Herald of Steel

The Queen Mother’s eyes shone with unbridled greed as Farwan dangled the golden emblem, heart thumping with unrestrained excitement.

’Hahaha...finally! Once I have this, Adhan will be all mine!’ She quickened her pace towards the piece, almost leaping towards it, seeing the item seemed to be right within her fingertips.

"Wait!" She was only stopped a few steps away from it by a sharp cry from Alexander, noting to her, "Let’s not be so hasty, Your Highness! All this seems too... "

Observing everything from the side, the slightly paranoid Lord of Zanzan felt that everything about this sounded a bit too convenient. Hence, cautioning the lady, he turned his focus to the slightly smiling elder man,

"Priest Farwan... we are certainly glad you came to us with such good news. But... why at this odd hour?" His pitch turned up in clear suspicion, "Should such a grand announcement not be given by His Majesty in front of the whole court? Why is this happening at the dead of night?"

"...." The white haired scholarly man´s facade remained unperturbed in the face of the sharpened gaze, his thin lips slowly curling up in a nonchalant manner, "How would a lowly servant like me know that, my lord? His Majesty does what he wishes. I only hear and obey."

"...." The answer was a masterclass at deflection, such that even Alexander found himself a bit tongue tied. Similarly Seelima, who was growing a tiny bit suspicious quickly lost her train of thought.

She knew better than anyone how erratic Ptolomy could be at times. It was very much possible he had just thought of this one second and decided to execute it the very next second, all other things be damned.

’That brat... this does sound like something he would do.’

Meanwhile, the clever priest took the perfect opportunity of this pause, turning his face towards the lady and noting in a pleased, saintly tone, "Ahhh... Your Highness, I am glad to see that even now all your moves are dictated by men. Mmmm...I have truly trained your body well, hahaha!"

The words stung the Queen Mother like a burning whip, scorching her whole body and washing all other thoughts from her mind. Fury overwhelmed her as she clenched her fist and cursed Farwan, and then perhaps even more cursed herself for stopping at Alexander´s order.

The ever experienced Farwan read all these changes in the mature lady like an open book, a cunning glint flirting across his eyes. He was glad to see the Queen Mother was still as easy to manipulate as before.

With a light curve of his lips, he turned to Alexander and added even more fuel to the fire, "Hehehe... Lord Pasha, has she ever told you about her time with Alozmer? How he... used to treat her- like a piece of meat?"

"....." Alexander furrowed his eyes and pursed his lips at the distasteful topic. He could also vaguely sense the priest was trying to rile the Queen Mother up, for whatever reason.

So with a dismissive wave of his sturdy hands, the young lord tried to blow it all away in a regal, disdainful tone, "Her Highness served the king as he demand..."

"Hahaha... yes, yes, I have heard the stories!" Alexander was however interrupted mid-sentence by a loud, boisterous laughter from the back, as Mainus, Pasha Vivizan’s son eagerly stepped forward. The boy, who was previously rebuked and ignored by all in the room, now felt this was this chance to make a comeback.

So without giving anyone a chance to speak, he raised his voice, and excitedly recounted with shining eyes, "I heard from father that in one party the Mad King had her tied to a beam at the center of the ballroom and stripped naked. The nobles freely used her front and back. Hahaha... even mother spanked her until she broke down crying!"

The boy said all this with the excitement of a three year old, clenching his fist like he could not wait to see something similar.

"...Mainus!" While hearing it, a growl escaped Seelima that seemed to come out like the rumbling of a volcano just about to erupt. If she was angry before, this humiliation made her ready to immediately explode.

"Hmmp! Those are only rumors, boy. "His Majesty Alozmer never did that,"

But before Seelima could lose that last shred of sanity, it was Farwan of all people who came to her rescue, snorting in a cold, dismissive tone, "Your father was just bad mouthing Her Highness. Do not spread such slander!"

