It has been little over a month since Jackson came to the Runeberg mansion. After Ilianor came back from the meeting of nobles, she explained the situation of the passageway to the mansion and took care of Ronalds actions. She was a bit exhausted from the event though, so she did everything as fast as she could.
Apparently, according to Ilianor's father Uluanor Runeberg, the passageway was meant to be an emergency exit in times of trouble. It was made along with the mansion in Uluanor's grandfather's time 114 years ago. The purpose of this passageway was kept secret from all servants and children of the Runeberg house. Since the war had taken so much time of Ilianor's life, Uluanor had forgotten to tell her about its existence. According to Ilianor, Uluanor said "It wouldn't have mattered even if I told you earlier since you rarely stayed at the house during the war."
And as for Ronald, Ilianor knew that he didn't give the robbers the key since he didn't know where the key was. He had seen the key once, so he knew what kind of key it was. Ilianor stated "I trust that that man is a dedicated servant of the Runeberg household. As he has for decades, I trust that he would keep the household safe in his own way. He had no choice but to let the robbers enter the mansion. He shall continue to serve the Runeberg household as he always has." No one had problems with Lady Ilianor's statement.
When it came to the ring Eve asked for, Ilianor gave thumbs up for its purchase. It still was in the shop, so there were no issues with obtaining it. Ilianor was a bit against wearing it herself since, according to her, "Eveline is in more dangerous waters than I am. I think it would serve much more in her finger than myself." Eve still insisted that Ilianor should wear it rather than her since "I have Jack here right with me. If that isn't enough, then I don't know what is." Ilianor still tried to convince Eve, but without avail.
And so little over three weeks has passed with nothing of note happening. Just everyday things such as visiting the town, talking about mundane things, talking about politics, talking about academics and even talking about the war. Since Eve was held in a research facility for a long time, she did not know much about the current events of the world. She had just read old newspapers. Jack hasn't been told about Eve's research days because Eve wished it to be so. All that Jack knew was that she was a sheltered girl that was one day caught up by Union's soldiers, though he had an idea that something was kept secret from him.
This night Eve decided to stay out on the balcony to listen to the sounds you only hear at night. She sat there happily in her wheelchair with a smile on her face. Then she asked Jack who was on the balcony with her "Do you know anything about astrology?" To which Jack answered "No. I know very little of it. I only know where the northstar is." Eve was a bit disappointed, but nonetheless she just asked "Do you see stars right now? Do you see any formations?" Jack just answered "I do see the stars, but I can't tell if there are any formations." Eve says to Jack "My mother used to tell me all about the stars and what they represent. She would tell me stories related to the stars and what predictions they might have had. Shame that I can't ever see them again." There was a moment where only the nightly sounds could be heard Eve could hear some cars in the distance. Then Jack broke the silence and said "I could find a book that would tell me about stars and then tell you about what is in the sky that day." Eve smiled and said "That would be a very nice thing for you to do. If you would bother yourself a bit for my selfish request, I would be happy to listen to you." Jack just said "I was the one who offered it so it's not a problem. Though don't expect too much from me." Eve said with a bit of excitement "Oh, then we can go look for that book tomorrow in the local library. I don't think I have heard of us having one in our library. I should ask Eva before I get to bed." Jack gave a small smile as he said "Then let's do that tomorrow and hope for good weather for stargazing." After that, both of them went to sleep, expecting a good day tomorrow.
After getting up, Jack put on his clothes and began his morning routine. He would run around the mansion grounds to see if anything out of the ordinary would come up. He did this very early in the morning, far earlier than Eve would wake up and get ready for breakfast. As usual, there was nothing out of the ordinary outside as well. When he got back in, he crossed paths with Eva who was taking care of her early duties. On his way he asked her "Did Eve ask you if we have an astrology book in the mansion?" To which Eva answered "She did. I said I would go look for one and didn't find anything other than old books. I skimmed some of them and I think that while they do have some interesting things, it would be far too difficult for you to understand what those books are going to talk about. No offense, of course." Jack said "None taken. I do not see myself as too smart of a man so the things they would have said probably would have flown over my head." Eva just said, "Well at least you are good at combat I hear." Jack said "There is no need to console me. I go look if I see anything out of the ordinary. I try not to make a mess." Then Jack just leaves and Eva continues to do her morning duties.
