Herald of Steel

The Queen Mother sent Alexander a piercing gaze as she asked the question, eagerly waiting for him to agree with her.

But Alexander only knew Pasha Farzah after his successful rebellion, so he had trouble framing him in that perspective. Personally, he thought the old man had plenty of spice in him already, and thus really could not imagine him being more power hungry.

"....." Hence the Zanzan lord only sent the Queen Mother a quizzical look.

"Oh, I forgot you were not there." Seelima lightly tapped her palm against her broad forehead at the reaction, before excitedly curling up her lips,

"You should have seen Farzah before- he was like a man possessed. There was nothing he was not willing to do and nobody who could stand in his way. Proud, strong, with a temper as strong as steel.... it made people subconsciously want to follow him. Hahaha... when he stood next to Alozmer in court, the people had trouble distinguishing who was the king and who was the prime minister!"

Alexander had never seen the Queen Mother pull such a face as she described the man- flushed and overflowing with radiant praise, she almost sounded like an excited fangirl introducing her unrequited crush. It made Alexander question how the Queen Mother really felt about the man.

Especially as getting swept away in her own excitement, the Queen Mother then sexily crossed her legs and suddenly snorted,

"Hmmph! In fact, you are really lucky you did not get to see that side of Farzah. Otherwise... if he had been the same as before, you would have never gotten Azira and Azura. Your lineage is simply too dirt...is too low."

Seelima only managed to get a hold on her tongue at the very last second, biting down on it hard trying to swerve it. She perfectly knew this was not the time to disparage Alexander.

It was just that her efforts were a little too late- most of the word’s meaning had already been said.

So Alexander sent her a cool, unimpressed look in response, like he was saying- ’Oh, so now you have a problem with me marrying them too?’

Queen Mother quickly crossed her arms underneath her exposed chest and interjected before Alexander got to rebuke her for the slip up,

"Hmmp! But now, Farzah is no longer the same. He has become a lot more mellow." She exaggeratedly scoffed, her soft, flattering tone turning hard and disappointing, "It is like the fire that used to burn inside him- now that his daughter has been avenged and his granddaughters are back, that is no longer there. He has become soft... too soft and pliable."

Seelima flared up her beautiful nostrils in disdain as she said this, before further adding in a disdainful tone, "Snort! Or how else could that snake Assazd bested him? You think the Farzah of old would have let things slide to such a state as we are now? Nonsense! He would have turned the whole court upside down way before!"

"Assazd and his faction would have been sorely taught how even someone who called himself god like Alozmer died in this man’s hand. Yet now they... Heh! But I guess the fiery lion has finally become old. Its claws are no longer what they used to be."

"....." Alexander’s heart thumped a recognising beat as the Queen Mother finally finished her speech in that dismissive manner.

Indeed now that he thought about it, things in court should never have gotten as bad as they had. Pasha Farzah’s exploits here in the capital were legendary- so even if some unfavorable circumstances arose- given all the advantages the man started with- a weak, powerless king and the total military and economic control of the court, he should have been able to easily manage.

Assazd should have been solely under the man’s thumb, barely able to make a move.

Yet the reality was... Alexander had to be the one to come to their rescue, swooping in like a knight in shining armor at the last moment. That was not an easy move.

Thus as Alexander reevaluated the elder man’s circumstances, it began to seem the Queen Mother was indeed right- Pasha Farzah had truly mellowed, losing his edge.

With his life’s biggest goal already accomplished, the old man no longer had that same energy as before. Perhaps at his old age, instead of mucking it about inside the filthy royal court, he just wanted some peace and quiet, leisurely spending more time with this family, and enjoying the fruits of his labor.

Upon reaching this conclusion, Alexander sent the Queen Mother an agreeing look.

And it instantly made the lady’s heart turn with glee.

This was perhaps one of the rare times Seelima had actually bested Alexander in a battle of wit.

Because deep down, she actually knew her analysis of Pasha Farzah was quite biased- the shrewd lord was certainly not as incompetent as she was making him out to be.

The problem in her narrative came from using the same standards for two very different cases.

With Alozmer, Pasha Farzah was trying his best to kill and replace him.

While with Ptolomy, it was more about control and guidance, and showing him the ropes of kingship. And as funny as it sounds, Pasha Farzah thought the mad father was actually much easier to reason with than the petulant son.

This was because Alozmer at least had a clear goal set in his mind, i.e., he wanted to be absolutely respected and feared by everyone. The way he went about that might not have always been rational but at the very least, Pasha Farzah could come up with a rough outline stretched around that principle.

As for Ptolomy, even he did not know what he wanted as king. For instance, in the morning he might want to be loved, by the afternoon that might change to respect and reverence, and before bed he might desire to be praised and followed.

He was like a kid in a candy store, constantly picking up a shiny new toy, playing with it for a few seconds with great enthusiasm, and then suddenly dropping it the next second for something new in the next aisle.

How do you plan for such mercurialness?

You don’t.

That is the reason why Ptolomy did all those absurd things while Pasha Farzah only pursed his lips and helplessly watched from the back. He was not built for such babysitting services. And every time he watched Ptolomy mess up, he only lampooned how could Alozmer be never that defenseless!

The rebellion could have been over in six months.

Now with all this said, would it be correct to say, Pasha Farzah made no mistake in court and the Queen Mother was simply slandering him?

No, the elder lord certainly made mistakes- without doubt he could have handled the situation better if he had really tried.

But as Alexander already guessed, Pasha Farzah was no longer the hot blooded youth. Age was indeed starting to catch up to him and upon seeing all of Ptolomy’s antics, the old bones could not find it in them to really fight him... at least not tooth and nail.

Pasha Farzah was already satisfied with what he had and perhaps at the back of his mind, he thought even if Ptolomy got replaced, it would not be that big of a deal. After all, no matter who sat on the throne Ptolomy or his son in law, Amenheraft, he would win either way.

His granddaughters Azira and Azura would not be bullied by either and his family was so powerful that even in the worst case scenario they would at best get a slap on the wrist.

Alozmer was a very unpopular man among both the populace and nobility and not even Amenheraft would dare to be too hard on the rebels. Not when even the eldest son was particularly fond of his father.

Sure, he respected and obeyed him when he was alive and cried bitter tears upon his death, but those were only human emotions. If it ever really came down to the two... he would never sabotage it all for some dead, mad man.

Pasha Farzah guessed that Amenheraft would at best make a mock show of his anger to display his filial duty but little more.

The complacent lord hence only put in that much effort in controlling Ptolomy.

The situation however was much different in Alexander’s case, whom the Crown Prince hated with all his guts.

He saw the young mercenary as the bane of his existence, the root of all his misfortunes, and the main culprit who stole everything from right under his nose. He even took his twin daughters in an unlawful marriage and in his latest stunt, tried to fatally poison him.

It would be far stranger for Amenheraft to be actually willing to reconcile with Alexander.

And it was precisely this very sentiment that the keen Queen Mother took full advantage of, glinting her eyes with poisonous cunning, and sensually whispering in between Alexander’s pause,

"Indeed! The bear has lost much of his ambition. Now he cares more about maintaining his family rather than gaining power. But you Alexander... you are much like me. Bold, ambitious, full of zeal! Neither of us is satisfied with only what we have. Neither of us is safe with what we have. We want more. That is why I chose you over Farzah."

And hearing a stunningly beautiful woman talk like that, like any man, Alexander too felt flattered.