Chapter : 1717
Lloyd and Mina sat across from her. Mina looked better—she had slept, or at least rested—but there was still a fragility to her. Lloyd was in "General Mode," his emotions locked away in a ntal box, his mind focused entirely on logistics.
"The narrative is drafted," Milody announced without preamble, sliding a piece of parchnt across the desk. "Read it. morize it. This is your reality now."
Lloyd picked up the docunt. It was a masterpiece of diplomatic fiction. It detailed the "amicable dissolution" of the marriage between Lord Lloyd Ferrum and Lady Rosa Siddik, citing "divergent spiritual paths" and Rosa's desire to pursue a life of "solitary cultivation" in the remote peaks to honor her ancestors. It painted Rosa not as a rejected wife, but as a pious, powerful figure seeking enlightennt. It was respectful, dignified, and completely false.
"It's... thorough," Lloyd admitted.
"It covers the bases," Milody said. "It explains her absence, it protects her dignity—which keeps House Siddik happy—and it frees you. Now, for the second part." She slid another docunt forward. "The tiline of your romance with Mina."
Mina leaned in to read it. The docunt spun a tale of a "eting of minds" during the research of the Golem Heart. It described long nights in the library, shared intellectual passions, and a "deepening of affection" that occurred after Rosa's departure.
"This... this makes us sound like scholars who fell in love over books," Mina said, a faint blush coloring her cheeks.
"Exactly," Milody said. "It plays to your strengths. You are the historian, the intellectual. Lloyd is the innovator. It makes sense to the public. It’s boring, it’s respectable, and it’s devoid of the passionate, illicit scandal that actually occurred."
She leaned back, steepling her fingers. "Now, the child."
The room temperature seed to drop a few degrees. This was the crux of the gamble.
"We stick to the plan," Milody said firmly. "The child is legitimate. Conceived after the 'private handfasting' we will claim you had two months ago. We will say the ceremony was delayed due to the border tensions, but the vows were exchanged."
"Handfasting?" Lloyd asked. "That's an old tradition. Does it hold legal weight?"
"In the North? Absolutely," Milody said. "It’s archaic, but recognized. It allows us to backdate the marriage without needing a priest's records from a temple. We just need witnesses." She looked at them pointedly. "I was there. Ken was there. Nilufa was there. We will all swear to it."
"You're asking Nilufa to perjure herself?" Lloyd asked, incredulous.
"I am asking Nilufa to save her grandchild from being a bastard," Milody corrected. "She will do it. She already agreed."
She tapped the desk. "However, the timing is tight. Mina is showing early signs. We cannot hide it forever. We need the public wedding to happen imdiately to cent the narrative. The 'official' ceremony to ratify the handfasting."
"How soon?" Mina asked.
"One month," Milody said. "Four weeks. That is the deadline."
"One month?" Lloyd exclaid. "Mother, royal weddings take six months to plan. A ducal wedding takes three. One month screams 'shotgun wedding'."
"Not if we fra it correctly," Milody countered smoothly. "We fra it as a 'War Wedding.' The tensions with Altamira are rising. The border is silent, which ans trouble. We claim that you, the great Commander, want to secure your line and your happiness before you are inevitably called away to the front. It turns the rush into a romantic, patriotic gesture. The people love a hero who grabs happiness in the face of danger."
Lloyd had to admire the sheer audacity of it. She was turning a scandal into a propaganda victory. "You are terrifying," he said.
"I am a mother," Milody said simply. "It is the sa thing."
She stood up. "But there is a complication. A variable we cannot control with paperwork."
"What?" Lloyd asked.
"The other Queens," Milody said. "Faria Kruts. Princess Amina. Princess Isabella. They are all circling you, Lloyd. They all have claims, or think they do. If we announce a sudden wedding to Mina, we risk alienating them. Faria will be furious. Amina might see it as a breach of your agreent with her father. And Isabella... well, Isabella is Isabella."
Lloyd groaned, rubbing his face. "I forgot about the harem politics."