While looking around the place, Jack sees Julia doing her own set of duties. As Jack had always seen, she worked with excellent efficiency. Jack had not figured out how to deal with Julia, but both of them seem to have mutual respect about each other. Or so Jack has interpreted their interactions. He had asked about Julia's past, but she would only say to him "Not important." He had also asked other people about it, but the only person who seemed to know something was Ilianor, who just said "Her past is of no importance just like yours isn't. What matters in this house is what you do now and not what's in the past." Jack got a bit more curious about this matter, but decided that it would be good manners to not pry in any deeper. As such, the only things he said to her each morning he saw her were "Good morning." and "Anything out of the ordinary." To which she would usually say "Good morning." and "Nothing out of the ordinary." This morning was no different. As such, both continued to do their morning duties.
After breakfast was done and other morning routines were done, Eve, Eva and Jack went to the local library to search for a simpler astrology book than they had in the mansion. With a bit of searching, they managed to find a book that would suit their needs, so they borrowed it. They all decided together to eat lunch at the local restaurant. They decided on a modest looking one that had outdoor tables. The weather was fine, even though cloudy, so they decided to eat outside.
While eating, two men in uniforms noticed Jack eating with Eve and Eva. The two men decided to say "hello" to their old "friend." The blonde one said first "Hey Jacky boy! Long time no see! See that you have two fine women by your side." Jack went silent and couldn't muster strength to comment. Eve on the other hand decided to respond "Oh hello there. Are you Jack's former colleagues? My name is Eveline. His new client." The other man with reddish hair said "Oh? A new client?! Let me guess, he is your guard?" Eve said while a bit confused "Yes? He is my current guard."
The two men looked at each other for a moment and then started to laugh. Saying "You hired this guy?! Even though what he did?!" Eve was now even more confused and asked "What do you mean?" The blonde man then shouted for everyone to hear "This guy, THE Jackson Ovlebeld, is now guarding another woman, despite what he did to the poor young princess Olivia Conditor of the Novinterra!" People started chattering things like "Is it really him?" or "How could they make such a mistake?" Eve and Eva were both confused. Then Jack told both of them "We better leave now." But then the one with reddish hair said "Not so fast! You think we would let these poor young ladies go without knowing?" Jack then said with a weak voice "Please stop." The blonde then said "This man once assaulted poor little princess Olivia. The poor thing can't even admit that she has been assaulted. That's how terrified she is of him."
Jack tries to tell Eve and Eva "Let's just go." But Eva got in the way and, as if protecting Eve, made Jack stay back. Jack noticed this, so he decided to tell them "We'll meet at the mansion." And got out of there without Eve and Eva by his side. Eve was only just confused and refused to believe what she just heard. But then the blond man kept talking "When Jackson was sent to guard princess Olivia, everything seemed okay. Until one day people noticed Olivia acting strangely when she was with Jackson. They soon found out that he had assaulted the woman he was meant to protect and it made headlines even during the war. Novinterra was relatively distanced from the horrors of war, but when the higher ups decided to put that man to protect the princess just in case, they made Novinterra face the twisted man that was created by war. He might have been a beast on the battlefield and a warmachine, but that little stunt buried any signs of success and recognition in Jackson's life." Both Eve and Eva were stunned to hear that.
They later went back to the mansion, but Jack stayed some distance away from the two. Eva was convinced by the story, as she had simply forgotten the details of it before. Eve, on the other hand, was still processing what she had just heard. "Could it really be true? How can a man like him do such a thing? CAN he do such a thing?" Eve even went to ask Ilianor about this matter. Ilianor just said "That is what the RUMORS say. I was aware of them when hiring him as your guard." Eve got the hint. She heard the emphasis on the "rumors" part so she felt a little more relieved. But now she just wondered "Why didn't he try to protect himself?"
The next week went by Jack speaking much less and staying at a distance from Eve. They even didn't get to go stargazing together since the build up distance. The newspapers even got a scoop out of the whole incident and spread like a wildfire. "The man that assaulted princess Olivia Conditor now works at the esteemed Runeberg mansion as a guard!" They would say in the papers. The whole thing spread to a few unexpected people as well.
