Eventually he too laughed. It was a broken thing that was more out of self-deprecation than amusement.
He said, "Why am I not surprised?"
Lady shrugged. "Be angry if you want to. I don't care. I did what I did for you, and I will do it again."
"If I hadn't done it and someone found out that your body underwent a second growth spurt that made your body inexplicably stronger and heavier, you would have drawn a lot of attention and probably been enslaved like Ruff."
"If that had happened, then you wouldn't be here judging me. You might even be killed if someone in the family considered you too great a threat to control. Or you might be crippled to prevent future problems."
"So if you ask me, the life of a maid and her family are worthy sacrifices for you to keep your life and freedom. The end always justifies the means. Anyone who says otherwise is weak."
She sighed and said, "You will leave me in at most four years. When you do, take this experience with you. Don't let anything stop you from achieving what you want. Not what people think of you or what you think is good or evil."
They became completely silent after that. No one spoke until they got home.
Arthur dropped quickly to get his bath. He wanted to have his bath to wash away the filth on his body.
He only succeeded partially. His body was clean physically, but his mind refused to accept that.
He couldn't forget what he had done. Even with his 50 years of experience, his first kill was haunting him and will continue to do so for a while.
He put his mind into winemaking in his workshop. He worked late into the night until it was dark and he was tired.
When he came out of his workshop, the day had become so dark that the vague light of the Ethera tree could be seen again.
He stood gazing at the tiny and hazy figure of a golden tree in the distance. He let the cool air of the night wind wash over his body.
Lady Vena walked out of a shadow and appeared beside him. Her movements were silent, but he had seen her appear and move, so he wasn't shocked by her sudden appearance beside him.
"What do you want?" he asked her.
She didn't reply. Instead, she looked into the distance, gazing at the golden Ethera tree with him.
She said, "I've heard that the Ethera tree is not only at the center of the world and is so big that it reaches the sky, but it is also the end goal of transcend. Only those who can reach it and gain its blessing can become a Dao lord."
He wasn't impressed. "That's an informative story there, but if all you came to do is regale me with folklore, then I should find something better to do."
She sighed and asked, "Why can't you just be a child? You're making this difficult for me to do.
He was taken aback. Then he looked at her and asked suspiciously, "Have you come to apologize?"
He knows his mother to understand that apologizing is very difficult for her to do. It is one of the reasons why his father still hates her and him. She had refused to apologize to him for seducing and tricking him.
So he was surprised that she was attempting to apologize to him. He felt that he could forgive her if she apologized since it was so difficult for her to.
She was also taken aback by his question. She asked, "Why would I apologize if I did nothing wrong?"
He opened his mouth, unable to provide an answer. He was tongue-tied because her question stunned him.
She continued, "I came to see how you were doing and to give you an ultimatum."
"What ultimatum?" he asked with annoyance. "I am already doing my best with the wine. But it will be months before I get something viable for business."
She shook her head. "This isn't about the wine."
But then she changed her mind. "Actually, this is about the wine. I was willing to let you stop killing sheep because you needed the time to do other things like training and winemaking. So I would be angry if I saw you wasting time doing other unnecessary things."
He didn't understand, so he asked, "What is the ultimatum? Also, when do I waste my time? I am always busy from morning to night."
She replied, "I am talking about your early morning trips rounding up bread and distributing it. I consider that a waste of your time in every way."
His face fell as he retorted, "I spend less than an hour on it."
She insisted, "That is about the time you spend on the sheep too. If I am willing to give up the sheep, then you should be willing to give up your hobby."
He shook his head and said, "Never."
She smiled. "I was afraid you would be like that, which is why I prepared an ultimatum. If you go out to distribute bread again, I will force you to make a decision between Ruff and another criminal."
His face scrunched up in anger, and he balled his fist.
She began to tease him, "I'm thinking females this time around. They should be beautiful ones too. So you can choose to give up Ruff in order to save them and keep them with you."
He said through clenched teeth, "This was the reason why you gave Ruff to me. You wanted to use him to force my hand."
She nodded and admitted it without guilt, "You're right. But I didn't need Ruff. I could have used Thompson or Geltra. Or Brooks or other things that you like."
She pointed to the workshop behind them and said, "You can decide to give up on Ruff, Thompson, Geltra, and Brooks. But that only means that your precious business will be next."