Herald of Steel

Chapter 734 Alexander and Fabiyana

"Lord Husband, it is an honor to be in your grace. My name is Fabiyana!"

The moment Alexander heard these sweet words like they were the chirpings of an innocent lark, he felt his jaws lose power and become slack, and even the food he was chewing threatened to spill out of his mouth.

But Alexander could care less about those things.

Instead, he had to try very hard to only swerve his head towards the origin of this sound, as his neck felt it had lusted and turned into wood.

He could not believe what he was hearing, and he really hoped up until now his senses had been playing a trick on him.

And it was with those overly optimistic thoughts that with much difficulty he finally turned his head to spot the origin of this sound.

But of course, the sight was what he had expected.

Fabiyana, as the girl introduced herself, appeared to be like a cute angel, with a fair innocent face, tiny hands and feet, small pearly baby teeth, and a small stature.

She was looking with an angelic smile, though her limpid green eyes seemed to be a bit wary of him, and she looked at him with both intense curiosity as well as measured caution, like she was afraid of his unknown man.

To Alexander, she was a child no more than eight or nine years old no matter how one looked at it.

And thus seeing his future 'concubine', Alexander's lips had the urge to twitch uncontrollably like he had the electrocuted by a million volts of electricity.

'This was not what I had in mind,' He shouted in his mind, and it took a considerable amount of effort to not shout out this in incredulation at the revelation.

Because that would have been too rude.

But though he was able to somehow keep a calm facade on the exterior, the raging waves in his heart were difficult to calm down, as he desperately tried to make sense of the situation.

So for a while, from the viewpoint of an onlooker, Alexander seemed to be looking at his new 'bride' with stunned silence, eyes wide and mouth agape, like he was lovestruck.

'Oh, no! Is he that kind of man?' But misunderstanding his reaction, Lady Felicia was actually worried about Alexander's preferences.

Not over the fact that he liked young girls. 

No, that was not anything unheard of and was even socially accepted at the time.

She really did not care about that from a moral point of view.

But Lady Felicia was worried that if his body preference was that kind, well, she was literally the opposite, voluptuous to the point where sometimes her curves would be spilling out.

So if Alexander were not to find her attractive, but too old and aged, well her plan to climb into his bed would be very hard, if not possible.

'Dammit! Maybe I should not have bought Fabiyana! Urgh!' The mother even regretted bringing her daughter to the meeting, though for all the wrong reasons.

"Haha, it seems Lord Alexander is quite fond of his little concubine. We are relieved. It seems husband was right in his choice, hehe,"

Externally though, Lady Felicia seemed ecstatic about Alexander's reaction, producing a large smile and even patting her daughter on the back for a job well done

And being encouraged by her mother, the little girl too produced a similar chuckle as she appeared to be relieved.

Fabiyana had been understandably wary when she was told that she would be marrying an unknown man she had never even heard of.

But now upon seeing him, and being served such good food, the innocent mind seemed to have judged Alexander as a 'good' man.

While for Alexander, hearing Lady Felicia's comment and seeing that sweet smile emanate from the girl, it felt like a painful arrow had pierced his heart.

And it was this pain that jolted the man out of his dazed state, as then, at the very mention of Lapitus, it somehow incensed Alexander, 

'Fuck Lapitus! I will hang that bastard when I next see him!' as he cursed him and his twelve generations for tricking him like this.

But he knew this was not the time to go off on a tirade, and so quickly calming himself, he then turned to look at the mother to pose, 

"My…my lady, how old is sh…Lady Fabiyana? Isn't she a little too young?" 

Alexander's words sounded a bit wooden and stiff, as his mind was still trying to wrap its head around the whole thing.

Or more specifically, it was trying to think of a way to untangle itself from the whole thing.

"Fabiyana is not a child. She is already ten years old! She is old enough to be married!" 

But before the mother would answer, as if offended by the insinuation, the child girl larked these words, while at the same time holding up all her ten, nubile fingers to emphasize her point, as she looked at Alexander with a mixture of scowl for calling her a child and pride at being an actual adult.

Something that Alexander would have found very cute and endearing if not for the given circumstances.

*Twitch*, *twitch* 

So at the answer, Alexander's lips again twitched involuntarily as he struggled to reply back.

While Lady Felicia, in support of her daughter let out a soft chuckle, saying, 

"Hehe, Lord Alexander rest assured. Our Fabiyana might look to be a bit on the small side, but she already had her first bleeding two months ago. She is an adult and there will be no problem. Rest assured." 

Lady Felicia seemed very confident in her daughter's abilities.

'Bullshit!' While Alexander only gowled hysterically in his mind at the frankly stupid comment.

He knew what Lady Felicia meant by 'there will be no problem'.

But he also knew that with his size down there, there would be a problem.

Even if Alexander were not to forget about the age, there very, very definitely would be a problem if he tried to stick it in.

'Dammit! I can't believe I forgot to ask Lapitus about his daughter's age. My head must have been kicked by a donkey and turned to shit!' 

Faced with this predicament, Alexander knew he was to blame almost as much as Lapitus who 'tricked' him into this.

Though calling the latter might be a stretch.

Because though it was not common, it was also not uncommon for girls to be married just as they had their first periods.

And though the average age for menstruation to start was 12, it could start as early as eight years old.

So what Lapitus had done was really not anything scrupulous.

Such marriages were common in this time period, and in fact, though illegal, even in Alexander's previous life, there were records of such unions in many developing countries even in the 21st century.

It was really Alexander's fault for not checking it.

'Dammit! Even the possibility of this happening totally skipped my mind. When the talk about marriage came up, I subconsciously equated it to an adult girl due to my previous world's standards.'

'And then blinded by the prospect of taking the city quickly, the mind drifted there! Dammit!'

Alexander knew why he had made that mistake but that did not mean it stung any less.

But ultimately it was partly his own fault that this had happened.

And upon hearing the confirmation that Fabiyana could indeed marry Alexander 'legally' as per the customs of the time, Alexander knew it would be hard to back out of it carelessly.

He had given his word and a nobleman's word and reputation was good as gold.

Renegaing on a promise would be too damaging and Alexander would not do it unless absolutely forced.

And he certainly would not put his entire realm at risk for his own values and moral standards. 

So he did not immediately attempt to challenge the deal.

Also, now was not the time or place given Lapitus had not yet given him the city.

So Alexander simply decided to wait for now, given he had plenty of time to figure things out once Thesalie was under him.

Then he could either renegotiate a new deal or if Lapitus really did not want to do it, who said Alexander would have to consummate with the girl right now?

If the other side was really adamant, Alexander made up his mind to simply wait till Fabiyana reached eighteen before taking her to bed.

And fortunately Lady Felicia seemed to be of the same mind as Alexander on that point, as upon praising her daughter's virtues, she breezily added, 

"Of course, if my lord thinks Fabiyana might need a few more years, we can wait. I understand she has matured a bit quicker than regular girls, so perhaps it would be safer to have a child a couple of years later."

Lady Felicia appeared very sincere.

And on the surface, it appeared as if the lady was simply worried about her daughter.

Whereas in reality, she was more worried that if her daughter took Alexander's side in bed, there might be none left for over.

But unaware of such schemes, to Alexander this sounded like the gospel from the gods, as he immediately let out a large grin, 

"Yes, yes. It will indeed be prudent to wait. Yes indeed."

Such was his relief that in a very uncharacteristic manner, he was even seen bobbing his head like a chicken.

And thus Alexander managed to dodge that landmine.