Chapter 251: Adelas Concerns (1/2)

Within the city of Graz, deep inside the belly of its Castle, was a young woman in the middle of her adolescent years. This girl was Adela von Graz the fiancée of the infamous Duke Berengar von Kufstein. While Berengar was beginning to introduce a series of legal reforms that would shock the European world, his fiancée was reading a letter written to her by her rival in love.

This rival was none other than Linde von Habsburg. With the arrival of Princess Honoria, Linde felt a significant threat to her position and thought it was necessary to inform Adela about the situation since Berengar had purposely neglected to mention the appearance of a new potential rival.

This letter did not openly entail the secret that Linde suspected this young woman from the east to be the lost Princess of the East. Instead, it merely introduced her as a young maiden lying about her identity and trying to get close to Berengar.

However, as Adela read the contents, her expression began to sink. She was well aware of the relationship between Berengar and Linde at this point; after all, it was common knowledge. She had even come to terms with the idea of Berengar taking a lover on the side and had convinced herself that great men were capable of doing such a thing.

However, news of a foreign beauty from the east who was potentially lying about her identity while trying to capture Berengar's attention was something Adela did not take lightly. Judging by the contents of the letter, Adela figured there was more to the story.

If Linde was worried about this new arrival to the point where she would write a letter to Adela, it was a fairly serious situation. Adela lay down upon her bed as she read the contents of the letter with a pouting face. She instantly voiced her discontent with the situation.

”Berengar, you dummy!”

Adela had a quick wit, and she instantly looked closer at the letter; perhaps something that she missed would explain Linde's worry more adequately. After studying the letter, Adela found it was written in code; if she could write down the first letter of every third word, it formed an expression of its own.

She quickly began to decipher the content, and after writing it down on a separate piece of paper, two words stuck out like a sore thumb.

”Princess Honoria”

Adela was not too familiar with the royal court of the Byzantine Empire, and as such, was utterly unaware of who Princess Honoria was. Still, the fact that this young maiden from the east had the title of Princess could only mean one thing. Adela's position as the primary wife was being threatened.

After all, if Berengar were to add a Princess to his collection of beautiful young women, then indeed it made sense for him to marry her instead, especially if she came from a powerful kingdom. With this news, the young girl was beginning to nibble on her thumbs in anxiety.

After careful consideration, she realized that her fourteenth birthday was around the corner, and she would have to have a conversation with Berengar about this when he finally arrived. As such, she wrote a letter to Linde thanking her for informing her of these matters and requesting her presence at her birthday so the two of them could confront Berengar about this issue together.

After writing the letter, Adela heard a knock on her door. As such, she quickly walked over to the door and opened it, revealing the voluptuous figure of her eldest sister Ava, who by now had a worrisome expression on her face.

Since Berengar's reconquest of Austria, Ava's husband Wolfgang had been deposed as count of Salzburg and replaced by his younger brother at Berengar's behest. Despite her and her husband's apologies for their actions while Berengar stayed in Graz, the man had gone through with his threat. He thoroughly removed Wolfgang from any position of authority, he did so while Conrad was still alive, and he was the Regent of Austria.

Since then, Wolfgang and Ava had permanently moved to Graz at the behest of the new Count of Salzburg; after all, the man could never forgive his older brother for forsaking their homeland and fleeing Steiermark while Salzburg was embroiled in warfare.

Since then, Ava and her husband had become humbled, and with Adela being the fiancée of the new Duke of Austria, Ava no longer found her for the daily conflict. Instead, she had begun to grovel at Adela's feet so that the young girl might convince her future husband to restore Wolfgang's position.

Thus after Adela saw Ava in her doorway, she began to sigh and shake her head as she asked Ava the question on her mind.

”What now, Ava? I am a little bit busy!”

Ava could tell that Adela was distressed, which was unusual for the little girl who was usually so full of life; as such, she instantly saw it as a way to curry favor with her younger sister. Thus Ava put on a worried façade and returned Adela's question with one of her own.

”Little Adela, is everything alright? You look quite upset….”