Chapter 30.2 - Meeting in the Chamber of Lords 1.2

That was enough to stop the objections, but not the angry looks he was receiving. Alex sat and waited for the next point on the agenda.

After the introduction of the King, Marquess Seth Perry stood up once again and spoke, “As for the changes in use on Earl Alex’s lands, I and a few Nobles want to object to the treatment he grants to the commoners that live there. His changes are an insult to our society and way of life. He was repeatedly asked to stop all the nonsense he was instilling in the minds of every commoner because what he was doing on his lands had instilled some strange ideas in the minds of the commoners who live and work on our lands. Some commoners even had the nerve to demand equal treatment with the payment of a salary for their work and the extreme honour of letting their children attend School, besides the protection we grant them, together with a small share of the harvest. We demand that he stop what he is doing because it is a very dangerous thing to have commoners questioning our role in this country and demanding a life with benefits that no commoner should have!”

A few claps filled the room, and Alex waited patiently. The King bumped his hammer and faced Alex. “Do you want to say something in your defence, Earl Alex?”

Alex got up and spoke while staring directly at Marquess Seth Perry, “I wish to complain about the insulting treatment that Marquess Seth upholds towards the commoners that live in his lands. Unnecessary beating and whip slashes, allowing his soldiers to use and abuse any woman or girl they got interested in, making the farmers work until late hours, many dying of exhaustion in the fields only for the sake of a bigger harvest that never comes.”

Marquess Seth Perry made a tremendous effort not to shout, “What I do in my lands concerns only me! No one has any right to complain about the way I rule over what is mine!”

Alex raised both hands. “I agree, and I would also like to use that same excuse concerning my lands. If the commoners that don’t live in my lands get any weird ideas, that doesn’t concern me. It’s not my fault if, because of the suffering they receive in the lands of other Nobles, many prefer to go to mines where they are well treated without fearing any kind of abuse because of their social status or their kind. I treat them all equally, no matter if they are farmers, workers, servants, maids, Human or Beast-kind. Like you said, what I do in my lands concerns only me. No one has any right to complain about the way I rule over what is mine.”

Marquess Seth Perry slowly opened and closed his mouth, unable to mutter a single word. He then sat down again and went silent. Alex looked around the Chamber of Lords and spoke, “That’s enough of this charade, right? Some of you came here in a foolish attempt to discredit me and my many accomplishments when, a few years ago, you all laughed after hearing my ideas. Now, my lands are fertile, profitable, the people that live there are happy, and the children are learning how to read, write, do some arithmetic, and learn a trade for their future, whatever they fancy more. I produce all sorts of equipment and products that are sold in a lot of countries, and you could all do the same if you granted me a bit of faith when I first came here and talked about what I wanted to do. Your stubbornness and stupidity forced me to ask for a licencing law, which you unanimously voted in favour of, without even understanding what that would grant me if I was successful. Now, there is nothing you can do to copy my ideas without paying me an enormous sum of money every time you want to use one of them. It’s not my fault if you underestimated me five years ago. Now, if you finished this foolish attempt to win my lands, let’s stop here, okay? Because unlike some of you, I have many people that wait for me, and I can’t waste any more time rebating foolish plans to take what is rightfully mine.”

Alex then went to the middle of the room and made a deep bow towards the King. “If there is nothing more, I wish to be excused, my King. Can I wait for a visit from you and your beloved second daughter this afternoon? I believe there is a matter we should talk about, privately, concerning some new ideas I recently had during my seclusion these last few months.”

The King slowly nodded. “I would like that because you have been completely absent lately from any social gathering or festivity, and there were some rumours that you left our country, or you were seriously ill because no one could talk to you.”

“I apologise if I made you worry about my well-being, but I was working and, as you know, I don’t like receiving visits, because I never know if the visit comes with good intentions or to spy on me, and my King also didn’t have time to visit me or to receive me.”

“Indeed... I was out of the country visiting the countries of the alliance, and I barely had time to visit Earl Kayden until it was already too late. He will be missed... I believe you can be excused because, judging by the lack of points on the agenda for today, I don’t see many Noble willing to say anything more, considering that they already have a lot to think about and ask for forgiveness. I suppose we can continue with the voting of the points on the agenda that we already discussed, and you can be sure I will protect your interests with the votes you so kindly gave me, together with your supporters that are gathered in this Chamber today.”

Alex disguised a smile towards the wink of the King and made one last deep bow to him and a slight bow to the Chamber, with Anika, Pearl, and Wenammy imitating him, and they left, leaving a bunch of dumbfounded faces behind, and a few that were smiling and clapping.
Alex went out the door, with Pearl walking in front of him, and Anika holding his right arm, with Wenammy on the left.

As they walked along the corridor, Anika asked in a whisper, “Are all the meetings like this, Nobles trying to use whatever they can to seek more power for themselves? Because none of this would ever happen in my underwater country unless someone had a death wish!”

