While Bruno was away at war, and waiting for a response from the Bulgarian Government for potential military access through their southern borders. Heidi received an unexpected visitor.
Archduchess Hedwig von Habsburg came to Berlin to visit the wife of the man who she once had a crush on when she was younger. Her reason was obviously not to speak with Bruno, but rather Heidi.
In the past, the woman would have had reservations about being alone in a room with one of her husband’s many fangirls, but she had long sensed moved on from the past, and her previous possessive jealousy.
Instead, she ensured that tea and cookies were properly prepared for her most royal guest, and sat across from the girl who had grown up into a beautiful young woman with a smile on her own flawless face.
Despite entering her mid-thirties, Heidi remained unblemished from age, or the stresses of lie that one endured on a daily basis. So much so that even Hedwig appeared slightly jealous, as this was the first time she had seen the woman in years, and it had appeared as if she had hardly aged.
After several moments of small talk, the Archduchess of Austria was quick to make her reason for visiting known.
“Let me be frank with you, Princess von Zehntner… My father intends to thoroughly reward your husband for his victory over Serbia, and the justice he gave to the usurper King Peter I and his family of fiends.”
Heidi had more or less an inkling of the reward that Franz Joseph had planned for Bruno. Though rewarding officers with titles of nobility had fallen out of fashion in Austria during the later years of the preceding century. It was not impossible to do so.
Certain orders and medals would once grant a man and his family the title of Count at the highest. But it remained within the Austrian Emperors’ sole discretion on whether or not he rewarded a man with a noble title of any kind.
There was no requirement other than his will in this regard. And though it had been some time since this was enacted, Bruno’s absolute victory over the Serbians, which not only avenged Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie but also saw the capitulation and annexation of Serbia into the Austro-Hungarian Empire was a feat worthy of Austria’s highest honors.
He had done so in less than half a year, and with minimal casualties. It was an extraordinary feat, and everyone knew Bruno alone was responsible for all of this, which aided the Habsburgs massively.
As a result, there was really only one award Bruno was worthy of, especially when the Habsburgs wanted to drag the man closer to them, and away from the Romanovs who were the first Royal family to really go out of their way to establish permanent ties with Bruno.
And Heidi was quick to announce that she was already aware of this reality with a rather conceited smirk on her face.
“Your grandfather intends to make my husband a Prince in Austria, is that correct?”
Hedwig was of course confused about what Heidi had said, not because it was correct, or how she had gotten this information, but because while incorrect, it was close to the truth, which she was quick to announce.
“What? No… My grandfather intends to name your husband the new Grand Prince of Transylvania…”
Heidi damn near spit out her drink upon hearing this, and was forced to swallow it. In doing so, she began to cough heavily until she finally recovered from her astonished state. Where she instantly screamed at the Archduchess in a tone so shrill it damn near cracked the windows in the house.
“Grand Prince of Transylvania!?!”
Hedwig did not appear the least bit wounded by the heighten tone in Heidi’s shocked tone, and instead smugly smiled back at the woman as she drank from her tea. Grand Prince was a title more or less just below that of the King of Hungary. Which was one of two titles the head of the Habsburg Dynasty held.
In Russia, Prince was the highest term for nobility, unrelated to the House of Romanov, and it was what the Tsar had given Bruno. But it was an unlanded title, one that was primarily ceremonial, other than the social privileges it gave Bruno and his family.
Grand Prince was more or less the same in Hungary, it was a title just below the King of Hungary which was currently Franz Joseph I who was also the Archduke of Austria, and the Austro-Hungarian Emperor.
But this also meant that should Bruno desire, he could become the acting governor of Transylvania, as the region was more or less his personal domain. At the same time, he could allow the governance to continue as it currently stood, and instead retain a far more ceremonial title, like he held in Russia.
This was, of course, assuming that the young Archduchess of Austria was speaking truthfully. However, before Heidi could properly wrap her head around all of this, Hedwig clarified that Bruno had earned a few more decorations on top of this overwhelming honor.
“I should also mention that my grandfather intends to reward Bruno with the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary, The Commander’s Cross of the Military Order of Theresa, and the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Leopold, with war decoration and swords. He also intends to award your husband with the Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with War Decoration and Swords, and the Golden Cross of Merit with the Crown and swords. As you can see, my grandfather is going all out to celebrate the victory that Bruno has given us.
If you would permit me to speak honestly, I’m fairly certain this is my grandfather’s way to ensure that should Russia and Austro-Hungary ever come to blows after this war is over, your husband won’t be pressured into choosing one side over the other.
He has, after all, demonstrated an absolutely frightening ability to wage war. One which I genuinely believe we would be ill suited to go up against as adversaries.”
Though Hedwig continued to speak, Heidi honestly didn’t hear any word of it. Because she had been completely stunned by the revelation that their family were now going to be Grand Princes in Hungary.
Princes in Russia, and Grand Princes in Hungary…. It was starting to become far too much for her bastard mind to handle.
