Seeing as how his older brother Christoph had seen through his intentions, Bruno could only sigh and sip on the drink that he had ordered at the restaurant while waiting for the man to arrive. After which his gaze seemed more determined as he asked the favor which he had in mind when he initially set up this meeting.
“I see you already have some suspicions as to why I have called you here. Fine, I’ll come right out and say it, since that is what you desire. I want you to use your influence in the family to make sure those little shits behave themselves around my wife and kids.
You know the ones I am talking about. Those brothers of mine, and their little brats who just love making things difficult for my family for no reason other than because of their petty jealousy.”
Christoph couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard Bruno’s words. Despite being the youngest of the brothers, Bruno had always been oddly mature, more than the rest of them. In fact, Christoph himself was over ten years older than Bruno.
But that was not all that surprising since their mother had married their father when she was a teenager, and had begun having kids almost immediately. By the time the woman gave birth to Bruno, who was the last of her kids, she was already roughly thirty.
Despite this massive age gap, Christoph suspected Bruno was still the most mature of the siblings. And because of that, the baby brother commonly talked down to several of his elder brothers as if they were mere children compared to himself.
It was something which Christoph had always found curious and amusing. And besides, he too thought that several of his brothers were being childish by picking on Bruno and his family, simply because they were jealous of the young man’s achievements.
Even so, despite the friendliness between the two brothers, Christoph would not make a move to shield Heidi and her kids from criticism. Not only from Bruno’s brothers, but his cousins as well. At least not without certain benefits. And with this in mind, he wore a mischievous smirk while making an equally snarky comment.
“So the Wolf of Prussia still fears the pack? How amusing, well little brother, I can certainly keep our siblings and those little cousins of ours in check. But why should I? You know the rules of our family as well as anyone else. We are all men now, and any business we might have must be settled as such. You are no longer mother’s little baby boy, who she can favor above all the rest.
Still, I suppose coming to me and using my influence over the others to shield that bastard wife of yours, and your children from needless insults is in a way of handling your business. But as a matter of business, I should at least gain something in return for my effort, should I not?”
Bruno’s eyes narrowed when he heard Christoph refer to his wife by the term bastard. While she may have been born into such a status. But by all legal rights, she was now a noble lady having married into the von Zehntner family. And any statement otherwise was an easy way to provoke the woman’s husband.
However, this was Christoph’s way of saying with a single word that as much as he may be friendly to Bruno when compared to how his other brothers treated him, he would not needlessly take Bruno’s side unless the man could provide him with some tangible benefits in return.
In response to this, Bruno was quick to narrow his eyes towards his older brother and the man’s unscrupulous behavior. There was a fearsome gaze within them that Christoph found quite intimidating. When Bruno spoke, his words were cold as ice, almost as if the temperature had dropped when he spoke them.
“As you are aware, I have served in two separate wars. But I’m curious. Do you know what the difference was between China and Manchuria, my dear brother?”
This was an unusual tangent, considering they were previously talking about the family and its affairs. What exactly did the Boxer Rebellion and the Russo-Japanese war have to do with the current discussion? Such were the thoughts in Christoph’s mind, and thus it was only natural that he tried to figure out where exactly Bruno was going with this line of thinking. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure-”
However, before he could continue, Christoph was cut off by Bruno’s whose gaze and tone became even more grave as he demanded an answer to his question.
“Just answer the question, brother…”
Christoph thought about it for a moment, but honestly couldn’t understand. He was, after all, a veteran of the Army, but had only ever served in a time of peace. Because of this, he was quick to admit defeat.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you enlighten me little brother?”
Bruno’s eyes never left that of his older brothers, even as he stirred his coffee with a spoon and drank from it before answering the question.
“In China, it wasn’t exactly what you would call a war. I mean, by the time I had arrived in the region the majority of the fighting had long since been concluded. The battles which I took part in were small, at least relatively so. At most all I did was run patrols, and on occasion fight a few insurgents, many of which weren’t even armed with modern weapons.
It was a rather simple affair. Almost the same as it would be if I were to have been hunting down savages south of the Sahara. Under my command, in China, not a single soldier lost his life. There were a few minor injuries here and there, but no fatalities, and nothing that could be considered crippling in nature.
But Manchuria. Well… Manchuria taught me what a true war is really like. At Port Arthur, I led tens of thousands of men into battle. Many of which lost their lives to machine gun fire and artillery alike. Hell, I damn near died myself several times over.
Mukden however was different. We barely engaged the enemy, just long enough to trick them into becoming encircled by our forces. After we had achieved this, we spent the next ten days and ten nights bombarding them nonstop. On the 11th day… Well let’s just say that I learned a very valuable lesson from that experience.
In that war, I learned that the noble family you were born into, and the rank you have achieved in your career. Well, none of that is actually important. I mean a noble general dies just as easily as a lowborn private, right? No, all that really matters in the end is who remains when the guns have stopped firing.
I think you misunderstood my intentions when I sought your help, brother. I did not come here out of a sense of fear towards my brothers, or the words they would use to mock me and my family behind our backs, as if we are not capable of hearing such poison being whispered
in our direction.
Rather, I came to you out of fear of how I might retaliate. Because after Manchuria, I suddenly find myself lacking the patience required to deal with lesser men and their petty insults.
I have eight older brothers, all of which I love very much. But, should they speak ill of me or my family again, then I wonder in the end how many of us will remain to compete for our father’s inheritance…. Do you understand what I am saying, brother?”
After saying this, Bruno did not say another word. He finished his coffee and left some cash on the table to cover his order. Having done this, he simply walked away, not giving Christoph another moment of his attention.
As for the second eldest son of the von Zehntner family, he was sweating bullets. Had his youngest brother seriously just threatened to eliminate him and his siblings should they insult his wife and children as they had done for so many years?
Had he absolutely lost his mind? Were such petty matters really worth assassinating your own family over? If it were any of his other siblings, Christoph would have taken this as a poor attempt at intimidation. But there was something in Bruno’s eyes that was different than they
had been in the past.
Bruno seemed wholly capable of fulfilling this threat. In centuries past, it was not uncommon for noble scions to kill their brothers in secret for a chance to obtain the inheritance. But this was no longer the medieval ages where such things were commonly carried out in secrecy. This was a more refined and civilized era. And yet, Christoph sensed no civility from Bruno. If provoked, he was not afraid to kill, even those who shared the same blood as him. The war in Manchuria had changed him.
And because of this, he was no longer willing to tolerate insults to his honor, or that of his family, for the sake of maintaining the peace. Rather, Bruno was now more than willing to actively wage war against anyone who dared to show such disrespect to him and his loved ones. No matter who they may be. Or what it might do to his public image.