One of the days when Jack was making rounds around the mansion, he met up with Julia. This time she said "I have a letter that is meant for you." Jack just said "If it's another hate letter, just throw it away." Julia just said "I have faith that this letter is not one of those. That is why I came to give it personally." She handed Jack the letter and Jack read the sender's name. It was from John Breck. A name that Jack didn't expect to see anytime soon. Jack asked Julia "You know John?" Julia said in a reminiscent way "*Sigh* He is my brother. Well… he is LIKE a little brother to me. No further questions. I have some places to clean." She went by in a flash, but Jack could have sworn he saw a little smirk on her face when she said that he was her brother.
Jack then opened and read the letter. It said "Hey old friend! How are you doing? Me, personally, am doing fine with my business. We even managed to open a shop in another town and I'm making some nice money. To be quite honest with you, I'm a tad bit surprised by my inherent success in this industry. Perhaps I was meant for just this job. In any case, a little bird told me where you work so I got to write this letter to you. I am honestly interested in hearing more about you. Perhaps we should go out sometime and spend some time off work somewhere nice. I know a nice place in Ilmen that serves amazing food. You should seriously try it. If you have any time off that we could have a chat, send me a letter and I'll make my schedule to accommodate your visit. That's the best part about being your own boss. My address is Mikotstreet 11. Hopefully we will see soon. Sincerely John Breck."
Jack wondered for a moment and thought to himself that he didn't really have holidays that he could spend in Ilmen. He decided to later send him a letter apologizing that he couldn't go.
One day Ilianor received a letter, amongst other letters, concerning Jack. But this one was special so she called Eve to get her opinion on it. Once Eve was inside Ilianor's office, Ilianor started paraphrasing the letter's content. She started by saying "This letter is from princess Olivia Conditor and she has asked us to meet her as soon as possible. How would you proceed?" Eve told Ilianor "Why not let her come. I would like to hear the full story from someone since Jack won't spill the beans." Ilianor smiled and said "I knew you'd say something like that, so I already sent a letter saying that any day this month would suffice since I don't have anything of note to work on." Eve said "So you just wanted to hear my opinion on this." Ilianor said "Yep."
And a week later they received a letter informing them that they would be coming two days from now. Eve had a little chat with Jack about the princess coming saying "Would you be able to have a holiday on august 11th?" Jack said "My job is to make sure you are safe at all times, so no." Eve then retorted by saying "We have princess Olivia coming over that day." Jack went silent for a moment and said "I figure something out." As such, Jack decided to send a letter to John that he would be coming on august 11th. The letter also contained an apology concerning the previous letter he had sent.
So the day came and Jack did a little shorter routine that morning before leaving to catch a train to Ilmen. A while after he left, two cars came to the front of the mansion. Eva said to Eve while looking out the window "I think that's her." Two women came out of the car in front and started to walk towards the car on the back. The two women seemed to be guards of some sort. One of the guards opens the door of the car on the back and out comes a lady who is well dressed. Eva said to Eve "Oh that's definitely her." Eve asked "Would you care to describe her appearance for me?" To which Eva answered "She is well dressed in a light blue gown, her hair is long and silvery and her eyes shine like blue diamonds. That's as best I can describe her right now." Eve asks jokingly "Is she prettier than me?" To which Eva says "Oh no miss, you look much better in my opinion. Jokes aside, let me help you to the meeting room before I go greet them with lady Ilianor."
After greetings between Olivia and Ilianor, both go up the stairs to the meeting room where Eve is waiting. When Ilianor and Olivia enter the room, Eve greets them with a warm smile "Greetings princess Olivia. My name is Eveline Runeberg. I hope you don't mind that I couldn't come and greet you down stairs, but we saw that it would have been much more troublesome to have to come down the stairs and up again in my state." Olivia says with a soft voice "Oh I don't mind. It is great to see you like this. To be honest, I had little trouble getting permission to come here for obvious reasons." Eve says "Oh I understand." Ilianor then says "Please sit down. The maid Evangeline will bring us some warm tea soon. We have already prepared some sweets as you can see." Olivia says "Oh I love sweets, but I have to restrict myself. I have a habit of eating too many sweets at parties. May I sit?" Ilianor says "Of course. Who am I to deny a princess to sit down in my house." Olivia sits and so does Ilianor. Soon after Eva comes with the tea and pours all three cups. She then hands them over to Ilianor, Olivia and Eve. After she is done, she gets behind Eve. The two guards of Olivia stand behind her.
