Chapter 332: Introduction of Russian Armor Part I
Tsar Nicholas II stood within the hallowed steps of his family’s luxurious palace. He was dressed in full ceremonial regalia, as he gazed upon the painting commissioned by one of his court artisans. The piece depicted Bruno in almost saintlike light.
Wearing his Russian Field Marshal uniform with full honors, which he had been granted, Bruno was clutching a Fedorov Avtomat to one arm while holding a Russian Orthodox bible within the same hand which the rifle was shouldered.
As for his free hand, it was held up in a religious position with Orthodox prayer beads dangling from it. The aura of light raining down on him, and the saintly circle behind his head did little to hide the fact of the veneration which the house of Romanov had to their great protector.
Passing by the painting which Nicholas was inspecting with a satisfied smirk on his face was his youngest daughter, Anastasia. The painting depicted Bruno in his younger years, as he was when he first met the Russian Tsar.
And Anastasia was just a little girl back then, barely able to remember the sight of the Red Scourge who had devastated the Bolshevik Party and their other Marxist allies in a brutal civil war of extermination.
Even so, she knew exactly who Bruno was, not only from the handful of times she had met him since, but as well as the fact that his face was constantly in the papers.
However, most notable of all was the fact that while she was growing up beside her oldest sister, the girl was constantly gushing on about the man, and even secretly wore a necklace which concealed a photo inside of it for many years.
Anastasia’s remarks on the painting, which was photorealistic, and depicted a much younger version of Bruno displayed her shock at how little he had aged over the years.
"Father, is that really how he appeared all those years ago during the war? I saw his appearance in the paper last week. He does not look a decade older in the slightest?"
Nicholas sighed before glancing towards his daughter with a stern gaze. He was quick to lay down the law with her as he had failed to do with Olga years prior.