Transmigration

The blue sky stretched endlessly, like a sapphire with no visible edge. Not a single cloud in sight.

A few black birds shrieked as they cut across the sky.

Below lay a vast expanse of lush green forest. A winding path snaked between the trees. A horse-drawn wagon loaded with golden hay trundled along, the rhythmic clop of hooves echoing along the trail.

A half-grown boy lay atop the golden hay in the wagon. He looked about thirteen or fourteen, with short brown hair. He was neither handsome nor ugly, just very ordinary.

The boy's eyes were shut, and he seemed to be asleep.

The coachman driving the wagon was guiding the old horse with great care, trying to keep the ride as smooth as possible. He seemed worried about disturbing the boy behind him.

Bang!!!

With a loud crash, the wagon wheel struck a sharp stone, and the whole vehicle jolted violently. It came to an abrupt stop.

Song Ye shuddered all over. He woke straight from his sleep.

His sallow little face crumpled into a frown before he slowly opened his eyes.

"Where am I?" The boy's voice was very weak, lacking any strength.

He sniffed and caught the fresh scent of grass.

Only then did he look around in confusion.

"I'm sorry, Second Young Master Anglie. The wagon hit a stone and disturbed your rest." The coachman was a sturdy middle-aged man, though his clothes were no more than drab gray linen.

When he saw Song Ye wake up, he turned back at once and apologized. At the same time, he took out some tools and began checking the wagon wheel for damage.

"Second Young Master Anglie?" Song Ye froze. He looked around, making sure no one else was there. Then he pointed at himself. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes." The coachman nodded honestly as he checked the wheel. "You fell off your horse just now and were badly hurt. You need to get plenty of rest. I was the only one left in town, and I couldn't find a decent wagon on such short notice, so I had to make do with this one." The dark-skinned middle-aged man gave a simple, honest smile.

Song Ye's expression changed at once, as though he had realized something.

"No, that's not right..." he murmured, hastily glancing down at himself.

A black riding outfit fit him perfectly, with a red belt wrapped around his waist and a black leather whip fastened at his side.

His frail body, his pale hands. A dull ache throbbed in his knees and the back of his head.

Suddenly, a sharp pain surged through his head. Scenes from a series of memories flooded his mind.

Song Ye's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, straight as a board, onto the hay. Dimly, he heard the coachman cry out in alarm...

**********

He had no idea how much time passed.

Song Ye slowly came around again.

His mind now held memories that did not belong to him.

They belonged to a country noble's second son named Anglie Leo, an utterly ordinary young nobleman.

He had gone horseback riding with his companions during their leisure time, fallen from his horse, and left an opening for Song Ye to take over his body.

At the same time, memories of his life flooded into Song Ye's mind.

This was a world very much like medieval Europe.

He was in a country called the Rudin Kingdom, a vast realm. The Leo Family was a fairly well-off family of country nobles, better off than some but not as well off as others.

Their lands lay along the edge of a vast forest in Yara Province.

From Anglie's memories, he knew only that his father, Baron Leo, ruled over three knightly estates and five villages and towns. The annual population census counted at least five thousand people. Even on horseback, it took at least an hour to ride from one end of the territory to the other at top speed. It was a very, very large domain.

Anglie Leo, Baron Leo's second son, was also the highest-ranking member of the Leo Family's younger generation. The eldest son had left to join the army and never returned, so the family's rightful inheritance might well fall to Anglie.

"A country noble... I've actually transmigrated..." Song Ye rubbed his head and realized he was lying in a small bed. Someone had changed his clothes into a white nightshirt and tucked a thin white blanket over him.

It was a spacious, bright bedroom.

There was a bed, a white-painted desk, and two high-backed chairs, also white.

The window facing the bed stood open. A faint hubbub drifted in, seemingly from a street or somewhere similar.

A light breeze carried in the scent of pancakes.

Song Ye took a deep breath, and his stomach immediately began to growl.

"Is anyone there?" Song Ye compared the room with Anglie's memories and confirmed that it was one of the family's houses in town.

The door creaked open.

A stern-looking middle-aged man in red noble's clothes strode in. He held a small silver bowl, from which wafted the tempting aroma of meat.

"Anglie, are you feeling better?" The man walked to the bed with a frown, set the bowl on the bedside table, and placed a large hand on Song Ye's forehead.

"Your fever's gone. Drink the meat broth first. You're still too weak."

Song Ye quickly searched his memories for the man before him.

Kyle Leo, current head of the Leo Family and the lord of its lands, Baron Leo. But to Anglie, he was simply a father who doted on his son.

"I remember what I told you," Baron Kyle said gravely. "Don't spend so much time with those little things from town. Even if you're studying the Knight Course together, you shouldn't get too close to them."

"It was my fault, Father," Song Ye replied softly, lowering his head without thinking. But those weren't his own words. They seemed to be an automatic response from the body's former owner.

