While Berengar was off in the New World overseeing a diplomatic mission with the Mohawk Tribe, and while Honoria was at sea, journeying back to the fatherland so that she could bring more men and supplies back to the outpost to ensure its long-term stability. There was a group of men gathered in the city of Antioch.
Decentius, Dalmatius, and a group of other conspirators who had engaged in a botched covert operation to assassinate the Byzantine Princess were standing around a table in a secluded room. Several heads that belonged to the freelance assassins who had made an attempt on Honoria's life were on this table.
These severed heads were cleaned out, and on their foreheads was the mark of the Austrian Crown. The delivery of these heads to the conspirators was a blatant act of aggression by Austrian Royal Intelligence. More importantly, it served as a reminder that Austria had its claws embedded in every Nation around the Mediterranean.