Herald of Steel

The investigators tried very hard to find any possible reason why Seelima would want to hurt her friend. They knew if they could, it would be much easier to present their findings against the king’s favored mistress.

However, as much as they wished, every witness they talked to only had the best of things to say about the two friends...and none could point to any arguments or even an instance of harsh words said against each other.

Thus finding themselves to be in a dead end, they were eventually forced to look at other possible candidates. But none of those exactly fit the mold either.

So soon the days began to drag on, yet they could not present any fruitful result.

And at some point, Alozmer too started to lose interest. The mad king was quite whimsical by his very nature, and by now it was also clear that there was no assassin- this was mostly likely a simple crime of passion or jealousy.

So Seelima, along with two allies in the imperial harem managed to convince the king just drop the matter. Those two women testified to Seelima’s good moral character and upright nature and complained to him about how it was so unfair for the investigators to harass an imperial concubine just because of an unknown slave girl.

Alozmer too seemed to agree to the triviality of the whole affair, and given that the investigation was stuck, excused the team a few days later.

This decree was like a huge stone being lifted off Seelima’s chest and she let out an immense sigh of relief. There were quite a few times during the whole thing she genuinely feared being dragged to the dungeons for questioning.

If she was sent there... she knew she was not getting out. Nobody ever did. The torturers would make her confess no matter what.

So the young girl almost had her mind half set that if it really came to that, she would simply commit suicide by biting her tongue. A swift death like that was a godsend compared to what went on in that dark abyss of pain and suffering.

Fortunately, the worst case did not come to pass, and she managed to get away with it scot free.

Having survived the ordeal the young girl also made sure to learn from her mistakes- because certainly, while this might have been her first time, it was certainly not going to be the last.

In fact, she applied the lessons she had learnt soon enough, and if you would believe it, it was on one of the imperial concubines who had supported her this time!

It happened some time later they both began to vie for Alozmer’s attention and Seelima quickly found herself losing that battle- the mad king was no longer that interested in her ’old’ body, and wanted a new toy.

Seeing no other way, Seelima created an opportune moment and killed the other mistress.

And this time she was much more strategic- she first killed her and then planted evidence that the girl was not only hoarding gold coins but even stealing from many of the other concubines,

This made it seem like a crime of revenge while also discrediting her- who would want to waste so much time seeking justice for a thief anyway?

Hence the Queen Mother was not that scared when Alozmer had the investigation team called upon the body’s discovery, or even as he placed far more importance on it- this was his current most favorite mistress, his new dazzling distraction, not some unknown slave girl.

And despite the far greater pressure, the investigating team failed to find any good clues. Seelima, with proper foreplanning and a bit of external help, once again managed to ride out the wave.

Also, if anyone was interested, that external help actually came from Lady Inayah, who was incidentally also the other concubine who helped convince Alozmer of Seelima’s innocence the first time.

In fact that was how the two girls first officially met.

Seelima had first spotted Lady Inayah when she and a few other concubines attended one of Alozmer’s infamous parties as entertainers. They did not speak at the event but the Queen Mother clearly remembered being a bit surprised seeing Lady Inayah’s stark black skin color. That was her first time witnessing that complexion.

Then the two girls also got to serve the same man by sheer coincidence, which by the end resulted in them sharing a very hot, intimate kiss. The Queen Mother really liked the way Lady Inayah tasted and was even more blown away by her level of technique.

Compared to her, Seelima’s skills back then were considered almost amateurish, as also commented by the man they had served.

But that was also hardly surprising given the family the ebony lady came from.

And over time, Seelima also improved her game, helped in no small part by her black friend.

In fact, a lot of Seelima’s later successes in bed could be directly attributed to Lady Inayah- the black lady had really gone all out, showing her friend all the ropes. Thus in some ways, the Queen Mother could even be called Lady Inayah’s most successful student, her magnum opus.

Anyway, when Seelima was under investigation the first time, she began to fear the noose was tightening around her neck. So in a desperate attempt, she took a very bold leap of faith and approached Lady Inayah for help- she was the only one among the various imperial concubines that the new Queen Mother knew and who was also around the same age as her.

She asked her ’friend’ to help clear her name.

As for the context she used to make this request- well Seelima certainly did not reveal the true extent of her crime- that would have been way too risky at this infantile stage of their relationship. Rather, the stunning redhead simply framed the whole thing as more of an harassment and fear of how Alozmer would shun her due to these suspicions.

Then in exchange for the aid, because she had nothing valuable to offer right at that moment, Seelima swore her support for Lady Inayah if she needed anything in the future.

The ebody lady eventually agreed to this offer as this was not particularly that difficult, nor did it really hurt her to try. She also thought it would be nice to own a favor from Seelima- foreseeing it as useful future leverage.

The black noblelady then further proposed to the Queen Mother to get another girl on board, reasoning that two voices whispering into the man’s both ears simultaneously would be much more convincing. And when Seelima confessed she did not know any of the other imperial concubines, Lady Inayah picked one from her group.

The two lonely girls kept in touch following the success of that endeavor, and as they got to talking, they quickly found they had much in common. Or perhaps on the contrary, they found they did not have common goals- each wanted very different things.

Lady Inayah unlike the other concubines, had no love or desire to cozy up to Alozmer- this was the man who had killed her husband and was openly lusting for her infant daughters, despite him being the father. As a wife and mother, she would be crazy to pursue this madman.

So her only wish was to be left alone with her daughters and let them grow up peacefully without any ’danger’.

While the Queen Mother was the complete opposite- she was determined to become the king’s number one, his most favored consort. That ambition could be said to be almost written into the very fibre of her bones.

Hence, as there was this absence of a conflict of interest- an extreme rarity among imperial concubines, the two soon became friends. And unlike the relations with the other ladies that were simply situational marriages of convenience, over time this developed into genuine friendship, devoid of any falsehood or artificiality.

The girls tacitly came to the idea that Lady Inayah would help Seelima rise to the top and in exchange, the Queen Mother would try and keep Alozmer away from the ebony lady’s three daughters.

Now, with the power of hindsight, the two ladies could see how much of a naive plan that was, devoid of any nuances and filled with many terrible conjectures- the most egregious of all was the fact that they thought Seelima could control Alozmer in any form whatsoever.

A mad bull was easier to stir than that mercurial mad man.

But that was what they believed at the time and in keeping with that contract, they would help each other out the moment the other needed it.

For instance, there were many times the Queen Mother had Alozmer divert his attention away from Lady Inayah’s growing daughters. Otherwise, Lady Ezaya and her sisters would have been probably ’plucked’ at ages as young as six! The mad king was that much of a beast.

And even during that time when Lady Inayah was with Pasha Farzah and rumors of being relationship began to spread... it was Seelima who helped convince Alozmer these were all just rumours and lies spread by their enemies looking to stir up trouble and cause a scandal for the royal family. He was asked by her not to react as it would only besmirch the royal name.

And somehow the mad king even listened to her that time. Who knows... perhaps he was in a good mood that day.

In return for all this, Lady Inayah also provided various support to her in the form of money, ideas and connections.