Chapter 77: A Fitting Name (1/2)

Berengar currently sat in the dining room; the only two people present for this morning's breakfast were Berengar and Linde; as usual, his family was still fractured after Lambert's conviction. Berengar had not seen his father's or his sister's face in some time. Though Sieghard was officially declared a Viscount, and his territory had doubled, he was officially in isolation for penance. The good news about this was that Berengar could openly flirt with Linde without getting the stink-eye from his fellow family members. As Berengar snacked on a breakfast sandwich, he noticed the blue eyes of his darling little sister peering out from the corner of the entryway.

Evidently, the little girl was spying on him and Linde; though Berengar wanted to go over and greet her, he feared she would fly back to her room the moment she noticed she was spotted, like a scared little rabbit. As such, he continued to have a civil conversation with Linde about managing the realm's affairs.

”Has your father guaranteed safe passage for my trade routes within the County of Tyrol?”

Linde was gracefully dining on an omelet while she nodded her head; she only began to speak after she had swallowed her bite.

”Of course, my father will do whatever I tell him to do; he dotes on his daughter's far too much.”

Berengar smiled and decided to shift the conversation to something more personal. After a few moments of silence, he finally asked in an awkward manner.

”So... What should we name the Child?”

This line of questioning instantly piqued Henrietta's curiosity which was not so subtly listening in on the conversation. On the other hand, Linde wiped her mouth with her napkin before putting a gentle smile on her doll-like face.

”If it's a boy, I was thinking of naming him after his father...”

Berengar smiled sadistically as he responded to her idea while she took a drink from her goblet of water. He could not help but tease his lover when the two of them were alone; even if Henrietta was watching, he did not mind embarrassing the poor lass.

”Oh, so you plan on naming him, Lambert?”

Linde nearly spat out her drink as she heard those words; she struggled to contain the liquid as she swallowed it down. After doing so, her face shifted into a furious glare as she scolded Berengar for his behavior.

”Don't even joke like that! You know I meant to name him after you!”

This news was shocking to Henrietta as she listened to Linde admit that her child was Berengar's; this invoked the inner fury of Henrietta as she already blamed Linde for Lambert's exile. Considering she was so young, Henrietta was not told that Lambert had attempted to kill Berengar. Instead, she was told that he voluntarily chose to join the Teutonic Order after changing his heart about his marriage with Linde. She may be young, but Henrietta was no idiot, she suspected something was going on between Berengar and Linde for quite some time, and now that it was confirmed, she was furious at the two of them.

However, despite the little loli's inner fury, she continued to listen to the conversation between the scandalous couple. Berengar, of course, was not fond of any of his children being named after him. He did not want a Berengar II chipping away at the Legacy he envisioned himself building in this world. He wanted people in the future to know and revere the name Berengar and immediately associate it with himself, much like they did to the name Alexander which belonged to the world's greatest conqueror.

As such, he came up with an alternative, one which was very dear to him as a man who had lived two lives. It was his father's name from his past life; as such, Berengar looked at Linde with a tender expression and grabbed ahold of her hand as he tried to convince her to name the child after his father from his past life.