Chapter 163: Catfight (1/2)

The light of the sun shone down upon Adela's room and through her glass window, illuminating her doll-like face as she slept beneath her covers. It was well past dawn, and yet the young girl still slept; after all, she was still growing and, as such, needed her beauty rest. After a short period of struggling to adjust to the light which beamed upon her, she began to pout before opening her deep sapphire eyes and gazing at her window with contempt.

Now that she was awake, she decided to get out from under her covers, where she wore a frilly white nightgown; as per most of her clothing, Berengar designed it with both comfort and aesthetic in mind. The soft silk material dangled loosely from the growing curves of her adolescent body. After stretching for a little bit, she decided to go about her morning basic hygiene rituals such as bathing, brushing her teeth, and flossing before finally dressing in her exquisite attire based on Tudor and Elizabethan clothing patterns from Berengar's past life.

After getting dressed in her daily attire, she progressed to the dining hall where her family was gathering to eat breakfast; ever since her sister Ava had arrived in Graz, Adela had been doing her best to stay away from the woman, after all despite being siblings the two got along about as well as cats and dogs. For whatever reason, the Count of Salzburg's son and heir was spending his time in Graz with his wife and three children. Though Adela did not understand why this was the case, after all, Salzburg was safe enough, and the excuse of being on vacation visiting Ava's family had long since grown suspicious.

Despite Adela's growing concerns over her eldest sister's stay, she still tried to play nice with the young woman, and as such, the two sat across from one another at the dining table, where the two began to mince words. Ava was, as always, the perpetrator of their little disputes, and as such, decided to bully her cute little sister.

”Adela, I heard your fiance was bold enough to declare his heresy as a reformation! I wonder what will happen to him when the Pope finally declares a crusade to deal with the trouble he has caused; I worry for your safety, after all, you are engaged to the man that the Church refers to as Berengar the Accursed!”

Immediately the women went straight for the heart, knowing that Adela's relationship with Berengar was her most vulnerable point. However, since their first dispute, Adela had grown wiser and noticed that her eldest sister so commonly targetted Berengar with her words in an attempt to rile her up as such, Adela was as calm as a pond's surface as she rebutted Ava's taunt.

”Any force the Vatican sends into Tyrol will end up the same as the last group of fools who entered Berengar's domain in an attempt to remove him from power.”

She was quite obviously referring to the slaughter of the Teutonic Order's army, which marched into Berengar's lands; the result of that battle was well known among the Lords and Ladies of the German-speaking regions. However, Ava knew something that most did not know; after all, her husband was the son and heir to the Count of Salzburg, and his father's spy network was extensive. As such, she further taunted Adela with her attacks on Berengar's character.

”Poor sweet little Lambert, I heard Berengar used some vile sorcery to kill that poor boy in battle; what kind of black-hearted man murders his own little brother?”

Though Adela tried to stay calm, hearing her sister compliment Lambert while insulting Berengar's character was enough to invoke ire in her heart.; Ava dared to act like Lambert was a saint, despite knowing of his past deeds. However, this was exactly how the Church was behaving about the issue. Every since Lambert's death, he had become a martyr in the eyes of Catholics and a stain on Berengar's reputation.

Every wicked deed the boy had ever committed was wiped away from his past by the powerful propaganda network of the Church; the Catholic church depicted him as an exceptionally pious man who voluntarily gave up his inheritance to serve the Teutonic Order. Where he was deployed to bring his brother, a condemned heretic, to justice. However, as the two fought on the battlefield, Berengar blinded Lambert with some vile sorcery before stabbing him in the back.

This was the tale in which the Catholic church told the world about Lambert and Berengar's duel within the battlefield of Oberstdorf. Obviously, it was completely fabricated, but unlike Adela, who now thought of herself as a reformist due to Berengar's influence, Ava was a devout Catholic much like the rest of her family and chose to further propagate this story, despite knowing its falsehood in a deliberate attempt to mess with Adela. Hearing such provoking words Adela could not control herself and immediately lashed out at Ava, who had succeeded in her aim.

”You know full well that Lambert was a devious little scoundrel who on multiple occasions tried to murder Berengar! What was his punishment for such actions? He was disowned and sent to the Teutonic Order to redeem himself, where he used the first opportunity he could get to try to get revenge on Berengar for being merciful; if you ask me, Berengar should have cut off his head, to begin with, it would have saved everyone some trouble!”