Herald of Steel

Chapter 1617: New Position

“Your Highness.”

Alexander stepped into the familiar, softly lit chamber with a small bow, his limpid eyes quickly landing on the woman at the center, and a slight twitch immediately played across his lips.

Seelima lay draped across a plush, velvet couch in casual elegance, her long, toned legs languidly stretched out and resting over a polished wooden coffee table.

She wore a sleek, obsidian black robe that loosely clung to her mature curves, the fabric expertly tailored to accentuate both the deep valley of her cleavage and the sultry curve of her full, rounded, pregnant belly.

Golden and silver embroidery traced graceful patterns along the edges of her robe, subtly drawing the eye to her ample bosom while beautiful, golden bangles adorned her wrist, showing off the elegance of her slim, sculpted fingers.

Across from her, a young maid knelt dutifully, delicately brushing scarlet polish onto the queen’s dainty toes with a tiny, precise brush, while a second girl held a bowl full of grapes and strawberries, slowly feeding those red, luscious lips

Seelima appeared like a goddess reclining at rest.

’Damn… no wonder Alozmer was obsessed with her,’ Alexander lightly blinked at the dreamy sight- drinking in the casual, messy appearance of the imperious lady.

This languid, carefree, almost slovenly attitude in display contrasted greatly with the cold, icy, imperious facade Seelima always put on, thus making Alexander appreciate it with great relish. If he could he would have even immortalized the sight into a picture.

“Ahhhh, Alexander, come, come, sit!” Seelima almost instantly noticed the desires Alexander was having about her and gave him a very knowing smile, sensually waving her delicate hands to indicate to him to take a seat.

Then as the man slowly approached her, the curvy lady also lazily straightened her back, making herself proper’- she folded her sexy legs and tucked in her loose robes, using the attached belts and strings to bind her mature curves that were threatening to spill out of her dress.

And she did all this right under Alexander’s scorching gaze, which was immensely stimulating for the man as he got to see all those meat swaying so sexily, even getting several peeking glimpses of the wheat colored fair flesh that lay underneath the robe, especially around the chest and neck area.

Lastly to top it all off, the Queen Mother raised her long arms to fix her fiery, crimson hair, taking her sweet time to arrange them in a flowing, wavy pattern, thus giving Alexander long enough to enjoy the sight of her fair, glistening armpits through the translucent fabric.

Alexander could not help but take a deep breath at the lustful display- and quickly inhaled a mouthful of air to cool his raging emotion- and a musky, exotic incense instantly hit him as he did so, as a rich, slow burning, almost intoxicating smell wrapped the room in a sensual haze.

’What is she planning?’ The Queen Mother’s ’unconventional greeting’ really left no one in doubt as to her true intentions and Alexander wondered the reason for this. Because for all intents and purposes, Seelima was supposed to be furious with him over his poisoning of AM without her permission.

Hence the man took his seat a bit cautiously, fixing any creases of his expensive robe around the neck and cuffs as he did.

“Hahaha, is Lord Alexander nervous? Well this is a first!” The Queen Mother let out a peal of pleased laughter, seeing this, her eyes gleaming in a mirthful glint. All this was intentionally arranged by her and seeing the usually extremely competent Alexander become flustered like so very much pleased her.

“Well, I never received such a warm welcome from Your Highness. So…” Alexander helplessly pursed his lips, slightly rolling his eyes and scratching his cheeks, “I must say, I am a bit overwhelmed by… all this. I thought you would be far more angry.”

“Hehehe…. Oh you Alexander, you think too much,” Seelima however weirdly appeared very nonchalant, and the very next time, very sensually leaned forward, letting the man get a clear glimpse of her beautiful ravine peeking out from her night robe, “Whatever you did, is all in the past… what truly matters- is concentrating in the future.”

Alexander was not sure how much of that he registered, as he was too distracted by the lush ravine and wishing to unravel its mysteries. He was only able to tear his eyes away from there with herculean effort, after finding himself playing like a puppet to the opponent’s tune.

Thus suddenly turned his voice direct and firm, he sharply asked, “Why did Your Highness summon me?”

