Herald of Steel

The queen-mother Seelima's first big breakthrough came when she managed to make the king send one of the queen's cronies in the harem to a sadistic noble using some false allegations and honeyed words.

And after her first triumph, soon more success followed.

Later, another one of her bullies would mysteriously fall off a window.

Another would somehow earn the king's ire and be torn by the dogs limb to limb.

In this way, she would use the fact that she had the king's ears and even his eyes to exchange favors with the nobles, helping her eliminate her targets while she whispered little suggestions, telling an event a certain way, and even knowing about various secret treaties.

Hence, slowly and carefully she made the king's harem her own kingdom, kicking out the queen and relegating her to a sideshow.

And after that came her revenge arc, where she made every single woman that harmed her taste their own medicine, the best example being the queen herself.

Just thinking about that, her masterpiece would make Seelima's lips curl up in joy any time of the day.

She did this by first orchestrating the deaths of Amenheraft's two brothers, framing them for blasphemy through Pasha Farzah's help and seeing the two brats who made her suffer so much burn at the stake, their own mournful howls made only the sweeter by their mother's.

She would never forget the amount of happiness she felt the day the haughty queen came to her begging for her sons' lives, and how Seelima had made the queen kiss her feet, suck her butthole, lick her pussy, drink her piss like the cruel woman would make her do.

And then, once done, Seelima landed a brutal kick on the kneeling, once majestic woman's nose, her high heel digging into the beautiful face and destroying it.

"How dare you ask me of anything after everything you made me go through?" Seelima, that day, for the first time in her life had screamed out her true feelings.

Leaving the bloody queen clutching at her broken nose, Seelima had haughty walked away, and a few later took part in the show she had dreamt of not for years but decades.

Seelima watched with relish as the fire peeled off the skin from the flesh of the two brothers, the fire burning a dazzling white as it came into contact with the fat under the skin, climbing up their writing body as the crispy, crackling sound and the pungent smell of flesh being cooked soothed her bruised soul.

'They deserve it. No, this is not enough, they should suffer more!' Seelima swore in her heart.

And sometime later the queen would die from cholera, which was Seelima's idea of irony and a joke, a disease she would make the queen get by dipping her food with the loincloths of an infected man.

In this way, the 'King's flesh toilet' came to be known as 'The spider', ever patient, ever careful, and ever weaving her webs of plot and intrigue.

And seeing Alexander's malleable spine, this spider was feeling cautious and a bit alarmed, seeing a lot of herself in the young boy, her 'spider senses' honed over twenty-one years of facing constant danger telling her not to antagonize the man or if it must be done, to use everything and even some more to try and destroy him.

And among the dread and alarm, there was intrigue and curiosity, the woman wanting to know why her senses were giving her such signals against a young boy.

Alexander was not aware of the Queen-mother's state of mind, and frankly, he was not interested.

His current interest lay in convincing the twins to join the temple so that he could carry out his clandestine operation.

So after the twins stopped looking at him awkwardly and slowly went back to eating, Alexander again asked them, "Your Highnesses, you still haven't answered me. Do you wish to join the temple of Ramuh?"

"Because I can help if you do!" Alexander sent a light smile that made him look like the devil tempting them in Azira and Azura's eyes.

But what made them even more fearful was that they felt like they couldn't refuse.

The twins had been bought up in a religious, faith-centric household and suddenly barring them from practicing it felt like a part of their soul had been torn away.

The twins cleverly hid it, mostly because they didn't want to give Alexander the satisfaction of gloating in their misery, but inside they were very bruised.

So, when Alexander gave them the option to return to the temple, even if it was a trick, they were tempted to try.

"Wha..what are you talking about? Don't..don't you know…know what you did to us?" Azira stammered her rejection, while her eyes darted everywhere.

Her reluctance to say those words and the desire to actually say yes was something clear to even a child.

'Haha, these two are cute,' Alexander laughed in his heart.

And so he dangled the fruit even lower, "Your Highnesses, your ex-communication was done by His Majesty Ptolomy. But many people also follow your father Amenheraft's doctrine. And if you follow that then you will no longer be rejected by the church!"

Alexander's statement bought astonishment and shock to everyone in the room.

'Is he trying to convince Azira and Azura to betray him? Why? What's he planning?' Mikaya had finally decided to return her mind to the conversation at the table.

"That…your lordship…isn't…." The Queen mother too was confused.

'Wasn't the plan to try and diminish Amneheraft's faith and replace it with Prolomy's 'two gods' faith? Why's he proposing this?' Seelima asked herself.

After Ptolomy, spurred by Alexander announced the new faith, naturally many priests and clergy left and set up their own temples to practice their old one god Ramuh religion.

And under the terms of the new treaty, Ptolomy was helpless to stop this, even more when most of the populace showed little interest in associating their god Ramuh with a woman.

So the king and his two advisors came to the joint decision to try and suppress the old Amenheratf's religion and promote Ptolomy's.

But what Alexander was proposing ran antithesis to this as employing the famous twin saintesses would cause a flood of new converts or make believers even more staunch in their belief.

Alexander didn't miss the inquisitive look, "I can understand your confusion Queen mother. But I believe I owe the twin princess at least this much as an apology."

And then he turned to the dithering two women and informed, "Don't let that ex-communication or switching faith concern you, Your Highness. You will all be protected by the first point in the treaty which guarantees the safety of all members belonging to either party."

"N..No. We have been thrown out of the church and we will abide by it," Azira somehow managed to clench out the words through her teeth, her eyes almost tearing up as she again rejected the golden proposal.

And her sister joined her too with a nod.

But Alexander was not about to take a no for an answer.

He couldn't.

So he pushed again, "Your Highnesses, I believe you should reconsider thinking about the general populace."

Seeing this new statement draw the twin's attention, Alexander further detailed, "I believe it is the duty of any saintess to guide the people to the right path. So, I would advise you to put your personal feelings aside and do it for the people."

"That…that…" Azira faltered to give a strong rejection.

And Alexander immediately capitalized on it as he snatched the words from the girl's mouth, "Yout Highness, in life, we have too many times do things we don't want to. So, I will talk to the priests in the temple tomorrow. And the two royal highness can join the temple the day after."

"That…" Azira shot a sneaky glance at her sister.

"Good…we will do it. For the people," Azura nodded slowly, though the happiness that spilled out of her mouth was unmistakable, evidenced by her curved lips and how quickly she devoured her carbonara.

"Um, I will write to His Majesty to explain the situation. I'm sure he will understand." Alexander smiled a reply, though he didn't miss the weird looks being sent his way.

He was too forceful with the twins and after tomorrow, the smart women in the room would easily connect the dots.

'Ehh, whatever. They are on my side anyway,' Alexander shrugged.

By this point, dinner was almost finished for everyone else and so Alexander decided to concentrate on his meal, and sometime later, their plates were empty.

"Pasha Alexander's cooking was truly heavenly," Queen mother Seelima again praised.

"Haha, I'm glad my humble skills could please such refined tongues," Alexander lightly bowed and received the Queen mother light smile.

"Well, it's getting late. So let us adjourn today" Alexander then announced the conclusion of the eventful and almost fiery supper.