Re: Blood and Iron

Chapter 223: Acting Man of the House



Aside from the influx of wounded men heading on trains towards hospitals safely behind enemy lines, the Reich was more or less operating similarly to how it had been during a time of peace. Or at least as far as everyday life was concerned for civilians.

The war was going smoothly so far for the Imperial Powers, and why wouldn't it be? They had prepared for many years for this conflict and had prepared in ways that were most appropriate. If there was one thing Bruno was most concerned about, it was the fact that he was not an active part of his children's lives at this point.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

All he could do was send them letters from the front whenever he had the time to do so and the means to transport them back to the fatherland. And because of this, his older children, who were entering their teenage years, were, for the most part, left without a father to properly guide them through this critical period of their development.

Eva, in particular, had a hard time, as she received word constantly from the girls in her school of their brothers coming back from the war wounded or, worse, in body bags. At least half of her class had at least one member of their family who had been affected by the ongoing global conflict, and because of this, the young teenage girl was quite worried about her father's safety.

In addition to this, as the eldest child, Eva was more often than not aiding her mother, performing the role of her father by helping to be a second parent for her younger siblings. If it were just Heidi, her, Erwin, and Bruno, things would have been easier.

But over the course of the last four years, since Heidi and Bruno first decided they wanted to have more kids, they had produced as many children as solar rotations that had occurred. This meant Heidi and Bruno were currently at seven children, Eva being the oldest, Erwin being the second oldest, and Elsa being the third.

However, currently, Eva was home from school, taking the day off as her mother had work affairs to tend to. Could Heidi have left the raising of her children up to their villa's staff? Most certainly. Would she ever let her children run wild without the supervision of at least one von Zehntner being present? Like hell!

Because of this, Eva was home, looking after her younger brothers. Of the second crop of four children, three had been born sons, and one had been born a daughter, who was the current youngest of all of Bruno and Heidi's kids.

Currently, Eva was smacking the face of the eldest of the three younger boys, Josef, while scolding him for running around with mud all over his feet. His actions, of course, inspired his two younger brothers to do the same, causing a massive mess to appear.

"Josef, Heinrich, and Wilhelm! I swear to God in heaven that if you don't take off your muddy shoes right now, there will be hell to pay when Mother comes home!"

With his face having just been slapped with a wooden spoon by his eldest sister, Josef immediately began to pout and cry, throwing the tantrum of a lifetime as he stomped his muddy shoes all over the carpet.

To say Eva had enough of her little brothers' collective shit was the understatement of a lifetime, and her face turned stern as she was just about to curse them in the most unladylike and reprehensible way possible.

Luckily for her, Erwin stepped into the room and saw the massive mess, having just returned home from the academy as he witnessed what his younger brothers had done, cursing up a storm as if he were a soldier in the trenches as he did so.

"Oi! You little fucking shits! Did you create this fucking mess?! You better answer me when I'm asking you a goddamn fucking question, or I swear to Christ I will fucking tell the old man all about this matter when he gets home from the Balkans! And you know how that miserable old bastard handles things!"

Eva misunderstood which parent her brothers feared, which was the opposite of her and her sisters. While Heidi was especially strict and tyrannical with her little girls, her sons she did nothing but dote upon. And the opposite could be said about Bruno.

Hence why she didn't threaten the younger boys with their father's fury, as the man had seldom shown such a fierce side to her or her sisters. Thus she was slightly surprised when the young trio stripped off their shoes and socks before snapping to attention and bowing their heads with a formal apology.

"Please forgive us!"

Of course, Erwin knew exactly the punishment their father would have in store for him had he done something so outrageous, and because of this, he instantly gave the three young boys a list of chores to conclude, of which only Josef was remotely old enough to handle the most minute of tasks without proper help from the family's staff.

"You little brats are going to be cleaning up the mess you made, and I don't care how long it takes you. If I hear for a moment that you slack off and force the maids to do the majority of the work, I will have you paint the manor's fucking walls!"

Alya just so happened to be walking in when watching Erwin scold his little brothers, as if he was channeling the energy of his absent father, causing her to chuckle at the sight of the young teenage boy struggling to emulate the behavior of a proper mature adult.

She walked up behind Erwin and petted his golden hair while mocking him in front of his siblings, something which Eva found to be utterly distasteful from her older god-sister. "There, there, little man, don't be too harsh on the little tykes. They are just children, after all; they probably don't even know any better. Tell you what, how about you and I help them out so we don't make a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be?"

Erwin's cheeks turned slightly rosy as he looked away from his older fiancée, too embarrassed to say a word. Meanwhile, Eva instantly clenched her fists and pouted, interrupting her younger brother before he could agree to Alya's request by latching onto his arm and dragging him off.

"I'm sorry, Alya, but Erwin promised to help me with something today! If you want to help the little brats clean up the mess they made, you can do so yourself! Come on, Erwin!"

Erwin was at a loss for words. He had no recollection of making such a promise to his older sister and even questioned her as he was forcefully dragged off by the girl.

"Wait, Eva! Hold on!"

Alya simply pressed the palm of her hand to her cheek and commented on the whole ordeal rather fondly, which only caused Eva to pout and stick her tongue out at the younger woman as she rounded the corner with Erwin.

"Oh my, isn't that adorable... She's so jealous!"