Herald of Steel



Mikaya and Seelima were not the only ones amazed by the clarity of the glassware on display.

By now every one of the guests had picked up their goblets and was looking through them to see how the world appeared looking through them and marveling at how the light seemed to both scatter and join together when passing through the glass.

'So glass can be so beautiful! Both transparent and translucent!' The guests cried out in their hearts.

Serving glass plates instead of ceramics might seem a bit tacky to modern people, but for the people present, even plates made with solid gold would not have amazed them as much as the clear glass did.

Adhania had already an obsession with glass, and if all the people were not in such a formal setting and sitting right in front of Alexander, most would have decided to take them as 'souvenirs' back home.

After all, each one of these could easily go for prices nearing or even exceeding 5 digits.

Suddenly, while everyone was busy caressing and feeling their new tableware, a sweet voice rang out, "Pasha Alexander, you know Hellma is getting ready for marriage. Might you be interested?"

There was a light smile on the Queen's mother's face as she made this preposterous proposal.

"......"The jolly atmosphere seemed to have been hit the pause button by this sound, as everyone turned their heads woodily to find the source of this voice.

And even Hellma seemed to have been stunned with silence at this crude way of her mother asking Alexander to marry her even before the feast for his first wife's wedding could start.

This was a new low point she was seeing of her mother, a point she quickly reevaluated, when Seelima further suggested, "Of course, if the Pasha feels just my daughter is not enough, I still consider myself young!"

"....." Alexander had to fight very hard to keep a straight face at this shameless behavior.

He knew his clear glass would attract jealousy and coveting, and he was also aware of the craze Adhania had for the stuff.

But he had at least assumed that Seelima would have a bit more dignity than that, especially when she would frequently go off on the 'virtues of nobles'.

So, Alexander was now left with the task of trying to figure out if Seelima was being serious after being dazzled by the secrets of clear glass or if it was her way of driving a wedge between him and Ptolomy to fleece the glass formulae out of him through political pressure.

But whichever one it was. to make such a proposal so openly meant that without a doubt this would make its way to Ptolomy, making Alexander feel a slight headache at how to deal with that lovestruck fool.

And the worse news was that Seelima blackmailing him for the glass recipe would not be the worst thing it could happen.

No, the worst thing would be if Seelima was serious about wedding Hellma and herself to him, causing a complete fissure between Ptolomy and Alexander.

Marrying the widow Seelima would not be too controversial even in modern times.

But Hellma, aged fourteen and a beautiful girl by her own rights, might seem very young by any modern standards.

But these were not modern times.

In Adhania, girls typically tended to get married by fifteen, and in fact, there was even a law that heavily fined any girl above the age of twenty who was unmarried.

This was done due to economic reasons, as the faster one could marry a girl off, the faster she would become someone else's problem.

Health reasons as it was possible for anyone to contract an innocuous disease and simply, almost randomly die, even those in the prime of their life such the teens.

And thus the urgency to start producing children as soon as the body was able.

And lastly, it was done due to social reasons for society generally did not like seeing young, mature, unmarried women, for they were seen as lazy, rebellious, and wastrels.

And this phenomenon was of course not restricted to Adhania or even this timeline.

For example: Shakespeare's famous romance tragedy Romeo and Juliet cast Juliet as a thirteen-year-old, with her mother making mention of the phrase, 'two weeks till her fourteenth birthday', several times.

This did not mean Shakespeare was a pervert.

But that it was simply socially accepted to write such a novel about such a young character because it was the norm of the times.

And England and Europe were not the only ones who practiced this custom.

The Arabs did.

And the Indian Noble Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore even wrote in his diary how distressed he was because he had not yet found a suitable suitor for his two daughters who were crossing the age of eighteen.

An eighteen age old unmarried daughter in the sub-continent was considered a shrew and spinster even as late as the 20th century.

And in the freedom-loving USA, even in the 21st century, in some places like Mississippi and New Hampshire, the age of consent to marry with parental consent for females are 15 and 13 respectively.

So, the Queen mother seriously offering her and Hellma's hand in marriage was not out of the question and thus Alexander was momentarily fluxed about how to respond to this.

Not to even mention the political implications, Alexander firstly and most importantly did not like the mother-daughter duo.

Though very beautiful, Alexander found Hellma too arrogant and cold, while Hellma found Alexander too low-born and lacking the 'spirit of a noble'.

And though stunning to look at Alexander found Seelima too scheming, and Seelima found Alexander's potential too dangerous.

There was no way this was gonna work, and so Alexander decided to answer as such, loudly chuckling the reply, "Hahaha….I'm glad to see the Esteemed Queen mother enjoying herself enough to make jokes. I'm honored, I'm honored."

And as he said this, he internally thought, 'Seelima must know this would be the answer. So what's her angel?'

But Alexander did not get to finish this train of thought, as just after finishing this, and even before the table could regain their collective breath, Mikaya thought it was time to throw her name into the ballot, and so she chirped up, "That's right Alex, Seelima and Hellma are meant for King Ptolomy. You should choose me, a chaste and modest maiden. And I will even throw in Nafia and Tajia!"

Those in the know had to clench their teeth to not gape at Mikaya's words.

'Chaste? Modest? Maiden? Do you even know the meaning of those words?' Was the thought that ran across their minds.

And for Alexander, if Seelima's proposal had made his lips twitch, this proposal wanted to make him retch.

The mere thought of sleeping with Mikaya knowing who or a more accurate word might be 'what" she was made Alexander visibly uncomfortable.

This was a 26-year-old who had not been yet able to be married off due to her near infamy in Matrak and was way past the marriageable age in Adhania, a fact that was a source of frequent conflict and chiding by her brothers and sisters to their father who blamed Pasha Farzah for spoiling her too much.

And additionally, they even blamed him for ruining Nafia's and Tajia's life, because customarily handmaids like them usually married after their mistress.

Alexander did not even bother replying to Mikaya as it was certainly a joke and Mikaya was just jumping on the bandwagon to dilute Seelima's ploy and prevent her from scheming to get the glass recipe, an act Alexander would later thank Mikaya for.

But for now Alexander stopped talking and put on an obedient face because suddenly he could feel a suspicious burst of cold air swirling air around him, and making his hair rise up.

At first, one might mistake it as being due to a sudden gust of breeze in the cold winter afternoon.

But Alexander was sure it was coming from just next to him, more precisely emanating out of the lady sitting beside him.

Cambyses, who turned to give a wide, nice grin, a grin that to Alexander looked like the maws of an engaged beast, was understandably furious.

This was supposed to be her big day, but now those bitches were talking about marrying her husband literally just minutes after their wedding ceremony had finished.

This was the real-life example of the proverbial 'Remarring even before the spouse's body got cold'.

And thus, Alexander was extremely glad to see the waiters arrive with jugs of wine in crystal pitchers.

He could really use a drink, a desire he expressed with a signal to the waiter who poured him a full glass.

And as the pasha quenched his parched throat with wine, and more specifically the wine recipe he gave Camius, the others were more interested in the crystal pitcher.

'Another glass container!' They said in amazement, now being certain that the Pasha of Zanzan had discovered the secret of clear glass making, a conclusion reinforced by the fact that the waiters started not only bringing crystal pitchers but also trays filled with soup bowls made of glass.

The dining experience promised to be a glass bonanza.

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