Re: Blood and Iron

While Bruno was engaging in Grand Strategy and Diplomacy on a global stage, his son and heir Erwin were left at home. But unlike his siblings who had moved with their parents to Tyrol after it was bequeathed to them as their own private fief. Erwin and his wife Alya had stayed in Berlin.

In fact, Bruno had given the boy the home that he had spent the first few years of his early life in. The quaint manor in Berlin’s old town, which Bruno ironically enough had received from his father on his wedding night to Heidi.

From father to son, to grandson, the house had passed through three generations just like that. And now Erwin and Alya had made it their home. Erwin had awoken early in the morning, the cries of his and Alya’s child, a young boy had caused him to rise with the dawn.

And because of this, Erwin had run off to see the little rascal was already finding ways out of his crib, and crawling around, just barely learning to walk on his own. Alya, whose belly was swollen with another child visibly on the way, couldn’t help but rub her weary eyes as she saw the tyke stumbling to his feet and falling, eliciting tears to conjure his parents out of thin air.

“He’s walking already? He’s barely eight months old… Please don’t tell me our son is going to be as brilliant and terrifying as your father?”

Erwin couldn’t help but chuckle as he picked their son up, who blended his parents’ Germanic and Slavic heritage perfectly.

“God, I hope not… If my uncles are to be believed, my father was just a toddler when he orchestrated the exile of two of his older brothers into military boarding school. That man’s intelligence was frightening even when he was nothing more than a small child. So you better not be such a little brat, or your father’s going to be pissed, isn’t that right, Erich?”

Erich was the name of Erwin and Alya’s firstborn son, the child was named after his godfather. As Erich, while a tragic figure, had been a godfather to both Bruno’s children, and Heinrich’s adopted daughter.

It was only natural to name their son in honor of the man who had meant so much to them as children, even if they were aware of his darker nature and his ultimate fate. Of course, they could never publicly say that was why they had named the boy Erich. After all, his namesake was still a disgraced traitor on paper, and Bruno would need time to correct that narrative.

Thus, for the time being, they simply claimed their child was named that after some distant ancestor. And after ensuring the boy was taken care of, and breakfast was cooked for him, and his pregnant wife, Erwin, sat down with Alya, enjoying the brief meal of respite before heading off for his duties outside the home.

Considering the way he was dressed, Alya couldn’t help but ask about his schedule for the day.

“”So, I take it you’re off to the university, then to the Consortium offices? Yes?”

Knowing that his wife understood him so well, Erwin couldn’t help but smile as he shoveled eggs and bacon into his mouth, before confirming after he had washed it down with a cup of orange juice.

“That’s correct, my father is much too busy with his efforts changing history to bother with the conglomerate these days, and since I am no longer following his martial path, it falls to me to build his vision here at home.

But don’t worry dear, the workload is not all that exhausting, I’m only taking a few courses here and there to further reinforce my already robust knowledge on business management, state governance, and all that I will need to carry on my family duties in this life, to you and to our house….”

‘Our House’ such words couldn’t help but make Alya feel elated, born the daughter of Russian commoners who themselves had only recently escaped serfdom before having her, she never would have dreamed over every marrying a German Prince when she was but a little girl hovered over the fireplace during the coldest months of Russia’s brutal winters.

Or that is to say, she never would have expected those private fantasies to come into reality. But here she was, married to the young heir of Tyrol, and it wasn’t just a political marriage, no, she was a common girl with no parents to call her own, adopted by a German soldier who came from a family of merchants and had earned his nobility through pure merit and valor.

And yet, they did not live in some grand estate, but in an old frachwerk manor. Still, she wouldn’t trade it for the world. There was something deeply satisfying and comforting about these half timber walls.

It was alluring, the same spell that had ensnared Bruno and Heidi, and made them feel pitiful about upgrading to a princely villa, had captured Erwin an Alya as well. And thus, the beautiful young princess living a humble life in the old town of Berlin could only kiss her husband’s hand and assure him that he was doing wonderfully in life, and to not worry about her or their children while he was away.

“It’s alright love, you can always rest when you come home to us, and if you do ever get sick and tired of carrying the weight of your father’s industries on your shoulders, I’m sure the old devil will be more than happy to give you a few weeks of rest…”

Alya no longer called Bruno “the old devil” as a term of fear, intimidation, and silent judgement, but rather endearment. Whatever anger she had towards him had long since faded, especially after he had released Erwin from following the same tragic fate.

And thus, after receiving his wife’s blessing, Erwin was in the best of spirits as he bolted out the door, having concluded his breakfast, he was now properly energized to fulfill a long day of studying, and work, before returning home to a warm meal, his wife’s embrace, and a well-earned liter of beer..

Ironically, living a similar lifestyle that Bruno had done when he and Heidi were still newlyweds….

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