Chapter 105: A Broken Betrothal

Adela von Graz was currently standing in the center of the Great Hall of her family's house with tears in her eyes as she argued with her elder brother Gerhart von Graz. Gerhart was a young man on the verge of his twenties and, as such, was a couple of years younger than Berengar. Being cousins, the young men shared some striking similarities in appearance; they both had a refined and regal appearance being the personification of the ideal prince charming in the eyes of many young girls. They were both tall and lean while still being muscular, and they both had glamorous golden blonde hair. However, Gerhart's hair was much longer than Berengar's and was not slicked back; Gerhart, however, had his father's emerald eyes.

If one were to state what Gerhart's relationship with Adela was, it was that of an extremely over-protective big brother, to the point where many would label him a sis-con. He had never been fond of Adela's engagement to Berengar and had voiced his concerns to his father many times. The grudge between the two cousins goes back well over a decade when they were small children and had only grown over time. Until a year ago, Berengar was considered a sickly, indolent, pompous twit incapable of accomplishing anything significant in life. However, when this changed practically overnight, and Berengar started becoming exemplary, Gerhart greatly approved of his transformation.

Of course, his approval always coincided with his contempt; after all, he did not want to hand his little sister over to any man, let alone Berengar. As such, it was not long before he began to detest Berengar once more. Berengar had made many bold actions that did not sit well with a devout catholic like Gerhart. Berengar's open defiance of the church, his spread of heresy, and his execution of the Inquisitors was a far bigger deal to Gerhart than any other members of his family.

Berengar's legal reforms which spat in the face of the old nobility, also managed to invoke the ire of the young Regent. Still, all of those paled in comparison to Berengar's most recent revelation, which had crossed Gerhart's bottom line and made him have a great sense of disdain for his cousin. Berengar's public declaration that Linde's bastard child was his own son etched a deep sense of hatred into Gerhart's bones. Yet despite all of this, Adela had continued to support Berengar; Gerhart could not imagine what sorcery Berengar had played to control his precious little sister's mind to the point where she had defended his scandalous actions and continued to support the idea of marrying the scoundrel.

Ultimately, there was nothing he could do about the matter because it was an agreement his father continued to support until now. Gerhart and Adela's father had recently been called to arms and were marching toward Bavaria with his armies. Leaving Gerhart in charge of his family's lands. As Regent, the first action he decided upon was to rescind the engagement between Berengar and Adela. Something which greatly upset the young teenage girl. Currently, she was pleading with her elder brother to honor the arrangement with tears in her eyes.

"You can not do this! Just because you are regent does not mean you can go against father's wishes and end my engagement with Berengar!"

Enraged by Adela's insistence on supporting that womanizing rogue who was their cousin, Gerhart screamed from atop the seat of power in Steiermark as he tried to get his little sister to see reason.

"He has openly cheated on you with his little brother's fiancee, they have a child together, and yet he still intends to marry you and not the mother of his son! Why can you not see that he is a terrible person! He is completely and utterly unfit to take your hand in marriage!"

Adela had never been so angry before in her life, her eldest brother's insistence on ending her betrothal was an obsession at this point, and she could not understand why he was so consumed with the idea. She curled her little hands into fists as she shouted at the top of her lungs.

"You are not my father, and you are most certainly not the Count of Steiermark! You have no authority to do such a thing!"

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Gerhart was on the edge of his seat with rage; he could not tell what spell Berengar had cast upon his little sister to make her so rebellious against her own flesh and blood. Then again, Berengar was also her own flesh and blood, but that was far more distant. The important matter at hand was that he had already made his decision, and as Regent, he felt as if it was in his authority to terminate the agreement.

"It is already done; I have sent a letter to that bastard informing him that he is not getting his hands on my precious little sister! Now I do not want you speaking to that villain ever again. Do you understand me?"

Adela was so angry at Gerhart that she had blurted out her inner thoughts, which greatly wounded the man's pride as a borderline sis-con.

"Fuck you! I wish I did not have a shitty brother like you!"

With that, Adela stormed off to her room, where she laid face down upon her bed and cried her tears into her pillow. She could not believe her relationship with Berengar had come to an end just like that. She sincerely hoped that Berengar would not resort to rash actions, like invading her family's lands to take her hand in marriage forcefully. The more she thought about such a possibility, the more she prayed that Berengar would beat some sense into her crazy older brother. As for how Berengar would react to the news that his cousin Gerhart had broken his betrothal to Adela? Only time would tell. After all, he was the type of man who was not afraid to flex his muscle to get what he wanted. Ultimately count Otto's response to Gerhart's actions would determine how Berengar reacted to the situation.