The Story of the Hated Mule - Ch. 15

[Kaarme]

@shotachin Tara's life is already a thousand times better than it was in the Winter Castle. The better life is all thanks to Judas since Judas is the lord of the Velvet Castle. It's not like he would have any obligation to take care of her, but he nonetheless made sure she's properly housed, fed, and the servants see to her comfort. Now he's even making sure she's finally getting educated. Rather than Judas apologising, Tara should be thanking him. His attitude and general personality have got nothing to do with it. He is, no doubt, like that with every person he meets. What he does is much more important than what he says. Remember the blond relatives who spoke to Tara all nicely and sent her to sneak into the king's orchard to fetch an apple, only to get mutilated by the guard dog and then publicly whipped? That's what you get with nice words but bad actions. Judas is the opposite.

 

[shotachin]

@Kaarme it is a given right of all children to be fed, educated, have a roof above their heads...
In the mage’s castle, she is getting a much better version of her needs (quality food, quality education) yea sure, gratitude is in order because they are high quality but then again this is her right, IT IS an obligation of Judas to provide her basic needs because he is her guardian.
He knows she was mistreated, doesn’t hurt to be a little bit kinder, or gentler with her. If he has a sucky personality, that’s his problem he gotta do something about it one way or another. Not everyone should accommodate everything about one’s attitude and accept it as is. Go live alone in the woods then, otherwise compromise is in order if you’re gonna get yourself surrounded by people.
Actions speaks louder than words true, he is not mistreating her but he still needs to properly communicate as words still make a big ass damage, still hurts like bitch especially towards a growing child whose simply taking in whatever the adults say and do around her. Tara grew up abused so the abuse she knows is normal which is obviously not this is why she usually question what he does (whether she voices it out or not), to which the duke replies at least and tells her what he thinks about it instead.
Being a guardian is not a walk in a park, just throwing in her needs and not properly communicating is not enough so Judas gotta do better imo. I think he will anyway, but i wish he would rethink his actions towards her a little more kindly.

 

[Kaarme]

@shotachin Yeah, naturally it would be better if he could show her warmth in speech as well. Although he has told her not to act so meekly, like a whipped servant, more communication would actually heal her personality better. However, he's clearly incapable of it. As it is, he's making sure she has everything she needs, that he can provide; he can't naturally give her everything a kid in a wholesome family surrounded by siblings and friends would have. But it's not like he wouldn't be doing his best, more or less, within his power. If you considered that perhaps he's a little bit on the autism spectrum, it might explain his flawed communication skills, even if his heart was still in the right place.

I don't quite get the whole responsibility/guardian part. It's purely voluntary from him. I'm not sure he formally agreed to anything, but decided he can't just abandon Tara (unlike the mother). By the looks of it, Adelaide might not exactly have struck a deal with Judas. I suspect she just sent him a letter telling she's sending her daughter over to him. I bet he didn't reply at all, so Adelaide went forward with it. Maybe she still would have even if he had rejected the idea. She's a madwoman, after all. Tara is the daughter of a woman he hates, so it doesn't make sense he would willingly and eagerly accept her guardianship.