It was not long before Bruno and his family were fully set out towards the Kaiser’s palace. Things had begun to change in the German Reich as they drove through the streets. Traffic lights were strung up, stop signs were made, and a general infrastructure designed to support the massive increase in automobiles had begun to appear.
Even projects from his past life, such as the autobahn, were either under construction, or fully completed by now. Meanwhile, railways were under the process of expansion, reconstruction, et cetera. Not only to support the heavy nature of armored trains, but the future of high-speed trains that would appear in the coming decades.
The city of Berlin was the epicenter of technological progression in an era where humanity achieved the most scientific and technological progress in human history. Although should this war be lost, that era would come to an end.
Technological progression in many fields would slow down or stagnate entirely. And the number of scientific breakthroughs would decrease significantly, as they had in Bruno’s past life. It was perhaps witnessing Berlin’s renovations, bringing in the age of a new industrial era, with the classical architecture of the old world where Bruno could see the natural synthesis of time take place.
It was almost enough to bring a smile to the man’s face. Even so, he remained stoic as he gazed through his windshield, driving his family towards the Kaiser’s palace. By now, Bruno’s oldest child, Eva, was roughly seven years old, while his youngest, Elsa, was approaching five. Eva had begun attending a private girls’ school of the highest caliber ever since reaching the age to do so.
While Erwin had begun attending a private boy’s academy. Elsa was just approaching the age of attending the same school as her older sister. Just around the time that she would no longer be the youngest of her siblings.
To put it simply, this long drive to the palace had reminded Bruno of what he was fighting for, and why defeat was simply not an option for him in this life.
Eventually he and his family arrived at the gates of the palace, where after a brief verification of identity, and security check on their persons and vehicle, they were permitted entry to the palace grounds, where they parked in the designated spot.
After which, they were escorted into the Palace’s grand halls by the staff of the estate, where they were quickly greeted by the Kaiser and his family. Wilhelm was quick to greet Bruno, who saluted the man as if he was still on duty.
Though the Kaiser invited Bruno to his home as a friend, he returned the salute nonetheless, after which he spoke to Bruno in a more informal language.
“Please, there is no need for such formalities. I have invited you here not for the purposes of business, but rather as my guest. You have met my daughter Victoria Louise. Is that correct?”
Bruno looked over at the Prussian Princess, who was evidently still angry with him for establishing friendly ties to other Royal Families, and by extension the princesses of their households. Because she simply looked away and pouted.
This caused Bruno to sigh in exhaustion, while he focused his attention on the Kaiser’s other children, who he all had introduced themselves to Bruno and his family. The Kaiser had seven children in total, the youngest of which was his daughter.
The oldest of which was the Crown Prince who went by the same name as his father. Had the German monarchy retained power in Bruno’s previous life, then he would have eventually succeeded his father and become Kaiser Wilhelm III.
Unfortunately, Bruno did not come from such a timeline, and thus he was simply grateful to see that these historical figures were still in the position they were. Thus, when he greeted the Crown Prince, who had not been given the pleasure of an introduction at this point, he did so with an unusual smile on his face.
“Your highness, it is an honor to meet you at last. I’m afraid we have not crossed paths during my past few visits to your family’s home. I must say, I expect great things to come from you in the future. I look forward to observing the day of your coronation, though forgive me if I pray that is a distant future.”
Prince Wilhelm simply smiled and responded to Bruno’s praise as if it was overly lavish. After all, he really had not done anything yet to deserve such compliments. And he thought maybe Bruno was simply paying him patronage as the Crown Prince, not aware of why the man would actually look forward to his future reign as the Kaiser.
“You flatter me. I heard that was not a specialty of yours. Apparently, I have been misled. Even so, it would by no means be the same for me to speak of your accomplishments. My father speaks a great deal of praise of how you have conducted yourself so far throughout your military career.
If the man is to be believed, you are the second coming of Napoleon himself. I too, look forward to how you perform in the future.”
Bruno took slight offense at this remark. Not only because Napoleon was the Emperor of France, but also because the man had lost seven battles in his military career. Something Bruno did not intend to repeat, and thus he was quick to make this known, even though it was a bit arrogant on his behalf.
