Herald of Steel

Chapter 739 Meeting Lady Felicia (Part-6)

As Lady Felicia finished Alexander\'s query about the hypothetical fate of her husband, she afterward added this, before turning to face Alexander and saying in a pleading voice, 

"Living with him is no longer possible for us. If he finds out I talked ….I …I will be killed! No …both of us!" 

"That\'s why I wish for you to give us asylum, my lord!"

At this point, Lady Felicia\'s voice quickly turned sharp pitched, as she rapidly shook her head, 

"We don\'t need much!" 

"I heard that you said that you were willing to give us 200 ropals a month stipend if Lapitus died."

"I just hope that you will consider giving us that and a house in your city."

"I know that this was the original agreement, but please, I\'m desperate,"

Saying so the heartbroken lady quickly bowed her head in solemn pleading, her teeth clenched with determination.

 And the gesture was so sincere that it made it quite impossible for Alexander to deny the request. 

".... Don\'t worry. Given your contributions, you will not struggle in life," Hence Alexander very seriously made that promise.

After all, taking care of just one woman and a child was of little burden to him.

"Thank you! Thank you, Lord Pasha. Your mercy is truly boundless, We will be eternally grateful to you," 

And this naturally got a torrent of profuse gratitude from the other end, as externally Lady Felicia\'s face bloomed with a joyous sunflower, glowing with happiness, as she then further expressed her happiness by adding, 

"When I came with Fabiyana today, my mind was so preoccupied with all these thoughts, that I even forgot to introduce her to you my lord." she then reminded Alexander of that faux pas that he had long forgotten, before continuing, 

"But now with everything revealed…ahhh… my body feels so relaxed," 

Saying so the woman slouched back on her chair, a gentle, motherly smile gracing her face.

Something that Alexander found very charming, while the large breaths she took in relief slowly made his eyes wander towards those rising and falling twin peaks.

\'Hehe…\' A look that did not escape Lady Felicia as she let out a proud giggle in her heart.

However, although outwardly she appeared very happy at having secured her financials, in her heart, she sneered with the utmost disdain at the paltry sum being offered to her.

\'200 ropals a month! I use almost as much in a day!\' She said to herself, knowing just how expensive her tastes were and the high standard of living she wanted to live in.

Alexander\'s \'help\' would be of no help to her.

But the present steps were only baby steps, Lady Felicia planned to slowly gain more and more.

As for Alexander, having mostly dealt with Lady Felicia in his mind, he then turned to pose some targeted questions.

"So much influence does your husband have in the city? Do the nobles respect him?" 

At hearing this query, Lady Felicia was naturally over the moon.

The implicit reason behind it was very explicit.

So in a flat, neutral tone, Lady Felicia quickly described, 

"... umm …he does not have that much my lord, no. At least not as much as one would think the right-hand man of a city\'s lord would have."

"In practice, he was only my father\'s arms and legs, just carrying out what my father said."

"And as he is not a noble, he was never able to gain the respect of any of the houses or even his noble peers."

Lady Felicia intentionally downplayed Lapitus\'s role in Tibias, though it was to some extent true.

Then to cover her bases, she also cleverly added, 

"Of course, that is not to say he is without allies."

"He does have some influence among the lower soldiers who are commoners like him. And some even high-level officers would come to visit our house regularly, to dine, drink and chat with him."

"So he is not totally nameless. Otherwise, the soldiers would not have chosen him to lead them."

"But they mostly follow him more out of camaraderie than loyalty."

"So if one day he wanted to proclaim to be their leader and started issuing orders to them that went against the authorities….I\'m not sure they would obey."

Lady Felicia was light in her opinion, not putting emphasis on either option.

But the way she said it of course made everyone think that Lapitus was quite weak.

And so in line with that thought Alexander then posed, 

"How many men does he have under him?"

If the previous inquiry was not clear enough, now it was transparent to anybody that Alexander was indeed thinking of taking the man out if given the opportunity.

Something that made her heart jump with glee.

So suppressing her urge to curve her lips into a wide grin, Lady Felicia only lightly furrowed her brows, as if ruminating, before giving her answer a while later.

"That is hard for me to say actually. I\'m not very intimate with military affairs naturally."

"However I do remember one of the officers once loudly claiming that Lapitus had tens of thousands of men under him."

Saying so, Lady Felicia quickly stressed the following, 

"But that was before. Now … when I asked him about our losses just before coming here, Lapitus said that he had less than a thousand men under him."

"That\'s why he could not even spare an escort for us."

Lady Felicia very cleverly mixed truths with lies to give a reasonable answer.

It was indeed true that Lapitus had revealed those numbers to her, but he never wanted to let Lady Felicia come here alone.

"Hmmmm, " And hearing so Alexander hummed, thinking.

And as Alexander put on his thinking hat, sensing an opportunity, it was here that Lady Felicia decided to take a leap and show off a bit of her skills.

So with a placid smile, she mellifluously interrupted Alexander\'s train of thought, 

"Is my lord thinking that a man who has only one thousand men will not be hard to deal with? Especially if that group\'s loyalty is questionable."

"Or that even if you were to keep Lapitus alive, with such little influence, he would be of no use to you in placating the citizens of the city?"

Alexander\'s eyes widened for the third time during this meeting.

But this time it was not because he had seen but what he had heard.

Lady Felicia had almost hit it on the nail word for word.

"Haha, it seemes my lrod is surpsreid." And seeing the reaction, Lady Felicia very politely but proudly chuckled, before gently waving her dainty hands and in a humble but confident voice saying,

"You forget who my father was. As his daughter…even if an illegitimate one, I was certainly given the proper education. They would have been useful if I were to have been wed to a noble."

By the end of this, she sounded bitter, and her eyes slightly glassed, like she was ruminating on what might have been.

And seeing so made Alexander curious.

"I seem to have neglected your own story, my lady. Would you mind sharing?" He hence politely asked.

"Haha, it is not much, " And Lady Felicia started with a self-deprecating smile, before revealing, 

"My mother was a common tavern dancer. When I was young, she used to say to me that one day my father saw her performing and instantly fell in love with her beauty. And that was how I was born."

"Wherein in reality, he had simply gotten drunk during a party where my mother was hired to perform and …. Took her," Lady Felicia avoided using that other word, as she continued, 

"At first, I lived with my mother in our home. But then suddenly one day, when I was six, some men came to your house. They simply broke through the door and snatched me away!"

"Away from my crying mother!"

"I was not told why they did it. Only that I should be good and do as I\'m told or my mother would be hurt."

"So I obediently stayed in the tiny room given to me in that dreadful mansion and tried my best to learn everything being taught to me."

" I learned to read and write, paint and recite poetry, dance, and make small talk."

"I learned about history, about the various noble houses about noble etiquette, and even horse riding."

"Other than the last one, it was all very boring."

"But I sill put up with it… for my mother."

 And my only solace during those days was the visit I would get from her once every week…just for an hour." 

"While my father …umm …well he was not uncaring, he did care. For example, he would bring me very expensive gifts almost every month."

"But the thing was he never seemed to be home. He was almost always away fighting some distant wars or putting down rebellions." 

At this point of her recount, Lady Felicia sounded more apathetic towards her father than resentful

And then after a pause her tone of a sudden turned very, very bitter, "But one day all of that came crashing down!" 

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