Reincarnated As The Dying Villain

Chapter 13

Whatever happened in school had already reached the duke's ears before Mason had even arrived at home.

"Hey wake up, go see Father..... Mason.... Mason wake up"

Mason was brought into the duke's study directly after getting home. The man put him down outside the duke's study and told him to go inside. But Mason couldn't even stand properly. He took the wall as a support and stood still. His eyes were tired.

"Go inside. Stop wasting time."

Mason heard the words spoken by his brother and walked slowly. While walking, he used his left leg only for a few seconds before he switched to his right leg immediately.  The pain was too brutal. Everytime his left foot touched the ground, he felt like he was going to collapse but he still continued to walk.

He stood in front of the duke's desk. The duke, who didn't lift his head from the paperwork he was doing said, "I heard you fought with the princes and the princess."

Mason said nothing.

"How old are you Mason? You're still acting like a 5 year old child. There's a limit to what you can do. You cause trouble at home, no one says anything. But it's not the same outside. It's my fault that you grew up to be like this. "

Mason still said nothing. The temperature in the room dropped.

"Now you won't even give ME a reply?" The duke looked up this time, talking in a low voice.

Mason stood there as if he were a broken doll. Expressionless, thin and pale as a sheet. His head hung low and one of his badly bruised hands was holding onto the chair in front of him for support.

The duke let out a small sigh after taking in Mason's appearance. His voice became a little gentle. "Were you scared last night?.... A Rodolite shouldn't be afraid of even death. You will take a rest and then take your punishment. Alright?"

Even now, not a word came out of Mason's mouth.

"Respond Mason."

*Silence*

The duke's patience had thinned out.

"RESPOND!", a loud roar resounded in the study, echoing a few times.

Mason's other hand that hung low trembled. His throat was dry and wasn't salivating anymore. He wanted to speak but couldn't. He tried moving his mouth and letting out his voice but failed.

"Looks like you're totally alright. So you shall learn your lesson right now. No one's going to help you till the day of the birthday banquet. Feel free to stay at home and help yourself with everything while learning to be responsible. Only your meals will be made by the servants and you can eat it if you come down to the dining room at time........ And just wash your hands properly. These kind of wounds are nothing. Your brothers' hands were much worse than yours at your age. Now out."

After saying this, the duke no longer acknowledged Mason's presence. He gave a sign to his secretary who then walked out to do his part.

Mason then slowly walked out of the room. He still saw his brother standing outside. The same man who picked him up from school.

Mason wanted to say something and tried talking again but his brother didn't wait for him to speak and walked away.

It was a long way from here to his room and he knew he wouldn't be able to walk that far. He wanted to ask his brother's help but he had left and there were no staff around him.

Mason began limping to his room. His already dry throat felt even more painful than before and his whole body was aching.

He just sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall in the hallway. He took a rest for a while and looked around to find any staff present but there were none. 'They were probably told off by the duke through his secretary already', he thought.

Hopeless, he limped to his room by himself. After walking in, he saw a jug of water in a small table. He quickly gulped down most of the water in it and even spilled some down. His internal organs felt so much better after receiving something after such a long time of starvation.

Mason was covered with dust and dirt, so even if he most wanted to lie down and sleep immediately, he decided to a bath. He was very careful with his badly hurt leg and washed himself quickly.

His eyes were hazy and he was having a terrible headache. He searched for some bandages and fortunately found some in the corner of the closet. He wrapped it around his left leg to make it stay still. The bandage wasn't tight but managed to keep his thin leg in place.

Mason had no time to care about anything else and went to sleep immediately.

The small body lying on the huge bed and fluffy quilt seemed invisible, buried deep inside. The owner of the small body closed his eyes and entered into a not so deep slumber.

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Only a few hours into his sleep Mason's headache intensified. His body was burning up but he only felt chilly. The body which didn't receive any energy source other than water refused to work. He laid limp on the bed with no energy to move.

His mind was unclear and his breathing tedious. He was pretty sure that he was having a fever but the weakness he felt was just too much.

Mason remembered how his parents would take care of him diligently all night, when he had a fever and suddenly felt grateful. Although so many years had passed since his parents death and to add to it, even his parents and life weren't the same anymore, he still couldn't help recalling them. They were the only people who kept him going.

He was in pain and he was used to pain. But today was just one of those days when he couldn't bear it. Today, there was no one to comfort him, no parent who'd tell him that he was going to be alright and they were there for him. No friend who would check on him and bring him some medicine and porridge. No aunt to make him soup to comfort his stomach and body. No cousin who would come over and stay overnight to watch him.

He suddenly wished he wasn't given this life as Mason the villain. It was too tiresome and he just wanted to rest.

Mason closed his eyes, losing consciousness. A single teardrop flowed out of his eye, sliding through his face.

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Three days had passed and Mason hadn't left the room even once. As the duke said, no one came to check or help him in these three days. He was all alone unable to do anything.

One maid, Piu, under the command of Greta, brought a jug of water and placed it out of Mason's room whenever she could. She also sometimes hid some bread wrapped in paper in her skirt and brought it to Mason under the pretense of cleaning the room next to Mason's. Whatever she gave was left outside Mason's room and she never saw Mason in those three days. Just the empty jugs that were left hidden behind a potted plant were taken back.

It was the day of the birthday banquet. A servant came by and exclaimed from outside of the room that Mason had to get ready by 5 pm for the birthday banquet. He also announced that the duke ordered Mason to apologize to the princes and princess when he met them and left quietly.

Mason inside the room looked groggily at his surroundings and started to get ready. After his bath, Mason didn't have the energy to try and reach the higher shelves. So he just wore what he could that looked decent.

He saw the bread and water left by the unknown angel outside the door and ate it, thanking the person in his heart. His body received a bit of energy and he limped downstairs to the main hall.

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A/N - I was just in a weird mood to post today. Btw I didn't check for grammar errors and some other stuff so it's basically unedited. Just bear with it a lil lol.

Ah and someone said in my last update that my chapter was too short. Tried to write a lil more than usual :) I'll try updating as fast as I can too. I also don't wanna randomly type in a lot of words just for the heck of it so pls understand *inserts pitiful emoji* Love you guys <3