Wenammy whispered as well, “Among the High Fairies, this power struggle is very common, but the intention is always in the search for a better path for all Fairies, instead of personal gain. I guess situations like that only happen because Humans and Beast-kind are way greedier than Fairies and Mermaids. Or Elfians, because I never heard about an Elfian acting like those Nobles in there.”

Alex slowly nodded and glanced at Wenammy. “You need to tell me what a High Fairy really is because I wasn’t aware of how much impact your presence would cause in there. I think some Nobles almost died of a heart attack when they saw you.”

Wenammy turned bright red. “Yes, my species causes quite a ruckus among Humans and Beast-kind, not only for our immense power and ability with Magic but because High Fairies are the Nobility among the Fairies. Because we are a secluded and secretive species, we have amassed a few rumours and legends about ourselves over the years. Some of them are true, while others are overly exaggerated.”

“Seriously? What kind of rumours and legends?”

“Well... the rumour that we live forever is an exaggeration. We indeed live far longer than a normal Fairy, but we are not eternal like your powerful Spirits. The legend that in an emergency we can gather Magic from the thin air and make some incredibly powerful Spells at the expense of some years of our life expectancy is true... And... the legend that a High Fairy always has twins when she is deeply in love instead of marriage for political reasons, is also true... meaning that the love of a High Fairy is far greater than any being, and we always marry for life with only one partner... I... was hoping you would be my partner for your entire life... and we could have a bunch of twins...”

Alex jolted at the surprising answer and faced the redness on Wenammy, while Anika was too surprised to even tease her. He spoke, after gulping, “I... can only thank you for saying that... I don’t know how to answer, except that I feel honoured... and a bit proud... I am not sure if I deserve your love, considering what you just said.”

“You don’t need to say a thing. I only thought... I should tell you...”



Anika finally spoke while throwing daggers from her eyes. “You are speaking too much for my taste, Wenammy. Today is my turn. Yours is tomorrow. Remember?”

Alex frowned a little and asked, “Today is your turn? Why is that?”

Anika leaned her head on his shoulder and gave a slight smile. “Just another thing we agreed on in the carriage while you were meditating. Today I am the one that can try to seduce you. Wenammy will have her chance tomorrow, and Pearl on the day after. I already wasted a lot of time with that meeting. I hope nothing more interrupts us, because I want to have a walk with you, so that we can speak all alone, about nothing and everything, so that we learn a bit more about each other.”

“I don’t think we can do that because in the afternoon we are going to meet the King and his daughter, the one that we are supposed to escort to Bouria, remember? Perhaps we should postpone our date for tomorrow?”

“I suppose we can do that, if that means I will have you all to myself, that is.”

“Well, I might have to go visit some of the facilities on my lands, but you can go with me and we can talk as much as you like.”

Anika gave a big smile. “Nice, because one thing that I want to know is how you developed your lands like you did, judging by everything that I heard there. I saw a lot of men in there that looked furious at you but you dodged their attacks splendidly. I guess you thought a lot about what could happen in that meeting.”

“I more or less expected some sort of plan from a Noble or a group of them, because Earl Kayden’s lands are such a temptation with everything that is harvested and produced there. All of that is because of me, so I really didn’t want a greedy Noble to put his filthy hands on my labour. While we were travelling from Bouria, I thought a lot, and there is also another thing. I was always very good at guessing people’s intentions by their body language and words, so since I entered that room, I had been looking at everyone, and I knew who were the ones that were plotting something weird. After that, it was just a matter of refuting everything that was thrown at me while trying to make someone say something they shouldn’t. It totally worked, by the way.”

Anika made a surprised face. “So, you are saying you are an excellent judge of character? Well, the way you trapped that Marquess was indeed outstanding! You even used his words against him, like when he said you should choose a Human girl for a wife! I thought that huge Rabbit-kind was going to kill him!”

“Yes, I need to talk with Viscount Tom and apologise for using his short temper like that. I am not sure if he will accept my apologies or not. He will probably punch my head first. I still have the tip of his right ear that I took from him when I was younger, and I think he is still, up to this day, trying to get his revenge.”

“That’s the Rabbit-kind Noble that you said was your friend, right? Why would he be after you? Because you took off his ear?”

Alex gave a slight smile. “Not only for that, but mainly because he wanted me to have a few dates with one of his daughters. He has five, and only one of them is already married. I once told him that the lack of pretenders for his daughters was probably because of him, considering that a guy needs a lot of courage to date his daughters with a scary father like him! He almost took my head off. Considering I more or less introduced you three as my potential wives, I am almost sure he is not thrilled with that.”

Pearl looked back at him with a smile. “I also enjoyed hearing you say that. You almost said you were already engaged, and that is a tremendous step for you. Now quiet, we are about to leave.”