Herald of Steel

"...Your Highness, I was thinking of asking His Majesty to officially divorce Lady Nanazin. He has no love for her, right! So why keep her?" Alexander did not forget the promise he had made to the curly haired buxom lady at night and thus tried to quickly get the influential lady on his side.

Then to make the deal seem even more attractive, he further added,

"We can even get her father, Matbar (Marquiss) Tareeq to side with us. He did try to fool the royal family with the three bast… three illegitimate daughters. If this were to get out…"

Unfortunately for the scheming Alexander, as good as his pitch was, his 'investor' was not in the best of moods. Accelerated by her late stage pregnancy, she suddenly took an unreasonable offense to Alexander's professional attitude, seeing it as slighting her advances.

The frustrated Queen Mother probably did not hear even half of what Alexander had said as she snapped, "No! I already have enough to ask from Ptolomy. Bringing Nanazin up will do nothing but make him angry. You know very well how much he hates her. So… just tell her to act like thin air and no one will bother her."

Lady Nanazin was treated almost like a ghost in the royal palace. No one talked about her, no one cared about her and they certainly did not check up on her. It was as if they wanted to completely erase the fact that she even existed.

All this was Ptolomy's plan.

Thus the Queen Mother determined as long as she stayed out of sight… she would probably stay out of the mind too, free to do whatever she wished. Her advice was thus actually caring.

However that did not sit well with Alexander, as he felt this was spitting on every trial and hardship the lady had endured- she had even sacrificed and humiliated herself in every way just for Ptolomy to get where he was. Let's also not forget all the abuse that nearly killed her.

So Alexander was determined to get something better for her. He wanted to give her a proper status, otherwise… even her daughters would not be able to get good suitors.

Hence he tried to once again bring up Lady Nanazin's father, and the possibility of blackmailing him. He even tried to sell Seelima how powerful the old lord was and how his joining could help the royal family.

"We are low on allies, Your Highness! What is the harm in trying?"

Too bad for him, Queen Mother was no fool he could simply smooth talk into doing his bidding.

She might not have had too much administrative knowledge but when it came to navigating Adhania's byzantine political landscape… frankly, even Alexander fell a great deal short of her.

Thus Seelima once again shut down Alexander, her snap being even fiercer this time,

"*Snort*! Brat, why are you so disobedient? Can't you listen to your elders for once in your life?"

"Let me be as clear as possible here… no one.. and I mean no one here cares about Nanazin! And they care even less about Afsarah, Afsanah, and Afsahahq. So you think that snake Tareeq will care about his secret? Snort! You really know nothing about that monster, do you brat!"

"Did you know there was another Talukder (Viscount) family that once also showed interest in marrying their daughter to Ptolomy. Alozmer even once briefly considered that. But nothing ever happened because that entourage was mysteriously attacked on their way to the capital… bandit attack… if you can believe it. Hmmmp! Right! Bandit attack… here!"

The Queen Mother did not need to go into detail about how ridiculous such a claim was- those types of maleficence had long been hunted to utter extinction around here- the seat of the empire's power.

"...." The news thus even shook Alexander's heart a bit. From what he knew- the royal family was at the peak of its power back then, so such a brazen thing right in their backyard would have surely ignited the utter wrath of Alozmer.

Yet… Matbar (Marquiss) Tareeq was still alive but Alozmer was not. That alone spoke volumes to the man's ability to weather storms.

The Queen Mother finished with a frigid declaration, "That wolf won't even bat an eyelid at your threat! Rather the only thing that scandal will end up doing is humiliate 'us' even more. And that is the last thing we need…. things are already hard as they are!"

"..." Alexander thus understood Seelima right now was most interested in protecting the royal family above all else. And the last thing she wanted was for the entire nobility to know that they had been raising bastards as princesses for more than 20 years. This would erode even the last vestiges of prestige they had.

Alexander at first thought this was a bit selfish on her part.

