Chapter 150

Chapter 228: The Discovery of the Secret

When Kushi awoke next morning, her husband had vanished again and her heart sank at the thought that he had gone to the Industry.

Why is that man so thoughtless! So heartless!

To overcome her frustration over her deliberately-disappearing husband, she decided to spend the day with Ram.

Kushi was pleased to learn that Master Happy had rewarded Ram with a coin so he could buy anything he wanted and the First Lady eagerly volunteered to accompany him on the trip to the Market and, if possible, help him decide how wisely to put the coin to his young wishes.

In the meantime, you will need to know that Lord Arnav, having left the cottage in the morning after a hasty breakfast, had not gone to the Industry as Kushi and her family supposed. In fact, unusual as it may sound and strange as it may be, Lord Arnav had decided to take a stroll down the streets of the South Village. As he walked along, his mind was greatly preoccupied in matters concerning the previous night's encounter with his enemy.

After juggling various possibilities, Lord Arnav finally reached a conclusion regarding the General's intentions at his uninvited visit.

He must have intended to disturb my thoughts so I wouldn't pay attention to my wife the way he feared I would. He wanted to worry me about Di so that I would return to the Castle where that snide thief could easily monitor my wife.

But what he couldn't quite put a finger on was the last statement the enemy had uttered. His sister was presumed to be in danger but the danger was not the GENERAL? The First Lord knew not to take the thought lightly for the General had been essentially serious and disturbed in expression when he uttered it. It was as though there was something that the General himself feared...

Lord Arnav frowned. Could anything possibly exist that the General would be afraid of? He's a solider and a foul beast, deeming him practically invincible!

While Lord Arnav resumes his walk of worries, I must remind you that it is closer to being a bizarre sight if a villagewoman doing her washing or a villageman mending his fence looked up and found the First Lord of Arhasia walking past their house, a classy hat donned on his head, his hands tucked in the pockets of his rich suit.

After a few minutes of walking past many a house and cottage, he paused in the middle of the street and frowned thoughtfully.

A pressing query of a different nature had risen in his mind and he chose to get to the root of it.

Walking up to the nearest cottage, he stood over its short fence and noticed the motherly-dressed woman who was hanging clothes on the clotheslines to dry out in her lawn. She didn't see him for she had her back turned to the street.

Peering from under his hat, and not bothering to take it off because the sun was too bright, he addressed her, "Pardon me for intruding in your chores, but I have an inquiry regarding a certain element in your garden."

Startled, the woman turned to find the First Lord at her fence in all his regality and she forgot all manners of conduct. Panicked by the presence of the First Lord and his direct address to her, she dropped the bucket she had been holding and scampered into her house.

Lord Arnav was confused by her response (or more rightly, her reaction) and contemplated on whether to move on as though nothing had happened or if the gentlemanly conduct expected of him to resolve this unexplainable situation was to march up to the woman's front door, knock upon it and politely apologize for frightening her.

In his meditation of which choice to choose, he was leaning vastly towards the former option when a middle-aged man stepped out of the said house and, following him, was the previous woman, presumably the wife.

"Honorable sire," the man called out, his head bowed all the way from his doorstep to his fence across the lawn, "Forgive your humble servants. Your presence took my wife by surprise or she would have accorded greater hospitality to your Lordship. She means no personal offence to you. In fact, if you'll ask around she speaks highly of you and the First Lady-"

"It is alright," Lord Arnav interjected politely though he was quite uncomfortable with the man's long speech, "Kindly do not worry yourself that my presence asks for such and such grandeur as you might suppose. But in truth there is need for no such thing."

"Sire, we cannot but-"

Knowing well that the man would overflow with courtesies if he didn't come to the point immediately, Lord Arnav interrupted him midsentence, "If you will permit me, the query I had put forward to your wife..."

"What of it, sire?" the man waited as though about to be offered words of blessings instead of a question to be answered.

Lord Arnav nodded towards the nursery growing in the man's lawn, "I seem to notice you have a fruit tree growing in your garden. In fact, I have noticed it growing in every other garden of this village. You know very well that the Castle affords a massive Orchard where every kind of fruit is available and will be permitted access by villagers as well."

