Herald of Steel



Hearing Alexander's not-at-all-concerned answer, the Queen Mother understood that convincing Alexander to apply his expertise to develop Adhan would be a fool's errand.

Which she found to be a shame, as seeing how much he was able to transform the barren lands of Zanzan, she could only wonder how much he would be able to do to a resource and population-rich region like Adhan.

But since Alexander had very clearly said he was not interested, Seelima did not push him further.

You could lead a horse to water, but you could not make it drink it.

While Alexander made his thinking even clearer to the Queen Mother, saying, "To be honest, I do not mind if Pasha Farzah takes control of the court."

"In fact, as long as he keeps Ptolomy on the throne, I think that will be better for us."

"Because he is very unlikely to muck it up as Ptolomy could."

Alexander hid nothing of his preference on who he wanted to see running things.

And surprisingly the Queen Mother did not seem at all offended by this, as she instead only raised her eyebrow and tempted with a bit of playful demeanor, "But don't you want to be the one running the court?"

"Hahaha," And this absurd proposal made Alexander burst out laughing,

He neither had the prestige nor the know-how to navigate the complex machinations of Adhan's court and its politics.

And the Queen Mother of course knew this, so this was just her testing Alexander's greed.

Something Alexander had passed with flying colors.

So as a final test, her lips curled up in an amusing tone, and asked with her eyes narrowing, "Then if you do not mind who runs the court, what if I killed Ptolomy after having his son?!"

The Queen Mother very casually dropped here an apocalyptic idea, the contents of which were nothing as lightheaded as the tone she said it with.

And it even made Lady Inayah who was quietly sitting jerk involuntarily.

'After killing two kings, she seems to have developed a taste for it,' The raven-haired black lady thought to herself, as she would not put it past someone as ambitious as Seelima to actually do that.

After all, she had killed the father of her child before.

While Alexander too was shaken by the nonchalance with which she uttered this idea, so openly and unreservedly, like she was not planning to commit regicide, but simply squash a bug.

This was definitely not something one said so breezily.

So it made him wonder if she was really serious, or if she was looking at Alexander's reaction.

Because Adhan under Ptolomy, and Adhan under her would be two completely different beasts.

And though Alexander might tolerate a tame, weak Adhan under Ptolomy, it might not be necessarily the case if Seelima was to rule over it.

At least that was her type of thinking.

While Alexander who was posed with the hypothetical scenario thought for a while on how to answer, oscillating between whether to act aghast at the thought and swear his loyalty to Ptolomy or to produce a toady smile and condone the act.

And a while later he gave this answer, "Your Royal Highness, I think you misunderstand me."

"You believe that I'm wary of you. Or that I do not like you. Or that I think you are scheming against me."

"But that is not true at all." He shook his head as he said so, before lightly smiling and saying,

"In fact, I actually think you ruling Adhan's court is quite a good idea. And I support it."

"And this is because you are smart."

"And it is much easier to live with a smart person."

"Because a smart person will do things logically. Things that benefit oneself."

"And that means you can predict them."

"Whereas a foolish person will do whatever he likes."

"And it is very difficult to play with a chaotic teammate, who can easily sabotage his own team."

Alexander had clearly made his preference known.

And the answer made Lady Inayah sitting close blurt out aghast, "Alexander, y…you." as she then turned to the Queen Mother to shout, "And you too Seelima! What are you two saying?"

The lady could not believe the two people sitting near her were even discussing such a topic.

And it made the goblet she held in her hands shake uncontrollably.

After all, this noble lady still held some respect for the king unlike the woman next to her.

While the lady next to her chuckled at the answer, and in a flirty tone posed, "So, you are saying I'm predictable huh?"I think you should take a look at

"Yes. But in a good way," Alexander smiled the reply, adding,

"That's why although some might think I prefer His Majesty Ptolomy because he is more malleable, but actually I would much prefer to see you in control of Adhan."

"Of course, I would aid in the act. But I will not stop it either."

While Lady Inayah looked at the two with incredulous eyes, the frank answer made Seelima ruminate for a while as she hummed, "........".

And she quite liked what she heard.

It seemed that if she ever thought of disposing of Ptolomy, Alexander would at least not be a hindrance.

Now, this was only a thought, but the Queen Mother liked to keep her options open.

And so in a cheerful tone, she raised her goblet and roasted, "Well then Lord Alexander, let our alliance be as long and enduring as the earth itself," as she then gulped down her wine, and Alexander followed.

This was what the Queen mother really wanted to talk to Alexander about, to find his interest in other province's

And given that Alexander had expressed no interest in it, it meant Pasha Farzah and her could carve up the court with no problem.

As Seelima was done with her round of questioning, Alexander had one last one of his own,

"By the way, I have to ask," He prefaced, "Since Your Highness is so interested in Adhan's politics, why are you here? Why not in Adhan managing His Majesty?"

This was a very good question, as given how ambitious Seelima was, one would figure she would be spending every waking moment of her life laying with Ptolomy to get pregnant and secure her position.

But there was a complex reason to this

"Should I say because I enjoy the view here?' The Queen Mother wanted to give an insincere answer.

But given that Alexander had revealed mostly his true thoughts, she felt it was necessary to reciprocate the action.

So she said with a bit of a sigh, "The poison that killed Alozmer was procured by Farzah, given by Inayah, and mixed in the food by me."

"This is almost common knowledge in the upper echelons of the nobility circle. Amenheraft made sure of it."

"And he did this because he knew most nobles would not side with a group that committed regicide."

"And so the counter plan that we came up with was to put all the blame on me, reasoning that it was I who actually poisoned the food, and then have me leave Adhan for a while as the nobles calmed down."

"And it has worked till now, as most nobles chose to ignore the regicide given the main culprit did not show her face in Adhan for the time being."

The Queen Mother here revealed something Alexander had no idea of, as this secret deal was struck between the three men and women and they did not think it was relevant to inform him.

So he was surprised to know that the Queen Mother was in effective exile here.

This was really unexpected.

'No wonder she agreed to the hostage deal so readily! It was the perfect happenstance for her,' Alexander also felt enlightened, as well as understanding why neither the mother nor daughter were trying to get pregnant right now- because declaring such a child as the crown prince would be politically too immature.

Some time needed to pass to cloud the nobles' memories.

So he gave a light smile, and said, "I see. Then I hope your time in Zanzan is enjoyable,"

"How long do you intend to stay?"

"What! Tired of me already?", the Queen Mother gave a teasingly smile at Alexander's inquiry, before answering, "Not too long."

"Given I will spend six months in Adhan, and six months in Zaznan from now on, it will be three years for you."

Meaning the Queen Mother intended to flirt between existing in the public eye and in private exile for the next six months, or until the armistice ended.

And this made Alexander naturally question, "But will not staying in Adhan for so long defeat the purpose of your exile?"

"Haha, well that boy Ptolomy will get lonely if I stay any shorter," The Queen Mother pointed out.

Which was very true given how crazed he had appeared with Alexander when talking about the two women, and Alexander did worry how the manchild would react if he did not see them for too long.

While the redhead further added,

"And besides, those old coots at the court still need to be reminded that I still exist, don't they? I might be in exile, but I'm not dead, haha."

Sure enough, Seelima's power-hungry nature also had a part to play. as she seemed to willing to jeopardize the entire plan just to show the nobles just that.

And she justified the act by saying,

"Don't worry, Farzah has informed me the nobles might be as hostile as we thought them to me."