The beast was most likely following this carriage, so the sound didn't go away. Fortunately, no matter how fast the beast runs, it'd be slower than a moving vehicle.
He shook his head to shake off his thoughts. Beasts weren't his main concern anyway.
The important thing now was, 'How did I end up here?' He didn't have any clues to answer that question or any other question for that matter.
The first thing he decided to do was search through the luggage. He hesitated at first but continued to unpack the suitcase that was supposed to belong to the boy.
He felt through all the pockets of his dirty clothes. He was disappointed. The contents didn't answer a single one of his questions.
A pouch with absolutely nothing but dust inside, presumed to be a wallet. An envelope with a letter, some bread, candy, etc. It was a modestly packed suitcase. After that disappointing search, the newspaper from earlier, now on the floor, caught his eyes. Hoping it would be of some help, he quickly picked it up and read the contents.
The boy frowned, as if he had seen something unusual. The content of the newspaper was beyond his comprehension.
What adorned the front page was the scandalous news of an adoption made by an important noble family. He did not immediately read the name, but rather stared at the printed image, there was a tall and powerful man with very formal clothes, he looked very familiar, but he didn't think of it much as he started to read the news.
"Son of a prostitute adopted by the mighty Archduke of Tirania, what will happen next..."
The boy's lips immediately started to tremble, and the newspaper fell to the ground again, his mouth almost fell open, he didn't care much about the scandal, but about the familiarity he had with the name Tirania, it was the last name of a character within a novel that he was reading just a little while ago.
'Does this even make sense!?'
Dizziness overwhelmed him. Clutching his head, he fought a wave of nausea.
He seemed to have been knocked out once again. His face turned pale. Amidst the chaos, the carriage stopped at some point. Someone was coming near the door.
'No. No, that can't be. I just mocked this plot an hour ago. I'm not…in the novel, am I?'
He rather wished it was a dream. He was going on a trip he was looking forward to, and a novel he made fun of so much it was seeping into his dreams.
That had to be it.
But even though he wanted to turn away from the fact that all of this was real, he couldn't.
Everything suddenly came to him vividly. Cold sweat ran down the back. His thin hands were trembling. His heart was beating wildly. His hands and feet were cold.
Rattle.
The door opened with a loud noise. A man who appeared to be a coachman knocked on a piece of the door.
"Hey, get off, we're here."
The initial language he heard was Spanish or French, but when he listened closely, it was a completely new language. Now that the boy thought about it, the newspaper also had an unusual language.
Even more strangely, as soon as he heard those words, he immediately understood, just like how he could read the newspaper with ease.
The boy got up from his seat. He shuddered at the look of the coachman and swept into his bag the items that had been lying on the seat.
"O-oh, I'm sorry!" The language he stuttered was the same as that uttered by the old man.
However, the bag did not close properly as the messy clothes only increased the volume. The coachman standing let out an annoyed sigh.
The boy was so nervous that his hand was now hovering in the air.
"Do it fast. If His Grace complains about your lateness, don't blame me!"
"Yes, yes!"
Eventually, the bag was forcibly closed and locked. It was quite unsettling to see the seams being pulled tight. It seemed as if the bag would bust open at will at any time. The boy hurriedly grabbed the bag.
He got out of the carriage, and in front of him appeared an imposing and large castle.
"Now what?"
The words he uttered unconsciously flowed out in vain as if to represent his feelings.
'A little while ago, the coachman said something that concerned the Archduke. Perhaps he meant the Archduke of Tirania? Because I remember that in that novel, he was the only one with that noble title.' He crouched down, groaning. 'Perhaps his words were reliable. Didn't he say that I didn't have to blame him if I was late? What, then? Do I really have to go inside the castle?'
The boy glanced at his bag and thought about the useless contents that were inside, which were probably only of sentimental value. 'Was he on his way to this huge castle to work as a servant, perhaps?'
In this current situation, he knew nothing. The boy was just guessing where he should be going. But that was just a wild guess, wasn't it? Still, he thought it would be better to go towards the castle for now. If he went there, would anyone know about him?
He clasped his hands and opened them. His pale hands were small and slender, with bones distinctly visible. To him, it almost seemed cruel that such small hands could be used to clean.
'Let's talk to the guards over there.'
"Um, excuse me..." He said as he approached the guards in front of the gates of the large castle.
"Who are you? Identify yourself!" The guard said in a firm and decisive voice.
He trembled at the sight, taking a step behind. They had swords. Sharp ones. "I-I just got off a carriage, the coachman said I had to be here..."
The two guards glared at him for a while and then began to whisper to each other until they finally decided to speak. "Move your hair out of your face."
"Um...okay?" His words came out as stutters as he did as the two ordered.
They bent to take a better look and, after a short look, both grimaced. "So you are the bastard, follow me." One of them said with a scoff as he took out a golden key from his pocket.
'W-what!? Bastard? Is he talking about the original owner of this body!?' The boy was confused, but still clumsily followed the guard and went through the gates, where a spine chilling air overwhelmed him.
He was already shedding tears of fear but quickly wiped his face.