A dark figure slunk across the gardens towards the manor house. Reaching the manor's wall, he silently flew up to a certain window, peering in he saw a baby resting silently in a crib surrounded by a mountain of toys. With a soft whisper the latch inside the window gradually clicked, and the window drifted open. The figure flew in silently landing on the floor as he crept closer to the baby. Suddenly he froze—the baby had disappeared. He suddenly felt his muscles and skin rippling and tearing as he fell to the ground in a sudden bout of horrible agony. He rolled on the ground screaming, but no sound came out of his mouth. Suddenly a large hand gripped his skull, lifting him off the ground.
"WHO SENT YOU?" The voice boomed in his mind, as steely blue luminescent eyes stared into his own, blue smoke curling from their edges. The figure opened his mouth to reply, but a small explosion rippled through his skull and his eyes rolled back into his head.
Tch. Earl Avery Var Springsteen threw the man to the ground, turning back towards his subordinates who had suddenly appeared in the room behind him when the illusion was lifted. "Trace his mana trail, find out his identity, where he came from, and above all what faction he belongs to. Security on the perimeter is to be doubled. We're done baiting them, I don't want to have to deal with anymore of this." His voice boomed as his gaze hardened and he stalked back into the house. His subordinates quickly began shuffling to obey his orders, following his figure with their gaze as he left the room.
On the other side of the manor, ignorant of what had just taken place, little Fiona turned over in her sleep. "Maybe a princess knight magician," she murmured in her sleep, though her little mouth couldn't form the corresponding words. mmm she giggled, an innocent smile on her face. "that'd be nice."
It was day and baby Fiona was playing with a colorful rattly toy sitting on the floor the nursery. "Wa, waa, wa," the baby said as she shook the toy back and forth. This is surprisingly fun, Fiona murmured inside her head as she watched the blocks on the toy slide back and forth. I mean, what else is there to do, I'm a freaking baby, I don't even have a good grasp of the spoken language yet, not to mention the written. In one of her shakes the toy flew out of her little hand and landed a little distance for her. Hehe, but I can crawl now, that's pretty cool. She crawled over to the toy. As she sat down again in her new location she looked up and saw some of the maids gossiping on the other side of the room with their hands to their mouths like it was some big secret. Baby Fiona watched their back and forth for a moment feeling something welling up inside her. Oh no, she felt a sob rise in her little chest. Oh no, no, no, she felt herself slipping into memory as her body started breaking down in tears.
She was back in her old job at her old desk. She felt laughter piercing her ears like needles. She walked quickly to the bathroom and there blew her nose. She was stuffy and congested and felt awful and the laughter swirled in her stomach like a rock. Her phone rang. "Yeah, Mom? No, no, I'm fine," she heard herself say. "Just a little cold is all. Of course I'm resting, no, you don't need to worry about me, I'm fine. I'm an adult, I can take care of myself." The evil laughter outside the bathroom seemed to echo louder. "Yeah, yeah, ok. Love, you too. Bye." She looked back into the mirror and saw mascara was streaming down her face. A hand gripped her shoulder. She looked back and saw her own face.
"You don't need to worry," she said with a twisted smile on her face. "Everything's going to be just fine." The laughter echoed in the halls again, and the dream twisted and she found herself back in her baby body screaming and crying, trying to cover her ears, but unable too.
"Hey, hey," her nursery maid was holding her and rocking her. "You're ok, everything's just fine. Don't worry. Mama Rachel's here to protect you. There, there."
Gradually Fiona was able to calm down, the latent emotions still racking her tiny body in sobs.
"There, there. Sarah, why don't you come over and feed her, she must be hungry after all that work."
"Ok, Ma'am Rachel." The wet nurse came over and Rachel handed Fiona over to start feeding her. God, I'm still, hic. such a baby. What's a memory person supposed to do in this little body? Why are other transmigrators so aggressive with everything? Right now I just hic. want to be a normal little kid. Supergenius? I wasn't even that smart in my old life. I'm a noble's kid, in a world I don't understand. I'm probably going to have to end up marrying some boring old dude, unless this world is somehow more free from prejudice than my last one. If my later life's going to suck, I might as well just enjoy this as much as I can. Just being a kid isn't so bad, I might even enjoy it.
After they fed her the nurses put her down in her crib. She felt her eyelids drooping as her mind began wandering. I don't… want to go back. she murmured as she finally fell asleep.
"Look at her the little angel, and no idea in her head what just happened last night, the prince dying and all."
"Sigh. I just hope it won't be war. The lords and their wands might all be very well. But my brother's a cowherd by the border. If he don't get drafted first, he'll probably be dead either way."
"At least here is fairly safe, and the lord treats us well is all. My last job they didn't know pie from puddin' and half the maids found themselves in the bedrooms at night."
"Goodnight little Fiona," Rachel reached over and gently brushed the baby's hair. "At least, one of us can sleep well tonight."
"Scoff. You don't know how babies sleep, if you think she'll be sleeping through tonight. And we're the ones who have to wake each time she cries."
"Ah, well, you know what I mean, Melinda. Alright girls," Rachel turned around to face them all. "I'm off for the night, wake me if anything goes wrong, and try to get some sleep yourselves."
"Bye Miss Rachel." They said in chorus.