-- Clank

Haaaaa! Hooooo! Haaaaa! Hooooo!

Calming his breath down, James focused on his derailed thoughts, as they were all over the place.

First, just what the fuck happened?

He just became a baron out of nowhere. And Leonhart's father's grand plan was to make him the Lord of Esvet so he could learn and gain experience for what...? So Leonhart could become the next Duke?

This plan would have worked on Leonhart, but not on James. The person who was bad at managing himself was put in charge of managing an entire technical team. James was able to manage them, because of some trusted juniors, who dedicatedly helped him day and night, not because he was some super talented guy whose skill outmatched everyone.

As James walked through the vast corridors lost in thoughts with no sense of direction, he found himself outside the castle, in front of the Garden. Without thinking much about where he was, James continued to move forward and soon found a place where no was around.

"I fucking hate this place...." James cursed out loud. He was frustrated beyond measures.

He came to this world out of nowhere, had no idea about his own existence, said sorry for someone else, and now had to rule over some unknown land.

"Great... fucking great...." shouted James, thumping his feet on the ground. He was outraged by the plan which the Duke had forced him to comply. Just when he was about to do some research on how he got here, everything changed. Literally everything.

He now had to go to some unfamiliar land named Esvet, where he would stay for six months and learn new things on how to manage a land, so he could manage this duchy in the future. James did not know what Leonhart would have done in this situation, but now it was his call. He would have to decide something. Though the duke said that some of his trusted man would help him, but was it his choice?

Was it what James wanted? From the very beginning, he was following orders.

'Go say sorry for someone whom you never knew. Yes!'

'Go rule over that land. Yes!'

'Go jump over that cliff. Yes!'

Everything... was out of his control. His life was not his, totally someone else's. It was like James was living someone else's life.

Why...? What he did to deserve this...? He was creating something that could have changed the entire world for better... But in the blink of an eye, everything changed... everything.

"I don't know anymore..." said James, looking at the blue sky.

"What you don't know?"

"..." hearing the words of Adeline, James was startled. He throughly checked his surroundings, but when did she get here?

"What? Why are you acting like you have seen a ghost?"

"No... I was just... I didn't expect to see you here."

"Well, I just followed you so..."

"What...?" If she had followed him, then she heard everything James spoke, including the cursing part.

"...how much did you hear...?"

"Nothing much... Just from when you started shouting about hating this place."

"That clearly means everything." said James with a sigh. He didn't realise that someone was following him had heard everything.

"Oops..."

"So...care to tell me what happened..." said Adeline as she moved near a tall tree and sat down, leaning on its trunk and gestured Leon to sit beside her.

James didn't protest as he also wanted somewhere cool to sit and the tree was the perfect place.

"So..."

"Yeah... Father wants me to go to some barony named Esvet and stay there for six months to learn and get some experience so I could become the Duke in the future."

"And you don't want to go there."

"Yes..."

"That's just so like you." said Adel with a giggle.

"..."

"Remember when we used to run around here... Just you and me... all day."

"..."

"Then mom would come and take us inside."

"Yes." James had no memories with Adeline, but had memories with his little sister Jess, with whom he had done the same things. After losing everything, those were the memories that helped him survive this long.

"And one time...you carried me on your back from here to the inside because I fell down, cause you ran so fast that I couldn't reach you."

"..."

"I miss those days..." said Adeline with a smile. It was like she was reliving those memories. She was just seventeen, but her words were mature, carried a deep meaning.

"Why are you saying all this now...?" asked James. He couldn't understand why a seventeen-year-old girl was telling things like this.

"Well... I don't know... Just felt like talking so..."

"... Yeah... Yeah" said James with a faint smile. It was all natural. He really felt like she was his actual sister.

"You know, you always told to me that there are always some things beyond our control."

"..." James blinked a couple of times, as he had no idea about what she was talking about.

"I know you don't remember, but I still remember."

"Adel, what are you..."

"What am I saying is... there will be always some things beyond our control. No matter how we try, we won't be able to control them. But what if we look at the situation from a different angle? What if we try to change things we can control? Who knows, someday we might be able to control the uncontrollable."

"..." No words came out of James's mouth. He never expected to hear things like this from a teenager's mouth.

"Haa haa. Again, I spoke too much." said Adel with a smile.

"No... I mean..."

"I think... I have some things to do. See you at launch, brother." said Adel, getting up. Fixing her dress, as she gave a small smile to Leon and left.

James kept staring at her departing figure, trying to piece together how she could say something that sophisticated. Her words were straight out of some Shakespeare novel but had given him some much needed advice, on which he was going to act upon.

***

Though James didn't want to go to Esvet, but having no choice, he agreed. The journey was from this city Elenor to the far west town named Esvet. It would take at least 3 days to reach there and the preparations for this journey were done beforehand, before the plan was even discussed with Leonhart, so after his approval, on the very next day, they embarked.

James agreed to go there, but had some unique plans in mind. After the small talk with Adeline, his mind became a little clear. He was not that desperate about this situation anymore. Like she said, there was no point in trying to change something which was out of his control, but if he could change the things which were in his control, then he could at least live a quiet life.

The things which were in James' control were this body and the authority the man named Leonhart possessed. James had already realised that there was no point in trying to go back cause it seemed impractical, or until he could figure out a logical way to explain himself, about how he had become a totally new person and how he got here. Till that, he would try to live the life of Leonhart and would try to find more info.

As the carriage with no suspension moved more on the bumpy road, James's anger also grew more. With each passing moment, his body was aching more and more. He expected at least the journey to be smooth, but to his luck the road had other plans, also he did not know when they were going to reach the barony.

There were two people inside the carriage. One was Leonhart who was lying on the sofa with his hand covering his face and another was Sophia, his personal servant or maid, who was looking at the passing scenery with an expressionless face. She was chosen by Leonhart on a very random day two years ago to become his personal maid. From that day onwards, she had accompanied him more than anyone on his many useless endeavours, and this journey was also a part of her job.

Sophia knew Leonhart better than anyone, cause she had spent much of her time seeing him do many things, from gambling to drinking to pick fights in unnecessary places. Thus, she was perfect for this job or to say babysit him. Leonhart had become so dependent on her that he couldn't even wake up without her help. Waking him up, fixing his dress, styling his hair, helping him count his loss had become her daily routine. She neither liked it nor hated it was part of being a personal servant and she did it, asking no questions.

Over the years and after spending lots of time beside Leonhart, Sophia had become somewhat comfortable around him. As you spend more time around someone, whether they are bad or good, you unconsciously came to terms with them. At first she hated him, but as the time passed, she thought Leonhart as nothing but a rich guy who had lots of money to spend. It became normal for her.

...

As this age had no clocks, James had to solely rely upon the movement of the sun to know the time and now sun was slowly getting near its end of the daily course, meaning it was probably 4 or 5 pm.

"Hey Sophia, when are we going to reach there?" asked James, as he had no idea about the duration of this journey. He expected the carriage to reach Esvet before evening, but it kept moving.

"Another two days...."

"What....!"