Herald of Steel

Chapter 1607: Convincing Pasha Farzah (Part-2)

“She told me she was also pregnant. And even assured me that a fortune teller had told her it was a son. She said she wants to become the regent as soon as Pasha Osman dies. And given all the provinces are likely to now split up… I committed a mistake.”

In this way, Alexander mixed half truths with lies about his encounter with Mikaya and finished by frankly admitting he had overstepped his boundaries.

“….” Pasha Farzah looked down at the drooping head with still blazing eyes, not fully moved. However they somehow seemed to lack the same intensity as before.

“My, my, if you had not said it, I would have never guessed you were so close to my daughter, brat.” The old man finally chewed out through his teeth, his gaze clearly mocking, “Did she even manage to charm you? Why else would you go to such lengths just to help her? What did she promise you?”

It was good to see Pasha Farzah was not totally oblivious to his youngest daughter’s thoughts and habits.

“….” Alexander managed to fortunately keep a pretty straight, pallid face even at Pasha Farzah’s double innuendo, and quite simply replied,

“It was a mutually beneficial decision, my lord. In my case, I had learnt that Shahel and Lord Mirzah were best friends, and feared a close alliance between Matrak and Rusti that excluded me. That would be too dangerous for my Zanzan. I am far more comfortable with Lady Mikaya being on the helm of Rusti.”

“…..” Pasha Farzah’s eyes once again flashed a chilly light at Alexander’s words. But he did not add anything for now.

And seeing this Alexander took the chance to further add to his thesis,

“The reason why I did not tell you is because I felt you would feel too bad sanctioning such a thing… against a close friend’s son and your son in law. This was also likely why Lady Mikaya did not let you know.”

“Snort! I have favored that girl too much!” The Pasha seemed to only become enraged when Alexander brought up his daughter, clearly spotting her as the main culprit in all this.

After all, she was the one who begged Alexander for help and then actually did the thing.

But even as Pasha Farzah began to think of punishing her, his anger towards her began to cool.

As already said, he had a very clear, blindly obvious preference for Mikaya. He never wished to punish her.

Combine this with the alleged instance of abuse on her husband’s hand, and soon Pasha Farzah began to instead feel guilty for choosing a bad husband for her.

He even felt it was he who pushed her to do this.

Ahh… the flawed heart of a loving father.

“So what do I do with the wedding now that Shahel is dead?” Hence at the very end of it all, the elderly lord only turned to ask Alexander this.

And the query made Alexander’s heart dance with joy.

’Perfect!’ He did not think it would be this easy to convince him, especially given how absolutely livid Pasha Farzah was when he came to him.

But a variety of personal and political reasons managed to tame the old man quite successfully.

So Alexander very confidently replied,

“I think my lord should start talks with Pasha Ozman about Lady Mikaya marrying any of Lord Shahel’s brothers or cousins. You should also point out the poisoning to Amenheraft’s faction- say that it was them who wanted to break the alliance between your two provinces. This will urge him to send troops to attack Ankoot.”

“….” Pasha Farzah pursed his lips at the suggestion, not because he disagreed with the new ideas or even that they were new to him. Someone as clever as him would never be stumped by something so small.

It was just all these ideas sounded so… slimy and immoral when spoken up loud.

“Brat! Are you sure things will always go so smoothly as you wish?” Hence he clenched out at last with this skeptical look in his eyes.

Alexander replied with a very confident look, “There are risks and rewards to every venture, my lord. Indeed, it is possible for someone to figure out the truth… both about me and Lady Mikaya. But that is also why we must move quickly. Try to distract everyone with something much bigger and grander.”

“Now that Amenheraft is dead, let us take full advantage of it. It would be a great tragedy if we were to let our caution cause such a great opportunity to slip right through our fingertips.”

Pasha Farzah was still not moved, and listening to Alexander’s premature celebrations, decided to rain a bit on his parade,

“Amenheraft is not dead. Lucky bastard!” He crisply chimed out of nowhere.

