Herald of Steel-Chapter 1550: Lady Inayah’s Secret (Part-3)

Even though Alexander appeared uninterested in the matter of Lady Inayah's rumored son, curiosity would eventually get the better of him, and he would investigate this claim in secret all by himself.

However, compared to his expectations, the findings would frankly leave him a bit underwhelmed.

He would find that Lady Inayah had indeed stayed in Matrak during that time period, but that was only because she was suffering from a type of unknown fever and weakness that prevented her from traveling.

This was even confirmed by the royal physician accompanying her at the time, and in fact it was he who recommended that diagnosis.

Furthermore, the concubine declared as the boy's mother was even seen by multiple people as being pregnant at the same time.

So learning all this, Alexander quickly began to wonder of the authenticity of the Queen Mother's words.

He now leaned towards her being wrong, as this secret was too huge to hide, thinking someone should have by now tattled… although, if that was the case, he quickly also asked himself, why was the Queen Mother's reaction so staunch?

Even when Lady Inayah rebuked her, she seemed defiant, like she was absolutely convinced of what she said.

All this seemed very fishy… so Alexander was pretty sure that there was much more to this story than met the eye.

However, despite the underlying mystery, he decided to never approach anyone regarding this, finding it both a sensitive topic and frankly, irrelevant.

Whether the boy was really Lady Inayah's son, or someone she simply liked, that did not change the equation. Given what Alexander had heard of Mirzah, he could not see shaking hands with the man anyway.

And that was why, he took her side against the Queen Mother, saying Mirzah indeed had to be punished.

But the Queen Mother pursed her lips at this, and, in a somewhat exasperated tone, at last chimed conclusively,

"Look, you two… I am sure you have hearts of gold that burn with righteousness. But let me ask you this… do you really think none of the nobles of Matrak have any idea what kind of man Marzah is? Is that even possible?"

"Of course not! They are not blind, or deaf or dumb! So why do they still support him? Because they have already made their choice."

"The nobles either pretend not to know about it, they pretend that Mirzah has reformed and no longer does it or they simply support him regardless. Who cares if a few scanks have their guts pulled out?"

"By Ramuh… he even skinned two noble houses just a few years ago because they thought of rebelling against Pasha Farzah's takeover of the courts, yet no one dared say a word. All the nobles still follow him, either too scared or too loyal! Can't you see just how futile going against him is?"

"So if you go picking a fight there now, what benefit will we have? Start a civil war when our enemies are already knocking at our gates?"

"...." As the Queen Mother finished, she indeed made some great points, enough to even move Alexander.

"What about Lady Inayah's claim he will not support Zanzan?" Hence could not help but ask. Because if was core issue was solved, he too would not be interested in the father son duel.

"Inayah does not know what is talking about. Mirzah is a very smart man and very well understands he will die like those maids he has killed if he does not ally himself with us. He will never hurt you… he has no choice!" And this was Seelima's response, imperiously waving her palms and blowing away such talks as simply baseless negative rhetoric.

And then to further buttress her answer, the Queen Mother solemnly promised,

"If are you still unsure, Alexander… I will personally see that something like that never happens. This is my promise to you, Lord of Zanzan. You can write it in gold."

"...." To say Alexander was not moved by this would be a lie. At least the lady appeared sincere.

However before Alexander could decide either way, the black lady was there to instantly rebuke her friend, snorting with great disdain,

"Hmmmp! A beast who kills his brother… and you still expect he will listen to royal authority? I expected better from you, Seelima."

Now there was a reason Lady Inayah constantly brought up the matter of killing brothers.

This was because compared to the rest of the world, this was a very big taboo here in Adhania.

As already stated, in the previous ages, this practice was epidemic, which eventually led to the current inheritance structure. Along with that, there came the gradual prevalence of legummum, letting nobles avoid most unwanted pregnancies.

This meant each child was desired and, hence precious.

Fratricide was not at all accepted here, unlike say, the infamous Ottoman tradition where the ascending king killed all his brothers to avoid dispute about the throne and thus escape a potential civil war.

'For the stability of the empire,' they called it, trying to paint a rosier picture over the macabre act.

"...." The Queen Mother did not respond to this taunt from Lady Inayah as the latter was clearly speaking out of emotion, not logic,

While Alexander also judged Lady Inayah's analysis to be more trustworthy…one because he trusted her more.

And two, he did not think the Queen Mother had the power to fulfill her promise.

For instance, currently, Matrak controlled Adhan… while Adhan had little say in Matrak.

But Alexander chose not to bicker here, guessing such future talks would mostly be futile.

Hence Alexander changed the subject to a slightly different topic, raising his brows to muse, "How is the relation between Pasha Farzah and his main wife? Could we restrain… bribe her to keep her son in control? She should be here for the wedding, right?"

Alexander now began to place his hope on the luxuries from his land, wishing he might be able to influence the lady and thus by extension Mirzah through them. Since the boy did not listen to his father, perhaps he might listen to his mother.

"*Sigh*, I do not think Pasha Farzah and Lady Oila have spoken to each other in nearly two decades. She has not been even invited here." This answer was given by the courteous Queen Mother, smashing Alexander's dreams.

In fact, the situation was actually much worse than Queen Mother stated. She was not aware of it but the couple had even stopped sharing the same roof.

Whenever Pasha Farzah would return to Matrak, his main wife would either move to a separate keep or even simply go back to her father's family.

"Snort! Get off your fantasy horse Alexander." That was also why Lady Inayah was far more abrasive in her reply, flaring her nostrils to spite,

"That witch is the reason why we are in this pit in the first place. She turned a complete blind eye to what Mirzah did with the barbarians… who cared what happened to them? And even Farzah…"

In a very rare instance of introspection, Lady Inayah was willing to put at least some blame on the man, turning her eyes a bit glassy.

"Do not worry, my lady. We are basically sure Mirzah is guilty… so we will get to the bottom of this." And seeing this softening, Alexander was quick to offer some consolation, hoping to mollify her for now.

Hence he promised, "Even if we cannot punish Mirzah too heavily, we can at least remove him from seat. But not right now. As Her Highness has already shown… causing a scene will cause more harm than good. We will slowly investigate the matter, in the meantime, Kayvan can also grow up a bit."

"Then, once we have everything in place, we will strike! For now, I ask you to bear with it a bit longer. You have already wait for enough.. so please have a bit of patience."

"....." Lady Inayah did not answer yes or no to the pleading, but simply pouted. Clearly, the answer was not quite to her liking.

Which caused Alexander to quickly send the Queen Mother a very notable glance, and understanding the look, although internally reluctant, the pregnant queen also joined him,

"I also agree with Alexander, Inayah. Pasha Farzah will still be around us for a decade. There is plenty of time for us to think and plot. Remember, how there were multiple times I wished for Alozmer to attack the city I was born in? I hated that place, so I asked him to take revenge on them for hurting me."

"Hahaa, and the fool, blinded by his pain in gout actually did it… he sent men to the desert without food or water, and then ended up losing every single one of them…tens of thousands good men and hundreds of million of ropals in booty, all gone… hahaha!"

As Seelima gave a deep, charming laugh, Alexander's heart once again felt a cold chill. This woman… was really not to be underestimated.

He also wondered if the former king went insane due to the gout, or was already insane and the gout only exacerbated his condition.

It was an answer he would probably never know.

While the Queen Mother ended by pointing out,

"But getting him to do that point, took a lot of time. Remember! All the nobles objected to his idea of expanding toward the deserts. I had to wear him down for several years before that. You will also have to show the same patience, girl!"

This seemed to finally convince the lady.