Eve starts "Now then, as to why you came here." Olivia sips some tea and says "Yes. Regarding what happened between me and Jackson. It started simple, he was appointed as my personal guard when I was 16 and he was 14 I think. The reason why he was appointed was because the Union and its allies were making moves near Novinterra's borders and my father had made some comments about their cruel acts during the war. There was worry that they would start acting against Novinterra. So as Jackson was known as someone who gets the job done no matter what, he was a prime candidate to be my personal guard. The months went smoothly without much happening, but one day when I was attending a show that was a symbol of peace in Novinterra, there was an incident that would change how I saw Jackson. While I was on my way to get back to my seat after using the restroom, I was attacked by three men. I sent Jackson to wait nearby, but for a moment I thought he didn't notice what was happening. I was almost put to sleep with some chemicals before Jackson came out bashing the three men away from me. He used some device that made the sound disappear and he shot the three men. It was the first time I saw someone die before my eyes, so I was horrified by what had just happened. Jackson called some backup to clean the mess as fast as possible so that there wouldn't be a record of any incident happening on this important show. He tried to comfort me, but I was too scared of a man who just killed three actual people in front of me. After that I came to be a bit wary of Jackson after that and it was something other people who were envious of him noticed. The rumor soon spread that he had done something to me. It spread to the point where people mistook it as a fact and demanded justice to be done. We had to make a public announcement that he didn't in fact do anything wrong. Then people started to believe that the royal family was hiding the fact that Jackson assaulted me to preserve my dignity as a royalty. We couldn't inform what had truly happened in the theater because it would have made Novinterra take vengeance against whoever made that incident happen. It would have made people demand to go to war that had already claimed millions of lives. Novinterra was helping the Republic with a bit of assistance, but we couldn't directly involve the last continent that had peace during that war. Eventually the public opinion became too much for the royal family to handle so Jackson was stript from his duties as my personal guard to appease the public order. After that, I heard that Jackson was denied promotions that were rightfully his, but whether it was because of what happened in Novinterra or because they didn't want to take him out of the field, I don't know."
The room was silent for a moment as Ilianor, Eve and Eva thought for a moment. Even Olivia's guards were a bit taken back by this story that they knew couldn't be brought to public knowledge. Ilianor then said "So that's the gist of it. To not damage the pillar of Terra continent, Novinterra had to play along its populace's opinion and leave Jack out in the open." One of the guards says with a temper "How dare you!" But Olivia raised her hand and said "It's alright. Lady Ilianor didn't say anything wrong. It's because I acted in a certain way, Jackson was wrongly accused of a crime he didn't commit." Eve then asks Olivia "Do you think the reason why he didn't say anything to us was because he didn't think it was his place to tell?" Olivia says "I think that is right. Perhaps he even blames himself for making the decision to kill the three men and not just apprehending them. To tell you what truly happened by himself would have meant risking the Novinterra's people wanting payment from the Union and its allies." Eva then mumbles to herself "So I treated him wrong then." Eve then said to Eva "You only did what you thought was right." Eve then moves her head to talk to Olivia "Thank you for telling us the truth." Olivia then says "No problem. I thought that it was my duty to make sure there was no misunderstanding in his new workplace when the war ended. Of course, we can't publicly announce what truly happened, but I can at least tell you all."
Then Olivia breathed out and said "Now that that's out of the way, do you want to talk about other stuff? Such as what we know about Jackson and how fun it is to make him embarrassed." Eve grew interested in the topic, sipping the last of her tea and putting the cup on the table. Then she put her hand on her chin and said "Go on." Olivia then started telling how Jackson was embarrassed when the civilians put their eyes on him specifically when on guard duty. Then Eve started talking about how she can hear from his voice from time to time, that he isn't fond of the color of his clothes. Then the girls started talking about how serious Jack is all the time. Ilianor felt like she was a bit of an outsider to this type of chatter, but listened nonetheless.