“What?” And the words made the young lord’s heart instantly thump like a drum, a shade of horror surfacing on his face. Alexander wanted to instinctively refute the news.

However Pasha Farzah insisted with a bitter look,

I confirmed it this morning. He is hardly conscious and most of the time delirious. But he is definitely still breathing. The doctors even claim his condition is improving and that he will be back up on his feet in a month!”

The old man ruefully shook his head as he said this, ending with a small sigh, “Bah! To even survive lev.. that poison. That bloodline is truly blessed.”

The substance that Pasha Farzah had used was so infamous in Adhania that the elderly lord skipped openly saying the name, as it was thought to bring bad luck.

Which worked to only make the fact that Amenheraft had survived eating it all the more impressive.

And Pasha Fazah could not help but he affected.

“….” Alexander however was not to be so easily goaded into superstition.

Rather tracing his chin, he thought back to the fateful afternoon, “Hmmm, I now remember that Amenheraft had only taken a small sip of the drink. He was about to take a good gulp but then… Lord Assazd suddenly slammed over and… he immediately threw the glass. Tsk! Amenheraft must have only ingested a tiny amount of poison. He is indeed lucky!”

It hurt Alexander too bitterly realizing how narrowly he had missed the goal.

However instead of being like Pasha Farzah and simply accepting it, Alexander thought instantly on his feet and a second later pumped his fist with great urgency,

“But that also might not be a bad thing. If Amenheraft was truly dead, the nobles could have chosen a leader. But now…. they must be in a state of paralysis. All they are doing is staring at the bed and hoping Amenheraft gets better!” Follow current novls on novel⦿fire.net

“Pasha Farzah! Call the men to get ready as soon as possible. We should not afford the enemy a single second more.”

Alexander sounded very enthusiastic with his own words, his eyes almost sparkling with zeal. It was like he could, he would barge out all by himself.

“Calm down, brat! Do you even know the state of the palace right now?” However like before, Pasha Farzah was there to rain on his parade, grabbing Alexander by the shoulder and chiding him like a responsible parent,

“You were kept in your room the last few days so you might not know but everyone here is at an uproar with these assassinations. Most nobles don’t even dare to eat from the royal kitchen anymore. They have started to order from the city’s bakeries or have grouped together and started to cook by themselves. The shore of the Life Sea is currently littered with all these small makeshift ’kitchens’. Ahhh… what has the Jtaama come to!”

Pasha Farzah thus told Alexander something very interesting, before finishing with an exasperated sigh, “If this is the state of the nobles here in the palace that is nice and secure, how do you think they will react if asked to go to war? They will be deathly afraid of even moving away from their tent!”

It was very apparent from the elderly lord’s tone that he was very dissatisfied with the cowardly way the nobles were acting, and feared that once the news about Shahel spread, the situation would only aggravate.

“Has there been any suspects?” Alexander on the other hand simply followed up Pasha Farzah with this query.

And at this, even the experienced Pasha Farzah was amazed by the level of shamelessness in display here- he did not think he could have lied through his teeth so much and still kept such a straight face.

“The most obvious one is you.” He snorted through his flared nose, giving Alexander a mixture of impressed and disdainful looks.

Impressed because of how brilliant the plan was- even those who were convinced failed to find the slightest thing to stick it to Alexander. It was that flawless.

But disdainful because the act was not pretty- it was cowardly and hitting below the belt.

“They have failed to find anything on you. So now they have moved their suspicions to many other people. Hahaha, as you brat earlier said, even I was included in that circle.”

Pasha Farzah’s face for the first time during the meeting softened to an amicable glow, before toughening up a bit again, “Ptolmy is particularly up and arms about it, sending every man he has to find the assassin. He sees this as an attack on his guests and of course a mortal threat to his life. Heh! The coward.”

“….” Alexander joined to share a light smile at this, before suddenly asking,

“Ask His Majesty to call the court. I believe I can relieve all thier fears.”