Chapter 1 “Retard”
No one would have dared call him a retard when Du Wei Rowling was first born. In fact, he was even once considered a genius of the Rowling clan.
First was the incident three years ago when the child first came into this world through the countess’s stomach. He never cried nor did he ever make a sound, that gave the midwives quite the scare naturally because how could a newborn not cry? Fortunately, nothing else seemed out of the ordinary afterwards, hence the reason why the adults dismissed it as only a strange anomaly.
From then on, Du Wei did what any newborn would do at his infancy stage: he ate, he slept, he even wet his bedding like a normal baby. However, there’s one major flaw and that was he never made a peep, he’s a mute.
Even so, the adults didn’t mind it because what he did next astounded them all. It was a bell, a tool that was never meant to be anything more than an object of amusement for the baby. But not Du Wei, he wasn’t going to have it that way and began using it as a form of communication to the maids responsible for himwelf.
As a result of this uncharacteristic achievement for his young age, the adults firmly believed this child would surely grow up to be a genius. Sadly, this misconception would only last for a measly six months before shattering.
And why would that be?
It’s due to his inability to speak, Du Wei never made a peep….
No matter how young, no matter how unintelligent, a baby would’ve at least learned how to say papa or mama by his age, but what did this young lord of the Rowling House do? He did nothing! That mouth was sealed tighter than the hardest door in the entire estate. Some even claimed he’s cursed as a result.
Naturally this greatly saddened the countess, the boy’s mother. She tried so desperately to make her boy speak, from hours of lessons to gentle coercion, nothing has worked. Before long, even this caring mother was starting to lose hope as days continued to transpire.
Eventually it has come to be, the title of ‘Retard’ was now the very definition of this boy known as Du Wei Rowling.
Fortunately, it wasn’t all bad news though. By the age of three, years after his birth, Du Wei did manage to do something befitting of his age and that was to learn how to walk. Though walking was still somewhat pushing the description, it’s still passable since he’s partially crawling and walking at the same time. That little normality did bring a slight relief to the countess’s heart.
But as fate would have it, when there’s the good then there’s going to be the bad. Which brings the story up to the present, or more precisely, a month ago.
The night was young on that unsettling evening. The winds plowed through the unmindful and the roaring flickers of rumbling in the sky signaled the start of a storm. All should’ve been well that night, the maids hard at work inside the estate and the motherly countess fast asleep in her chamber. Yet, there’s just one major issue, the young lord of this estate was missing!
It was but a brief moment of carelessness, but by using the divided attention of the nanny’s in charge of himself, Du Wei had secretly crawled out of his room and into the back garden. There, alone and frail due to his young age, the child confronts the pouring rain and booming thunder like he’s facing his arch nemesis. And as if that wasn’t crazy enough, the boy actually pumped his fists into the air and cried out like a mad lunatic, acting as if his futile effort would change anything in his current situation and life.
That’s right, for three years, the one known as a mute and a retard has finally spoken. Though it’s nothing but a garbled outcry of defiance at the heavens, it’s still something. And as the price for his folly, Du Wei became drenched from head to toe by the time the servants managed to locate his whereabouts. Of course, it was already too late by the time the countess became informed of this tragic news.
To make matters worse, the mother had instantly fainted away as soon as she saw how deathly pale her son has turned to; thereby forcing the servants to not only carry the young boy in their care back into the building, but also the now unconscious woman as well.
Thankfully it didn’t take long for the countess to come to. Holding her son, she continues to weep while the doctors fed the young boy various medications to no effect. In fact, it was so bad that they even had to call upon the Temple for help, summoning two clerics to cast healing spells onto the boy in hopes of making a difference.
Sadly, in light of everyone’s effort, Du Wei’s body only grew colder and colder with each passing hour. Out of desperation, this caring mother made a frantic run for the Temple’s building, pleading in front of the Goddess’s statue the entire night for her son’s recovery.
Thankfully all would end well when one has heart and faith.
By morning the boy’s deteriorating condition has turned around by some miracle, signaling the critical period to be over. Though Du Wei’s consciousness remains in the dark due to his frail constitution, but that’s more than enough for the woman. So long as her boy was safe and back in her arms then that’s all she needs. She couldn’t ask for more, not after coming so close to losing the child.
While the boy himself continues to rest and remain oblivious to his surroundings for another day, that wasn’t exactly the case for everyone else. As it turns out, Du Wei had the habit of talking in his sleep. Though the words itself were nothing but a garbled mess, indecipherable by the rest, it did alarm the countess who had remain by her son’s side the entire time.
She was haggard by this stage compared to her usual gorgeous self, but that’s what happens when one barely ate nor slept for two days straight. Even so, that doesn’t mean her mind was so far gone that she wouldn’t know how to connect the syllables into a word.
“Is there someone by the name of Marde in the group responsible for my son’s care?” the countess asks.
Exchanging a questioning look with each other, the maids and close confidants nearby were all of one agreement: “Madam, there is no such person among our ranks by that name.”
Since there weren’t anyone by that name then it could only mean the individual was somewhere else. Searching high and low through the whole estate by this notion, the ones responsible for the task did eventually locate someone by that name and brought him to the mistress of this house.
“My son kept calling your name even in his sleep. Marde, I don’t know why he kept calling for you but it might just be a blessing from the Goddess herself. Therefore, I’m tasking you with the job of serving my son directly by his side. You will no longer have to work in the stables.”
Without surprise, Marde became ecstatic at the wonderful news. How could he not? From a lowly stable hand to the personal attendant of the young lord of this grandiose household, anyone would be delighted at the sudden windfall in their career.
Of course, the arrangements were all done without Du Wei’s personal knowledge. And in truth, he only ran out there that night to vent his frustrations at the gods, not to raise a ruckus and get himself sick. Furthermore, the words he kept mumbling in his sleep wasn’t a name, it’s a cursing word known as ‘FUCK’ back on earth. But due to the language difference in this world and the former, the pronunciation somehow ended up getting twisted and became “Marde”.
One month later…..
It’s been some time since that fateful night but Du Wei’s condition has only just begun to recover with some blood returning to his complexion. Nothing’s changed though despite the incredible care he’s received from everyone. He’s still not talking and he’s still treating others like they didn’t exist in his world, but there was a flicker of warmth in his eyes whenever the countess came around to visit him each day.
He may not be attached to the matters around him but that doesn’t mean Du Wei was deaf. Whenever the servants gossiped while in his presence, believing he wasn’t paying attention, he would listen in and pick up everything, including the part about how his mother prayed in front of the Goddess’s statue the entire night without sleep for him.
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Hooh, nice. Being branded as a retard because you’re too mature and therefore misunderstood, yeah, that can happen. I think the silly alchemist novel was similar in the beginning.