Herald of Steel

'No! How can that be?' At the realization of what Alexander was implying, Lady Miranda felt her head spinning.

The lady who had just lost her son could not believe she had been stabbed in the back like this and not even realized.

"My lord, what do you mean?" While the much slower Lord Cassius was yet to even wake up to the conspiracy, putting on a questioning face.

So Alexander let him in, "What I'm saying is that the former lord might have been in talks with the Heeat family to replace Lady Miranda with Miss Linda all along. That would explain how your family so easily capitulated to a foreigner's side. And why those 10,000 men appear when they did. Likely to coerce Lady Miranda to abdicate and help put down any armed resistance should the need arise!"

The naked reveal of the truth so openly hit Lady Miranda right in the guts, and she almost started crying.

To think her own grandfather would be plotting to usurp his own grandson.

While Lord Cassius quickly stood up and quickly rejected all such claims vehemently,

"No! Impossible. Lord Margraves IV was an honorable man! He would never break his word. Since he promised Marcus the Margraves's family seat and he would stick it to. I know it! My father told me so ever since I was a child."

This was the first time Alexander saw Lord Cassius become visibility offended at him, as his large, gluttonous cheeks became flushed and inflamed as he glared at Alexander angrily, with a fuming head saying to himself,

'Who is this stranger that I got to know for only a couple hours to question the integrity of the honorable former Lord of the Margraves family? Bastard!'

Alexander did not try to defend his hypothesis, because it was apparent Lord Cassius was in no state of mind to think logically.

It seemed the revelation of the elder lord's plots in the shadow had come as a great shock to him and refused to open his eyes to it.

And if Lord Cassius refused to see, then Alexander could little about it.

Fortunately for Alexander though, Lady Miranda was much more level headed and with the aid of Alexander's lens, was able to shift through much of the smoke and fog that had clouded her mind till now.

And as the vision became clear, she let her husband know about it too, as with a slightly shaking voice she began,

"No, what Lord Alexander might very well be correct. Many of the things grandfather did start to make sense when you start to think about like that."

Saying this Lady Miranda's brows furrowed as she posed,

"Such as how easily my sister was able to crawl into Parker's pants and earn his adoration. I have always wondered how any respectable man from a ducal family could marry the third daughter of an Earl. Especially an earl that was one step away from disappearing! It made little sense."

After this, Lady Miranda's voice turned a bit disdainful,

"Many said that it was love at first sight for the two. Heh! As if? I know that snaking bitch… Linda does not know love. And I have also met Lord Parker…. he did not strike me as a love struck fool. He should not be the type to knock up any girl willy nilly. Certainly not when the girl was an earl."

Lady Miranda ended the last sentence sounding very sure of her judgment of the man.

"Perhaps he truly did feel in love with Lady Lady. After all, who knows where one's other half in life lay?" However here Lord Cassius decided to interject a bit, feeling what they were talking about almost sacrilegious, and thus tried to posit an alternative theory- i.e.- 'That the two really liked each other and his wife and Alexander were just thinking too much and seeing patterns where they did not exist.'

"Hmmmp, perhaps so!" And at first Lady Miranda seemed to agree, before her voice turned didactic, "That is if you also ignore how easily grandfather accepted the two's affair- something the old fart was notoriously strict on."

Understanding of the betrayal the man was going to do, Lady Miranda changed her address of the man very dramatically, as she then went on to point out,

"And he was that strict on his sons. Forget about the girls. If we did anything like this, we would have been lucky to get off with only our skin peeled. Most likely, we would be kicked out of the family instantly!"

At this, Lord Cassius had little ammunition to counter with.

He knew very well that the Margraves family in general was a very conservative family and women were rarely allowed to interact outside the family.

And the one time Lady Miranda was allowed to go to Zanzan accompanied by a then unknown merchant was an exception among exceptions, something she was allowed to do only because they stood on the precipice of destruction.

So if Miss Linda was really caught having an affair, such a scandal should have at least gotten the girl a thorough beating of the canes, if not outright banishment from the family.

But in a complete reversal of his usual demeanor, not only the former lord had gotten angry, he even had congratulated the two.

Something Lord Cassius had not thought much of then, but now….

While Lady Miranda, seeing his face turn from thoughtful to alarmed sneered, "So you understand now, huh? If I had gotten married with the kind of baby bump Linda had, both father and grandfather would have tried to hide it from the public even if it meant stomping my belly flat."

Alexander really hoped Lady Miranda was exaggerating here, but also knew in some parts of the land, it was not unheard of for families to kill both the woman and child if she was found to be pregnant outside of wedlock.

Such was the shame.

And even if they were not dealt with such cruelty, they were still usually hidden out of sight from the public out of ignominy.

And if a ceremony was held to celebrate their eventual marriage, it was always done after the woman gave birth and all signs of the pregnancy disappeared.

So Lord Margraves's decision to hold a large banquet while his granddaughter was still visibly pregnant was very strange indeed.

Something that was clearly pointed out by Lady Miranda and elucidated on,

"But not only grandfather did not disapprove, he even appreciated this. Saying it was only natural for young lovers to get carried away. I at first thought with father and brother's death, the old fart had mellowed out. But now… It seems it was his plan all along!"

"He must have been in talks with the Heeat family on how best to depose Marcus without causing a scene. That's why he did not tell me why those 10,000 men were here. Bastard!"

Lady Miranda could not help but curse her own grandfather.

While Lord Cassius and Alexander hearing the explanation observed a muted silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

The former still refused to believe, despite all the evidence, feeling convinced that there had to be some other explanation.

And he internally made up his mind to ask his father about this the moment he returned.

While Alexander was just relieved that this conspiracy was unearthed before it was too late.

If Lord Margraves had not become ill and died when he did, then things would have indeed become quite dire for Alexander, as Miss Linda would have been on the Margrave family's seat even before Alxx could come to know about it.

At least now he had a chance to salvage the situation.

Also as a side note, he did not curse the old lord for going back on his word.

If Alexander was in his positon, and such a proposal landed on his desk, he would have likely taken it.

Because it made little sense to stick to one's word when all that would do was push his family to the precipice of destruction.

Letting Marcus stay as the head of the family would likely mean there would soon no longer be a family.

While the alternative of marrying one of his granddaughters to the Heeat family would earn him their coin and protection, thus saving his entire family

The choice was a no brainer.

That was also probably why Lord Margraves did not give any clear instructions on what to do if Marcus died.

Because he knew the regent head of the family- Lady Miranda would likely never accept it.

In Lady Miranda's mind, it was she who had visited Zanzan all alone while pregnant to try and save her family, taking great risk to visit a land that was closed off to the outside world just a few months ago.

And then succeeded in managing to come back with the iron that ultimately managed to save them.

So by all accounts, the family's throne should belong to her.

And there was certainly logic to her thought- the risks she took did deserve this appropriate prize.

It was also knowing this that had put the old Margrave in dilemma, which was also why he did not attempt to forcefully remove Lady Miranda on day one but waited to slowly ease her into it.

Too bad the old man died prematurely.