Herald of Steel

….. It was only an excuse….. I only needed to have the land on paper to convince my nobles… I wanted to hand its reins to you!

These words reverberated inside Lady Miranda's ears like thunder and stunned the lady to the point that her entire body felt cold and numb.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"...So thanks for all that…."

And as Alexander finished, he noticed her lips start to imperceptibly twitch.

But no reply came, only the appearance of a very pallid, pale countenance.

Lady Miranda suddenly felt she did not have any face to speak to Alexander.

Especially because this time, what Alexander said was indeed the truth.

Alexander had been trying to figure this problem out from the day he had that conversation with Lady Parthia, and after thinking about it for way too long trying to find the best man, he suddenly had an epiphany.

He found that he was looking in the wrong direction.

Rather than putting an inexperienced foreigner so far away from his own base of control, Alexander figured it would be far easier for him to let a local like Lady Miranda run the show on his behalf.

In this way, Alexander could leave the day to day heavy lifting to the lady while he would only need to send a trusted steward or butler to work under her and make monthly reports on the happenings back to him.

This last part was to ensure that the lands were operating smoothly and Lady Miranda did not simply grab the entire place for herself while Alexander was looking away.

But now….

"If my lady is agreeable to such a thing, I am still open to such an arrangement. Are you interested?"

Despite the acrid remarks, Alexander was still willing to proceed with the prepared plans.

He could not think of a better replacement so quickly.

"Yes! Of course! I would be honored." Lady Miranda naturally jumped at this second chance, before quickly trying to make up for her earlier words, "Ahhhh! Before that let me apologize. I let my ignorance get the better of me. I…"

"Haha, don't worry… I am sure that was only the wine talking. We all have our bad days. I have already forgotten all about it."

Seeing the lady's flushed, hurt face, Alexander quickly pretended that those words had no effect on him and humorously chuckled to lighten the mood.

And this generous display did indeed let Lady Miranda improve her sullen countenance, following which she heard Alexander chime,

"We can draw up a detailed contract on the terms at a later date. I would also advise you to move your 'capital city' to my lands. As I said, I cannot promise the size of help I can send if something happens. So staying in the buffer zone will be the best way to ensure your security. The other side won't dare rashly invade my lands!"

"Thank you, my lord. This was actually one of my requests when meeting you today. The further I am from Linda, the better I will feel!"

It was unknown if Lady Miranda truly meant this, or was just pretending in front of Alexander to make up for her earlier behavior.

But Alexander did not care, as long as she did what he said.

The truth was if something did happen on the island, it was unknown how he would react.

It would all depend on how things unfolded with Miss Linda and her bid for the duke's position along with other evolving factors.

In the meantime, Alexander wanted to concentrate on exacting the maximum value from this place- i.e. keeping his trade agreement in place, the trade routes opened and access to the skilled men he needed to build and man his navy.

What happened after Alexander became sated or found other alternatives- well that all depended on his mood.

So in a way, giving Lady Miranda a place in his fief for protection was perhaps his last favor on her, given upon looking back at the good old terms.

But such heavy thoughts were concerns for a later time.

For now,

"Haha, let us drink my lord. This is a great cause for celebrations!"

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This time it was Lady Miranda who offered to pour, pushing the two cups to opposite ends of the table before taking a large quaff by herself without further ado.

She needed this!

If her previous want was to numb her angry nerves, this time it was to forcefully calm herself and stop from overtly showing her euphoric state.

Not even in her wildest dreams would she have dared to imagine that Alexander would just give her his portion for completely free!

Before meeting him, the best she could have hoped for was to complain that Alexander had taken too much land and ask for more support in return.

So this sudden pie from the sky spanning tens of thousands of square kilometers was more than enough to make Lady Miranda become drunk with joy.

"My lady, drinking so much is not good for your child's health!"

And not even Alexander's warning could snap her out of this revelry, as she continued to chug her portion portion without stopping,

"Ahhh! The brat can endure! This is too big to not celebrate!"

"...." Alexander was beginning to understand that Lady Miranda perhaps did not have the best tolerance.

Once she started, she had difficulty putting down the glass.

Thus Lady Miranda only freed her mouth upon emptying the glass, and lifted her head to drunkenly grin,

"Good wine! Better than anything we have here."

Alexander was not surprised by this comment, this was his own special brew.

It followed the same recipe as the one he had given Camius, but he also added a bit of white sugar, giving it a similar sweet kick to modern soft drinks.

It did not affect him much, but for people of this time who never had processed sugar, even this slight fermented taste was intoxicating.

"Thank you. I will leave you a bottle before I leave.….. My lady, have you thought about marriage?"

Alexander made the two very unrelated sentences in quick succession, catching Lady Miranda a bit off guard.

"Hmmm?" Thus initially her brows creased and she appeared a bit puzzled.

"I… well…. Umm… you see…" But after Lady Miranda broke out of her intoxicated state and understood what was being proposed here, her face became even more flushed, as she struggled to articulate her thoughts.

"Would… would you have someone in mind, my lord?" She at last mumbled.

The coyness in her voice combined with the shy, flushed face revealed all her immediate thoughts to Alexander.

And towards this Alexander actually felt a bit disdainful,

'*Snort! What are you thinking? Do you think I am going to propose to you? Do you think this is the price I want for letting you oversee my lands? Do you I am trying to tie the knot to cement our alliance? Heh! Fat chance!'

Now this type of thinking was certainly very arrogant of the man.

If it was the stunning Miss Linda who was sitting in front of him putting such as face instead of the plump, less attractive elder sister, Alexander would have had a very different reaction. He might have even seriously considered having her a mistress or concubine.

This reaction hence revealed perhaps one of Alexander's greatest character flaws.

The only silver lining here was that he kept these dark thoughts deeply buried inside, rarely giving them a chance to surface.

Thus despite his true colors, Alexander replied to Lady Miranda in a very professional tone,

"I have a few names in mind…. a Tibian prince, a few of my generals who fought here, nobles from my retinue! You can choose any one of your liking."

"...Oh."

The way Lady Miranda said this single word upon hearing Alexander's answer said all that needed to be said.

It sounded as heavy as the earth itself, and her face turned downcast as if saying-

'My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.'

Then as a tacit rejection of Alexander's offer, Lady Miranda spoke in a somewhat difficult, monotone voice,

"Actually Uncle Janus has asked me to marry his eldest son. And after all he has done for me… I could not refuse."

Now this convenient resume of course sounded like the most made up on the spot excuse to Alexander, and so he gently prodded further, expressing his 'surprise' at the existence of his eldest son who had been nowhere till now.

"Where was he when his father was at war?" He lightly asked, looking forward to Lady Miranda tripping up.

"Uncle Janus and he is… a bit estranged. That's why you did not see him in Giant City. He actually lives… rules a city called Hamson… a few days south of here."

However Lady Miranda surprisingly had a solid story to back up her claim, as she went on to reveal,

"His name is John. And apparently… the reason for their estrangement is because he married a woman he liked, breaking off an engagement he already had."

"This made Uncle Janus completely furious and at first he wanted to disown him. But grandfather strangely interfered, and made John a noble of his own right. At the same time, he gave Uncle Janus a brand new fief- Giant City."

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