Seelima too stopped playing around seeing Alexander’s seriousness. Dismissing the two maids with a casual wave of her hands, she regally posed, “How did you harm AM? And what are your next plans for Adhan?”

“I see. Well for the poision, I used ice…” With an obedient nod, Alexander first casually explained the method he used to deliver the poison, relishing the occasional sight of the Queen Mother’s eyes bulging with amazement and fear.

Seelima might not have spoken out loud to express her amazement, but given the way her lips quivered and the color on her face changed, Alexander could easily guess what she was thinking.

So he at last finished with clear pride tinged in his voice, “….once Lady Ezaya placed the poisoned ice, all I had to do was quickly drink the wine while stalling AM with talks. Voila!”

“….” The Queen Mother’s vision went dark as she at last learned of the technique.

Needless to say, among all the ways she considered the deed was done, this not one of them. As a matter of fact, this was not even in her consciousness, which was really saying something given she was a skilled poisoner herself- having killed a god king of all people. Seelima was thus confident she could place herself at least in the top five poisoners in the whole kingdom.

Yet, right now, the same lady, for all her shrewdness struggled to wrap her head around the method even after she had been told about it.

’Ho…how? How did he even come up with such a way? This.. ice, melting, timing… Arghh.. .is he.. do the gods really talk to him? Otherwise how could he…’ Thus she shouted with absolute incredulity inside her heart, tsunami like waves battering her from all directions.

Outside, Alexander could even see her full chest visibly heaving and huffing, clearly struggling to contain her emotions.

“Hehehe…” Hence as the Queen Mother then finally opened her mouth, she began with a hollow chuckle, curling her lips and looking up to give Alexander a dangerous, glinting gaze, “It seems Lord Alexander could kill us any time you wanted. What an ominous star you are, brat!”

“….” Alexander only lightly smiled at the dangerous ’accusation’, but neither confirmed nor denied it. He simply humbly nodded, “Your Highness flatters me. I only exist to serve the royal family.”

This was also a sort of deterrence on his part, subtly trying to indicate to Seelima that he had many more hidden cards with it, the likes of which she could not even imagine.

“Snort!” While the insincere, and frankly outright false reply caused Seelima to flare up her beautiful nostrils in disgust, washing away her previously sexy, inviting facade. She instead converted back to her old self, imperiously folding her arms onto herself and coldly reclining her straight back on the couch, “So…. what do you intend to do now?”

“Pasha Farzah and I discussed this this morning and…” Leaning slightly forward, Alexander readily expounded on the details of their next move, taking his time to explain the discussed move in detail.

He finished nearly a full hour later, after having satisfactorily answered all of the regal queen’s queries.

“…So the plan is to take advantage of AM’s absence and sneak attack Bahu. Ankoot is too heavily defended and already on high alert to take reliably. I believe once we take Bahu, many of the Pashas will rethink supporting AM. They will see our absolute strength and at the same time AM’s weakness, especially if he is still ill, or better yet, even asleep.”

“…..” Seelima’s eyes flashed a different chilly glint at the plan, her hands clasped together. Admittedly, there were some parts of the plans she wanted tweaked, the largest one being her wish to finish AM once and for all.

Hence during their discussion she had proposed an alternative tactic- one where Alexander used his men to bait Pasha Vivizan’s army out into the field, making the defending lord give chase while Pasha Farzah’s army sneakily hit them from the back.

The Queen Mother had wisely chimed with a didactic flick of her dainty fingers,

“Alexander, you can use your army to lay waste to the countryside, burning villages, destroying crops and taking all the people into slavery. This will without doubt force Vivizan out of his walls. Then once he is out…. you can simply stall him by not giving battle, taking him on a stroll around the whole of Ankoot. What do you think?”

’Damn, you have some good head on you.’ This was Alexander’s true thoughts regarding Seelima’s option, feeling very impressed by the idea. Doing things her way was certainly feasible.

However as already discussed, neither Alexander nor Pasha Farzah wished for the civil war to end right now.

Hence Alexander outwardly rebuked that idea- citing that elder lord Vivizan would likely see this coming and not take the bait.

And Seelima was not experienced enough to overrule him.