Chapter 450 - The Devil On Your Shoulder (1/2)

Within the city of Kufstein was a group of Byzantines allegedly within the borders of Austria for the purpose of trade. If there was one thing that the Austrian Government had come to be successful at, it was none other than border security.

Even with their cover identities that were thoroughly prepared by the powers behind the Second Prince of the Empire, these men, like any other visitors to the Kingdom, had gone through a thorough vetting process.

At the moment, they were hawking wares in the form of wine and silk at the trade district of Kufstein City. However, behind the scenes, these alleged merchants were here for a far less noble purpose. For three weeks now, they had watched and waited in the trade district for the opportune moment to assassinate Princess Honoria.

Yet, despite this, the Byzantine Princess had never entered the streets of Austria. Instead, she spent her entire time within the safety of the Royal Palace, so much so that these men were beginning to lose all hope of completing their mission. Because of this feeling of despair, one of these men finally had enough and immediately began cursing at the other in Greek.

”For Christ's sake, we have been here in Austria for three fucking weeks, and we still have not even gotten the slightest glimpse of the Princess!”

Immediately his compatriot slapped him across the back of the head and began to chastise the man for making such a foolish comment.

”Quiet, you fool, that redheaded bitch has spies everywhere in this damned country. The fact that we have remained undiscovered so far is a blessing from the Lord God almighty!”

The first man immediately scoffed at his companion's behavior before scolding him for his actions.

”You're being paranoid! I doubt any of these barbarians even speak Greek! Yet you assume we are being watched every moment of the day!”

However, unbeknownst to this man, there was indeed a spy nearby at the next stall keeping an eye on these men from the Byzantine Empire. As a safety precaution, for any visitors to the Kingdom who were staying for longer than a period of a week, there was an agent of Austrian Royal Intelligence sent to observe them and their actions multiple times a day.

This spy was trained in five different languages, one of them being Greek, and thus she immediately heard the mention of the Princess and the hushed conversation that followed. It quickly became apparent that these men were not ordinary merchants. Therefore, she had the urge to report this to her superior right away.

However, she did not do such a thing. Instead, she fulfilled her duty and closely observed these men for a bit long in an attempt to gain any more valuable information about their reason for being in Kufstein.  The first man immediately poured himself a cup filled with the wine they were hawking and began to speak once more, albeit in a slightly lower tone.

”Once that bitch is dead, we can return to the Empire and get paid! I can't wait to buy a nice villa within the city of Antioch!”

The more cautious of the two men looked around to see if anyone was listening before approaching his more wild counterpart and began to give him a stern talking.

”If you say another word of this in the open, I swear to God I will cut your throat myself!”

The vicious glare and the bold threat by his ally immediately caused the man to shut his mouth; the only sound to escape his lips was an unintelligible mumble. However, the Internal Security Agent nearby had received all the intelligence she needed. Thus, she paid for the vase in her hands from the nearby merchant's stall and scurried off into the crowds of nearby people.

Before long, she rounded the corner, where she placed an envelope filled with actionable intelligence into a dead drop. After doing so, she left the area and surveyed the following targets on her list. As for the document, it remained in its location until a man came and collected it not five minutes later.

A week had passed, and a fully detailed report was in the hands of Linde as she stood before Berengar and Honoria who were gathered in the Office of the Royal Palace. By now, every detail about the men, including the aliases presented on their travel documents and their actual identities, were within the hands of Austrian Royal Intelligence.

If not for the telegraphs built between Kufstein and Trieste and the high speeds of the Clippers in service to Berengar's Intelligence Network, then there would be no feasible way for them to gather such vital information in such a short time.

However, in a week, Austrian Royal Intelligence had cross-referenced all of the information they had gathered about these men with Palladius' intensive spy network. In the end, the potential assassins had been identified as freelancers employed by a client known as Dalmatius Kerularios, who was a Strategos within the Byzantine Empire and a well-known backer of the Second Prince.

After spreading this information out in front of Berengar and Honoria, Linde waited patiently for their response. Honoria had a sad expression on her face; she could hardly believe that her brother would try to have her killed. However, Berengar was the first to pose a question about the intelligence that had been gathered.