Herald of Steel

Chapter 839 Sting Operation (Part-1)

The secret about her half siblings was something Lady Felicia vowed to take her to her grave, no matter what happened or how much torture she was put through.

Hence mixed in with all the truths, Lady Felicia inserted this one lie.

And fortunately for her, Alexander did not seem too interested in the possibility in the first place.

For she and Lapitus proved adequate to rule the city and choosing an unknown, inexperienced, most likely illiterate man over them simply because of his birth seemed too big a hassle.

Thus as long as the couple were willing to be Alexander's darling puppets, he would let them rule the city.

Thus, not putting much thought into the answer, Alexander then turned to the last and most important query he had. 

"You said, you doubted Lapitus's loyalty to me. Do you still believe that? Or was that a lie too?"

"True! Absolutely true! Not a single word of lie in there." The eagerness with which Lady Felicia answered this, with her voice pitched and ready said it all, as she then added, 

"I know Lapitus. It's all true. My lord should now know. The main reason he betrayed the city was because of his hatred of Petrino. Because what Petrino di… what Lapitus thinks Petrino did," Lady Felicia self corrected halfway, before claiming in an absolute tone.

"But at his heart, he is still a loyal Tibian soldier. Lapitus cannot be trusted."

Lady Felicia seemed adamant that her own husband was a turncoat waiting to reveal himself.

A stanch that made Alexander quite surprised given the two were husband and wife.

You would think one would always try to shield and protect the other.

And it was a doubt that he frankly revealed, asking Lady Felicia very straightforwardly. 

"You seemed to somehow hate Lapitus for some reason. Why? To me he seems like a decent man. Many women would very feel lucky to have a husband like him."

And Lady Felicia gave an instant but brutal answer, "Because he is poor." 

"...." Something which left Alexander stunned for a second.

He knew that to many women, a man being poor was almost a cardinal sin.

But this was the first time Alexander had met someone so open about it, at least in this current timeline.

And what was worse, was Lady Felicia's unfair judgment of the man,

Because Lapitus was certainly not poor.

He was in fact quite wealthy even when compared to some of the lesser nobles.

But, yes, when compared to the true big shots like Lady Felicia's father, the man was indeed a pauper.

Still, it seemed Lady Felicia's tastes were truly expensive, as revealed by her own admission, where she claimed the only reason she had spread her legs for Petrino was money, and certainly not out of love.

"Even I only came here because you were wealthy my lord," Now that her facade had been torn, Lady Felicia had no problem being also this frank in front of Alexander.

And hearing the answer to this question, Alexander's lips slightly twitched at the raw, naked ambition that was here on display.

"I thought you would say something like as long as he lives, he will always have control over you."

Alexander was of course referring to how also in Tibias, husbands held nearly absolute control over their wives, almost similar to a slave.

But Lady Felicia snorted in disdain at even the mere suggestion that Lapitus would be able to control her, revealing in a disdainful voice, 

"Heh, no! I can spin that idiot around my finger any way I like. I simply do not like him because he has no money. Simple as that."

And then finished with this assurance, 

"But that does not mean I lied Lord Pasha. Lapitus is really not loyal to you. I can guarantee that." 

But for Alexander, given how much of a pathological liar he found the other side to be, how could he simply take her words at face value?

That would be too foolish.

"Can you prove it?" So putting aside his own thoughts about how he felt about Lady Felicia's true self, Alexander posed so.

"....." But even for the ever resourceful woman, coming up with a way to expose Lapitus right on the spot proved to be too difficult.

Nevertheless gritting her teeth, the woman confidently swore after only a few moments, "Not right this moment… but if my lord gives me three no two days… I promise I can show it. I swear."

Alexander did not say yes or no to that claim.

With this, the interrogation neared its end, and once again the uncomfortable stillness returned, with Lady Felicia fearfully opening at Alexander like a chick under a torrential rainfall, while Alexander gazed down on her with a level of icyness he had rarely shown.

He was still trying to what to do with this woman.

Sure she had flaws that were as large as tectonic faults.

But when you thought about it from simply a competence and shrewd, calculating perspective, she really was a born politician. 

Thus finally, the gears in Alexander's head stopped spinning and he reached a verdict.

"Okay. Since you told me the truth, I will stay true to my words. I will give you the city." 

And the moment Alexander said, he was instantly inundated with another torrent of profuse thanks and heartfelt swears, with Lady Felicia even getting on her knees and taking an oath to never lie to him.

'Heh! Fart!' To all of which Alexander only had this to snort in his heart.

Given her performance right now, Lady Felicia had just about eroded every iota of trust Alexander had in her.

Particularly, the fact that the woman continued to lie even when she was so blatantly caught was something that did not impress Alexander one bit.

But then again, he had promised her the post and this might simply be him staying true to his words.

And yes, that was one aspect of it.

But another aspect was that politicians lied.

It was simply expected of them.

So in a twisted way, Lady Felicia's pathological lies were really a part and parcel of her job.

And though this sounds forced, do you want to know the name of another very famous person who also shared similar attributes?

Well think of that one controversial, blonde US president.

So many things he said were blatantly, and factually incorrect.

Yet many, many people still adored him.

So if you thought lying was bad, then think again.

But back to Alexander's case, in reality, neither of these reasons was the true reason Alexander decided to give her the job.

It was because of all the people, as unlikely as it was, Gelene of all that vouched for her competency.

By her own words, 'She reminds so much of me. As long as you give her what she wants, she will be loyal, master.'

And given almost all of Gelene's description about this woman had come true when Lady Felicia bloomed in front of Alexander into her 'naked' self, the man decided to trust the ebony beauty and give this nearly megalomaniacal of a woman a chance at this opportunity to prove herself.

Besides, it was not like he could not remove her from her post any time he wanted.

Thus finally responding to Lady Felicia's long platitudes, Alexander curtly nodded in appreciation but then suddenly added, 

"There is one small condition though."

And as soon as Lady Felicia heard it, she seemed to hear that taunting lullaby that she had made by herself, 

'The mouse smiled brightly, it had outfoxed the cat! But then down came the claw, and that was the end of that.' (Taken from Raphael's speech, Baldur's Gate 3).

'Was this his plan all along? To show me my greatest hope? And then to cruelly take it all away? Crush it underneath his boots?'

'Will he humiliate me and throw me out of the house? Then perhaps publicly try me? Shame me as an immoral woman?'

All these unfounded dark and depressing thoughts raced through the woman's mind and suddenly Lady Felicia felt very weak and powerless.

She even felt a teardrop form, for it hurt oh so much to have something so dear so close, and yet have it taken away like that.

But Alexander was of course not that kind of sadist.

And the next part of his speech showed that, as he revealed, 

"You said Lapitus might still be loyal to Perseus. Then take this." as he then handed Lady Felicia a few sheets of paper, which he elucidated, 

"Tomorrow morning you will give this to him."

"I will leave the exact details to you, but basically you will say that while staying the night here, you somehow managed to sneak into my study… and happened to come across these papers."

"Papers which detail my troop movements, the route they are supposed to take to attack the capital, and most importantly of all, where all the army's critical supply hubs are."

"Hand this to Lapitus and say that if he wants to warn Perseus, now is the time."

"Offer him the chance to send a bird to the capital by revealing you can covertly get access to the aviary."

"Or if he wants, advise him to choose a trusted slave or servant to ride to the capital. Or to do it himself."

Yes.

Alexander had indeed been thinking of testing Lapitus's loyalty since a long time ago.

And this was the way he had come up with.