Herald of Steel

Alexander’s reason for keeping Nanazin here was not only to keep her from suffering further abuse at Ptolomy’s hand but also because the bank he was thinking of establishing would need a trustworthy person to head.

And to that effect, Alexander look a seat on the couch at the center of the room and first said some pleasantries, “I just remembered that this is the first time we are talking face to face after you came to Zanzan Your Highness. I apologize for my inattention.”

To which Nanazin gave a silent smile as she clutched her cloak tightly around her body, placed the medical pot on the table, and then sat across Alexander while making sure to carefully tuck her legs inward so as to fold the cloak towards her in order to not reveal any parts of her lower torso except the bare feet.

“Alex, you said I can call Zanzan home? How? How do you intend to keep me here? And how do you intend to treat me?” Nanazin had a seriousness to her voice Alexander had yet to hear.

He had heard her cry, moan and beg.

But never this hard, steely tone.

And it appeared this was the reason why she had begged Alexander to enter the room.

Because she needed to know.

She needed to know what Alexander what in store for her.

“….” Suddenly hearing this serious question Alexander gave himself some time to think as to how to best answer the question.

Because directly saying ‘I want you to run my banks and look after all the money I have’ might sound too incredulous for the distrusting woman.

And while Alexander racked his brain, Nanazin commented, “Let me remind you, snatching me from that bastard will not be easy. Whether I like it or not, or if he acknowledges it or not, we are still husband and wife. We took that oath under the eyes of the gods.”

Nanazin presumed that Alexander was thinking of marrying her because she could think of no other way he could keep her here as according to the deal she would have to be changed with the Queen mother every year.

As Nanazin said this Alexander noticed that even when she hated Ptolomy to the point she would loudly curse him, she still considered him her husband.

‘*Sigh*, truly a good woman wasted on an animal,’ Alexander could only sigh in regret.

And then a while later he finally finished organizing his thoughts and gave a very brief outline, “We will keep you here saying we are short-staffed and need you for administrative duties…which is kinda true.”

“You will live in this mansion and be paid a yearly salary of somewhere between 7,000 to 10,000 ropals. That is also what similar others are paid.”

“And that will be enough for a few years, or at least until the armistice ends six years later.”

Here Alexander had cleverly disguised the bank position as an administrative job, which would also suit Nanazin perfectly because she did have quite a bit of experience in simple clerical and accounting jobs, as she was the one who had kept track of Ptolomy’s finances before he became king.

Nanazin was truly wasted on Ptolomy.

After saying this, Alexander then finished by saying, “And as for what happens after that, well by that time Ptolomy will likely have put a baby in either the Queen mother or maybe even Hellma’s belly. We will decide that later.”

Alexander brushed off the concerns that were six years in the future for the moment.

After all, so many things could happen in the future.

Ptolomy might not even live that long, through both natural or unnatural causes.

Who can say?

Hearing Alexander’s genuine and detailed answer, Nanazin let out a very audible large sigh of relief as she finally relaxed her taut body.

Being the one who handled the money for Ptolomy, she knew exactly how big even a yearly sum of 7,000 ropals was.

It was quite adequate to live a good life. 𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝘭.𝘦𝑡

Perhaps not a glamorous one, or a cushy one, but quite a reasonably comfortable one.

Because with that amount of money, she would comfortably be within the 95th percentile of the wealth bracket, or in the top 5%.

The lack of money had always been a constant source of discomfort for Nanazin, as though she had a lot of jewelry and clothes to her name, she had no cash.

And it was also not like she could pawn off her belonging at any shop.

Nevermind most such shops would not be able to afford even her cheapest possession even if they were to sell themselves over 10 times over, but also the royal family had strict laws against this.

Special permission was needed to sell or buy goods related to the royal family, and those caught violating it would be severely punished.

And it was enforced exactly to stop women like Nanazin from doing what she was trying to do, which was attempting to acquire ropals to pay for her escape.

The reason for her desire to acquire this particular mode of currency was obvious.

Because a noble lady escaping carrying a bunch of glittering jewels was as easy to track as if she was letting off a flare every time she exchanged one of those.

The trackers would just need to follow the trail of the unique gems to catch her.

As opposed to the common ropals which were all identical and would be mixed with everyone else’s.

Hence, with Alexander promising her financial freedom as opposed to empty words, she suddenly felt her world get brighter and her shoulders lighter.

“Thank you,” The simple two words contained an amount of gratitude in them that was difficult to quantify, while Nanazin regretted not having a broader vocabulary to express her gratitude towards Alexander more vocally.

“No problem.” Alexander breezily replied to Nanazin’s heavy gratitude, treating it like he was doing a causal favor.

And then taking a further look around the room, he suddenly noticed something and inquired, “Do your daughters not stay with you? To you know…take care of you?”

Alexander presumed her wounds must hurt.

“Ah! I have not told them.” Nanazin’s let out a dry smirk, adding, “I’m sure they suspect something. And might even know a bit. But certainly not the actual extent. I’ve been careful,” she said proudly.

Nanazin was truly a great mother.

Like she had tried to prevent her daughters from being taken by Lady Inayah for their study back in Adhan, here she was also trying to hide her suffering from them to not worry them.

“I see. They are lucky to have a mother like you,” Alexander gave a gentle nod, and then feeling the conversation was over, attempted to get up.

“Would my lord like to see them?” But was stopped by this inquiry from Nanazin.

The ‘them’ here of course referred to the bruises, and the query made Alexander a bit fluxed.

He could not realistically say, ‘No, I do not have to see the scars you suffered,’ but he was also perfectly aware of what would happen if he said yes.

To him it appeared that Nanazin’s question seemed to be less of an actual question and more of a what was about to happen.

“Does Your Highness think that is a good idea?” But still, Alexander tried one last time.

“Yes. I want Alex to see.” But the reply was immediate.

*Rustle*, *Rustle*,

And so with one grand swing of her arms, Nanazin opened her cloak and let it slip into the floor, finally revealing her abuse to Alexander.

And the extent of it left Alexander stunned.

There were scars marks all over her body, big and small, long and short, thick and thin, red and black, to the point that the once pristine white body he had seen appeared like it had been cruelly scribbled on by a sadistic devil with a red hot poker.

It made him become speechless.

“Let me tell you how I got them,” While Nanazin, who had grown numb by this point decided to recount a bit of her experience.

“These long thin ones you see are from lashes of whips.” She said pointing to her abs and chest and then turned around to show her back which was crisscrossed with the marks, making her once pristine back long horrific.

Then turning forward, she moved her hands downwards to her crotch and mons pubs which was still red with inflammation and had many red scars tangled together.

“The short thin ones are from the crop hits. ” she then turned around to show that her butt had also suffered the same.

“The long thick ones are from the ropes they used to tie me with.” At this point, Nanazin pointed to her wrists, neck, and thighs, which bore deep thick rope marks.

Before finally pointing to the small and large black circles all around her body and especially her flanks, and saying,

“And these things…these black little circles. Well the bastard thought it would be funny to burn me with hot poker while they tied me up and ….and…wuhuuu…wuhhuuu.” She could not finish as she suddenly broke out crying into uncontrollable howls, vividly recalling those hellish nights, while Alexander jumped up to hug and console her.

The sight of what had been done to Nanazin made him sick, and Alexander felt a surge of anger he very rarely had toward anyone.

The last ones were perhaps Damous and Aristotle, and both those men were dead…killed.