Herald of Steel

'In five years?' Alexander was confused by that sentencing.

'Did they regularly do these things?' Alexander found this thought a bit incredulous.

But then thinking back on how these people had reacted seeing him, on second thought he found it to be very likely.

And soon his conjectures were not only proved true but also shattered for being too prosaic, as Lady Inayah explained, "Pasha Alexander, in Adhania, it's customary for nobles to offer women to other nobles as gifts when they visit their homes. And it's a special sign of closeness and familiarity for one to offer their concubines or their wives, especially their main wife!"

In Adhania, concubines were identical to the European monarch's various mistresses.

And just like their European counterparts, they too had few rights and privileges.

Their and their children's position would be considered low and how they were treated would depend entirely on their master's whims and how much he favored them.

Some concubines like the Queen mother Seelima had more power than the queen, while most of the time they would be little better than ordinary maids, just women that the master of the house would occasionally snack on to refresh his taste buds, a fleeting distraction from the main wife.

An example of Alexander's concubine would be Gelene, a woman he kept around because letting her go was too dangerous.

Wives were women officially married to the noble and although women in Adhania had no rights, usually these women would have influential families backing them, meaning their and their children's lives would usually be better.

An example of Alexander's wife could be Ophenia, who was from a noble family.

And the main wife was as the title suggests, the main wife.

In Adhania, nobles could have many women partners, but traditionally the children of the main wife, first boys and then girls would inherit the title.

Like Amenheraft was the son of the queen and automatically became the crown prince after two of his older brothers died.

For Alexander, his main wife could only be Cambyses.

Alexander felt like vomiting after hearing the customs of Adhania from Lady Inayah.

He had already assumed the nobility of Adhania to be rotten and decaying as was evident by how they refused to aid the country even during a drought-like crisis.

But this level of excess, this level of pruriency left Alexander both shocked and disgusted.

'Darn, it seems I won't be able to form any meaningful relations with my retainers,' Alexander figured as giving his women to others as a way to gain favor or loyalty was an absolute no for him.

He didn't mind his women having past experience and he wouldn't discriminate against anyone just because they slept with others at one point in their life.

But if they were to become his women, this was a red line they would not be allowed to cross, not even with slaves.

This was Alexander's personal choice and if the women wanted to be with him, they would have to follow it, or they could go their way.... no hard feelings.

So, this prevalent Adhanian custom of the nobility was totally incompatible with Alexander's mindset and he made up his mind not to follow it.

And for this, Alexander would come to be known among the Adhanian nobility as prudish and selfish.

Yes, selfish!

Because in the eyes of the Adhanians, sharing wives was similar to how kids shared their toys, a sign of socialness and familiarity.

​ It was like how a kid would excitedly show off his new toy to his friends and play with them using it, so too a noble would flaunt his wife, letting others have a taste of her so that they could appreciate how lucky her master was to own her.

And so, Alexander not following his custom would be seen as antisocial and rude, and be given many names- miser, barbarian, hick, etc.

But those were in the future.

For now, though distracted by these thoughts, his lower half didn't seem affected as it never wilted a bit.

After all, it was still being expertly stroked by Mikaya, who kept Alexander right on the edge by skillfully mixing her speed and technique, always encouraging him to cum and never letting him, showing just how adept she was with her hands.

As Mikaya pumped Alexander below, the show promised by Lady Inayah was about to begin in front of him.

"Now, Nanazin, why don't you properly say your greeting?" Lady Inayah gently asked.

Though everyone in the room understood it was not a suggestion, but an iron command.

"...." Nanazin only silently clenched her teeth and lowered her head as a sign of defiance.

"Haah, you always did this when we first started,!" Lady Inayah let out an exasperated sigh of disappointment, "I thought I had managed to kick this bad habit out. But it seems the disease has returned…," Lady Inayah shook her head ruefully as her voice trailed off.

"Nanazin, quickly do what madam says!" Mikaya shouted in alarm at this gesture, even forgetting that Alexander's delicate member was in her hand, and squeezed it too hard by mistake.

"Mmmm," Alexander clenched his teeth at the rush of pain, swallowing the sound so as not to appear weak.

"Don't bother Mikaya," Lady Inayah held up her palms to cut off the silver-haired girl.

Then her eyes flashed a dangerous gleam, "She has forgotten everything."

Alexander was surprised by how Lady Inayah was treating and addressing Nanazin, and how Mikaya was calling the city lord, 'Madam.'

It seemed Lady Inayah had a special status among them.

And soon his guess was proved correct as Lady Inayah turned to Alexander, "Pasha Alexander, within Adhanian nobility, it's customary for noble families to employ a teacher experienced in the art of sex for their noble children when they come of age."

"For boys, usually an experienced priestess from the temple is selected to teach them. The reason for this is because priestesses can't hold political positions like priests do and so even if the boy were to fall in love, nothing would come of it."

She then subconsciously bought her crop and started poking Nanazin's nipples, "And as you may have guessed, noble girls end up being taught by noblewomen. These special noblewomen know the challenges that a young noble girl might face and educates her on them, something a priestess might not know....special noblewomen like me."

Lady Inayah then trailed the crop around the queen's belly, "Of course, I'm a bit unique. Because my family has been employed for generations to train royal wives!"

She turned to gaze directly into Alexander as she explained, "You see pasha, royal women…royal wives are very special. Because they are required to perform service to the highest echelons of Adhania and please them. This not only refers to their royal husband but also to the pashas or emirs (adult princes of the king-i.e-their brothers-in-law)."

"And naturally, these people expect this service to be of very high standards. After all, it would be a disgrace to the royal family if others thought their own women were better than what the gods could have."

Lady Inayah then took her crop in her hand and slowly started caressing it, "To achieve that effect, my family has been tasked as royal trainers for centuries. My mother had taught the previous king's harem including the current queen mother, my elder sister has taught both of Amenheraft's wife, Mikaya's eldest sister and his current wife, and I have taught Nanazin and many wives of the emirs."

"And since the standards for the royal family are set so high, naturally their training is much harder and harsher."

"Isn't that right? *smack*," Lady Inayah this time hit the queen's lush buttocks.

"Yes…three," Nanazin had a flushed face as she recalled her time at the hands of Lady Inayah.

"She taught me too!" Mikaya chirped from below, her hands had never stopped pumping for a moment till now.

She then added, "Daddy pulled a few strings to get Lady Inayah as my master. Although each of the pashas have their personal sex trainers, or as they are called Bliss trainers, it is generally accepted that Lady Inayah's family is the most prestigious in all of Adhania."

"Mikaya was a very good student, unlike this one," Lady Inayah glared at Nanazin, who just kept her head lowered.

"Always too proud, always defiant, always troublesome." Lady Inayah called her.

Lady Inayah then poked at Nanazin's inverted nipples with her crops, drawing a moan from the woman, "But, that is not the reason for your defiance is it, little minx? Tell us the truth," Lady Inayah commanded.

"That... it's because of Commander…Pasha Alexander is here," Nanazin loudly confessed with a red blush on her face, lowering her head and focusing her gaze on her toenails to avoid eye contact with Alexander.

Alexander was caught completely off-guard by the mention of his name.

'What do I have to do with this?' Alexander asked himself dumbfounded, as he couldn't recall having any meaningful conversation with her outside that one time they all had lunch together a month ago.

"Haha, look how confused you look, Pasha Alexander! Nanazin talked the whole night yesterday only about loving you!" Lady Inayah giggled as she spilled the queen's secret, causing the latter to shiver.