The Monarch's Retribution

Chapter 4 - No Sympathy

Impossible.

Nicolas could not believe his eyes. No; he refused to believe it.

The terrible feeling that had been gnawing at his heart was not a hoax after all.

It was real.

“Mother…” Nicolas murmured disbelievingly. He turned around and searched desperately for his mother in the crowd, yet he couldn’t find her.

“Where is my mother?” Nicolas murmured while searching frantically for her.

“MOTHER!” Nicolas screamed out at the top of his voice, unable to bear it anymore.

Despite how hard he tried not to believe it, he knew.

His mother wasn’t here in the crowd.

His mother was still in the fire.

His mother was burning.

Nicolas started running towards the sweltering flames, the heat reaching him even from the distance.

He was ready to dive into the scorching flames to save his mother.

However, how would such a thing happen?

“Come back you swine!” A middle-aged guest hollered after seeing Nicolas make a mad dash for the fire and held him back with little effort.

Nicolas was severely malnourished after all, so it was not hard for the middle-aged man to hold him still.

“Where do you think you’re running to?!” The middle-aged man questioned angrily.

“That’s a fire boy!”

“Do you want to die?!”

However, the middle-aged man’s words did not make their way into Nicolas’ ears. All he knew was that he had to save his mother no matter what.

“My mother…” Nicolas murmured despondently while he struggled to escape the man’s grip.

“Stop moving!” The middle-aged man shouted angrily but Nicolas didn’t listen.

How could he stop moving when his mother was burning alive?

“I said to stop-” The middle-aged man started saying, but just before he could complete his statement, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on his fingers.

Nicolas had bitten the man on his fingers in order to escape his grip.

“You!” The man shouted angrily but it was useless as Nicolas was already making his way to the burning room.

Nicolas, fuelled by a surge of adrenaline, ran as quickly as he could towards the burning room. This was definitely the fastest he had ever run in his entire life.

Just as he was about to reach the door to the room, a huge explosion occurred.

The force of the explosion was too much and as Nicolas was too close to the door, he was thrown far back from the door.

Nicolas felt very dizzy from the force of the explosion, and he rolled two to three times across the floor, garnering some new bruises in the process before coming to a stop.

Nicolas forced himself to stand despite the pain he felt and was about to run back into the burning room, but suddenly stopped.

There was no longer a burning room. All that remained was a thoroughly burnt room, with the scent of burnt wood very strongly and sweltering flames shining brightly in the night.

It was an unforgettable heart wrenching scene.

“Isn’t that where the whore of the Tyris family lived?” someone among the guests asked lazily, clearly unaffected by the burning flames in his line of sight.

“Yes, she lived there with her bastard son.” Another replied in a tone just as lazy as the first one.

“I don’t know how this fire suddenly started but that’s definitely a good thing.” The first person said while laughing happily. He seemed to be in a good mood.

“Yes, it is. Now the tumour and shame of the Tyris family has definitely been cured permanently.” The second person replied in a tone even happier than the first person.

“What of her bastard son?” The first person asked leisurely.

“I don’t know. Shouldn’t they be staying together? Surely he’s in the fire too?” The second person replied in a sceptical tone.

“I don’t think so. I saw someone trying to enter the flames earlier. It should be him.” The first person answered indolently.

“Really? It doesn’t matter anyway. He was barely surviving. Now it’s only a matter of time before he follows his whore of a mother’s footsteps.” The second person replied in a dismissive tone.

Unbeknownst to them, Nicolas, the bastard son they were discussing about could hear every word that came out from their mouths.

It wasn’t just the two guests that had such vile things to say. Almost every guest had something to say, some even more vile than the two persons Nicolas overheard.

“Do you think that the Tyris family will investigate the whore’s death?” A young woman who looked to be in her early twenties asked in a languid tone.

“Investigate? Is that the joke of the century?” her partner, a young man in his mid-twenties replied in a tone filled with hilarity.

“Well, as disgusting as she was, she was a member of the Tyris family. If anything, they should at least attempt to do so to save face.” The young woman responded in an unsure tone.

“It’s useless for the Tyris family to pursue the investigations. They would definitely sweep an incident like this under the rugs.” The woman’s partner replied confidently.

“Really?” The young woman asked while gazing at the burning room.

“Of course!” Her partner answered as confident as ever.

Nicolas overheard similar conversations from the people present, and the more he heard, the angrier he became.

His mother just died in a fire. Couldn’t they show an iota of humanity?

How could people be so calm discussing such things?

Where was their sympathy?

Where was their compassion?

It was a human being that died, not a dog!

Even a dog’s death would garner more sympathy!

The fire fighters soon arrived and started to put out the fire. By this time, the guests had finished watching the drama and started to make their way out.

One by one they all trooped into their expensive Bentleys, Rolls-Royce and other extravagant sports cars.

Soon the fire fighters put the fire out, after which they left, leaving the young boy in shabby clothing and bruises facing the aftermath of the burnt room.