After chatting for a while, it was time for Olivia to leave. She bid her farewells to the ladies of the Runeberg household and its servants and hot in her car. There seemed to be some sort of issue with the engine at the start, but it finally got going after one of the servants who knew a thing or two about cars came to help. While waiting for the car to get fixed by the servant, the girls decided to talk a bit more. Olivia then stated that "It is good to hear though that Jackson can get work like this after the incident at my homeland."
Meanwhile the girls were chatting, Jack was finally knocking at the door that was owned by John. And then the lad came greeting Jack like they'd known for years. "Hey Jacky boy! How have you been? Come inside! I was just making the coffee to be ready." Jack just looks at John with a bit of a bewildered face but quickly comes to his senses and gets in. He didn't even manage to get to say hello before John went back to his kitchen and made sure everything was ready for his guest. The house was moderately bigger than the average house in a town like Ilmen but nowhere near as big as the Runeberg mansion.
John called Jack to sit on the table and he brought some small snacks for him as well. John said "It will take a few minutes until the coffee is ready, so hang in there for a while why don't you." Jack just sits a while at the table while John is frantically doing other things. Jack thinks that maybe John is still busy with something that Jack can't help him with. After a while, Jack noticed that the coffee had stopped dropping, but he didn't see or hear John anywhere. He just got up, looked around for a cup, poured the coffee on the cup, went to sit back on the table with the coffee cup in his hand and started drinking. He didn't mind the taste since he got used to drinking it like this when, on rare occasions, it was offered to him during the war.
After a while had passed and Jack had drunk the coffee on his cup, John appeared again and noticed Jack sipping the last bit of his coffee on his cup. John said "Why are you already drinking without me?" Jack just calmly said "You seemed busy so I helped myself." John says with a bit of a disappointed look "You could have just called for me when it was ready. *Sigh* Well I put quite a bit of it coming so there are still a couple of cups left. Want some more?" Jack just looked at his cup for a moment and said "I guess I have some more then."
John got himself a cup and poured the coffee into the cups. He went to the refrigerator and picked up some milk for his coffee. He asked Jack "Want some?" Jack just shook his head and John poured the milk to his coffee and put some sugar into it as well.
Then, after taking a sip of coffee, John asked "So about why you came here." Jack just calmly waited for John to continue. John then said "I don't believe the rumors that I heard. I even got a look at the newspaper from Novinterra where the princess herself tells the public that you haven't done anything that deserves rumors like that. So care to tell me what happened?" Jack then tells the same story that Olivia told in the Runeberg mansion.
John then says "I see. Then I assume while you are here, now that princess Olivia is visiting the Runeberg mansion, she is telling them the same thing. Or am I wrong?" Jack says "She is most likely telling the same story. I don't see why else she would be coming there." John gives a sigh and says "Look, I get that you had to keep it a secret from the ladies of the Runeberg house, but you could have at least told them that things aren't what they say in the rumors. If they would have asked you for details, you could have just told them that it was confidential and you couldn't tell them the details." Jack just looked down at his coffee and said "It wouldn't have made the difference anyways." John then raises his voice a bit and says "Then what would have happened?" Jack still looks down at his coffee. John then sighs and says "Look, when you get back there after this, be sure to apologize for not making things clear or denying it. Are we clear?" Jack then says "I will do that." John nods his head hard and drinks the rest of his coffee.
Then John pours some more coffee for himself and Jack asks "How do you know Julia?" John is surprised to hear that name and says "Julia huh. Haven't heard that name for ages. Yeah, Julia Wanchenmen, she was in the same orphanage that I was in. Good times." Jack says "So you two were from an orphanage. Did you know your parents?" John says "Most of the orphans didn't know about their parents. Those that did mostly lost them because of the war. I didn't know mine but Julia knew hers. I was there before her and when she was found and brought to the orphanage, she was very silent and absent most of the time. She did warm up eventually and she became like an older sister to all of the kids there. It was fun while she was still there." Jack asks "So she left?" John says "Well, yes she was scouted by some military man since she had innate ability to not be noticed. She was a pro at hide and seek you know. Anyways, the military man came, asked the nun some questions and then he took Julia with him. After that, it took a while to meet her again by coincidence." Jack asks "How did you meet again?" John drinks a bit and says "After I and a couple of other kids were taken in by the military, we received some harsh training. When I was 15 and about to be sent to the battlefield, I bumped into Julia by coincidence and we exchanged some words. She wouldn't tell me what she had gone through, but I could sense from her that it wasn't pleasant. Our meeting was cut short after we had to hurry to our posts. After that, this was the first time I heard anything from her. So what does she do now?" Jack answers "She is a maid of the Runeberg mansion." John smiles and says "At least I know she's out of the field. Can't imagine what she had gone through. I need to send her a letter now that I know where she is."
