Herald of Steel

"Congratulations my lord, you are a father!" 

Opening the door with a great, big smile, Jupetus's greeting sounded as sweet as honey to Alexander.

Though she really did not need to spell it out, as the piercing cry of the infant shooting out of the door gave Alexander more than confirmation of that.

"Waaah! Waaah! Waah!"

The normally irritating blasting cry now felt like the most calming sound to Alexander.

"Great! That's great!" He cheered, his heart immediately filling with glee as his face broke out into a huge smile.

And as the older woman opened the door further to signal him to go in, he found a slightly flushed, tired looking Cambyses swaddling a child wrapped in a warm towel in her arms, gently rocking them, as she tried to calm the crying baby down.

And as Alexander as he approached the bed, 

"My lord, it's a healthy girl!" One of the midwives beamed, a statement that made his heart slightly skip a beat.

Not because he was disappointed with having a daughter, no, in fact, he was over the moon at having his princess.

But because he knew Cambyses would slightly be.

And as he looked at her face, although Cambyses tried to hide it, he certainly noticed a hint of bitterness in her eyes when she looked at the child, and for a moment Alexander did not know what to say.

'*Sigh*, it seems her fears came true,' Alexander was worried how it would affect her going forward.

"Here, hold your daughter," But such pessimistic thoughts seemed to only last for a while, as the moment Alexander got next to Cambyses, she passed the tiny body to him, a gentle, caring smile flashing across her face. 

And as Alexander received it, he could not remember if he had ever held something so gently in his life.

The little thing was tiny, weighing barely two kilograms, which was on the side of being underweight.

The skin was flushed red, her head being much larger than the rest of the body, and as Alexander placed his palm underneath it, he could feel it slightly pulsating, as the skull was yet to fully form.

Sensing she was being moved, the girl quickly opened her large limpid blue eyes, using them to scan her surroundings, until they finally made contact with a similar pair. 

The father and daughter possessed the exact same pair, and as one gazed upon the other, a slight smile seemed to creep along the tiny one's lips as if she recognized them.

Or so Alexander thought as an instant later the room was blasted with an ear -piercing scream.

'Who is this scary, unknown man?' Seemed to be the message, as the girl tightly squeezed her eyes shut and started crying her lungs out, her entire body shivering in the process, with the volume being even louder than the first time.

She definitely did not like being moved away from her mother. 

"Ohhh! Ohhh!" And even though Alexander tried to calm her down by gently rocking her, it not only worked but also exasperated her condition, causing her to cry even louder.

For such a tiny thing, her lungs sure packed some punch.

"Haha, miss certainly has a good voice," And hearing her energetic cries, one of the midwives kindly commented this.

A newborn crying so loudly was a good thing, as it showed she was healthy

"Yes, yes. And she seems to prefer her mother to me," Alexander happily chuckled.

While approaching from behind, Jupetus let Alexander know of the small details,

"We were worried at first thinking it would be a difficult delivery. But everything went smoothly. "Both Lady Cambyses and Little Lady are both healthy and well."

"Praise the goddess." 

At this point, Alexander then turned to look at the sleepy Cambyses and holding his daughter by her entire body, he proclaimed in a serious tone, 

"Alexandria! I will name her after me. Alexandria!"

He said this while very intently looking at Cambyses. 

And this got a bit of a shocked look from her at first, and then her eyes turned soft, her face melting into a light smile.

She of course understood the hint Alexander was giving her, by naming her so close to his own name.

"Give her to her. She must be hungry," So the tone she spoke with this time was so much softer, as she then placed her daughter against her chest, letting the infant eagerly suckle on her milk.

Although there were wet nurses for this, Cambyses wanted her child's first taste to be of her own.

A few weeks after this, once Cambyses recovered, Alexander held a huge feast to celebrate the birth, with all the nobles coming bearing gifts, and conveying their congratulations.

Even his allies, Ptolomy, Lady Inayah, and Pasha Farzah sent their respective greetings and promised to send appropriate gifts, while a messenger was sent to Galiosos to let Lady Miranda know.

While back in Zanzan, the nobles were invited into Alexander's house where they toasted to the young girl's health.

"Hahaha, being born at the same time of such a bumper harvest, Lord Alexander's daughter's birth is truly auspicious.  May she grow up to be healthy, chaste, and virtuous." 

Their proclamations were done using phrases as per their traditions, and it showed the qualities society valued in their women. 

Some nobles were also not content just wishing Alexander's daughter well.

They even wished to tie the knot with one of their sons then and there, with even Jamider Tikba throwing his lot into the hat.

"My lord, one of my sons is three years old! Very strong and courageous! I believe he will be a good match for Lady Alexandria!" He spoke with a large beaming face, seemingly very proud of the little guy.

But this probably made Alexander roll his eyes more than he ever had in his life.

'My daughter is….forget being weaned off, she has just started weaning' He cried incredulously in his mind at the absurd offer.

What could someone who barely had the ability to recognize her own mother understand about marriage?

So he gently then but very clearly let everyone know that he would not discuss his daughter's future for the foreseeable time period, at least definitely not for the next decade.

As for later, that could be discussed then.

And so he advised everyone to save their breath.

This declaration made some nobles with suitable sons a bit sad, while others who had none hopeful that they could have one by the time came. 

But those were for future considerations, as following Alexandria's birth, the seasons turned from fall to winter in the blink of an eye, but the temperature did not change too much.

It seemed this year's winter was going to be especially mild.

Which was a good thing for the little girl, as garbed in heavy clothing, she was allowed to go out around the garden a few times on her mother's lap with little fear of catching a cold.

And following winter, it then turned to spring, then to summer, then it again started to approach fall, turning the little girl almost a year old.

By this time she had learned to crawl on her feet, even showing signs of walking a bit on her own, as well as calling Cambyses mom, and Alexander dad, albeit with much stutter. 

During this time she had also turned from being initially underweight to a small chubby, fluffball of joy, having gained quite a bit of weight.

This was because little Alexandria was not only fed her mother's milk but also had two other wet nurses taking care of her twenty four -seven, ever present to tend to all her needs, from making sure she was always kept fed, to changing her clothes to cleaning up all her mess to even playing with her with others were busy.

Another good news for the little princess was that it seemed she was about to become a big sister soon, as Cambyses was once again pregnant.

And interestingly it seemed her new pregnancy was also around the same date she had even conceived with Alexandria, early January.

Meaning now that it was mid- August, being eight months into her conception, her baby bump had become quite prominent.

And this time, Alexander remembered the regret he had felt last time seeing her like this and did not miss his chance.

"Ahhh, so good, so hard," 

So as if to make up for that, Cambyses was currently on top of Alexander, swinging her huge, swollen belly lewdly, while her perky breasts went up and down cutely, leaking milk.

Cambyses had feared she might become loose after her conception, but it seemed the legummum combined with her young age prevented that, thus letting Alexander experience the same, tight sensation.

In fact, the sensation was a lot better, for it was aided by the visual sensation of Cambyses's breast milk dripping down her snowy boobs, ultimately tempting Alexander to latch his mouth onto the engrossed buds and suck on them like a child.

An act that got a soul-stirring moan of approval from the girl. 

Her pregnancy this time was much smoother, as she did not break into panic attacks like the previous time.

This was because over the past year, Cambyses had seen how lovingly Alexander treasured his daughter. 

Meaning the biggest fear she held deep down, which was that if she had a daughter, the child could be abandoned by Alexander as her own father had done to her was alleviated.

Instead, Cambyses now felt reassured even if she had a second daughter, the child would grow up in a loving family.

Though all those fears were actually unnecessary, as this time, she managed to give Alexander a boy!