Chapter 690 Ruthless
A few seconds after they gathered, Ashton opened his eyes and swept his gaze across everyone before stopping on butler George, Gene, and old granny.
"You three can leave. I need to talk to my family."
"Hmm?" Gene raised her brows, not liking his commanding tone but found herself turning around before she knew it. The same happened with butler George. Only the old granny was unaffected, but one could see the shock in her eyes.
Then, without saying anything, she left with Gene. Butler George had already walked out after giving Ashton a bow.
Outside, Gene looked at her grandma and asked in shock and confusion, "What happened to me, Grandma? Did Uncle Ashton cast some spell on me?"
"No. He did not." She shook her head before saying, "Remember family head? Whenever he ordered us to do something, we would find ourselves agreeing to it even if we didn't want to. The same happened just now."
Gene scoffed, "How can he be compared to the family lord?"
Old Granny didn't say anything in response, but her elderly eyes were flickering in thought.
Unlike them, Butler George didn't focus on it as he would've obeyed him anyways. Instead, he was worried about him.
'I hope he quickly returns to his normal self.'
...
After the trio left, Ashton glanced at Esther, Mina, Amelia, and Anna and started speaking.
Noah shuddered, thinking he was going to die too.
He knew how much trouble Merchant Willmart had caused Ashton after his wife and daughter died. When Ashton couldn't find the culprit, he went and complained to Count Wiley, who took the opportunity to punish him by cutting his income for several months.
However, to his surprise and relief, the death didn't come. Instead he heard Ashton say, "I shall not kill you, but you still committed the crime of treason. For that, I'll cripple you for life."
Puff!
Before Noah could react, his mana veins exploded, and all the mana in his dantian was ignited, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood before he lost consciousness.
Amelia's heart pained when she saw the state of her son.
Her eyes reddening, she shouted, "He was your son. How can you be so cruel as to cripple him for something he did years ago? You could've found some other way to punish—
Esther, still unaware of Mark's death, nodded in agreement along with Mina and Anna, who tried to rush over to Noah but couldn't under the pressure of his aura.
Although she didn't like him, he was still her blood brother, so she felt pain seeing him become a cripple. At the same time, she was astonished to see how powerful his aura had become even though he was still a peak Three Star mage.
Ashton glanced at Amelia and emotionlessly said, "Perhaps you didn't hear me clearly. I didn't punish him for his crime against that merchant as it had happened long ago, but for his betrayal. Moreover, I have already shown enough mercy by not killing him."
After a pause, he added, "Now, unless it's an emergency, don't disturb me again. Just focus on your cultivation. You all are too weak."
Saying this, he stood up and walked toward the exit, but Esther, who upon realizing what he meant by already shown enough mercy by not killing him, rushed toward him, stopping him in his tracks.
"You have something to say?" Ashton asked,
"You... killed Mark?" She asked, her fists clenched tight and her tone ice cold, devoid of any emotion.