Herald of Steel

"My lord, he is not breathing!"

Hearing the kneeling legionary comment so regarding Lord Nolan's condition made both Alexander and Lady Miranda feel as if they had been zapped and they suddenly became a bit stiff.

The two deaths were not in anybody's mind when they had first bought the two men.

The original plan was to only interrogate them and then if needed, judge them in front of the family, thus displaying their breach of trust.

After all that, they could be sentenced, if the need arose.

But as it seemed everything had gone off script.

Lord Cassius was killed by a stab to the heart by his own wife.

And now, Lord Nolan seemed to have also departed, dying most probably due to heart failure.

Although impossible to know for sure, Alexander guessed what had most likely happened was that the pain and immense shock of being hit by his son caused the old man's heart to suffer a stroke, who then passed away right there, under everybody's eyes.

With none of them being any the wiser as they were all too busy observing all the other spectacles happening around them.

Oh what a tragic way to go.

If they were under better circumstances, Alexander might have been able to rush to help.

"......" Thus for the first moments after hearing of the old man's demise, Alexander found himself even pitying the old man.

Whatever the man's faults were, this was not how a respected, well groomed nobleman who had lived for so long deserved to leave the world- with a broken leg, broken chin, and after being struck by both his son and daughter in law.

Thus as he glanced at the two pairs of glazed and pained eyes, both staring into the abyss, Alexander ruefully asked himself what could have possibly gone through Lord Nolan's mind in the last few moments of his life,

What would a father even think when he was hit by his child?

And how great a pain must have been to have a stroke from it!

Alexander found no answer to such a heartbreaking query, But he was sure that no father deserved to be killed by his son like this.

"Take both the bodies. And prepare them for the funeral."

With the bodies starting to cool, and various wastes beginning to come out of the ears and nostrils Alexander then ordered as such, offering the two corpses their due dignity.

And as this was happening, at the same time he turned to order another group of men who were standing by the window bathing under the orange glow of the setting sun,

"Go inform the entire camp what you have just heard! And tell them sleep for them is canceled for them tonight!"

"They are to immediately start storing as much water as they can, in every container they have! And I am not talking about just the water buckets and barrels, I mean everything they, from the cups to even the cooking pots and pans. Anything that can hold water I want it to be filled with it!"

The soldiers really did not need any encouragement from Alexander regarding this.

They had grown very restless the moment they were informed of the imminent danger.

"Yes!"

Hence the moment they heard the order, they scrambled with swiftness and alacrity, being more than happy to comply.

"Wait! I'm not done!"

In fact, they were so enthusiastic that they did not even wait for Alexander to dismiss them, thus being in clear breach of military discipline, as he had to then call them back.

And remembering this, when they heard the call, the soldiers suddenly paused in fright, but given the extraordinary circumstances, Alexander was not in the mood to punish them.

So instead of a rebuke, they only heard additional institutions,

"Also have the men start digging wells. Dig as many wells as you can… all around the place. Try and find some fresh underground water in this way. There has to be some!"

Although Alexander's last words sounded more desperate than an actual statement, however using his logic, he reasoned that other than the underground water system, the ground beneath them should also have many natural water reservoirs.

All these would have to exist no matter what, by the natural laws, and so the real question was whether the amount unearthed would be enough to fulfill the needs of six and a half thousand people or not.

And although optimistic, somehow Alexander doubted that they would be.

Because if water underground was abundant, then the Margraves might not have bothered building up an elaborate and sophisticated water supply to meet their need, especially one that needed regular and expensive maintenance.

But despite all such pessimism, Alexander still gave the order to have his men start rummaging around because a drop of water was better than none.

So he wanted his men to try their luck.

And who knows, perhaps Alexander would be entirely wrong about the whole thing and they will be able to find abundant fresh water underground, untapped and unfound for ages.

The man certainly knew how to dream big.

Now, there was nothing wrong with dreaming, as upon Alexander's order, the legionaries also began to dream, thinking they had finally found a way out and thus quickly left to carry out these orders, a slight smile hanging on their faces.

And as the men left, Alexander suddenly found himself alone with Lady Miranda, who still had a stony face on her, silently and almost with a numb look observing the whole affair.

It seemed that even water, the very nectar of their survival was unable to currently move the lady.

"......" And so Alexander also found it hard to approach the lady in this state.

Even with both his lifetimes combined, he had never actually talked to a lady just after she had stabbed her husband to death, and this unfamiliarity made the man unable to think of a way to break the ice.

Should he flash her thumbs up and congratulate her 'Good job! He deserved it.'

Or should he look concerned and ask, 'How are you feeling? Are you okay?'

Was it even okay to ask if someone was 'okay' who had just committed homicide?

Or should Alexander completely avoid the topic and act like it never happened, going on to speak about a completely different thing?

But then wouldn't avoiding it make it even eye catching?

"......" Thus, as such myriad thoughts swirled inside Alexander's mind, for a while, the man could only furtively cast glances at Lady Miranda, like a shy newlywed, unable to talk, but also unable to leave her and exit the room because he thought it would be too rude to let a lady who had suffered such a tragedy be left alone.

So it was after quite a while that Lady Miranda herself, sensing the unease, decided to initiate the conversation, turning to face Alexander with a confident gaze and announcing in a soft but chilling tone,

"Pasha Alexander, I want to ask you to capture all the elders here and execute them. The ship of negotiation has sailed. The only way for me to rule the family now is to paint the whole mansion red!"

"...." Alexander's lips lightly twitched at hearing this.

Was this the first thing they said after killing their husband?

Alexander wouldn't know, but he had expected some kind of apology somewhere along the lines, 'Sorry, I let my rage get the better of me?' or something similar.

But there was nothing as such.

Instead, Lady Miranda appeared like a shark.

A predator who had just gotten her first taste, and she seemed to like it very much, so much so that it appeared to be on the hunt for more prey, much more prey.

Thus Alexander even lampooned to himself, 'My lady, you really do not need to go full Stalin. There are better ways to rule than simply purging your enemies and sending any detractors to the Siberian gulag.'

Alexander did not think Lady Miranda's mental condition was good.

Because otherwise she would have definitely not given such a destructive order.

Killing all the elders would be a truly foolish thing to do, even if one were to consider taking into account the running of the family.

If these experienced, heavyweights were truly gone, who was going to run the day to day operation of the family and navigate it through such troubled waters?

Undoubtedly, given the immense perils the ship called the Margraves was facing at sea, they would need very skilled crewmen to steer the boat safely ashore.

Thus even if Lady Miranda was not interested in using them to negotiate, she should have at least considered letting these men live based just on the fact that they were a critical component for the Margraves to continue functioning as a coherent noble family.

However, Alexander did not argue regarding all these with her.

Not now at least.

He was clever enough to understand this lady in front of him was not in any mood to pay heed to reason.

She was enraged, grieving, and in shock.

Thus towards Lady Miranda's absurd order, Alexander found himself oscillating, unable to say yes and definitely not say no.

The man hence found himself sweating bullets.