She thrust out her chest and said confidently, "That's a matter for the future. When this cane becomes ineffective, I will find something more powerful to deal with you."
He said with disdain. "What after then? Will you find a sword to use to beat me? Will you break my leg and arms too?"
"Arthur's mom also did that, but he didn't cower. If Arthur didn't cower, then I won't cower. I am a man of steel."
She roared at him, "You're a boy."
He didn't care. He said, "Then I am a boy of steel. I won't be broken by you."
Lady Delia sighed. She felt her head throbbing in pain. She had to hold her head and knead it softly to relieve her headache.
She said, "Why did you learn these bad habits from him? They are not good."
He replied with a snort. "You were the one who told me to be like him. Now you're telling me that being like him is not good. You should make up your mind about what you want me to do."
She huffed and tried to ventilate because she was feeling frustrated. Her 11-year-old son was frustrating her too much.
She clarified, "I meant that you should be like him in terms of talent and achievement. Don't take after him in regards to other things like his personality and behavior. He is mentally unstable."
Tyson shrugged and said, "It is too late for that. I like his personality now."
"Besides, even if you want me to catch up with him in terms of his achievements, I need to work hard. How can I do that when you force me to waste my time with parties? I'm telling you again, make up your mind about what you want me to do with my life. I am currently getting hints from you that you want me to be a playboy."
She sighed again. She doesn't like what he has become, but she knows that she only has herself to blame for it.
She was the one who raised her son up, telling him about his older half brother. She told him about Arthur so that he could surpass Arthur. But it backfired because Arthur became Tyson's hero.
Tyson was a young, impressionable boy. He grew up learning about how his half-brother terrorized everyone in his neighborhood, killed and ate dogs, got into a fight on his first day of school, and had a feud with a herd of deer, which he later killed.
Lady Delia made it sound like a bad thing. But she overdid it. She made him sound like a crazy tyrant capable of doing anything, which Tyson felt was a good thing. From then on, Tyson decided to be a tyrant too.
The good thing is that he was always training. He came hard-working, which Lady Delia liked very much.
She didn't have to coerce him to exercise like other kids because he was hungry for power. As for the things that he didn't want to do, she still had to coerce him, and she had to coerce him with violence or benefits before he would do what she wanted.
The bad part didn't end there. He became a tyrant in the house too. He was always terrorizing the servants.
She didn't mind him terrorizing the servants, but she hates that he wants to extend his range of influence to her. Things got so bad that she had to carry a stick around anytime she wanted him to do anything other than training or playing pranks on the servants or riding the servants like horses.
Attending the party that will be held tonight is one of those things. He doesn't want to go, so she has to use her cane to encourage him to go.
But that will only make him go. It won't make him behave at the party. Either she will follow him around the party with a cane or she will let him loose and cause trouble for her.
She doesn't want either to happen. So she had to find a way to convince him to behave well at the party.
She knew what to do and what to say to get him to behave. But she didn't want to use this method because it can backfire on her. Now that things have reached this point, she could only take the risk.
She sighed again and said, "I heard that Arthur will be at the party tonight."
Tyson dropped what he was doing and narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. He said, "Really? Why would Arthur attend the party? He rarely attends parties. The last one he attended, he cheated you out of…"
She didn't want him to continue with how Arthur had cheated her out of the advanced breathing techniques and pills, so she cut him off. "He is coming because his mother went out this morning to kidnap him."
Tyson was still suspicious. He said, "Don't bait me, mother. I'm not so easy to fool. Are you really telling the truth?"
She fumed because she didn't like that her son didn't believe her. But she didn't get angry because it won't lead to anything.
She has lied many times in the past to him, and he has learned his lesson. Unless she uses a stick or she uses Arthur's name, he won't do what she wants.
She said, "I am telling the truth. You can ask him at the party. If he doesn't come, you can turn the party upside down."
Tyson's eyes lit up. He liked the prospect of meeting Arthur or wreaking havoc at the party. It was a win-win situation for him.
He became excited immediately. He said to her, "You should have said so right from the start. We wouldn't have wasted so much time if you had done so."
The speed he was dressing sped up immediately. It is because the situation has changed.
Before, he was being forced to go to the party. Even though there was the threat of a beating, he was always dragging his feet, making mistakes, and making slow progress.