King of the Sea

Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Berengar did not beat around the bush; he quickly and efficiently explained his case against Lambert while his father looked over the materials.

"Over the past few months, I have been compiling evidence against Lambert and his treasonous activities. On three separate occasions, he had made attempts on my life, two of which nearly succeeded. He has been aided by the Count of Tyrol and other nobles within this domain. Ingbert was once one of his allies and can bear witness to such deeds. Linde, the eldest daughter of Count Lothar, can also bear witness to her father's schemes with Lambert to eliminate me, establish Lambert as the future Baron, and concede our family's vast resources to the Count of Tyrol! As for the death of the late Marshal, Arnulf here has suspicions that his father found out about Lambert's misdeeds and was permanently silenced by him and his allies!"

Sieghard was in shock when he saw such information, but the evidence did not lie; eventually after processing this information for several minutes Sieghard came to the conclusion that Lambert was guilty, even his own fiancee had turned against him and her father. The only problem is that he could not understand why. As such, he had to clarify with the young woman why she would betray her own family for Berengar's sake. The old Baron glared at Linde furiously as he suspected her of scheming against him and his family; there was a large possibility that this was all the plan of Lothar, or so he thought until he asked her for the reasons behind her actions and heard her reply.

"What do you stand to gain from betraying your father and fiancee?"

The young woman instantly blushed as Berengar's father cornered her; she gazed at Berengar for confirmation that she was allowed to speak before exhaling deeply and revealing the contents of her heart.

"I gain the security of my lover and the father of my child. Your son and heir Berengar..."

Sieghard seemed to be the only one shocked by this news, as everyone else within the room was already aware of her relationship with Berengar and the true nature of her child's parentage. This instantly made the old Baron furious as he began to yell at Linde with all his fury.

"You slept with both of my sons!?!"

Linde quickly defended herself as she shook her head and explained her situation.

"No! I have only ever been with Berengar; the night of his engagement ceremony, he instructed me to frame Lambert as the father to avoid suspicions; I was already pregnant at that point! I merely doused some goat blood on Lambert's bedding and laid down next to him. When he awoke from his drunken stupor I told him that we had slept together, but nothing occurred between the two of us. I swear on my life!"

Sieghard felt himself getting a headache as he heard all of this information; his two sons were scheming against one another behind his back all of this time. One had attempted to murder his older brother and usurp the inheritance, and the other had cuckolded his younger brother and impregnated his fiancee. At least, as far as Sieghard was concerned, Berengar's actions were far more forgivable considering what the boy had suffered at the hands of Lambert. Eventually, he looked at his loving wife for an explanation on how to deal with this awkward situation that had been forced upon him.

"What do I do with all of this information?"

Gisela spoke to her husband with a grave tone as she commanded him on how to deal with their errant children.

"Order Lambert to relinquish his claims to this land and to take up the vows of the Teutonic Order where he may redeem himself in the eyes of men and God through righteous crusade! As for Berengar's actions... conceal it!"

After much deliberation, Sieghard sighed deeply as he gave his decree

"Bring the boy to me..."

: You are no Son of Mine!

: You are no Son of Mine!

: You are no Son of Mine!

Lambert was in his room while reading a letter from the Bishop of Innsbruck about his request for the inquisition's interference, which the Vatican accepted. Within two weeks, the Inquisition would arrive and help him deal a devastating blow to his accursed elder brother. A wicked smile appeared across the boy's face as he read the letter. He had finally obtained the victory he desired, or so he thought. Just as he was about to light the evidence in his hands aflame with a candle, the door to his bedroom burst open, and the castle's guards pointed their muskets in the direction of in which he sat with their bayonet's affixed.

Immediately Lambert reacted by trying to finish the job of destroying the evidence, he had no idea why they had barged into his room, but clearly, he was in deep trouble and could not afford for such damning information to existing. When the guards saw his action of potentially destroying evidence, they quickly apprehended the boy before he could succeed. Thus obtaining the letter as further evidence of his crimes and the depth of the conspiracy against the von Kufstein family.

Lambert struggled out of the grasp of the burly soldiers, but it was no use; there were too many of them pinning him down and placing chains around his limbs. As such, he cursed them as his face grew red with fury.

"What are you bastards doing? Have you forgotten the family in which you serve? I will have your heads for this!"

Instead, he was roughly dragged up to his feet and was placed before the captain of the guard, who backhanded Lambert violently for his vile tongue.

