Re: Blood and Iron

Bruno sat in his temporary study within Bran Castle. While operations were going on within Luxembourg that had the potential to change the course of the war permanently, he was busy overseeing his daily tasks required with ruling over Transylvania.

Doing his best to overhaul everything he could so that the people of Transylvania would be in a better place after his reign came to an end than they were when he received it. Ideally, that should be the goal of every monarch.

Create a better country than you received from your parents. But humans were flawed, deeply flawed, one might add. And it was because of this that even the best of intentioned human beings often found themselves being led astray from their initial ambitions and ultimately losing sight of the greater picture.

But Bruno was a man free from such temptations, he had after all already suffered in death. He was on his second life, and he knew what the future held in store for humanity. He was far more afraid of dying before he could restore the weave of fate to this world than he was of death itself.

And thus, mortal temptations that would otherwise lead other monarchs astray held no power over him. He was a man dedicated to the greater picture. And because of this, his mentality was never flawed. Frankly speaking, Transylvania had not been his responsibility, nor concern.

That is until it was bequeathed to him and his family by the Austro-Hungarian Emperor, as more or less their own personal fiefdom. The moment that occurred he had every much of an obligation to the nearly 8 million people who lived in Transylvania as he did the tens of millions who resided within the German Reich.

Thus, he adopted the mentality that he believed monarchs ought to have when ruling over Transylvania, no matter how long the reign of his house over its lands may be. It could theoretically last until the end of the war, it could last a few decades until when Austro-Hungary inevitably collapsed on the weight of itself.

Or it could last centuries. Either way, all he could really do was try to improve what already existed, and build anew what he could with the time he was given however long that may be. Thus he was hard at work, free from the worries and stress of what was otherwise happening with in the world, and especially its ongoing Great War.

After all, communicating with a man who was living a far more primitive lifestyle was difficult to say the least. Actual letters needed to be delivered to him by hand and returned to the sender with one of his own. Hence why he did not learn of Paul von Hindenburg’s plans until Heidi entered the room and handed him the letter from the local postman.

"This has been addressed to you with some urgency from your friend Heinrich… I believe it would be wise to open it sooner rather than later, my love…"

Bruno nodded his head and thanked his wife before dismissing her. And once she had closed the door behind her exit, he pulled out his boot knife, which was his own pathfinder knife from the days as the commander of the Iron Division, where he was quick to use its edge as a letter opener.