Chapter 3

Chapter 3

“Bu bu bu!!!”

Brielle stretched his arms toward Marie, his plump feet were tapping excitedly on the floor.

He knows that the familiar bowl Marie brought with her was snacks.

“Wait a minute.”

As she lifted the bowl aside for a while to support him with a pillow and ease his posture, his head moved along.

“Today I prepared an apple.”

The Young Master Brielle’s snack changed every time. Among them, Brielle’s favorite was sweet and sour fruit.

When he opened his little mouth, she put the fruits in his mouth. He frowned a couple of times and scrunched his nose, then blinked his eyes.

“You’re so cute.”

Marie shed an exclamation without knowing it.

She thought that he would stop eating after Brielle turned his head and made an expression that seemed to think about how this taste exists in the world.

“Bu bu!”

However, Brielle seems to be addicted even when he frowns after tasting the sourness.

At the sign of his quick request, she took another spoonful and put it in his mouth.

Then he was unsure of what to do next, so he closed and opened his eyes over and over again.

“Is it delicious?”

“Emm! Emm!”

Now in his eighth month, Brielle was trying to convey his opinion in words other than the usual babbling.

“Yes?”

Marie couldn’t understand what Brielle was saying, so it was up to her to interpret it.

“Now, this is the last one. Ah~”

Brielle opened his mouth like a baby bird and squeezed his eyes from the sourness.

‘It’s too bad that I don’t have a camera.’

Marie shook her head, as she was disappointed to know that these cute faces would only remain in her head.

Brielle’s head flipped to another side, after finishing the bowl.

As soon as he finished eating his snacks, it was time to take a nap.

Marie gently hugged Brielle and hummed an unknown tune.

‘Soon, it would be good to start playing music or something…But there’s no way to do that here…’

At that moment, it seemed as if Brielle knew her thoughts because the sound of his breath formed a harmony with her song.

***

“Count.”

The Count had increased the amount of time spent in the mansion after seeing Brielle sitting alone. He decided that he might not be able to see the precious features of his nephew before he grows up.

However, he had no choice but to work at the mansion. He lifted his head at Marie’s call.

The spontaneous gaze turned to his nephew in Marie’s arms. He looked at him with a huge smile that caught her eyes.

“Please come here for a minute.”

In a hurrying voice, as if Marie had something urgent, he hurried over without getting a chance to greet Brielle.

He didn’t know, but Marie was urging him because she had been waiting for today.

“Where are we going?”

She didn’t even answer him, but he took the lead as they got closer.

“Hey… Why…”

“This is a movable bathtub. Come closer.”

Marie said, leaving him bewildered as she began to strip Brielle’s clothes.

“Are you giving him a bath?”

The Count asked in front of the bathtub he arrived to, expressing curiosity.

“What is this?”

The bathtub didn’t just contain water. Something black was floating around in it as well.

“Seaweed.”

Marie said out in the tone that it wasn’t much, but a subtle expectation was revealed. She prepared it for Brielle, and when she imagined him playing with it, she was more excited than him.

She wants to give Brielle a tactile play like everyone else had at the cultural center previously, but she was struggling to find a way to give it to him. She kept pestering the count because she wants to help Brielle’s development at an age where people are starving outside. She was more worried that she was using food.

That’s when she finally found it while snooping around the kitchen, in anticipation that there would be food that wasn’t used.

Seaweed ends.

She didn’t expect much as this was a western background in the Middle Ages. There was such a difference in how things are in the book.

Marie asked the chef, and he mentioned throwing away the seaweed ends, so she took it with her. Then prepared a moveable bathtub.

She didn’t know how much time the Count would have in the mansion, worrying about the seaweed going bad.

After learning that he was working at the mansion, she decided to pour water and prepare it.

It was her plan to get the Count and Brielle a little closer by playing tactile games together.

He was dragged in without knowing anything. His mouth widened at the sight of the nanny, who put seaweed in the bathtub. He was also at a loss for words when she responded so casually.

“What are you doing now?”

The last time when he saw Brielle practicing flipping, he pulled out his sword and felt extremely embarrassed. So he decided to ask first this time, restraining his emotions as much as possible.

“Tactile play.”

“What…? Tactile play?”

“Yes, it is good for muscle development. It is good for emotional development too.”

“How do you play this game…”

He frowned, it was something he hadn’t imagined.

“It’s like this.”

She then restrained Brielle from dipping into the bathtub.

“You just have to let the Young Master go into the bathtub and let him play with seaweed. Though it would be better if you play with seaweed next to him.”

“Ah… no, but…”

Upon listening to Marie’s explanation, he realized that it was not a dangerous game. He knows that seaweed isn’t harmful, but he hesitated to dip his nephew, Brielle, in the bathtub.

“Oh, look at this.”

She hugged Brielle briefly, pulled out a small piece of seaweed stalks from the bathtub, and made eyebrows for Brielle.

“How is this?”

Brielle was curious about the slick sensation, and he removed what was on his eyebrows with his hand. Then he shook his arms back and forth.

“Then, let’s start.”

Marie carefully handed over Brielle and finally put the baby into the bathtub.

“Bu bu!!”

