Herald of Steel



"Well then Your Highness, I will take my leave now. Please stay safe. I will come to visit soon," Alexander gave this farewell as he boarded his carriage.

While Nanazin and the others, who had followed him up to the gate, tempted him to stay a bit longer, saying,

"My lord, I really wished you could at least stayed for dinner. It's already been cooked and it's already so late. We had even prepared the beds."

This was not the first time Alexander had been offered a meal or an offer to spend the time there, as this was Nanazin's umpteenth time asking so.

"Haha, I'm sorry sister. But Mean and the others are still waiting for us with food back at the house. We are really sorry that we cannot accept."

But it was Cambyses who was really adamant about returning and pushed her man out of the house and into the carriage.

"Ahhh, I see. Then take care." And seeing the other side being so staunch, Nanazin could only politely accept.

While back inside the carriage, once it had traveled a few distances, Cambyses thought back about the eager Nanazin, and then half muttered with a smirk,

"She seemed really eager for us to stay, wouldn't you say, Alex? Is she that desperate, heh?"

Cambyses seemed to produce a disdaining tone towards Nanazin as she said so.

And Alexander, easily guessing what his little wife was indicating, first shrugged,

"Can't you simply believe she was being courteous?"

To which Cambyses simply produced a teasing look of disdain.

Although it was indeed Adhanian custom to offer meals and beds for guests, especially once it got dark, Cambyses did not believe this was Nanazin's only intention for a second.

And neither would she ever buy that Alexander believed it either.

The way that woman looked at her husband was too telling.

It was apparent to almost anyone that all Alexander would need to do was simply wiggle his finger, and the 'Queen' would be ready to get naked and on her knees then and there.

Thus Cambyses kept looking at Alexander for a real answer.

And sensing this, after pursing his lips a bit, Alexander humored his girl,

"Perhaps it is because she fears once our losses become known, Ptolomy will want her back stating security issues…. just to make her suffer more"

"So she might be trying to cook the rice with me before that to tie herself to me."

Alexander's guess was that Nanazin was insecure about her status in Zanzan, and wanted a physical relationship with him to strengthen her sense of belonging to him.

"Cook the rice?" While Cambyses herself was surprised by his strange idiom, as she knew not of any food called 'rice'.

But this was not her first time hearing Alexander say some strange idioms, and by this point, she had learned to just accept them.

So she simply did that and tried to guess its meaning from the context.

And as far as she could tell, it seemed what Alexander was saying was that Nanazin wanted to use her body in exchange for her continued stay in Zanzan and access to all its high-level, noble exclusive facilities.

"Hmmp, if whoring was so easy, then everyone would be doing it. And she calls herself the queen!" And understanding so, Cambyses somewhat lightly spat venomously, feeling if that was indeed Nanazin's plan, then was certainly getting the better deal.

In her eyes, being able to enjoy all the nice food, clothes, houses, and other facilities just in exchange for agreeing to sleep with Alexander was too good a price.

Especially when it was really a 'one in four' deal, for her daughters would able to share the privileges with her, them having paid nothing.

This somewhat peeved her.

While Alexander was much more sympathetic to the older woman's situation, especially after knowing her backstory and the kind of life she was forced to live up until now.

Alexander wanted to help her to the best of his abilities from the kindness of his heart just because of that, hoping this poor, unfortunate woman would be able to at last find some happiness in her life.

So in his mind, Nanazin's insecurities were simply her overthinking things.

But Alexander was also careful not to say anything like this out loud in front of Cambyses, fearing it would be like pouring hot oil into the fire.

His wife currently did not seem yet receptive to the idea of him sleeping with Nanazin, and with women being by nature a bit jealous, he saw all the more reason to not show the soft spot in his heart for Nanazin.

He could already hear the young girl sneering and complaining if he did.

'Oh, I see that she has stolen your heart. I wonder what will happen after a few more years. Will I even have a home then?'

Alexander decided to tactfully avoid that landmine.

Thus for now Alexander simply played along with Cambyses's mockery and replied with a light smile,

'Well, I guess having a whore who was a queen is expensive, hehe."

Though Cambyses was not impressed with Alexander's joke answer, as she then muttered half annoyed,

"If what you said is true, then she must have been truly desperate. Did she forget I would be staying there too?"

Cambyses could not imagine what Nanazin could have gained from making Alexander stay the night tonight.

But to this, Alexander chuckled the joke, "Well perhaps she would not have minded you joining too, hahaha."

*Pinch* And this got him a light pinch on his hands from Cambyses, who then shot him a soft glare, and sniggered,

"Heh! A massive pervert like you probably would love that. I bet you even dream of eating the mother and daughters together."

"Tell me, how many times have to actually wanted to see all four of the girls kneeling in front of you, licking your cock? A grown Nanazin, surrounded by three little Nanazins! Does it excite you that much, *pinch*!"

Cambyses seemed to know her husband well enough to even guess some of his fantasies.

And Alexander would certainly be lying if he said he had never imagined so even once.

"Hahaha," So hearing this, he could hardly hold back his laughter, which seemed to make Cambyses even more displeased.

Because just as Alexander suspected, Cambyses entirely disliked the idea of her husband sleeping with Nanazin.

And it was not simply because she disliked her.

On the contrary, she actually somewhat liked the lady on a personal level, for the royal woman did not put on air around her.

But the reason why Cambyses did not want Alexander to form a relationship with Nanazin was because she felt a bit insecure when standing against the woman's status.

Even if she was confident in Alexander's feelings towards her and was sure he would not be easily swayed, but still, the title 'Queen' had a fearsome power on its own.

Cambyses did not want to compete for Alexander's affection against such a fearsome foe.

Thus her implicit show of dislike towards the idea.

And Alexander, though not fully aware of Cambyses's inner thoughts, could certainly hazard a guess to the twenty-year-old's thoughts.

And though he would never let Cambyses dictate which women he could or could not get into his haram, he would certainly try to be as diplomatic as possible, and take her feelings into consideration where possible.

So he tried to end this conversation on a good note, delivering this good news to Cambyses.

"Don't worry, whatever Nanazin's wishes are, it is unlikely I will bed her anything soon. Her stay in Zanzan is still tenuous and her status ambiguous."

"So until I clear things with Ptolomy about what to do with her, I do not want any strange rumors about me sleeping with his wife to reach Ptolomy."

"Who knows what that idiot might do then!"

Alexander here felt that though Nanazin was de facto exiled from her husband's house, it would still be prudent not to start enjoying the dish just yet.

After all, Ptolomy had not said anything yet, and without that, if word got, it was quite possible Ptolomy might later use this to blackmail Alexander for a variety of things, from giving up industrial secrets to forcing him to participate in his wars, to even outright exhorting funds out of him.

He was no intention of letting that happen.

After all, Alexander would be already paying for sex with Nanazin by covering her bills.

Why should he be also paying her husband?

Hence, though he had no problem letting Nanazin stay with him for as long as time permitted, but as for sleeping with her, he intended to wait till the king married the Queen mother and Helma and largely forgot about his ex.

"Good." And hearing this Cambyses naturally gave a pleased nod, the single word conveying a subtle sigh of relief.

"And I guess it also goes for the daughters too?" She was quick to try and close that loophole too.

And Alexander was there to instantly reassure Cambyses,

"Of course, of course. As long as their 'father' does not explicitly say anything, taking their virginities would not be wise. It might harm their marriage partners.," He said, though the word 'father' was said with the highest possible number of air quotes possible.

Ptolomy after all was not the girls' father.

But such loopholes and wordplays could wait for later, for as they just finished discussing this, the carriage finally stopped.

It seemed they had arrived.