Sun shines upon his frail-looking boy making his skin itch a little, the sweat on his face was never ending just like the weeds on this forsaken garden. His hands and wrist aches from pulling these damned weeds. He doesn't know when the lunch break is but he was sure he couldn't pull out enough weed to fill that damn bag. In size, the bag was almost twice his size.
His stature was small and skinny, even fulling out a single weed was demanding to his body let alone fill hundreds of them.
"Ugh!"
He shook his hand in pain before putting his index finger in his mouth, it was bleeding, and something penetrated his skin again. Lack of nutrition not only made his body weaker but also even more fragile. He sat on the ground tired, hungry, and thirsty. Which didn't seem ideal to him in any way possible.
"Maybe I should escape using this chance?"
Then again where could he go? Neither Jack nor current Rascal has any detailed info about the count's territory or even where the closest human settlement is. As far as he knows there is a possibility that the manor is located in a remote place far away from the village. As for why? This is a fantasy world, where normal logic doesn't apply.
"It's so damn annoying."
He wanted to leave this cursed place as soon as possible, he wanted to return to the modern world, where he doesn't need to work for scraps of food like this. He then heard a rustle not far away making him tremble in fear as he quickly took a few steps back. After all, he is being hunted down by someone, everything that's unknown to him might be hiding a deadly knife behind their back.
Soon from the bushes small figure that's about a head taller than him reveals itself, the figure is a girl dressed in a white dress with red hair. Her figure looked delicate and fragile, her two big eyes and small nose followed by rose-red lips made her look like a doll. Which is both breathtaking and creepy at the same time.
"Y-young miss Emma."
Jack quickly bowed down trying his best to imitate the nobles in Rascal's memory, his tired and weak body looked clumsy and stupid but he couldn't do anything about that now could he? The young noble girl didn't hold back on him when she saw his clumsy attempt to copy nobles as she let out a mocking giggle. Her voice was pleasant to hear like a beautiful melody was playing but the meaning behind her voice was easy to detect.
"Oh my, what does a little boy like you doing here? I didn't see you among the list of servants."
Of course, she won't strictly speaking he doesn't even belong to this territory. No, it would be correct if he said officially he doesn't exist anywhere. But all that's aside what does a young lady like her doing in a dirty place like this? Especially ruining her favorite white dress.
'She is definitely suspicious, I don't believe someone like her would wander so far from home.
"I-I am just a trainee under the gardener Simon young miss. I am not an official servant yet."
'And I probably never will.'
Upon hearing his answer Emma takes a thinking pose reminding him of Lucy, the Returner who's supposed to oversee his unconscious body.
'Is it possible that my Desire pulled Lucy with me?'
Two Returners being assigned to the same life is supposed to be possible in theory, but just like he said it's in theory there is currently no confirmed case of it happening. Of course, there is also the possibility that they did go to the same past life but didn't know there was another Returner or neither of the two Returners managed to resolve the regrets assigned to them. So, yeah even though it isn't confirmed yet it is possible to happen which is why Jack is so worried about the uninvited guest being a Returner same as him or even worse higher ranking and more experienced than him.
"Strange, I thought the gardener was training his daughter for the job."
Emma said while looking at Jack with a curious look.
"P-perhaps the gardener is trying to train me for another job?"
Emma's gaze suddenly becomes sharper, making Jack stiffen in fear. She walks closer to him now her eyes shining with curious light and as she comes closer to him she keeps asking questions.
"Oh really? Then what job could that be? Is it something related to this old garden? Is he trying to train the second gardener who will take care of this place before he retires? Tell me, little trainee, you should know the answer right?"
The closer she comes to him more afraid Jack becomes, before he realizes he has already been holding his breath back as she comes in front of him. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity and something dangerous as well. Jack felt like suffocating around her, the more he looked at her eyes more afraid he became, the feeling of being looked down on by those eyes and bombarded by constant questions made him feel like being trapped by something.
'W-what's up with this girl?!'
He wanted to move, he wanted to resist this strange tingling feeling of fear but he can't do that. In front of this girl, he was so small, so powerless, as if a prey caught by a poisonous snake wrapped around it and helplessly suffocated to death as it strangles you.
[You used [Silent Observer] on target Emma Cross.]
[Name: Emma Cross
Role: The Count's Second Daughter]
Because his silent stare [Silent Observer] has been activated, his eyes lingered on the lines that appeared in front of him before meeting eye-to-eye with her icy blue eyes. His legs felt weak, they were about to give out, but he must hold back from giving out otherwise he didn't know what would happen next but he knew it wouldn't be pleasant.
She stared down at him curiously for a few more seconds before blinking a few times cutely before returning to her normal self.
"You are no fun, I guess I will go and ask from the gardener. So let's go together shall we you little thief?"
Emma said before snatching his hand and dragging him with herself.
"W-what?"
[You have deactivated [Silent Observer].]
Jack asked dumbly, which Emma answered in a nonchalant tone.
"Since you won't answer my questions I can only ask them from the gardener and because you can't answer my questions you are suspicious. Which means you are a thief."
Jack was even more confused by the sudden change in the girl's attitude. Does she have mood swings? Does she have a psychological problem? What's going on with her? There were many questions yet no answer. Not only that now he is being dragged to the gardener and if that fat bastard Simon won't say anything to him then possibly he will be accused as a thief.
Even more important than that did something like this ever happen to the original Rascal? Why does it feel like he is being dragged into a situation way, way worse than the one he is already stuck in?