Herald of Steel

1063 Securing the Mansion (Part-2)

Lord Nolan's pathetic groveling was a first for Alexander in either of his life.

He did not think a man could stoop so low. Especially one this high and dignified. Not to mention one so old.

You would think that having lived so long, the wizened lord would begin to lose some attachment to this material world.

But no.

In fact, it was the exact opposite that had happened.

The old man had firmly entrenched his desires into the earthly soil, the root descending deep and far, unwilling to leave its nest and wither.

Hence at the threat of death, tears, snot, and other mucus flowed across his face, the wrinkled skin being bathed in this water, and turning glittery with a soft shine.

Which actually looked quite good to look at, if ignoring the fact how it was produced.

And seeing the kneeling man, crying and desperately clasping his hand, Alexander's heart first of all produced a slight disgust, almost making him feel like he was not talking to a human but something lesser.

Lord Nolan's behavior looked like that.

Points had to be taken off the old man for not delivering to the same standards as Miss Linda.

"Get up! You are more useful to me alive than dead." Loudly announcing his decision, Alexander then gestured to the man to sit up.

And upon hearing the 'Not Guilty' verdict being read to him, the old man's face instantly switched from dark and overcast to bright and sunny.

"Thank you, my lord, thank you. I knew you were a reasonable person. I knew you were a reasonable person, thank you"

So happy was he that in fact Lord Nolan's little speech quark began to come out, while Alexander threw such pandering to the bins, and only charged, "What did you do to my money? Where is it? Why did you smuggle it out of the mansion in boats?"

Lord Nolan was terrified by these revelations, as he could not imagine how Alexander had found out about their supposedly covert attempts.

And thus overcome by great panic, he quickly squealed, "It was Linda. It was all Linda. It was that witch. She did it. She needed money to pay the city's people after the riot massacre. But she did not want to pay it out of her own pocket. So she asked me to swindle you. It was all Linda! It was all her."

Lord Nolan repeated several phrases incessantly, his face twisted in fear, his spit spreading everywhere, and making Alexander's ears ring and feel quite irritated.

Then suddenly Alexander had the urge to tightly slap the man.

Because if what Lord Nolan said was true and the people of Caira were really given the money, then it would mean the money was truly lost,

After all, there were 100,000 people in the city and how was he going to bill all of them?

Thus it would seem Ladyy Parthia's hypothesis turned out to be wrong here, as Alexander could not kill Lord Parker to get his wealth back.

To do that, he would have to sack the city.

Something he would be very reluctant to do even if the amount was increased to 3 times- 100 million, due to all the political ramifications.

Hence the man thought he had little other way to vent other way hitting one of the culprits.

But despite thinking so, here, Alexander managed to at last retrain himself.

Instead, taking a chair right next to the old man, Alexander imperiously ordered with venom in his eyes, "Tell me everything you know about this whole thing. Start from the very beginning. From the day Lady Miranda's grandfather started to plot to have his own granddaughter removed… all the way to who ordered my assassination."

Lord Nolan once again slightly shivered at Alexander's second reveal.

He had hoped that particular saga would still remain hidden and assumed the reason for Alexander's fury might be due to the lost money.

However now that the man even knew about that, Lord Nolan began to go off like a tape recorder,

"It started some time after the war ended. James… the late Lord Margraves one day came to me saying that he was unsatisfied with Miranda's skill in handling the family business. According to him, she could not negotiate properly, and was too slow to pick on the lessons he was giving."

"That was when he suggested that Linda be made the family head instead. The girl had always been the brightest and quickest among all her siblings and James thought she would be perfect for the role. So with that in mind, he began to look for suitable suitors."

"It would seem the gods were on James's side. Because the Heeat family showed interest. And very quickly at that. Secret talks soon started afterward and it was amidst those meetings that it was decided that everything should be kept a secret until the whole thing was done. Both to not alert the other ducal families as well as ….*sigh* Miranda."

With a slight pause, Lord Nolan subconsciously released a burst of warm air, suddenly seeming regretful.

Fake or not, it seemed the elderly man lamented this act of betrayal.

However, Alexander was not in the mood to entertain this two faced withered snake, and instead scoffed, "If you are feeling sad now, why didn't you try and stop it? Marcus was your own grandson wasn't he? If he became the family's head, you too would have basked in his light, wouldn't you?"

In Alexander's eyes, it made no sense for Lord Nolan to support Miss Linda's son Quentin over his own flesh and blood.

The choice was clear and even pragmatic.

"Hehehe, one cannot live long in this family thinking like that." Lord Nolan did not rebuke Alexander's accusation but only let out a slow smirk, one which seemed to be almost filled to the brim with the vicissitudes of eternity.

The message here was unequivocal- the family's net benefit always came first, not your own's.

And the man then ended with a short sigh, "Besides, you would have to agree my lord, Linda is a much better leader than Miranda. The brat can really act, hehehe."

Alexander would have to concede that point to the beautiful and scheming woman.

She was indeed better.

Plus from these talks up until now, Alexander also guessed that the other elders must have been fully in line with the former lord's decision, leaving Lord Nolan all alone to be the sole fighter.

It was a fight he could never hope to win, not in a million years.

And assuming this, Alexander then suddenly remembered something that caused him to say to himself, 'I wonder if it was him that managed to convince the old lord to decree to spare her granddaughter when Miss Linda replaced her.'

Alexander did not get to dwell too much on this hypothesis, as he instead turned his ears to once again listen to Lord Nolan pick up his voice,

"Anyway… not Linda or even Parker Heeat was told of the whole truth… in the former's case in fear that she let it slip… women are loose lipped anyway hehe, and for the latter in case he did not like her and wanted to annul the marriage."

Alexander listened quietly to those misogynistic remarks, a hallmark of the time, while also finding it funny that the next in line to the Heeat family had been basically tricked into a marriage he had no idea about.

While Lord Nolan continued, "Instead, James arranged for the two to meet under auspicious circumstances and …. luckily the two fell in love," with a small pause the old man here chose to skip the more 'intimate details' of the affair, such as the fact that Miss Linda had basically honey potted the man and then the old Margraves lord twisted the man's arm into accepting his new bride, as Lord Nolan thought it was better than those secrets laid buried.

Then the rest of the story unfolded basically as Alexander had already figured out, with the only additional information gleaned from this being that, originally, Lady Miranda was to be given a small estate within Galiosos and asked to lead out her life there- quite a stupid idea in Alexander's opinion.

Because such a thing would lead to two things and only two things- either Lady Miranda plotted from there to oust Miss Linda and successfully take back her rightful seat.

Or she was assassinated before she could do that.

And given how cunning his opponent was, Alexander would put in his money on the latter.

But since that plan was already moot and void, Alexander did not bother to point out the obvious flaws.

Instead, he furrowed his brows digesting all the new information, while also trying to decide what to do from this point on.

When suddenly he felt his eyes being drawn to the nearby windows, from where he spotted a raging inferno!

And it was from the Great Harbor!

"Remus has succeded."

These were the first words to enter his mind, as Alexander cheered,and then leaving LN, he ran towards the window for a better look.

And the sight did not disappoint.

To him, it seemed like the whole city was on fire…. because it was.

Oh no!

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