Herald of Steel

After discussing things up until now with Lady Miranda, the best plan that Alexander could come up with to try and turn the situation was this- snitching to the Kaiser family and waiting for them to get involved.

In this way, hopefully, while the two lions fought, Alexander would be able to steal their catch like an opportunistic hyena.

Or at the very least eke out an advantageous position for his 'down in the muck' ally.

And while Lady Miranda was not the biggest fan of going to beg to her biggest dislike for help, as Alexander pointed out, she was not really spoilt for choice here.

The lady of the house knew she had to face reality.

Thus at Alexander's instance of getting the Kaiser family involved, she lightly nodded.

'This was is not me siding with the Kaisers… I'm only delivering a piece of news. Yes! Just like a good neighbor should. Whatever they did with it was up to them.' As she then tried to fool herself with such a rhetoric, soothing her conscience.

After that, Lady Miranda also could not help but slant her eyes to smirk a bit at Alexander's idea, as she found the one proposing to be an interesting candidate.

"I must say I'm impressed by the… agility of your mind, my lord. Because I always thought that you would be most against allying us with the Kaiser family. After all they did to you."

Lady Miranda jokingly reminded, using the tactful word 'agility' to allude to Alexander's flexibility in so easily switching the status of a faction from enemy to ally in his mind.

Not many people could do that.

And in a rare case of Lord Cassius being in tune with his wife too, also let out a sheepish chuckle, "Heh heh, yes. You even brought the Queen of Tibias all the way here just to testify against them. Too bad now… it does seem like she will have the chance to. Shame, heh heh!" The rotound lord ruefully shook his head, as if having missed a great show.

And this indeed reminded Alexander, that if he were to shake hands with the Kaisers, Lady Parthia's testimony needed to be thrown out to smooth the way forward.

Let bygones be bygones.

And it was something that Alexander found hard to stomach.

'Do I have to really make up with those people who financed men to come to kill my wives, burn down my mansion, and almost destroy my city? Do I have to smile and shake hands with those who sent an army to help my enemies? Oh Gaia give me strength!'

The young pasha cried out in frustration, adding the last sentence as evidence of being influenced by his own teaching and the surrounding environment, naturally picking up many of the people's everyday sayings.

It was very apparent that the recipient of these light, playful harmless comments was not impressed.

To the point, he then grumbled viciously in his mind,

'You think I want! I am only forced to do this because of how weak and pathetic you two are. I came here with the full mind to butcher a chuck out of the Kaiser family for their transgressions against me. Like using your family's army to take some mines or good farmland the Straus family owns as compensation.'

'Instead, what I come here to find are not two allies, but two dead weights. Useless burdens! If I had known the true extent of your incompetence before coming here, I would have likely just cut my losses and left you to burn at the stake here. So what are you laughing at with all your whites out like a pair of donkeys!'

While looking at those two carefree faces, Alexander prayed to the gods to be able to shout out his true, white hot thoughts.

But naturally, basic etiquette gatekeeped him from being able to do that.

So instated with clenched teeth, he gave a hollow laugh, and joked in a way that was really not a joke,

"Heh heh, if I did not know Lady Miranda better, I would have thought you were laughing at me for being fickle, switching sides at the drop of a hat. What? Are you afraid that I will do the same to you?" Alexander half sneered and half joked at this 'threat but not a threat'.

It was something that caused Lady Miranda to go a bit pale.

While Alexander soon lightened the atmosphere with a small crack of a smile, "Heh heh, I jest. What I meant to say was that desperate times really call for desperate measures. So we need to be flexible in who we choose to ally ourselves with."

Alexander's empty smile however carried no warmth, and having finally produced enough EQ, Lady Miranda was able to understand that although the young man before her had been pleasant and gracious with them till now, it did not mean he was pleased with them.

In fact, he was very displeased with them given how dire they had allowed the situation to become, and this was his way of protesting in a gentlemanly way.

"Right! Right! I too believe we can use the Kaiser family! I will start writing the letter right now." Thus getting the hint, Lady Miranda quickly chimed in to nod her head like a chicken- to show that she was fully on board with Alexander's approach, and thus placate him for the moment.

The lady even cleverly further added, "I will even write to the Marsh family. Maybe our imminent destruction will finally manage to get a response from them. At the very least, perhaps they can be a moderator in the conflict, helping the two ducal families reach a fair compromise about our family."

By this time, Lady Miranda was half proposing, half babbling, desperate to be in Alexander's good graces, as she attempted to show that they still had other useful allies.

An action whose efficacy would be deemed doubtful by Alexander.

But at least he would give her points for trying.

The other side understood the predicament they were in and were willing to put in the effort, not just treat Alexander like a miracle worker.

And so it was that promise that the meeting for that day ended, as the couple then quickly invited Alexander to a second lavish feast.

The scale and grandeur of which was in no less quantity than yesterday's one, the extravagant menu consisting of all the usual items- bread, meat, and fish, all cooked in luxurious oils and creamy butter, and prepared in all sorts of different ways.

Along with them came a few native specialties of the island too.

Such as various heavy pies filled with meat drenched in butter and oil, juicy pork and shrimp dumplings topped with salty, cured cucumber, and most novel of all, a kind of shawarma with various nuts, cheese, honey and other vegetables placed on a thick, yogurt like 'sauce', all wrapped in a crispy cracker made from very finely ground wheat, very similar in texture to a taco, thus making every bite feel very crunchy.

thick, yogurt like 'sauce', all wrapped in a crispy cracker made from very finely ground wheat, very similar in texture to a taco, Alexander found this last item particularly fetching, as the lightness of the fruits and yogurt helped to cut through the richness of all the other, heavy items.

And knowing the gigantic troubles that were brewing underneath the seemingly tranquil family, Alexander was eager to enjoy all these small joys as much as possible.

Who knows when he will have the chance to have this luxury once again?

Following the end of lunch, which lasted several hours, Alexander retreated back to the room, eager to have his brain use all the newly taken sugar to try to think of the best way to get out of the dilemma he was in.

And as the gears and cogs slowly turned inside Alexander, he thought he suddenly had found another reason why the other side had not tried to make a move to forcefully remove Lady Miranda yet.

Which was probably in fear of alarming Governor Straus who might inform the Kaiser family.

This then made Alexander murmur to himself, 'So they might be either waiting for Lady Miranda to step down on his own, which seemed unlikely. Or they might be waiting to kill her in one swift strike and take everything over before anyone can do anything about it. What are you going to do when the rice is all but cooked? Accept it of course.'

This latter scenario seemed to be the most likely one in Alexander's mind.

And as soon as he came to this realization, it made Alexander's skin produce the second goosebumps of the day.

'Could they be waiting to assassinate me tonight? Finish all three of us in one go? Like trapped chickens in a coup!'

Being naturally a cautious man, Alexander suddenly felt like a trapped mouse in this house, as he imagined the sound of the butcher sharpening his knife ringing like the death's lord's malicious cackle right next to his ears.

Having come so far, and with their plan being so close to succeeding if he was on the Heeat family side, he might very seriously contemplate it as well.

*Knock!, *Knock*, *Knock*.

And just as Alexander was contemplating this, three ominous knocks rang from outside his door!

It made his hands go cold.

And his eyes darted towards the open window.

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