Herald of Steel

Alexander found himself momentarily shocked at hearing Lady Parthia's brazen idea.

'Split the Margraves and eat them up?'

The man considered himself to be quite scheming but even then, this was on a whole new level. This was openly betraying his allies!

Such a thing rubbed Alexander the wrong way, so with an awkward pause, he chirped,

"Ummm…that does not sound quite right does it, my lady? As allies, we should help each other! Not kick them when one is down."

"Heh! Now look is being naive, Lord Alexander!" Towards Alexander's saintly reply, Lady Parthia's face only contorted to reveal an extremely mocking sneer, before pointing her dainty fingers at him and posing,

"Do you seriously think the Margraves are qualified to be your allies? Do you truly think the Margraves will be able to regain their former place once this is done? Do you think they can get out of this quicksand pit so easily?"

Lady Parthia scoffed, "Even if Lady Miranda manages to win against her sister this time... so what? Remember who their enemy is! The Heeats are a ducal family… with enough resources to throw at this island for ancestors know who how long."

"Since they have set their sight on this island, there is no way they are going to give up so easily. Even if you manage to win against Lord Parker this time… even if he is kicked out of the island disgraced and defeated, do you think he will simply forget and drop all his ambitions?"

Lady Parthia slightly paused at this rhetorical question, before answering herself by gravely shaking her head sent her luscious volumes of dark, raven hair swaying to either side,

"Of course not! He will keep coming back. Be it once, twice, or three… he will surely keep coming back… if not for anything but for his own redemption.

So let me me ask you then my lord… Are you prepared to keep running here to rescue her every time that happens?"

"...." The answer to this was obviously 'no' as denoted by Alexander's wall of silence.

These words forced him into a deep pool of thoughts, as he evaluated them.

It was not that these thoughts had never occurred to him, but just that Alexander was too caught up in the moment to be able to differentiate the forest from all the trees.

'It seems somewhere along the line, I forgot I am here to only help Lady Miranda and not necessarily defeat Lord Parker,' He thought of himself, thus readjusting his priorities.

And as he did so, with the new sight came a fresh perspective.

Alexander could suddenly see that the grievances between him and Heeat family were hardly enough to warrant the kind of life and death he was preparing for just now.

Instead, both of them could easily be able to coexist under the same sky if they only could come to even the most basic of understandings.

Of course, the imminent battle that was just about to start was still right on schedule- there would… there could be no change to that.

Both sides had already invested too much to call that off.

But the result of that battle no longer seemed to be about who lived and who died. Instead, it was more like who got more benefits.

At least Alexander preferred to think of the situation in that way.

Because he found that what Lady Parthia said made perfect sense- Lord Parker would not simply 'let it go'.

The decision regarding the island surely was a 'national' decision made by the entire family. And there was no way they would be satisfied to simply give up on the whole thing after a single loss.

And this was not even counting a small thing about prestige and ego.

As the scion of the ducal family and its next head, Lord Parker would surely come back for more.

Even if there was little hope for him, he would surely come and try his luck, to try and avenge himself, his 'first' loss.

It would happen regardless, if for nothing but to show his retainers that he was no quitter.

That would be the only way to placate the army who had lost so many men here, placate the general who had his spine snapped and taken captive, and last of all, placate his scheming, avaricious wife.

Because don't forget, Miss Linda was still alive and kicking,

And even if Lord Parker wanted to give up on the island and move on, Alexander was sure this vindictive vixen would surely hound him every moment, poking and prodding him at every opportunity, asking him to get her son's birthright back.

"So what does my lady propose I do… exactly?" Hence tacitly approving of Lady Parthia's rhetoric, Alexander slouched back to his seat.

Lady Parthia bloomed a big happy grin as soon as she heard, sending Alexander's heart flutter a bit, as he could not help but muse at how even when nearing her twilight years, this mature queen was so ravishingly beautiful.

"My lord, you should no longer aim to restore the Margraves family in one piece. That will not bring you the biggest benefit neither is it realistic."

"Rather I advise you to work to split them! Negotiate with the Heeat to let Lady Linda keep half of the lands, while Lady Miranda takes the other…. After that make her swear to be your vassal." Lady Parthia very quickly revealed the extent of her plans.

"...." And Alexander's lips visibly twitched as he heard this 'evil' plan, feeling he had really underestimated the appetite of his former queen.

The words he was hearing almost felt sacrilegious to him.

But Lady Parthia was not yet done, as putting one of her index fingers on her rosy, plump cheeks, she hummed her last bit of advice in a ruminating tone,

"Hmmm… also as a guarantee, we should ally with the natives. The Heeat family and the remnant of the Margraves might be too much to deal with for Margraves alone. If she is caught off guard and the weather is not favorable… we might not be able to send reinforcements in time. That would be a disaster."

Lady Parthia finally finished answering Alexander's question with this, and it took the man opposite her quite some time to digest it all.

From a sheer cost benefit analysis point of view what Lady Parthia said all made sense. It was indeed better for him to split the Margraves and swallow half of it for himself.

And it could even be argued that it would be better for Lady Miranda.

Otherwise, history would likely only repeat itself, with the Heeat family launching excursion after excursion into Galiosos, determined to take it no matter the cost.

Alexander knew of so many such conflicts in his previous world, be it the Anglo French wars that lasted almost eight hundred years, the multiple crusades, or the repeated Ottoman incursions into Europe, wishing to take its heart- Vienna, to name only a few.

And even if Lady Miranda won against the Heeat family this time, so what? Experience tales at m v|l-e,m'p y r

It was unlikely the trade embargo placed on them would be magically lifted or the pirate fleet sent after them suddenly disappear.

So he was forced to concede at least these points to Lady Parthia, and thus turning to face the regal lady, Alexander first produced a helpless, somewhat coy smile,

"I… really did not expect you to have such a side, my lady. Heh heh… I'm glad we are not enemies."

And he really meant when he said. If Alexander had to truly deal with this black bellied woman during negotiations and such, it would have surely caused him endless headaches.

So he was glad that he took care of Tibias as soon as he did.

Lady Parthia only produced a proud smirk at Alexander's flattery, barely holding herself back from retorting, 'What makes you think we are not enemies?'

Given the set of circumstances that caused her to be here, given what had happened to her family during Alexander's campaign, and given how Alexander had taken advantage of her body and played around with it, she thought she had every right to hold a very deep grudge against him.

But Lady Parthia also knew there was little point in burning herself over this.

Even if she sacrificed herself to get revenge for herself, her lost sons, and her husband, there would be too little to gain in exchange for risking so much.

Plus, she was rather content with what she had left.

Alexander did not push her family to despair after his win but even shared a lot of power.

So despite losing badly, the remaining members of the royal family were mostly allowed to maintain their opulent lifestyle.

However, all of these conclusions were based on one single thing- trust.

Trust by Alexander that they would remain obedient.

But if Lady Parthia were to say such treasonous words out loud, the entire thing could come crashing down.

Because there were some things that could not be said out loud, even as jokes.

The other side might very well misunderstand it as veiled threats.

So Lady Parthia swallowed her words deep into the pits of her belly, forever keeping it inside her.

If you are not reading this at webnovel.com, then sorry, the content you're reading is STOLEN!

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

Please come Here!

=>Link to the original site:

https://www.webnovel.com/book/herald-of-steel_24388579605084705