"That's it..." asked a handsome man with amber-colored eyes and greyish hair. He was sitting inside his too luxurious room reading a paper and before him was his personal advisor.

"Yeah..." replied a man with brown eyes and silver-coloured hair, wearing a 3 piece tailored made black suit.

"So, you are telling me he had nothing in literally 10 days...?"

"Yes, Lord Ervin."

"Those people were not blind, right...?"

"No, they weren't." said the man in a confident tone.

"It doesn't make any sense.... Why isn't he doing anything...?" said the man named Ervin in an irritated tone. He couldn't understand why the man who couldn't even spend a day causing no havoc could just sit down and do nothing for like 10 days. Something had to be wrong.

"But... It is true. He had done nothing, except getting in a heated argument with the previous baron of Esvet."

"What...? And now you are telling me that."

"I am sorry, Lord. It was not that important, so I thought..."

"Why did you think it wasn't important?"

"Well, he got into an argument with the baron just because he didn't improve the hygiene of common people in that area."

"What...?" shouted the youth with ambered coloured eyes. No noble in their right mind would get into an argument with another of their kind because of some commoners issue.

Common people were nothing but slaves who were here on this land just to get used and the nobles were here to use them. It was an unspoken law that no one ever disagreed upon. But Leon showed sympathy towards them. That guy had never shown sympathy to anyone, whether they were nobles or commoners or even royalty. It had to be a joke. No, it was a joke.

"Yes. That's why I thought it was unimportant." Replied the man with the black suit. Nobles caring about commoners was impossible, and when he heard about this, he was also baffled.

" You are joking, right....?"

"No Lord. From that day the baron is trying his best to improve the hyenine in that region."

The Baron named Garrat was really trying to fix the problems in his region after seeing the sudden outburst of Leonhart. That guy was not some ordinary peasant whom he could just ignore. He was a duke's son who held absolute authority over that region and could really turn things around in a snap.

"Just... What the fuck is going on...?"

Ervin couldn't understand why Leonhart was doing nothing. If he won't do anything, then how could he be able to mess with him?

If he won't do anything soon to remove that guy from his way, then his father would again get angry. Just yesterday, he had been once again ordered to go to the castle to court the princess, which was a total waste of time. He knew how it would play out, but still agreed. It was not for him to decide what he should do or not.

"What's your next orders Lord..?" asked the man who was seeing Ervin's irritated expression. It was not an unfamiliar sight for him as he had seen incidents similar to this for like hundreds of time.

"Nothing..."

"Lord..."

"What...?"

"What did you mean by nothing...?"

"Mark..."

"Yes, Lord."

"Nothing means nothing. We are going to do nothing. You understand that. Right?" Ervin's voice sounded really cold. If they would deliberately stage an event which had nothing to do with Leonhart and accuse him, then it would surely fail. They had tried it already with Count Troil, just 6 months ago, which didn't end very well for that Count. Everything needed to have at least a minimum level of involvement on his part.

"Yes Lord. I am... Sorry." said Mark in a slow tone.

"Now... Get out."

Hearing the order, the man named Mark left the room asking no further question. He knew what would happen to him if stayed any longer. As for Ervin son Duke Carlston, he had to prepare for his voyage to the infamous castle.

***

James was reading a report about the recent spending of the barony. This country used an ancient currency like what people used in the 12th century Europe. Coins made of Gold, silver, copper were used as money. Banks didn't exist, so people depended on rich nobles for loans and you know how it plays out. Everything was the same as he had read in history, but he was not in Europe but in some other different land named Espedor.

It had been 10 days since he got here, and everything was going smoothly. Expect the only visit to the town some time ago, he didn't go anywhere, just stayed in the mansion signing reports and planning his unrealistic plans, which was not boring any results and he could feel it was useless to even try. Still, he was spending at least an hour trying to piece together everything.

Dropping the paper on the table, James took a long sigh. Everything felt hopeless. He didn't even know hat he was doing anymore. Why was he here? How he was here? Thousands of questions, but he could ask no one.

For as long as he could remember, he was an introvert, and all things from his job to Nightangel were accidents. He never wanted to get a job, but got one by just talking to a guy who he thought was a teacher, but tuned out to be an executive of a billion dollar company. That guy really got impressed and made an offer which James couldn't refuse. So he joined, and the rest is history.

Nightangel came to this world because he lost everything. Looking at the product or at its code, James never felt happy, but was always reminded of the day when all hopes were lost. Whenever that instrument passed a test, the entire team would rejoice, but for him, it was nothing. It meant nothing. He always thought, what if someone else had invented that 10 years ago? Would it be able to save his family?

There were always questions, but not even a single answer was ever found.

Till the very last day, James always tried to smile in front of other people so they won't freak out but they freaked out. Everyone told him to get a girlfriend, but was it something he could buy in some store? No, it wasn't. Still, he went on one or two dates, but whenever he tried to say something about himself or about his life, they would always change the topic. No one was interested in hearing about his pain or suffering.

All they cared about was how much money he had. People used him and he got used without ever opposing, thinking they would accept him in their group but, they never did. He sat alone, walked alone, ate alone, laughed alone, cried alone. All he ever dreamed was just a normal life, where he could talk to someone about all his misery and misfortune, but the universe had a whole different plan mapped out for him.

Felt like jumping from that 20 story building, but never did. Thought about cutting his veins, but never did. Why...? No idea. It felt like there was more to this life than to just end it.

Every day was painful. Every morning he would wake up from the same nightmare, but still carried on thinking someday he would be able to find that one person who could understand him, who could see what he was seeing, who could smile with him, who could cry with him...

So he walked, walked a thousand miles, searching for that one person but... That one was never found.

'James... James...'

Suddenly, James heard someone calling his name. It was an unfamiliar voice, but still hoping for someone who knew about him, he tilted his head in the direction of the voice. But was surprised to see that it was none other than the maid named Sophia, who carried a worried expression on her face.

James was startled to see her. He didn't even know when she entered the room, or how long it had been. But soon all his questions were answered when her lips moved a little.

"Leon... Why are you crying...?"

"..." James tried to answer her, but no words came out as his mouth was getting increasingly dry with each passing moment and a stream of tear flowed from his right eye without his knowledge. As James realised what was happening, his vison blurred and tears started flowing out from both of his eyes.

James didn't know why he was crying, but did nothing to stop the tears. It had been so long since he last cried. He even forgot when was the last time he thought about crying.

"..." Seeing the sight before her, no words left Sophia's mouth.

And soon Leon moved both hands to cover his face and started sobbing like a child. It seemed he wanted to cry. As the memories of his family started flooding his mind, his cries also grew intense.

It was painful, really difficult to witness, but not once Sophia averted her gaze or did anything to stop him. She was beyond shocked, couldn't believe her own eyes. Was it even real? She never thought once in her life that the man who enjoyed seeing other people cry could cry.

After over 10 minutes, he stopped sobbing and wiped the tears off his face and looked at Sophia with a kind yet fake smile, who was looking at him with the same worried expression as before.

James knew Sophia was before him, but still cried. At the moment, he was overwhelmed by so many emotions that he didn't even know what was happening to him. But after crying, his mind felt a little clear. His spirit was lifted a bit.

"Sophia... When... did you arrive...?" asked James in a soft tone. His eyes were still red but hid nothing because she had seen everything.

"I...I... Just a moment ago." replied Sophia, fixing her expression.

"Did you need something from me..?"

"No... I came here to give you this letter..."