Herald of Steel

Lady Inayah and Queen Mother swiftly exchanged quite a few tart barbs regarding Alexander and Sahel, each trying to justify their point.

Seelima wanted to use the young heir as a crutch to fire up Alexander’s fighting spirit and thus freely contribute to the royal family. But Lady Inayah disapproved of this tactic and wanted to shut her down before Alexander stepped in, thus saving the royal from embarrassment.

And in this back and forth, the latter seemed to be the one firmly in the driving seat as the Queen Mother clearly struggled to compete. The simple fact was that there really was no comparing the two men, Sahel’s ‘CV’ was too empty.

And realizing this, the Queen Mother’s face started to become a bit ugly.

“Hahaha, Lady Inayah, I do not think there is any reason to argue with the Queen Mother over this.” It was seeing this that referee Alexander decided to quickly step in, separating the bickering parties. This fight had no actual purpose and he thought they were getting distracted from the main topic.

“Queen Mother has truly given us great news. In this time of great unease, if the boy is really as great as Your Highness said,…. we will have another formidable general. This is a great boon. The heavens know we need more of them!”

There was a great grin on Alexander’s face as he said, and the frank flatter somewhat soothed the sore Queen Mother, letting her turn to give a subtle, appreciative nod.

“Yes. We are all on the same side.”

While Lady Inayah only made a snarky curve of her lips, but did not interject.

The royals did need to keep their face.

But she was also unwilling to have the fight postponed just like that…given she was so handily winning.

So she added seemingly out of topic this with a bit of exaggeration to her voice,

“Ahhh… Alexander, I heard too many great things about your city from Seelima and Mikaya. I was planning to visit it with you this time. What do you say? Can I see how you make all those glass, iron, soap, and sugar? I am really curious to know how you knew how to make them.”

“…..” Alexander almost instinctively produced a small smile at these words.

The reason why Lady Inayah had brought this apparently random topic was very clear to everyone. It was her way of reminding Queen Mother that even if Alexander did not have Sahel’s military glamour, just the fact that he ruled over a land that produced all those expensive luxuries would have easily trounced the heir to Rusty.

Thus the Queen Mother was thoroughly defeated in this confrontation, causing her to send her best friend a very rare instance of an angry glare, “My… my Inayah, I did not know you had such strong feelings for Alexander. Aren’t you a bit too old for trying to taste something so young?”

It was spat venomously with great indignation.

“Hahaha,” Yet Lady Inayah only victorious chuckled.

This was one of the rare instances she got to see her clever friend turn sore.

With this settled, they both calmed down, letting Alexander once again muse out loud,

“Ahemm… about the marriage, I was just thinking Rusti province is between here and Matrak. So is really using someone as precious as Mikaya to bring such a province to our side a good deal? Hmmm… could we have not used the threat of an invasion from both sides to make Pasha Ozman catapult? We might even have given him some economic incentives… like access to more glass or white sugar.”

“…..” Alexander’s words received neither a yes nor no from the two ladies…. although he noticed both of their dark eyes flicker. Initially, they wanted to instantly rebuke Alexander’s strong approach as being too foolish, a hammer looking at every problem like it was a nail.

But upon hearing the rest of it, they halted, keeping their ears perked up as Alexander further justified his thoughts.

He turned directly to face Seelima,

“Your Highness, you have already said Pasha Farzah and Pasha Ozman are good friends. So perhaps if he had approached the man with a ‘good offer’… he could have been made to accept it… That would have allowed us to let Mikaya marry into some of the more hostile houses and turn them over instead…. She is very pretty, I just feel her ‘value’ is being squandered in something we could have done another way.”

“…..” There was a long silence following Alexander’s words as the two ladies worked to process it. And they seemed to even somewhat warm up to the idea in time, letting Alexander become quite hopeful.

Perhaps with the royal family’s backing, he could even bring this up with Pasha Farzah.

“Why are you saying this now? Where were you when all this was being discussed? What do you expect us to do about it now?” Those thoughts were however quickly and fiercely dashed as the Queen Mother irritatedly chimed so, turning to look at Alexander with a dark frown.

She was also quickly joined by Lady Inayah, who nodded along with a more rueful face, “Mmmm… it’s not like we can call off the wedding now. It is three days away.”

At least she was a lot more gentle in her rejection.

“…..” And hearing this, Alexander lightly pursed his lips.

But he was indeed forced to concede his loss on this matter. Everything had already been arranged- the date set, the venue taken, and the guests invited and already arrived.

If the wedding was to be unilaterally called off like so now… it would no doubt absolutely enrage Pasha Ozman… it would have enraged any man or father.

Alexander could also long kiss goodbye to the man accepting any kind of deal. He might even declare war for the humiliation.

“This is why it is so important to have ears in the court, Alexander.” It was noticing his slightly fallen heart that Lady Inayah then spoke up from the side, eruditely posing,

“There was a common saying here- ‘If you did not know anything three days before it was officially declared, then you really had no chance in surviving in this place.’ What happens in the court is important! You should have known better.”

Alexander at this point humbly took the advice with a small nod, “….. Indeed it was a mistake on my part Lady Inayah. I was so busy managing with everything in and around my own land… that I simply missed it. Can you help me lend some of your ears, my lady?”

Alexander was basically asking for Lady Inayah to help him build his spy network.

“Of course, of course, haha, you only need to ask.” And the ebony lady was more than happy to oblige, letting out a great big grin.

While seeing this, the Queen Mother secretly pouted a bit… peeved that Alexander had not asked her.

Of course, she would have also referred him to Lady Inayah, because as a member of the royal family it would have been too weird to not only let but aid another noble in spying on her. But still, she would have liked to have been at least invited.

However, Alexander skipped her exactly because of this, fearing it would be too rude. He also felt much more comfortable asking this favor from the much closer Lady Inayah.

Following the closure of the chapter on Mikaya for now, Alexander then turned to his own matters,

“Esteemed ladies, speaking of weddings, I was thinking of asking Pasha Farzah to marry Azira and Azura some time late. What do you think of this? Does the royal family object?”

Alexander specifically turned to the Queen Mother as he asked this… because the twins were indeed royal princesses. And as the matron of the family, her input certainly mattered.

“…..” The Pasha of Zanzan’s sudden inquiry caught the two ladies a bit off guard. However, the shock very quickly ebbed down.

“… Indeed Pasha Alexander has raised a good topic,” The regal pregnant lady spoke thoughtfully after a small while with a nod, “I frequently worry about the two. They are more than of age. Most already have a few children by their age.”

“Hmmm… We of course have no outright objection with this. The pair of you match fantastically and it would do well to merge the two families. Mmm… this is a great idea….but let me first talk to Ptolomy about this. Fortunately you managed to handle him. If it was before, I fear he would have definitely opposed it.”

“Great! You have my profound gratitude, Your Highness.” The Queen Mother’s words were sincere and Alexander was swift to show his thanks. He also felt quite good about his chances given who it would be intervening on his behalf.

Thus he turned to Lady Inayah next, now asking her, “My lady, what do you think Pasha Farzah will say about this? He clearly dotes on them a lot… so I am not quite sure how much he will.. charge me, hahaha.” There was a frank chortle by the end.

And there was also a specific reason why Alexander had posed this to Lady Inayah and not also Seelima.

He could not exactly remember where, but he had heard this, but it was said that Pasha Farzah and Lady Inayah had a special relationship, the two getting it on and off frequently.

Thus, just like Seelima with Ptolomy, Alexander wished to utilize her to soften the shrewd man’s heart. Perhaps he could get the dowry a bit down this way.