New World, New Life: I Became A Bigshot In The Ancient World
Chapter 62: THE MARQUIS’ PLIGHT

Chapter 62: THE MARQUIS’ PLIGHT

"How many times have I told you to stay in this room? Do you want us to be chased out on the streets? Madam is already kind enough to allow me continue to live and work here even with a child and you’re not grateful. Why do you want to ruin things for me? Ugh! You are such a burden," Sana scolded, turning to look at the boy, and George noticed the boy flinch.

"I-I just wanted to play with the other children," Wade stammered out timidly.

Sana scoffed as if she found the boy’s words amusing. "You? Can you even hear yourself? You are without a father. How do you expect the other children to want to play with you?"

Wade remained silent, only looking down. But Sana continued.

"Now, listen here. I don’t want you disturbing the guests. I made a mistake. If only you had not been conceived. Maybe I should have just abandoned you, even better if I had sold you. At least you would have proved useful," she spat harshly as she placed down the container of rouge on the table.

She knew that he was a very smart child and would understand her words. She enjoyed hurting him.

Tears welled up in the eyes of the little boy. He couldn’t understand why his mother always said such harsh words to him.

His lips trembled as he whispered, "I wasn’t disturbing the guests m-mother, I only wanted t—" He was cut off by his mother’s shrill voice.

"Do not call me that!" And she raised her hand to hit him, making him recoil, but then she froze when she heard the door bang open.

"That is enough!"

Sana turned in shock to see a man standing at the door. She remembered him, and the face that bore a great resemblance to her son confirmed his identity.

"Y-you. W-what are you doing here?" She asked and stepped backwards in fear when the man took a step closer to her.

"You.. are a horrible woman and don’t deserve to be a mother," the Marquis said spitefully as he stepped closer to the woman.

He turned to stare at the boy who was frozen in fear, anger replacing his features.

"How dare you! Have you no shame?!" The Marquis’ voice boomed in the room. The aura he emitted pressed down on Sana. He continued to stare at Sana with anger written boldly on his face.

"He is a child. He is... my son."

’My son.’ The words rang over and over again in his mind as the situation dawned on him.

The Marchioness face flashed across his mind. He pushed the thought to the back of his mind. Right now, he had to deal with this horrible woman named Sana.

"Your son that you didn’t want! You abandoned him." Sana accused.

Wade looked up at him. So his father had indeed abandoned him. Despair filled his eyes at what he felt was confirmation. After all, his mother had never really said that his father had abandoned him. She always just said he didn’t have a father.

However, the Marquis’s next words surprised him.

"I didn’t abandon him. I never knew about his existence. If I had, I wouldn’t have left him with the likes of you," George gritted his teeth.

Wade was surprised. His father didn’t even know he existed. If he knew, then maybe...

Sana didn’t say anything, just staring at George in fear. George thought he saw hurt flash across her eyes, but he didn’t care.

But the look was gone as quickly as it came. Then, as if she thought of something, Sana resumed her confident pose.

"Yes. He is your son. You caused him. You also caused me a lot of trouble. I’m afraid you have to take responsibility by making me your wife, or even mistress. I can even settle with money," Sana said shamelessly. Her eyes filled with greed at the thought of the wealth and status she would receive if she became his wife.

The Marquis glared at her in disgust. "Can you even hear yourself?" He replied her with her own words. The words came out with so much venom and hatred, she shrunk back.

"You are a prostitute," he lowered his voice so that the child wouldn’t hear. "And you want me to take responsibility? You were paid for your service, weren’t you?"

He shut her up with just a few sentences. This woman... she was the worst he had ever seen. He was surprised at her shamelessness, and heartlessness towards her own child.

Just at that moment, Madam Estienne rushed into the room angrily. "What is all the ruckus about? I can’t find the Marqui— Oh no!" She gasped with her hand over her mouth when she caught sight of the Marquis, Wade and Sana.

Marquis George paid her no heed, not even sparing her a glance. He walked towards the boy and picked him up. The boy who seemed to be in a daze suddenly snapped out of it.

Wade was lost in thought. At first, when his mother would act similarly, he thought it was because she was too busy and was facing problems so that they could live here, but her words now made him think differently.

What if it was really his fault, maybe he had done something wrong. His mother had said that he shouldn’t have been bo—.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when someone carried him up. It was the man who took him back to the brothel.

Wade was still in the process of understanding the fact that he had a father. His mother had always told him that he had no father whenever he asked. Whenever he watched other children with their mothers and fathers.

"Where are you taking my son? You can’t take him away!" Sana yelled in a shrill, panicky voice.

"Oh? You remember that he is your son? Rest assured that I will take care of him, and you should await the guards. You shall be arrested for laying your hands on my child." Marquis George threatened and Sana’s face paled.

He walked to the entrance of the room and stopped beside Madam Estienne with the boy in his arms. "I think it is time I investigate that matter five years ago."

He didn’t stay behind to watch how her face changed from confusion, to shock and then fear as her face also turned pale.

As he left the room, he heard a loud sound of a slap coupled with a furious voice.

"PA!" Madam Estienne slapped Sana with all her strength, leaving a glaring mark of fingers imprinted on Sana’s face. It shone a bright red. The force of the hit sent Sana to the ground.

"Look what you’ve done!" Madam Estienne shrieked. "First, Amber eloped with a man and now this?!" She was shaking with anger.

Sana couldn’t even focus on the news she had just heard. She was trying to figure out a way to save herself, but she shrank to the ground in helplessness as a feeling of hopelessness enveloped her.

"No, give me back my son," she muttered.

The Marquis didn’t know about any conversation they were having nor did he care to know. He had already gotten into the carriage after ordering the coachman to take them to an inn.

He patiently explained to the child that he was his father and that he would be coming with him now.

"Then, where have you been all along? Didn’t you want me?" Wade asked in a voice so full of despair, it was heartbreaking.

The sound of it made George’s heart clench. No child should ever know such a feeling. He placed his hand on the boy’s head, but he flinched back.

George sighed. "I want you. I didn’t abandon you and I won’t leave you. I... didn’t know about you. If I had known, I’d have taken you away sooner. Believe me, son."

Tears welled up in Wade’s eyes. He didn’t want to cry. His mother hated his tears. Though she made him cry so frequently, he felt she liked his tears.

But when the man that was his father hugged him to his broad chest, even though awkwardly, it was like a dam had been opened and the tears fell freely, looking like it wouldn’t stop.

He had never experienced such warmth before, only rarely, when he was very sick and his mother thought he would die. Then she would care for him in ways she never had before, but when he was better, she’d return to the way she was before.

That was why he didn’t know what to feel about her. She had been the only one he had. They only had each other, and even though she always talked about selling him, she had never acted on her words.

There were times he would feel she loved him. Those times, he cherished a lot. Times where she would comfort him, hug him to her bosom and whisper loving words in his ear in a gentle, motherly voice. But most of the time, he felt she loathed him.

Now he didn’t know if he would see his mother again.

Thinking about all this, he didn’t even know when he fell asleep.

George sighed and rubbed his head, before putting him down on the bed, staring out of the window.

Once again, his mind flitted back to his wife at home. What would happen from now on? What would she think?