Herald of Steel

The true extent of Pasha Farzah and Lady Inayah's bond was something that no one could ever probably confirm.

However it no doubt existed as the black lady let out a thin, knowing smile, revealing to Alexander that she very well knew why he had come to her.

Then she teased with curved, dark eyes, "Hahaha, but Pasha Farzah usually shares a part of his dowry with me. So would I not be missing out a lot if I asked him to lower the amount for you? How do you expect me to harm myself?"

And sensing the amused tone, Alexander also swiftly smiled,

"Of course, of course, there will be great gifts for you my lady if you can help tie the knot. In fact, I have already brought many gifts for all of you. They are just at my camp. I will have them here tomorrow."

The great promise not only stirred Lady Inayah, but Alexander's three new maids as well as. Even Queen Mother felt something even though she already knew this as Alexander had made the same promise before Ptolomy.

"Oh! Presents from Zanzan! Great! Great! All those old cougars will be so jealous when they hear this! What did you bring us…glass, perfume or sugar? Ahh, I cannot wait to show them!"

The closest among this group, Lady Inayah even frankly prodded Alexander for detail, gleefully clutching her wine glass, and grinning at the thought of showing off all her rare presents to her friend circle.

Then feeling sufficiently buttered up, the ebony lady finally gave the go ahead, "Hahaha, well, since you are being so filial, how can I refuse? Okay, I will talk to Farzah about this. As Seelima said, the twins and you are indeed a match made by the gods, there is no one better. It is just that Farzah is a bit too busy right now… let's wait till after the wedding."

"Mmm, I agree… there is no need to add to his plate right now."

Since Lady Inayah had spoken, Alexander could hardly object, neither did he have any urgent need to. Hence he gleefully nodded with a big grin.

And then, as soon as Alexander and Lady Inayah chimed down.

"The gifts you speak off… you promised the control of that island to Ptolomy. Were you serious?" the Queen Mother interjected with this very important question, raising her sharp, beautiful brows and sending Alexander a very serious look.

And indeed it was an important question, enough to make everyone in the room instantly perk up their ears, including Lady Inayah's daughters.

They had just finished their meal, and were just about to ask the maid to clean up when these words drifted in.

They did not quite understand which island they were talking about, as such remote information was really accessible to those keeping an eye out for it, they were still clever enough to understand the general concept of what was being discussed- a noble lord who had conquered new land voluntarily handing it to the crown.

This was shocking.

It was not unheard of per se… but certainly unheard in the past few decades… only nobles put under huge duress who relinquish such an invaluable thing.

Because in this time period, a noble earned almost all his income from land, meaning generally the more land you had, the more powerful you were.

And as far as the three sisters were concerned, Alexander had done nothing to warrant such a grievous price. Even laying with Lady Nanazin…. given her history, it was hardly worth talking about.

So given these even these apolitical girls were curious, Lady Inayah and Seelima's thoughts could easily be imagined.

They were all curious to hear Alexander's actual thoughts on the matter.

The man however, instead of directly answering with a yes or no, turned to seek some queries of his own,

"Ahh... what do you advise I do Your Highness? Because I think His Majesty has a bit of an exaggerated view on the amount of land I have taken there. Frankly it is quite limited… only a token amount. It was actually given by the Margraves family to me as a sign of gratitude for helping them against the other families. Would he still be interested in truly ruling it?"

By downplaying his accomplishments and using the word gift, he openly hinted at not being really serious about the offer.

"....." To this the Queen Mother pursed her thin lips a bit, apparently thinking.

"Yes, he would" Then a small while later nodded with such a focused gaze, "I believe he will. I do not think you understand Ptolemy... this is brand new land. Something not even anyone of his ancestors had it! The allure of this is immeasurable to him. The boy…. always wanted to prove himself."

The last sentence was added with a very clear tinge of remembering melancholy, as if the lady was recalling Ptolomy's childhood with her. Being a sickly child and neglected by all, it was only natural for the boy to want fame and recognition.

Like Seelima, Alexander also understood the hint. However that did not mean he agreed with the decision, as he mused with a sardonic smile, "How will taking the land I took let him prove himself? If anything, he will 'disprove' himself."

"....." The Queen Mother found it hard to argue with that, the history book would indeed show how the Adhanian Royal family had actually obtained the deeds. However she was in no position to argue for or against this. This was all up to Ptolemy, she could only advise.

While Alexander was not willing to so easily hand over that strategic foothold yet, as he added with much vigor this time,

"Perhaps Your Highness can talk to His Majesty. Show him how difficult all this will be. Galiosos is so far away from even Zanzan, let alone Adhan. And it is an island. How does he plan to even defend it? Adhan's navy is barely a navy."

"It is just some fishing boats tied together to masquerade as one. I have seen what true blue water navies look like… and I can confidently say in a battle, our sailors will break and run the moment they see those huge quadrimes and pentarimes."

As Alexander made this evaluation of the navy, he suddenly noticed the Queen Mother's forehead visibly form an annoyed crease, feeling quite peeved at the man 'badmouthing' the royal family and their ability. It was the custom of the time to always praise the family. Even if there were problems, it would always be dumped off to incompetent ministers, foolish nobles or lackluster generals.

So if there was anyone else with less military accomplishments and charm, she would have snapped his voice out right there.

While the partner Lady Inayah listened to Alexander's valuation with a small sigh in her heart, knowing how true all of this was. Her family was really the only noble in at least Adhan with any knowledge of sea faring and thus could verify his words, unlike the Queen Mother who deep inside felt Alexander was a bit exaggerating here to show off his own prowess while justifying denying Ptolomy his gift.

But both women kept their individual thoughts to themselves for now, and silently listened as Alexander further opined on why Ptolomy should not bother with the island.

"Also why should His Majesty even waste manpower in such a far away land with little value... when there is so much around here. Eight of the twelve provinces are still rebelling… shouldn't His Majesty focus more on there?"

"Let us not brush past the fact that the Adhanian king claiming lands belonging to Sybarsis…. will cause quite the stir in the country's council. I even fear that Amenheraft might use this pretext to get that country on his side."

"Remember one of their families has already intervened in Tibias. So if a few of their dukes were joining against us…. I believe I do not need to say how much of a disaster that would be. We might as well surrender and hope Amenheraft is merciful enough to give all of us a quick death."

"..." As Alexander finished his whole host of reasons, Queen Mother very animatedly pursed her lips in great frustration, as she felt a migraine coming.

She suddenly did not feel like thinking about this right now. Hence in a move very uncharacteristic of her, she snapped in a very vulgar way,

"What is the point of talking about all this now? If you had no intention of giving it to him, why did you offer it in the first place? To placate him for screwing Nanazin.... I know, I know. But then if you were going to hide her, why did you take that used slut anyway? She is even not that pretty! Do you not have anyone else? When has Zanzan run out of good quality whores?"

"Seelima! What are you saying? Please! Control yourself!"

A gasp of utter incredulity was spat out instantly following this, with Lady Inayah almost jumping up from her seat and quickly tugging at the Queen Mother's senses, then rapidly turning around to give Alexander a very shamed, sorry look.

She was really asking him not to take this to heart.

And this petition for favor worked, as much of the acridness in the man's melted away and he only simply chuckled,

"Hahaha, no, no, I do not mind. It was actually my fault… to load so much onto Your Highness. I was too careless to forget she is carrying a baby. It is very easy to succum to small hysterics."