Herald of Steel

Listening to Miss Linda's frank offer, Alexander was frankly a bit surprised.

He thought given the cold, harsh greeting just now, she would go on to chastise and scorn Alexander, such as calling him a fool for choosing the obviously losing side.

But in a complete one-eighty to her previous attitude, she was now proposing to have Alexander join her.

What gives?

The mercurial nature of the woman made Alexander confused.

"Wha..t?" Hence at first he even thought he was mishearing her, as Alexander furrowed his brows.

"I want you to switch sides." Miss Linda crisply repeated, before charmingly swinging her arms, "This is why I wanted to meet you here alone, my lord. Away from my nosy sister. To allow to frankly speak your mind."

Saying this, the lady then very deliberately stretched one of her hands onto the table, opening it and signaling to Alexander to take it- both metaphorically and literally.

Judging by the interaction up until now, Miss Linda was proving herself to be a master manipulator.

Her ability to steer the conversation the way she liked and always keep Alexander guessing was a masterstroke on how to keep your opponents on their toes.

And Alexander was not immediately able to extricate himself out of the opponent's tempo as looking at the stretched hand, for a moment he did not know how to respond.

To say he was not tempted to take the easy way out would be a lie.

Thus he could not help but hear her out, as with a warm smile he curiously posed, "What does my lady have in mind? Switching over to your side…. what would that mean for me?"

"Exactly what I said." Miss Linda repeated for a third time, "You support my son as the family's head and help me replace my sister, thus earning our grace."

The statement was curt and even bossy as Alexander's heart chuckled, 'Grace? I have to 'earn' your grace?'

The tone with which Miss Linda spoke was reminiscent of how Alexander talked to his slaves or soldiers, as subordinates.

And this was coming from a lady who was a bit younger than Alexander.

They said most people were born into nobility, while a very select few were born with nobility in their blood.

This lady in front of him could definitely lay claim to the latter fact.

As proved by despite her poor attitude, Alexander did not actually speak up to rebuke her.

It was like the very way she spoke, the way her beautiful lips and cheeks shifted and danced, and the way she looked at him, all worked to make anything coming out of her mouth sound that much more charming.

It was almost a hypnotic feeling, something that Alexander had never faced before.

Thus all Alexander could feel hearing the proposal was curiosity and amusement, as he then proceeded to the next natural query, "So what happens to Lady Miranda then?"

"I don't care. You can take her for all it matters. I won't stop you." Miss Linda carelessly shrugged, showing she did not have the slightest love for her sibling.

"And if she stays?" Alexander then decided to prod, wanting to know what the younger sister's plan was for her elder sister in the worst case scenario.

"...She will always be welcomed into our family… as long as she has no son!" Miss Linda gave a very crisp, unequivocal reply, making the innuendo crystal clear here.

It made Alexander lampoon at how both the sisters were willing to bloody their hands with each other's and even their nephews' blood…. all for the family's seat.

Truly power corrupts all.

Alexander did not try to convince the other side to tone down her demands, but quickly moved on to the next issue he had with this proposal, "I had several military and civilian agreements with Lady Miranda. What will happen to them? Will they continue as is, or will I have to negotiate new terms with you again?"

The military agreement of course referred to the constitution of those new ships and the training of sailors.

While the civilian agreement referred to the free trade agreement.

"We can discuss the details later." Miss Linda however refused to elucidate on the matter, only brusquely brushing her hands as she insisted, "What most matters now is that my lord accepts my hand. Do so and I promise you you will not be left disappointed."

Saying so, this stunning lady was quick to throw poisonous jubes at her sister too,

"Think! What can my sister offer? Nothing! She is a pauper who has nothing to give you. However, I can…. everything you want. And that is why I invited you to meet me, because of the immense respect I hold for you."

Alexander was stunned by how much of an expert this young lady was in physiological rhetoric, both flattering her and elevating Alexander himself at the same time- subconsciously presenting the two as a great match.

If Alexander had been truly a young man of twenty three years old, this lady's beauty and charm would have almost certainly made him smitten and cause him to flip sides.

Hence realizing this, Alexander groaned, 'I really don't want to deal with this woman!'

But he had no choice here, so to try and counterattack, with a light smirk he posed,

"If what my lady says is really correct and you can give everything that I want,then why are you so after my trade agreement? If you did not do that, I would not have even bothered to come."

Since Miss Linda had refused to discuss this topic, Alexander thought it would be a good way to force her hand.

"Is that how my sister got to you to her side?" However, much contrary to his expectations, Alexander's reveal did not cause Miss Linda to try and defend her decision, but only sneered as if mocking Alexander's faulty intel.

As then with a scornful look she waived her dainty, fair arms to say, "I perhaps might have said such a thing once to some of the guilds to win them over. But I was never serious. Miranda simply inflated my claims to get you here, my lord. She's a liar!"

"!!!" This complete denial of her policy startled Alexander.

The free trade agreement was basically the sole pillar of reason why Alexander was here.

And here the other side was claiming it did not exist?

If you, then Alexander might as well get on his ship and turn back! There was still time before winter settled in.

"What do you mean? Isn't your local economy faltering? Isn't that the main reason why the people support you?" Hence confronted by the conflict of information, Alexander could not help but ask, genuinely surprised.

He recalled that Lady Miranda calling her sister a liar and now the accusation circled back to her, making the man confused about who was speaking the truth here.

"The economy is fine. The people are still walking the streets and working the fields aren't they?" Miss Linda however very dismissively blew off Alexander's concern about the economy, before imperiously stating, "As long as the peasants are not starving, they are not something to be bothered about. We are doing fine."

It was evident the lady was very contemptuous of lower class folks. Perhaps that's why she was so fine with letting others take the blame for her.

And seeing this, Alexander first lightly cursed, 'Are you going to ask them to eat cake if they cannot buy bread?' because Miss Linda did seem to be that type.

While learning of Miss Linda's version of the story put Alexander in a confused spot, as suddenly he found his will to fight her draining.

If the lady in front of him really could deliver what she promised, then Alexander found it hard to justify siding with Lady Miranda.

Especially when considering the risks involved.

Miss Linda was currently very powerful and Alexander would like to avoid fighting her at all costs.

Thus to clarify what he had heard, he then very clearly shot out to confirm,

"So you are saying that the Margraves family has no financial difficulties and Lady Miranda was simply lying to me? And that you will keep my free trade agreement as is if I join you?"

"I would not say we have no trouble with coin. But with my husband's family's backing, yes, we can promise to keep the free trade agreement open for you my lord." Miss Linda's answer was clear and transparent.

And it was something that should have made Alexander's heart dance as he was being promised exactly what he wanted.

However, after speaking to Lady Miranda and knowing the likely real reason for the Heeat family's interference here, Alexander had reasons to very much doubt her sincerity.

'Is this only a ploy to get me out of the picture so that they can remove Lady Miranda without any trouble and then simply turn their backs on me once they got what they wanted?'

Alexander had trouble believing a lady he had met literally just a few minutes ago.

This was in much contrast to Lady Miranda whom Alexander trusted quite a bit given their long history and how the lady had demonstrated her allegiance via her deeds.