"..!!!..." The rebuttal from his own ally caught the young man off guard and he suddenly gaped, "Bu... but even mother swore. She saw it many..."

"Hush boy! Do you know more than I?" Despite the boy´s best efforts to prove his words, Farwan shut it down with a sharp snap, sending him a cold look. Then, a moment later his face magically melted into a gentle, warm smile as he turned to placate the Queen Mother, "Don´t worry about him, Seelima. I know what ´really´ happened."

"...." Alexander had kept a poker face during this whole interaction, tracking the Queen Mother´s every facial feature change.

And he noticed something very interesting.

Seelima seemed genuinely angered and embarrassed when brought up that story. Then she became relieved when Farwan dismissed it so vehemently. Lastly, as the elderly priest made that very ´pointed´ comment, her lips once again twitched, a faint scarlet blush painting her gorgeous face.

´It seems there is quite some weight to the story.’ All these signs gave Alexander quite a good idea of what was going on, so he noted with a dark note, a bitter taste forming in his heart.

What was described was too extreme for even the promiscuous Adhanian nobility. Such open events were very rare, and if they happened, they only happened in secluded tents among small groups, like with trusted friends or allies. It never happened openly, such as in a ballroom, and certainly not with a king’s concubine.

’It seems Alozmer’s growing madness also made him lose all his moral inhibitions. Is that why even some of the priests covertly supported the coup?’ Alexander thoughtfully ruminated, recalling some of the hushed rumors he had heard.

It was Lady Nanazin who had told him this after a particularly hot session- as the hot and sweaty couple cuddled together under the sheets, the curly haired brunette began to retell some of her hidden past and whispered that she suspected that the poison they used to kill Alozmer had passed through a few priests’ hands, thus warning Alexander to be also careful.

However, the caveat was that she had no real proof of this, as she was not directly involved with that event.

But this was enough to make Alexander quite interested and he tried to verify this after coming to Adhan, secretly asking both the Queen Mother and Pasha Farzah.

Interestingly both deflected this query- saying they had used various proxies to move the poison and were not in the know how of all the details that happened in the middle.

This answer did not sit well with Alexander- he did not believe for a second there was any way these two shrewd foxes would use people they did not trust 100% for this dangerous endeavor.

One wrong move would have seen their and their whole family’s heads rolling.

So why did they lie?

Well it took a bit of thinking but using a few other independent observations, Alexander thought he found the answer- they were likely trying to create a fissure among the temple clergy.

Alexander came to this conclusion after staying with the Adhanians for a few years and noticing that the relationship between the temple and nobles was not as harmonious as it seemed on the surface.

Other than both sides vying for power, supporting either Ptolomy or Amenheraft, there also seemed to be a growing faction of clergy who were generally dissatisfied with the status quo.

They disliked the constant infighting, the wars and especially the debauched lives of the nobles. They blamed all the country’s growing problems, particularly the last bit- the declining morals, claiming they had lost the favor of Ramuh due to this and needed to purify themselves to avert his wrath.

They hence called for greater respect and chastity for women and even monogamy.

Personally, Alexander quite liked some of the ideas of this faction. He too thought the nobles of the country were far too lascivious, and far too distracted with women and pleasure to effectively rule their feifs. Similarly, he did not like how commodified they made women.

However, at the same time, he also understood the world did not revolve around pure morals and ideas.

And what this faction was calling for went against the very fabric of Adhanian nobility.

How can you have monogamy when all the nobles’ power bases rested on alliances and relationships based on marriage? And how can you have chastity when the very concept of hospitality meant sending women to warm the beds of your guests?

Heck, even Alexander had four... no six wives, and there was no way he was going to let any one of them go, neither for personal or political reasons.

So in other words, in the eyes of the Adhanian nobles. This group was quite extremist in their calls and would surely cause a great social upheaval if they got in power.

So Alexander had no intention to support them and embroil himself in such a mess.

And perhaps that was exactly why Pasha Farzah did not tell him about them.

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