Wait a minute. Lillian is a naive spoiled brat for not understanding how the system works, but when Athanasia steps in to break the system she's doing just fine? Disruption of supply is like the number one most defensible reason for increasing the price of goods. It's not even a vital good, but luxury item, but she'll destroy a merchant who actually invested in the infrastructure to transport goods through a blizzard in order to do... something?
Why did this guy accept an order when they didn't have the necessary resources to fulfill the order?