Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Marie turned her head slowly at the eerie feeling she had felt before she could even calm down. She had a hunch that the reality of the hand that reached Brielle finally came to him.

She got up from her seat and moved her body towards the window. Then, she stuck to the wall as much as possible and gently opened the curtains. Outside, it started to rain. Marie takes a deep breath and sticks her face out a little more. It seemed like she could see a shadowy figure over the wall. Unfortunately, it was dark, so she couldn’t see in detail.

She opened the window, confirming that no one was right under her own room.

Transparent raindrops fell one by one, obstructing her view. Marie took the courage to stick out her face a little more.

She was right. Someone was looking at this place.

Marie was shaking by the window. The feeling of encountering it herself and reading it from the book was completely different. The soft goosebumps climbed up her back and made her head stand upright.

As she grabbed her trembling mouth, she made a quavering voice and called out the invisible opponent.

However, as the rain flowed down, the other person disappeared as the two eyes blinked.

***

“Sister!”

Ellie, much younger than she was now, called Marie.

There were scars on her cheek where she was hit, but Marie was not interested in her sibling. Rather, she looked at the child with a cold gaze and went into her own room.

Ellie, who was standing near, hesitating to approach her sister, looked at the closing door and sighed little with an expression of resignation. It was a sound that didn’t match her little mouth at all.

The child was blaming herself for everything, not her sister.

‘I’m not doing my sister any good, so it’s no wonder she hates me.’

It was too harsh of a thought for a child who wasn’t grown properly yet.

She had a small physique and would easily fall or get hurt while playing with the children in the neighborhood, and sometimes even beaten by a son from a wealthy noble family just because she was a fallen noble. However, Ellie never got angry at Marie. Instead, she sometimes tried to hide this because Ellie was afraid she didn’t want to be abandoned by her sister. Being abandoned once, it remained as her trauma.

On the day the rain poured down, Ellie stood outside in the cold. She didn’t have the key to enter the house so he was shivering while waiting for her older sister and brother, but all day long they did not return.

The aunt next door, who saw her in the rain and suffered from the cold, let Ellie stay in her house for a day. She was talking to her husband without knowing that the child was listening as well. The main content was that Marie would take the money and throw away little Ellie, but only take the useful Barry.

However, the world wasn’t easy, and two days later, Marie who had stolen money and valuables, quickly returned with Barry. That caused a hole in Ellie’s heart. Even though she was injured, she couldn’t say she was hurt because it might bother her sister, so she waited alone to soothe the pain until her brother returned.

Marie was that kind of person. Although she was entrusted with her two younger siblings, it was not because she had any sense of duty or responsibility. After the death of her parents, they had nowhere to go, so they were just staying together.

That’s why Berry, the quick-minded brother between Ellie and Marie, solved everything among themselves to avoid offending Marie as much as possible.

Though one day, her older sister changed. She, who had not interested if they ate or not, had bought bread, meat, and even snacks and came home. She then let her siblings eat to their heart’s content.

“Sister… I can’t eat because I’m full.”

Her little stomach, which had never eaten like this, quickly filled up, and Ellie felt like her throat was full of food.

“Eat, anyway. I told you I had a hard time getting this.”

Marie lifted the spoon and put food into Ellie’s mouth, who was trying to run away.

Even when she saw the child vomiting, she waited with an expressionless face. Then, pushed the food back in.

She had a reason for everything she did.

It was when she saw the announcement that the count was recruiting a nanny.

She wrote in the introduction as if she had raised her two younger siblings, and Marie, who was a fallen noble, got the opportunity for an interview more easily than she thought.

However, according to the rumors she had heard, there seemed to be tough competitors. Veteran nannies must have applied.

So, Marie decided to take Ellie and Berry to the interview. She planned to somehow feed them well for a month before the interview to make them look healthy.

In the end, she, who had fed her younger siblings without a break, succeeded in gaining a little weight for the children in a month, and at the age to stand out because of their cuteness, she shook the hearts of those who were interviewing.

In Marie’s opinion, it was the only moment that her two younger siblings helped her.

The reason she tried to go to the County as the nanny was in line with the reason she left Ellie before. As a ruined aristocrat, she couldn’t abandon her usual spending habits. Although her parents and the house became difficult, she became more and more bold as no one tried to control her, let alone cut her spending, so it eventually disappeared.

Later, she got into debt, and when her debt reminder began, she took only her remaining money and ran away, dragging Berry, who insisted he had to go with Ellie.

She, however, lost almost all of her money that she had to come back.

And that was when the dark hand reached her, who finally became the nanny…

Mary, who couldn’t sleep in the horror of the night, sat in one place and recalled what she had read in the past. And next to her, Brielle was sleeping without realizing her feelings.

‘Brielle.’

As soon as it was bright, she slowly raised her hand and touched Brielle’s soft cheeks.

She then moved her thoughts to Ellie. She had just confirmed that Ellie was sleeping well before coming out.

