Herald of Steel

“….if I thought you were of low blood, I would not have given my granddaughters even if you were the emperor of the world ten times over.”

The blue blooded aristocrat made this statement with great pride and arrogance, his eyes filled with great disdain. The words also helped Alexander clear up much of his earlier confusion regarding the old man’s swift and ready consent.

Lady Inayah and Seelima had foretold of greater resistance but it seemed this had been offset by Pasha Farzah’s appreciation for Alexander.

Hearing the words, the boy also did not feel offended.

Rather, lightly smirking, he chuckled, “I am truly lucky to have such an erudite ally, Lord Pasha. Very few in the country would have the wisdom to look past my outward status and determine me by my worth. Truly, as expected of the richest and most powerful man in Adhania, thank you for looking past all my shortcomings.”

“Snort,” The Pasha Farzah only gave an imperious snort, before turning his head away and becoming silent.

He would not bother to respond to such obvious flattery.

Although as much as the old man tried to, Alexander thought he saw his lips curving up by the tiniest bit, thus ultimately failing to hide his happiness.

And it was not hard to guess why.

Alexander was a formidable man who had demonstrated immense military and administrative powers. Receiving such humble words from him, Pasha Farzah hence felt honored even though he was almost three times older.

In fact, even the matter of bloodline was actually exaggerated by the elderly lord.

Pasha Farzah said this simply because as an aging man, he was bitter at the thought of losing his granddaughters.

And given Alexander’s current station, Pasha Farzah would have seriously considered the offer even if he was brought up in a less than stellar family.

While seeing the old man’s reaction, Alexander continued to rub some more of that soothing oil on his future grandfather in law, highlighting many of Pasha Farzah’s earlier accomplishments, as well as promising to search for his parents as best as he could.

Finally, once he felt the target was sufficiently softened, Alexander with a slightly slanting look subtly mused, “But my lord, I am surprised you did not wait to hear about Azura’s father’s thoughts on the matter. Or even the uncle’s. Do you wish them to know only later?”

“….” The words instantly made Pasha Farzah turn silent, his lit face suddenly darkening. This was because Alexander had really hit where it hurt.

In Adhanian culture, the well being and guardianship of a girl belonged to her parental family- so her father, then her brothers, then her paternal grandfather and lastly her uncles. The maternal family had no rights here.

Thus technically, Pasha Farzah lacked any legal authority to agree or even deny Alexander’s proposal.

And if Alexander and the twins were to get married without the blessings of the father- Amenheraft, they would be committing gross adultery in the eyes of the laws and Ramuh faith.

This would have great social as well as political implications as all children born from them would be considered illegitimate, officially lacking any status.

“Snort, just make sure you do what I told you, I will ready the poison for you.” Pasha Farzah did not stay to explain how they were going to get around this, but imperiously strode out with this short instruction, shown off by the three attending ladies.

Then, as they returned, they found Alexander to be slightly lost in thought, rubbing his chin with a complex look in his eyes,

‘You want me to cook the rice with the twins tonight… so that even if they find out, Amenheraft or Ptolomy cannot stick their noses? Hmmmpp… you are more decisive than I thought.’

Alexander said this because as already iterated earlier, such acts before marriage were never condoned. So although it did not look like, it had actually taken a great deal out of Pasha Farzah to sanction such an immoral act.

In addition to this, Alexander also keenly noticed Pasha Farzah dodging matters about his own family such as skipping talks about Mirzah. He had tried to bait the old man into revealing something when they were discussing how they were going to attack Bahu, but the experienced lord had pretended to change the topic every single time, using one excuse after the other.

The reason was- Pasha Farzah was not keen to air his family’s dirty laundry in front of a kid like Alexander, feeling embarrassed.

‘It seems this is another problem I will have to solve! Tsk, I really should not have came to this hellhole.’ Ultimately, feeling swamped by work from all sides, Alexander pursed his lips and cursed at the developing situation, his head stinging from a small headache.

