Lady Ven continue speaking.
"He is very talented and will soon need the force diagram to transcend the first mortal coil. I was hoping that…"
Lady Delia began to laugh. She couldn't believe what she just heard. She thought it was a joke.
But when she saw everyone glaring at her, not laughing at the joke, she became suspicious that there was more to what she considered a joke.
She asked in confusion, "Wait. You can't be serious, right?"
Lady Vena replied with a cold voice, "I don't joke about my son. You should have learned that before. Or wasn't the loss of 100 grand blood pills and the second part of the fire mana techniques not enough to teach you a lesson?"
Actually, she would joke if it would help her situation, but Augustus doesn't like jokes. So she could only make her request in a straightforward manner.
Even with that explanation, Lady Delia still couldn't believe it. She said, "Wait a minute. Isn't he just eleven years old this year? How can that be?"
Lady Vena smiled and replied, "What can I say? I guess he got the best side from his two parents."
Lady Delia started, "But you're a har…"
But Augustus interrupted her. He glared at Delia briefly before he said to Vena, "If you're right, then he must be more impressive than I expected."
Lady Vena shook her head. "It will still take a long while before he reaches the ninth transformation and needs the force diagram. But I came early to ask you anyway to help me acquire the force diagram. I wanted to give you time to think about it and make your moves."
Augustus nodded in understanding and said, "That is very thoughtful of you. But why can't he acquire the force diagram from the family?"
"Well. He will have to pay a lot for it and swear himself into the service of the family for the rest of his life. That will take a lot of work that will delay him. It will be faster if you help him."
Augustus swallowed the food in his mouth before speaking.
"With his age, I am sure he can bear some delays. Let him use that time to gain some experience."
Lady Vena didn't like what he said. She knew he was intentionally playing dumb because she wasn't being straightforward. So she decided to be straightforward.
She said, "He doesn't want to swear himself to the family, so he needs your help to get the force diagram."
Augustus didn't say anything. He was silent because he was chewing. But Lady Delia had a lot to say.
She chuckled and said, "You can't be serious. What you're asking for is outrageous."
This is not the first time she was hearing about this request from Arthur. It was the first thing that Arthur had asked from her as his reward for winning the match at the graduation ceremony.
Lady Vena had used that opportunity to insult her. But it seems like the mother-and-son duo hasn't given up yet. She just couldn't believe that Vena would have the confidence to ask Arthur for it.
But then she thought to herself, "If she can try to sleep with my husband in front of me, I guess she can be shameless enough to make such a request."
She continued to speak after her initial outburst. But this time, she made sure to express the venom in her mind through her words.
"Who do you think you are? You come in here and ask for an important family secret as if you're entitled to it. Just how shameless are you?"
Lady Vena didn't speak to defend herself. She only waited calmly for Augustus to speak. After all, the person she needs to agree with her is Augustus, not Delia.
When Augustus became capable of speaking. He didn't address Vena first.
Instead, he glanced at Delia and said, "If you can't be polite, then I will have to ask you to leave."
Lady Delia defended herself by saying, "But her request is outrageous."
"That is for me to determine, not you. Last I heard, you have already been asked for this. Now it is my turn, so let me respond."
Lady Delia fell silent unwillingly. She was silent, but her eyes were busy staring daggers at Vena.
Vena saw this, but she wasn't in the mood to smirk. It is because she is too anxious waiting for Augustus's reply.
He finally turned to Vena and said to her, "You became my concubine to gain access to the force diagram. Even then, you had to pay a high price and swear service to the family."
"I was born a true son of the family. I didn't need to pay for it, but I had to swear loyalty to the family."
"That is the way it is done in the family. It is the way it is done all over. It is done that way because we want to protect ourselves."
"The family doesn't request the oath of loyalty because we are vicious, selfish, or because we like shackling others. We do it because we don't want to raise wolves and tigers that we can't control. We don't want to raise wild animals that will come back later to bite us."
"The oath unites this family and prevents it from falling apart. It is why we have been able to stand for more than five hundred years."
"If I, you, my wife, my son, my brothers, my sisters, my mother, my father, my uncles, my aunties, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, and so on, can swear the oath, so can he. But if he refuses to, then he is not a part of our family and is not worthy of our secret force diagram."
Lady Vena was disappointed to hear that. But she didn't argue with him because she knew he wouldn't change his mind.
He can be very stubborn when he has made up his mind. It is situations like this when he sets his stubbornness against her that makes her hate that personality trait of his.