Herald of Steel-Chapter 1541: Insane Maester (Part-1)
Alexander listened to the two ladies chat among themselves with a bit of a subtle fascination.
They had clearly gone off topic, but still, the natural interaction between these two regal ladies as they tossed ideas between themselves was something to behold.
There was a certain eloquence when they talked to each other, like they could predict what the other was going to say.
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This feeling did not exist with Alexander… one because they were not that close and two, Alexander's Azhak was still not as beautiful and refined as theirs.
Thus the man simply stayed quite and listened, while the two spat on the grave of the former physician, clearly showing their extreme dislike for him.
The Queen Mother especially hated to serve him, but under the behest of her former husband had little recourse to do otherwise.
However what really caught Alexander's ears was the implication that the maester had been executed for experimenting on nobles.
This news was certainly worthy enough to make him very intrigued and thus perking his ears up, he asked the ladies for a bit of clarification.
"Ordinary prisoners were not enough for him? He even attacked nobles? Why? And for more than that… how did he get them in the first place?" There was a clear tinge of incredulity in Alexander's voice as the royal dungeons were meant for mostly the common folk… a noble would only be sent there if he had committed a heinous crime, like the murder of another nobleman, gross incompetence leading to loss of a battle, or treason.
Otherwise, he would at best be kept under house arrest inside the palace until the time of his trial.
So, Alexander was really curious about the chain of events that led to such a grave charge.
"Who knows what went inside that madman's mind? He was insane to begin with." However, contrary to his expectation, the Queen Mother simply shrugged her shoulders in an unlady like manner, seemingly not at all interested in knowing why the maester had done so.
She did not even bother to go to the trail as she did not want to hurt her eyes by looking at him or pollute her ears with his voice.
Hearing this dampened Alexander's eagerness a bit.
Fortunately for the man, Lady Inayah appeared to be in the loop and chimed with a brush of her palms,
"It was not hard for him. There were many nobles who were sent to the dungeons under Alozmer's rule. Lady Laila was actually not his first victim. She was only the spark that lit the whole thing up."
"But even before that, Alozmer would regularly send noblemen to be tortured and killed for seemingly innocuous reasons… like not bowing exactly as instructed, missing something in an imperial report, or even looking shabby. Yes! One nobleman was sent to the dungeons for just having a slightly crumpled robe around the sleeves. I was in court that day."
The black lady once again produced that same distasteful tone in her voice as she said so, clearly showing them killing Alozmer was not a simple grab for power; it was something much more moral and just.
Lastly, she added with a wrinkle between her brows,
"We only came to guess the real reason during the trial. There that bony creep tried to justify himself by saying he did it all because he wanted to see the difference between the bodies of a noble and peasant. He claimed this was needed to make his immortality potion. Heh… for a man who was so used to taking others lives, that scum really knew how to grovel and cry when it came to his own."
There was a touch of joy in Lady Inayah's voice by the end as she recalled the scene of that man being crucified and then being stabbed repeatedly by all his victim's families… at least the noble ones.
That had brought her great joy.
And this once again proved to Alexander that although Lady Inayah might have her shortcomings, those were really only a product of her time. At heart, the noble lady was considered quite good.
While hearing the lady's answer to his query, Alexander's frown also deepened, finding the news of Alozmer's pursuit for immortality more than just disturbing.
It was not simply because of wanting to live even more… everyone wanted to do that. Who among us wants to die?
However, to sacrifice so many in an attempt to do this for such a small chance… and to do so in such a brutal way, that was insanity.
At first the balanced Alexander would always be a bit skeptical whenever Lady Inayah and others would bad mouth the former king. Given what they did, it was only natural for them to want to paint the man in a bad light no matter what, he thought.
However no matter how many times Alexander tried to find some redeeming quality for that mad king on his own, he would find himself being disappointed again and again.
The man really was scum.
"So my lady is saying the former king intentionally sent nobles to the dungeons so that the maester could experiment on them to make his elixir. He sent nobles! Of all people! Nobles! How did no one stop the madman?" Alexander's tone rose by octaves with each question, and his incredulity was aimed more at the royal court than the already degenerated Alozmer. The Zanzan pasha stopped expecting anything out of him by now.
"...." Towards the ask, the Queen Mother first turned to give Alexander a flat, unimpressed look, as if disappointed that he still did not understand the rules of Adhania. You did not object to the god king….no matter what.
Period.
Even if the king wanted you to sacrifice your eldest son to the fire, you just smiled and said 'Thank you. Do you also want my second son?'
That was just the culture.
Fortunately for Alexander, Lady Inayah was there to gently educate him on the matter,
"*Sigh*, what could we do… he was the god king… the manifestation of the 'Father's' will. Whatever he said was deemed to be divine decree. So if the heavens want you to be punished…"
The lady ruefully shook her head as she trailed off, hurt at the thought of all the innocent lives lost.
"Still, there were those who tried to stop this. But they were also swiftly sent to the dungeons themselves. And then the rest were too scared to say anything. *Sigh*... thank Ramuh, Laila was a girl. Or else…"
Then upon finishing, Lady Inayah's mature body once again visibly shuddered, her eyes darting like they had been struck by an earthquake.
The lady did not know exactly what that thin, emancipated monster with those bony fingers did in those dark, underground rooms… but just the mere whispers of the events were enough to make her lose sleep. She would never voluntarily seek information on it.
From this we can see that Lady Inayah was actually quite afraid of pain. Or more specifically, she was afraid of pain from cuts and slashes.
So much so that she actually thought it was kinder for her friend to die being burnt alive on a pyre than landing up on a live dissection table.
And Alexander initially struggled to quantify which was the worse to go.
Being burnt alive was said to be one of the most painful ways to go. Your skin peeled off, your fat melted, your blood vaporized, your flesh turned to ash and your bones creaked and snapped. It was said that during the process, every cell in your body cried out in absolute agony.
However, alternatively, to end up on an operating table and then be slowly and methodically sliced over and over again for days if not weeks, all while being bound to a pitch black room where no one could hear you scream…
When Alexander thought about it like that, he quickly found himself agreeing with Lady Inayah. Because if he was given the choice, he would take Lady Laila's route- a few minutes of absolute agony was far better than a few weeks of constant, terrifying torment.
The man managed to finally extract himself from those macabre thoughts after a while, and then curiously posed the next logical question,
"Then, my lady… if the maester was so favored, how did he get caught? And moreover, how was he killed as punishment? Was he not the former king's ticket to immortality? How could Alozmer still allow him to die?"
Even if Alozmer were to be caught red handed killing nobles, Alexander thought the madman would try to justify this. After all, he was the god king, anything and everything he did was just and right… at least in his eyes.
Thus Alexander could already imagine the lunatic decreeing, 'So what if a few nobles died? If their deaths can help me increase my lifespan, they should be glad to give their lives! I will reward their families for their great service.'
"Could he not have given that maester a different, less severe punishment?" Hence he logically asked.
"....." And this time Lady Inayah stayed silent, only slowly turning to give the Queen Mother a curious look.
Because she also did not know quite the details of why the former king had decided to throw his 'lover' to the ditch like that.
The official reason was of course the attack on the nobles… but the actual hidden reason…
"I think Alozmer also ran out of patience. He had been promised a potion for many years.. but in the end… "
