Chapter 169: An Unfortunate Chain of Misunderstandings
It did not take long for Bruno to find himself greeted by some familiar faces-faces he had not seen in more than a couple of years. By his count, it was close to five years since he had seen these people.
In such a large and magnificent palace, it was not uncommon for the entire extended royal family to dwell within it or at least gather very often. Japan was no exception, with the Emperor's sons, daughters, and grandchildren all living within his personal abode.
At the same time, whatever siblings and children he had were also present, probably as a show that he valued Bruno as a representative of his most powerful ally. Bruno spoke with various members of the Emperor's family, all of whom were as pleasant to him as they had been when he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun all those years ago for his actions at Port Arthur.
More or less, he remembered the faces he saw, especially the adults, as they had not changed all that much in a mere four to five years. However, there was one person he did not recognize as he greeted the Japanese Royal Family for the second time in his life.
Frankly speaking, the transformation was far too much for Bruno, who had not seen her since she was a little girl, to fully comprehend. This was a girl who did not exist in his past life. After all, her father was one of Emperor Meiji's sons, who had died in Bruno's previous life during childhood.
It was because of this and other small changes that were different from the history he knew from his past life that Bruno was aware that while this world was nearly identical to the one, he had once lived in, it was not a perfect 1:1 scale replica.
After all, this teenage girl was most certainly proof of this. Bruno had not recognized who this girl was, as his memory of her was brief, and she was roughly ten years old at the time they first met. Instead, he bowed respectfully before her and introduced himself as if they were unacquainted prior to this moment.
"My apologies, Princess; we must have missed each other during my last visit. My name is Lord Bruno von Zehntner, Generaloberst of the German Army. It would be my highest honor if I could learn your identity."
Bruno was stunned when the teenage girl looked at him with fury in her eyes before shifting her head and line of sight away from him entirely. She quickly began to pout and cross her arms as she responded to him with Bruno's alternative identity.
"Well, Prince Zehntner, it appears you didn't get a good enough impression of me when we last met. And here I was, dying to meet with you again after all these years, yet you clearly didn't once think of me!"