But he soon found that he could not really blame Seelima for her decision. Her roots lay here, with the royal family, buried deep underneath…- while Lady Nanazin, for all her worth, was merely a single mother with zero influence in the lands.

No responsible person could have chosen her over an entire family.

"I… I just thought His Majesty would want revenge… for what they did." However Alexander still tried for one last time, prodding the Queen Mother from this new angle…. although even he knew this was a long shot, as proven by the weakness in his voice.

"Revenge! Heh!" What he did not expect was the fiery response he would get, as Seelima seemed to suddenly flare up, "If 'we' had the power to take revenge, you think you could push 'us' around like this?"

Apparently her current powerlessness struck a sore spot.

Alexander had already become used to the moody lady's tumultuous temper, so chose not to react to this sudden outburst. He only gave a calm, thin smile.

"...." And this simple non pulsed attitude was enough to quickly snap the Queen Mother back to her former self.

"I… that… Sigh… that was unbecoming of 'us' Lord Alexander. 'We' hope you will overlook our' foible." Seelima then last chimed in a slightly reticent voice, her eyes sweeping down in a slight embarrassment. It was not exactly an apology but given the proud woman's nature, this was the best Alexander could expect.

"Hahaha…Your Highness please… I already forgot about it!" He was also gentle tempered enough to overlook it.

"...*Nod*..."

Following the slightly awkward encounter, the conversation seemed to suddenly grind to a halt. Both parties hesitated to restart it and soon even the very air seemed to stagnate and coagulate..

"Ahem…" Until Alexander finally broke the deadlock, looking up to restore his formal facade, "Your Highness, about the things you wish me to complete in Adhan. What will be my budget?"

As a hands on working man, his mind chose this topic as the best ice breaker.

The range would also allow him to prioritize his tasks. For instance, if he were given a large sum, he could tackle the larger tasks first- since they would cost more and take more time. And if he had less… well, he would prioritise doing the smaller tasks well.

"Oh! My lord can decide for yourself. You know best and 'we' do not want to restrict you!" But contrary to his expectations, the Queen Mother actually skipped giving him any concrete number, instead giving him seemingly limitless reign.

The offer appeared extremely generous, and Seelima even sent him a saintly smile- which was so beautiful that Alexander was even a bit smitten, his eyes widening with fancy.

Fortunately, the shrewd negotiator still had the correct presence of mind, and quickly found the Queen Mother's overly amorous behavior a bit evasive.

So with a clear tone, he gently pressed, "Oh? That is too gracious of you, Your Highness. I am beyond honored. But… I would like at least a range. How extensive do you want the carriage system, for instance? I need to at least know how much the crown is willing to spend, right?"

"....." Seelima suddenly simmered down at the line of questioning. She could tell that Alexander could tell.

"Hehehe… why do you think I am dressed up like this?" Thus when she finally spoke, she seemed to suddenly transform back into her seductress form. Curving her smoky eyes into a seductive grin, this mature lady gave Alexander an extremely naughty smile, and then suddenly went further than ever before.

*Boing!* Seelima, in one swift tug, tugged down the upper part of her robes, exposing her entire chest.

As expected, she wore nothing underneath.

So Alexander was able to enjoy the flashing view to the fullest- dangling like heavenly fruits, the enormous peaks appeared so full and heavy, yet so creamy soft. They held their shape perfectly- like a teardrop and under the excited breathing out of the chest, swayed and shook ever so gently, tempting every man to come and play with them.

Normally, such a sight would have made the lustful Alexander immediately heat up at the thought of how good it would feel to fondle them and suck the milk out of those enormous, turgid pink buds.

'... You can't be serious!' However he was in no mood to enjoy it as the stated price for the offer was astronomical. 'The things you asked will at least cost me 30 million ropals. *Snort*, And you think your lay is that good? Ridiculous!'

Only extreme patience and a rock solid fortitude stopped Alexander from blurting this out aloud.

He did however glare… extremely heavily.