Zach found the information unbelievably useful. Since there was no doubt in the information provided by the system Zach issued an order to bring all their things indoors within the hour to all those living in the residential area provided by the Windsor family.
The servants of the Windsor family were totally confused by this order. They knew how tired the people were after their long journey. They couldn't help but think that Zach wasn't a good person at all. He was acting like a tyrant forcing his will upon the people. There was no need to do these minor tasks immediately after all.
Even the people under Zach's command thought that the items they had left out to dry in the sun after being preserved for so long in boxes were prone to mould accumulation if taken indoors without being sun-dried for a period of time. They couldn't understand why Zach was ordering them to bring their things indoors.
However, despite the unorthodox nature and timing of the order, the servants of the Smith family were far more disciplined compared to the servants of the Windsor family after coming out of so many battles and such a long journey. Moreover, their belief in their leader Zach was beyond the understanding of the common people. They had once treated him like a god and some of them still did. Therefore, none of the servants actually objected to Zach's order and faithfully began to carry their things inside their rooms one by one.
There was one person though who was extremely dissatisfied with Zach's order but had to unwillingly carry it out in order to become an example for the others.
Diana looked at all the dresses that she had hung out in the sun with unwillingness brimming out of her eyes. With her status she wasn't bound to follow Zach's orders. After all, in the eyes of the servants of the Smith family, she was their young lady and in front of the Windsor family servants she was the wife of the family head. Her status was enough to ignore any of Zach's orders but her position as the leader of the Special Forces bent her head in front of Zach. She needed to be an example for her soldiers so that none of them could show their dissatisfaction in front of Zach.
Even if Zach could tolerate such a thing, Diana wasn't willing to let it go.
Diana stuffed all her precious dresses in the suitcase even though they were almost about to catch mould and brought them all into her room. She had a premonition that not very long into the future she would be throwing these dresses out with her own hands. There was no way they could survive the mould indoors.
Even then, a duck-like pout was the only form of disobedience and dissatisfaction that she allowed herself in order to protest against Zach's order.
Diana knew Zach the best amongst the group of people that had followed him to this place from Elizabeth city; of course that is in the absence of Luna. Therefore, she knew that Zach was someone far away from vanity and impracticability. He was the most efficient person she knew of. Therefore, there was no way she was willing to believe that Zach had given this order just to satisfy his dictatorial tendencies.
This made her want to question the motives behind his decision.
Diana's curiosity had been aroused and she wanted to satisfy it at all costs. Women were curious creatures by design and men had to pay for the mistakes they usually made due to their curious nature.
In this case, Bruce felt like he should be the one to take responsibility for his sister and stop her from making a mistake that she couldn't take back. As long as she tried to approach or question Zach, Bruce made sure to stand in her path in order to block her attempts. He felt that there must be a deeper meaning behind Zach's actions. So far, he had found Zach to be extremely logical at all times and currently objecting to his decision was equivalent to shaking his authority over the people.
Therefore, Bruce did his best to stop Diana from undermining his authority in front of his subordinates because he didn't think that Zach needed to explain his reasons to them because he had every right to make decisions for them. They only needed to trust his judgment since they had already chosen to follow him.
Diana however remained unfazed and finally got a chance to approach Zach. As she moved towards him, Bruce who was still some distance away from her tried to deter her using a fierce glare but nothing seemed to be working on her.
Like a junkie going for her quick fix, Diana couldn't stop herself.
"Why did you tell us all to bring our stuff inside? You know that even though the people didn't say anything to you, some of them are dissatisfied with your unilateral decision."
"Are you also one of them?" asked Zach as he smiled mysteriously.
"So what if I am? Can I do anything to you? Being a wife, I can only follow after you or the Windsor family might think that we are lying to them." Diana acted like a cheeky brat as she tried to piss off Zach for ruining her dresses.
Zach let out a loud laugh without caring about anyone else in the vicinity. He felt as if he had shed off some weight from his shoulders after listening to Diana's silly words that reeked of her insatiable curiosity.
"I can tell you if you want. It's not as if it is some secret of mine that I have to take to the grave. You should have just asked me earlier if you were dying to know the reason."
Diana felt like a fool for falling for Bruce's words and not asking him earlier. Still, she waited for Zach to tell him his reason as her gaze remained fixed on his face like the answer was written on it.
"Well, isn't it normal to bring your things indoors if it is going to rain?"
Diana couldn't understand even after he put it in such simpler terms. Seeing as she was still as confused as she was earlier, Zach sighed heavily before explaining himself further.
"It is going to rain within the hour. It will be a small thunderstorm but even that would have ruined our already soaking things. So I wanted to warn the people beforehand lest they suffer even more losses after that hellish journey."
Diana stared at him dumbfoundedly before gazing at the sky with an annoyed look. She felt like Zach was making a fool out of her. After all, the sun was blazing fiercely in the sky like a huge ball of fire raining flames down towards the earth.
Even Bruce couldn't believe Zach this time. The evidence was in front of his eyes and he couldn't bring himself to trust Zach's words no matter how much he wanted to do so. He turned towards Diana and found the same distrust and skepticism in her eyes as he was feeling in his heart.
Bruce and Diana weren't the only ones who heard Zach's explanation. There were people from the Smith family as well as the Windsor family amongst the audience.
Unlike the rest, the Smith family was more prone to falling for Zach's words. The more fanatical ones believed him so whole heartedly that even Zach found itself hard to believe.
The Windsor family servants on the other hand didn't believe Zach at all since the sun was still blazing in the sky and there was barely any sign of clouds in the sky. Had it been overcast condition or even if there were broken cumulonimbus build-ups in the sky or in the distance, the servants might have believed his prediction regarding the weather.
But the clear hazy sky made them think that Zach was only forcing the people to work despite how tired they were after the journey and was not at all telling the truth.
While the servants of the Windsor family returned to the main estate, they couldn't help but sneer at Zach for making such a joke and for pretending to be a seer who could see through the intricacies of weather. They discussed it with each other without any consideration for the guests of the family.
Due to their open remarks about the character of the new guests, the news regarding Zach's order soon reached the ears of Grace who was the personal guard responsible for the protection of Clara whenever she moved out of the estate.
Since Grace had found the Windsor family's servants talking behind Zach's back even though he was the savior of the young lady, he went straight to Clara in order to report the current circumstances to her. He had long since been dissatisfied with Zach and the way his people treated Clara as if she couldn't do anything without their help. Therefore, he didn't let this opportunity to mock Zach go and found Clara in the main living room.
"We have been giving that maniac far too much importance. He is completely ignorant and can't even differentiate common sense and truth from fiction. He has made a fool of himself and still isn't willing to admit his mistake. In my opinion, the servants aren't in the wrong at all since he is practically inviting them to laugh at his meager intelligence. Young lady you shouldn't take sides in this matter since he decided to flaunt his knowledge on his own and nobody actually asked him to do that."
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