Herald of Steel

Receiving news of the assassination, people from all three factions rushed towards the fateful meeting room like the wind, their hearts filled with trepidation like few other times in their lives.

People from Lord Assazd’s faction could not believe how someone as cautious as him could have been harmed, while the apparent news of Amenheraft’s death made his people only fill their eyes with absolute darkness.

Without their crown prince, they had no one to lead. Amenheraft’s children were still too young and if Pasha Vivizan were to rule as regent in their stead, well the more powerful lords would simply pay him the mere lip service.

The old man, as prestigious and noble as he was, still did not have the divine royal blood needed to make others give him their full loyalty.

All this was on top of the terrifying declaration Alexander had made just a few days ago- many hidden ambitions and plots were surging like the unrelenting tide right now and thus, it was absolutely the worst time for Amenheraft’s group to lose him right now.

Hence anybody who was anybody rushed to his side.

A similar reason followed for Lord Assazd’s faction; thus soon, there was barely any space left to stand inside the room,

The cramped noblemen inevitably began to then brush shoulders and butt heads in the close quarters, as they tried to get a glimpse of the lying men for themselves. And when they were unable to, they began to shove and curse, leading to things getting very heated, very quickly.

Lord Assazd and Amenheraft’s men especially got triggered upon seeing their lord dead or on the verge of dying, while Alexander was hale and hearty, leading him to become the primary suspect.

“Alexander! You dare harm His Majesty during the sacred month? This means war!”

“The treaty is no more! We will march onto Zanzan and burn it to the ground!”

“Coward! Killing with poison! Craven coward! Kill him! Kill him!”

Hence calls for his head soon began to reach a feverish pitch… until Alexander simply responded by pointing out that the two factions accusing him were not allies either. Rather Lord Assazd was Ptolomy’s closest ally, so if anybody had the incentive to harm Amenheraft, it should be him.

“He must have made a mistake when delivering the poison and so died instead of killing both of us…” Alexander nonchanlantly chimed with a small shrug of his shoulders.

And given that no incriminating evidence could be found against him- he had drunk from the same cup and pitcher as the rest, as seen and taste tested by at least ten people, while the body searches of all three of his maids also came back clean- it left everyone very puzzled.

Without the slightest hint of how the poison was delivered, Alexander’s ludicrous statement thus actually began to make sense to some. As they say- once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable is the truth.

Hence soon, the blame game began to turn into an ugly, three way tussle.

“Yo… you! You and Alexander must have plotted to harm His Majesty!” Lord Mainus raged with pointed fingers, feeling particularly frustrated at being proven wrong.

One should have seen the look on his face when he got the results regarding Lady Ezaya, he looked at the reporting maid like he wanted to tear her head off. And if not for all the people there, the man would have personally stripped the lady just to check for himself.

“We! How dare you! Our lord is dead! This was clearly Alexander! He hated fathe… he hated Lord Assazd from the moment he laid eyes on him!” The young bereaved son cried, changing the address at the last second to appear more formal.

“Heh! My fiefdom is in Zanzan! What concern does the politics of Adhan have to me?” Alexander however rebuked the blame with a disdainful scoff, and looking down to polish his fingernails,seriously stated,

“I had only objected to Lord Assazd because I felt he was fooling His Majesty into ignoring our contribution. But at large, I have always appreciated his efforts at uniting the nobles of Adhan under His Majesty. Neither me or Pasha Farzah could have done that. We were undoubtedly allies.”

“You… so you do confess that you killed His Majesty! We…”

This sort of insults and accusations were hurled back and forth for quite some time, until the number of voices grew so large that it threatened to bring the whole ceiling down.

In fact, if not for the presence of armed guards and the nobles were afraid of causing a bloodbath, a full fledged brawl would have certainly broken out.

“Ennnnnough!” The chaotic chorus was finally brought to an abrupt halt when Ptolomy let out this lion like roar, his plump face flushed a bright red. It looked like he was crying, possibly over his retainer cum half lover’s death.

