Trash Chapter: Alexander's talk with Grandma

Author's Note: Scarlett is here called Victoria, and this chapter was written maybe 8 months ago before I changed the direction of Scarlett's and Patricia's personalities.

...

The next day, afternoon, Alexander's Office

In front of Alexander sat his grandmother, who looked uncomfortable for obvious reasons.

The reason was that the office looked terrible, like always, since he experimented a lot, and right now, he wanted to create ink, but not only normal ink, mana ink.

Since he created the mana paper, he wanted to constitute it, leaving his maids in tears as he tried every possible combination of materials to do it, which left the room in utter chaos.

However, he needed to concentrate on his grandmother right now, "How may I help you? I am actually experimenting."

Victoria looked at all the glassware around her and smiled at Alexander, trying to small talk briefly before talking about what she came here for, "It looks interesting. What are you making?"

Alexander explained joyfully, "Mana ink. Since I created the mana paper, I also want to create ink with mana properties and need to trial and error the process and materials."

Victoria kept forcing a smile but quickly changed the topic, throwing away the idea of small talk since she couldn't say anything about magic, artificing, or alchemy, "Interesting, say, do you like Patricia?"

Alexander got the gist of her visit, "Do you want the true or nice version?"

Victoria answered obviously, "A true but nice version would be great."

Alexander nodded toward her, "Got it. I don't like her at all, but I think she is a great girl. She will probably find some boy she likes and who likes her back."

Victoria looked at Alexander and didn't like that he talked nonchalantly but ignored it for now as she tried to talk him into giving Patricia more time, "Why don't you like her?"

Alexander sighed, not really wanting to go into why he doesn't like prepubescent (pre-mating) girls. So he started to count on his hand, "She insulted me multiple times and is very rude. We have nothing in common. She is too arrogant..."

Victoria quickly stopped her grandson, as numbering the things would even more strengthen his resolve, "Okay, I understand! But don't you think you could give her another chance?"

Alexander tilted his head like an idiot was talking to him, "No? Why should I?"

Victoria tried another approach, "Because she is a noble like you, both of you are talented and could become a great couple, one with both intelligence and strength, and if you find another girl, you can marry her too."

She betted a little that Alexander could understand the intricacies of noble life because of his intelligence and talked with him more like a teen than with a child.

Alexander raised an eyebrow as he didn't believe what his grandmother suggested, "You want me to have a harem?"

Victoria nodded, "Yes! Many nobles have one. It is a privilege for the men."

Alexander waved his hand in dismissal, "No thanks, all I know is that the children from different mothers try to kill each over for the title. I want to have a relationship like mom and dad have one, only with maybe less bloodthirsty wild demons."

Victoria frowned, "Alexander, you are brilliant, so if you ever go into politics, you will have a hard time if you marry someone outside of our circle."

Alexander shrugged, "I am fine with it. I will just do what every good noble does and buy my way through then."

This statement gobsmacked Victoria, "Wait, what do you mean with buy?"

Alexander answered matter of factly, "Soft power of course."

Victoria knew this concept, and it was when wealthier nobles supported poorer ones and, with this, could influence their politics, laws, etc.

There was a fine line between soft power and corruption, as one was very open, transparent, and followed the imperial law while the other was the exact opposite.

She sat more straight and looked deep into the puppy's eyes, 'I now know why Mari wanted me to talk with him.'

He was too clever for the talent he had. It was like a bomb ready to blow up, as he could become too arrogant and had little to no lead as he followed his own path, which could guide him quickly to his death.

She tried another approach, "What about your family? Will this not be a disgrace in various circles if, let's say, you marry a commoner?"

After a moment of thought, he answered without care, "I really doubt that Lorient, Sarah, or Janina will go into politics. Though Narsiz is interested, he is rather interested in the local ones, so it should be fine."

He didn't mention that the so-called guard dogs were rather not kindly seen in other circles, and he doubted they cared much about it.

Victoria was baffled by his stubbornness, "What about your other family members or me? What if it somehow damaged their reputation and efforts in the noble circles?"

Alexander needed to think this through more thoroughly, so he needed more time, and Victoria felt she had gotten through to him, 'It worked with Mari and will obviously work with his son if I put the family first.'