After chatting some more and drinking coffee, Jack asks John "Do you have a place where we could spar for a moment?" John says "I do, but why do you want to spar me?" Jack says "I haven't been able to practice recently, so I thought that this would be a good chance since you were also in the military." John looked a bit bothered and said "Since you are my guest, I suppose I can play along with you. But don't expect too much. I haven't had practice for quite some time." Jack said "I don't mind. I didn't expect much anyways." Now John looks a bit annoyed and says "Is that so. As your elder, I ought to show you some manners." Jack asks "How old are you?" John says "28 this year. You?" Jack says "17 now. Wow, you really are older than me. You look younger than I expected." John "Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's go."
Both of them move to the backyard and they lessen their clothing a bit. Both take their stance and begin sparing for a while. John seems to get out of breath after a while, but Jack is still as battle ready as he always is. After Jack puts John to the ground multiple times, John starts saying while sitting on the ground he was put "You really are a pro at this. I can hardly even see myself beating you even if I was at my best." Jack then says "That is something similar I often hear." John says "And now you are gonna tell me that you weren't even serious and taking it easy on me. Just kidding! You wouldn't do that." Jack says "But I… well… let's leave it at that." John laughs for a moment and says "Hah, there you go again." Jack just opens his hand to help John back up without a word. Jack's silence worries John so he says "Ahm, you didn't take it easy on me now did you Jacky boy?" Jack is silent. John says with worry on his face "How much did you hold in?" Jack says "I pretty much could have snapped your neck or broken your bones in 6 seconds." John looks at Jack seriously and says "Seriously?" Jack then mutters "Well maybe even 3 seconds." John looks at the sky and asks "Is there a god?"
After a moment, they both go back inside and John begins to make some food before Jack leaves. They eat and chat about some mundane topics and Jack even gives a small smile after being moody all day. Before Jack leaves, John hands him a letter and a piece of a uniform. He told Jack "These are of no importance to me now, but I'm sure Julia would appreciate having these. The letter will tell her everything she needs to know as of now. I trust you will complete this task as a fellow soldier." Jack doesn't fully understand the meaning behind these items, but he simply answers with "I will make sure that these will make their way to Julia Wanchenmen's hands." John nods and says "You better get going before the train leaves. Safe travels." And with that Jack leaves and returns to Runeberg mansion.
Once Jack returns, he notices that Olivia is still there even though it's so late. He decides to keep his distance as usual, but when Eve tells Olivia that Jack has returned, Olivia tries to talk to him like old times. She says "You've gotten much taller than we last saw each other." Jack avoids eye contact and answers "You've grown a bit as well."Olivia says nervously "Well… uhm… I told them everything so… there shouldn't be any misunderstandings." Jack just says "I see." and once he sees Julia in the corner of his eye, he goes and gives the items that John gave him. Julia looks at them for a moment and says "Thank you." then leaves.Jack takes a deep breath for a moment and then looks Olivia straight in her eyes and says "Thank you for your visit."
After that, Jack does his rounds of the mansion and soon after Olivia leaves. Later that night Eve asks Jack "Could we look at the stars tonight?" To which Jack answers "Of course. I will do my best." Then Eva goes and finds them a telescope and Ilianor comes to join them out to spend some time. It takes some time to get things going, but they find a star constellation called "geminae volucres" or by simply "Twin birds". Eva, Jack and Ilianor all get to see it. They even manage to see the planet Constantus with the telescope. Eve just enjoys hearing what the others say and feel about all of this. But then it starts to get late and all decide to go to bed. Jack helps Eva to carry the stuff back inside. Once everything is taken care of, all go to bed and have a peaceful night of sleep.