"You don't get to forget," Milody snapped. "You created this ss. Now you have to navigate it. You need to et with them. Before the announcent goes public. You need to manage their reactions."
"You want to tell them?" Lloyd asked.
Chapter : 1718
"I want you to sell it to them," Milody said. "Tell Faria it’s a duty. Tell Amina it’s a cover. Tell Isabella... tell her whatever keeps her from investigating. You need to neutralize them before the wedding. If Faria causes a scene at the altar, or Amina withdraws her support, the whole house of cards falls down."
She looked at Mina. "And you, my dear. You have a job too."
"?" Mina asked, startled.
"You need to beco a Duchess," Milody said. "You are a scholar. You are comfortable in libraries. That ends today. You need to learn how to walk, talk, and command a room like the wife of the most powerful man in the North. You need to be untouchable. If the court senses weakness, they will tear you apart. I will begin your lessons tomorrow."
Mina swallowed hard, but she nodded. "I understand."
"Good," Milody said. "Now, get out. I have a wedding to plan, a history to rewrite, and a thousand lies to distribute to the right ears."
Leaving Milody’s study felt like being discharged from a briefing before a suicide mission. Lloyd and Mina walked in silence until they reached the gardens. The fresh air did little to dispel the feeling of entrapnt.
"One month," Mina whispered, leaning against a stone balustrade. She looked out at the rolling hills of the Ferrum estate. "I always dread of my wedding. I thought... I thought it would be quiet. Simple. Not a strategic operation."
Lloyd stood beside her, looking at her profile. "It can still be real, Mina. The reasons are political, but the... the feeling isn't. I do love you. That part isn't a lie."
Mina smiled, a sad, fleeting thing. "I know. And I love you. But it feels like we are stealing this happiness. Like we are looting a burning house."
"We are putting out the fire," Lloyd corrected her. "Or at least, trying to keep it from spreading."
He turned to face her, taking her hands. "Listen to . My mother is right about the politics, but she is wrong about one thing. We are not just actors in her play. This is our life. When we stand at that altar, I won't be thinking about the cover story. I'll be thinking about you. About us. About the child."
Mina squeezed his hands. "You make it sound simple."
"It is simple," Lloyd lied. "The rest is just noise."
But the noise was about to get very loud. Lloyd knew he had to face the "Three Queens" as his mother had called them. He decided to start with the most volatile one: Faria.
He found Faria in the estate's art gallery, furiously sketching a charcoal drawing of a storm. She looked up as he entered, her eyes narrowing. She had been distant since the "second wife" debacle, her pride wounded.
"Lloyd," she said, her voice cool. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Have you co to announce a third wife? Perhaps a rmaid this ti?"
"Faria," Lloyd said, keeping his voice gentle. "I need to talk to you. Privately."
He led her to a bench. He didn't tell her the whole truth—he couldn't reveal the pregnancy—but he spun the version Milody had suggested, with his own twist. He told her that with Rosa gone, the pressure on him to secure the line was imnse. He told her that he and Mina had a history, a quiet bond, and that he was marrying her to stabilize the household.
"Stabilize?" Faria scoffed. "You make it sound like you're shoring up a retaining wall. Do you love her?"
Lloyd looked her in the eye. "Yes. I do."
Faria flinched. The honesty hurt her more than a lie would have. She looked away, her charcoal stick snapping in her hand. "And where does that leave ? Where does that leave... us? The 'partner of the heart' your mother spoke of?"
"It leaves you as my dearest friend," Lloyd said. "And perhaps... in the future... more. But right now, I cannot offer you what you deserve. I cannot ask you to step into this chaos. Mina... Mina knows the chaos. She is part of it."
Faria was silent for a long ti. Then she sighed, a sound of resignation. "You are an idiot, Lloyd Ferrum. But you are an honest idiot. Fine. Marry the scholar. But do not think this closes the book on us. I am a patient woman. And I am a much better artist than she is."
One down. Two to go.
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