“Hmmm…”

Brielle frowned for a moment when he felt the touch. He then raised his little hand and brought it to his eyes, rubbing them, revealing his pupils.

“Ma~rie.”

Seeing Marie in the morning put him in a good mood, revealing a dimple folded only on one cheek.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, when did you come?”

“Just now.”

Marie laid down next to Brielle, where he is still lying. Then, he clung to her side and rubbed his face against her arm.

“Are you still very sleepy?”

“No, because I like Marie.”

The words, warming her heart, once again she stroked Brielle’s head. As she feels the warmth flowing through her hands, she is organizing last night’s thought in her head. As usual, a disturbance appears.

“Sister! Young Master!”

It was Ellie who opened the door, entered without knocking. When it happened, her head was messy.

“Ellie!”

Brielle greeted her with a jump, raising his upper body.

“You have to knock before you come in.”

Ellie, who laughed at her sister’s nagging, came to the place where the two were.

“What about Barry?”

“Your brother has already gone to the Knights.”

It was Berry who lived more diligently than anyone else.

“Then, shall we start the day?

Marie, who struggled with a bright smile and pushed away the dark thoughts, said to the two children.

“Hmm!”

She looked closely at the laughter caused by the two children who matched well as if she wanted to keep the image in her memories for a long time.

***

“Brielle.”

Brielle raised and lowered his arm once toward Jaden, who had come to play.

“What.”

Jaden wanted to see without pretending to know what his friend was focusing on. Brielle was drawing something diligently.

“This… No way…”

“How’s it? Is it similar?”

“Is it a monster?”

“Hey!”

Brielle had been drawing for an hour on his own, but he became angry when he was treated like this. A monster?!

“What is it?”

“Teddy bear.”

Jaden looked as though it was absurd. ‘That cute doll that is only covered in brown color?’ Even if he painted with his feet, he was certain he would be able to draw better than this.

“How does it look that way?”

“Look here. Shiny eyes, cute nose, dainty mouth.”

“Haha. I guess this is the meaning of your standard of shiny, cute, and dainty.”

Brielle got sour. He suddenly felt like he was losing interest in painting.

What is the reason he was drawing so hard? It was because of his uncle. One day, the nanny took something out of the box and showed it.

“Do you remember this?”

The insects that his uncle painted were pretty good.

“Isn’t the Count really great? There’s nothing he can’t do sometimes.”

Hearing that, Brielle began painting without her knowing. The reason was because he wanted to hear Marie saying that there was nothing he could not do, too.

“Why are you so sullen?”

Brielle covered the paper and looked at Jaden, bothered.

“I don’t know. Why is my uncle good at everything?”

“Hey. Are you bragging about that?”

The country’s Chancellor, Kentrail, in a way, was also Jayden’s object of respect.

‘Besides, he is the one who acknowledges my father as much as he does his work.

But Brielle didn’t want to answer, so he just hugged the teddy bear that was next to him.

“Still, isn’t there anything your uncle can’t do?”

At those words, Brielle’s eyes sparkled.

“What is that?”

“Love! He’s still single.”

“Ah…”

Brielle had no choice but to admit.

He once listened to what the adults around him were saying and was depressed at the thought that it was because of him.

It was Marie who realized how he felt, so she immediately corrected his thoughts as soon as she heard him talking about it.

“It’s just that…the Count’s standards are high.”

“Is it really not because of me?”

“Of course… Rather, thanks to you, he should be popular? I mean, to live with such a cute little angel.”

Marie even kissed Brielle’s cheeks lovingly. So, this was entirely his uncle’s problem.

“However, if the Count gets married, aren’t you the one in trouble?”

“Why?”

Brielle wondered what would be the problem if his uncle gets married.

“I mean the nanny. Now you can do anything on your own, too. So, if your uncle gets married, wouldn’t the nanny have to leave?”

There were many cases where the nanny quit when the child was older.

It was a special case of Marie, who is still working. So, rumors spread around about how well the nanny took care of the child, and so on.

“No way.”

Brielle, who cried so, ran towards his uncle in the office.

***

“Uncle!”

“Brielle.”

The door popped open following the sound of thumping steps.

A smile grew on Kentrail’s face, who discovered Brielle, his nephew, who had visited after a long time.

The officer standing next to him quietly stepped back, thinking that it would be time for the count to rest his expression.

“Uncle, don’t you have a lover yet?”

“Huh?”

He was embarrassed by the sudden question from his nephew.

“A lover? What do you mean all of a sudden?”

“Never, e~ver, you shouldn’t get married until I’m all grown up.”

“Where did you hear this?”

He asked carefully, examining whether Brielle had heard something hurtful.

“Say yes, just say it.”

Fortunately, it didn’t seem so. He nodded his head for now.

“It’s a promise.”

And Brielle went out, leaving only the words behind. Kentrail stared at the back of the child with an absurd expression.

‘As soon as I heard about a lover, I remembered the nanny.’

He fell into deep agony over the thoughts that came to him without his knowledge.