As he felt the warm water, Brielle laughed, raising his voice.

“Here, like this. Count, try it.”

Marie, who finally settled Brielle in the bathtub, gave a piece of seaweed to the Count as well and demonstrated it for him.

He looked at the seaweed in his hand.

“If Brielle likes it, I guess it shouldn’t be a big deal.”

Following Marie, he rubbed the seaweed on his nephew’s body. Brielle’s babbling, as he twisted his arms because of the tickling, grew louder.

“You like it don’t you?”

She unfolded the handkerchief, which she had placed next to her, soaked in warm water and covered Brielle’s upper body.

“Why…”

“To not lower his body temperature.”

“Ah….”

He reflected on her careful attentiveness. While he was struggling with the problem of rubbing only one seaweed, the nanny was playing with Brielle.

The Count splashed water lightly in front of Brielle, and the excited baby struggling with his arms towards him. Thanks to this, some of the water in the bathtub splashed on him.

“Are you okay?”

His shirt was soaked.

Marie, who handed the towel that was placed next to her, blushed when she saw him with a white shirt soaking wet.

‘When the hell did you work out separately?’

He didn’t look like someone sitting at a desk all day. The towel in her hand lost its direction as she hurriedly turned away her eyes. Marie’s hand reached past his hand and went closer to his shoulder.

“Ah…”

Marie, now trapped in his arms, became embarrassed.

“I’m sorry.”

He also was at loss for words due to his embarrassment and didn’t know what to do. Marie barely came to her senses from the sound of Brielle’s laughter that was so different from the subtle atmosphere between the two.

“Ahem.”

He coughed and hurriedly started playing with Brielle again. The Count and Marie’s faces were red. Brielle started splashing water on them.

***

“What are you making?”

A few days have passed since she played the tactile play. When Ellie came to Brielle’s room, she asked after seeing what Marie’s making.

“A Doll.”

Specifically, it was an attachment doll. It was a little late when she thought about when an attachment relationship began, but she wanted to make sure her diligent hand made it for Brielle. She used his nap time to make it, though it took much longer than expected.

“Oh my… is it for the Young Master?”

Marie, who secretly laughed at Ellie’s words, stroked Brielle’s hair. She was a precocious child, but when she looked at him like this, it was clear that he was like any other child.

She suddenly saw Brielle turn her gaze from her sewing.

“Yes.”

Ellie, who asked her lightly, thought how cute Marie was by just answering without saying anything else. She saw the child’s cheek bulging.

‘She’s going to cry. Enough with the pranks.’

“The bear is for the Young Master.”

“Yeah?”

Ellie’s face turned to her since what Marie was making now was a rabbit doll.

“Then… is this?”

She said after Marie gave her a bright expression. A Voice full of expectations turned to her.

“Of course, it’s yours. But I’m going to make it bigger, so you have to wait a little longer. Will you wait?”

“Yes!”

She could see how excited Ellie responded by waving her head.

When Marie first came here and went to the house where she lived with Ellie, she remembered the shock she received Somehow in the house, the younger siblings only have clothes that are much like rags. She didn’t have a single doll.

She, who possessed Marie’s body, felt sorry for those children, but she hadn’t thought of making a doll like this because she had been caring for their food and clothes with the money earned from the Count.

When she looked at Ellie now, her tears swelled. She quickly wiped it away so the child wouldn’t see them.

“Were you scared at night?”

“Yes. Though it was all right because the knights are protecting from the outside.”

There was another thing that surprised her when she came here. Since Brielle was young, she had to spend almost all her time at the Count’s, during which her younger siblings were left at home.

After learning about that, Marie asked the Count if she could stay with her siblings in the employees’ quarters, and he replied that he was willing to do so. In addition to that, he instead even gave a room on the same floor as Brielle rather than the employees’ quarters.

This allowed Marie and her three family members to stay in the mansion.

Marie recalled her gratitude towards the Count and went back to sewing.

***

A crisis came into the daily lives of Brielle and Marie.

The cause was diapers.

“Now, Young Master. Let’s lie down.”

“Boo! Boo! Ru! Ru!”

As if he knew, just laying him down to change his diaper would cause him to fuss.

Even now, he turned and was running away in a crawl. Considering how quick he was, it was enough to just chase and go round and round the room all day.

“Young Master, look at this.”

So, Marie’s method was attracting attention with beautiful objects. Fortunately, Brielle loved his teddy bear. So, he was still hesitating to see the doll while running away.

“Now, shall we lie down with the bear?”

And Erin, who was waiting next to him, snatched the baby boy.

“Boo! Ah! Boo!”

Brielle was embarrassed and angry, trying to struggle, but Erin’s strength was strong As usual. In the end, he was forced to lay down and change diapers.

Brielle shook the bear in front of him and started at Marie with a fierce look. Though, it was useless.

Marie, looking at her Young Master, who had a serious look, with affection and gently patted him. She could see him turning his head away. As Marie and Erin burst into laughter at the sight, Brielle’s brow creased a little deeper.

At times like this, he looked very similar to his uncle, the Count.

“Okay, you’re done.”

As the scary Erin let go of her hand, Brielle hugged and buried his face in his teddy bear.