“Everyone out! Take your body and leave! This is not the place for this!” He cried, furiously showing them the door. And although normally this would have done nothing, this time most of the lords obeyed.

Ptolomy for all his flaws was still part of the divine lineage.

Hence the room finally began to empty, until only the closest and most staunch supporters remained. They were the ones going to actually carry the body out.

And they were just preparing to do so when they heard Ptolomy say to Alexander as the latter was about to leave,

“Not you. You stay!”

“….” This made the young lord slightly raise his eyebrows, unamused by the cold tone of the address. But he still kept his voice cool and lightly asked, “Is something the matter, Your Majesty. It is indeed getting late.”

“Why did you kill him?” Ptolomy’s plump lips shook slightly as he very directly asked the question. The death of Lord Assazd seemed to have truly torn the man up and whether he had proof or not, he blamed Alexander.

“…..” And for a moment, the suspect only answered with a cool, cold glint look in his eyes. It was like he was telling Ptolomy he knew exactly why he killed him.

Then suddenly he broke off into a sweet smile, “Your Majesty… I understand that the death of your elder brother and most loyal retainer has shocked you. Rest assured, we will find the culprit…. no matter what.”

“….” The answer seemed to only incense Ptolomy and he clenched his fist till it becamewhite. “I… ‘We’ think you were the one who did it! Even if ‘we’ cannot find the evidence… we will still try you by trial by combat!”

The grand declaration caused all eyes to converge by the two men, and many started to even glitter with unbound excitement. They could not believe their two most hated enemies were going to destroy themselves just like that- and that two during their most vulnerable moment.

‘Every cloud has a silver lining,’ thus many cheered.

While Alexander’s men hearing this became very angry, and their eyes started to glow with menace. And sensing this, Ptolomy’s bodyguards reacted similarly, their hands reaching for their sword hilts and causing the air to soon tense up.

It was an electrifying situation.

Fortunately, the man at the center of it all kept his cool, and simply chimed, “Your Majesty… as I said, you are grieving. That is why what you are saying makes no sense. Putting me on trial will only make your enemies happy. Will make Amenheraft happy.”

“My brother is dead!” Ptolomy only spat at Alexander’s reason, the words making his eyes flame up with some glee amongst the sad. This in a regal voice he offered, Fresh chapters posted on novel※fire.net

“I will thank you for getting rid of him. You have done ‘us’ a great service. So ‘we’ will be magnanimous not to punish your family and children… they will be allowed to keep all the land you control… if you confess right now.”

‘Pffff!’ Alexander only scoffed at the joking words, not even bothering to argue… as if Ptolomy currently had any authority over him.

In a clearly disparaging tone, he smirked, “If that is what Your Majesty wants… then I can only respect His Majesty’s wish. I will defend my honor. But… ” he suddenly and menacingly craned his head downward, and with almost a cruel, threatening looked, whispered in a hushed tone,

“I would just like to remind you that if you truly believe I poisoned Lord Assazd and Amenheraft, and you have no idea how I did it… then are you not afraid the poisonous viper lurking around might bite you next!”

“Bold!” The words instantly made Ptolomy’s bodyguard captain cry out in alarm and he hastily stepped in front of his king as if to shield him, sending Alexander a vicious glare.

Yet hidden behind that anger was also pain, which Alexander frankly revealed,

“Snort! Let me tell you something clearly, since you are too stupid to figure it out on your own, Ptolomy. The title king of Adhania is no longer what it once was. Adhan is too weak, so it can only survive now as a subordinate of Matrak and Zanzan. So behave with that in mind… or we will make you!”

“…!!!..” Ptolomy’s pulled his small eyes hidden by all those layers of fat until they were like enlarged saucers and his face became flushed like a tomato. The absolute shock made his mind go totally blank, and he did not even register when Alexander left with his entourage.

It was a long time till he finally moved.