Herald of Steel

Lord Parker's current depression over losing Achillas was even affecting his marriage life, as even the beautiful wife he had once favored so much seemed unable to any longer elicit any joy within him.

Forget talking or sharing the bed with her, Lord Parker even refused to see her, barring her from entering his tent. Something like this would have been unthinkable even a few days ago.

Thus it seemed the couple's relationship had become gravely fractured, which in fairness was hardly surprising given how Lord Parker had thrown his lady out into the cold wintery wilderness without a second's thought upon hearing of his lover's distress and even threatened to have her executed in the morning.

Even if Miss Linda was a saint, she would have found her husband's deplorable.

Whereas the reality till now was that Lord Parker blindly believed that Miss Linda was to blame, even if partially for Achillas's mishap. And even if the general was rescued safe and sound, this bitter memory was sure to stick with them for a long, long, time.

And Miss Linda too understood this.

Which was why she bitterly clenched her teeth and cursed Lord Parker.

And when she was done with him, her rage suddenly turned to Lord Bernard of all people.

She cussed him for his failure on the battlefield thinking this should have been an easy slam dunk for him, she scathingly blamed him for losing Achillas, and most surprisingly of all, she cursed him for surviving and not dying from the stab wound!

This morbid thought came because the lady believed that if he had died, they could have conveniently dumped all the battlefield kerfuffles onto him and be done with it.

Dead men did not talk after all, so how could the man have defended himself?

This would have also placated Lord Parker, as he saw Lord Bernard, as the commander of the Margraves, the chief culprit in his general's disappearance.

So the dashing man's dead body would have certainly brought some solace to the half mad man, and perhaps even stopped his descent altogether.

Of course, although the unfolding events were a tragedy for Miss Linda and the Margraves as a whole, from the man's very own perspective, Lord Bernard could also be said to have gotten very very lucky.

If he had not been stabbed but simply strode into Lord Parker's camp fine and dandy, instead of Lord Parker simply throwing his arms high up into the air and offering the man command of his whole army, he would have most certainly had the man seized and interrogated.

For all his prowess as a skilled politician, Lord Bernard lacked any real understanding of how a military worked, and hence naively believed just because he was the second in command of the forces, he would be naturally elevated to that position the moment his superior was removed, no question asked.

In this way, the man put too much of his trust in the 'system' and relied too much on his noble title to think he would not be questioned about all the suspicious happenings regarding Achillas.

He had been of course grossly proved wrong on both of those accounts.

Not only was he questioned much more severely than ever anticipated, but he was sent flying so far away from military command, that it was doubtful the man would ever be allowed to hold a sword in from of Lord Parker.

And even this 'generous' treatment was a result of his stab wound.

Since Lord Bernard's injuries were inflicted by them, the Heeat family felt a bit ashamed to push the man too much, making the injury miraculously prove to be a great boon.

Without it, he would certainly be experiencing the worst of the fates.

He would probably be inside a dark, warm tent by now, having his fingers smashed, flesh burnt, and nails pulled out by military interrogators, who would want to know second by second how exactly Achillas was lost and who were the exact people responsible.

Instead, now, the man was currently allowed to sulk away in an isolated tent, pretending to be asleep for half the time as a way to dodge questioning, while trying to get his story in his mind.

His official version of the events till now had been,

"Approaching the ship, I ordered the wounded General to be moved to my large ship for better treatment. Then I started to give a speech to raise the morale of the troop. Whilst doing that, there was a sudden commotion from the front, and out of the blue, I was attacked from the side. Everything after that is too chaotic for me to remember."

This was a reasonable version of the truth, with only a few adjustments and modifications small enough to hide from a casual glance. And when pushed the clever politician was able to use his indignant anger of getting stabbed to stall them.

And while seeing this, the man swore he would never dip his toe into the military ever again.

He had learned his lesson, and Lord Bernard threw all ambitions for commanding the army out of his mind and just thanked his lucky stars that he managed to get out of it with his skin still on.

This was a very wise move on his part.

It however proved to be a great inconvenience for Miss Linda, because with this man neutralized, she had lost her most potent weapon against her husband.

Her desire to rule and influence the Heeat family depended first and foremost on Lord Parker, on her whispering to him, and then if that did not work, on Lord Bernard, who would slowly take over the army.

However, now both of those chips had betrayed her.

This disheartened her at first, and then quickly recovering, she got to her scheming, trying for other ways to try and turn the whole thing around.

The easiest of which should be to simply try and patch things up with Lord Parker.

However, that was also the first thought she gave up on.

Not only was the man way too gone in his mind, but Miss Linda's pride also made her too haughty to even seriously consider it.

Like hell, she was going to go to him and grovel!

The lady did not believe for a second she had done anything wrong and thus there was no way she was going to apologize to the same man who just threatened to have her executed without any rhyme or reason.

After all, even if she managed to convince him and get back together, what guarantee was there Lord Parker would not do the same again?

She was lucky enough to have Lord Macht with her this time. But could she count on being so lucky every time?

Definitely not!

So she quickly thought of the next best way- assassinating her husband!

And this thought quickly quickly gained traction.

Because Lord Parker had already given her the child, a boy at that!

So what more use did he have to her?

It would be far better for her if this unhinged, mercurial, lord hit the proverbial sack.

Not only would that free her from staying close to this dangerous, who could turn on any moment, but it would even open countless doors of opportunities for her.

And the more Miss Linda thought about it, the more the overly ambitious woman began to drool.

She imagined herself becoming the ruling duchess of Lynica, she saw herself dressed in the most resplendent attire, attending balls and parties of unimaginable extravagance, and most of all, she saw herself sitting on that regal seat reserved for only the family's head.

With her son too young to rule, the one to lead the Heeat plus Margraves was sure to be her. 'Regent Lady Linda! Hehe, the name has a quite good ring to it!' She mumbled with a crazed look on his face.

And then turning to her son who was lying there on a small wooden crib, whispered with a twinkle in her eyes, Your next read is on NovelFire|le|mp|yr

"Haha, are you excited for mommy, my precious? Don't worry even if you have no father, mommy is going to take the best for you!"

The infant child only gazed back at the familiar women with those huge, clear eyes, before giving an insensible chuckle.

He was happy to see his mother.

This of course did not seem insensible to Miss Linda, On the contrary, it appeared quite sensitive, as the mother thought this was her son's way of endorsing her actions.

So she immediately got to plotting, trying to think of a way to slip something into the madly drunk's drink.

And all while Miss Linda plotted it never occurred to her that her husband was officially still not the Duke. He was only the next in line, the successor.

And what happens when a successor dies before he is able to take up the mantle?

It did not automatically transfer to his son, but rather the power went to his brother!

Of course, there were a lot more nuances involved, and there were indeed examples of events folding just as the lady wanted.

But as of now the most likely outcome if Miss Linda were to go with her plan, would not be endless riches, but being thrown to the side or simply killed by her brother in law!

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