I'd Give Up The World For You

Juliet had a plan. At least some semblance of one. On her days off she was going to take a break from selling socks and stake out the entrance to the military base around lunch time to further observe Leo May. 

On top of that, she was going to see if she could get more information out of Veronica by hanging out with her when Elaine did on her day off. She could also potentially observe more of his behavior if she was still there when he arrived home. That or she could leave early enough that she could spy on him as he made his commute. She was still trying to decide the best course of action there. 

It was the waiting that was the problem. She literally could not do anything until her next day off and it was driving her insane!

Juliet did her best not to stew about it but that was difficult. She had far too much time to think when doing laundry since it was such a mindless task. So was knitting if no one was talking to her. 

When her next day off finally rolled around she staked out the entrance into town and was lucky enough to only wait fifteen minutes before Leo May came out alone. He headed straight for the bakery and she followed, figuring she could buy something cheap as a cover story if necessary. 

"I'd like two cinnamon rolls, please," he told the woman behind the counter. 

She looked confused. "Do you mean cinnamon buns?"

"Right, yes. Sorry. I forgot what you called them for a moment." 

Juliet's heart leapt in her throat. Cinnamon rolls. That was a term from her world too! This was the second time she had heard him say something that someone from this world shouldn't have said. 

Was he a transmigrator? She tried to think of everything she knew of the man from Veronica. According to her they were cousins and he came to her farm to help out after the deaths of her family. They grew up together and he was always very sweet to her. 

That didn't sound like Rukelion Blaze at all. She seriously doubted there was another character out there who happened to be named Leo May so it was definitely his body. The question was whether or not it was his soul in there.

If someone had transmigrated into him she guessed it was when he was almost fatally injured and collapsed near the May farm. In stories that sort of thing always seemed to happen when the original soul died. 

That did raise the question of how Veronica came into play though. In the story she wrote the entire May family had died. There shouldn't have been anyone there to help Rukelion Blaze or prevent him from joining the mercenaries. 

Using the same logic, was it possible that SHE was the one who had transmigrated into a dead girl's body? That could explain why everything in the draft changed. 

People could pick up terminology used by those they were closest to and she already knew Veronica liked cinnamon rolls because she got one almost every time they went to the bakery once they were introduced. It wasn't completely farfetched. 

Juliet already knew landing inside of a fictional world was possible because it had happened to her. So which was it? Who was the transmigrator? Or was it both of them? She needed to know!

If Leo was they didn't have to worry about the world being destroyed. If Veronica was she might listen to reason. Juliet couldn't gamble on the wrong person and potentially risk screwing everything up though. She needed more intel. 

Following him out of the bakery without being noticed wasn't too hard. She realized he was heading for the flower shop. Probably to bring his wife a cinnamon roll. 

That was far too considerate for someone like Rukelion Blaze! Another point toward him being the transmigrated one. She didn't dare enter the shop and get caught since she couldn't afford flowers if she was and would be seeing Veronica later so she couldn't use that as an excuse either. 

Through the window Juliet saw him talk to Nia for a moment before she went to the back. A few minutes later she returned with Veronica in tow. She looked rather wan for a brief moment before seeing her husband hold out the bakery bag. 

She threw her arms around him and gave him a brief kiss in thanks. He seemed pretty happy about that. 

They only talked for a few minutes before he had to leave but when he did Juliet ducked out of sight so he didn't catch her. He went back to the military base without talking to anyone and once he was inside she had no reason to stick around and returned to selling her socks with a lot on her mind. 

What on earth—or wherever this was—was going on with those two? They seemed like any other couple in love from this world on the surface but there was definitely something weird going on. 

Veronica May wasn't a character in her prequel. Rukelion Blaze wasn't capable of love since his heart had been hardened by revenge. None of this made sense!

Juliet's mind burned with questions until it was time to go to Veronica's house. When she arrived her friend shouted for her to come in and she saw that Veronica and Elaine were sitting on the couch discussing different types of yarn. 

Elaine looked deeply engrossed in everything she was saying. She was taking her role as a housewife very seriously now that she had escaped the laundry room like she wanted. People's motivations here were so simple. 

Most people's anyway. Those with more complicated motivations were the ones who came from earth or were actual named characters in her story. 

She had given very few people here complex personalities. The only actual character she had written that she had met acted so far out of the bounds of what should be possible for him that she didn't know what to think. 

Everyone else acted within set limits of what was expected for this world. That was why it was so hard for her to believe Veronica was a transmigrator. She was far too comfortable with the way things were here! However, if she was she had been here a long time. She could have adapted. 

This well though? That seemed like a stretch to Juliet. 

Veronica was the consummate down-to-earth woman of this world. She had been a farmer for crying out loud! She found genuine enjoyment in making flower crowns, knitting, and baking. What modern woman would be so easily satisfied without Wi-Fi?!

Another hole in that theory was how in love with her husband she was. Would a modern woman truly be happy with the kind of men they had here? Unless he was a transmigrator too. 

The odds of two transmigrated people meeting each other and falling in love were incredibly slim but so was ending up in the world of a novel in the first place. Juliet couldn't rule it out. 

She already knew about the different kinds of yarn from her many forays into the fabric store in town so she could let her mind wander freely until Veronica began instructing them on how to begin the sweater. 

Juliet did her best to pay attention but she was still trying to figure out how to ask Veronica if she was from earth without doing it point blank. There had to be some sort of test she could conduct that wouldn't be suspicious if she was actually a nameless side character here. But what? 

It couldn't be too obvious because Elaine was here. She would be super confused if they suddenly started talking about things she couldn't understand. 

"How long have you been knitting, Veronica?" Juliet ended up asking. 

Veronica was utterly unsuspicious of the question. Why shouldn't she be? It was a normal thing to ask within the context of what they were doing. "About seven years. One of my old farmhands' wives taught me since I never got the chance to learn from my mother before she passed away."

Hmm. Eight years ago was around the time she would have transmigrated if that was what happened. Her explanation was plausible though. 

"You must have practiced a lot to get this good at it," Juliet remarked. 

Veronica laughed. "Ohhh yes. In the winter there wasn't much to do on the farm other than caring for the animals so I spent a lot of time catching up on chores that had been put off the rest of the year. Mending and making new clothes was a large part of that."

"That's exactly why I need to learn," Elaine piped up. "Silas doesn't know anything about that since the military has always provided uniforms for him." 

"Leo was never interested. He preferred sitting around talking to me as I did it to trying to learn himself, though I have no doubt he could.. He picks things up faster than anyone I've ever met."