The list of things he needed to do seemed to be getting only bigger and bigger.

Gulp, gulp, gulp-

So the parched man decided to take his solace in the sweet, palace wine, quaffing it down almost like water. That seemed to finally get the man’s nerves under control.

“Master, His Majesty has invited you for dinner.” Although that moment of respite was extremely short lived as announced by Lady Ezaya.

Alexander’s mind wandered with great distaste at the thought of having to flatter or even just listen to that useless imbecile.

“I cannot deal with that idiot,” The frustrated Alexander thus did not bother to mince words in even the smallest way, as then, in a slightly drunken state, officiously swung his palms,

“Go tell him I am busy… I will see him with his presents tomorrow!”

Normally Lady Ezaya would have urged her master to consider otherwise.

After all, the king had personally come to him twice in a single day. And to deny him both times, no noble, not even a Pasha would be that daring.

But at the same time, hearing the blasphemous and treasonous talks Alexander just had with Pasha Farzah, the clever lady could also see how ill advised it would be to push him.

Thus she simply took her leave with a courteous bow, gracefully returning to the royal maid sent to deliver the message.

There, she did not foolishly just regurgitate Alexander’s reply word for word.

She rather tactfully smiled and then stated respectfully, “Please express my profound apologies to His Majesty on behalf of my master. He is still recovering from the long journey. After entertaining Pasha Farzah, it seems his migraine has returned and now wishes to rest. Once again, I truly apologize for the inconvenience.”

The maid would leave with that, her face showing neither joy nor dejection. It was like she was simply the envelope to carry the words.

Thus Alexander’s dinner was served in his room, where he ate alone, served by three pairs of very eager hands. He had strongly urged the ladies to join him, but they all vehemently refused.

According them, it was a great insult for guests to have the hosts sit and eat on the same tables as them.

Thus Alexander munched alone on pretty much the same dishes he had for lunch- meat, bread, cheese, etc. all preheated once again. The only new additions to the menu were a fish pie, and a dessert made of flour, honey and nuts that looked better than it tasted.

While Alexander was eating, he suddenly turned towards the three ladies and with a joking grin, chimed, “My ladies, would it not be funny if Amenheraft were to suddenly accompany Lord Assazd to meet me? We would have to poison him too, hahaha.”

“…..” Too bad for him, the ladies did not seem to appreciate his humor. Because all three were clever enough to understand what he was really saying.

“Lord Alexander, please spare us this great responsibility.” It was the most taciturn of them, Lady Elia who instantly noted, her eyes dull and unimpressed.

While her sisters subtly nodded from behind her, expressing full support.

“….” This display of stern solidarity surprised Alexander a bit. He thought they would be at most shocked and fearful. But their reaction was one of instant and utter rejection, like they were not even willing to discuss this.

‘Is this the prestige of the divine lineage? That most people do not even dare to think of harming them? How terrifying!’ Alexander mused with great apprehension, the intent to kill Amenheraft flaring up in his heart to an even greater degree.

However outwardly he decided not to push the ladies- because strong arming them would never work… the decision to serve the man poisoned ice cubes would have to come from them voluntarily.

So with a gentle chuckle, he flashed his arms, “Hahaha, no, no, esteemed ladies, you misunderstand me. I would never oppress you with anything you have the slightest objection towards. I am simply talking in hypotheticals, thoughtlessly musing on far fetched what ifs.”

“All of you have heard what we said today and by now must be quite aware of our predicament. Things are unlikely to look good- even with Rusti joining us, even with Lord Assazd dying, and even if we take Bahu.”

“So if ever the opportunity shows itself… I hope you will make the correct choice.”

“…” Alexander’s words left very few ways to interpret it.

Although he made it seem like he was leaving the decision in their hands, save for actually saying out aloud, he was very clearly urging them to take action.

However the sisters were at least offered the grace of pretended denial, so they just silently nodded.