“Napoleon? Now I am afraid I must correct you there, your highness. You see, Napoleon may have been a brilliant commander in the field who accomplished far more than I have done thus far in this life. But Napoleon also lost Seven battles, the last of which ultimately spelled doom not only for his own reign but also his nation. God forbid I ever make such a blunder that costs me a single defeat, let alone seven of them.
No, in this life I aspire to be more like the legendary God King of Macedonia, Alexander III of the house Argead. More commonly referred to today as Alexander the Great. Should I accomplish one tenth of that man, then historians will be singing my praises for millennia to come.
Either way, I refuse to be defeated in warfare, as I do not believe there is a single man born in this turbulent era who is more adept at killing his enemies than I am. And if you disagree, how about you ask Lenin about his opinion on the matter?”
Lenin’s assassination was not officially conducted by Bruno’s hands. In fact, the authorities in Switzerland never actually identified who had shot the man in the head within that quaint Genevan Café. For Bruno to say this, it was an outright admission that he had conducted the extrajudicial killing of the Marxist revolutionary leader. And on neutral soil, no less.
It was an act that indeed caused both Kaiser Wilhelm II, who had suspected Bruno was at least partially responsible for the assassination, and the entire Royal Family of Prussia to open their eyes wide in surprised.
Of course, Bruno was quick to cover his own tracks, as he made a declaration that made his previous statement rather cryptic.
“I mean, I am the one who drove that fiend into hiding, where he was ultimately shot in broad daylight by some foul wretch of unknown origins. Deserved as his fate may have been, blatant murder in midday is never acceptable. Wouldn’t you agree?
Either way, without my victories in Russia, the bastard would probably be ruling over Russia right now. Instead, he now lies buried six feet in the Swiss soil. In time his name will be forgotten, and his legacy by those who do remember him will be one of failed revolution, and the chaos and suffering it had caused the Russian people to endure”
Bruno’s words had salvaged any “admission of guilt” he may have previously made. Even if everyone here was now fully aware that he was indeed the man who had shot Lenin in cold blood. Heidi immediately pouted, and made a move to salvage the situation, as the mood had gone stale.
She grabbed hold of Bruno’s hand in a “loving gesture” where she squeezed it abnormally tightly while stating something about wanting to learn about the ancient legacy of the Hohenzollern dynasty.
“Forgive me for my interruption, your majesty. But I’m afraid as a woman of common birth, I’m not as learned about the prestigious history of your family. Would it be too much to ask to have a brief tour of this amazing palace?”
Seeing how Heidi had taken the opportunity to salvage Bruno’s awkward admission of a rather gruesome topic, the Kaiser’s wife quickly latched onto the olive branch extended to her with delight.
“Of course, come with me. I will be happy to tell you all about the House of Hohenzollern and its distinguished history!”
Heidi called for her kids to follow after her, while shooting a glare at Bruno that told him to the shut the fuck up about such awkward topics and behave himself while she took this loss on his behalf. After which she followed after the Kaiser’s wife, who in turn was followed by her own children, leaving Kaiser Wilhelm alone with Bruno.
He didn’t make an overt statement about what Bruno had said, but rather simply sighed and shook his head while placing a firm hand on his shoulder.
“You are very lucky to have a woman so adept at socializing to be your wife…. Now how about we go grab a drink while the women and children have a proper introduction to one another?”
Bruno sighed and agreed with this statement. He had spent too much time in the trenches with soldiers, to the point where his conversational skills were a bit too blunt and grim for polite society. And he was only starting to realize that now as he accepted the Kaiser’s invitation.
“Gladly…”
After which, the Kaiser shot Bruno a rather excited grin as he finally made reference to Bruno’s admission. Shocking Bruno as he did so.
“And once we’re nice and drunk, you can tell me all about how you tracked that bastard Lenin down and ended his miserable existence! Or should I say theoretically how you would have done so had you been given the chance?”
Bruno couldn’t help but laugh as he followed the Kaiser into his private office where they broke out some high-quality distilled spirits and began to converse all about the Russian Civil War and the rather brutal actions Bruno had taken in the region to secure the House of Romanov and their divine right to rule over Russia.
