The Punishment
Taksh asked a simple question "Is it that special that someone awakens an affinity?"
Since watching Liam doing magic, Taksh was daydreaming about doing some similar magic. He hadn't given any thought to what if he doesn't awaken any Affinity. What if he doesn't even awaken his Mana Core? But after hearing Mr. Lonwell boasting so much about her daughter being able to have an Affinity, Taksh just asked for his curiosity.
To his innocent question, if Lonwell had said 'Yes young Lord, it is pretty rare to have an Affinity, especially for us Nobles, because we are not from any Mage's lineage', The shit wouldn't have escalated further. But instead, he started blabbering
"Of course it is. Most people would just keep dreaming about awakening their Affinities someday, even after they reach their twenties. Let's take the example of your Arora Household. For the last seventeen generations, nobody in your family has awakened any affinity.
That's why most men of your family marry women with some affinity to keep their Nobel title, which was given to you on the name of Manik Arora, one of the most talented mages of his time, for being a mage. That's why it's even about to be revoked very soon. Some people say your Lineage is cursed, and no one in your family would ever awaken any affinity. That's why you should treasure someone with an affinity more than anything because most probably you would never awaken any affinity yourself." Lonwell said all this without even thinking for once, what the hell was he saying to whom, in front of whom.
Lonwell said this because, in his heart, he was not proud of his daughter, but arrogant about being able to "produce" a daughter with an affinity, which the Arora family wasn't able to do in their entire seventeen generations. For a second, he considered himself above everyone present in this room. Then after blabbering all this, his eyes went to Taksh's face, and the face which was filled with arrogance a few seconds ago became pale instantly. Tears were falling continuously from Taksh's eyes.
"I won't have any affinity? None…? Really? I won't have ANY affinity?" At this moment Taksh wished for Mr. Lonwell to burst into laughter, claiming it was all just a joke. He longed for it. But unfortunately, this was the truth. The truth that no one was telling him, after watching his fascination towards magic.
On the other hand, it took some time for Dhruv and Isha to process what Lonwell was saying. Then some more time for them to confirm Lonwell was saying what they were hearing. And till then, the damage had been done. Their son was crying. His heart had been broken into a million pieces. The cute innocent smile is nowhere there.
Dhruv's body trembled with rage, steam practically rose from his ears. He couldn't control himself. He was going to kill this Lonwell bastard. He was going to wipe out his entire family. He tried to stand up from his chair, but felt a hand on his left thigh, pressing him to sit down followed by two pats.
The hands were of Isha. There was rage on her face, something rare to be seen. She tried to convey to Dhruv that he should stay where he is because she's going to do the deed. And Dhruv understood this. After all, they have been living together for years.
Isha rose from her seat, but instead of doing something to Lonwell, she brought Taksh out of the room to Milia. Milia was near the Guest area, doing some cleaning work, while ready to perform any task her master or mistress orders.
Isha told her to leave whatever she was doing at the time and try to cheer up Taksh along with Neru. Also, she said to send some soldiers along with Liam. They would be needed. All this, while trying her best to hide rage from her face.
After returning to the guest room, she noticed that Lonwell was trembling noticeably with fear. Lisa didn't understand completely what was happening, but after watching her father shaking, she knew something bad was going to happen. Isha nodded slightly in her head, 'That's good. You should be trembling. But regretting now isn't going to help you get out of here safe and sound.'
"I'm sorry Mr. and Mrs. Arora; I didn't mean to do that. I was just trying to educate Young Lord Taksh. I didn't want him to feel sad. Please forgive me." Lonwell tried to apologize. Possibly this can let him stay alive.
"Don't worry Mr. Lonwell. I'm not going to kill you for this mistake." There was a smile on Isha's face. Not a kind one like you would find on her face, but a scary one.
Relief came to Lonwell's face, at least for a few seconds, before listening to the rest of what Isha had to say. "But the thing is, you have done some horrible crimes till now, like trying to force yourself on most of the maids working in your house, hunting Magical Beasts in the protected zones, running some illegal subsidiaries behind the name of your trading business and worse of all, allegations of Killing multiple humans to try out Human Flesh." Lonwell's throat became dry, his palms became sweaty and his body started to tremble yet again, even more than earlier.
"But… but I didn't d-do ANYTHING like that." Lonwell was able to just say these with his stuttering voice.
"I know you didn't. In fact, I haven't heard any complaints regarding you since a long time. But it won't take a lot for me to plant evidence with some Gold coin here and there.
You looked down on my family. You made my precious son cry. You broke his dreams of becoming a mage. I don't know when I would see him smile as much as I saw him in the last couple of days. Did you think even for a second I'm letting you go after all this?"
"Okay, I just decided how I am going to punish you. Don't worry, I won't be too cruel. You are just going to spend the rest of your life here, along with us, not as a servant, not as a slave, but as a prisoner.
Why not a slave you may ask. So, that's because we don't need a slave without any limb. Oh, yeah. I forgot to tell you I am going to cut off all your limbs. That's it. HAPPY right?" Isha asked this time, with a sadistic smile this time. Then she snapped her fingers, and four invisible blades of wind shot forward with extreme speed, cutting Lonwell's arms in the process.
"AAAA…." Shouted Lonwell, but his shout fell on deaf ears because Isha's smile just increased with the shout.
"Soldiers!" said Isha, just barely louder than the general, but Liam followed by a squad of soldiers entered the room.
"First bring him to Lisley so that he doesn't die with blood loss. Then send him underground. He's going to spend all his life there."
After Lonwell and the soldiers were gone, she turned around towards Lisa, who was standing there this whole time, so shocked that she didn't dare to move. But noticing Isha's gaze on her, she backed down.
Isha said to Lisa, "I don't care what you say to anyone, or what you think about me. You can hate me as much as you want. In fact, I'd suggest you to keep that hatred burning in your heart and practice Magic relentlessly. I don't know whether you will be able to take your revenge or not, but I'm damn sure you will be able to survive in this cruel world.
Now, scram." After hearing this, Lisa ran. She ran with everything she got and was out of the mansion in no time. But she didn't stop and continued running towards god knows where.
"Aren't you a bit too cruel at certain times? You made him suffer his whole life, and you gave that poor girl Lisa a scar she would never be able to recover from." Dhruv had calmed down long ago. And in general, he is a very kind man. That's why, he was worried, speedily for Lisa.
"He took our son's smile, his dreams, his happiness, and broke them into a million pieces, and according to you, I should have just killed him in one shot. Do you think all the things our son lost today are just equal to a moment's pain? And as for Lisa, seems that all the smiles and nods she gave to her father while he was destroying our son's dreams. She used to think the same things his bastard father used to think. She is alive, just because she didn't say anything to Taksh.
Let's leave the discussions here and go to Taksh. He needs us right now."
______
FREE! FREE! FREE! Voting is free.
That's right, voting me through Power stones is totally free, and they get replenished every night.
So, if you are enjoying my story, please consider voting. It would just take you two seconds, but would help me a lot. Thanks in advance.