Chapter 269: Plans for Independence (1/2)

After spending the night with Honoria, much to the ire of Linde, Berengar had successfully cemented his relationship with the young Princess of the Byzantine Empire; as for his plans for her identity as a privateer, he decided it would be best for her to keep up the ruse of Valeria Zoanara.

Berengar had even helped her create a convincing persona that others would not look into, the days of Lady Valeria of Antioch were long gone. Now Honoria pretended to be Valeria Zonara, an Orphan from Constantinople who grew up as a captive of pirates.

For the next few days, Berengar had spent much time with Honoria. Now that they were a couple, he wanted to show her some love. As such he spent a great deal of time with the girl, going on dates, and taking her to bed.

After a few days, Berengar got back to work; he had more important things to worry about. Thus while Berengar was working on expanding his navy to compete with the arms race that had appeared with the Venetians, Honoria was set to task recruiting an all-female crew.

She had decided to promise wealth and glory to young women and girls who were down on their luck, orphans, prostitutes, bar wenches, any number of ordinary women who dreamed of a better life than what they currently had.

As for Berengar, he was currently sitting in his study once more; while Linde was sitting in front of him with a scowl on her face. She was well aware of what Berengar and Honoria had gotten up to in the past few days, and she was displeased.

Until now, she had Berengar entirely to herself, and though she knew eventually Berengar would marry Adela and sleep with her, she wanted to hold onto the fact that she was Berengar's only partner for a bit longer.

Seeing that his lover was upset over the lack of attention he had given her over the past few days, Berengar began to tease the young woman.

”You know, dear; you could always join us... Nobody is preventing you from climbing into bed with Honoria and myself...”

By now, Linde thought there was no shameless thing Berengar could say that would make her embarrassed. However, when she thought of such a scenario, her mind went blank, and her porcelain cheeks began to flush red with embarrassment.

Seeing Linde was pondering the decision, Berengar merely chuckled before shifting the topic. Eventually, she would come around to the idea. Out of all of the girls Berengar had by his side, Linde was by far the most open to new ideas.

Even though he had not spent any intimate time with Adela and had just recently gotten to know Honoria in such a sense; he knew enough about their personalities that Linde would be the easiest to coax into group sex.  For now, he placed the document in front of Linde and smiled devilishly.

”Your sister Adelheid has proven exceptional in counter-intelligence. The Emperor's agents have attempted to infiltrate Innsbruck and sabotage the factories. Luckily she caught them before they could do any damage, and they have been interrogated extensively, confessing to their crimes.

I will have them publically speak of their crimes and pin the blame onto the Emperor and thus erode the confidence his vassals have in him. If he is willing to sabotage my factories out of fear of my rapid growth, then it has become apparent that the Emperor is my enemy.  A war for independence is inevitable, and I need to know that our Agents are up to the task.”

Linde looked at the report. Briefly, she was already aware of the issue as the Director of Intelligence and thus gave an honest situation report.

”The Department of Intelligence has extended into Northern Italy, including Florence, where the Emperor resides. We can easily strike at him within his home territory. The real question is whether our armies are ready for war. I know you have 50,000 soldiers at the moment, nearly half a dozen vessels, and enough sailors and marines to arm them.

But a war for independence against the Holy Roman Empire would drag the Italians and the Swiss into the conflict. We have no allies; what exactly is the timeframe for this war of yours?”

To this, Berengar rose from his seat and walked over to the window, where he looked out upon the city he had created. After gazing into the distance for a few moments, he made his stance clear.