It was not until dinner when Bruno sat with his wife and children enjoying their meal together did Bruno finally get a glimpse of understanding as to why Princess Victoria-Louise had so slanderously referred to him by the term of “Rake.”
Heidi was laughing as she heard what the Prussian Princess said to her husband, firstly because she knew it was a false accusation, and secondly because she had a bit of a feeling why Victoria-Louise had said it.
Heidi handed Bruno his plate of food, along with a liter of beer, setting them in front of the man, as the woman wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the cheek, all while explaining exactly what was happening.
“You have a bad habit of over thinking things my love… This isn’t some grand international conspiracy to undermine your reputation and status. The little princess is simply upset that she is not the only little princess you have been interacting with. I bet she just recently found out that Princess Olga, Princess Hedwig, and Princess Sakura have all taken a fancy to you…”
Heidi then walked away and sat down across from Bruno, staring at him like a wolf eying its prey as she ate the food on her plate. Bruno was stunned for a variety of reasons. Firstly, the idea that Princess Victoria-Louise was upset because of petty jealousy towards the other princesses he had been forced for some reason or another to become friendly with was absurd in and of itself.
But what was more concerning was the fact that Heidi somehow knew about them all. It was one thing for her to know about Olga. The woman had, after all, met the young Russian Princess in Saint Petersburg. But how did she know about Hedwig and Sakura as well? He had met the Japanese Princess once, and very briefly at that, and had never even thought of the girl again afterward.
Whereas Bruno spent slightly more time with the Austrian Princess with two interactions between them. He had mentioned neither of these two girls to his wife as they were utterly insignificant to Bruno, having done nothing more than perform basic diplomatic courtesy to them.
By now, the two girls had clearly forgotten about him, right? So why did Heidi know about these petty matters, and despite the smile on her face, she was clearly not very happy with this chain of events? Causing Bruno to force a smile as he attempted to ask his wife how she was aware of everything he had done, and who he had interacted with while abroad.
“Heidi, dear… How exactly did you—”
Before Bruno could get the question out a timer rang, causing Heidi to pop out of her seat and run off to the Kitchen where she spoke about tonight’s desert and the need to fetch it.
“That will be the apple strudel I prepared for tonight! I’ll be right back!”
Bruno ultimately sighed and took a drink from his beer as his three children looked up at him with wide eyes. They did not seem to understand just what was going on between their parents, but the eldest of the trio had enough sense to keep her head down and pretend like nothing happened. Saying something or another to ease her father’s worries as she did so.
“I’m sure everything will be fine, daddy!”
After a while Heidi returned with the desert. Any past trace of hostility on her face had completely vanished, instead replaced with pure bliss as she divided up the home-cooked desert and dished it out to her husband and children.
Frankly speaking, Heidi’s baking skills were every bit as good as her cooking skills, so much so that she would even prepare the bread that the family ate with all their meals. However, Bruno had made it clear to her that he did not want to eat dessert every night, and only on Friday nights like this was it acceptable.
Maintaining the health of himself and his family was a priority, and thus, outside of holidays, the only night the family would eat actual dessert was Friday night. Tonight was ice cream and apple strudel, all of which were made from scratch by Heidi.
Bruno would forget all about this incident with the Prussian Princess, and instead spend the rest of his night with his family the way they usually did. Playing card games and board games together as a family, until finally going to bed.
—
The next morning, Bruno received a call from one of several corporations he owned. This was his maritime corporation, which specialized in the manufacture of naval vessels, and the components that they made use of. Such as submarines and destroyers.
His presence was requested, as the engineers he had set up with establishing the more advanced fire control systems of the second world war, known in the United States as the “Range keeper” had several questions which they needed to ask of him. And because of this, Bruno alerted the Central Division that he would be out for the day, while taking the first train to Danzig.
Several hours had passed by the time he arrived in the Prussian Port City, and when he got there, he soon found himself at the Naval Dockyard he had personally secured the construction of. Once inside the main building, Bruno was quickly greeted by the staff who led him to the team of engineers who were constructing the analog based mechanical computer system that would vastly improve the performance of all ships within the German Navy.
Once Bruno met with the lead engineer, he realized that the team was rather ecstatic to meet with him, which was not the mentality that one would have if they had encountered problems with the development of their project like Bruno had assumed when they called him.
Instead, when the man spoke to Bruno, he finally understood why he was summoned all the way to Danzig.
“General Von Zehntner, I must say, although we have only begun to scratch the surface of this device, which you have trusted us with its creation. I can assure you that we will have it finished, and in production within five years’ time at the most!
However, I wanted to just say that you have truly opened my eyes to the world of computation! This device will have world changing effects, not only in the fields of naval warfare, but in all fields of science! I do believe that your contributions to the academic community are no less great than those to the military!”
Bruno did not show any hint of emotion when he heard this. These damned researchers had summoned him here to merely pick his brain, and learn from him. Bruno was not in the business of enlightening academics with the knowledge of the future. He was in the business of creating machines of war.
And so long as these men could manage that with the funding he provided, nothing else needed to be said. And it was perhaps because the man was rather expressionless at being praised so much that these researchers were confused, that is until Bruno began to scold them for wasting his time.
“Let me frankly ask you this, and I want an honest answer. Do you, or your team, have any problems, or issues with funding, or any other resources that require my attention? Or have you simply summoned me here, to my dockyards, so that you can learn from my understanding of engineering and computational science?
Because if you have summoned me all this way from Berlin for the latter. Allow me to make something clear. I am a busy man, as the commander of nearly 100,000 men in the field. I do not have the time or luxury to aid you in your research unless it is a matter of critical importance.
So long as you possess the means to accomplish this task, in the time frame you have been given. Then it is simply not acceptable to waste my time like this.
Since I have apparently not made this abundantly clear to you all, I am a man of war, not of science. I have little regard for how this technology, and the means behind it, can influence the peaceful world, only how it can be used to obliterate the Kaiser’s enemies.
If you waste my time like this a second time, there will be severe consequences. Do you all understand what I am saying?”
The room was utterly silent as the researchers all nodded their heads. Any grand ideas they had about mooching off of Bruno’s talents, and using them to further their own academic achievements, were shot in the head in that very moment as Bruno denied them.
After this, Bruno left with one last bit of parting wisdom.
“Do what you’re paid to do, and don’t involve me in it unless it is absolutely necessary!”
Having said this, he stormed out of the building. His message would be spread to all other researchers in his employ. Unless you can’t figure it out yourselves and require me to solve it for you, do not contact me until you have results.
Needless to say, those who sought to leech off of Bruno’s knowledge from the future would no longer have the gall to even attempt such a thing going forward.
