Chapter 148: Full of Nonsense

Margaret’s eyes flashed with displeasure, but she scolded softly, “What nonsense are you spouting, Pablo? Please, don’t say such things.”

Pablo ignored her, his gaze fixed on William. “Well? Will you speak?”

William took a deep breath, trembling. “Father, I… I’ve called off the engagement with the Langley family. Isolde… her character is… ruined. She’s unworthy to be the lady of this household.”

Margaret clutched her handkerchief, sighing audibly in disappointment. Of all the things he could say, he’d made the gravest mistake. He hadn’t even given a proper explanation before attacking the woman Pablo had shown interest in, calling her character flawed—essentially slapping his father in the face. How could things continue after that? Surely, Pablo would be furious.

But, to her surprise, Pablo wasn’t enraged. He simply watched William and asked, “Ruined character? What did she do?”

William struggled to recall his mother’s words, his mind going blank. He stammered, “She… she ran off with someone… and… and had an affair with Doug. Doug’s a eunuch. She’s shameless, and… and vicious. She hurt Eleanor… no, hurt—”

“Who is Eleanor?” Pablo continued, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table, his posture unchanged.

“Eleanor is…” William’s voice faltered, and he looked to his mother for help. “Mother, you explain.”

Margaret sighed, glancing at Pablo. “Enough, don’t make it harder on him. The engagement was broken off because of a mistake I made. I trusted the rumors about her, that she ran off and had a tarnished reputation. Fearing for the Valen family’s reputation, I acted rashly.”

Pablo remained eerily calm. His eyes were devoid of emotion, which, after years of marriage, Margaret knew was his way of preparing for a rage yet to be unleashed. She hesitated, trying to salvage the situation, given William’s disruption of her prepared narrative.

“Can’t say? Don’t want to say?” Pablo’s voice was low, the tension rising. “Eleanor, the one who served you the hangover cure earlier, is your son William’s mistress. Your son, with her, is already carrying a child. You and your son pressured Isolde into taking her as a concubine.”

He knew.

Margaret’s face turned pale. Was this Geoffrey’s doing?

Seeing her stunned silence, Agnes interjected, “Father, this engagement was always mismatched. Isolde is just a wild country girl. William is the Lord of the Valen family. He and Eleanor were already in love. If not for repaying a favor, he never would have agreed to marry Isolde…”

Pablo’s eyes flashed. Agnes stumbled backward, terrified by his glare, and fell silent.

“Tell me, when your husband was marrying you, did he have a favored concubine? Would you have stepped aside?”

Agnes irritatedly replied, “Father, how can you speak like this? She’s just a concubine! How dare you ask me to step aside for her?”

“Isolde is the legitimate daughter of a Duke’s estate. How dare you tell her to step aside as a concubine?” Pablo slammed his fist on the table, finally exploding. He stood up and kicked William, sending him crashing to the ground. “You ungrateful child! How dare you slander her? Breaking off the engagement was the greatest dishonor to her, and yet you keep insulting her character! Come, bring me a knife, let me cut open your heart and see if it’s not rotten and festering!”

William was kicked hard and immediately spat out blood. Margaret sat frozen, her heart breaking, but she dared not move to help.

Agnes rushed forward to support William, shouting angrily at Pablo, “Father, he is your son! What is Isolde to you?”

Pablo’s voice turned deadly serious. “Yes, what is Isolde to me? She gave me my life, and I gave her hers. You tell me, what is Isolde? And what is William? If you could be one-tenth of Oliver, I wouldn’t be doing this to you today.”

William clenched his fists, his voice shaking with rage. “She saved you, not me! Why should I marry her? Why don’t you ask me for my opinion?”

For the first time, William dared to defy his father. Margaret and Agnes gasped and shouted in unison, “Shut up!”

Pablo smiled bitterly and, in a flash, kicked William again, pointing a trembling finger at his son’s face, shouting, “Did I not ask for your opinion? Ask your mother. What did you say back then? You said everything would be decided by me, so why didn’t you protest? I don’t have just one son. If you don’t want to marry her, I’ll have Oliver do it.”

“Oliver! Oliver!” William jumped to his feet, his face red with fury. “Let Oliver marry her! Why do you force me? Oliver is nothing but an orphan bastard, and he should marry that wild woman. I’m your real son! Why must you use a country girl to humiliate me?”

This hit a raw nerve with Pablo. His face darkened, his muscles tensing with fury. He grabbed the whip from the table, ready to strike.

Before he could move, Margaret acted faster, slapping William across the face. “Are you trying to kill your father? How dare you speak like that about Oliver? He’s not an orphan bastard. His father was your father’s comrade-in-arms, Douglas, who saved your father’s life. Now, apologize!”

Shocked by his father mentioning Oliver, William was overcome with rage. But when he saw the whip, his legs buckled, and he dropped to his knees.

The whip came down swiftly. The first strike landed across his back, the pain searing through him. He shuddered, almost passing out from the agony. The second strike hit his arm, and the whip’s tail left a gash across his ear, drawing blood.

William lay there on the floor, gritting his teeth, gasping for air, his body shaking with pain. He let out a loud scream.

Margaret’s face turned pale, her body frozen. She wanted to intervene but feared for her son’s further suffering. She could only watch as he slipped into unconsciousness.

Agnes dropped to her knees, crying out, “Father, he’s unconscious! Are you really going to kill him?”

Pablo’s rage was far from spent. “This ungrateful son deserves to die.”

Margaret, tears streaming down her face, cried out, “Pablo, if you want to strike someone, strike me! This is all my fault. I insisted on breaking off the engagement. I never thought much of Isolde.”

“Is that so?” Pablo’s voice was filled with fury. He threw the whip down on the ground, looking at his family with disgust. “You didn’t think much of Isolde, but you thought highly of Eleanor, the woman who was already carrying another man’s child before the marriage?”

Pablo threw the whip forcefully onto the ground, his eyes burning with a mix of sorrow and fury as he looked at the three people in the room. His heart was filled with extreme bitterness. He had traveled day and night, all for the purpose of coming back and completing this marriage. But what awaited him was this outcome. Pablo had always lived with integrity, but now, he found himself forced into the role of a man ungrateful and deceitful.