Chapter 13: Roaming in Wonderland

At the very moment Angell touched the Talent Ball, a dazzling red light flashed across its surface.

"Red, red, red, red... red light!" The crowd stared at the Talent Ball in stunned silence. Had a talent holder actually appeared this time?!

A surge of joy instantly erupted in Leon's eyes. He hadn't expected Angell to possess talent! An uncontrollable excitement rose from the depths of his heart, and Leon couldn't help but clench his fists. If a servant had talent, he might be happy, but talent belonged to someone else; at most, they could gain some proximity and temporary convenience. But if Angell had talent, it was different. They were of the same family, and their relationship was the closest. As long as Angell could become a wizard—even if he only reached the level of a wizard apprentice—the Patte family would benefit immensely!

A flash of surprise crossed Count Eaton's face, followed by a gradual descent into deep thought: Without a doubt, the Patte family was about to rise. In this foreseeable ascent, if the Mon'en family extended an olive branch early enough, might they secure more connections to extraordinary beings in the future?

Regarding Angell being a talent holder, Allen and Eileen did not overthink it like their father. On Allen's chubby face, no expression could be discerned; he merely tilted his head, watching Angell with a hint of curiosity. Eileen, however, curled her lips into a smile, giggling sweetly at Angell. The mere thought of studying magic with him in the future made her overjoyed. Even her initial resistance to leaving her homeland had vanished, replaced entirely by anticipation for the future.

A flicker of shock passed through Moro's eyes, though he quickly regained his composure.

Meanwhile, as the center of attention, Angell found himself plunged into a strange feast...

Upon touching the Talent Ball, Angell discovered his body was floating. His heart raced with excitement; this unusual buoyancy represented "change."

*So, I do have talent?* Angell was instantly elated.

But just then, he heard the rhythmic sound of drums and music drifting from outside the storage room, sounding as if a large choir were singing hymns.

*Huh? Didn't brother tell the band to leave? Why has the music started again?*

Angell was about to ask Leon, but as he turned his head, he discovered something eerie.

Aside from himself floating in the air, the entire storage room was empty. His brother was gone, Mr. Moro was gone, and Count Eaton and his children were nowhere to be found.

Angell noticed something else: although the people were gone, the Talent Ball remained on the table, and the candles continued to burn quietly. Everything seemed perfectly normal.

At that moment, the music outside grew even more melodious. Frowning, Angell slowly floated toward the door and pushed it open.

Outside was a corridor of magnificent style, lined with elegant drapery and large oil paintings. As he moved through it, he occasionally saw suits of armor and statues at the corners. This extremely luxurious aristocratic style was what his father, Old Patte, had loved, and his two brothers had not changed it after his death.

The curtains were lifted by the night wind. Angell stole a glance outside; it was silent and pitch black.

*So strange... truly strange.* Everything before his eyes was familiar, from the furnishings to the decorations, looking no different from usual, yet why did he feel an inexplicable sense of strangeness?

On every door in the Patte Manor, there were Lionheart lamps on both sides; the Lionheart was the crest of the Patte family. Servants would add oil to them daily, and they would be lit at night to burn until dawn, signifying "The Lionheart's fire shall never be extinguished."

But now, there was not a single flicker of light outside, and even the lamps on the iron gates outside the castle remained unlit.

*Where is this? Is this really Patte Manor? Where has everyone gone?* Doubt began to take root in Angell's mind.

The melodious music became even more pleasant, but to Angell's ears, it now carried a hint of the uncanny.

Angell looked out the window again and was surprised to find the sky filled with stars—many of which were constellations he had never seen before. One must understand that in Gru Town during the Frozen Month, very few stars could be seen with the naked eye at night; most were merely distant points of light from stars light-years away. On a clear night, seeing seven or eight twinkling stars was considered a lot. But now, the sky was teeming with stars, just like Gru Town in the height of summer!

Fear began to rise uncontrollably from the depths of Angell's heart.

Everything was too discordant. He might no longer be inside the real Patte Manor.

Angell took a deep breath, preparing to return to the storage room. No matter how eerie the current situation was, he felt the storage room would offer more peace of mind.

Just as Angell started walking back, two massive playing cards suddenly appeared in front of him.

The concept of playing cards did not exist on the Old Earth Continent, but Jon had once made a set of playing cards as a gift to Old Patte. Old Patte had loved this novel card game so much that it had become a massive craze within the manor. However, what puzzled Angell was that playing cards had never spread outside the manor... *Could this place be related to Earth?*

The two cards before Angell's eyes looked very much like the set Jon had made, even down to the intricate patterns on the edges, only they were hundreds of times larger.

They were the size of an adult. One card was the Ace of Hearts, and the other was the Ace of Spades.

Most astonishing to Angell was that both cards had limbs like bamboo stalks, swaying as they moved. The Ace of Hearts held a cross-sword and a long spear, while the Ace of Spades held a round shield and a flail.

The cards moved with incredible speed, rushing toward him while he was still dazed. By the time he reacted and tried to run, it was too late.

In the next second, Angell was sandwiched between the two cards.

The two cards seemed not to notice him, continuing to move forward, but their bodies were so wide that Angell had no room to dodge; he was simply swept along by their movement.

Angell struggled to avoid them, but even floating in mid-air was useless because the area occupied by the two cards was simply too vast. Left with no choice, Angell had to abandon resistance and move forward along with the card soldiers.

Before long, Angell found himself led by the two card soldiers into the grand hall. The melodious music was emanating from here. Music was playing on a stage, but when Angell looked, he saw no one playing. The instruments were making sound because several teacups engraved with heart symbols were hopping in front of them.

*Teacups can play music?* Before Angell could recover from his shock, he realized that the Heart Swordsman and the Spade Guard who had brought him here had already vanished.

Since he had already reached the hall and faced this eerie, illusion-like world, Angell's courage grew slightly. He no longer thought about returning to the storage room immediately, but instead walked toward the center of the hall.

The hall was brilliantly lit, and various strange objects were engaged in different activities. Besides the teacups playing music, Angell saw wooden block soldiers moving on their own, green-furred owl dolls playing near the crystal chandeliers, dragonflies painted in brilliant colors patrolling the air in rows, and unknown moonstones and sunstones shifting through various hues...

As the strange sights multiplied, although Angell's nerves remained taut, his fear receded significantly. He had noticed an interesting little detail: the "creatures" here seemed to ignore him completely. When he had floated near a colorful dragonfly to observe it, the creature hadn't even acknowledged him and simply flew away.

*Was it because they couldn't see me, or because they had no interest in me?* Angell did not know.

After floating for a while longer, he vaguely saw something fluttering like fabric on a chair at the far end of the main dining table, with its back to him.

*Is someone sitting there?*

Angell carefully controlled his floating body, drifting toward the dining table.

The closer he got, the more he believed his judgment. He could faintly hear the clinking of cutlery against porcelain plates, and the rustling sound of pages turning in a book.

*Reading while eating?* Angell was suddenly very curious about who was sitting in that chair.

He had a vague suspicion now: perhaps he was no longer in Patte Manor, but in a parallel dimension. His mentor had once mentioned parallel worlds, though on Earth, it remained a mere hypothesis. This was not Earth, and it might not even be the universe Earth resided in; so, what was wrong with a real parallel world appearing?

In this parallel world, there was a Patte Manor, but no Patte family.

*Perhaps the person sitting in that chair is the master of Patte Manor in this parallel world?* Angell speculated wildly.