Herald of Steel

'..... we simply won one war with the Heeat family. We have not destroyed them.'

Alexander's reminder of the naked truth made the sightly drunk Lady Miranda finally wake up from her disillusioned stupor.

'The only way to ensure peace…. is to give them something… something significant.' She then seemed to lightly mutter, as if repeating something she had been told before.

This whisper was probably intended for only Lady Miranda herself, but Alexander's ears were sharp enough to catch it.

He thus expanded upon it,

"Yes, given the huge land and resources the Heeat, if we did what you said and forcefully pushed them out, they would have at best kept quiet for a few years, licking their wounds. Losing ten or twelve thousand men might be damaging for a ducal family but it is hardly crippling."

"Once rested, they would soon be back again. And that time, they will not be so coy… they will come with a full invasion."

"I believe I already told you my lady, but Adhania is in the midst of a succession war. My men are much more needed there… guarding my home cities and helping my king. I cannot promise to come to your aid every time something happens."

"..." Lady Miranda remained quiet for a long time after hearing this, understanding that Alexander was subtly drawing a line here.

He would not be her knight in shining armor, her guardian angel, someone she could summon at a whim.

Lady Miranda would begin slowly, at last, speaking in a low, spooky tone,

"What you told me here has also been mentioned to me by Lord Janus. That I should be happy to even keep what I have."

"*Grit!* But I disagree! Because what both of you are saying is that we got lucky this time! That the Heeat family could be back anytime! So if the Heeat family decides to suddenly attack me…. will you come to my rescue?"

"..... It will indeed take some time for me to arrive." Alexander did not try to paint the matter in a colorful pattern, both because it was the truth and because he knew this was what Lady Miranda wanted to hear now.

The lady too seemed to appreciate the honesty, and gave a quick, curt nod,

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"Mmmm, that's why I believe we should have pushed them out. I would feel much better knowing my enemies were a thousand miles across the sea than lying right next to me.

So tell me… what is to stop them from killing me before you can get here?"

Alexander would have to admit that when Lady Miranda showed her work like that, it made a lot of sense.

Perhaps in some ways, it would have been better for them to antagonize the Heeat family. At least that way they would know clearly who their friends and foes were.

But Alexander was not ready to plead guilty yet, and cleverly posed the following in a warm, agreeing tone,

"Indeed, many of my lady's words make sense. But what about the trade route blockade? How would you have convinced the Heeat family to intervene in the council on your behalf?"

"There were many ways my lord!"

If Alexander however thought this was going to stump the young lady, he was very wrong.

For at the question, a very enthusiastic Lady Miranda broke out,

"There are also other sea routes you know. Sybarsis does not own the Central Sea. Thesos, Tibias, various barbarians, and many small nations and city states all move and trade with each other through the lesser explored routes! We could have simply used those"

"Or we could have used lifting of the blockage as one of the conditions of the ransom deal.

"And if all that failed, we could have just used your much bigger, better ship design to brave the rough waters head on. I believe they would have had any problem."

When it came to business, Lady Miranda really had her place in the right place.

Indeed, just as she figured, if Alexander wanted he might have been able to work out a much better treaty for Lady Miranda.

So why did he not?

Well, Lady Miranda's only real flaw was that she was not that shrewd when it came to politics.

Otherwise, she could have answered the simple question herself- It did not benefit him at all.

Her inability to understand this made Lady Miranda's tone turn bitter and her eyes misty, which began to swim with rage and regret.

"Perhaps… I was indeed a bit hasty." So seeing this, Alexander decided it might be better to 'confess' some of his crimes.

"Bah! What is done is done! I just wished you had talked to me before deciding it all by yourself!"

And surprisingly it worked!

Lady Miranda seemed to take the admission relatively as if having already resigned herself to the result.

The only clue of her frustration showed when she suddenly grabbed the other wine filled wine glass meant for Alexander and drowned it again in one go, wishing to dull the pain.

"My lady, it is not wise to drink so much. It will harm the child."

Alexander in good consciousness could not sit by and watch Lady Miranda damage both her and her infant like that, and so tried to stop her.

However that kindness backfired spectacularly on him, as Lady Miranda drunkenly spat,

"Bah! Don't try to act so coy with me. You have given Linda all the land that mattered. And left me with nothing that matters! Who are you trying to fool? You just won a crushing victory. And yet you gave them half of all the lands? Were you born yesterday? You swindler! I know you slept with her! That…slutty *hic*.. vixen!"

"......" Alexander's lips twitched imperctively at being called out like this, as he felt Lady Miranda's true thoughts beginning to rise up under the influence of alcohol.

She looked clearly flushed and was beginning to even slur a bit, but that did not seem to inhibit her mind, rather it seemed to enhance it.

She thus continued, now almost cursing Alexander,

"And what was that bullshit about forming a buffer zone? Why does it belong to you? And why is that buffer zone facing the sea? It should be between me and her! Heh! Who are you trying to fool? Just admit you have swindled me out of my birthright!"

"..." Alexander to his credit did not appear the least bit fazed towards these grave accusations, true as they were.

He showed no guilt, and neither did he become angry or defensive.

But seeing things had gotten to this point, he also decided not to let this slide and got a bit more honest.

Producing a rather amicable facade, he only gently chuckled,

"Hahahaha, so that's it. It seems there has been some misunderstanding, and my lady is unaware of the reasons behind the exact proportions of the division. Well… then did you know the first choice I was given?"

The mysterious way Alexander spoke was enough to pull some of Lady Miranda's attention towards him,

"When I first started the talks, some in the Heeat family proposed that we divide your family's land half and half! Cut out the middle man!"

Lady Miranda fully snapped back to reality upon hearing this bombshell, "Wh.. what?" as her face went from flushed to pale.

"Yes!" Alexander gravely nodded, "I did not want to tell you this because I thought it would stress your body out at such a critical time for your baby… but given your family's weakness and our relative strength, many wanted to simply… to do away with you. I'm sure you understand what that meant."

"It was I who convinced them otherwise. Using my strength! So please… continue to curse me for rejecting half of the land and only taking a fifth!"

"....." This was a bolt out of the blue for Lady Miranda and learning of such a plot and Alexander's subsequent actions preventing it, appeared very ashamed, her cheeks becoming hot and her head lowered. Alexander gloated to himself at this- at having made himself a 'martyr'.

Of course, there were no such talks with the Heeat, although that sentiment was very prevalent.

Everyone saw it was Alexander's rightful reward.

Only the politically naive Lady Miranda could not see and accept it.

So Alexander fed her the result in another, more palatable way.

And then seeing the lady go silent, continued,

"The land was ultimately divided like this because the Heeat family wanted like so. They wanted you and Miss Linda to have equal parts of the family. And they also demanded the richer western parts because they faced Lynica, making these lands easier to reinforce. This was a part of the peace deal."

"Then as a sort of compensation, they decided to let both of us get a combined total of three fifths of the land, one third bigger than them. That buffer zone was only an excuse for the Heeat to save face! They were reluctant to openly admit they got that badly thrashed by me!"

"In fact, that was the reason why I had brought up the matter of my new fief's governance in the first place. It was because I wanted to hand its reins to you! The steward would simply be responsible for making monthly reports to me!"

"I have no greed for your land. I only needed to have it on paper to convince my nobles back home that it was worth the cost of deploying soldiers here! It was only an excuse. So thanks I guess…."