Herald of Steel

Hearing the matron had an easy way to guarantee her safety, Lapitus was naturally very eager.

So his ears perked up in anticipation of hearing the idea.

And this was what Lady Felicia had managed to think of.

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about. While there I would like to swear fealty to him on behalf of both of us."

"We will propose to oversee the ruling of Thesalie and ensure all the nearby nobles follow the decree from Zanzan. And in exchange the pasha will help defend us …from all kinds of threats."

This 'all kinds of threats' that Lady Felicia mentioned clearly included herself too, meaning she intended to use that promise to ensure her safety in the camps.

But then the obvious question was, as posed by Lapitus, "That…how will you get promise? Isn't it too far-fetched?" 

Lapitus would of course love to become Thesalie's ruler. 

But how could that happen? 

Alexander had clearly spent a lot of time getting the city.

So why would be hand it over to an unknown couple?

Surely he had his own people who could rule over them.

But here Lady Felicia did not clearly answer her husband.

Only producing an enigmatic smile, she waved her dainty arms and chuckled, "Don't worry about that. Once I have had my talks with him and he gets to meet FB, he will."

Lady Felicia's tone was supremely confident, cock sure of her negotiating skills. 

And observing this, Lapitus did not press further.

If she said she could do so, then indeed would be able to 

He had no qualms about believing so.

Plus, given she had bought up their daughter, Lapitus had a pretty good hunch what that might entitle.

He just hoped his wife could present their daughter to be even more valuable than she actually was and make Alexander dote on her.

Now, if a smart person thought about it, he would find that there were several large holes in Lady Felicia's plan.

The biggest one being that there was still nothing that would really stop Alexander from coercing the lady into his bed if he really wanted to.

But Lapitus was a man who blindly believed his wife's promises, and since she said she could do it, in Lapitus's mind, she indeed could.

Thus invigorated by this offered solution, the man jumped to hug his wife in joy, and then snuggling his nose to her nape, in a husky voice, asked, 

"Hey! We will not be seeing each other for a while. Why don't we…."

It was very clear what he wanted to do judging by how his hands were moving.

"No….not now!" 

But much to his disappointment, his wife seemed to be not in the mood, as she strongly pushed him away, not letting him go any further.

As she then quickly stepped out of bed, saying, "Sorry, I need to get ready. We will have to leave before dawn today and I have a lot to pack."

It seemed the lady wanted to vacate the city as soon as possible, not wanting to give her enemies the time to react. 

And this made sense to Lapitus, though that did mean he was not a bit disappointed at not being able to lay with his wife before his dangerous act.

'How long would it take anyway?' Lapitus muttered to himself a bit helplessly, very much wishing to do the act.

He even felt it might have been a good morale boost.

Hence the understanding nod he gave was reluctant and wooden.

This of course was instantly noticed by Lady Felicia being the observant lady she was, and quickly walked him to placate the man, saying to him in an amorous whisper, 

"Dear, don't be sad. I would love to do it but now is not the time!"

"But once you have succeeded and we get back together, we will be rulers of the city. Then I will let you do all kinds of things to me. All of 'those' kinds hehe …." Lady Felicia even playfully bit her man's earlobes as she sensually chuckled,

And to Lapitus, that tiny giggle sounded like the flirting laughter of a succubus.

He was very excited.

Especially because their joining in bed had always been the blandest of vanilla flavors, and though Lapitus wanted to occasionally try some new, adventurous thing, his wife would either feign shyness or scold him for trying to treat her like a cheap working girl.

So now that Lapitus was being promised such an expectant reward, he felt his flattering morale soar to the skies.

"Hehe, then I guess gotta try my best," He heartily chuckled, following which he quickly reached for his pocket and bought out a circular silver seal.

Then handing it over to his wife, he said, "Here, take this. Showing this to the guards will let you into the camp. The pasha promised it."

Lady Felicia found the small seal half the size of her palm, with just the word 'pass' engraved into it.

It looked very ordinary and this type of seal, though not easy to get, was not any golden heron either, being available to quite a few merchants who were allowed to peddle their wares inside designated parts of the camp.

Lady Felicia tucked the seal away with a silent nod while saying, "I will wait in the camp for twelve days. If you cannot open the gates within that time, I will take it that the ten thousand reinforcements have arrived."

"Then I will use the excuse of being homesick and wanting to visit you to leave the camp and re-enter the city."

"Is that okay?"

"Mmm, that was what he discussed," Lapitus had no addendums to the proposal.

This made Lady Felicia produce a light smile, as she then bid her goodbye, 

"Then you go to sleep. It's already very late and you will have to start work early tomorrow. I will go pack my things and wake you up when I'm ready."

Saying this the lady gave a ritualistic bow which wives were expected to give their husbands before taking their leave, after which she quickly made her way toward her room.

And yes, Lapitus and Lady Felicia had separate rooms, even though they were husbands and wives.

And it was not just a small personal room to spend a bit of alone time.

No, they were full-fledged bedrooms with all the amenities included.

This was not because the two disliked sleeping with each other, but because such as the customs of Tibias.

Here husbands and wives did not usually sleep in the same room, much less the same bed, but in their separate quarters.

This was true even during the nights the couple would be innate.

They would make love and then after concluding the deed, would usually go sleep in their own rooms. 

The exact reason for this tradition was long forgotten, but one, among many explanations, was that during a large-scale plague, it was found those households who practiced this custom had much fewer deaths.

Now, scientifically this was because the contagion had difficulty transmitting across the large distance.

But to the people of this time, who viewed life and death as gifts from the gods, they saw this as being the true way god intended for men and women to sleep.

Hence the proliferation of this practice.

Or so one said.

But whatever the reason for this was, Lady Felicia quickly made her way into her room, where the very first thing she did was rush to a nearby basin where she began to surprisingly wash her hands. 

Now seeing this one might think the lady was simply just a neat frick and loved to be clean.

But the insanely aggressive way she washed, scrubbed, and wrung her hand seemed to convey something more.

It was as if she was tainted by something very dirty and was trying to get rid of them at all costs.

And to add to that scene was how menacing she looked, clenching her beautiful teeth, she could be heard muttering to herself in an inaudible tone, 

"At last! At last, I can get out of this deadbeat marriage. That idiot …. how long I had been forced to play house with him."

"Stupid fool! Every time I touch him, it makes my skin crawl … arghhh, disgusting" Lady Felicia even made a retching face at this point, recalling the 'unpleasant memories'.

And then as if suddenly the moon had become the sun, her menacing face turned ecstatic, 

"Ah! A pasha. To think I would get to have a pasha … hehehe. Finally! Finally, all my suffering is about to pay off." 

"Look at my beauty! How can I belong to anything less than a pasha? The ruler of an entire province."

"As a royal princess, I deserve no less."

"From what that fool said, that pasha is very young. Hehe, this will be easy. Once he gets a taste of me, I will have wrapped up in my fingers, hehehe."

Yes!

This was the famed beauty of Thesalie's real face, a heart as black as her face was fair.

She never loved Lapitus.

In fact she detested her commer husband.

She had always craved power and now that there was the slightest chance to sell her body to Alexander for even the tiniest power, she was more than willing to spread her legs for him.

In fact she intended to even offer herself to it.

So Lapitus never had anything to worry about from Alexander. 

Instead, he should have been worried about his own scrupulous wife.