Still, he answered something she had never imagined, "If this really happened, I would cut myself off from the family and give up my name. I would care and support everyone in my way, like financially, and I could become a noble that way and get a territory, good, right?"

Victoria got angry, "Alexander, this is not something you should joke about."

Alexander shrugged inwardly as he thought it would be a great idea, but now he noticed she tried to pin him down in extreme situations.

There was no way that the guard dogs or other lower circles would care if a son married a commoner if they had to gain something from him.

All she was trying to do was to bring him to spend more time with Patricia, and while he disliked her, he understood that she was a child with a giant ego.

He disliked very much being manipulated, "And forcing me to marry this annoying bug is a good joke then, right?"

The former lady inhaled and exhaled strongly to get a grip and kept on, "This is a noble conduct to follow the proper etiquette, and part of it is to find a suitable partner."

Alexander understood very well that even on earth, the right partner could make public career choices sink or swim, but he wouldn't give up on his happiness, and even more important, he wanted to piss off his grandmother as she irked him the wrong way.

Alexander shrugged and tried to be over-rational to win the argument, "Like the subjects care, I would rather win them over with something substantial than with hollow gestures and show them what it meant to be a real noble."

Victoria was again baffled, "Hollow gestures? This conduct worked for generations and brought peace and prosperity to our territory!"

This made Alexander angry, "Mothers policies and fathers sacrifice at the front brought prosperity to the territory, as my dad was a simple mercenary then!"

Victoria clenched her teeth, slightly showing her fangs, "Alexander, do you know that you insulted all nobility essentially?"

Alexander smiled at her condescendingly, "You know what a bigger insult is? Showing that the conduct is useless and that there are other ways without sacrificing one's own happiness."

Victoria stood up, clearly agitated, "You little punk! You know what your ancestors sacrificed and developed to bring prosperity and balance."

Alexander stood up on his chair and opened his arms, "Good, and they can live on as a historical note. Even if it worked for thousands of years, a system would become stagnant water if it doesn't change!"

Victoria clenched her fists, "You are calling the system which brought freedom to beast-kin stagnant water?!"

Alexander frowned at her as she twisted the history, "Excuse me, but wasn't the system changed after one of our so great emperors sold us as sex slaves to other races till we cut his and other nobles, who supported him, their heads off?"

Victoria became increasingly agitated but tried nonetheless to reach her goal from another point of view, "So, why not play by the rules and change the system from the inside?"

Alexander answered her without hesitation, "It's hypocritical! If you believe in something, you need to have some backbone to conduct yourself how you see fit! I will not sacrifice my own happiness and stand before my future subjects and ramble about things I did the other way for greed!"

Victoria was too agitated to keep the discussion going. She remembered that nothing good would come out if she beat the shit out of this condescending little prick to make a point, "Fine, I will take Patricia with me. I really hope that age will bring you more wisdom."

She turned around, and before she walked out the door, she heard Alexander say, "Goodbye, grandma! Hopefully, your age doesn't bring deterioration to your mental health!"

She swung the door in full force, cracking the walls and ripping the handle off.

Alexander sat down again and rubbed his hair, cursing inwardly, 'Well, I fucked up, I guess...'

It was how she talked about commoners; he should give up his happiness to appease some nobles. He was on earth basically a poor orphan, and here, his Father was a commoner, so her comments really made him angry, 'Why didn't this shit-ass skill help?!'

He had multiple skills which should keep his emotions in check, but they sometimes just didn't work for some reason, 'I need to later look into it.'

...

Victoria walked in long strides, boiling in anger.

After a short time, she opened the door to Marisia's office and saw her sitting at her desk and working on something. She bashed the door behind her, barely holding her anger.

Marisia looked at her, 'Looks about right.'

Alexander was, in some ways, very flexible with his mindset but, in others, very stubborn. Still, she never saw Anastasia, Aro, or any other who had a discussion with him this angry.

Instead, they would be more on edge as her son's ideas were too extreme. It seemed in Marisia's mind that the discussion was overly heated, which also proved her mother's following comment.

She came over and hit her table, "This condescending little shit! I will leave tomorrow with Patricia!"