"You fell from a runaway horse and somehow didn't break a bone. It seems you were very lucky." The baron softened his tone a little. Seeing his son lower his head in remorse, he couldn't help feeling sorry for him.

"Your big brother left to join the army. Who knows whether he'll ever come back? The future of the Leo Family will probably rest entirely on you. If anything else happened to you, I can't imagine what I'd do..." The baron sighed and fell silent.

From Anglie's memories, Song Ye knew that this was simply his father's nature.

To the outside world, he was the powerful Baron Leo, cold and ruthless, showing no mercy. More than a few servants had been put to death for minor transgressions. And as a lord with many subjects under his rule...

Every few years, the baron took beautiful women from his lands into his household. As a result, he had many children.

More importantly, last year, after a series of careful plots and calculations, the baron had sent troops to annex a neighboring barony, nearly doubling the size of his territory.

People outside the family spoke of his brutality and arrogance, his cunning and deceit, his cold and merciless nature.

But it was a pity that the baron's affection for Anglie was one of a kind. Or rather, it was his feelings for Anglie's late mother that were truly special.

That was why Anglie held the highest position among all the baron's children.

Whatever he wanted, the baron would do everything in his power to provide.

"Remember this, Anglie. As the Leo Family's future heir, you must always keep your wits about you. Think carefully before you do anything." Baron Kyle spoke to Song Ye in a heavy voice.

"I'll remember, Father." Song Ye nodded solemnly.

"Forget about Catherine. As for the other girl, the one you asked for before, I've already sent her to your room. You're still young, so you can have your fun, but if I find out you've become obsessed with her..." The baron paused, a trace of cruelty surfacing in his eyes. "You know what will happen."

"I understand." Song Ye's heart tightened, and he nodded quickly. Although the baron doted on him, the trouble he'd caused this time was no small matter.

"All right. Drink your soup and rest. I have things to deal with. Old Ward will find someone to take you back to the castle later. I'll be going." Baron Kyle nodded and turned to leave.

As the bedroom door closed,

Song Ye caught sight of a fully armored knight standing outside. He recognized him: the strongest warrior under the baron's command, Knight Audis. He liked to crush his enemies' heads beneath his heavy boots, like watermelons.

The people in the territory called him the Demon Knight.

The bedroom door slammed shut.

The baron's quiet voice and footsteps drifted away across the courtyard, growing fainter until they could no longer be heard.

Song Ye turned to look at the bowl of meat broth on the bedside table.

He knew that if it were just ordinary meat broth, the baron wouldn't have brought it to him personally.

The meat came from a fish called a Ring-Ding Fish, supposedly transformed by an evil wizard from a lost child using sorcery. He had drunk some before when he was injured.

Song Ye picked up the silver bowl and peered inside.

In the milky-white broth, a silver fish about the length of an index finger flickered in and out of sight. Its head was unmistakably a face that looked remarkably human.

"A fish with a child's face..." Song Ye murmured. He stared at the anguished expression on the child's face in the bowl, and his stomach began to churn.

This world really isn't the same one I used to know...

Sitting on the bed, Song Ye hesitated for a long while. In the end, he pinched his nose and gulped down the broth. As for the fish head with the child's face, he tore it off and left it in the bowl. He didn't dare eat something like that.

After drinking the broth, he leaned back on the bed and rested for a while.

Only then did Song Ye start sorting through the memories in his mind.

The original Anglie had his father's favor. Though he was timid and had little will of his own, he was no worse than the other young nobles when it came to indulgence. If anything, he had it much better than they did.

Whatever he wanted—objects, pets, money, even people—the baron would find a way to give it to him. That had made Anglie increasingly reckless. Whenever he saw something he liked, he wanted to snatch it for himself.

In other words, he was a textbook spoiled brat.

After all, a barony was already about the size of a county-level city in Song Ye's previous world, Earth. Its population was much smaller, but its ruler had far greater power. The baron, as lord of the land, could do whatever he wanted.

In these turbulent times, with unrest spreading throughout the Rudin Kingdom, the nobility represented both power and wealth.

But no matter how fearsome Baron Kyle's influence was, the trouble Anglie had gotten into this time had gone too far.

On his way to study the Knight Course, Anglie had taken one look at a noble girl studying alongside him and fallen for her.

The girl's name was Catherine Candia. She was the beloved granddaughter of Viscount Candia, who nominally ruled over the Kyle Barony.

To impress Catherine, Anglie had agreed to race horses against another boy. In the end, someone had tampered with his saddle. He'd let his guard down for a moment, and the original Anglie had vanished from this world forever.

"So it was all because of jealousy..." Song Ye helplessly went over the memories again. "This world is just... unbelievable... They already know how to get jealous and sabotage rivals at just fourteen..."