Herald of Steel

The Queen Mother’s mention of the two people closest to him indeed made Alexander’s heart instantly skip a beat, and he instinctively felt his heart tip a bit in favor of the ritual.

He recalled the many times Cambyses as well as his other wives had come to him after a party or ball, crying over how the other ladies had neglected or taunted them, wrapping their insults with silken praises and sweet smiles.

All this was of course cloaked in innuendos, so Alexander coud never act on them. These ladies were masters of their art and made sure to carefully hide the true meanings behind flowery, veiled compliments.

For instance, once they offered her the backhanded compliment, "Oh, Lady Cambyses, your Azkak is so impressive! I have a slave from Thesos who’s been here ten years and still cannot speak half as well as you."

This remark, under the veneer of praise, quietly placed Cambyses on the same level as a servant.

Then fearing Cambyses would not be able to catch the first insult, another lady had leaned in with a smirking sneer, "Ah, yes... I remember now. That darling little thing you showed us in your party. We had much fun with him. Though, truth be told, I recall the wife more vividly. I so enjoyed her childlike voice as she licked me down there- hehe- it was simply too adorable. You absolutely must lend me her for a few days- my party needs it."

This was another blatant reveal of their fantasies regarding Alexander and her.

These kinds of remarks weren’t limited to Cambyses either.

Similar barbed comments were often directed at Mean’s knowledge or lack thereof, of classical poetry and literature- something very natural given she never received much education on it.

Thus when the ladies found this out, they started to use various poetic phrases and innuendos to laugh at her, and Mean would not be able to even open her mouth.

Many times, she would not even understand what they were laughing at her for and could only bear with it until they got home, where the feisty girl would lash out at Alexander, blaming him for taking her to such an awful place.

In the same way, Gelene’s manners and bearing were also a frequent target of their laughs.

In fact, that was commer theme for all his wives. Adhania was infamous for its obsession with cultural formality and as recent commoners elevated into noble circles, it was only to be expected they would stumble through the finer points of court etiquette, especially as these skills were not easy to learn.

For example the nation had no fewer than four distinct types of just bows, all based on the receiving noble’s rank, gender and the relation between the two houses. Similarly there were three different ways to structure the same sentence based on the person you were speaking to. Meaning what some might consider improper to be talked in such a way could be perfectly acceptable to another.

These are only two of many such examples.

Most of these additions were purely theatrical- they did little to alter the actual meaning of the sentence. But because they significantly influenced the warmth of the words and how they were received, one had to be really cautious. Or you might end up offedning someone and not even know.

Frankly, even the sharp witted Alexander, who had managed to gain a solid grasp of the language in a remarkably short time, found it all rather opaque and difficult to figure out

It was made even more challenging by the fact that Adhania’s traditions and customs were not formally written down—they were passed on orally and through practice from one’s family and teachers.

No books or guidelines existed... because frankly there was no need to.

No commoner was going to need to learn noble etiquette and as Adhania was closed off to all his nearly all its neighbours for trade until very recently, virtually zero outsiders needed to access their language.

All these combined to put the newcomer Alexander in a very difficult position.

Feeling like a fish out of water, he thus requested Lady Inayah for help, promising to hire teachers from her for a large sum of money. But even with the ebony lady’s best efforts,.... the results were still underwhelming.

The truly great teachers had long been claimed by the established noble houses- families that had, in many cases, spent decades or even centuries cultivating and supporting them. Some of these tutors might have even served through multiple generations, becoming so deeply embedded in the household that they were nearly part of the family.

Naturally, they were not about to abandon their patrons simply because a nouveau riche newcomer offered them money- not in an era where scholars held their pride in the highest regard. To them, morality, ethics, and the pursuit of knowledge stood far above wealth or status.

So, while the generous sums Alexander offered were impressive to most, they held far less appeal to them.

This was also not to mention how a lot of these teachers were very specialised to the family they specifically served, so could not be readily swapped.

Just take Lady Inayah for example- her family had served the royal family for ages, spanning back to the previous dynasty. Such a long time in service naturally came with its own wealth of experience and insight about the needs and wants of the serving family.

No matter how unruly or mercurial the prince or princess was, they knew what technique to use to make them obedient.

In the same way, they knew the political alliances and could tailor train the imperial wives.

It should be known that not all concubine were made equal- those gifted or bought from the market like Seelima were given the full, extended course- thoroughly taught how to ’squeeze’ every bit of their charm.

While others more noble and haughty women might only be taught the bare minimum so they did not embarrass themselves in bed. These women would usually join the royal family through extremely political unions and might not appear at those night parties in their entire lives.

As for the rare case of Lady Nanazin, well she had given more lessons than usual despite being a highly ranked noble because her father insisted on them- he wished to put a prince in his pocket through her.

Hence we can see how Lady Inayah adjusted her course based on the prince the girls were destined for. And naturally such personalised outlines came with a hefty price tag.

Teachers like Lady Inayah were valued for a good reason. And why it was thus unrealistic to think Alexander would be able to close the cultural gap within such a short time by simply using money.

Among his wives, only Ophenia had been spared most of the bullying. As a noble herself, she long possessed the poise and sophistication required to navigate such circles with ease.

More importantly, she knew exactly how to play their game. Whenever another lady tried to veil an insult in polite conversation, Ophenia would respond in kind- taking quotes of poetry from her home city state and besting them at their own art.

For example- there was once a lady who had euphemistically called her an ’apple with black seeds’.

This hinted at two things.

One that even though Ophenia was extremely fair and beautiful on the outside, her heart was black, and thus a horrible person to be with. Two, she liked to cheat behind Alexander’s back with black men, possibly carrying their bastard child.

Ophenia recognized that lady as Pasha Muazz’s eldest cousin, and so she also held nothing back, covertly called her by an Adhanian flower that symbolised ’incest’, and mentioned a line from a famous, lurid story.

It was a mocking tale written by a small noble that told of a slave complaining to his master that he did not like serving the mistress of the house because her nipples and lower lips were black and stinky due to excessive use.

One should have seen how that lady’s fair face turned pitch black at the taunt. She snapped away in her heels and never talked to Ophenia ever again. All while the other three girls could simply look with a sort of blank look on their face, trying very hard to decipher what each of the taunts actually meant.

Ophenia even managed to make a few good friends among the Zanzan nobility in this way, impressing the noble ladies with her mastery of poetry.

Too bad the others were not so lucky, and in addition to all that, they even occasionally got a pass made at them. The ladies knew Alexander did not participate in their celebrations and like drawn to a forbidden fruit, attempted to bait his wives.

It was not that they were too much attracted to the trio, nor were Cambyses, Mean, or Gelene so beautiful that the women turned smitten over them. Rather they were simply curious to see how the girls looked underneath and hear how they moaned.

These ladies were truly corrupt.

Fortunately they were only a handful in number and Cambyses could easily brush them off.

However it still hurt the girl, and Alexander knew if he took the ritual, all this would stop almost overnight. Camyses would become consort to a royal prince and as much as these ladies had the gall to poke and play with him, they would not dare sully the royal family.

There was great cultural and religious power behind the golden lineage

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