had to clarify with the young lady why she betrayed her own family for the sake of Berengar. The old baron glared at Linde angrily as he suspected Linde of plotting against him and his family; there was a high chance that this was all Lothar's plan, though, or so he thought until he asked the reason behind his actions and heard the answer.

The young woman instantly blushed as Berengar's father cornered her; he looked at Berengar for confirmation that he was allowed to speak before exhaling deeply and revealing his heart's content.

"I have the safety of my lover and the father of my son. Your son and heir Berengar..."

Sieghard seemed to be the only one who was shocked by this news, as everyone in the room already knew his relationship with Berengar and the true nature of his son's parents. This instantly enraged the old Baron as he started yelling at Linde with all his anger.

"You slept with my two sons!?!"

Linde quickly defended herself as she shook her head and explained the situation.

"No! I had only ever been with Berengar; the night of his engagement ceremony, he instructed me to frame Lambert as a father to avoid suspicion; I was already pregnant at the time! I just doused a little goat blood on Lambert's bed and lay down next to him. When he woke up from his drunken state, I told him that we had slept together, but nothing happened between the two of us. I swear on my life!"

Sieghard felt his head dizzy upon hearing all this information; his two sons had been conspiring with each other behind his back all this time. One tried to kill his older brother and seize the inheritance, and the other had deceived his younger brother and impregnated his fiancee. At least, as far as Sieghard was concerned, Berengar's actions were far more forgivable given what the boy had suffered at Lambert's hands. Finally, he looked at his beloved wife for an explanation of how to deal with the awkward situation that had been forced upon him.

"What should I do with all this information?"

Gisela spoke to her husband in a serious tone as she ordered him on how to deal with their mischievous children.

"Command Lambert to relinquish his claim to this land and to take the oath of the Teutonic Order in which he can redeem himself in the eyes of man and God through a true crusade! As for the actions of Berengar .. hide!"

After much deliberation, Sieghard sighed deeply as he gave his decision

"Bring the boy to me ..."