Herald of Steel

After Achillas made the suggestion about how to send the spy, he and Lord Parker tried to hash out the details for the next hour or two.

Until the ducal lord barked out in frustration, "No! This is all too complicated. Sending a messenger into the mansion is too risky. He will get caught just like Linda's messenger did."

This of course sounded like music to Achillas's ears, as he thought he was one step closer to denying Lord Bernard his prize.

However, for the sake of playing his part, he put on a troubled face and after thinking a bit, proposed, "Perhaps we can try sending multiple men. This way hopefully one of them can reach her ladyship."

The 'wisdom' behind sending a group of men need not be said, as any one of them landing in the enemy's hand would cause the entire endeavor to fail.

Alexander would be quickly alerted and have the lady put under even stricter quarantine.

Thus towards this obviously flawed plan, Lord Parker only sent Achillas a disdainful look and scoffed, "Has your head been kicked too like Linda's?"

He said this because by now Lord Parker had come to know that the main reason why Alexander had decided to take over the mansion- it was because their plans to assassinate him and destroy his defensive lines had been leaked, courtesy of one of the messengers of the noble lady landing on Alexander's hands.

On that fateful day, Miss Linda had sent multiple messengers to her husband to inform him of the plan and so that he would be able to coordinate from his side too.

And this in any other time would have been perfectly fine, as the act of sending lots of men carrying the same message to your ally was a standard tactic, done so that even in the event a few of them were 'lost' and could not make it, at least one of them wound.

In fact, it was Lord Parker who had taught Miss Linda this technique, asking her to follow it.

So there was nothing inherently wrong with the act.

The only problem here was this particular situation was the wrong time to use it.

Because the great number of men carrying the sensitive plans gave Alexander multiple magnitudes higher chances to obtain this secret information.

This was exactly what had happened.

And as he prepared himself, to make matters somehow worse for Lord Parker, some of the men also managed to inform him of the plans, thus instead of postponing the act due to an absence of confirmation, the ducal lord inadvertently walked into Alexander's prepared positions none the wiser- getting a bloody nose in the process.

Thus in some ways, it might have been actually better if Lord Parker had remained oblivious to the Margraves family decision.

But back to the point at hand, given this recent burn, Achillas's intention to thus commit the same folly caused Lord Parker to feel quite frustrated.

And so brushing his hand, he torpedoed it.

An act that although outwardly rueful for, internally Achillas rejoiced.

This was his intention all along, and so it was hardly like he had missed so many of the complex problems.

No, he had of course detected them and then had even intentionally left many of them there, all so that he could say the following words,

"Hmmm. My lord is correct. Looks like finding a way to alert Lady Linda will not be easy. Alexander has the place locked up tight. Why don't we call the men tomorrow morning and discuss it then? It is getting late already."

The tone the stocky general said this in suggested they had already exhausted all the easily available options and so if they wanted to find newer ones, they would have to dig deeper.

And such deep drilling would of course require additional help.

Which would inadvertently mean more time and greater delay.

But that could not be helped right?

They were at war after all.

The other side would not simply let them win, would they?

So it seems that Lord Bernard's water 'constriction' plan would have to wait indefinitely.

Thus thinking he had managed to successfully turn his lord's thoughts on the matter, the general found himself in a very joyous mood.

The thought of his imminent triumph over his hated rival made his blood rush, and so, as he suggested they tuck in for the night, Achillas could not help but suddenly brush his hands against Lord Parker's chest very suggestively, producing a charming smile accompanied by a brilliant twinkle in his eyes.

Instead of talking any further, Achillas wanted to celebrate.

And what better way was there than to do the thing which really need not be described?

It was a very fun adult activity.

And although the act between the exact two of them would be frowned upon in many parts of the world, but to the two men it did not matter, for given their status they were almost completely immune to such stigma.

Instead, as Achillas continued his caresses, soon a certain part of Lord Parker regained its vigor under the delicate hospitality, and soon the general appeared to be in the process of 'properly positioning' himself to initiate the joyous act.

When suddenly Lord Parker's grave and serious voice boomed out,"Now is not the time. We do not have the time to wait for so long!"

His repetition showed his strong dislike for the act right now, as well as his impatience on the matter, as turning to face Achillas, firmly declared,

"And gathering the men around the table and endlessly talking and arguing is not something that is going to get us anywhere anyway. No, I want the situation resolved right here, right now."

Lord Parker had of course managed to catch his generals' drift when he suggested that all this, but he was not buying it.

Achillas might feel he has all the time in the world to slowly figure this out but Lord Parker was different.

The general had very little affection for his wife, Lady Adele, whom he saw simply as an object necessary to continue his bloodline, not a hair more, while his heart truly belonged to his lord and lover.

But Lord Parker was the complete opposite.

Achillas was only a fun tumble in the sheets for him, as the man had instead truly fallen for the immaculately beautiful lady.

So just like Miss Linda had assumed, he was firmly encased within her fingers.

Lord Parker might not sit and stand at his wife's words, at least not yet, but he did pay consideration attention to her opinion and council.

Otherwise, he would not have held off on trying to assassinate Alexander for so long.

And alongside that, there was also the matter of his son and heir being there too.

So even if he hated his wife, how could he leave his son there- his flesh and blood?

All this meant that every second the mother son remained in Alexander's care, it was agonizing for the man.

Now, Lord Parker did not worry they were being abused, such as Miss Linda being violated by the lustful Alexander due to being attracted to her peerless beauty, as such basic norms of wars were simply assumed, but he did worry about various other inconvenient things that Alexander might do, such as denying them proper food, water, and clothes.

And due to all these worries, Lord Parker was unwilling to be a pawn in Achillas's political shenanigans any longer.

He had mostly turned a blind eye to the secret clash between his general and the Margraves commander up until now because he thought that a bit of 'friendly' competition was always good for the health of the army.

He had even hoped that in this way, each man would be able to keep the other in check.

But now that they were starting to get in the way of their primary objective, Lord Parker found that this was going too far.

He could not allow their personal whims and desires work to push the main purpose around.

Thus when Achillas was trying to stall for time just to spite his opponent even at the cost of his Lord Parker's own wife and son, it naturally infuriated the lord.

Something which Achillas too of course noticed, but was not too much troubled by it deep inside.

This type of anger was nothing too uncommon from the lord and he had seen it many times before.

So the man was more than confident to be able to smooth it over.

As such, he tried to play the weak kitten card, as in reply to Alexander's loud declaration, he whispered shakily in a lowered voice, "Then what do you suggest, my lord?"

Lord Parker suddenly turned to glare at this inquiry, as if he was somehow very offended by it.

And then to punish this rouge general, he declared, "There is no need to go through all these hoops to try and send a spy to Linda. Instead, there is a far easier way. You will go!"

"You will enter through the main gates posing as my representative, and claim to be there to lead the negotiations. From there you will pass the information to Linda. Got it?"

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