Chapter 6 Mother
"It was a mistake, he must have some trouble with his memories after the attack at the Canyon," she said softly, forcing a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes
"Don't you remember your mother?" she asked, stepping closer slowly, her voice careful, almost rehearsed.
"No, I don't even know who the hell you are or who any of you are." I said loudly, my voice breaking with anger and confusion.
Silence fell instantly and there came the mumurs. The air in the room turned sharp, cold and uncomfortable.
"Everyone get out. I need some alone time with my son," the Baroness commanded.
Her tone left no space for argument. One by one, they left the room.
The old man hesitated near the door, then slowly pulled it shut. The lock followed immediately after and before I could even react,
SLAP!
A loud, sharp strike hit my face. My head snapped to the side. My body lost balance and I fell straight to the floor.
Pain burned across my cheek like fire. My ears rang. I looked up slowly, stunned.
"How dare you disgrace me?" she said coldly, standing over me.
I held my burning cheek, my breath shaking.
Before I could move, she stepped on me. Her heel pressed into my chest.
I groaned in pain, struggling to breathe.
"Baroness please stop! You are going to kill him! His wounds are still fresh!" Ella shouted, rushing in and pulling her back.
The Baroness let out a dry laugh.
"I thought you said this fool wouldn't spoil things."
"He just woke up. We haven't introduced him to our world yet. Give him time. Hitting him will do nothing," the old man replied firmly as he walked back in.
The Baroness turned back to me. Her eyes were sharp and mean.
"Who are you?" I asked again, my voice weaker this time as I held my swollen cheek.
"I am Baroness Kome," she said coldly, stepping closer.
"And I want you to be a replacement of my dead son. It is final and you will do anything that I say… or I kill you myself."
My stomach dropped. Everything felt unreal.
"What the hell is going on?" I whispered.
My mind was spinning. Nothing made sense.
It was too fast. Too cruel for me.
I had been taken from one nightmare straight into another. This wasn't the life I had hoped for.
Is good there still holing my cheeks.
"What if I say no?" I blurted out.
Days later, I was not allowed to leave the room. I wasn't allowed to refuse anything. They force, fed me and dressed me. They spoke about me like I wasn't human. Like I was a project. A replacement.
I refused to eat at first. I refused to wear their clothes.
I refused everything but they didn't care.
The Baroness didn't care about me, only power and control. She didn't even care about her dead son.
Ella came every day, teaching me things I didn't want to learn. How to walk, how to speak, how to behave like someone I had never met.
Her dead son.
Every day felt like I was being erased. My name, my identity and my life. It felt like it was slipping as they keep forcing me to become someone I'm not. Still, I refused to obey the Baroness.
I would rather die than be a replacement.
The maids woke me up at 6 AM. Roughly, no warning, just cold hands shaking me awake and pleading for me to wake up so the mad baroness won't kill them.
I wasn't an early riser. I never was but they didn't care. I was dragged out of bed like an object.
"Damn… brutality," I muttered weakly.
My body still ached from everything. They brought me to the main hall. The Baroness sat on a throne-like chair watching carefully like she owned everything.
I stared at her.
"I don't know what this is… but I am not your son. Leave me be and take me back to the Cotton Field," I said firmly.
A soft laugh filled the room. Everyone was watching me like I was entertainment.
"I heard about your parents' tragic death. It was so sad," she said, tilting her head. "They should have just given up the Cotton Field to Chen. None of this would have happened."
"Don't you ever speak about my parents like that!" I snapped.
Her smile widened slightly. She turned to her brother, the old man.
"I thought you promised to tame this boy," she said calmly.
"He's just stubborn. He hasn't even eaten since he woke up, we forced everything on him but it wasn't working my lady." Ella replied.
"I think he needs some lessons," she said slowly.
Her eyes sharpened. "Take him away."
Some men dragged me out. I screamed.
"Let me go! Let me go!"
No one listened. Not even when I fought or begged. I was taken into a dark room with cold stone walls. There was no light and suddenly they stripped me naked.
I was wearing nothing.
Humiliation burned through me faster than pain. Before I could even process it, a fist hit my jaw. I fell
"Pour the water." The Baroness appeared.
Buckets of ice-cold water crashed over my body. My skin burned from the shock. My body trembled violently. I couldn't even breathe properly.
Few of the men stood around me holding whips covered in thorns. My stomach dropped when my eyes landed on the thorns beside the whip.
Fear hit me hard.
"Are you ready to obey?" she asked.
I didn't say a word, I clenched my teeth and at that moment, I chose something.
Not obedience, not survival.
I choose death.
"I would rather die than become someone else," I thought bitterly.
I spat on her face in response and she wiped it off with a smile.
"Hit him and don't stop until he calls me mother."
