Herald of Steel

“A meek prince suddenly thrust into power. Indeed, having always been underestimated and looked down upon all his life, he is now trying to break free. With all this power suddenly in his hand… he must be like a kid in a candy store.”

Alexander muttered the comment about Ptolomy in a very throwaway manner like it was a very small thing.

However, to the two ladies this sounded very scandalous.

No matter what the man was still king, part of the Royal family, part of the divine lineage.

One simply did not use such words when talking about them, not even in private or in close seclusion. This was just their culture.

Hence they appeared quite uncomfortable.

Alexander however pretended not to notice the signs and slowly turning to face them, firmly iterated, “We must regain control of him. If he acts like a child… if he does not listen or is easily influenced, we must take steps to rectify this. In the worst case scenario, he should not be allowed to give out straight orders. Who is the one leading these troublemakers? And why have you allowed him to roam so freely till now?”

There was a harsh, accusatory undertone to Alexander’s question.

“Do not talk to us like we are your subordinates, Alexander.” The Queen Mother however did not appreciate the hard tone of address, thus glowered to sharply reprimand the boy for his impudence,

“And stop treating us like kids that do not know anything. I know you like to think of the smartest person in the room, but we have not been just sitting around and sucking our thumbs the whole time. He just does not listen! What can we do? Beat him?”

There was a heavy sense of bitterness and complaint in her voice, directed both towards Alexander and Ptolomy.

“…..” While Alexander very animatedly pursed his lips, thinking the Queen Mother was simply incompetent at controlling Ptolomy as well as being angry at the lady picking on something so trivial like his language even during such a time of crisis.

He was just about to give a very snarky reply at how the lady should get off her high horse given she could not even control a boy she has raised, forcing him to come and wipe their butt but fortunately, this nuclear bomb was defused before it could detonate by the swift intervention of Lady Inayah.

“Hahaha, Seelima, I am sure Alexander did not mean anything by it. He is quite tired and drunk. Not to mention his Azhak is hardly that good. He still uses a lot of words incorrectly. I don’t remember if I told this, but once he complimented me for being ’emancipated’ and ‘pitch black as ash’…Hahaha, I am sure we can give him leniency on it.” Lady Inayah gave a very hearty chuckle at recalling those words.

This indeed let the Queen Mother shimmer down a bit, breaking a thin smile.

The word for ‘slim’ and emancipated were very similar in the language while the phrase ‘pitch black as ash’ was quite a hard one to use as it had to be used in a very particular way to show it was a compliment and not an insult.

Alexander at least deserved some points for trying.

While the man turned to give Lady Inayah a very noteworthy look at her interjection, not only because she had so quickly dissolved the volatile situation, but he was also impressed by how quickly she was able to make up this excuse.

This interaction had never actually happened, Lady Inayah came up with this whole thing on the spot… just to avoid a wildfire.

Hence in order to not let the lady’s efforts to waste, Alexander also swallowed his pride and reiterated Lady Inayah’s words about his lack of mastery of the language to the Queen Mother, conceding,

“…. I admit I should have spent more time to quickly learn the language, Your Highness. I can speak and write well enough, but the many subtleties of it when it comes to royal protocol still eludes me. For that, I apologize.”

“Mmmm…. ‘We’ also should have been more lenient.” With this buttering up, the pregnant lady too softened, lowering her gaze and slightly nodding in a magnanimous tone.

This also let Alexander recall a few things he had forgotten, such as the unique quark the Queen Mother had- she could be quite obstinate in terms of manners, always demanding a level of respect as befitting her status.

This was also why she could not help but add this in the end, “But you should also try harder, Lord Alexander. There are many nobles in the Jtaama today and they will not look so kindly at you as me.”

“It is Lord Assazd. He is the most troublesome of the bunch.”

As the Queen Mother finished, Lady Inayah was quick to want to get back to the topic, chirping this new name and introducing him,

“He is Matbar (Marquis) of Faze… that is the name of the area around me. But more importantly, he is Ptolomy’s… grandfather in law.”

“…???.” The address was a bit unusual for Alexander to grab instantly, so it only became clearer when Lady Inayah added, “He was the former king’s father in law. And his daughter was the official queen of Adhania.”

This succinct sentence was enough to let Alexander instantly understand a lot of things, such as why Queen Mother was sidelined in the court. If you will recall, the former queen hated Seelima and bullied her in all sorts of ways. And then as revenge, the Queen Mother had her and her children burnt at the stake.

So it would be too weird if the man did not hate her.

Which made Alexander naturally ask with curiosity,

“The former king’s father in law… how did he manage to get here in the first place? Should he not hate His Majesty given….” he turned to give the Queen Mother a very informed look, clearly hinting at the history.

“Lord Azzazd is a very cunning man.” Lady Inayah swiftly replied on her friend’s behalf, curving her eyes in displeasure at the thought of the slippery man,

“He was actually one of the very first large noble houses to defect, swearing his fealty to Ptolomy with such ease that it made all of us wonder. We initially thought he was just bending the knee as an empty gesture. That he would show his true colors soon.”

“Who knew he was actually serious! He sincerely took his job and actually in these past few years, it was he who has brought us the most nobles… peeling them off from Amenheraft.”

There was both disgust and admiration for the man in Lady Inayah’s words. She knew he was harmful to them. But at the same time, there were so many of his actions that were so open and beneficial that it was impossible to just brush them off.

And hearing this, Alexander too could not help but muse,

“….A Matbar (Marquiss) who was able to make his daughter the Queen of the Mad king. Indeed, how can he be a simple man?”

By all accounts, such a prestigious position would almost have always belonged to a Pasha’s daughter.

So the fact that he was able to do this… recall how it took the strongest of the Pashas, Pasha Farzah quite a bit of contribution to get his eldest daughter to Amenheraft.

While Lord Assazd was not only one rank lower, Ptolomy’s father was also far more narcissistic and moody.

It had helped that he had a very beautiful daughter but as iterated many times over, noblemen in Adhania did not lack beauties. Beauty was just the qualification you needed to enter the draw. Winning it was a whole other matter.

So given he was able to succeed, spoke volumes about the man’s abilities.

However despite all this, the events still did not add up with Alexander, as with a small frown he charged,

“What about Pasha Farzah? How could he let himself himself dethroned so easily? When I left, I saw that the court all but belonged to him. What happened? Do not tell me he is going senile?”

“….” This time it was Lady Inayah who glared at Alexander, clearly peeved due to the pair’s history. But rather than chide him like the Queen Mother would have done, she only turned her voice frosty and spat,

“This is Adhan… Pasha Farzah is not from here. He does not have that connection with the local nobles. But Lord Assazd has been here for generations. His father and grandfather were also shrewd foxes like him, and together they built a vast network of allies through marriage and alliances. This is not something Pasha Farzah can compete against, he is not divine!”

Clearly Lady Inayah was very defensive about the man, and thus was very clear in pointing out the Pasha’s inherent disadvantageous circumstances that he had no control of.

Then to further bolster her answer, she added with an even more aggrieved tone,

“Not to mention, Ptolomy listens to him. As you said before Alexander, His Majesty does not like being under Farzah. It was who Assazd pointed this out. So now, whatever Pasha Farzah says, Ptolomy instinctively defers to Assazd and follows his advice instead. Foolish boy… who does he think put him in that seat!”

Lady Inayah was so exasperated that she repeated Alexander’s words, gritting her beautiful teeth.

And this was finally enough to convince the man. Pasha Farzah was fighting both the king and a local matbar.

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