The air in Berlin was electric.
The war was not yet over, but already the Reich celebrated a victory centuries in the making.
From the Reichstag's marble balcony, Bruno von Zehntner stood alongside the Kaiser, his hands folded behind his back, bathed in the cold light of German dawn.
Below them, the masses roared, a sea of iron crosses, imperial banners, and black-white-red streamers that snapped in the wind like bayonets.
To the world, it was a moment of spectacle.
To Bruno, it was theater… necessary, immaculate, and final.
He did not speak first.
Wilhelm II, his chest armored beneath his ceremonial cuirass, raised his voice above the crowd.
"Today," the Kaiser declared, "France returns to its destiny, not as a republic founded in bloodshed, but as a kingdom restored in dignity."
A hush fell.
Bruno stepped forward, his voice carrying like a verdict.