The man had an apologetic look on his face, "Sire, we meant no offence in planting the tree. It was-"

"It is not the offense that I came to inquire into but merely the fact that everyone has it and, strange as it may sound, every tree bears the same fruit. The Pomegranate, is it not? Despite the tree being not quite formed or the fruits appeared, I can still recognize the leaves."

"Honorable good sire," the man bowed contritely, "You are well-versed in your botany and your knowledge is remarkable. However, we would like to offer some insight into this query of yours if you will permit us to invite you into our house for some tea."

At this, Lord Arnav stepped back, "Oh no, I simply cannot. I-"

He saw their expressions fall and for the first time the wife spoke in a low frightened voice, "I baked some good tarts this morning and would it would be more than an honour if you were to share in them, Most Respectable Sire."

Lord Arnav stood awkwardly wondering for a moment what move to make but, in the end, he found himself nodding stiffly and stepping onto their lawn as they led him.

Dissatisfied with his own decision, he pressed his lips together in disagreement but politely took of his hat when they had opened their front door to let him in.

The moment he walked in, he felt his breath squeezed out for it was a tiny little living room with barely place to move the table and chairs about.

Lord Arnav stepped towards the fireplace, his boots thudding heavily over the wooden floor as he strode.

The wife had quickly brushed the best chair in the room with a white cloth and then directed him to be seated.

The man sat on the chair opposite him and they sat silently for a whole minute at the end of which the wife returned with trays and of tea and desserts as though she had emptied the contents of her entire pantry onto the tray for their esteemed guest.

"Please, I am not in the spirit to dine," Lord Arnav requested politely, "I only came for a walk and happened to find this interesting discovery of the-"

The sound of little feet shuffling reached Lord Arnav's keen ears and he looked across the dim room and saw three little girls standing at the doorway of the kitchen, all dressed in their night gowns.

"Won't you atleast try my wife's tarts, sire?" the man offered pleadingly, wanting to take Lord Arnav's attention away from his untidily dressed children.

"Just one, I suppose," Lord Arnav nodded as he took up a piece and bit into it.

He realized the two of them were waited with their breaths held to hear his verdict and so he nodded, "Almost melts in the mouth."

The wife was delighted and she smiled widely for the first time, a tired yet relieved smile.

Then Lord Arnav saw the husband eye to his wife that she do something about the girls before their gest finds them in their deplorable apparel.

Lord Arnav didn't how to react to all that was happening and he decided to remain oblivious to all by finishing the remaining of his tart.

When it was over, he looked at the man and said, "I cannot stay, so could you consider this present time to inform me, what each house in the village is growing pomegranates for?"

The man nodded, "They are gifts for your sister's child."

"What?" Lord Arnav was astonished, and he stared at the man as though he was not sure he had heard it right, "What do you-- Gifts? For my-"

He was at a loss for words. Of all things he had conjured up as reasons, he had never expected something of this sort. He almost felt the air choke at him and the atmosphere rang with an essence so strong that it was worthy to be tagged emotional. And emotional was not his cup of tea.

He cleared his throat and looked at them decisively, "Are you telling me the entire village has a pomegranate tree in each garden expecting to blossom in the coming spring, amounting to about 40-50 trees in all--"

"80-90, sir," said the man, "The North Village is growing them too."

"What the-!" Lord Arnav looked at the man as though he had blasphemed. His mind went wild with rampant calculation: Nearly 100 trees meant nearly 10000 fruits which would amount to as many pomegranate seeds as...

Lord Arnav took a deep breath. All this for Di...?

He still found it hard to comprehend.

"But," he looked at them, "Why would you all do that? Where would you get the money to spare for the-"

"Everything has been provided, sire," bowed the man, "It is the First Lady's kind proposition and when she issued it, she even gave us the means to fulfill."

"The- The First Lady-?" Lord Arnav was taken aback. Kushi...?

He stood up, "Forgive me, but I cannot remain. I must-"

He nodded in farewell, donned his hat on and strode out of the house, his sturdy legs moving faster than they'd come as they headed for the Cottage.