"In your dreams," I growled. "You are not my mother and you'll never be."
The whip cracked. The pain was crazy. Not like anything I had ever felt before. The whip tore into my back like fire exploding through skin.
My body jerked violently. Blood burst out instantly, I screamed again and again.
Each strike worse than the last. My skin split open.
I fell, tried to stand and fell again.
Everything blurred.
"Stop… you'll kill him!" the old man shouted.
"He needs to learn," she replied coldly.
She took the whip herself. That was worse..One strike from her felt like my spine was breaking. My strength disappeared completely. My knees hit the ground. I couldn't move anymore.
At that moment, I could see my father's bloody face, maybe it was finally the time for me to join him in heaven.
"I… won't" I whispered weakly.
"Will you ever disobey me?" she asked.
I didn't give a response and she whipped me harder and harder .
"Will you ever disobey me?" she repeated.
I bit my lip so hard it bled. I didn't respond, another strike followed until everything went dark. I fainted.
When I woke up, I was locked up in the cell. Still naked and cold. I stayed there for days with no food, water, light or comfort and I was still alive.
I had no idea how I was still alive after everything I've been through. Can the human body truly handle such a cruel and intense pain?
I was lucky there was a little window and from there I could see the moon, it reflected into the cell and with it's help I could tell how the days passed by.
Luckily, the door opened. Light entered for the first time in days and it wasn't from the moon.
"Clean him up," a voice said.
They dragged me out. Bathed me, dressed me and bandaged my wounds. I looked in the mirror afterward. I didn't recognize myself.
"I used to be free…" I whispered but that life was gone.
The old man entered the room.
"I won't be her son. Kill me instead," I said immediately.
I just wanted to die. I won't give in to their silly plans.
"Are you really going to give up everything? You are the sole survivor of that massacre," he said calmly.
I froze. He was right though, I survived that massacre. My hands trembled.
"Everyone is dead…" I whispered.
"Yes. But you are not."
Something inside me cracked then rebuilt into something darker.
"Tell me about the Cotton Field, is there any survivor?" I said suddenly.
His expression changed.
"It was destroyed. Burnt to ashes. Baron Chen wiped it out completely, it's a ghost town now."
My breathing stopped. My hands tightened.
Chen.
That name, that monster who drinks tea when killing people. Something inside me shifted. Not sadness, not fear, something worse.
"Revenge…" I whispered.
"You seek revenge," he said.
"Yes."
"Listen carefully," he replied. "You are weak now but we can make you stronger than him. Strong enough to take his head. You need power."
My heart pounded violently. This may be an opportunity to get revenge. Since death wouldn't take me I could perhaps revive myself and find a reason to live, Revenge.
"What do I do?"
"Become Baroness Kome's dead son."
I froze.
"What?"
"That is your path. Pretend, survive, let me train you and when the time comes… you get your revenge."
I didn't say a word. I didn't want to do it but this seems like the only way to get revenge, I needed power and the old man was right.
At that moment, my father's voice echoed inside my head.
Never bow to anyone. Death is better than bowing.
But dead men could not take revenge..Weak men could not destroy monsters.
I needed to become stronger.
Finally, I said something I never believed I would.
"I'll do it," I said.
No hesitation anymore, only revenge
That same day, I walked outside before the sky split open and it rained hevaily. I planned on gaining Baroness Kome's trust. They want to use me, it won't be bad if I use them to and get my revenge.
I walked to the front of the council room, dropped to my knees in the mud and bowed my head.
"Baroness Kome, I Widen Sawyer decide to obey you and accept your terms and condition."
Rain soaked my body completely. But I didn't move. I didn't flinch. I stayed there. Even when my body shook, even when my wounds burned and the world felt like it was collapsing.
Because inside me, something else was rising.
Ella saw me from afar and ran into the council room to inform the Baroness .
"Baroness, young master is on his knees in the rain seeking for your forgiveness " she said.
"Let him live there." She said unremorseful and smiled.
I stayed in the rain till it became dark and the rain still poured. I was weak but I kept going. Nothing could destroy my determination.
I bowed my head and when I raised it, I saw a red heels, I looked up to see the Baroness staying under an umbrella Ella is holding.
"So you finally decided to come to your right senses?" She said laughing hysterically.
"I ask for your forgiveness and promise never to disobey you ." I said.
"Hmm, and what am I to you? " She asked.
My throat tightened. My fists clenched in the mud.
My father would have been ashamed seeing me this weak. My mother would have cried.
The old Widen would never have done this but that Widen died in Goshen.
"Mother," I whispered.
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"The dead are buried once.
The living may be buried many times, not in a grave but by the cruelty of life.
On that day, Widen Sawyer did not lose his life.
He lost his name."
