"HUFF! HUFF!"
Panting a bit hard, Noah aimlessly fled away from the woods as per asked by Xanthus since he didn't wish to get involved in any more trouble after being discovered. However, it was a bad choice which he realized pretty soon.
Instead of going back to Kirin, he found himself at the hub of a small, crowded town. The area looked more like a marketplace, filled with people mostly belonging to small vendors selling their commodities and passerby who were walking across them.
The dim ray of hope that flashed in his ocean eyes while finding himself among those people quickly vanished when he noticed almost everyone at that place seemed of low status, going on their own ways of life. Both young and middle-aged men were dressed in linen tunic shirts and trousers, whereas women were decked in long ankle-length cotton gowns, with sleeveless tunics.
For him, the scenario felt as if he was watching a medieval period documentary, too unrealistic to be true. Moreover, he pinched himself on his arm once to believe he was experiencing the vintage ambiance himself! Like a block of ice, he stood still at the center of the marketplace, gawking at all the people who were walking past him.
"Woah...so...it's really all true, huh? I...I have really transmigrated to the 14th century?"
Murmuring with a confused look on his face, he scratched his head while swirling his eyes impatiently. "This looks like a regular town market...but wait, shouldn't I have returned back to Kirin? How the heck did I end up here? Gosh, it's all because of that crazy pervert...If only I hadn't run into him..." He still seemed confused while mumbling to himself, hovering his glances around.
Soon enough, his gaze locked over a tall, shining mirror that was placed outside a small vendor shop, which piqued his curiosity instead.
Tiptoeing in his footsteps, he reached the mirror, and as soon as he laid his gaze over himself, his ocean eyes wadded round and big in awe.
He was 28 years old when he transmigrated in Sheoran's body, however, looking in the mirror, the body seemed to be much in a fresh, youthful state, preferably around the age of 22 or 23. His facial appearance was accurately the same, however, the only difference that stood out for him was the color of his hair which looked dark, slick black compared to the soft brown hairs he had retained earlier.
Scanning himself carefully in the mirror from head to toe, Noah brushed his fingers against his supple white cheeks to check once again if it was really him! His dark eyebrows furrowed a little, as he murmured on his own, "So this is what Sheoran looked like! He has the same face as mine...but this punk looks much younger than me. Not to mention, he is quite handsome too! Look at this supple white skin...
But I can't understand, why the heck this punk had to commit these nasty crimes to earn a living? At least he could have run errands or at least get into any small jobs---"
"UWAHHHHHH!!"
Suddenly, a loud, spooked feminine scream flinched Noah pretty bad as he almost jolted a step away from the mirror, looking a bit panicked. A young maiden, preferably in her late teen years was standing a few steps apart from him, holding a pale, tainted look on her face. Her eyes were rolled wide, filled with aghast.
"I-It's Sheoran!! M-Mother, S-Sheoran has come here!! Come, hurry!" She was shuddering in fear, as she pointed her fingers at him, calling out for someone from inside the shop.
Before Noah could utter a word to cope with the situation, all of a sudden, a middle-aged, chubby woman came out fiercely from inside, holding a bowl of white powder that seemed more like salt. She rushed towards Noah and violently threw a handful of salt at him as if she was trying to chase him away.
"What are you doing here, bastard!!? You didn't have had enough after destroying our family? Now you came to rob us!? You despicable bastard!" She screamed furiously aloud, attracting all the attention of those fellow vendors as well as passersby who were present there at that moment.
"W-Wait...what?" Baffled at her fierce charge, Noah stood jaw dropped in shock.
The woman grabbed a handful of salt again and before throwing it over him, she shrieked out in a bitter roar, "Get out!! Go away from here! We have no money! You have already snatched enough from us...and I am not scared of you anymore! Before I scream for the law enforcement officials, get the hell out!!"
Noah panicked inside after coming across such a sudden unpleasant encounter, that made him lose his senses for a while. He glanced around, only to find all the people surrounding them were ogling only at him, with a despicable glare prominent in their gazes. The hostility from their glare shook him inside.
"W-Wait...M-Madam...Y-You are mistaking me for someone else..." Looking anxious enough, Noah tried to clear up the confusion in a shaky voice first. "I just came here to have a look at myself in the mirror, that's all! I...I never came here with such malicious intentions! Besides, you are wronged, madam. I...I am not Sheoran, I am just a simple--"
"SHUT UP, YOU MURDERER!!"
All of a sudden, the woman burst out in bitter tears and threw her handful of salt fiercely at him. An immense, heartwrenching pain was apparent on her face as she shrieked again, "How can I mistake my own son's murderer!? How can I not recognize your vile self!?"
A turbulent lightning shock hit Noah straight into his heart as he heard her painful rumble, watching her break out in tears. The woman was mourning hard by leaning her face down, while the young maiden, who was probably her daughter reached her closer and hugged her tight. Both of them seemed to have been badly wrecked in pain.
Still, in disbelief and awestruck, Noah staggered a step back as he murmured, "w-what?"
"He...He was only 21! How could you stab someone to death just because he didn't have money? Why...Why didn't you think once about us? Why did you have to take my son away and leave us in misery!? Hic...Why...What did my poor son do so wrong to deserve this..." She sobbed, protruding a hostile glare at him through her teary eyes.
Whereas stunned at the revelation, Noah's heart ached too hard to watch a helpless mother mourn in such a painful way for her son. Unknowingly tears swelled in his own ocean eyes, with a spooky chill that ran down his spine.
"W-Wait...Ma...Madam..."
"Unfortunately, you look similar to the age of my son... that's why I am showing you this last ounce of mercy and asking you to leave!! But...I will never forgive you! I can't forgive you for putting us through this hell!
I hope...I hope you deserve a rotten death too! I wish...you never find happiness in your life! I hope you deserve death, that will be worth our misery!
GET OUT! GO AWAY!"
Her loud, painful screams filled up the atmosphere, making Noah flee away from the spot without standing there any more minutes. Holding a pained throbbing heart, tears streamed down his eyes as he ran aimlessly fast, trying to escape from all the bitter, hostile gazes of others glued at him.
"No...No...this can't be true....I-It must be really a nightmare...M-My life...can't be ruined like this...This has to be a fuckin' nightmare!"
Biting his lower lip, he murmured while running away as fast as he could.