Chapter 123: The Prince and His Wife
While Bruno was speaking with the Tsar in private about his military modernization efforts, Heidi was off speaking with the Tsar's wife. The two of them, oddly enough, hit it off, or at least as well as two women can upon first meeting each other.
And because of this, they were quite friendly to one another by the time Bruno and Nicohlas emerged from their private discussion. Both Bruno and the Tsar were surprised to see how friendly the two women were being, and because of this, Bruno was quick to make a remark about it.
"And here I thought you were fundamentally incapable of making friends... I'm surprised that even after all these years being married, there are still parts of you I don't understand."
Truthfully speaking, Bruno wasn't aware that Heidi was actually on good terms with the distant members of her family. And had a close friendship with a mediatized princess within the German Reich. One who she commonly spoke with while Bruno was away.
Because of this, Heidi simply laughed and made a remark that caused Bruno to become curious, as he did not know whether the woman was joking or being serious.
"There is a lot you don't know about me, my love. Did you seriously think that for all the years we have been together, even during our childhood, that you were my only friend?"
This was a rather shocking remark, as Bruno had indeed operated under the assumption that he was the only friend that his wife had when they were children. But when he really thought about it, he had only seen her once a month, or perhaps on rare occasions once every two weeks. It was not like he had seen the girl every day throughout his childhood.
There was perhaps a possibility that she had friends, but if that were the case, why had they not attended their wedding? Or at the very least send wedding gifts? The reality was that Heidi's relationship with the other half of her family's dynasty was rather complicated, and they could not openly be seen with her, at least in any formal setting.
She was, after all, an eyesore in the eyes of some very powerful people. People whose royal titles actually held significance, rather than just mere words granted to satisfy those who had lost their lands in the previous century to annexation.
Because of this, Bruno was trying to think through all the things he potentially did not understand about his wife. Meanwhile, the Tsarina spoke to her husband about her newest friend.