Leo was used to moving by vehicle, mostly the subway and the bus, but he'd had a few train rides, a few moments in the back of a van after taking an unauthorized ride (don't judge) and had been on a couple of rowdy planes.

But nothing compared to the annoyance he was feeling at that moment in being in a barred carriage that moved quickly and seemed about to overturn at any moment.

Was it by any chance the first form of torture he should have endured?

Because he was really on the verge of puking, and was only holding back to avoid the second form of torture, which was a not-so-pleasant smell for the rest of the trip.

Which he had no idea how long it would have taken, so it was best to keep the environment as clean as possible.

Eventually, after what were probably endless hours, the wagon finally stopped, and Leo lay down with a very loud sigh of relief.

He heard voices in the distance and people disembarking from nearby carriages, but until they approached him, he was going to play dead and regain his strength.

Didn't people in isekais usually end up reincarnated in the body of already existing people? Why had Leonardo had the bad luck to come out of nowhere and have neither a backstory nor knowledge of that world that he could use to save his skin?!

He had to remember what Giada had told him.

He remembered that the two most important kingdoms were Jediah and Valkrest, constantly fighting each other for stupid reasons. Then there was Lumai, the territory from which the female protagonist came, and of which not much was known because it was actually quite distant and isolated and peaceful… maybe?

Was there like, a particularly important temple?

Gods?

Were they one or many?

Leo didn't know about that.

Perhaps they would have asked him about the uses and customs of Lumai? Why hadn't he just kept faking amnesia?! It was always a great idea in an isekai, they had to use it more often to justify the sudden changes in the characters' personalities.

But enough with distractions! He had to concentrate.

So... another thing he knew about the book was that the castle was the safest place in the kingdom, and that cooks were always required to satisfy the princess' tastes.

Honestly, after the way they treated him, Leo had some qualms about insisting on becoming the royal cook, since they didn't deserve his super cuisine.

He had been studying for years to try to participate in Masterchef Italia! He was a respectable cook! His mother worked and his sister was too young, so he was the house cook, and that was one of the very few things he could boast about!

Leo wondered how worried his mother and sister were at the moment. Did they already discover what had happened? What time it was now? Did time pass the same way as on Earth?

And what about his best friend? She was probably worried sick! Ugh, Leo was in real trouble. He would have given anything to go home.

He put a hand on his face to wipe away the tears that had dared to pass the impenetrable membrane of his eyes, and sighed, already too tired of the ordeal he was in.

“Hey…” a whisper coming from outside the iron bars caught his attention, and at first Leo considered the idea of playing dead for real. “Are you still alive, are you sick?” asked the voice, before the boy had time to decide on a strategy.

Then the information came to his brain that oh, the voice was female, so probably the owner of that voice was the one that Leo would have to win over in every way to get safety and maybe a job.

He sat up, and confirmed his assumptions.

In front of him, behind bars, watching him with a curious expression, was the princess.

“Yes, I'm alive. Yes, I'm sick” he answered the questions. It was rude not to answer, right? No, it was probably more rude not to bow. He tried to do that, but although he was short, he couldn't stand up in that cage either, and he ended up hitting his head and falling back to the ground.

“I would bow but it is difficult for me, princess” he apologized, rubbing his aching head.

The girl giggled, and leaned more toward him, curious.

"Are you a Valkrestian spy?" She asked innocently.

“No, I'm not a spy, I have no relationship with Valkrest, and I really enjoy cooking. I am very good at cooking. Especially the desserts. Do you like sweets, little princess?” Leo tried to advertise again, approaching her and smiling encouragingly.

He realized too late that what he had said might be ambiguous.

Imagine a very suspicious truck with "free candy" written on the side.

Or an ice cream truck that drives around at three in the morning with a creepy tune.

That kind of ambiguous.

And ‘too late’ in the sense that he realized he had been ambiguous when two extremely threatening figures appeared behind the princess staring at Leo with two eyes that if looks could kill Leo would have been happy because death would have taken him out of that situation that was getting worse and worse.

“I had no ill intentions!” He hastened to reassure, raising his hands and moving away until he was at the edge of the cage.

“Opal, why don't you go and sit on the meadow for lunch?” one of the two figures, the prince, gently stroked his sister's head and encouraged her with a smile to get away from the dangerous spy.

The princess looked between the two for a moment, then nodded and did as she was asked.

And farewell to the only chance of not being tortured and killed.

As soon as Opal disappeared from sight, the prince returned to stare at Leo with stormy eyes.

And before Leo could dig his grave further with some very poorly planned justification, the second figure anticipated him, giving him a dirty look.

“If you want to live, you better stay silent” he advised, and the moment he opened his mouth, Leo realized that the guy, now without a helmet, was the crazy swordsman Chevel.

Seeing him up close (too close, move and pull the sword away) he wasn't bad-looking either. Very tall, strong physique, dark skin and raven hair. It gave a feeling of security.

“Oh, no, Chevel. I'm not going to kill him…” the prince smiled again, but there was no warmth on his face.

“If you try to hurt my sister, or you speak to her again, you will pray that death will come upon you, after what I will do to you” he threatened.

And, honestly, mood.

If someone had gone to Leo’s sister with words like that, Leo probably wouldn't even have made any warnings, he would have gone straight to the hands. And he would have taken several injuries due to his very little physical presence, but whatever.

He was used to getting beaten up.

But he still didn't want to be subjected to actual torture.

“I have no reprehensible intention towards the princess. I have a younger sister too” for the first time since he had started talking to the prince, Leo's face was totally and absolutely sincere.

He was probably starting to get tired of that situation, perhaps thinking about his sister had made him sad, but the hatred in the prince's eyes seemed to fade slightly at the sight of Leo’s dejectedness.

“Chevel, give him a piece of bread. It seems to me he's quite malnourished” the prince turned to the guard, who took a loaf of bread from a saddlebag he was carrying and threw it into the cage carelessly.

Leo realized just now how hungry he was.

He was not malnourished per se, but he was delighted for once to be thin, because otherwise who knows when they could have fed him.

And he was used to four meals a day.

“Thank you,” he said casually, out of habit, while he collected the unhealthy bread from the ground and tried to clean it as best he could so as not to get indigestion.

His stomach was already in turmoil from the carriage ride, he didn't want to add some food poisoning.

He took a bite of the bread, which was perhaps the hardest and most tasteless he had ever eaten.

And he began to wonder if maybe it wasn't better to starve.

"Ew, you desperately need better cooks," he couldn't help but say. The prince, who had been staring at him with impassive eyes the whole time, tilted his head.

“Do you insist on this? Why should I hire a man as a cook?” he asked, exasperated.

“Everyone knows that women are the best cooks” the knight supported his words, nodding vigorously.

Leo looked at them quite annoyed.

‘The Middle Ages called, they want their opinion back’ he wanted to reply.

But that was actually the Middle Ages, sort of.

He desperately wanted to go back to the twenty-first century.

He took another piece of bread, pondering how to object to that immense idiocy.

“Chevel, check that he doesn't do anything wrong. Tonight we will be at the palace and see what to do with him” the prince gave up on getting new information, and left the mad swordsman on guard.

As he turned to leave, Leo had an illumination. Eventually, he realized what he would have to do to save himself.

Enough of being as honest as possible! Enough of just avoiding the awkward questions by feigning amnesia or trying to make sense of what he was saying!

No, he had to bluff!