"The Baron has ordered us to carry out your arrest under the suspicion of assassination, attempted fratricide, and treason against the realm!"

Lambert's heart sank into an endless abyss as he heard those words. He realized at that moment Berengar had been one step ahead of him; for his father to order the boy's arrest, Berengar must have presented substantial evidence, though he had no idea how that scoundrel had managed to acquire it.

Lambert merely lashed out verbally at the guards when he was viciously escorted to the Great Hall, where Sieghard, Berengar, and the others were waiting for his arrival.

"You f*****g bastards! When I come to power, I will have you and your families brutally tortured to death for such treasonous activity!"

The boy could not accept such an outcome had occurred to him while he was merely two weeks away from the arrival of the Inquisition and their investigation into Berengar's heresy. He was so close to winning this war, but instead, he was brought down on the edge of victory. Lambert nearly had a heart attack when he witnessed not only Ser Ingbert but Arnulf and his fiancee Linde standing by Berengar's side acting as his witnesses. He could not believe that so many of his allies had turned against him, especially that b***h Linde. She truly was having carnal relations with his brother behind his back! However, he put on a facade and acted as if he was ignorant of the charges he was facing.

After the guards forced him to kneel in front of his father, the Baron, who stared at him with a look of disgust, the boy desperately attempted to explain his way out of the precarious situation he found himself in.

"Father, what is the meaning of this?"

Sieghard glared at his second son; the boy was still putting on an act even after all of the evidence that had been accumulated. The captain of the guard approached Sieghard and handed him the letter they had confiscated from Lambert.

"My Lord, your son Lambert was in the middle of attempting to destroy evidence of his crimes. If you read the letter, it very clearly states yet another attempt on Berengar's life by falsifying crimes of Heresy and Blasphemy and requesting the inquisition's interference."

Lambert was immediately frightened when he realized that the guards had caught him red-handed and began to swell up in tears as his father screamed at him with a degree of rage the boy had never witnessed before.

"You would bring the might of the inquisition down upon my house? My son? Your brother!?! For what? Because you desire my position, which is your brother's by birthright!?! Do you have any remorse for your deeds whatsoever!?!"

By now Lambert was putting on a convincing display of crocodile tears which he choked back as he tried to plead with his father about his innocence.

"I am being framed! It is Berengar who is the wicked one! He stole my fiancee and now plots to have me removed so he can keep her to himself."

Sieghard nearly snorted at the boy's response. Could the boy seriously not come up with a better excuse than that? On the other hand, Adela was present to witness the scene and was shocked by the whole development. She had no idea the two brothers' schemes were this ruthless, and the accusation of Berengar stealing Linde was particularly worrisome for her. Linde who noticed the young girl's presence denied this accusation.

Though she desperately wanted to shove her affair with Berengar in Lambert's face, the family had already decided to conceal the truth, and thus she could not reveal it in public. Either way, Lambert would be removed from this day forth, and she would no longer have to marry the little blaggard. Instead, she denied the accusations with a convincing display as she too conjured tears to make it appear as if she was heartbroken by her fiance's words.

"You bastard! I gave you my chastity, and you accuse me of having an affair with your brother! What kind of woman do you think I am!"

When Adela heard those words, she sighed in relief; surely Berengar would not do such a horrible thing. Lambert, on the other hand, was on th edge of having an aneurysm from the degree of fury in which had built up inside of him. He struggled desperately in his chains to break free of the guard's grasp and attack the woman. However, the moment he lunged at her he was brought down by the guardsman and pinned to the ground in front of the woman he once thought he loved. Staring at her with a murderous gaze he spat out a curse upon her.

"You f*****g w***e! You not only have an affair with my brother, but you also turn me into my family, and you still have the gall to deny it? I hope there is a special place in hell for you and your bastard child!"

Suddenly a loud noise echoed throughout the hall; it was the sound of Sieghard furiously pounding his fist on the armrest of his seat of power before declaring his verdict.

"Enough! Lambert, after seeing the evidence for myself, I Baron Sieghard von Kufstein find you guilty of all charges and convict you of assassination, attempted fratricide, and treason. I hereby disown you from my family and order you to take the vows of the Teutonic Order. Perhaps you can redeem yourself in the eyes of God by spending the rest of your life in a righteous crusade! Guards, have this wicked child taken away to the Teutonic State!"